Members Can Post Anonymously On This Site
Farthest, Faintest Solar System Objects Found Beyond Neptune
-
Similar Topics
-
By NASA
4 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
What Would It Take to Say We Found Life?
We call this the podium test. What would it take for you personally to confidently stand up in front of an international audience and make that claim? When you put it in that way, I think for a lot of scientists, the bar is really high.
So of course, there would be obvious things, you know, a very clear signature of technology or a skeleton or something like that. But we think that a lot of the evidence that we might encounter first will be much more subtle. For example, chemical signs of life that have to be detected above a background of abiotic chemistry. And really, what we see might depend a lot on where we look.
On Mars, for example, the long history of exploration there gives us a lot of context for what we might find. But we’re potentially talking about samples that are billions of years old in those cases, and on Earth, those kinds of samples, the evidence of life is often degraded and difficult to detect.
On the ocean worlds of our outer solar system, so places like Jupiter’s moon Europa and Saturn’s moon Enceladus, there’s the tantalizing possibility of extant life, meaning life that’s still alive. But potentially we’re talking about exceedingly small amounts of samples that would have to be analyzed with a relatively limited amount of instrumentation that can be carried from Earth billions of miles away.
And then for exoplanets, these are planets beyond our own solar system. Really, what we’re looking for there are very large magnitude signs of life that can be detectable through a telescope from many light-years away. So changes like the oxygenation of Earth’s atmosphere or changes in surface color.
So any one of those things, if they rose to the suspicion of being evidence of life, would be really heavily scrutinized in a very sort of specific and custom way to that particular observation. But I think there are also some general principles that we can follow. And the first is just: Are we sure we’re seeing what we think we’re seeing? Many of these environments are not very well known to us, and so we need to convince ourselves that we’re actually seeing a clear signal that represents what we think it represents.
Carl Sagan once said, “Life is the hypothesis of last resort,” meaning that we ought to work hard for such a claim to rule out alternative possibilities. So what are those possibilities? One is contamination. The spacecraft and the instruments that we use to look for evidence of life are built in an environment, Earth, that is full of life. And so we need to convince ourselves that what we’re seeing is not evidence of our own life, but evidence of indigenous life.
If that’s the case, we should ask, should life of the type we’re seeing live there? And finally, we need to ask, is there any other way than life to make that thing, any of the possible abiotic processes that we know and even the ones that we don’t know? And as you can imagine, that will be quite a challenge.
Once we have a piece of evidence in hand that we really do think represents evidence of life, now we can begin to develop hypotheses. For example, do we have separate independent lines of evidence that corroborate what we’ve seen and increase our confidence of life?
Ultimately, all of this has to be looked at hard by the entire scientific community, and in that sense, I think the really operative word in our question is we. What does it take to say we found evidence of life? Because really, the answer, I think, depends on the full scientific community scrutinizing and skepticizing this observation to finally say that we scientists, we as a community and we as humanity found life.
[END VIDEO TRANSCRIPT]
Full Episode List
Full YouTube Playlist
Share
Details
Last Updated Sep 10, 2025 Related Terms
Astrobiology Mars Perseverance (Rover) Science & Research Science Mission Directorate Explore More
6 min read NASA’s Webb Observes Immense Stellar Jet on Outskirts of Our Milky Way
A blowtorch of seething gasses erupting from a volcanically growing monster star has been captured…
Article 21 minutes ago 7 min read Life After Microgravity: Astronauts Reflect on Post-Flight Recovery
Article 1 day ago 6 min read NASA Webb Looks at Earth-Sized, Habitable-Zone Exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 e
Scientists are in the midst of observing the exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 e with NASA’s James Webb…
Article 2 days ago Keep Exploring Discover Related Topics
Missions
Humans in Space
Climate Change
Solar System
View the full article
-
By NASA
3 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
While auroras are a beautiful sight on Earth, the solar activity that causes them can wreak havoc with space-based infrastructure like satellites. Using artificial intelligence to predict these disruptive solar events was a focus of KX’s work with FDL.Credit: Sebastian Saarloos In the summer of 2024, people across North America were amazed when auroras lit up the night sky across their hometowns, but the same solar activity that makes auroras can cause disruptions to satellites that are essential to systems on Earth. The solution to predicting these solar events and warning satellite operators may come through artificial intelligence.
The Frontier Development Lab of Mountain View, California, is an ongoing partnership between NASA and commercial AI firms to apply advanced machine learning to problems that matter to the agency and beyond. Since 2016, the Frontier Development Lab has applied AI on behalf of NASA in planetary defense, Heliophysics, Earth science, medicine, and lunar exploration.
Through a collaboration with a company called KX Systems, the Frontier Development Lab looked to use proven software in an innovative new way. The company’s flagship data analytics software, called kdb+, is typically used in the financial industry to keep track of rapid shifts in market trends, but the company was exploring how it could be used in space.
Between 2017 and 2019, KX Systems participated in the Frontier Development Lab partnership through NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, California. Working with NASA scientists, KX applied the capabilities of kdb+ to searching for exoplanets and predicting space weather, areas which could be improved with AI models. One question the Frontier Development Lab worked to answer was whether kdb+ could forecast the kind of space weather that creates the auroras to predict when GPS satellites might experience signal interruption due to the Sun.
By importing several datasets monitoring the ionosphere, solar activity, and Earth’s magnetic field, then applying machine learning algorithms to them, the Frontier Development Lab researchers were able to predict disruptive events up to 24 hours in advance.
While this was a scientific application of AI, KX Systems says some of this development work has made it back into its commercial offerings, as there are similarities between AI models developed to find patterns in satellite signal losses and ones that predict maintenance needs for industrial manufacturing equipment.
A division of FD Technologies plc., KX Systems is a technology company that offers database management and analytics software for customers that need to make decisions quickly. While KX started in 1993, its AI-driven business has grown considerably, and the company credits work done with NASA for accelerating some of its capabilities.
From protecting valuable satellites to keeping manufacturing lines moving at top performance, pairing NASA’s expertise with commercial ingenuity is a combination for success.
Read More Share
Details
Last Updated Sep 09, 2025 Related Terms
Technology Transfer & Spinoffs Spinoffs Technology Transfer Explore More
3 min read NASA-Developed Printable Metal Can Take the Heat
Article 4 weeks ago 5 min read NASA Releases Opportunity to Boost Commercial Space Tech Development
Article 1 month ago 3 min read NASA-Derived Textiles are Touring France by Bike
Article 2 months ago Keep Exploring Discover Related Topics
Missions
Technology Transfer and Spinoffs News
Auroras
Auroras, often called the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), are colorful, dynamic, and often visually delicate…
Solar System
View the full article
-
By NASA
Advancing Single-Photon Sensing Image Sensors to Enable the Search for Life Beyond Earth
A NASA-sponsored team is advancing single-photon sensing Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS) detector technology that will enable future NASA astrophysics space missions to search for life on other planets. As part of their detector maturation program, the team is characterizing sensors before, during, and after high-energy radiation exposure; developing novel readout modes to mitigate radiation-induced damage; and simulating a near-infrared CMOS pixel prototype capable of detecting individual photons.
Single-photon sensing and photon-number resolving CMOS image sensors: a 9.4 Mpixel sensor (left) and a 16.7 Mpixel sensor (right). Credit: CfD, RIT Are we alone in the universe? This age-old question has inspired scientific exploration for centuries. If life on other planets evolves similarly to life on Earth, it can imprint its presence in atmospheric spectral features known asbiosignatures. They include absorption and emission lines in the spectrum produced by oxygen, carbon dioxide, methane, and other molecules that could indicate conditions which can support life. A future NASA astrophysics mission, the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO), will seek to find biosignatures in the ultraviolet, optical, and near-infrared (NIR) spectra of exoplanet atmospheres to look for evidence that life may exist elsewhere in the universe.
HWO will need highly sensitive detector technology to detect these faint biosignatures on distant exoplanets. The Single-Photon Sensing Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (SPSCMOS) image sensor is a promising technology for this application. These silicon-based sensors can detect and resolve individual optical-wavelength photons using a low-capacitance, high-gain floating diffusion sense node. They operate effectively over a broad temperature range, including at room temperature. They have near-zero read noise, are tolerant to radiation, and generate very little unwanted signal—such as dark current. When cooled to 250 K, the dark current drops to just one electron every half-hour. If either the read noise or dark current is too high, the sensor will fail to detect the faint signals that biosignatures produce.
A research team at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) Center for Detectors (CfD) is accelerating the readiness of these SPSCMOS sensors for use in space missions through detector technology maturation programs funded by NASA’s Strategic Astrophysics Technology and Early Stage Innovations solicitations. These development programs include several key goals:
Characterize critical detector performance metrics like dark current, quantum efficiency, and read noise before, during, and after exposure to high-energy radiation Develop new readout modes for these sensors to mitigate effects from short-term and long-term radiation damage Design a new NIR version of the sensor using Technology Computer-Aided Design (TCAD) software SPSCMOS sensors operate similarly to traditional CMOS image sensors but are optimized to detect individual photons—an essential capability for ultra-sensitive space-based observations, such as measuring the gases in the atmospheres of exoplanets. Incoming photons enter the sensor and generate free charges (electrons) in the sensor material. These charges collect in a pixel’s storage well and eventually transfer to a low-capacitance component called the floating diffusion (FD) sense node where each free charge causes a large and resolved voltage shift. This voltage shift is then digitized to read the signal.
Experiments that measure sensor performance in a space relevant environment use a vacuum Dewar and a thermally-controlled mount to allow precise tuning of the sensors temperature. The Dewar enables testing at conditions that match the expected thermal environment of the HWO instrument, and can even cool the sensor and its on-chip circuits to temperatures colder than any prior testing reported for this detector family. These tests are critical for revealing performance limitations with respect to detector metrics like dark current, quantum efficiency, and read noise. As temperatures change, the electrical properties of on-chip circuits can also change, which affects the read out of charge in a pixel.
The two figures show results for SPSCMOS devices. The figure on the left shows a photon counting histogram with peaks that correspond to photon number. The figure on the right shows the dark current for a SPSCMOS device before and after exposure to 50 krad of 60 MeV protons. Credit: CfD, RIT The radiation-rich environment for HWO will cause temporary and permanent effects in the sensor. These effects can corrupt the signal measured in a pixel, interrupt sensor clocking and digital logic, and can cause cumulative damage that gradually degrades sensor performance. To mitigate the loss of detector sensitivity throughout a mission lifetime, the RIT team is developing new readout modes that are not available in commercial CMOS sensors. These custom modes sample the signal over time (a “ramp” acquisition) to enable the detection and removal of cosmic ray artifacts. In one mode, when the system identifies an artifact, it segments the signal ramp and selectively averages the segments to reconstruct the original signal—preserving scientific data that would otherwise be lost. In addition, a real-time data acquisition system monitors the detector’s power consumption, which may change from the accumulation of damage throughout a mission. The acquisition system records these shifts and communicates with the detector electronics to adjust voltages and maintain nominal operation. These radiation damage mitigation strategies will be evaluated during a number of test programs at ground-based radiation facilities. The tests will help identify unique failure mechanisms that impact SPSCMOS technology when it is exposed to radiation equivalent to the dose expected for HWO.
Custom acquisition electronics (left) that will control the sensors during radiation tests, and an image captured using this system (right). Credit: CfD, RIT While existing SPSCMOS sensors are limited to detecting visible light due to their silicon-based design, the RIT team is developing the world’s first NIR single-photon photodiode based on the architecture used in the optical sensors. The photodiode design starts as a simulation in TCAD software to model the optical and electrical properties of the low-capacitance CMOS architecture. The model simulates light-sensitive circuits using both silicon and Mercury Cadmium Telluride (HgCdTe or MCT) material to determine how well the pixel would measure photo-generated charge if a semiconductor foundry physically fabricated it. It has 2D and 3D device structures that convert light into electrical charge, and circuits to control charge transfer and signal readout with virtual probes that can measure current flow and electric potential. These simulations help to evaluate the key mechanisms like the conversion of light into electrons, storing and transferring the electrons, and the output voltage of the photodiode sampling circuit.
In addition to laboratory testing, the project includes performance evaluations at a ground-based telescope. These tests allow the sensor to observe astronomical targets that cannot be fully replicated in lab. Star fields and diffuse nebulae challenge the detector’s full signal chain under real sky backgrounds with faint flux levels, field-dependent aberrations, and varying seeing conditions. These observations help identify performance limitations that may not be apparent in controlled laboratory measurements.
In January 2025, a team of researchers led by PhD student Edwin Alexani used an SPSCMOS-based camera at the C.E.K. Mees Observatory in Ontario County, New York. They observed star cluster M36 to evaluate the sensor’s photometric precision, and the Bubble Nebula in a narrow-band H-alpha filter. The measured dark current and read noise were consistent with laboratory results.
The team observed photometric reference stars to estimate the quantum efficiency (QE) or the ability for the detector to convert photons into signal. The calculated QE agreed with laboratory measurements, despite differences in calibration methods.
The team also observed the satellite STARLINK-32727 as it passed through the telescope’s field of view and measured negligible persistent charge—residual signal that can remain in detector pixels after exposure to a bright source. Although the satellite briefly produced a bright streak across several pixels due to reflected sunlight, the average latent charge in affected pixels was only 0.03 e–/pix – well below both the sky-background and sensor’s read noise.
Images captured at the C.E.K. Mees Observatory. Left: The color image shows M36 in the Johnson color filters B (blue), V (green), and R (red) bands (left). Right: Edwin Alexani and the SPSCMOS camera (right). Credit: : CfD, RIT As NASA advances and matures the HWO mission, SPSCMOS technology promises to be a game-changer for exoplanet and general astrophysics research. These sensors will enhance our ability to detect and analyze distant worlds, bringing us one step closer to answering one of humanity’s most profound questions: are we alone?
For additional details, see the entry for this project on NASA TechPort.
Project Lead(s): Dr. Donald F. Figer, Future Photon Initiative and Center for Detectors, Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), supported by engineer Justin Gallagher and a team of students.
Sponsoring Organization(s): NASA Astrophysics Division, Strategic Astrophysics Technology (SAT) Program and NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD), Early Stage Innovations (ESI) Program
Share
Details
Last Updated Sep 02, 2025 Related Terms
Astrophysics Science-enabling Technology Space Technology Mission Directorate Technology Highlights Explore More
2 min read Hubble Homes in on Galaxy’s Star Formation
Article
4 days ago
5 min read From NASA Citizen Scientist to Astronaut Training: An Interview with Benedetta Facini
Article
1 week ago
5 min read Astronomers Map Stellar ‘Polka Dots’ Using NASA’s TESS, Kepler
Article
1 week ago
View the full article
-
By European Space Agency
The European Space Agency-led Solar Orbiter mission has split the flood of energetic particles flung out into space from the Sun into two groups, tracing each back to a different kind of outburst from our star.
View the full article
-
By NASA
Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center; Music Credit: “History in Motion” by Fred Dubois [SACEM], Koka Media [SACEM], Universal Publishing Production Music France [SACEM], and Universal Production Music. On Aug. 7 and 8, NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope team assessed the observatory’s solar panels and a visor-like sunshade called the deployable aperture cover — two components that will be stowed for launch and unfold in space. Engineers confirmed their successful operation during a closely monitored sequence in simulated space-like conditions. On the first day, Roman’s four outer solar panels were deployed one at a time, each unfolding over 30 seconds with 30-second pauses between them. The visor followed in a separate test the next day. These assessments help ensure Roman will perform as expected in space. Roman is slated to launch no later than May 2027, with the team working toward a potential early launch as soon as fall 2026.
Click here to learn more about Roman Share
Details
Last Updated Aug 26, 2025 EditorAshley BalzerContactAshley Balzerashley.m.balzer@nasa.gov Related Terms
Goddard Space Flight Center Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope View the full article
-
-
Check out these Videos
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.