title: Extra-terrestrial life in the European Space Agency's Cosmic Vision plan and beyond.
abstract: Our exciting time allows us to contemplate the moment in the not-too-distant future when we can detect the presence of life on worlds orbiting stars other than our Sun. It will not be easy and will require the development and use of the very latest technologies. It also very probably demands deployment in space of relevant instrumentation in order to carry out these investigations. The European Space Agency has been involved in the studies and development of the required technologies for more than a decade and is currently formulating a roadmap for how to achieve the ultimate detection of signs of life as we know it on terrestrial exoplanets. The major elements of the roadmap consist of the following. First, the search for and detection of terrestrial exoplanets. Here, some progress has been made recently and is reported in this paper. Second, the more and more detailed study of the physical characteristics of such exoplanets. Finally, the search for biomarkers--indicators of biological activity--that can be observed at interstellar distances. The last is probably one of the most difficult problems ever contemplated by observational astronomy.
authors.affiliation: European Space Agency, ESTEC, PO Box 299, 2200AG Noordwijk, The Netherlands. malcolm.fridlund@esa.int
authors.forename: Malcolm
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fridlund
mesh_terms: D005060:Europe; D018559:Exobiology / Q000379:methods*; D005118:Extraterrestrial Environment; D006040:Goals; D006077:Government Agencies; D016083:Planets