THE JOURNAL OF ASTROSOCIOLOGY VOLUME 1

and the British Royal Society hosted a symposium on astrobiology to help celebrate its 350 thbirthday (Dominik and Zarnecki, 2011).Nobel Laureate Baruch Blumberg heralds astrobiology as a new age of discovery,analogous to that era when adventurers and scientists undertook sea and land-based expeditionsof discovery (Blumberg, 2011). Like James Cook, Alexander von Humboldt, and Lewis andClark, astrobiologists set forth to explore new ground, following in the tradition of past explorerswho sought new routes, scientific discoveries, and material resources. Past exploration was madepossible by ambitious sovereigns and governments, committed visionaries, better ships,improved instruments, high motivation, and developing scientific skills. Many early explorershad spent years studying topics like biology, geology, and meteorology, which allowed them tomake sense of their fresh discoveries. “The sense of wonder,” he adds, “generated by theexplorations of the Age of Enlightenment is also part of contemporary research and exploration”(Blumberg, 2011: 515). Blumberg speaks from experience since he personally traveled to remotefield sites with only the equipment that he could squeeze into his backpack (Dick and Strick,2005).b. The Societal RoadmapAlthough a purely scientific effort, astrobiology applies the theories and methods ofscience to three great existential questions. These are: “Where do we come from?” “Are wealone?” “What will happen to us?” Traditionally these questions have been the province ofphilosophy and theology. Because of astrobiology’s far reaching implications for humanity,NASA’s Astrobiology Roadmap spurred a parallel effort now known as the “societal roadmap”published by Race et al. (2012) in the peer-reviewed journal Astrobiology. This publication is anoutgrowth of interwoven activities including a meeting held in 1999 at the NASA AmesResearch Center (Harrison and Connell, 2001) and a meeting ten years later at the SETI Institute(Race et al., 2012).The 2009 meeting included 43 participants broken into three affinity groups: Philosophyand Ethics, Science and Religion, and Social Sciences. As described in the conference report“Astrobiology and Society: Building an Interdisciplinary Research Community,” the task of the2009 conference was to identify and explore sociocultural issues; invite participation ofhistorians, social scientists, theologians, and humanists in the overall astrobiological enterprise;and encourage dialogue with physical and natural scientists and the public at large (Race et al.,2012). While the societal roadmap is a communal effort independent of NASA, both roadmapsare intended to orient researchers and help them work across interdisciplinary lines. In 2013,societal issues became a focus group within the NASA Astrobiology Institute. The societalroadmap sets five tasks (Race et al., 2012):1. Explore the range and complexity of societal issues related to how life beginsand evolves.2. Understand how astrobiological research relates to questions about thesignificance and meaning of life.3. Explore the relationships of humans to life and environments on Earth.© 2015 Astrosociology Research Institute13