- Pushing the Limits of Exoplanet Transmission Spectroscopy at MIT
I am excited to start my sabbatical at MIT‘s Earths, Atmospherica, and Planetary Sciences department! I am looking forward to connecting with the MIT astrophysics, Earth and planetary sciences, atmospheric sciences, and aeronautical engineering communities. I have big plans for the sabbatical: I am very thrilled to work with Julien de Wit, Benjamin Rackham, Sara… - Not Earth-like – Yet Habitable? A study of climate dynamics of Alien Earths
The “Habitable Zone” is a concept central to our search for extraterrestrial life – but it is not widely appreciated that it is only valid to planets with the same three dominant climate feedbacks as Earth. Would planets with climate feedback configurations somewhat different still have stable habitable climates?Or does Earth’s climate feedback configuration make… - Pandora and Search Alien Life at Ed Ackerley’s Morning Voice Show
It was fun to chat with Dr Ed Ackerley of The Morning Voice about Pandora, The University of Arizona’s roles and contributions to this exciting mission, and our search for extraterrestrial life! Ed’s show is providing excellent coverage of wonderful, positive results and news emerging from Tucson and The University of Arizona – I highly… - How did the launch *feel*?
An incredible 24 hours! After a picture-perfect launch, Pandora is now in orbit, with solar panels deployed and alive (receiving commands from ground! After seven years of working on this project, it is so rewarding to see an idea become an actual NASA space telescope, pushing the frontiers of our knowledge. The launch from the… - Pandora Successfully Deployed!
It was an incredible experience to watch the SpaceX Twilight mission launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base on January 11, 2026! I will write more, but the most important news is that Pandora has been successfully deployed. Orbital altitude is even better than aimed for, which could further extend mission lifetime. BlackCat CubeSat and SPARCS… - Hello, Pandora! Goodbye, Pandora!
Meeting Pandora for the first time! We recently visited our now-completed spacecraft in the cleanroom of Blue Canyon Technologies in Boulder, Colorado. Next, Pandora will be integrated into a SpaceX Falcon9 rocket for a January 5, 2026 launch from United States Space Force‘s Vandenberg base in California. It is so exciting that after six years… - From the Edge of Space to the Depths of the Ocean – Explorers Club in Sedona!
On October 4, we had a great evening in Sedona’s Explorers Club Live Event “From the Edge of Space to the Depths of the Ocean”! I spoke about the progress in exoplanet discovery and characterization, and the technological advances that set us on a trajectory toward an exciting future: the Pandora SmallSat (which we are launching… - First Diffractive Lenses Pressed in Our New Lab!
What an exciting Saturday!! After months of lab upgrades, our Moore Nanotechnology Systems GPM170 glass-pressing machine is certified and running perfectly! This machine provides excellent, 0.1K temperature stability (our previous machine had 40K temperature swings!). It is also completes a cycle 3x faster, molding a lens in less than an hour! We are getting much… - Forbes Article on our Quantitative Habitability Framework
While in Iceland for the BEACON25 astrobiology meeting, I chatted with Forbes writer Bruce Dorminey about our recently published Quantitative Habitability framework (QHF). Bruce also did a video interview on his cell phone, in which we chatted about exoplanet exploration, astrobiology, and habitability.The article appeared on Thursday on Forbes and provides a great summary of… - Sub-Neptunes in Pasadena
We just wrapped up a wonderful week in California at the Silver Jubilee of the Summer Sagan School. The school explored exoplanet demographics with many exciting lectures and several hands-on activities and group projects. Many of the lectures and much of the discussion focused on sub-neptunes, an exciting, new type of planets that is absent… - Potential Signature of Life Report in Exoplanet
Read my article on The Conversation about the scientific context, importance, and complexity of the announcement that a potential signature of life was found in a transit spectrum of the planet K2-18b. What does it mean? What are the next steps? https://theconversation.com/scientists-found-a-potential-sign-of-life-on-a-distant-planet-an-astronomer-explains-why-many-are-still-skeptical-254900 - Cosmic Conversations: Communicating with the Unknown
In the College of Science 2025 Lecture Series on “Communication”, my colleague Professor Chris Impey and I spoke about the science behind potentially communicating with extraterrestrial civilizations. This is a fascinating topic that blends astronomy, astrobiology, technology, history – and thoughts about the future of human civilization. Chris and I had a blast preparing for… - Pandora Coverage on KOLD-13
With Pandora swiftly moving closer to launch, Mission Operation Center lead Karl Harshman and I (as Uof A PI, and Lead of the Pandora Exoplanets Science Working Group) spoke with KOLD13 news about the mission’s science goals. - We have a ride to space!
NASA selected SpaceX as launch provider for our Pandora Exoplanet Space Telescope. Pandora will look at 20 particularly exciting exoplanets and their host stars. The University of Arizona will provide Mission Operations and I lead the Pandora Exoplanets Working Group. Look out for more news as we approach T-0! Visit the Pandora Mission site to… - What’s in the crate?
After months of preparation and sorting out the logistics, it is finally here! With the arrival of a special instrument to Tucson, I am very excited to start a new lab for our Nautilus Space Observatory project at The University of Arizona. The crate weighs about as much as an elephant and holds a cutting-edge,… - Pandora Bus Integration Complete!
I am very excited that our NASA Pandora mission passed a major milestone as it moves closer to launch this Fall! Congratulations to PI Elisa Quintana, our amazing Pandora team, and our partners at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Blue Canyon Technologies, and NASA Ames Research Center on completing the integration… - White Sands National Park
Over the winter break, my family visited New Mexico’s White Sands National Park. The Park offers fantastic scenery and we hiked deep into the dune field. Trekking through the pristine white dunes was a beautiful and unique experience! Although it looks like pristine snow, the glistening dunes are made of gypsum. Spectacular scenery and it… - Research group photo!
As we approach the end of 2024, it was a great time to gather our research group for a photo just outside Steward Observatory. I feel fortunate to work with such a great group! From left to right: Fuda Nguyen, Veronica Klawender, Connor Young, Brittany Miles, Kevim Hardegree-Ullman, Chaucer Langbert, Matthew Murphy, Rachael Amaro, Martin… - Joining The Explorers Club!
The Explorers Club is a famed group of explorers who have led scientific expeditions all over our planet – and beyond – for over a century. I recall reading – as a teenager – inspiring stories in the National Geographic about expeditions conducted by The Explorers Club. Given the long-standing excellence of TEC in scientific expeditions and advancing human… - Pointing to the Poles of Brown Dwarfs: Polar Vortex Possibilities
The AAS Nova featured a nice article by Lexi Gault on our new paper in which Fuda Nguyen and I propose that the polar regions of brown dwarfs (and most gas giant exoplanets) are different from the equatorial and mid-latitude regions: The poles are in a different circulation regime (vortex-dominated) – this means that they have different… - Bioverse and Identifying Sciences for Exoplanet Surveys in the Next Decades
Exoplanet science is one of the most rapidly expanding fields of modern physical sciences: Countless new measurements are made, thousands of papers published annually, and the number of exoplanets and planet candidates discovered is rapidly approaching 6,000 – and set to accelerate! What really drives this discovery? What will the future of exoplanet science bring? Which… - AAAS Fellowship Ceremony in D.C.
Just completed a wonderful trip to D.C. to the AAAS Fellows Forum and a visit to NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. I was honored to be elected a AAAS Fellow and enjoyed participating in the Fellows Forum, celebrating the new Fellows at the 150th Anniversary of the program. It was thrilling to share this honor… - Honored to be elected a AAAS Fellow!
I am honored to be elected a 2023 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world’s largest general scientific society, in recognition of my “distinguished contributions to the field of astrobiology and astrophysics, particularly for advancements in understanding of habitable exoplanets and planetary systems.” The prestigious AAAS Fellows program is over 150… - Bolder than Webb?
January 2024: “Bolder than Webb?” Former NASA Administrator Dan Goldin’s OpEd in Aerospace America makes a strong statement on the importance of inspiring, bold visions for next-generation NASA missions. Goldin argues that the current path will lead to a decade(s)-long gap in major improvements of space telescope capabilities, which poses a substantial risk for American leadership in space… - New Conversation article on Nautilus Space ObservatoryWe are making exciting progress on the world’s largest multi-order diffractive lens, a new technology to transform how we are designing and building space telescopes. Read about our project in my new article in The Conversation! Check out the project website to learn more about the Nautilus Space Observatory!
- Pandora Science Team at Biosphere 2
Exciting two days at Biosphere 2! We just wrapped up our first in-person the Pandora Science Team meeting. Pandora is a NASA-funded space telescope, part of the new NASA Pioneers space telescope program. This is a very exciting program: NASA challenged teams to build space telescopes that do cutting edge science – but to do this…
Curious about extraterrestrial life, in our solar system, and beyond