Home > Astrobio Lab
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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