-Home

-Astrobiology and Planetary Instrument Database

-List of Contacts

-Details and Deadlines

-Related Technologies and Projects

-Related Links

Astrobiology Science and Technology for Exploring the Planets (ASTEP) combines the science and technology communities in order to enable future space missions to determine whether life exists or has existed outside Earth. Through a detailed, collaborative analysis of Earth's extreme environments, we can better prepare to understand analogous systems elsewhere. The focus of upcoming ASTEP projects, for which we currently solicit proposals, is to validate and improve existing technology, preparing it for future flight missions to test for life in our solar system and beyond.

The ASTEP program stems from two divisions of the NASA Office of Space Science (OSS) , the Solar System Exploration (SSE) Division and the Mars Exploration Program. ASTEP also has roots in the Origins science theme, part of the Astronomy and Physics Division of the OSS. The OSS has awarded ASTEP its first annual funding, allowing research of Earth's extremes to commence.

ASTEP is expected to grow during and after its first few years, hopefully becoming one of the first permanent NASA programs dedicated to improving the way in which we search for life on other planets.

Planetary exploration methods are quickly changing from orbital surveys to detailed in-situ analyses, presenting us with the possibility of discovering life outside Earth. This new phase of planetary exploration, characterized by extensive, sustained presence on the surface of the planets, demands new operations and durable technology toolkits with the ability to recognize life autonomously.

  Although Science and Technology programs supporting the Mars/Solar System Exploration and Astrobiology needs already exist, each addresses only a small part of the needs, so a program is necessary to fill the gaps in Planetary and Astrobiology requirements. NASA has initiated the ASTEP program to fill these holes. ASTEP will solicit proposals to explore extreme environments on Earth, leading to the development of technology necessary to search for life on other planets.