School of Earth & Environmental Sciences

Laboratory for Astrobiological Investigations & Space Mission Planning

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Projects

New Habitability of Exoplanets Research Group (HERG)

Project Leader: D Schulze-Makuch

BOLD Mission to Mars

Project Leader: D. Schulze-Makuch

Mars: Hydrothermal Fluids and the Search for Biomarkers

Project Leader: C. Fan

Modeling the Rise of Cyanobacteria in Earth’s early History

Project Leader: J. Wu

Pavilion Lake Research Project, Canada

Project Leader: D. Lim

Pitch Lake Project, a Natural Asphalt Lake in Trinidad and Tobago

Project Leader: D. Schulze-Makuch

TANDEM Mission to Titan and Enceladus

Project Leader: A. Coustenis

Study of Mission Concepts in Collaboration with the Visual and Autonomous Exploration Systems Research Laboratory at Caltech

Project Leader: W. Fink
 

Diet and Cancer Study

Project Leaders: M. Antonio and D. Schulze-Makuch


News


A TWO-TIERED APPROACH TO ASSESSING THE HABITABILITY OF EXOPLANETS
 
Investigators:
Dirk Schulze-Makuch, Abel Méndez, Alberto G. Fairén, Philip von Paris, Carol Turse, Grayson Boyer, Alfonso F. Davila, Marina Resendes de Sousa António, David Catling, and Louis N. Irwin
 
In press at the journal Astrobiology: http://www.liebertpub.com/products/product.aspx?pid=99

 Abstract:
In the next few years, the number of catalogued exoplanets will be counted in the thousands. This will vastly expand the number of potentially habitable worlds and lead to a systematic assessment of their astrobiological potential. Here, we suggest a two-tiered classification scheme of exoplanet habitability. The first tier consists of an Earth Similarity Index (ESI), which allows worlds to be screened with regard to their similarity to Earth, the only known inhabited planet at this time. The ESI is based on data available or potentially available for most exoplanets such as bulk density, escape velocity, surface temperature, and chemistry. For the second tier of the classification scheme we propose a Planetary Habitability Index (PHI) based on the presence of a stable substrate, available energy, appropriate chemistry, and the potential for holding a liquid solvent. The PHI has been designed to minimize the biased search for life as we know it and to take into account life that might exist under more exotic conditions. As such, the PHI requires more detailed knowledge than is available for any exoplanet at this time. However, future missions such as the Terrestrial Planet Finder will collect this information and advance the PHI. Both indices are formulated in a way that enables their values to be updated as technology and our knowledge about habitable planets, moons, and life advances. Applying the proposed metrics to bodies within our Solar System for comparison reveals two planets in the Gliese 581 system, GJ581c and d, with an ESI comparable to that of Mars, and a PHI between that of Europa and Enceladus.
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Physical Location: Webster Hall 1132 (currently)
Washington State University
Pullman, WA 99164, USA
Tel.: (509)-335-4812 (Carol Turse) or
Dirk Schulze-Makuch (509)-335-1180

 

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space shuttle
Launch of the Space Shuttle (Credit: NASA)

Lake Lucero (salt playa), New Mexico
Lake Lucero (salt playa),
New Mexico

coral
Microbialite Structures at Pavilion Lake, Canada
(Credit: Donnie Reid)


Red Dwarf with Planet
Red dwarf star (M-star) with a planet.

( Credit to Scott Engle, "Living with a Red Dwarf Program", Villanova University.)




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