November 24 brought exciting news to Rensselaer with the opening of the New York Center for Astrobiology, created with a $75 million grant from NASA. The Center will be part of the NASA Astrobiology Institue, a “virtual” institute of universities that combine their knowledge and expertise to advance understanding of the origin and distribution of life in the universe. It is headquartered at the NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif.
The search for extraterrestrial life will be brought to Troy within the School of Science at Rensselaer, after mounting excitement in the field as NASA’s Mars Phoenix Lander has detected snow in the Martian atmosphere and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has vast Martian glaciers of water ice under protective blankets of rocky debris.
Right now, there is much in store for astrobiology, with NASA looking at four more Mars landing sites: Eberswalde, where an ancient river deposited a delta in a possible lake; Gale, with a mountain of stacked layers, including clays and sulfates; Holden, a crater containing alluvial fans, flood deposits, possible lake beds, and clay-rich deposits; and Mawrth, which shows exposed layers containing at least two types of clay.
The goal of the research carried out in the New York Center for Astrobiology is to understand the cosmic history of the materials and processes that led to the development of life. Tracing the evolutionary pathway from atoms to life involves study of the formation of new molecules within interstellar clouds, the evolution of these clouds as they condense to form new solar systems, and the mechanisms by which they are delivered and combined on planets like Earth and Mars to form suitable environments for life. The research will also attempt to find biomarkers that may be used to identify life elsewhere. The center will be led by Douglas Whittet, professor of Physics, Applied Physics, and Astronomy at Rensselaer.
The center already includes researchers and students from a variety of research backgrounds and universities, including regional partners at the SUNY University at Albany and Syracuse University, and national partners at the University of South Dakota and the University of Arizona. Currently, research on organic molecules that originated in interstellar space is being conducted through studies of meteorites, some of which are known to have such organic molecules of pre-planetary matter. In addition to research opportunities, the center will also provide educational outreach programs, including a seminar series on the origins of life featuring researchers from around the world. It will also be developing partnerships with the Greater Capital Region Teacher Center and an area high school to educate students and their teachers in this exciting field of study. The center will also run an annual Astrobiology Summer Camp for pre-college students (grades 6–8) as part of the ExxonMobil/NASA Bernard Harris Summer Science Camp at Rensselaer. As part of the program, young students are given the opportunity to perform research directly.
According to an RPI press release, President Shirley Ann Jackson thinks “the New York Center for Astrobiology builds on a legacy of discovery and collaboration developed over the past half-century by NASA and scientists around the world, including right here at Rensselaer.” For more information on the center and the research to be undertaken, go to http://www.origins.rpi.edu/.
