The Search for Planetary Habitability

'Does life exist elsewhere in the Universe?' is one of the most compelling questions in planetary sciences and constitutes one of the main questions in STFC's roadmap. The question has immense interest to the wider public since it underpins fundamental questions about the whether our civilisation is unique, what our long-term future is in the Universe and the astronomical context in which our civilisation sits. From a scientific point of view, the search for habitable conditions will reveal whether the conditions for the origin of life are unusual in the Universe, and if they are not, what is the nature of other life and what does it tell us about the co-evolution of life on Earth and its astronomical and planetary environment. The most likely life to be found elsewhere is microbial and so this proposal focuses on searching for conditions that would support microbial life. However, habitable conditions could also exist without life and our work will attempt to understand how these conditions could arise and how we might detect them elsewhere.

In this consortium we plan to implement a coordinated effort to study habitability in the Universe that will both advance our understanding of how habitable conditions form and improve our ability to detect it. To successfully do this we have brought together groups with expertise in astrobiology and building instruments. In this way we can more effectively develop the next generation of instruments to search for habitable conditions.

Our work has many spin-offs into public outreach, education and practical societal benefits for which we have identified specific projects and contributions. They including applications of our expertise to the storage of geological waste (nuclear and carbon dioxide) and improving the education of interdisciplinary science in schools across the UK, including teacher training.

The consortium members will ensure the impact of the work to the wider public and industry by a number of approaches.

Astrobiology Summer Academy (ASA): The UK Centre for Astrobiology's Astrobiology Summer Academy (www.astrobiologyyacademy.org) enters its second year in 2014. The summer academy was set up with two objectives: 1) to provide high school students with the opportunity to learn about space sciences and astrobiology, and 2) to generate lesson plans linked to the curriculum that will enhance learning in interdisciplinary science using astrobiology as the vehicle. The academy provides a way to bring teachers together to share ideas and create a network of teachers who will remain in contact. In 2014 teachers involved with the National Space Academy will take part in the academy. The lesson plans generated during the teacher training academy are to be made available on national STEM and ESERO-UK web sites. The ASA is currently supported by STFC, UKCA, the National Space Centre (National Space Academy) and other organisations either financially or in-kind.

Application of space technology to solving terrestrial problems: The consortium team is dedicated to enhancing the transfer of technology to Earth-based problems. One consortium member runs an STFC Futures Global Challenges Network called GeoRepNet (www.georepnet.org). GeoRepNet has the objective of identifying the main scientific questions (geophysical, geochemical and geobiological) in the establishment of geological repositories. One particular focus of the network is to enhance the transfer of high technology from STFC to the building and monitoring of geological repositories. As part of the consortium effort we will have a workshop specifically focused on the translation of STFC planetary sciences technology to geological repositories.

GeoBus: The GeoBus project is a free educational initiative designed to take the excitement of geo- and planetary sciences to schools in Scotland the north of England. Established by Dr Ruth Robinson at St Andrews, GeoBus attracts a diversity of students and is a way to substantially increase the interest of students in STEM subjects. As part of the consortium grant we will introduce workshops into the initiative with an astrobiology focus building around the origin and evolution of life and the habitability of planetary environments.

Instrument Impact: The consortium seeks to promote the VIS-IR hyperspectral technology that will be used by our Aberystwyth partners for non-space applications. Team members currently work with local companies, and one such company: Environment Systems Ltd. The technology combined with multi-spectral aerial cameras is being used to drive improvements in managing agricultural practices such as the use of fertilisers, invasive weed mapping and crop disease and stress detection. The instrument improvements that occur in the context of this grant will provide important potential science requirement definition for these commercial applications. The consortium team has strong links with academic colleagues and their industrial associates involved with the application of hyperspectral camera technology to the food industry. The developments and improvements in the study of low biomass samples that will be accomplished in this project will have important applications to the detection of organisms with health implications. During the project we will generate public outreach material including Technocamp articles and workshop demonstration kit relating to space exploration instrumentation. The purpose will be to show case to the 11 to 15, and 16 to 19 age groups UK space exploration technology, and provide them with an opportunity to learn new skills in space science, and engineering and the underpinning STEM subjects. As part of our wider results dissemination plan, we will seek actively to publicise our results via public TV, radio and press events.