This book collects papers presented at a workshop taking an interdisciplinary look at methods designed to detect life on other planets. It serves as a reference to scientists and instrument developers working in the field of in-situ and remote life detection.
The search for life outside the Earth has been one of mankind's most challenging quests. We have reached a level of technology that allows for initial steps toward thorough scientific investigation. The aim of this workshop was to take an interdisciplinary look at the signatures that would be indicative of past or present life on another planet and compare them to biosignatures on Earth.
The purpose of the workshop was also to discuss state-of-the-art in-situ instruments that are envisioned to search for these signatures in the exploration of the solar system, as well as the discussion of concepts descriptive of the search for habitable planets around other stars.
This book is intended to provide a reference to scientists and instrument developers working in the field of in-situ and remote life detection. It can also be used as an interdisciplinary introduction for students and post-doctoral researchers entering this new and exciting field.
From the reviews:
"This is a collection of papers from the International Space Science Institute workshop ? . The book is well laid out, with uniformity in style, clear tables and illustrations, several of which are in colour. ? Each paper has an abstract and a full set of references. ? this book is likely to grace the shelves of university libraries and specialists in astrobiology, but it is of interest to anyone with a strong fascination ? . I certainly recommend it." (Barrie W. Jones, Contemporary Physics, Vol. 51 (4), 2010)
