UH Research Team Joins NASA's Astrobiology Institute

Press Release

UH RESEARCH TEAM JOINS NASA'S ASTROBIOLOGY INSTITUTE
Scientists to Study Water and Its Relation to Life in the Universe

U.S. Senator Daniel K. Inouye announced today that a research team from the University of Hawaii has been selected to investigate the origin, history, and distribution of water and its relation to life in the universe.

The UH team is one of 10 selected by NASA from universities across the country as the newest members of the space agency's Astrobiology Institute at NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, California. The teams will receive five-year federal grants that average $7 million.

"The selection of the UH team is testament to the excellence and rigor of the university's science research, and the contributions to astrobiology that UH can make," said Senator Inouye, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. "All of Hawaii should be proud of UH's selection."

According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, "Astrobiology is the study of the origin, evolution, distribution, and future of life in the universe. This multidisciplinary field encompasses the search for habitable environments in our Solar System and habitable planets outside our Solar System, the search for evidence of prebiotic chemistry and life on Mars and other bodies in our Solar System, laboratory and field research into the origins and early evolution of life on Earth, and studies of the potential for life to adapt to challenges on Earth and in space."

Source