MOUNTAIN VIEW, July 21: Scientists have speculated for long that life existed beyond the Earth. In recent years, they even discovered evidence that it might and developed better tools for the search. Now, they are ready to start looking. Scientists gathered at NASA's Ames Research Center here on Monday have begun drawing up an astrobiological road-map - the first step in deciding where and how they should seek earth-like planets and where life may have evolved.A three-day conference will examine the biological basis for distant life, technological challenges in detecting it and the possible missions based on earth or in space to find it. Participants hope to reach consensus and draw up a report in the next couple of months. ``The workshop is being held to identify the exciting opportunities to bring space technology to bear on the fundamental question about the origin, evolution and future of life,'' said NASA's astronomer David Morrison, co-chairperson of the event. ``We believe astrobiology asksquestions which we are now able to answer or try to answer,'' he said.Fuelling scientists' desire for the quest are a number of discoveries in recent years. For instance, researchers have found that life on earth can exist under extreme conditions; in blocks of antarctic ice, in hot springs, and inside rocks. If microbes can live there, perhaps they could live on seemingly dead planets.Spacecraft Galileo detected signs of water under the surface of Europa, one of Jupiter's moons, some time back. Another exciting discovery was the 1996 event, when scientists reported the fossilized bacterial remains inside a Martian rock.
