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NASA’s Astrobiology Institute (NAI) selected a team of scientists led by the GSFC for a five year multimillion-dollar research effort. The project aims to explore how organic molecules are created in interstellar clouds and delivered to planetary bodies during their formation. The research award was one of 12 new research awards announced by NAI to benefit research consortiums that study the origin, evolution, distribution and future of life on Earth and the universe. The new research will combine laboratory experiments, observations with ground-based telescopes, and missions to comets and asteroids. The spacecraft missions will try to recover material to help investigate how organic molecules developed in interstellar clouds and later modified in the gas and dust around young stars.
During the formation of the inner solar system, large amounts of ice, dust and gas was forced to the outer solar system, to form the gas giants and comets. researchers will look at the ice from these comets, which could hold trapped primordial organic molecules. Astronomers believe that about four billion years ago shortly after the formation of the Earth, there was a fierce period of bombardment from comets. The rain of comets was so intense it could have supplied a large portion of the Earth's oceans.
The NAI research led by Goddard capitalizes on the Center's strengths in laboratory astrochemistry, planetary systems research, interstellar, stellar, planetary, cometary spectroscopy, and spacecraft instrument development.
More info: NASA Astrobiological Institute
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