although nasa had explored the idea of forming an astrobiology institute in the past, when the viking biological experiments returned negative results for life on mars, the public lost interest and federal funds for exobiology dried up. in 1996, the announcement of possible traces of ancient life in the allan hills 84001 meteorite from mars led to new interest in the subject. at the same time, nasa developed the origins program, broadening its reach from exobiology to "astrobiology", the study of the origin, evolution, distribution, and future of life in the universe.