Committee on the
Origin and Evolution of Life
Space Studies Board
National Research Council
FINAL AGENDA
March 2-4, 2011
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Room Keck 1024 500 5th St., NW
The Keck Center Washington, D.C. 20001
OPEN SESSION
7:30 a.m. Meeting room opens
(Breakfast available in the meeting room)
8:30 a.m. Welcome and Agenda Review J. Greg Ferry and Robert Pappalardo
8:45 a.m. Life Detection Fluorescent Instrument Heather Smith
Utah State University and
NRC Mirzayan Science and Technology Policy Program
9:45 a.m. Break
10:00 a.m. Methane on Mars Kevin Zahnle
NASA, Ames Research Center
11: 00 a.m. Overview of Scientific Activities in Antarctic[1] Mahlon C. Kennicutt II
Texas A&M University
12:00 p.m. General Discussion Committee and Guests
(Lunch will be served in the meeting room; discussion will continue)
1:00 p.m. Arsenic and the Meaning of Life[2] Ron Oremland
US Geological Survey
2:00 pm Philosophical Perspective on Mono Lake/Arsenic Paper Carol Cleland
University of Colorado
3:00 p.m. Break
3:15 p.m. Historical Perspective on Mono Lake/Arsenic Paper[3] James Strick
Franklin and Marshall College
4: 15 p.m. Microbiological Perspective on Mono Lake/Arsenic Paper[4] Kenneth Nealson
University of Southern California
5:15 p.m. General Discussion Committee and Guests
6:00 p.m. Activities suspended to reconvene at working dinner
6:30 p.m. Working dinner to discuss presentations: Kellari Taverna
1700 K Street NW
Washington DC 20006
202-535-5274
8:30 p.m. Adjourn for the day
Thursday, March 3, 2011
OPEN SESSION
7:30 a.m. Room Opens
(Breakfast available in the meeting room)
8:30 a.m. Welcome Robert Pappalarado and J. Greg Ferry
8:45 a.m. Drilling in Ice Covered Lakes and Paleoclimate from Ice James White
University of Calorado
9:45 a.m. Break
10:00 a.m. A Reexamination of Early Earth Organics from a Spark Discharge Christopher H. House
Pennsylvania State University
11:00 a.m. NASA Budget, Planetary Science Division Update James Green
NASA HQ
12:00 p.m. General Discussion Committee and Guests
(Lunch will be served in the meeting room; discussion will continue)
1:00 p.m. The Rise of Oxygen: an Evolutionary Perspective Blair Hedges
Pennsylvania State University
2:00 p.m. Update from Board on Life Science Fran Sharples
NRC/DELS/BLS
3:00 p.m. Break
3:15 p.m. NASA Astrobiology Institute Update[5] Carl Pilcher
NASA Astrobiology Institute
4:15 p.m. General Discussion Committee and Guests
5:00 p.m. Adjourn
Friday, March 4, 2011
CLOSED SESSION
7:30 a.m. Room Opens
(Breakfast available in the meeting room)
8:30 a.m. Planetary Decadal Survey[6] Steven Squyres Cornell
Cornell University
10:00 a.m. Break
10:15 a.m. Future of COEL David H. Smith
National Research Council
10:45 a.m. Topics and Agenda for next meeting Committee
11:30 a.m. Final Words J. Greg Ferry and Robert Pappalardo
12:00 p.m. Adjourn
(Lunch available in Keck Center Refectory)
NOTES
Note to Observers: This meeting is being held to gather information to help the committee conduct its activities. The committee will examine the information and material obtained during open sessions in an effort to inform its work. Although opinions may be stated and lively discussion may ensue, no conclusions are being drawn at this time. Therefore, observers who draw conclusions about the committee’s work based on discussions during this meeting will be doing so prematurely. Furthermore, individual committee members often engage in discussion and questioning for the specific purpose of probing an issue and sharpening an argument. The comments of any given committee member may not necessarily reflect the position he or she may actually hold on the subject under discussion, to say nothing of that person’s future position as it may evolve in the course of the committee’s activities
Note to Presenters: If your presentation contains unpublished data, ITAR controlled and/or other sensitive information, please be aware that the open sessions at the meeting may be webcast and presentation materials given to the committee may be posted on a publicly accessible website. Please edit your presentations accordingly.
Webcast Access: The meeting will be webcast at http://connect.arc.nasa.gov/coel/. To receive audio you must call 866-528-2256 (domestic) or +1-216-706-7052 (international). Access code 7078222.
Keck Center: Is located at 500 Fifth St. NW, in Washington’s Penn Quarter district, adjacent to Judiciary Square and the Verizon Center. The closest Metro stations are Gallery Place/Chinatown (Red, Green and Yellow lines; take F St. exit and turn left) and Judiciary Square (Red line; take National Building Museum exit and turn left). Directions available at the following website: http://www.nationalacademies.org/about/contact/nax.html.
Hotel: Blocks of rooms for the use of committee members and guests has been reserved at the Hotel Lombardy—2019 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington D.C. 20006, 202-828-2600—and the State Plaza Hotel—2117 E Street, N.W. Washington D.C. 20037, 202-861-8200. Additional information can be found at http://www.hotellombardy.com/index.cfm and http://www.stateplaza.com/. Maps and directions can be found at http://www.hotellombardy.com/maps-and-directions/ Both hotels are approximately 2 miles from the Keck Center. Members and guests are encouraged to take taxis to the Keck Center. Alternatively you can catch the Metro’s Orange Line (toward New Carrollton) at Foggy Bottom (two blocks west of the Hotel Lombardy at 23rd and I Sts.) or Farragut West (four blocks east of the Hotel Lombardy at 17th and I Sts.), change at Metro Center to Red Line (toward Glenmont) and exit at Gallery Place/Chinatown or Judiciary Square. See Keck Center for subsequent directions. Information about the D.C. Metro can be found at http://www.wmata.com/.
Working Dinner: There will be a joint-working dinner with COSPAR’s Panel on Exploration at Kellari Taverna, 1700 K Street NW, Washington DC 20006. Kellari Taverna is approximately four blocks from the Hotel Lombardy at 17th and I Sts. The telephone number for the restaurant is 202-535-5274. More information can be found at the following website: http://www.primipiatti.com. All meeting participants can attend. The NRC can pay for members of the committee and guest speakers only. Unfortunately, the NRC cannot pay for civil servants. Cost of the dinner is $50.00. Cheques, payable to the National Academy of Sciences, are preferred.
Parking: There is plenty of free parking in the Keck Center’s underground lot. Access is at the F St. end of Sixth St.
3:05 PM
02/24/11
[1] Webcast/Conference Call
[2] Webcast/Conference Call
[3] Webcast/Conference Call
[4] Webcast/Conference Call
[5] Webcast/Conference Call
[6] The contents of the presentation are embargoed until the report’s public release at LPSC on Monday 7 March. Members are asked to refrain from discussing the contents on the presentation with anybody outside of COEL until the embargo has expired.