AO-01-03-OSS-012
The AstroBiology Explorer (ABE) MIDEX Mission: Understanding Organic Molecules in Space
PI: Scott A. Sandford, NASA’s Ames Research Center
The AstroBiology Explorer (ABE) is a MIDEX class space telescope mission concept that would use infrared spectroscopy to address outstanding problems in Astrochemistry and Astrobiology, particularly in the area of the chemical evolution of organics in space. The mission will take advantage of the fact that the middle infrared (2.5-20 µm) is the ideal portion of the electromagnetic spectrum for probing the interatomic bonding of molecular species in space. This mission would make fundamental scientific progress in understanding the molecular evolution in stellar outflows, the diffuse interstellar medium, dense molecular clouds and forming stellar/planetary systems, the Solar System, organic deuterium enrichment, and other galaxies. Such studies will provide a powerful means of better understanding the role astrochemical evolution plays in astrophysics and in the creation and evolution of life in the universe.
| Allamandola, Louis J. | CoI | NASA/Ames Research Center |
| Bregman, Jesse D. | CoI | NASA/Ames Research Center |
| Clausen, Thomas | Coll | NASA/Ames Research Center |
| Cohen, Martin | CoI | University of California, Berkeley |
| Cruikshank, Dale P. | CoI | NASA/Ames Research Center |
| Ennico, Kimberly | CoI | NASA/Ames Research Center |
| Gautier, Thomas N. | CoI | Jet Propulsion Laboratory |
| Greene, Thomas | CoI | NASA/Ames Research Center |
| Hudgins, Douglas | CoI | NASA/Ames Research Center |
| Kwok, Sun | CoI | University of Calgary |
| Lord, Steven D. | CoI | California Institute of Technology |
| Madden, Suzanne C. | CoI | Centre d'Etudes de Saclay |
| McCreight, Craig R. | CoI | NASA/Ames Research Center |
| Purcell, William | TR | Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. |
| Roellig, Thomas L. | CoI | NASA/Ames Research Center |
| Sandford, Scott A. | PI | NASA/Ames Research Center |
| Strecker, Donald W. | Coll | Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. |
| Tielens, Alexander G. | CoI | Kapteyn Astronomy Institute |
| Werner, Michael W. | CoI | Jet Propulsion Laboratory |
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NASA Headquarters Responsible Office: Code SZ
Last Updated: 11 May 2002
Author: Paul Hertz (Code SZ)