Astrobiology Contact Group - Home

Many colleagues have decided to create a Contact Group dedicated to Astrobiology, which is a new research theme, well developed in the US and in some countries of the EU, but becoming more mature in our country. Astrobiology is the study of the origin, the evolution and the distribution of life in the Universe. It is a multidisciplinary research aiming to a better understanding of how life may appear and evolve on Earth and on other planets. Astrobiology is closely related to life science, paleontology, geology, chemistry, geophysics, as well as space science exploration, astronomy and astrophysics and even law and philosophy. In order to develop the synergies between these disciplines, the different communities involved want to have the occasion to meet and to understand the language of the other disciplines. We have therefore decided to found a new Contact Group "astrobiology", which would be an ideal platform for such an exchange and would favor a better collaboration.

This Contact Group of FRS-FNRS has been created in 2006 and re-named in 2009 as "Groupe de Contact FRS-FNRS Astrobiologie : des étoiles et planètes à la vie extrême." We are thankful to the FRS-FNRS for providing us this opportunity.

Since that time, many of the Astrobiology contact group members have participated in the IUAP (InterUniversity Attraction Pole) called PlanetTOPERS (Planets: Tracing the Transfer, Origin, Preservation, and Evolution of their ReservoirS). This network has evolved into an EOS (Excellence of Science) project called ET-HOME (Evolution and Tracers of the Habitability Of Mars and Earth). Emmanuelle Javaux (President) and Veronique Dehant (Secretary)