Chapter 1: The Astrobiology Primer 3.0

Micah J Schaible; Nadia Szeinbaum; G Ozan Bozdag; Luoth Chou; Natalie Grefenstette; Stephanie Colón-Santos; Laura E Rodriguez; M J Styczinski; Jennifer L Thweatt; Zoe R Todd; Alberto Vázquez-Salazar; Alyssa Adams; M N Araújo; Thiago Altair; Schuyler Borges; Dana Burton; José Alberto Campillo-Balderas; Eryn M Cangi; Tristan Caro; Enrico Catalano; Kimberly Chen; Peter L Conlin; Z S Cooper; Theresa M Fisher; Santiago Mestre Fos; Amanda Garcia; D M Glaser; Chester E Harman; Ninos Y Hermis; M Hooks; K Johnson-Finn; Owen Lehmer; Ricardo Hernández-Morales; Kynan H G Hughson; Rodrigo Jácome; Tony Z Jia; Jeffrey J Marlow; Jordan McKaig; Veronica Mierzejewski; Israel Muñoz-Velasco; Ceren Nural; Gina C Oliver; Petar I Penev; Chinmayee Govinda Raj; Tyler P Roche; Mary C Sabuda; George A Schaible; Serhat Sevgen; Pritvik Sinhadc; Luke H Steller; Kamil Stelmach; J Tarnas; Frank Tavares; Gareth Trubl; Monica Vidaurri; Lena Vincent; Jessica M Weber; Maggie Meiqi Weng; Regina L Wilpiszeki; Amber Young

doi:10.1089/ast.2021.0129

Chapter 1: The Astrobiology Primer 3.0

Astrobiology. 2024 Mar;24(S1):S4-S39. doi: 10.1089/ast.2021.0129.

Authors

Micah J Schaible¹, Nadia Szeinbaum², G Ozan Bozdag³, Luoth Chou^{4

5

6}, Natalie Grefenstette^{7

8}, Stephanie Colón-Santos^{9

10}, Laura E Rodriguez^{11

12}, M J Styczinski^{12

13}, Jennifer L Thweatt¹⁴, Zoe R Todd¹⁵, Alberto Vázquez-Salazar^{16

17}, Alyssa Adams⁵, M N Araújo¹⁸, Thiago Altair^{19

20}, Schuyler Borges²¹, Dana Burton²², José Alberto Campillo-Balderas¹⁶, Eryn M Cangi²³, Tristan Caro²⁴, Enrico Catalano²⁵, Kimberly Chen³, Peter L Conlin³, Z S Cooper¹⁵, Theresa M Fisher²⁶, Santiago Mestre Fos¹, Amanda Garcia²⁷, D M Glaser²⁸, Chester E Harman¹⁶, Ninos Y Hermis^{12

29}, M Hooks³⁰, K Johnson-Finn^{31

32}, Owen Lehmer¹⁵, Ricardo Hernández-Morales¹⁶, Kynan H G Hughson², Rodrigo Jácome¹⁶, Tony Z Jia^{8

31}, Jeffrey J Marlow³³, Jordan McKaig², Veronica Mierzejewski²⁶, Israel Muñoz-Velasco^{16

34}, Ceren Nural³⁵, Gina C Oliver³⁶, Petar I Penev³, Chinmayee Govinda Raj¹, Tyler P Roche¹, Mary C Sabuda^{37

38}, George A Schaible³⁹, Serhat Sevgen^{8

40}, Pritvik Sinhadc^{41

42}, Luke H Steller⁴³, Kamil Stelmach⁴⁴, J Tarnas¹², Frank Tavares⁴⁵, Gareth Trubl⁴⁶, Monica Vidaurri^{5

47}, Lena Vincent⁹, Jessica M Weber¹², Maggie Meiqi Weng⁶, Regina L Wilpiszeki⁴⁸, Amber Young^{4

21}

Affiliations

¹ School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
² School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
³ School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
⁴ NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, USA.
⁵ Center for Space Sciences and Technology, University of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
⁶ Georgetown University, Washington DC, USA.
⁷ Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA.
⁸ Blue Marble Space Institute of Science, Seattle, Washington, USA.
⁹ Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Wisconsin, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Botany, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Wisconsin, USA.
¹¹ Lunar and Planetary Institute, Universities Space Research Association, Houston, Texas, USA.
¹² NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA.
¹³ University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
¹⁴ Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Penn State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA.
¹⁵ Department of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
¹⁶ Departamento de Biología Evolutiva, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico.
¹⁷ Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California Los Angeles, California, USA.
¹⁸ Biochemistry Department, University of São Paulo, São Carlos, Brazil.
¹⁹ Institute of Chemistry of São Carlos, Universidade de São Paulo, São Carlos, Brazil.
²⁰ Department of Chemistry, College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor, Maine, USA.
²¹ Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona, USA.
²² Department of Anthropology, George Washington University, Washington DC, USA.
²³ Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, USA.
²⁴ Department of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, USA.
²⁵ Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, The BioRobotics Institute, Pisa, Italy.
²⁶ School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA.
²⁷ Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Wisconsin, USA.
²⁸ Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA.
²⁹ Department of Physics and Space Sciences, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
³⁰ NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, USA.
³¹ Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, Japan.
³² Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, USA.
³³ Department of Biology, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
³⁴ Departamento de Biología Celular, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico.
³⁵ Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey.
³⁶ Department of Geology, San Bernardino Valley College, San Bernardino, California, USA.
³⁷ Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.
³⁸ Biotechnology Institute, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA.
³⁹ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana, USA.
⁴⁰ Institute of Marine Sciences, Middle East Technical University, Erdemli, Mersin, Turkey.
⁴¹ BEYOND: Center For Fundamental Concepts in Science, Arizona State University, Arizona, USA.
⁴² Dubai College, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
⁴³ Australian Centre for Astrobiology, and School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Kensington, Australia.
⁴⁴ Department of Chemistry, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA.
⁴⁵ Space Enabled Research Group, MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
⁴⁶ Physical and Life Sciences Directorate, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California, USA.
⁴⁷ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Howard University, Washington DC, USA.
⁴⁸ Oak Ridge National Laboratory: Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA.

PMID: 38498816
DOI: 10.1089/ast.2021.0129

Abstract

The Astrobiology Primer 3.0 (ABP3.0) is a concise introduction to the field of astrobiology for students and others who are new to the field of astrobiology. It provides an entry into the broader materials in this supplementary issue of Astrobiology and an overview of the investigations and driving hypotheses that make up this interdisciplinary field. The content of this chapter was adapted from the other 10 articles in this supplementary issue and thus represents the contribution of all the authors who worked on these introductory articles. The content of this chapter is not exhaustive and represents the topics that the authors found to be the most important and compelling in a dynamic and changing field.

Keywords: Astrobiology Primer; Origins and evolution of life; Searching for life beyond Earth.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Exobiology* / education
Humans
Students*