The 'X-mas Planets' is a collage of computer generated images of potentially habitable worlds created by the Planetary Habitability Laboratory (PHL) over a section of an image of the De Mairan’s Nebula (Messier 43) taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.AbSciCon 2024 is written over the top of an artist representation of Enceladus. The silhouettes of a hydrothermal vent and submersible can be seen overlayed above Europa toward the bottom. A lander and orbiter are above the text toward the top.Aerial view from the southwest of the Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington, D.C.To better support the broad, interdisciplinary field of astrobiology – the study of the origin, evolution, distribution, and future of life in the universe – NASA is announcing a new programmatic infrastructure for the Astrobiology Program.A overhead view of the fossil site at Nilpena from an angle where hills and sky are visible. tracks and paths can be seen on bare earth with some small scrubs visible as the only plant life.
Astrobiology Workshop: Communicating Discoveries in the Search for Life in the UniverseApplication Deadline: November 15, 202301/05
Submit A Session Proposal for AbSciCon 2024Session proposal submissions are now open until September 20, 202302/05
Baruch S. Blumberg NASA/Library Of Congress Chair In Astrobiology, Exploration, And Scientific InnovationApplications are due by October 15, 2023.03/05
NASA Selects Cross Divisional Teams for Astrobiology ResearchNew teams join the Interdisciplinary Consortia for Astrobiology Research (ICAR) program.04/05
Australia's Nilpena Ediacara National Park: A Site for AstrobiologyDeep in South Australia's Flinders range lies a record of ancient life on Earth.05/05
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The image shows a white/blue clathrate underneath the overhang of a rock at the bottom of the seafloor center of frame. The rock and clathrate fill the image. Shells are scattered all around.
Discovery of New Proteins Advance Understanding of Climate and AstrobiologySept. 29, 2023
Close up photograph of a trilobite-looking fossil with spine-like extensions curling back over its body.
Machine Learning in the Search for Agnostic BiosignaturesSept. 28, 2023
A simple black and white image of the Periodic Table.
Autocatalytic Reactions and the Search for LifeSept. 27, 2023
The desert of Utah where a distant mountain towers over flat, sandy land with small scrub. The blackened landing capsule is visible in the foreground slightly right of center.
NASA’s First Asteroid Sample Has Landed, Now Secure in Clean Room (NASA)Sept. 24, 2023
A temporary clean room set up on the Department of Defense’s Utah Test and Training Range is seen here, ready to receive a capsule with samples of asteroid Bennu on Sept. 24. The image was taken on Friday, Sept. 22, 2023.
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Capsule Secured in Utah Clean Room (NASA)Sept. 24, 2023
Pixelated image of Europa against a black background.
NASA’s Webb Finds Carbon Source on Surface of Jupiter’s Moon Europa (NASA Goddard)Sept. 23, 2023
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October 022023
LIFE RCN Seminar Series
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October 022023
Origins Seminar Series (ASU)
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October 03–042023
8th International Conference on Space Science and Communication
Penang, MY
October 03–042023
2023 8th International Conference on Space Science and Communication
Penang, MY
October 092023
Origins Seminar Series (ASU)
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October 152023
NASA/Library of Congress Chair in Astrobiology, Exploration, and Scientific Innovation
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October 162023New
NASA Astrobiology Program Early Career Collaboration Awards
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October 242023
NASA Planetary Science and Technology Through Analog Research
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October 242023
NASA Planetary Science and Technology from Analog Research (PSTAR) 2023
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Illustration of the Perseverance rover arriving on Mars.
NASA MISSIONSMars 2020

NASA's Mars 2020 mission is the next step in NASA's long-term robotic exploration of Mars. The rover Perseverance will provide important data relevant to astrobiology research, along with a vast amount of geological information about the landing site and the planet at large that will help put the astrobiological data into context.

Perseverance will not be looking for organisms living on Mars today. However, the rover will collect data that could be used to identify biosignatures of ancient microbial life.

What really sets this mission apart is that Perseverance will be collecting a suite of samples to be returned to Earth via a Mars Sample Return mission. The opportunity to bring back samples from another planet will allow our researchers to interrogate them with all of the sophistication and thoroughness that Earth-based instrumentation provides.

Learn more