Speaker Name(s): Douglas Whittet, Wolf von Maltzahn, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Paul D. Tonko, David Spooner, John Delano, George M. Langford
Description: E.T. may have “phoned home” back in 1982, but in the world outside of popular cinema the hunt for extraterrestrial life continues. Today, with a $7.5 million grant from NASA, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute extends the search with the opening of the New York Center for Astrobiology, which will be part of the NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI). With such developments as the recent detection of snow in the Martian atmosphere by the NASA Mars Phoenix Lander, scientists are advancing toward evidence of conditions for life in space. And as NASA continues to build its search for life, it has also begun to build its partnerships under the NAI. The NAI is a “virtual” institute of universities that combine their knowledge and expertise to advance our understanding of the origin and distribution of life in the universe. It is headquartered at the NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif. Based within the School of Science at Rensselaer, the New York Center for Astrobiology is devoted to investigating the origins of life on Earth and the conditions that lead to the formation of habitable planets in our own and other solar systems. The center includes researchers and students from a variety of research backgrounds and universities, including regional partners at the University at Albany and Syracuse University and national partners at the University of South Dakota and the University of Arizona. “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,” said Rensselaer President Shirley Ann Jackson. “The scientists in the center will help piece together the fragmented clues that could lead to the discovery of the first extraterrestrial life and the origins of the first life to appear here on Earth.” Researchers and students within the New York Center for Astrobiology will seek to understand the chemical, physical, and geological conditions of early Earth that set the stage for life on our planet. They also will look beyond our home planet to investigate whether the processes that prepared the Earth for life could be replicated elsewhere, including on Mars and other bodies in the solar system. The center will be led by Douglas Whittet, professor of physics, applied physics, and astronomy at Rensselaer. “We are extremely grateful to NASA, to Rensselaer, and to our partner universities for their support of our research to uncover the origins of life,” Whittet said. “The new center continues where the original New York Center for the Studies on the Origins of Life supported by NASA left off and will involve faculty, undergraduate, graduate, and even junior and high school students in the exploration of space and the advancement of space science.”