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Artificial Life as an Aid to Astrobiology: Testing Life Seeking Techniques

Artificial Life as an Aid to Astrobiology: Testing Life Seeking Techniques
Artificial Life as an Aid to Astrobiology: Testing Life Seeking Techniques
Searching for signatures of fossil or present life in our solar system requires autonomous devices capable of investigating remote locations with limited assistance from earth. Here, we use an artificial chemistry model to create spatially complex chemical environments. An autonomous experimentation technique based on evolutionary computation is then employed to explore these environments with the aim of discovering the chemical signature of small patches of biota present in the simulation space. In the highly abstracted environment considered, autonomous experimentation achieves fair to good predictions for locations with biological activity. We believe that artificially generated biospheres will be an important tool for developing the algorithms key to the search for life on Mars.
Autonomous experimentation, scientific discovery, evolutionary computation, artificial chemistry
31-40
Springer Berlin
Centler, F.
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Dittrich, P.
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Ku, L.
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Matsumaru, N.
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Pfaffmann, J.
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Zauner, K.-P.
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Banzhaf, W.
Christaller, T.
Dittrich, P.
Kim, J. T.
Ziegler, J.
Centler, F.
90a9fb46-bc13-40b1-beae-eeec2521bfdf
Dittrich, P.
d71c3d25-2174-4f40-b82b-ea0117eecffa
Ku, L.
0f83bbc2-bbf1-4dce-b7fc-f4e444bd0e1e
Matsumaru, N.
8053c166-6cd3-4803-a178-e7cf35c231b0
Pfaffmann, J.
898713ff-a582-422d-a6da-1f54b7747009
Zauner, K.-P.
c8b22dbd-10e6-43d8-813b-0766f985cc97
Banzhaf, W.
Christaller, T.
Dittrich, P.
Kim, J. T.
Ziegler, J.

Centler, F., Dittrich, P., Ku, L., Matsumaru, N., Pfaffmann, J. and Zauner, K.-P. (2003) Artificial Life as an Aid to Astrobiology: Testing Life Seeking Techniques. Banzhaf, W., Christaller, T., Dittrich, P., Kim, J. T. and Ziegler, J. (eds.) In Advances in Artificial Life---Proceedings of the 7th European Conference on Artificial Life (ECAL). Springer Berlin. pp. 31-40 .

Record type: Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)

Abstract

Searching for signatures of fossil or present life in our solar system requires autonomous devices capable of investigating remote locations with limited assistance from earth. Here, we use an artificial chemistry model to create spatially complex chemical environments. An autonomous experimentation technique based on evolutionary computation is then employed to explore these environments with the aim of discovering the chemical signature of small patches of biota present in the simulation space. In the highly abstracted environment considered, autonomous experimentation achieves fair to good predictions for locations with biological activity. We believe that artificially generated biospheres will be an important tool for developing the algorithms key to the search for life on Mars.

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Published date: 2003
Keywords: Autonomous experimentation, scientific discovery, evolutionary computation, artificial chemistry
Organisations: Agents, Interactions & Complexity

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Local EPrints ID: 259134
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/259134
PURE UUID: bb13a2d2-9b1d-4f72-918a-a91a14bc9a5c

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Date deposited: 12 Mar 2004
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 06:20

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Contributors

Author: F. Centler
Author: P. Dittrich
Author: L. Ku
Author: N. Matsumaru
Author: J. Pfaffmann
Author: K.-P. Zauner
Editor: W. Banzhaf
Editor: T. Christaller
Editor: P. Dittrich
Editor: J. T. Kim
Editor: J. Ziegler

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