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In a very special Voices, the SETI Institute’s two chairs, Chris Chyba and Jill Tarter, describe their reactions to the selection of the Institute as one of twelve new lead teams that compose NASA’s Astrobiology Institute (NAI). The SETI Institute’s submission was found to be “highly relevant to Astrobiology, virtually addressing the [NASA Astrobiology] Roadmap in its entirety.”

Dr. Christopher Chyba, member of the Board of Trustees, examines a bright future in which he will lead an impressive group of scientists conducting research that, according to NASA reviewers, “captures the true sense of the adventure of astrobiology.” Dr. Chyba discusses the profound opportunities presented by the Institute’s NAI membership and describes a number of projects that were characterized by reviewers as being “…very innovative with a strong potential to obtain fundamentally new results,” and as having the potential to “shift existing paradigms dramatically.”

Dr. Jill Tarter, NAI Co-Investigator and holder of the Bernard M. Oliver Chair in the Institute’s Center for SETI Research, will engage with the larger astrobiology community in the interdisciplinary examination of the habitability of relatively small and cool M stars, potential abodes for life and thus potential new SETI search targets. She offers an assessment of the exciting opportunities that await the NAI team, specifically in the areas of SETI research.

Related Information

SETI Institute NAI Announcement

SETI Institute NAI Proposal

SETI Institute NAI team members

SETI Institute press release

NASA NAI press release

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