AbSciCon 2019

AbSciCon 2019 is the next in a series of conferences organized by the astrobiology community. AbSciCon will be held on 24-28 June 2019 in Bellevue, Washington.

The theme for AbSciCon 2019 is “Understanding and Enabling the Search for Life on Worlds Near and Far.” Within our Solar System, icy worlds and Mars have generated excitement, while exoplanets offer numerous and diverse environments where life may exist in other planetary systems. Near future missions and observations will scrutinize many of these targets to understand their environments and search for signs of life.  Meanwhile, fundamental research on the origin and evolution of life on Earth drives our understanding about life processes that may operate elsewhere.

SETI Institute participants will include:

• Dale Andersen (Soil Microbial Communities in an Antarctic Water Track: Identifying Potential Ecological Optimums in a Hyperarid Mars-Analog Environment; Isotopic Depletion of Methanotroph Biomarker Lipids in Lacustrine Systems; Metagenomic and Metatranscriptomic Profiling of the Methane-Rich Anoxic Basin of the Antarctic Lake Untersee as an Ocean Worlds Analog)
• Janice Bishop (Identifying Environmental Change and Seeking Potentially Habitable Sites on Mars at Mawrth Vallis Through Correlation with Analog Expeditions on Earth)
• Rosalba Bonaccorsi (Small, Fast, and Cold! : Enceladus Plume Analog Simulation Experiments; Engaging the Public with MarsFest Events in Death Valley National Park)
• Kathryn F. Bywaters (Astrobiological Technologies; Viruses and Astrobiology)
• Nathalie Cabrol (The Changing Nature of Planetary Exploration: A Personal Perspective on the Role of the NAI; Searching for Life Beyond Earth and the Reframing of Planetary Exploration; Landscape Ecology of Microbial Communities in the Mars Analog Salar de Pajonales, Chile; Microbial Participation on the Formation and the Preservation of Gypsum Structures from Salar de Pajonales, Northern Chile; Identifying Environmental Change and Seeking Potentially Habitable Sites on Mars at Mawrth Vallis Through Correlation with Analog Expeditions on Earth; The Relevance of Hydrothermal Spherules in Astrobiological Exploration of Rocky Planets; EXO-ATMOS: A Scalable Grid of Hypothetical Planetary Atmospheres)
• Douglas Caldwell (The NASA FDL Exoplanet Challenge: Transit Classification with Convolutional Neural Networks)
• Gözen Ertem (Protective Role of Martian Analogue Minerals for Bio-Organic Molecules Against the Effects of Galactic Cosmic Radiation)
• Virginia Gulick (Mid-IR and Raman Spectroscopy of Perchlorates)
• Hiroshi Imanaka (Abundance and Fate of Abiotically Derived N2O in the Ferruginous Ocean of the Archean)
• Chris Kempes (Mathematical, Computational, and Data Sciences Explorations for Astrobiology)
• Michael Kubo (ARMS: A Developing Metadata Standard for Describing Astrobiology Research Products; Enhancing Data Sharing, Discovery, and Analysis in the Astrobiology Community; The Lassen Astrobiology Intern Program; Carbon Assimilation Strategies in Ultrabasic Groundwater: Clues from the Integrated Study of a Multi-Well Network; Microbial Community Responses to Drilling Induced Perturbations in a Serpentinization-Influenced Aquifer – Implications for Future Analog Studies; Selective Chemical Degradation and Catalytic Hydropyrolysis of Insoluble Macromolecular Microbial Mat Organic Matter)
• Barbara Lafuente (Enhancing Data Sharing, Discovery, and Analysis in the Astrobiology Community; ARMS: A Developing Metadata Standard for Describing Astrobiology Research Products)
• Franck Marchis (Exploring the planetary system of Alpha Centauri: current knowledge, opportunities, and techniques; Machine Learning Approaches to Data Reduction from the MapX X-ray Fluorescence Instrument for Detection of Biosignatures and Habitable Planetary Environments)
• Timothy Michaels (Quantifying Daily Brine Phase-Evolution on Mars using Thermochemical Modeling)
• Margaret Race (Sample Return Planning and Biocontainment Needs for Robotic and Human Mars Missions; Before You Go ... Information Needed for the Safe and Productive Astrobiological Exploration of Mars by Crewed Missions)
• John Rummel (The Worm Ouroboros: Harmful Contamination and Planetary Protection in the Outer Space Treaty (for Astrobiology); Planetary Protection for Astrobiology: Progress and Challenges in Science and Policy)
• Philippe Sarrazin (Planetary in-situ microCT analysis of rock samples; Machine Learning Approaches to Data Reduction from the MapX X-ray Fluorescence Instrument for Detection of Biosignatures and Habitable Planetary Environments; The Relevance of Hydrothermal Spherules in Astrobiological Exploration of Rocky Planets; CheMin-V: A Definitive Mineralogy Instrument for the Venera-D Mission)
• J.R. Skok (Biosignature preservation in a silica-carbonate mixed mineralogy hot spring; Astrobiology Survey of a Lava Cave at Lava Beds National Monument by a Rover Carrying a Remote Sensing Instrument Payload)
• Jeffrey Smith (The NASA FDL Exoplanet Challenge: Transit Classification with Convolutional Neural Networks)
• Pablo Sobron (InVADER: Furthering the Understanding and Exploration Readiness of Terrestrial and Planetary Underwater Vent Systems; Autonomous Airborne Surface Sample Collection and Return; Landscape Ecology of Microbial Communities in the Mars Analog Salar de Pajonales, Chile; The Relevance of Hydrothermal Spherules in Astrobiological Exploration of Rocky Planets; Submersible Tools for Robotically Sampling Underwater Hydrothermal Vents in the Axial Seamount Formation)
• J. Andy Spry (Planetary Protection for Astrobiology: Progress and Challenges in Science and Policy; Before You Go ... Information Needed for the Safe and Productive Astrobiological Exploration of Mars by Crewed Missions)
• Thomas Stucky (Investigation of Statistical Classification to Inform Life Detection Mission Evaluation; Mathematical, Computational, and Data Sciences Explorations for Astrobiology; Atacama Rover Astrobiology Drilling Studies Project: Third Year; Remote Operation of a Shallow Subsurface Life Detection Payload in Atacama Chile with Rover, Drill, Sample Delivery to Instruments, and Sample Analysis)
• David Summers (Microbial Contamination Detection at Low Levels by Radiolabeling; Mid-IR and Raman Spectroscopy of Perchlorates)
• Jill Tarter (Searching for Technosignatures)
• Kimberley Warren-Rhodes (Landscape Ecology of Microbial Communities in the Mars Analog Salar de Pajonales, Chile; Microbial Participation on the Formation and the Preservation of Gypsum Structures from Salar de Pajonales, Northern Chile; Identifying Environmental Change and Seeking Potentially Habitable Sites on Mars at Mawrth Vallis Through Correlation with Analog Expeditions on Earth)

https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/news/abscicon-2019-save-the-date/

Note: Conference registration is required to attend this event.