Astrobiology is a newly emerging field of science. It can provide clues to the understanding of the origin, evolution and distribution of life and its interaction with the environment on Earth and in the rest of the Universe. Space technology plays an important part in this context by offering the opportunity for exploring the solar system, for collecting extraterrestrial samples, and for utilising the peculiar environment of space as a tool.

The full expertise in Astrobiology is not always available in one place or at a single university. To overcome this problem, experts from the different fields of Astrobiology in several universities and at ESA have agreed to gather in an Astrobiology Lecture Course Network where lectures will be given in turn by the universities involved and by ESA throughout the academic year 2005-2006. These lectures will be transmitted to the participating students at other places through videoconference and streaming Internet video, making use of the communication infrastructure, tools and experts of the Virtual Campus of the Erasmus User Centre. The lectures will also be video-recorded and will be kept available on the ESA Human Spaceflight website as video-on-demand files.The lectures will be part of the curriculum of the students of the participating universities. Consequently, they will be completed with an exam and provide the usual credit points for their studies.