In order to decide the value and type of information to be obtained from outer space with regard to its pertinence for the evolution of life, a brief review is presented of the current status of our thinking on the origin of life on earth. This points up the particular kinds of chemicals whose presence, or absence, on other astral bodies might be significant. Heretofore, the only data available are the result of telescopic spectroscopy. We report here information indicating the presence in meteorites of complex organic materials, some of them apparently uniquely pertinent to life processes.

This report describes the design and testing of a 1.17-Bev/c separated K{sup -} beam designed in the fall of 1958 in connection with a 15-in. hydrogen bubble chamber experiment. At the target the K{sup -}/{pi}{sup -} ratio was 1/140. At the chamber, 4.0 K{sup -}-meson decay lengths from the target, and after two stages of electromagnetic separation, the K{sup -}/{pi}{sup -} ratio was 12.5, corresponding to a total pion suppression by a factor of about 10{sup 5}. The K{sup -} flux at the chamber was 0.87 K{sup -} mesons per 10{sup 10} protons impinging on the target.