OVERVIEW WHY IS EARTH WET AND ALIVE? THE EARTH FORMED IN A WATER-POOR REGION OF THE PROTOPLANETARY DISK AND EVEN TODAY THE BULK EARTH IS COSMICALLY DRY (POOR IN HYDROGEN RELATIVE TO THE PROTOPLANETARY DISK). AT SOME 60 MA AFTER EARTH-ACCRETION THE MOON-FORMING IMPACT PROBABLY REMOVED ANY WATER THAT MAY HAVE OUTGASSED AFTER CORE FORMATION LEAVING THE HADEAN EARTH WATER-POOR AT ITS SURFACE. YET EARLY ZIRCONS ARGUE THAT OCEANS EXISTED BY 250 MA AFTER FORMATION. SO WAS WATER DELIVERED BY IMPACT DURING THE INTERVENING MILLENNIA WHILE THE DECLINING HEAVY BOMBARDMENT WAS IN FULL SWING? WHAT ROLE DID PRIMITIVE BODIES PLAY IN DELIVERING WATER AND PRE-BIOTIC ORGANICS TO THE YOUNG EARTH? TOGETHER THE INTERCOMPARISON OF COMETS (AND THEIR DYNAMICAL FAMILIES) WILL ADDRESS THIS ISSUE AND WILL ALSO CLARIFY KEY QUESTIONS OF COMETARY ORIGINS. THE GODDARD COMET TEAM PIONEERED THE DIRECT STUDY OF PRIMARY VOLATILES IN COMETS AT INFRARED WAVELENGTHS ESTABLISHING THE THEORETICAL BASIS FOR THIS APPROACH (MUMMA NASA CP-2223 1982 WEAVER AND MUMMA APJ 1984) AND DEMONSTRATING ITS FIRST SUCCESSFUL APPLICATION BY DETECTING H20 IN COMET IP/HALLEY IN 1985 (MUMMA ET AL. SCIENCE 1986). SINCE THEN THE EVER-EXPANDING AND -EVOLVING GODDARD TEAM HAS PUBLISHED MORE THAN ONE HUNDRED REFEREED PAPERS BASED ON AIRBORNE AND GROUND-BASED ASTRONOMICAL SPECTROSCOPY OF COMETS EXTENDING THE APPROACH TO MANY MOLECULAR SPECIES INCLUDING ISOTOPOLOGUES. SINCE ITS INCEPTION THIS IR APPROACH HAS BECOME A STANDARD FOR REMOTE SENSING OF PRIMARY VOLATILES IN COMETS AND MULTIPLE INDEPENDENT GROUPS WORLDWIDE NOW APPLY IT. AUGMENTED BY RADIO INVESTIGATIONS THE COMBINED APPROACHES NOW ADDRESS UP TO SEVERAL DOZEN MOLECULAR SPECIES IN A GIVEN COMET PERMITTING ATTEMPTS TO DEFINE A TAXONOMY FOR COMETS BASED ON THEIR VOLATILE COMPOSITION USING THE SO-QUANTIFIED ABUNDANCES OF PRIMARY COMA VOLATILES THAT WERE STORED INITIALLY IN THE ICY NUCLEUS. TODAY THIS RESEARCH IS ACHIEVED THROUGH THE CURRENT GENERATION OF NEAR-INFRARED (A.~ 1-5 M) LONG-SLIT ECHELLE GRATING SPECTROMETERS THAT INCORPORATE LARGE-FORMAT 2-D DETECTOR ARRAYS (2KX2K) WITH SUB-ARC-SECOND PIXEL SIZES. THEY COMBINE HIGH ANGULAR RESOLUTION (TYPICALLY :S 1 ARC-SECOND) WITH THE HIGH SPECTRAL RESOLVING POWER (A./8A. 2: 2.5X104 AND HIGHER) REQUIRED FOR ISOLATION OF INDIVIDUAL COMETARY EMISSION LINES. IN PARALLEL WITH THEIR FIRST-LINE USE OF DRAMATICALLY IMPROVED INSTRUMENTS THE TEAM ALSO ACHIEVED MAJOR ADVANCES IN THEORY AND DATA PROCESSING. THESE WERE ENABLED BY THE ADVENT OF COMPREHENSIVE SPECTROSCOPIC DATABASES CONTAINING BILLIONS OF LINES ROBUST RADIATIVE TRANSFER MODELS AND UNPRECEDENTED COMPUTATIONAL POWER. THEY TRANSFORMED THE WAY WE INVESTIGATE COMETARY ATMOSPHERES. THE GOAL IS TO EXTRACT THE MAXIMUM SCIENCE FROM DATA RETURNED BY THESE INSTRUMENTS. THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY PROPOSES TO CONDUCT COOPERATIVE RESEARCH WITH THE GODDARD CENTER FOR ASTROBIOLOGY USING A COMBINATION OF RESEARCHERS AND STAFF (TASK 3) AT VARIOUS LEVELS OF EXPERTISE FROM UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS (TASK 2) TO PH.D. SCIENTISTS (TASK 1). AMERICAN UNIVERSITY P. I. DR. ULYSSES SOFIA WILL OVERSEE ASPECTS OF AU ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT FOR THIS ACTIVITY. TASK 1: WORKING WITH THE GODDARD TEAM DR. MANUELA LIPPI WILL RE-ANALYZE THE COMET DATABASE IN A CONSISTENT FASHION USING THE NEWEST METHODOLOGY AND SO PROVIDE THE MOST ACCURATE DATABASE OF MOLECULAR ABUNDANCES AND RELATED PARAMETERS. TASK 2: UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS WILL PERFORM SHORT-TERM RESEARCH PROJECTS UNDER THE DIRECTION OF SENIOR SCIENTIFIC MENTORS OF THE GCA. TASK 3: MS. CORINNE EBY WILL PROVIDE SUPPORT TO THE ASTROBIOLOGY TEAM AND WILL OVERSEE THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE URAA SUMMER RESEARCH PROGRAM.