Astrobiology as a NASA Grand Challenge

Abstract

Are we alone is a question whose ambition can only be met with a NASA-led global collaboration. In this white paper, we describe how this makes The Search for Life Beyond Earth a new Grand for NASA. As described in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the White House National Economic Council, Grand Challenges are ambitious but achievable goals that harness science, technology, and innovation to solve important national or global problems and that have the potential to capture the public's imagination. NASA had identified an Grand Challenge centered on the Asteroid Retrieval Mission, which was closed out in June, 2017. Here, we explain how NASA's next Grand could be focused on The Search for Life Beyond Earth, with a flagship-scale mission in Astrophysics as its centerpiece.