LINKING EARTH AND SPACE FOR THE PUBLIC: THE ASTROBIOLOGY FIELD GUIDE

Professional researchers have a lot in common with kids and other curious members of the general public. The idea of exploration, better yet, of expedition, sends visions of Indiana Jones repelling down a cliff and Sir Edmund Hillary trekking up a pure white slope at 25,000 feet careening through their minds' eyes, inspiring them to want to hit the trail "in search of…" The goal of the Astrobiology Field Guide project is to engage 'students of all ages' with the ongoing field expeditions of today's astrobiologists as they explore the ends of the Earth searching for clues to life's origin, evolution, and distribution in the Universe.

Using global satellite data visualization software, the NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI) is crafting a visualization of this field guide. It will focus on one astrobiology research site - The Pilbara in Western Australia, an internationally recognized area hosting the best known example of the earliest evidence of life on Earth - a stromatolitic chert precipitation in the 3.45 Ga Warrawoona Group. From a global view of the Earth, users will zoom down to the outcrop scale in the Pilbara where they will interact with multimedia elements revealing the research and astrobiological relevance of the area.

Future expansions of the Astrobiology Field Guide could include many more sites across the globe relevant to astrobiology such as Licancabur in Chile, the Rio Tinto in Spain, the Barberton in South Africa, and Yellowstone National Park in the US, or any site where research into the origin and evolution of life on Earth may inform us about life elsewhere. For now, the visualization serves as an initial point of discussion with the informal education community, that is museums & science centers, as well as scientists in many fields to engage their expertise and ideas for usability, need for such a product, and feasible expansion plans. The Astrobiology Field Guide has the potential to be an amazing resource linking Earth and space and engaging users in the very real science going on around the planet.