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NASA chooses local scientists to study life beyond Earth

Posted on: Thursday, 10 July 2003, 06:00 CDT

NASA has created a team of 22 local researchers to study the origin, evolution and future of life beyond Earth and its planetary neighbors.

"We're taking a step outside the solar system, looking for things in our galaxy," said Lucy Ziurys, a University of Arizona astrochemist.

Neville Woolf, an astronomy professor at the UA, will lead the team of researchers from the UA and NOAO, the Tucson-based National Optical Astronomy Observatory.

"There were 44 proposals for the 12 slots, which included some prestigious universities and NASA centers, so we were very, very happy when it came through for us," Woolf said.

The 12 new teams will join four existing ones at the NASA Astrobiology Institute, a partnership between NASA and five international consortia founded in 1997.

Each team will receive an average of a million dollars a year for five years, Woolf said.

Arizona State University had been one of the 12 original teams and had submitted a proposal to extend its research, he said.

"They had a very good focus on Mars observations, and I feel sorry that they didn't get a second chance," Woolf said. "I wish we had both made the list, but if there can only be one, I'm glad it was us."

The strength of the UA's proposal stems from its emphasis on astronomy, a field that has been noticeably absent from the institute, Woolf said. Biology, geology, chemistry and biochemistry served as starting points for much of the research at the institute, he said.

While other teams focus on how life could develop, persist and perish on Earth and the rest of our solar system, Woolf's team will take the search to more distant realms, Ziurys said.

Woolf's team will focus on three research themes in studying the essential ingredients for life. Ziurys leads one effort that will seek to identify prebiotic and organic compounds in the giant gas clouds between stars.

Ziurys will use radio telescopes at Kitt Peak National Observatory and Mount Graham International Observatory to study the spectrums emitted by different compounds found in interstellar clouds.

Atoms combine to form more and more complex molecules in the gas clouds, Ziurys said.

"In the context of this institute, we'll be looking for organic molecules, specifically simple sugars," she said.

Stephen Strom and Joan Najita of NOAO will lead another effort to study the places and conditions under which habitable worlds might evolve in regions where planets are forming.

Part of understanding how habitable a planet could be relates to the sunspots and solar flares erupting from its parent star, a topic studied by solar astronomer Mark Giampapa.

"My role is to look at collections of stars that span a range of ages and to measure how they vary," said Giampapa, deputy director of the National Solar Observatory. "By knowing that, we can understand the kind of environments in which planets evolve and form atmospheres, which are critical for life."

A third focus, led by UA astronomy professor Roger Angel and Phil Hinz of Steward Observatory, will study extra-solar planets - planets that orbit stars other than our own. More than 100 such planets have been discovered, but up to now, they've only been detected indirectly by the "wobble" they induce in the stars they orbit, Woolf said.

"We need to be able to study these planets indirectly from the wobble and from the gas disks they generate and also by studying the planetary systems directly," he said.

The team is also charged with providing education and outreach, which will lead to the creation of the "Life And Planets Astrobiology Center," within the UA's College of Sciences, Woolf said.

Contact reporter Thomas Stauffer at 573-4197 or at stauffer@azstarnet.com.

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