The Astrobiology Science Conference (AbSciCon) 2006 will be held March 26-30, 2006 in Washington, D.C., at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center. All are invited to join the astrobiology community at this exceptional facility that lies in the heart of Washington, just off the Mall, blocks from the White House, and with easy access to all areas of the city via the Metro. The meeting will be held when the cherry blossoms are nearing their peak at the Tidal Basin! A private evening tour and reception are scheduled at the Smithsonian's Natural History museum, site of the United States meteorite collection.

NASA Ames Research Center and the NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI) hosted the first three Astrobiology Science Conferences. The sessions were based on themes, such as "Water the Sine Qua Non of Life". Each session was lead by invited plenary speakers, and followed by contributed talks selected for their topical excitement from over 370 submitted abstracts. The many excellent posters attracted viewers during special poster times, lunches, and evenings. In the 2nd meeting the format was enhanced by overview talks in disciplines for those who wanted a refreshing way to get "up to speed" outside their area of expertise. From cosmology to human intelligence, the AbSciCon covers the intellectual breadth of astrobiology.

AbSciCon 2006 builds on the successes of these previous meetings. Astrobiology is a novel approach to the scientific study of the living universe. It seeks to understand the origin and evolution of life on Earth, to determine if life exists elsewhere in the universe, and to predict the future of life on Earth and in the rest of the universe. To this end it relies on the diversity of disciplines and has inspired new meta-disciplines. Abstracts are solicited on all topics that span the enormous range of astrobiological themes. The meeting format will include a limited number of plenary talks that will complement a larger number of oral presentations in parallel thematic sessions. As has always been the case at previous AbSciCon's, the poster sessions, including the NAI sponsored Student Poster Competition, will continue to be a particularly important and successful venue for the exchange of scientific ideas. We encourage you to bookmark the AbScicon website at http://abscicon.arc.nasa.gov for your primary source for the latest AbSciCon2006 meeting information beginning October 1, 2005. Welcome! AbSciCon 2006 Program (Science and Local) Organizing Committee