Doctoral Dissertation Research: Astrobiological Models in NASA's Search for Microbial Life

科学家如何寻找火星上生命的证据，以及这与地球上生命的知识有何关系？美国宇航局天体生物学科学家正在努力寻找其他行星上的微生物生命，以了解地球上的生命是如何起源的，以及非地球环境是否可以支持生命。在美国宇航局，对生命的探索是在微生物水平上进行的。虽然科学家们已经设计出精确的技术来检测地球上的微生物生命，但他们不确定火星微生物可能采取的形式。为了准备行星际任务，科学家必须找到想象和探测非地球生命的方法。美国宇航局科学家想象非地球生命的方式改变了地球上生命的定义方式。该项目培训人类学研究生掌握经验性科学数据收集和分析方法，探索天体生物学模型和使命计划如何随着科学家想象地球微生物与外星生命的关系而发展。项目成果和传播其数据和发现的计划将补充美国航天局最近为增加公众参与讨论和参与未来空间任务所做的努力，例如STEM教育倡议，以促进学生在国际空间站上进行实验，并邀请公众对火星样品返回使命概念发表意见。此外，该项目扩大了历史上在科学领域代表性不足的群体的参与。在乔治华盛顿大学的Ilana Feldman博士的监督下，Dana Burton将探索NASA科学家用来想象、定义和探测非地球生命的研究过程，并探索他们辩论这一知识的网络，其中公众对地球气候条件恶化的兴趣日益浓厚，商业利益也越来越多地进入其他行星。这篇人类学博士论文的研究将在两个设施进行：艾姆斯研究中心和喷气推进实验室（JPL）。艾姆斯的科学家们对生命的生物学定义和界定感兴趣，而喷气推进实验室的科学家们则负责构建在太空中进行科学研究的技术，如漫游者。通过访谈、观察和对档案数据的分析，研究人员将统一研究这些地点，以了解生命是如何定义的（特别是通过观察生活在极端环境中的生命形式的科学研究（在实验室和沙漠中）），以及如何测试使命技术的耐久性。在此过程中，该项目将评论科学家如何准备探索生命和支持太空生命的环境。总的来说，这项研究致力于了解天体生物学的科学知识是如何产生的，以及它如何以重要的方式改变地球上生命的概念化。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

How do scientists search for evidence of life on Mars and how does this relate to knowledge about life on Earth? NASA astrobiology scientists in the United States are leading the efforts to search for microbial life on other planets, for the purpose of understanding how life on Earth originated and whether non-Earth environments can support life. In NASA, the search for life takes place at the microbial level. While scientists have devised precise techniques for detecting microbial life on Earth, they are unsure of the forms Martian microbes could take. In order to prepare for interplanetary missions, scientists must find ways to imagine and detect non-Earth life. The way that NASA scientists imagine non-Earth life shifts ways in which life on Earth is defined. This project, which trains a graduate student in anthropology in the methods of empirical, scientific data collection and analysis, explores how astrobiological models and mission plans develop as scientists imagine Earth microbial in relation to extraterrestrial life. The project outcomes and plans for dissemination of its data and findings will complement recent efforts by NASA to increase public involvement in discussing and participating in future space missions, such demonstrated by STEM education initiatives to promote student experiments on the ISS and inviting public opinion on Mars Sample Return mission concepts. Additionally, the project broadens the participation of groups historically underrepresented in science. Dana Burton, under the supervision of Dr. Ilana Feldman of the George Washington University will explore the research processes that NASA scientists employ to imagine, define, and detect non-Earth life, and probe the networks through which they debate this knowledge, amidst growing public interests in deteriorating climatic conditions on Earth and commercial interests in accessing other planetary bodies. The research for this anthropological doctoral dissertation will take place at two facilities: Ames Research Center and Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Ames scientists are interested in the biological definitions and delimitations of life, while JPL scientists are in charge of constructing technologies that conduct science in space, such as rovers. Through interviews, observations, and analysis of archival data, the researcher will study these sites in unison to understand both how life is defined (particularly by observing scientific research (in the lab and in the desert) of life forms that live in extreme environments) and how the durability of mission technologies is tested. In so doing, this project will comment on how scientists are preparing for explorations of life and the environments supporting life in space. Overall, this research endeavors to understand how scientific knowledge about astrobiology is produced and how it may shift conceptualizations of life in significant ways on Earth.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.