Luigi Colangeli - Böcker

Astrobiology, a new exciting interdisciplinary research field, seeks to unravel the origin and evolution of life wherever it might exist in the Universe. The current view of the origin of life on Earth is that it is strongly connected to the origin and evolution of our planet and, indeed, of the Universe as a whole. We are fortunate to be living in an era where centuries of speculation about the two ancient and fundamental problems: the origin of life and its prevalence in the Universe are being replaced by experimental science. The subject of Astrobiology can be approached from many different perspectives. This book is focused on abiogenic organic matter from the viewpoint of astronomy and planetary science and considers its potential relevance to the origins of life on Earth and elsewhere. Guided by the review papers in this book, the concluding chapter aims to identify key questions to motivate future research and stimulate astrobiological applications of current and future research facilities and space missions. Today’s rich array of new spacecraft, telescopes and dedicated scientists promises a steady flow of discoveries and insights that will ultimately lead us to the answers we seek.

This volume collects papers presented, as invited and contributed talks or posters, at the workshop on “The NEW Rosetta targets. Obs- vations, simulations and instrument performances”, which was held in CaprionOctober13-15,2003. Morethan100scientistscoveringdi?erent ?elds, such as optical and radio astronomy, laboratory experiments and modelling of comet physics and processes, as well as several Principal Investigators of the instruments on board Rosetta, participated to this highly interdisciplinary workshop. The Rosetta mission was programmed for launch in January 2003 towards the short period comet 46P/Wirtanen and the asteroids 140 Siwa and 4979 Otawara. However, due to problems with the Ariane V launcher, the launch was postponed and the European Space Agency had to identify new mission targets, suitable for a launch window at the end of February 2004. The short period comet 67P/Churyumov- Gerasimenkowaschosenasprimarytargetforthenewbaseline, together with one or two asteroids to be selected, depending on the ?v available after the Rosetta probe interplanetary orbit insertion. After the succe- ful launch of the mission on March 2nd, 2004, the new baseline foresees a double ?y-by with asteroids 21 Lutetia and 2867 Steins, on the way towards the rendezvous with the primary target, that will be reached in 2014. The papers included in this volume cover di?erent complementary ?elds: observations of the new Rosetta targets, laboratory experiments, theoreticalsimulationofcometenvironmentandprocesses,performances of the experiments on board Rosetta spacecraft, also in view of the new mission target(s). Afterthepostponementofthemissionlaunch,comet67P/Churyumov- Gerasimenko was the subject of an intense observation campaign, - tween February and June 2003.

Astrobiology, a new exciting interdisciplinary research field, seeks to unravel the origin and evolution of life wherever it might exist in the Universe. The current view of the origin of life on Earth is that it is strongly connected to the origin and evolution of our planet and, indeed, of the Universe as a whole. We are fortunate to be living in an era where centuries of speculation about the two ancient and fundamental problems: the origin of life and its prevalence in the Universe are being replaced by experimental science. The subject of Astrobiology can be approached from many different perspectives. This book is focused on abiogenic organic matter from the viewpoint of astronomy and planetary science and considers its potential relevance to the origins of life on Earth and elsewhere. Guided by the review papers in this book, the concluding chapter aims to identify key questions to motivate future research and stimulate astrobiological applications of current and future research facilities and space missions. Today’s rich array of new spacecraft, telescopes and dedicated scientists promises a steady flow of discoveries and insights that will ultimately lead us to the answers we seek.