10 Intriguing Worlds Beyond Our Solar System

10 Questions for Our Chief Scientist

NASA Chief Scientist…pretty cool title, right? The office represents all the scientific endeavors at NASA, ensuring they’re aligned with and fulfilling the administration’s science goals.  

After more than three years as Chief Scientist, Ellen Stofan is departing for new adventures. We caught up with her to ask 10 questions about her role and what she will miss most after she leaves the agency. Take a look…

1) What were some of your expectations coming in as NASA’s chief scientist?

When I started as Chief Scientist, all I knew is that I would be science advisor to the Administrator, Charlie Bolden, overseeing the agency’s science portfolio. What I did not realize at the time was the degree that I would be impressed by him. 

Charlie is an amazing leader who deeply cares about each and every person at this agency. He makes everyone feel valued. That is why NASA has just been voted by our employees for the fifth straight year as the Best Place to Work in the federal government!

2) What do you think it the next big thing for NASA science?

Looking across our science portfolio, I think the most exciting area, which actually connects everything we do, is the search for life beyond Earth. People have long wondered if we are alone, and we are now actually going to answer that question in the next few decades. We are exploring Mars, where it is very likely that life evolved at around the same time life evolved here on Earth. Conditions on Mars deteriorated after about a billion years, so life either went underground, or became extinct. It will likely take future Mars astronauts to find the best evidence of Mars life.

We also are planning to explore the ocean worlds of the outer solar system, like Europa, where we might find life in subsurface oceans. Beyond our solar system, the thousands of planets discovered by the Kepler Space Telescope have made me very optimistic that we are close to finding an Earth 2.0—though that will take us a little longer.

3) NASA science rewrites textbooks all the time. What is something you've seen here that has the potential to occur in the future that will change the textbooks for kids of tomorrow?

For kids 16 and under today, for every day of their life, we have been living and working in space on board the International Space Station. Now we are ready to take that next step in the coming decade, to move humans beyond low-Earth orbit where we have been for such a long time, out to the vicinity of the moon and then on to Mars. 

These kids are the “Mars generation,” and the exploration of Mars will change our outlook in profound ways, from looking back at Earth -- that will just look like another star -- to finding evidence of life beyond Earth. So it will not just change science textbooks, it will change how we look at ourselves when we become a multi-planetary species.

4) Behind every pretty space image is a team of scientists who analyze all the data to make the discovery happen. What do you wish the public knew about the people and work that goes into each of those pretty pictures?

It really does take a team.  When I go out and talk to school kids, I tell them learning how to be a good member of a team is so important in life. You need to learn to be a leader and a follower, and above all a listener. Our teams at NASA are becoming more and more diverse, which is incredibly important. If everyone looks the same and comes from the same background, they are likely to approach problems the same way. And when you are trying to do tough things -- from addressing climate change to sending humans to Mars -- you need the best team, which means a diverse team.

5) We have a lot of opportunities for citizen science. What’s one opportunity you wish everyone knew about that they could get involved with at NASA?

Go to www.nasa.gov/solve where you can find all kinds of great opportunities to join us at NASA in searching for planets around other stars, exploring Mars, helping us gather data about this planet, and tackling technology challenges. We really are stronger together, and getting the public involved in what we do is helping us get more good science every day. Even more importantly, it lets people know that science is fun!

6) What changes did you make at the agency while you were there?

As Chief Scientist, I got to work on a lot of fun challenges, from our strategy on how to get humans to Mars, to learning about and promoting the research we do every day on the International Space Station. But one of the things that I am most proud of is that, working with my team, NASA now collects voluntary demographic data on all of our grant proposals. Implicit or unconscious bias is all around us; we may act on deep-seated biases that we don’t even know we have. The first step in dealing with bias is seeing if you have a problem, and that is what the data collection will tell us.

7) You worked a lot with kids as the agency’s Chief Scientist. How important do you feel STEM education is for NASA?

We need the next generation of scientists, doctors, computer programmers, technologists and engineers, and NASA provides the inspiration and hands-on activities that help get kids interested in science. Because of climate change, we are facing rising sea levels, changing patterns of agriculture, and changing weather. We need good engineers and scientists to help us mitigate the effects of climate change and reduce carbon emissions.

On top of that, we live in a society that is dependent on technology; I don’t think most of us can go very long without checking our smartphones. But as technology becomes more complex, we need everyone in society to have at least a basic understanding of it, and that’s where the importance of STEM education comes in. We are ALL consumers of science and technology. We all need to be informed consumers.

8) What solar system destination are you still most excited/eager for NASA to still go explore?

As a planetary geologist, I am most excited by one of the ocean worlds of the outer solar system. Titan, one of Saturn’s moons, is an amazing little world where it rains, and the liquid forms rivers, lakes and seas. But this liquid is actually liquid methane and ethane --basically gasoline, rather than water -- due to the extremely cold temperatures out by Saturn. 

Titan is an excellent place to explore to help us better understand how oceans and atmospheres interact, and maybe even understand more about the limits of life. We think water is critical to the evolution of life, but Titan may tell us that having a liquid is the most important factor.

9) What will you miss most?

It’s the people of NASA whom I will miss the most. Everyone I work with is so committed to the mission of this agency—pushing back the frontiers of science and technology to accomplish great things for the nation. NASA represents the best of this country. We demonstrate that with hard work and determination, we can explore the universe, our galaxy, our solar system and our home planet. 

Our partnerships with other space agencies from around the world and with the private sector here have shown me that great teams accomplish great things. I like to say that NASA is the keeper of the future—we don’t just wait for the future to happen. We work to create it every day.

10) In your opinion, after seeing everything you've seen here, why should people care about the science at NASA?

At NASA, we gather the data to help answer the most fundamental and profound questions: Where did we come from? How does our planet and our universe work? What is the fate of our planet? It is only by exploring, by making measurements, by answering scientific questions that we can move forward as a society. And in doing so, we push technology and engineering in ways that benefit us every day right here on Earth. 

NASA makes measurements that show how the sea level is rising, how Arctic ice is melting, and how weather patterns are changing. We also gather data to help farmers grow more crops using less water, help understand our water resources, and do the research to improve forecasting. These data keep us secure and improve the quality of life on Earth every day.

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The James Webb Space Telescope: Art + Science Continuing to Inspire

The James Webb Space Telescope – our next infrared space observatory – will not only change what we know, but also how we think about the night sky and our place in the cosmos. This epic mission to travel back in time to look back at the first stars and galaxies has inspired artists from around the world to create art inspired by the mission.

Image Credit: Anri Demchenko

It’s been exactly two years since the opening of the first James Webb Space Telescope Art + Science exhibit at the NASA Goddard Visitor Center.  The exhibit was full of pieces created by artists who had the special opportunity to visit Goddard and view the telescope in person in late 2016. 

Online Submission Image Credit: Tina Saramaga

Since the success of the event and exhibit, the Webb project has asked its followers to share any art they have created that was inspired by the mission. They have received over 125 submissions and counting!  

Image Credit: Enrico Novelli

Online Submission Image Credit: Unni Isaksen

A selection of these submissions will be on display at NASA Goddard’s Visitor Center from now until at least the end of April 2019. The artists represented in this exhibit come not just from around the country, but from around the world, showing how art and science together can bring a love of space down to Earth.

More information about each piece in the exhibit can be found in our web gallery. Want to participate and share your own art? Tag your original art, inspired by the James Webb Space Telescope, on Twitter or Instagram with #JWSTArt, or email us through our website! For more info and rules, see: http://nasa.gov/jwstart.

Webb is the work of hands and minds from across the planet. We’re leading this international project with our partners from the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), and we’re all looking forward to its launch in 2021. Once in space, Webb will solve mysteries of our solar system, look beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probe the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it.

Learn more about the James Webb Space Telescope HERE, or follow the mission on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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Get to Know the 5 College Teams Sending Their Experiments to Space!

Did you know that YOU (yes you!), can send science experiments to the International Space Station? 

To celebrate 20 years of continuous human presence on the International Space Station, NASA STEM on Station is sending five student experiments to the space station through Student Payload Opportunity with Citizen Science (SPOCS). Selected teams will also engage K-12 students as a part of their experiment through citizen-science.

Get to know the 5 college teams sending their experiments to space!

Arkansas State University 

Team: A-State Science Support System

Experiment Title: Microgravity Environment Impact on Plastic Biodegradation by Galleria mellonella

Experiment Description: Discover the ability of wax worms to degrade plastics in space.

Why did you propose this experiment?

Our team’s passion for sustainability developed into novel ideas for space travel through biodegradation of plastics. 

How will the experiment benefit humankind or future space exploration?

If our experiment is successful, it will “launch” us closer to understanding how to reduce humankind’s plastic footprint on Earth and allow us to safely push farther into unknown planetary habitats.

How have you worked together as a team during the pandemic?

Unknown to each other before the project, our interdisciplinary team formed through virtual communication.

What science fiction character best represents your team and why?

The sandworms of Dune represent our team perfectly considering their importance in space travel, the natural ecological service they provide, and their sheer awesomeness

Columbia University

Team: Columbia Space Initiative

Experiment Title: Characterizing Antibiotic Resistance in Microgravity Environments (CARMEn)

Experiment Description: Discover the impact of mutations on bacteria in microgravity when grown into a biofilm with fungus.

Why did you propose this experiment?

As a highly interdisciplinary team united by our love of outer space, SPOCS was the perfect opportunity to fuse biology, engineering, and education into a meaningful team project.

How will the experiment benefit humankind or future space exploration?

Studying how different microorganisms interact with each other to develop bacterial resistance in space will help improve antibiotic treatments for future Artemis astronauts.

How have you worked together as a team during the pandemic?

Most of our team actually hasn’t ever met in person—we’ve been videoconferencing weekly since May!

What science fiction character best represents your team and why?

Our team is definitely Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story, because we strive to reach infinity (or at least the International Space Station) and beyond!

Stanford University

Team: Stanford Student Space Initiative

Experiment Title: Biopolymer Research for In-Situ Capabilities (BRIC)

Experiment Description: Determine how microgravity impacts the solidification of biobricks.

Why did you propose this experiment?

We have an ongoing project to design and build a machine that turns lunar or Martian soil into bricks, and we want to learn how reduced gravity will impact the process.

How will the experiment benefit humankind or future space exploration?

We are studying an environmentally-friendly concrete alternative that can be used to make structures on Earth and other planets out of on-site, readily available resources.

How have you worked together as a team during the pandemic?

We transitioned our weekly meetings to an online format so that we could continue at our planned pace while maintaining our community.

What science fiction character best represents your team and why?

Like our beloved childhood friend WALL-E, we craftily make inhospitable environments suitable for life with local resources.

University of Idaho

Team: Vandal Voyagers I

Experiment Title: Bacteria Resistant Polymers in Microgravity

Experiment Description: Determine how microgravity impacts the efficacy of bacteria resistant polymers.

Why did you propose this experiment?

The recent emphasis on surface sterility got us thinking about ways to reduce the risk of disease transmission by surfaces on the International Space Station.

How will the experiment benefit humankind or future space exploration?

If successful, the application of proposed polymers can benefit humankind by reducing transmission through high contact surfaces on and off Earth such as hand rails and door handles.

How have you worked together as a team during the pandemic?

We are allowed to work collaboratively in person given we follow the current university COVID guidelines.

What science fiction character best represents your team and why?

Mark Watney from The Martian because he is willing to troubleshoot and problem solve on his own while collaborating with NASA from afar.

University of New Hampshire at Manchester

Team: Team Cooke

Experiment Title: Novel Methods of Antibiotic Discovery in Space (NoMADS)

Experiment Description: Determine how microgravity impacts the amount of bacterium isolates that produce antibiotic metabolites.

Why did you propose this experiment?

To contribute to the limited body of knowledge regarding bacterial resistance and mutations in off-Earth conditions.

How will the experiment benefit humankind or future space exploration?

Understanding how bacteria in the human microbiome and on spacecraft surfaces change can ensure the safe and accurate treatment of bacterial infections in astronauts.

How have you worked together as a team during the pandemic?

Our team continued to evolve our communication methods throughout the pandemic, utilizing frequent remote video conferencing, telecommunications, email, and in-person conferences.

What science fiction character best represents your team and why?

Professor Xavier, the founder of the X-Men, because he also works with mutants and feels that while they are often misunderstood, under the right circumstances they can greatly benefit the world.

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What Scientists Are Learning from the Eclipse

While millions of people in North America headed outside to watch the eclipse on Aug. 21, 2017, hundreds of scientists got out telescopes, set up instruments, and prepared balloon launches – all so they could study the Sun and its complicated influence on Earth.

Total solar eclipses happen about once every 18 months somewhere in the world, but the August eclipse was rare because of its long path over land. The total eclipse lasted more than 90 minutes over land, from when it first reached Oregon to when it left the U.S. in South Carolina.

This meant that scientists could collect more data from land than during most eclipses, giving us new insight into our world and the star that powers it.

A moment in the Sun’s atmosphere

During a total solar eclipse, the Sun’s outer atmosphere, the corona, is visible from Earth. It’s normally too dim to see next to the Sun’s bright face, but, during an eclipse, the Moon blocks out the Sun, revealing the corona.

Image Credit: Peter Aniol, Miloslav Druckmüller and Shadia Habbal

Though we can study parts of the corona with instruments that create artificial eclipses, some of the innermost regions of the corona are only visible during total solar eclipses. Solar scientists think this part of the corona may hold the secrets to some of our most fundamental questions about the Sun: Like how the solar wind – the constant flow of magnetized material that streams out from the Sun and fills the solar system – is accelerated, and why the corona is so much hotter than the Sun’s surface below.  

Depending on where you were, someone watching the total solar eclipse on Aug. 21 might have been able to see the Moon completely obscuring the Sun for up to two minutes and 42 seconds. One scientist wanted to stretch that even further – so he used a pair of our WB-57 jets to chase the path of the Moon’s shadow, giving their telescopes an uninterrupted view of the solar corona for just over seven and half minutes.

These telescopes were originally designed to help monitor space shuttle launches, and the eclipse campaign was their first airborne astronomy project!

These scientists weren’t the only ones who had the idea to stretch out their view of the eclipse: The Citizen CATE project (short for Continental-America Telescopic Eclipse) did something similar, but with the help of hundreds of citizen scientists. 

Citizen CATE included 68 identical small telescopes spread out across the path of totality, operated by citizen and student scientists. As the Moon’s shadow left one telescope, it reached the next one in the lineup, giving scientists a longer look at the way the corona changes throughout the eclipse.

After accounting for clouds, Citizen CATE telescopes were able to collect 82 minutes of images, out of the 93 total minutes that the eclipse was over the US. Their images will help scientists study the dynamics of the inner corona, including fast solar wind flows near the Sun’s north and south poles.

The magnetized solar wind can interact with Earth’s magnetic field, causing auroras, interfering with satellites, and – in extreme cases – even straining our power systems, and all these measurements will help us better understand how the Sun sends this material speeding out into space.

Exploring the Sun-Earth connection

Scientists also used the eclipse as a natural laboratory to explore the Sun’s complicated influence on Earth.

High in Earth’s upper atmosphere, above the ozone layer, the Sun’s intense radiation creates a layer of electrified particles called the ionosphere. This region of the atmosphere reacts to changes from both Earth below and space above. Such changes in the lower atmosphere or space weather can manifest as disruptions in the ionosphere that can interfere with communication and navigation signals.

One group of scientists used the eclipse to test computer models of the ionosphere’s effects on these communications signals. They predicted that radio signals would travel farther during the eclipse because of a drop in the number of energized particles. Their eclipse day data – collected by scientists spread out across the US and by thousands of amateur radio operators – proved that prediction right.

In another experiment, scientists used the Eclipse Ballooning Project to investigate the eclipse’s effects lower in the atmosphere. The project incorporated weather balloon flights from a dozen locations to form a picture of how Earth’s lower atmosphere – the part we interact with and which directly affects our weather – reacted to the eclipse. They found that the planetary boundary layer, the lowest part of Earth’s atmosphere, actually moved closer to Earth during the eclipse, dropped down nearly to its nighttime altitude.

A handful of these balloons also flew cards containing harmless bacteria to explore the potential for contamination of other planets with Earth-born life. Earth’s stratosphere is similar to the surface of Mars, except in one main way: the amount of sunlight. But during the eclipse, the level of sunlight dropped to something closer to what you’d expect to see on Mars, making this the perfect testbed to explore whether Earth microbes could hitch a ride to the Red Planet and survive. Scientists are working through the data collected, hoping to build up better information to help robotic and human explorers alike avoid carrying bacterial hitchhikers to Mars.

Image: The small metal card used to transport bacteria.

Finally, our EPIC instrument aboard NOAA’s DSCOVR satellite provided awe-inspiring views of the eclipse, but it’s also helping scientists understand Earth’s energy balance. Earth’s energy system is in a constant dance to maintain a balance between incoming radiation from the Sun and outgoing radiation from Earth to space, which scientists call the Earth’s energy budget. The role of clouds, both thick and thin, is important in their effect on energy balance.

Like a giant cloud, the Moon during the total solar eclipse cast a large shadow across a swath of the United States. Scientists know the dimensions and light-blocking properties of the Moon, so they used ground- and space-based instruments to learn how this large shadow affects the amount of sunlight reaching Earth’s surface, especially around the edges of the shadow. Measurements from EPIC show a 10% drop in light reflected from Earth during the eclipse (compared to about 1% on a normal day). That number will help scientists model how clouds radiate the Sun’s energy – which drives our planet’s ocean currents, seasons, weather and climate – away from our planet.

For even more eclipse science updates, stay tuned to nasa.gov/eclipse.

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Holiday Lights from the Universe

Although there are no seasons in space, some cosmic vistas invoke thoughts of a frosty winter landscape. Here are a few stellar images of holiday wonderlands from across the galaxy…

Located in our galaxy about 5,500 light years from Earth, this region is actually a “cluster of clusters,” containing at least three clusters of young stars, including many hot, massive, luminous stars.

The outstretched “wings” of this nebula looks like a soaring, celestial snow angel. Twin lobes of super-hot gas, glowing blue in this image, stretch outward from the central star. This hot gas creates the “wings” of our angel. A ring of dust and gas orbiting the star acts like a belt, clinching the expanding nebula into an “hourglass” shape.

At this time of year, holiday parties often include festive lights. When galaxies get together, they also may be surrounded by a spectacular light show. This pair of spiral galaxies has been caught in a grazing encounter. This region has hosted three supernova explosions in the past 15 years and has produced one of the most bountiful collections of super-bright X-ray lights known.

What do the following things have in common: a cone, the fur of a fox and a Christmas tree? Answer: they all occur in the constellation of the unicorn (Monoceros). Pictured as a star forming region, the complex jumble of cosmic gas and dust is about 2,700 light-years away.

Resembling festive lights on a holiday wreath, this Hubble Space Telescope image of a nearby spiral galaxy is an iconic reminder of the impending season. Bright knots of glowing gas light up the spiral arms, indicating a rich environment of star formation.

The Hubble Space Telescope captured two festive-looking nebulas, situated so as to appear as one. Intense radiation from the brilliant central stars is heating hydrogen in each of the nebulas, causing them to glow red…like a holiday light.

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The Exploration Behind the Inspiration at NASA

Are we alone? How did we get here? Where are we headed?

At NASA, our mission is to explore. We visit destinations in our solar system and study worlds beyond to better understand these big questions.

We also dream. We dream of traveling to distant worlds, and what that might be like. In the video above you can see fanciful, imagined adventures to real places we’ve studied at NASA.

How We Did It

Check out how we created these otherworldly scenes in the video below. A NASA videographer used green screens to add motion and real people to bring life to our series of solar system and exoplanet travel posters.

Let’s dive into one example from the video. The shot of kayaking on Titan showcases the real rivers and lakes of liquid methane and ethane that slosh and flow on Saturn's largest moon. Titan's mysterious surface was revealed by our Cassini spacecraft, which also deployed the European Space Agency’s Huygens probe to the surface. The atmosphere on Titan is so thick, and the gravity so light, that with each strike of a paddle, you might be lofted above the swift current as you ride the tides through a narrow strait called the Throat of Kraken. NASA scientist Mike Malaska studies Titan and collaborated on the poster featured in the video. His research informed the artwork, and so did a hobby: kayaking. Those ultra-cold chemical seas might be even more of a challenge than shown here. Your boat might crack, or even dissolve, Malaska said.

We’ll learn more about Titan when our Dragonfly mission of dual quadcoptors — rotorcraft with eight blades each — visits the icy moon in 2034.

Science Never Stops

Our understanding of other worlds is always evolving, and sometimes we learn new details after we illustrate our science. In one of our travel posters, we show a traveler standing on the surface of exoplanet Kepler-16b with two shadows formed by the planet’s two suns. The planet does indeed orbit two stars, but with later size and mass refinements, we now think it would be hard to stand there and enjoy a binary sunset. There isn't a solid surface to stand on a gas planet, and that's what Kepler-16b now appears to be!

In addition to sharing how sublime science can be, these scenes are a reminder that there are lots of careers in the space program, not just scientist, engineer, or astronaut. A creative team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California produced the travel posters, originally to help share the work of NASA's Exoplanet Exploration Program. They are the result of lots of brainstorming and discussion with real NASA scientists, engineers, and expert communicators. The video versions of these spacey travel scenes were produced by visualization experts at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

All of this work is meant to inspire, and to explore the edge of possibility. It’s also an invitation. With science, we’re stepping into the future. Join us?

A Hitchhiker’s Ride to Space

This month, we are set to launch the latest weather satellite from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The Joint Polar Satellite System-1, or JPSS-1, satellite will provide essential data for timely and accurate weather forecasts and for tracking environmental events such as forest fires and droughts.

Image Credit: Ball Aerospace

JPSS-1 is the primary satellite launching, but four tiny satellites will also be hitchhiking a ride into Earth orbit. These shoebox-sized satellites (part of our CubeSat Launch Initiative) were developed in partnership with university students and used for education, research and development. Here are 4 reasons why MiRaTA, one of the hitchhikers, is particularly interesting…

Miniaturized Weather Satellite Technology

The Microwave Radiometer Technology Acceleration (MiRaTA) CubeSat is set to orbit the Earth to prove that a small satellite can advance the technology necessary to reduce the cost and size of future weather satellites. At less than 10 pounds, these nanosatellites are faster and more cost-effective to build and launch since they have been constructed by Principal Investigator Kerri Cahoy’s students at MIT Lincoln Laboratory (with lots of help). There’s even a chance it could be put into operation with forecasters.

The Antenna? It’s a Measuring Tape

That long skinny piece coming out of the bottom right side under MiRaTA’s solar panel? That’s a measuring tape. It’s doubling as a communications antenna. MiRaTA will measure temperature, water vapor and cloud ice in Earth’s atmosphere. These measurements are used to track major storms, including hurricanes, as well as everyday weather. If this test flight is successful, the new, smaller technology will likely be incorporated into future weather satellites – part of our national infrastructure.

Tiny Package Packing a Punch MiRaTA will also test a new technique using radio signals received from GPS satellites in a higher orbit. They will be used to measure the temperature of the same volume of atmosphere that the radiometer is viewing. The GPS satellite measurement can then be used for calibrating the radiometer. “In physics class, you learn that a pencil submerged in water looks like it’s broken in half because light bends differently in the water than in the air,” Principal Investigator Kerri Cahoy said. “Radio waves are like light in that they refract when they go through changing densities of air, and we can use the magnitude of the refraction to calculate the temperature of the surrounding atmosphere with near-perfect accuracy and use this to calibrate a radiometer.” 

What’s Next?

In the best-case scenario, three weeks after launch MiRaTA will be fully operational, and within three months the team will have obtained enough data to study if this technology concept is working. The big goal for the mission—declaring the technology demonstration a success—would be confirmed a bit farther down the road, at least half a year away, following the data analysis. If MiRaTA’s technology validation is successful, Cahoy said she envisions an eventual constellation of these CubeSats orbiting the entire Earth, taking snapshots of the atmosphere and weather every 15 minutes—frequent enough to track storms, from blizzards to hurricanes, in real time.

Learn more about MiRaTA

Watch the launch!

The mission is scheduled to launch this month (no sooner than Nov. 14), with JPSS-1 atop a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta II rocket lifting off from Space Launch Complex 2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. You’ll be able to watch on NASA TV or at nasa.gov/live.

Watch the launch live HERE on Nov. 14, liftoff is scheduled for Tuesday, 4:47 a.m.! 

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A Space Odyssey: 21 Years of Searching for Another Earth

There are infinite worlds both like and unlike this world of ours. We must believe that in all worlds there are living creatures and plants and other things we see in this world. – Epicurus, c. 300 B.C.

Are we alone? Are there other planets like ours? Does life exist elsewhere in the universe?

These are questions mankind has been asking for years—since the time of Greek philosophers. But for years, those answers have been elusive, if not impossible to find.

The month of October marks the 21st anniversary of the discovery of the first planet orbiting another sun-like star (aka. an exoplanet), 51 Pegasi b or “Dimidium.” Its existence proved that there were other planets in the galaxy outside our solar system.*

Even more exciting is the fact that astronomers are in hot pursuit of the first discovery of an Earth-like exoplanet orbiting a star other than the sun. The discovery of the so-called "blue dot" could redefine our understanding of the universe and our place in it, especially if astronomers can also find signs that life exists on that planet's surface.

Astronomy is entering a fascinating era where we're beginning to answer tantalizing questions that people have pondered for thousands of years.

Are we alone?

In 1584, when the Catholic monk Giordano Bruno asserted that there were "countless suns and countless earths all rotating around their suns," he was accused of heresy.

But even in Bruno's time, the idea of a plurality of worlds wasn't entirely new. As far back as ancient Greece, humankind has speculated that other solar systems might exist and that some would harbor other forms of life.

Still, centuries passed without convincing proof of planets around even the nearest stars.

Are there other planets like ours?

The first discovery of a planet orbiting a star similar to the sun came in 1995. The Swiss team of Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz of Geneva announced that they had found a rapidly orbiting gas world located blisteringly close to the star 51 Pegasi.

This announcement marked the beginning of a flood of discoveries. Exotic discoveries transformed science fiction into science fact:

a pink planet

worlds with two or even three suns

a gas giant as light as Styrofoam

a world in the shape of an egg

a lava planet

But what about another Earth?

Our first exoplanet mission**, Kepler, launched in 2009 and revolutionized how astronomers understand the universe and our place in it. Kepler was built to answer the question—how many habitable planets exist in our galaxy?

And it delivered: Thousands of planet discoveries poured in, providing statistical proof that one in five sun-like stars (yellow, main-sequence G type) harbor Earth-sized planets orbiting in their habitable zones– where it’s possible liquid water could exist on their surface.

Now, our other missions like the Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes point at promising planetary systems (TRAPPIST-1) to figure out whether they are suitable for life as we know it.

Does life exist elsewhere in the universe?

Now that exoplanet-hunting is a mainstream part of astronomy, the race is on to build instruments that can find more and more planets, especially worlds that could be like our own.

Our Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), set for launch in 2017-2018, will look for super-Earth and Earth-sized planets around stars much closer to home. TESS will find new planets the same way Kepler does—via the transit method—but will cover 400 times the sky area.

The James Webb Space Telescope, to launch in 2018, wil be our most powerful space telescope to date. Webb will use its spectrograph to look at exoplanet atmospheres, searching for signs of life.

We still don’t know where or which planets are in the habitable zones of the nearest stars­ to Earth. Searching out our nearest potentially habitable neighbors will be the next chapter in this unfolding story.

*The first true discovery of extrasolar planets was actually a triplet of dead worlds orbiting the remains of an exploded star, called a pulsar star. Two of three were found by Dr. Alexander Wolszczan in 1992– a full three years before Dimidium’s discovery. But because they are so strange, and can’t support life as we know it, most scientists would reserve the “first” designation for a planet orbiting a normal star.

** The French CoRoT mission, launched in 2006, was the first dedicated exoplanet space mission. It has contributed dozens of confirmed exoplanets to the ranks and boasts a roster of some of the most well-studied planets outside our solar system.

To stay up-to-date on our latest exoplanet discoveries, visit: https://exoplanets.nasa.gov

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Roman's primary structure hangs from cables as it moves into the big clean room at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

What Makes the Clean Room So Clean?

When you picture NASA’s most important creations, you probably think of a satellite, telescope, or maybe a rover. But what about the room they’re made in? Believe it or not, the room itself where these instruments are put together—a clean room—is pretty special. 

A clean room is a space that protects technology from contamination. This is especially important when sending very sensitive items into space that even small particles could interfere with.

There are two main categories of contamination that we have to keep away from our instruments. The first is particulate contamination, like dust. The second is molecular contamination, which is more like oil or grease. Both types affect a telescope’s image quality, as well as the time it takes to capture imagery. Having too many particles on our instruments is like looking through a dirty window. A clean room makes for clean science!

Two technicians clean the floor of Goddard’s big clean room.

Our Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland has the largest clean room of its kind in the world. It’s as tall as an eight-story building and as wide as two basketball courts.

Goddard’s clean room has fewer than 3,000 micron-size particles per cubic meter of air. If you lined up all those tiny particles, they’d be no longer than a sesame seed. If those particles were the size of 16-inch (0.4-meter) inflatable beach balls, we’d find only 3,000 spread throughout the whole body of Mount Everest!

A clean room technician observes a sample under a microscope.

The clean room keeps out particles larger than five microns across, just seven percent of the width of an average human hair. It does this via special filters that remove around 99.97% of particles 0.3 microns and larger from incoming air. Six fans the size of school buses spin to keep air flowing and pressurize the room. Since the pressure inside is higher, the clean air keeps unclean air out when doors open.

A technician analyzes a sample under ultraviolet light.

In addition, anyone who enters must wear a “bunny suit” to keep their body particles away from the machinery. A bunny suit covers most of the person inside. Sometimes scientists have trouble recognizing each other while in the suits, but they do get to know each other’s mannerisms very well.

This illustration depicts the anatomy of a bunny suit, which covers clean room technicians from head to toe to protect sensitive technology.

The bunny suit is only the beginning: before putting it on, team members undergo a preparation routine involving a hairnet and an air shower. Fun fact – you’re not allowed to wear products like perfume, lotion, or deodorant. Even odors can transfer easily!

Six of Goddard’s clean room technicians (left to right: Daniel DaCosta, Jill Bender, Anne Martino, Leon Bailey, Frank D’Annunzio, and Josh Thomas).

It takes a lot of specialists to run Goddard’s clean room. There are 10 people on the Contamination Control Technician Team, 30 people on the Clean Room Engineering Team to cover all Goddard missions, and another 10 people on the Facilities Team to monitor the clean room itself. They check on its temperature, humidity, and particle counts.

A technician rinses critical hardware with isopropyl alcohol and separates the particulate and isopropyl alcohol to leave the particles on a membrane for microscopic analysis.

Besides the standard mopping and vacuuming, the team uses tools such as isopropyl alcohol, acetone, wipes, swabs, white light, and ultraviolet light. Plus, they have a particle monitor that uses a laser to measure air particle count and size.

The team keeping the clean room spotless plays an integral role in the success of NASA’s missions. So, the next time you have to clean your bedroom, consider yourself lucky that the stakes aren’t so high!

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