The meeting E1.9 on ’Ultraviolet Astronomy and the Quest for the Origin of Life’ during the 42nd COSPAR Assembly in Pasadena addressed important aspects on the role of UV radiation in the chemical selection of the basic ingredients for the origins-of-life chemistry.
The program included talks on the surface UV environment on planets orbiting M-dwarfs, the role of strong flares and the UV chemistry in warm little ponds on rocky planets and the possible origen of RNA in them.
The status and planning for UV facilities was addressed and there was a great deal of interest on cubesats. The picture corresponds to the end of the ’extra-official’ cubesat meeting.

Program:

The Evolution and Dispersal of Planet-forming Disks, Ilaria Pascucci

The Surface UV Environment on Planets Orbiting M-dwarfs: Need for Experiments & Implications for Origins-of-life Chemistry, Sukrit Ranjan

UV Irradiation and disk winds: the impact on disk evolution, Ana I. Gómez de Castro

Exoplanet Research in the UV, David Ehrenreich

Exploring habitability under an environment of strong superflares at a time when the ozone layer first formed on Earth, Raissa Estrela

The Core Program Call of the WSO-UV mission, Mikhail Sachkov

Ultraviolet Chemistry in Warm Little Ponds on Rocky Planets around Cool Stars, Paul Rimmer

The Growing Case for a Life as a Cosmic Phenomenon, Nalin Chandra Wickramasinghe

Stellar Drivers for Atmospheric Chemistry and Evolution: UV Exoplanet Characterization from Hubble to LUVOIR, Kevin France

Investigating Diffuse Astrophysical Objects using a Miniaturized UV Spatial Spectrometer, Raghvendra Sahai

Design and analysis of mechanical systems on board a 6U CubeSat based UV Spectrograph for transient studies, Binukumar Gopalakrishnan Nair

CubeSat based UV Spectrograph (CUVS), Joice Mathew

Origin of the RNA World in Warm Little Ponds: Theory and Experiment in McMaster’s Origins of Life Laboratory, Ralph Pudritz