Astrobiology is the study of life in the universe. It provides a biological perspective to many areas of NASA research, linking such endeavors as the search for habitable planets, exploration missions to Mars and Europa, efforts to understand the origin of life, and planning for the future of life beyond Earth.

Astrobiology addresses three basic questions, which have been asked in some form for generations. Astrobiology is exciting today because we have the technology to begin to answer these fundamental questions:

• How does life begin and develop?
• Does life exist elsewhere in the universe?
• What is life's future on Earth and beyond?

NASA Ames Research Center is a leader in the development and execution of NASA's Astrobiology multidisciplinary effort. The development of NASA's Astrobiology Institute seeks to bring together the top scientists into research teams, leverage existing academic and NASA resources, train young multidisciplinary researchers and to coordinate and provide leadership in the development of missions and research efforts across NASA centers and partner organizations.