Disciplines
The fields of astrobiology — origins of life, planetary habitability, biosignatures, technosignatures, ocean worlds, and planetary protection.
- Origins of LifeDiscipline
The study of how life began — the chemistry that turned simple molecules into self-replicating systems on the early Earth, and whether the same steps could happen elsewhere. A question that frames the entire search for life beyond Earth.
- Planetary HabitabilityDiscipline
What makes a world able to host life — liquid water, an energy source, the chemical building blocks, and a stable enough environment for long enough. Habitability is judged by these factors, not by any detection of life.
- Biosignature ScienceDiscipline
The search for signs of life — atmospheric gases, surface features, and chemical patterns that life could produce — and the rigorous work of telling a true biosignature from a false positive made by non-living processes.
- Technosignatures & SETIDiscipline
The search for signs of technology — radio and optical signals, and other technosignatures — carried out by the SETI Institute and programs like Breakthrough Listen. A search for intelligence, distinct from the search for microbial life.
- Ocean WorldsDiscipline
The icy moons with liquid-water oceans beneath their shells — Europa, Enceladus, and Titan — now the most promising places to search for life in the Solar System, targets of the Europa Clipper and Dragonfly missions.
- Planetary ProtectionDiscipline
The discipline of preventing contamination — protecting other worlds from Earth microbes carried by spacecraft (forward contamination), and protecting Earth from any material returned from them (backward contamination), so the search for life is not fooled and no harm is done.