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A Small Payloads Program for Astrobiology.    John D. Rummel, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.

   Astrobiology is the study of the origin, evolution, distribution, and future of life in the universe.  As a meta-discipline, astrobiology is inherently interdisciplinary, embracing activities from a widely diverse set, including the search for potentially inhabited planets beyond our Solar System, the exploration of Mars and the outer planets, laboratory and field investigations of the origin and early evolution of life, and studies of the potential of life to adapt to challenging environments on Earth and in space.  A variety of spaceflight  opportunities are essential in addressing these questions in ways not possible on Earth. In addition to planetary exploration and astronomy, missions can provide access to the unique characteristics of space, such as non-unitary gravity levels, the space radiation environment, hard vacuum, and environments on other planetary surfaces.

   Currently, NASA’s Science Mission Directorate is investigating the establishment of an Astrobiology Small Payloads (ASP) Program to enable the conduct of spaceflight experiments and observations to use the space environment as a laboratory in ways not practicable using larger spacecraft or the currently planned planetary or astronomical platforms.  Based on the initial evaluation of concepts from a June 2007 workshop, astrobiology science that could be accomplished using small satellites and related flight opportunities span astrobiology’s component disciplines, including investigations in the fields of exobiology, astrochemistry, planetary sciences, and astrophysics.  This paper describes the nature of the program currently envisioned, and recent progress toward providing space-access for astrobiology investigations.