[97]

Toward a Concept of Habitability:  Applications to Experimental Ecopoiesis. P.J. Boston1,2, P.Todd3, D. J. Thomas, K. McMillen2. 1Earth & Environmental Sciences Dept., New Mexico Institute of Mining & Technology, Socorro, NM, 2Complex Systems Research, Inc., Boulder, CO, 3SHOT, Inc., Greenville, IN, 4Lyon College, Science Division, Batesville, AR.

   What do we mean by the term “habitability” as applied to planets and their biospheres or potential biospheres?  The concept of habitability is central to our understanding of what we may be trying to achieve by ecologically terraforming another planet (aka ecopoiesis).  In our recent progress towards developing an experimentally based approach to ecopoiesis for Mars application, we are grappling with a meaningful definition.

   To date, experimental terraforming studies have been rare to non-existent.  This is hardly surprising because of the long durations and immense scale of actual terraforming attempts in the future. However, based on our recent studies sponsored by the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts, we have begun to tap into natural microbial ecosystems that have direct relevance to the habitability challenges to be faced on Mars and to test these organism communities in Mars-like conditions provided by the Ecopoiesis Test Facility at SHOT, Inc.

   With the inception of small-scale studies like our present efforts, a clear-cut notion of the parameters of habitability becomes critical.  We have attempted to define the quantitative factors that characterize extraterrestrial environments (e.g. the 0.38g Mars gravity, low water content, etc.) that have major impact on overall habitability.  Complex, non-linear interactions of these factors must also be considered.  Such factors will be used to test the ecological, physiological, and evolutionary interactions of communities and organisms that are candidates for ecopoietic use.