Fundamental knowledge gaps exist in our basic understanding of the origin of life on earth, and what distinguishes abiotic from biotic processes. As we explore the solar system and beyond, this may…

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) awarded a $471,357 grant to the SETI Institute, a non-profit scientific organization, to leverage the Frontier Development Lab (FDL) artificial intelligence research accelerator program. The grant will fund two interdisciplinary research teams to address fundamental knowledge gaps in the ability to detect biosignatures and confirm the potential discovery of life, both on Earth and beyond. This effort aligns with NASA's strategic objectives in astrobiology and exoplanet research, supporting advances in identifying the elemental architecture of life and recognizing biosignatures on exoplanets. The SETI Institute has previously supported NASA through prime contracts for technical services related to planetary protection compliance during spacecraft development and operations.

Fundamental knowledge gaps exist in our basic understanding of the origin of life on earth, and what distinguishes abiotic from biotic processes. As we explore the solar system and beyond, this may challenge our ability to positively identify biosignatures and unambiguously confirm a potential discovery. Addressing these gaps demands that we synergistically analyze vast amounts of data from many scientific domains, and envision countless probabilistic occurrences. This makes the field of biosignature detection an area where artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning can provide a critical support to standard lab, field, and theoretical approaches, and significantly speed up breakthrough discoveries. As a result, we propose to leverage the proven NASA frontiers development lab (FDL) formula to advance knowledge in the field of biosignature detection. FDL is an artificial intelligence (AI) applied research accelerator, and a public/private partnership between NASA ames research center and the seti institute. Initiated two years ago, this highly successful program is an intense 8-week workshop that tackles knowledge gaps in science and technology by pairing machine learning experts with astronomy and planetary science experts. With the proposal herein, we seek funding for two interdisciplinary teams to join FDL 3.0 in 2018, and address two fundamental questions relating to our ability to recognize the signatures of life on, and beyond earth: the first question relates to the elemental architecture of life, and the likelihood for a given chemical mixture to have been produced by biology. The second question also tests our ability to recognize the signatures of life, but this time in the context of exoplanets, and the types and combinations of biohints that may represent definitive biosignatures. Addressing these themes has direct relevance to NASA strategic plan objectives 1.5, NASA's program elements C5, exobiology and C11, discovery data analysis kepler/K2, the NASA astrobiology strategy (2015) - and in particular can help advance the questions of themes 4, 5, and 7. IT is also relevant to the national research council "vision and voyages": mars biosignatures (box 6.2), and satellites: active worlds and extreme environments: objective 4: is there evidence for life on the satellites of giant planets?