REFERENCE BOOK

This book project builds on my experience as Guest Managing Editor of a recent and prominent Special Issue of Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta.  The agreed publisher in this case is Springer Nature. 

Working title: Habitable Worlds and Sustainable Life on Earth and Beyond
The envisaged chapters are outlined here.
The publisher’s print date is in good time for AGU 2022. First drafts of chapters should be completed before June 15th 2021 at which point they will be subject to peer-review. Authors are reminded that chapters will each be approximately 20,000 words in length (equating to c. 45 pages of printed text) and will include roughly seven diagrams / images and up to two data tables. Chapters of 15,000 words will be acceptable.” You are permitted supplementary electronic materials where additional figures, videos, and explanatory text can be stored.

This advanced-level standalone reference book will have a strong yet multi-disciplinary planetary science focus pertaining to the pre-cursors of life and the origin(s) of habitable worlds. This book will also identify the usefulness of this knowledge for sustainability on Earth and ethical practices / legal constraints during the further exploration of space and potential development of civilsations on other worlds in future. All submitted works will be subject to rigorous peer review. Peer-reviewers are thanked in advance for the provision of their time and expertise.

**Affordable access options for educators and students have been sought.
**An international meeting broadly related to this effort is planned for 2022. (link)
**Guidelines for chapter preparations and the benefits to authors / reviewers are summarised here. The publisher’s T1 template and instructions is here. Any further questions should be directed to me by email (address is below) and as soon as possible.

To gain from a range of perspectives and to draw from many talent pools, multidisciplinary and diverse authoring teams have been strongly encouraged. Commitments from chapter authors include but are not limited to:

• Zita Martins of Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal.
  [Astrobiology – life on other worlds with an emphasis on Mars and icy moons]
• Holly Stein of AIRIE Colorado State, USA as well as the University of Oslo, Norway.
  [Sustainable Practices]
• Queenie Chan will lead a chapter. [What have we learnt about the origins of life from the organics present in chondritic meteorites?]
• Yoko Kebukawa,Yokohama National University, Japan and Maitryee Bose, Arizona State University, USA will contribute to the chapter Queenie is leading.
  [What have we learnt about the origins of life from the organics present in chondritic meteorites?]
• Hideko Nomura, Professor at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, will contribute to multi-disciplinary approach embodied in the chapter ‘What have we learnt about the origins of life from the organics present in chondritic meteorites?’.
• Ian Crawford of Birkbeck / University College London, UK. Lead author of chapter 3. [Is the Moon key to understanding life on Earth?]
• Nicolle Zellner of Albion College, NY, USA, will contribute as co-author to chapter 3 under theme 1.
  [Is the Moon key to understanding life on Earth?]
• Dave Waltham of Royal Holloway, University of London, UK, will also contribute as co-author to chapter 3. [Is the Moon key to understanding life on Earth?]
• Ariel Anbar of Arizona State University, USA, will contribute to chapter4 and/or 11, and possibly an additional chapter (the latter is subject to its description and acceptance to the volume).
• Michelle L. D. Hanlon, of the School of Law and Center for Air and Space Law, University of Mississippi, USA, and Co-Founder of For All Moonkind will lead a chapter. [Protecting life during space exploration, sample return, and future colonisation.]
• Samantha Rolfe, University of Hertforshire / Bayfordbury Observatory and
  Yo-Ann Velez, Aerodyne Industries LLC / NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, USA, will co-author the chapter led by Michelle Hanlon. 
• Sean Gulick is in the process of assembling a team to lead a chapter.
  [Catastrophes for life due to solar system hazards]
• I shall also write two chapters, the book’s introduction, and concluding section.
  [Meteoritical Constraints on the Infant Stages of Habitable Planets]
  [The early evolution of Earth and its life.]
• If you have questions please do not hesitate to contact me. My email is ajvriches AT gmail.com.

I intend to follow this first book project with other such fun and
challenging activities in this realm. The first of which is Authoring of an illustrated popular science book that is currently underway, and which targets children aged 8 to 12 years while providing sufficient information for adults.