Astrobiology (general) Archives - Astrobiology

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Science Mission Directorate (SMD) announces the release of an Announcement of Opportunity (AO) to solicit Principal Investigator (PI)-led space science investigations for the Small Explorer (SMEX) opportunity under the Astrophysics Explorers Program. The SMD strategic goal of expanding human knowledge through new scientific discoveries in a…

The IAA SETI Committee announced today updated rules for evaluating and revealing the detection of extraterrestrial intelligence. A University of Manchester astronomer has led a major international overhaul of the rules that would govern how scientists announce evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence to the world. Professor Michael Garrett, the Sir Bernard Lovell Chair of Astrophysics, chaired …

Dear all, We would like to draw your attention to the NWA Citizen Science Call 2026. This call offers citizen collectives the opportunity to investigate a societal question together with professional researchers within one of the NWA routes, including the route The origins of life – on earth and in the universe. The call is […] The post NWA Citizen Science Call 2026 (Astrobiology, Origin of life,…

Early Career Event: AbGradEPEC’26 – 6th September 2026 The Europlanet Early-Career (EPEC) Network and Astrobiology Graduates in Europe (AbGradE) are thrilled to announce the latest event in our long-standing series of collaborations. This year, we invite you to join the AbGradEPEC’26 joint meeting, which will take place before EPSC2026 on Sunday 6th September in The […] The post AbGradEPEC 2026 E…

Suppose there are signs of extraterrestrial life and we have not yet been able to detect them. What does that mean? In the renowned journal Nature Astronomy, researchers discuss the consequences of these so-called false-negative results. “We are currently investing a great deal of money in missions that might need to be designed differently.” One […] The post Missed Opportunities In The Search Fo…

A training school, organized by the European Astrobiology Institute and us, the Cluster of Excellence “The Martian Mindset“ | University of Bremen, is dedicated to the scientific, ethical, medical, economic, political, and legal questions around the human exploration of the red planet. Open to PhD students, early-career researchers, engineers, philosophers, journalists, economists, lawyers, and a…

For decades, the search for life beyond Earth has revolved around a key question: What molecules should scientists be looking for on other planets or moons? A new study, published in Nature Astronomy, suggests the more revealing clue may not be the molecules themselves, but the hidden order connecting them. “We’re showing that life does […] The post New Method Sharpens The Search For Alien Biolog…

RED is a Training School about the “Basics in Astrobiology”. Astrobiology addresses questions related to the origins of life, its evolution, and distribution in the Universe. This school aims to offer interdisciplinary training in astrobiology to students and young researchers in astronomy, planetology, geology, chemistry, biology, or history and philosophy of science. If you are […] The post Reg…

Planned and ongoing searches for life, both biological and technological, confront an epistemic barrier concerning false positives – namely, that we don’t know what we don’t know. The most defensible and agnostic approach is to adopt diffuse (uninformative) priors, not only for the prevalence of life, but also for the prevalence of confounders. We evaluate […] The post The Catastrophic Consequenc…

The European Astrobiology Network Association (EANA) 2026 Conference will be organised by the Space Exploration Institute in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, from the 1st (Tuesday) to the 4th (Friday) September 2026. The main theme will be “Astrobiology Missions” with a special focus on the “ExoMars Rosalind Franklin Mission”, but contributions on all topics within the field of […] The post The European A…

The exploration of planetary bodies in our Solar system and beyond relies on the processing and interpretation of large, spatio-temporally inconsistent, and heterogeneous datasets. Recent advances in machine learning (ML) provide unprecedented opportunities to address many fundamental challenges posed by these heterogeneous and hyper-dimensional datasets. This review chapter highlights innovative…

Astrobiology Early Career Opportunities: March 2026 Digest NASA Dragonfly Guest Investigator Program Application Deadline: May 29, 2026 Applications are currently being accepted for Cohort 7 of the Dragonfly Mission’s Guest Investigator Program. Over a two-year period, students will be mentored by members of the Dragonfly team for 3.6 months per year on projects relevant to Saturn’s moon Titan. T…

Estonian Astrobiology Day 2026 The first Estonian Astrobiology Day will take place on 10 April. The aim of the event is to create a community of astrobiology enthusiasts in Estonia, bringing together researchers, students, and anyone interested in the origin of life and its distribution in the universe. Astrobiology is a rapidly developing interdisciplinary field. The goal of the event is to brin…

NASA Astrobiology Update At Space Science Week 2026(with audio) On 23 March 2026 the NASA Astrobiology Program staff gave an update presentation at National Academies of Science Space Science Week 2026 Speakers: Dr. Rebecca McCauley Rench, Lead Scientist for Astrobiology, NASA-PSD / Dr. Hannah Jang-Condell, Associate Lead for Astrobiology, NASA / Dr. Rachel Harris, Postdoctoral Management Fellow,…

National Academies of Science Space Science Week 2026 – Astrobiology Update Each year, Space Science Week at the National Academies of Science brings together leaders across the space science disciplines to explore the latest developments and discuss the future of the field from a variety of perspectives, from planetary protection to astrophysics to Earth science and applications from space. Upda…

Molecular Origins of Life, Munich (MOM 2026) Molecular Origins of Life, Munich (MOM 2026) explores one of science’s most fundamental questions: How did life begin? Featuring talks by leading international researchers, alongside panel discussions and poster sessions, MOM 2026 brings together scientists across disciplines. From astronomy, biochemistry, biophysics, geosciences, to theoretical chemis…

Registration Is Now Open For Origins 2026 Origins 2026 is an international conference jointly organized by the International Society for the Study of the Origins of Life – The International Astrobiology Society (ISSOL) and the Astrobiology Commission of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Origins 2026 will bring together experts from a wide range of disciplines—including chemistry, biolog…

Astrobiology Mars Analog Atacama Desert As Seen From Orbit A portion of the Atacama Desert along Peru’s southern Pacific coast, featuring barren plains, rocky cliffs, vast sand dunes, and fertile river valleys, is pictured from the International Space Station as it orbited 265 miles above the South American nation. NASA uses Chile’s Atacama Desert as a premier Mars analog, employing the Atacama R…

The Maintenance Of Ambiguity In Martian Exobiology How do scientists maintain their research programs in the face of not finding anything? Continual failure to produce results can result in declining support, scientific controversy and credibility challenges. We elaborate on a crucial mechanism for sustaining the credibility of research programs through periods of non-detection: the maintenance o…

Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA Space Station Payload manager/space biologist, Away Teams, Journalist, Lapsed climber, Synaesthete, Na’Vi-Jedi-Freman-Buddhist-mix, ASL, Devon Island and Everest Base Camp veteran, (he/him) 🖖🏻