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C.F. Chyba (SETI Institute and Stanford University)
Exobiology--the search for extraterrestrial life and the study of conditions relevant to its origins--has been reborn in the past decade. This rebirth has been driven largely by discoveries related to Earth's deep biosphere, and the recognition that there may be several extraterrestrial environments within our own Solar System that could provide plausible environments for subsurface ecologies. Most prominent among these are Mars and Jupiter's moon Europa. In 2003 NASA intends to launch an orbiting spacecraft to Europa, to determine whether a subsurface ocean does in fact exist beneath that world's ice layer. A subsequent lander mission is in the initial planning stages. Lessons learned from the Viking spacecrafts' search for life on Mars over 25 years ago need to be carefully considered. More broadly, the interrelationships between planetary exploration and our understanding of the origin of life are becoming increasingly important.