NASA’s first goal is to understand the distribution and the nature
of habitable environments in the universe.
In Goal 1, they must determine whether or not planets beyond the solar
system are habitable.
A planet is habitable if it can keep
life that originates there or has been carried there. In order for a planet to be habitable, it
must possess these things:
1.
Large
regions of water
2.
Conditions
suitable for complex organisms and organic molecules
3.
Energy
sources to maintain metabolism
A major
long-range goal for the astrobiology program is to recognize habitability
outside the Solar System and recognize habitability by detecting life.
The research objectives
address three main questions. They are:
1.
Do
planets and large satellites usually form in a state when they are likely to
become habitable, or do these environments form only after a sequence of
unlikely occurrences?
2.
How
often do habitable environments emerge on solid planets or satellites?
3.
What
are the specific signs of and area capable of sustaining life, and how do these
signs change with eh different situations of the planet?
Much of Goal 1 focuses on whether or not
an area possesses water in bulk form.
Water is made from two of the most abundant and chemically reactive
elements in the universe. Water has
played an important role in the development of life on Earth, and it’s a
necessary ingredient for the type of life on Earth.
Another focus of this goal is molecular
oxygen. It’s a very common element that
has provided the most distinctive biosignatures on Earth. The chemical state of a planet can cause all
of the oxygen to be consumed, unless it’s produced rapidly by oxygen-producing
photosynthesis. The ultraviolet fluxes
from stars can prevent rapid production of oxygen.
One
of the objectives of Goal 1 is to model the formation and evolution of
habitable planets. They plan to do this
by investigating how solid planets form, how they get liquid water and other
species, and how the processes affect the environments and habitability in
planetary systems. Some example
investigations are to imitate the origin of planets, determine how water loss
in an area affects climate, and study how these changes can affect the area’s
habitability.
Another objective of Goal 1 is to
study direct and indirect observations of extrasolar habitable planets. The main goal of this objective is to do
theoretical, astronomical, and laboratory investigations to support the
planning for missions to find planets beyond the Solar System. An example investigation in this objective is
to investigate methods for finding extrasolar planets that might lead to a
better understanding of the habitability of Earth-like planets.
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