The year 2003 is the 50th anniversary of the seminal experiment of Stanley Miller. This occasion presents us with the unique opportunity for highlighting the current interest in this most interdisciplinary subject. The leading space agencies: the European Space Agency (ESA) as well as NASA, the American Space Agency are planning missions that will elucidate some of the still unknown questions underlying research in the origin of life. New results are surpassing our ability to keep well informed: the reviews that we are planning to present at the Trieste meeting will bring the participants up to date in this fast-moving area.

An important component of the conference will be the review of the Cassini-Huygens mission due to arrive in the Saturn system just one year after the conference convenes in Trieste. There will be particular interest in the status of the experiments that will take place inside the atmosphere of Titan, the large satellite, which is a testing ground for the theories and experiments in the field of chemical evolution.

The Jovian system is currently under study with the view of investigating the possibility of life underneath the frozen surface of the Galilean moon Europa; the mission "Mars Express" is being prepared by ESA and Mars Odyssey has been in a Martian orbit since October 2001. Some of the world leaders will gather in Trieste in September 2003 - a most timely date to review new data and the future of research.