NASA Astrobiology Institute

The NASA Astrobiology Institute, known as NAI, was established in 1998 by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to develop the field of astrobiology and provide a scientific framework for flight missions. It was a virtual, distributed organization linking research and training programs across universities and research institutions, centrally tied to Ames Research Center in California. Interest in it grew after the 1996 announcement of possible traces of ancient life in the Martian meteorite Allan Hills 84001, and Nobel laureate Baruch Blumberg served as its first director from 1999 to 2002. By 2018 it had ten teams with about 600 researchers across roughly 100 institutions and thirteen international partner organizations. Its research ranged over the origins of life, early Mars, exoplanets and sub-seafloor life. The institute activities were suspended in December 2019.