NASA restores some astrobiology funds? Options

[ljk4-1]

My two cents: I can easily recall when mainstream astronomy considered
searching for exoplanets as too difficult and not a top priority. Some even
questioned if other planets even existed in any significant amounts.

That certainly changed in 1992 and especially in 1995, didn't it?

The same will happen with astrobiology when the first discovery is made.
But we can't find them if we don't search for them, can we?


What Griffin Thinks - and the Academy Says - About Astrobiology

http://www.nasawatch.com/archives/2006/05/...griffin_th.html

Outspoken: Mike Griffin on the NASA budget, Nature: "Deep cuts to NASA
astrobiology - Griffin:

"I did think astrobiology was less important than traditional space science. It
had less intrinsic subject matter to it, and was less advanced. If the community
rises up and says it should be funded, we'll rethink it."

NASA Lacks Resources Needed to Sustain Vigorous Science Program, National
Academy of Sciences:

"The decadal surveys for astrophysics and for solar system exploration both
embraced astrobiology as a key component of their programs, with the questions
encompassed by astrobiology serving as overarching themes for the programs
as a whole."

[ljk4-1]

Saving Astrobiology at NASA

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.nl.html?id=1124

"Astrobiology emerged at a time when NASA was in a state of flux and ARC and
other field centers were faced with possible closure or drastic cutbacks. The
community that formed around this nascent program at ARC turned adversity
and uncertainty into opportunity and built a rich program out of that chaos.

Now tough times are here again. Take a hard look at astrobiology and don't be
afraid to respond to this challenge by looking at ways to make it more efficient as
well as more relevant to the President's stated vision."

[The Messenger]

My two cents: I can easily recall when mainstream astronomy considered
searching for exoplanets as too difficult and not a top priority. Some even
questioned if other planets even existed in any significant amounts.

That certainly changed in 1992 and especially in 1995, didn't it?

Yes, but the emphasis changed because of better telescopes, computerized search routines, and adaptive optics. Which is another reason IAOTO that in the future, credit for many of these types of discoveries should and will go to devices, probes and canned programs rather than the individual who happens to be at the helm on the day of discovery...and of course, which ever PI sticks his foot in the door the loudest

[Guest_BruceMoomaw_*]

Remember that, even when Marcy and Butler started their search, it was regarded as a fool's errand by most other astronomers -- first because it was thought that we didn't have the technological tools yet to detect adequately small Doppler shifts in starlight (they themselves describe their discovery that an iodine-vapor cell could be used for that purpose as a sudden -- and delayed -- brainstorm); and second, because nobody expected giant planets to be orbiting so close to their suns that detectable Doppler-shift patterns could be detected in such a short period. The discovery of the first "hot Jupiter" came as a total shock to everybody, them included.

[centsworth_II]

So is a program for finding Earth-sized planets in or out? And How far behind actually finding them will the ability to characterize their atmospheres be? I can't wait to see how many extra-solar terrestrial planets have Venus-like, Earth-like, Mars-like, Titan-like, or other atmospheres.

[Guest_BruceMoomaw_*]

Kepler is still scheduled to make the first large-scale survey of stars for Earth-sized planets (although, if we're lucky, Earth-based telescopes and COROT may find a few earlier). SIM -- whenever it flies -- will make the first methodical search for such planets of nearby stars; but only TPF will be able to gather meaningful data on their atmospheric composition -- and TPF is clearly still a long way away, even if its funding problems clear up.

[edstrick]

Also note that the european Gaia astrometric mapper <follow on to Hipparchus> is going to discover oodles of planets astrometrically, and brown dwarfs and asteroids and comets and...

[Guest_BruceMoomaw_*]

Yes, but all the planets GAIA discovers will be giant ones -- its astrometric sensitivity for individual targets is only a very small fraction of SIM's, and even SIM will be limited to detecting planets with 2 or 3 times more mass than earth's. (But then, GAIA's function is radically different -- it is supposed to astrometrically map something like a BILLION objects, while SIM will focus with much greater sensitivity on a far smaller set.)