Introduction to Astrobiology

24

English

Département de Biologie, ENS-PSL

The goal of this course is to give an overview and teach the basic principles to investigate scientifically the question of life beyond Earth. With more than 4,000 exoplanets discovered in the past 25 years, the question of finding life beyond Earth is at the forefront of modern science. In astrophysics, this translates in a massive effort to develop a new generation of ground and space telescopes that will bring groundbreaking observations in the coming decade.
These observations are not direct; they focus, in the most favorable cases, on the spectroscopic characterization of the atmosphere. In this context, detecting biological activity beyond Earth translates into identifying the influence of the biosphere on the atmosphere and quantifying biotic and abiotic processes governing its long term evolution. This will be achieved though a novel integration of ecology and planetary science. The course will introduce the students to the knowledge and techniques needed to contribute to this interdisciplinary research field. The course will cover the revised history of the Earth and the solar system and its robotic exploration; the detection and characterization of exoplanets; the long term evolution of Earth, Mars, and Venus; the notion of habitability extended to extraterrestrial environments. ;

LEARNING OBJECTIVES;
- Understanding of basic processes of planetary internal, surface, and atmospheric dynamics.
- Understanding of basic processes of ecosystem function.
- Developing ability to write and analyse simple planetary and ecosystem models.
- Perfoming simulations of example models of coupled planet-ecosystem processes.
- Designing simulations and interpreting outputs to inform questions about habitability and biosignatures.

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE;
Monday ;
10:00-12:00 Introduction to planetary sciences, S. Mazevet;
13:00-15:00 Introduction to astrobiology, S. Mazevet;
15:30-17:00 Ecosystem modeling, R. Ferriere;

Tuesday ;
10:00-12:00 The Earth history as a template, S. Mazevet;
11:00-12:00 Modeling energy-limited ecosystems, A. Affholder;
13:00-15:00 Methanogens in primitive Earth, B. Sauterey;

Wednesday ;
10:00-12:00 The theories of the origin of life, L. Julien;
12:00-13:00 Primitive Mars, Icy moons and the space exploration, S. Mazevet;
14:00-16:00 Methanogens and Enceladus, A. Affholder & B. Sauterey;

Thursday ;
10:00-11:00 The faint sun problem, B. Charnay;
11:00-13:00 The climate of primitive Earth, Mars and Venus, B. Charnay ;
14:00-16:00 Exoplanets and habitable ones, S. Mazevet, A. Affholder;

Friday ;
9:00-11:00 Detecting exoplanets and habitable ones, A. M. Lagrange;
13:00-15:00 Experimental approaches to the origin of life, P. Nghe;
15:00-16:00 Final Q&A with instructors;

Evaluation will be based on the written analysis and discussion of a research paper on questions of habitability and biosignatures. The analysis will be presented formally as a five-page report, structured after a template provided by the instructors.

This is an introductory class, intended to be broadly accessible to students with a BS in science. The class will use basic notions of physics, thermodynamics, chemistry, ecology and programming in Python.

FERRIERE Régis

ORGANIZERS;
Dr. Régis Ferrière, Professor, ENS-PSL, Department of Biology;
Dr. Stephane Mazevet, Director, Obervatoire Côte d'Azur;
LECTURERS;
Dr. Antonin Affholder, Dr. Benjamin Charnay, Dr. Ludovic Jullien, Dr.
Anne-Marie Lagrange, Dr. Philippe Nghe, Dr. Boris Sauterey.