Exobiology

   The study of the necessary conditions to support life on other planets. NASA's Exobiology program studies the origin, evolution and distribution of life in the universe.

   They trace the pathways by which biogenic elements (Carbon, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Phosphorus and Sulfur) evolved through the major epochs of living systems. These epochs are: The cosmic evolution of biogenic compounds; Prebiotic evolution; The early evolution of life; and The evolution of advanced life. NASA wants to know the history of biogenic compounds from their creation in stars to their incorporation into planetary bodies.

   Their research into prebiotic evolution studies the processes leading from the creation of a planet to the creation of life on that planet. To understand what planetary and molecular processes must exist to allow the necessary physical and chemical conditions to create life, they study four areas. They are: To determine what physical and chemical conditions existed on a planet, and the molecular processes, within which a living system arose; Create models of environments where chemical evolution could have occurred; Determine what chemical systems were in place to allow metabolic and replicating systems to exist on the planet; and Determine how prebiotic organic matter has been preserved in the planets material (rocks, etcetera.). See Exopaleontology.