The Search for Planetary Habitability

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'Does life exist elsewhere in the Universe?' is one of the most compelling questions in planetary sciences and constitutes one of the main questions in STFC's roadmap. The question has immense interest to the wider public since it underpins fundamental questions about the whether our civilisation is unique, what our long-term future is in the Universe and the astronomical context in which our civilisation sits. From a scientific point of view, the search for habitable conditions will reveal whether the conditions for the origin of life are unusual in the Universe, and if they are not, what is the nature of other life and what does it tell us about the co-evolution of life on Earth and its astronomical and planetary environment. The most likely life to be found elsewhere is microbial and so this proposal focuses on searching for conditions that would support microbial life. However, habitable conditions could also exist without life and our work will attempt to understand how these conditions could arise and how we might detect them elsewhere.In this consortium we plan to implement a coordinated effort to study habitability in the Universe that will both advance our understanding of how habitable conditions form and improve our ability to detect it. To successfully do this we have brought together groups with expertise in astrobiology and building instruments. In this way we can more effectively develop the next generation of instruments to search for habitable conditions.Our work has many spin-offs into public outreach, education and practical societal benefits for which we have identified specific projects and contributions. They including applications of our expertise to the storage of geological waste (nuclear and carbon dioxide) and improving the education of interdisciplinary science in schools across the UK, including teacher training.