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The Virtual Planetary Laboratory: Towards Characterization of Extrasolar Terrestrial Planets

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 September 2017

Victoria Meadows  and
David Crisp
Victoria Meadows
Affiliation:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology and the NASA Astrobiology Institute, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA, 91109, USA
David Crisp
Affiliation:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology and the NASA Astrobiology Institute, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA, 91109, USA

Abstract

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NASA and ESA are currently undertaking mission studies for space-based observatories designed to search for life on other worlds. To optimize the designs of these missions, and to ultimately interpret the data sent back by them, we need to recognize habitable worlds and to discriminate between planets with and without life based only on remotely-sensed information. This paper provides an overview of the characteristics we would look for on an extrasolar terrestrial planet that might indicate habitability or the presence of life. It also describes a new NASA Astrobiology Institute research project to develop an innovative suite of modeling tools to simulate the environments and spectra of extrasolar planets. These modeling tools will constitute a Virtual Planetary Laboratory, which will be used to explore the plausible range of atmospheric compositions and globally-averaged spectra for early Earth and for plausible terrestrial planets both with and without life. Products of this research will provide an improved basis for recommending spacecraft and instrument characteristics, as well as search strategies required to remotely sense the signs of life in the atmosphere or on the surface of another world.

Type
Astrochemistry
Information
Symposium - International Astronomical Union , Volume 213: Bioastronomy 2002: Life Among the stars , 2004 , pp. 129 - 138
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of the Pacific 2004 

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