Starting Life and Searching for Life on Rocky Planets

Abstract: The study of origins of life on Earth and the search for life on other planets are closely linked. Prebiotic chemical scenarios can help prioritize planets as targets for the search for life as we know it and can provide informative priors to help us assess the likelihood that particular spectroscopic features are evidence of life. The prerequisites for origins scenarios themselves predict spectral signatures. The interplay between origins research and the search for extraterrestrial life must start with lab work guiding exploratory ventures in the solar system, and the discoveries in the solar system informing future exoplanet observations and laboratory research. Subsequent exoplanet research will in turn provide statistical context to conclusions about the nature and origins of life.