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Astrobiology and the Search for Life Beyond Earth in the Next Decade

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Astrobiology and the Search for Life Beyond Earth in the Next Decade ASTROBIOLOGY AND THE SEARCH FOR LIFE BEYOND EARTH IN THE NEXT DECADE HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED FOURTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION September 29, 2015 Serial No. 114–40 Printed for the use of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://science.house.gov U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 97–759PDF WASHINGTON : 2016 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Publishing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY HON. LAMAR S. SMITH, Texas, Chair FRANK D. LUCAS, Oklahoma EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, Texas F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER, JR., ZOE LOFGREN, California Wisconsin DANIEL LIPINSKI, Illinois DANA ROHRABACHER, California DONNA F. EDWARDS, Maryland RANDY NEUGEBAUER, Texas SUZANNE BONAMICI, Oregon MICHAEL T. MCCAUL, Texas ERIC SWALWELL, California MO BROOKS, Alabama ALAN GRAYSON, Florida RANDY HULTGREN, Illinois AMI BERA, California BILL POSEY, Florida ELIZABETH H. ESTY, Connecticut THOMAS MASSIE, Kentucky MARC A. VEASEY, Texas JIM BRIDENSTINE, Oklahoma KATHERINE M. CLARK, Massachusetts RANDY K. WEBER, Texas DON S. BEYER, JR., Virginia BILL JOHNSON, Ohio ED PERLMUTTER, Colorado JOHN R. MOOLENAAR, Michigan PAUL TONKO, New York STEPHEN KNIGHT, California MARK TAKANO, California BRIAN BABIN, Texas BILL FOSTER, Illinois BRUCE WESTERMAN, Arkansas BARBARA COMSTOCK, Virginia GARY PALMER, Alabama BARRY LOUDERMILK, Georgia RALPH LEE ABRAHAM, Louisiana DARIN LAHOOD, Illinois (II) C O N T E N T S September 29, 2015 Page Witness List ............................................................................................................. 2 Hearing Charter ...................................................................................................... 3 Opening Statements Statement by Representative Lamar S. Smith, Chairman, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives ..................... 9 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 10 Statement by Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson, Ranking Member, Com- mittee on Science, Space, and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives .... 11 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 12 Witnesses: Dr. Ellen Stofan, Chief Scientist, NASA Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 14 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 17 Dr. Jonathan Lunine, David D. Duncan Professor in the Physical Sciences, and Director, Center for Radiophysics and Space Research, Cornell Univer- sity Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 22 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 24 Dr. Jacob Bean, Assistant Professor, Departments of Astronomy and Astro- physics, Geophysics, University of Chicago Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 30 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 32 Dr. Andrew Siemion, Director, SETI Research Center, University of Cali- fornia, Berkeley Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 37 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 39 Discussion ................................................................................................................. 50 Appendix I: Answers to Post-Hearing Questions Dr. Ellen Stofan, Chief Scientist, NASA ................................................................ 72 Dr. Jonathan Lunine, David D. Duncan Professor in the Physical Sciences, and Director, Center for Radiophysics and Space Research, Cornell Univer- sity ......................................................................................................................... 87 Dr. Jacob Bean, Assistant Professor, Departments of Astronomy and Astro- physics, Geophysics, University of Chicago ....................................................... 91 Dr. Andrew Siemion, Director, SETI Research Center, University of Cali- fornia, Berkeley .................................................................................................... 95 (III) ASTROBIOLOGY AND THE SEARCH FOR LIFE BEYOND EARTH IN THE NEXT DECADE TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2015 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY, Washington, D.C. The Committee met, pursuant to call, at 10:02 a.m., in Room 2318 of the Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Lamar Smith [Chairman of the Committee] presiding. (1) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Chairman SMITH. The Committee on Science, Space, and Tech- nology will come to order. Without objection, the Chair is author- ized to declare recesses of the Committee at any time. Welcome to today’s hearing, which is called ‘‘Astrobiology and the Search for Life beyond Earth in the Next Decade.’’ Let me make a couple of announcements. One is an explanation and that is to say that we expect more Members shortly, but at least on the Republican side, all of our Members are in a Repub- lican conference that I left early in order to start on time here, but other Members will be arriving shortly. And the same may be true of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle as well. We have a new member of the Science, Space, and Technology Committee, and I would like to introduce him. He is Darin LaHood, the first Member to my left, whose father I served with in Congress some years ago. Darin LaHood represents a district in Illinois. He’s a former State Senator or serving as a State Senator when he was elected to Congress. Before that, he was both a State and Federal prosecutor. So we welcome his many talents to the Committee. He is going to be serving on two subcommittees, Research and Tech- nology and Oversight, where he will be bringing all those legal skills to bear. And so we are pleased to have him join us today and permanently on this Committee. Welcome, Darin, to you. Mr. LAHOOD. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Chairman SMITH. I’m going to recognize myself for an opening statement and then I’ll recognize the Ranking Member. Edwin Hubble once said: ‘‘Equipped with his five senses, man ex- plores the universe around him and calls the adventure Science.’’ There are few greater adventures than the search for life beyond Earth. When the Hubble Space Telescope was launched in 1990, planets around other stars had not yet been discovered. The only planets we knew were those that orbited our Sun. Since 1995, however, when the first extrasolar planet was detected, the rate of discovery of new exoplanets and external solar systems has been truly re- markable. Today, with the Kepler Telescope, we have found nearly 2,000 confirmed planets that orbit around other stars in our galaxy. Of these, 306 lie within the habitable zone of the stars they orbit— where water could exist—and 14 are almost the size of the Earth. Whether life exists beyond Earth, and if so, how humans can de- tect it, is a critical question. If definitive evidence of life is found, it may be the most significant scientific discovery in human his- tory. The search for life in the universe is a priority of NASA and the U.S. scientific community. Seeking habitable planets is one of the three scientific objectives of the 2010 National Research Coun- cil Decadal Survey on astronomy and astrophysics. The United States pioneered the field of astrobiology and con- tinues to lead the world in this type of research. Since the space program began, NASA has explored the cosmos for life beyond Earth and has conducted scientific research that investigates this possibility. NASA’s astrobiology program continues these scientific endeav- ors to improve our understanding of biological, planetary, and cos- mic phenomena. Just yesterday, NASA announced that it identified 10 flowing briny water on Mars. This past April, NASA’s Chief Sci- entist, Dr. Ellen Stofan, made global headlines with her prediction that ‘‘we are going to have strong indications of life beyond Earth in the next decade and definitive evidence within the next 20 to 30 years.’’ And I am glad that Dr. Stofan has joined us today. Within our solar system, the question of whether life exists or ex- isted on Mars continues to capture the public imagination. In the past year, NASA’s Curiosity Rover made several major scientific discoveries relevant to the search for life on Mars. Curiosity meas- ured a spike in levels of the organic chemical methane in the local atmosphere of its research site. It also detected other organic mol- ecules in drill samples in a mudstone that once sat at the bottom of a lake. And Jupiter’s moon, Europa, shows strong evidence of an ocean of liquid water beneath its surface, which could host condi- tions favorable to some form of life. NASA selected nine science instruments for a future mission to Europa. Two of them are from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio and one from the University of Texas in Austin. These instruments will help scientists investigate
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