NASA Astrobiology

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A volcanically active planet is shown in closeup at the left side of the image with glowing eruptions and lines of lava on the surface. To the right and in the distance is a faint blue glowing ball representing the more massive planet in the system.

Sixteen frames from Voyager 1's flyby of Jupiter in 1979 were merged to create this image. Jupiter's Great Red Spot is visible in the center. Jupiter's moon Europa can be seen in the foreground at the bottom left of the image.

The frame is a horizontal rainbow of color on a grid. Shadows of molecules can be seen through the light as well as the jagged peaks and troughs of spectral lines.

Fizzy Super Earths and Lava Worlds“Fizzy Super-Earths: Impacts of Magma Composition on the Bulk Density and Structure of Lava Worlds.” in The Astrophysical Journal.01/03

Identifying Hydrothermal Activity on Icy Ocean Worlds“Ethene-ethanol ratios as potential indicators of hydrothermal activity at Enceladus, Europa, and other icy ocean worlds.” In Icarus.02/03

NASA Raman Spectroscopic Database"The NASA Raman spectroscopic database: Ramdb version 1.00.” In Icarus.03/03

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October 2025Ancient Mars Climate With a Polar Ocean and Ice Sheet Dynamics

Schmidt, F., Way, M. J., Quiquet, A., Aleinov, I., & Dumas, C. (2025). Ancient Mars Climate With a Polar Ocean and Ice Sheet Dynamics. Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, 130(10), None. doi:10.1029/2025je008970

The Abiotic Background as a Central Component of a Sample Safety Assessment Protocol for Sample Return

Teece, B. L., Beaty, D. W., Graham, H. V., McDonnell, G., Sherwood Lollar, B., Siljeström, S., … Mackelprang, R. (2025). The Abiotic Background as a Central Component of a Sample Safety Assessment Protocol for Sample Return. Astrobiology, 25(10), 671–693. doi:10.1177/15311074251382156

Understanding Exoplanet Habitability: A Bayesian ML Framework for Predicting Atmospheric Absorption Spectra

Trehan, V., Knuth, K. H., & Way, M. J. (2025). Understanding Exoplanet Habitability: A Bayesian ML Framework for Predicting Atmospheric Absorption Spectra. The 43rd International Workshop on Bayesian Inference and Maximum Entropy Methods in Science and Engineering, None, 9. doi:10.3390/psf2025012009

Chemistry, Climate, and Transmission Spectra of TRAPPIST-1 e Explored with a Multimodel Sparse Sampled Ensemble

Wolf, E. T., Schwieterman, E. W., Haqq-Misra, J., Fauchez, T. J., Bastelberger, S. T., Leung, M., … Kopparapu, R. K. (2025). Chemistry, Climate, and Transmission Spectra of TRAPPIST-1 e Explored with a Multimodel Sparse Sampled Ensemble. The Planetary Science Journal, 6(10), 231. doi:10.3847/psj/ae031e

Discovery of a Nearby Habitable Zone Super-Earth Candidate Amenable to Direct Imaging

Beard, C., Robertson, P., Lubin, J., Ford, E. B., Mahadevan, S., Stefansson, G., … Terrien, R. C. (2025). Discovery of a Nearby Habitable Zone Super-Earth Candidate Amenable to Direct Imaging. The Astronomical Journal, 170(5), 279. doi:10.3847/1538-3881/ae0e20

Detection of organic compounds in freshly ejected ice grains from Enceladus’s ocean

Khawaja, N., Postberg, F., O’Sullivan, T. R., Napoleoni, M., Kempf, S., Klenner, F., … Srama, R. (2025). Detection of organic compounds in freshly ejected ice grains from Enceladus’s ocean. Nature Astronomy. doi:10.1038/s41550-025-02655-y

Chemical characterization of C31 sterols from sponges and Neoproterozoic fossil sterane counterparts

Shawar, L., Love, G.D., Uveges, B.T., Summons, R.E. (2025) Chemical characterization of C31 sterols from sponges and Neoproterozoic fossil sterane counterparts. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 122(41). doi: 10.1073/pnas.2503009122

September 2025Runaway origins of a disc mass gradient in σ Orionis

Coleman, G. A. L., Haworth, T. J., & Kim, J. S. (2025). Runaway origins of a disc mass gradient in σ Orionis. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters. doi:10.1093/mnrasl/slaf100

Re‐Analysis of Pioneer Venus Data: Water, Iron Sulfate, and Sulfuric Acid are Major Components in Venus' Aerosols

Mogul, R., Zolotov, M. Y., Way, M. J., & Limaye, S. S. (2025). Re‐Analysis of Pioneer Venus Data: Water, Iron Sulfate, and Sulfuric Acid are Major Components in Venus' Aerosols. Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, 130(9), None. doi:10.1029/2024je008582

Controls on uranium isotope fractionation in the late Paleoproterozoic ocean

Kunert, A., Poulton, S. W., Canfield, D. E., Fralick, P. W., Gilleaudeau, G. J., & Kendall, B. (2025). Controls on uranium isotope fractionation in the late Paleoproterozoic ocean. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 666, 119498. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2025.119498

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