RELEASE: 98-84

Douglas Isbell/Don Savage
Headquarters, Washington, DC May 19, 1998
(Phone: 202/358-1547)

NASA SELECTS INITIAL MEMBERS OF
NEW VIRTUAL ASTROBIOLOGY INSTITUTE

NASA has selected 11 academic and research institutions as the initial members of the agency's new Astrobiology Institute, thus launching a major component of NASA's Origins Program.

The selected institutions represent the best of 53 uniformly first-class proposals submitted, according to NASA officials. Given that the institute members will remain at their home organizations, the partnership among the members and NASA will be carried out primarily via the Internet. This electronic 'virtual' Institute will bring together astrophysicists, biologists, chemists, physicists, planetologists and geologists to conduct interdisciplinary research on the multifaceted issue of life in the Universe and its cosmic implications. It will also help to train young scientists in this emerging field.

"These initial members of NASA's Astrobiology Institute will be at the forefront of the increasingly important link between astronomy and biology, which has been a fundamental interest of mine for the past several years," said NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin. "The 'office hallways' of this virtual institute will be the fiber optic cables of the Next Generation Internet, and the groundbreaking research that this group generates will help guide our space exploration priorities well into the 21st century."

The selected initial members of the Institute are:

*Universities

Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

University of California, Los Angeles

University of Colorado, Boulder

Arizona State University, Tempe

Pennsylvania State University, University Park

*Research Institutions

Carnegie Institution, Washington, DC

The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA

Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA

*NASA Centers

Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA

Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA

NASA has developed the Origins Program with its Office of Space Science to search for signs of life in the Universe, both in our Solar System and beyond. The Astrobiology Institute will foster the interdisciplinary research and training necessary for future exploration of this theme. Funding for the Institute will begin with $9 million in 1999 and $20 million in 2000. This total is expected to grow as research directions are developed and the capabilities of the Next Generation Internet are expanded and fully utilized.

The Astrobiology Institute members will conduct a broad range of interdisciplinary and synergistic research on topics including:

• the formation of organic compounds important to the origins of life, such as from meteorites;
  
• the formation and characteristics of habitable planets;
  
• the emergence of self-replicating systems and possible pre-biotic worlds;
  
• how the Earth and life have influenced each other over time, including the evolution of ancient metabolism and the interplay of evolved oxygen;
  
• the evolution of multicellular organisms and the evolution of complex systems in simple animals; organisms in extreme environments such as hydrothermal vents;
  
• and the identification and development of biomarkers to determine terrestrial and extraterrestrial biosignatures.

The selection of the members, encompassing academic institutions and government labs, was based on a competitive evaluation process that began with the release of a Cooperative Agreement Announcement in October 1997. The next solicitation opportunity for new members will take place in about a year.

For further information on the Institute and the field of astrobiology, see the following Internet site:

The Institute's director and staff will reside at NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA. NASA Ames will manage the Institute's operations for NASA's offices of Space Science, Earth Science, and Human Exploration and Development of Space at NASA.