About the author : caleb scharf is the director of columbia university 's multidisciplinary astrobiology center . He has worked in the fields of observational cosmology , x-ray astronomy , and more recently exoplanetary science .
Ok , so a synthetic microbe may not fall strictly in the realm of exploration , but it is one of the holy grails of astrobiology one that would change how we understand life 's origins and inform our search for life beyond earth .
Speaking at a public lecture at the nasa ames research center in mountain view , california , dr baross said that the kepler space telescope 's mission , looking for earth-like planets around other stars , made this an exciting time for astrobiology the search for alien life .
According to ariel anbar , head of the astrobiology program at arizona state university , the idea dates back to at least 1954 , when j.b.s. haldane speculated that ammonia might be able to sustain life at a symposium on the origin of life .