Nexus for Exoplanet System Science

Nexus for Exoplanet System Science

NExSS: a search for life beyond the Solar System
Abbreviation NExSS
Formation 2015
Legal status Active
Purpose To search for life beyond the Solar System
Headquarters NASA Ames Research Center;
NASA Exoplanet Science Institute;
Goddard Institute for Space Studies
Parent organization
 NASA
Budget
 US$10-12 million[1]
Website NASA Ames Research Center

The Nexus for Exoplanet System Science (NExSS) initiative is a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) virtual institute designed to foster interdisciplinary collaboration in the search for life on exoplanets. Led by the Ames Research Center, the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute, and the Goddard Institute for Space Studies, NExSS will help organize the search for life on exoplanets from participating research teams and acquire new knowledge about exoplanets and extrasolar planetary systems.[2][3]

History

In 1995, astronomers using ground based observatories discovered 51 Pegasi b, the first exoplanet orbiting a Sun-like star.[4] NASA launched the Kepler space telescope in 2009 to search for Earth-size exoplanets. By 2015, they had confirmed more than a thousand exoplanets[note 1] while several thousand additional candidates awaited confirmation.[6] To help coordinate efforts to sift through and understand the data, NASA needed a way for researchers to collaborate across disciplines. The success of the Virtual Planetary Laboratory research network at the University of Washington led Mary A. Voytek, director of the NASA Astrobiology Program, to model its structure and create the Nexus for Exoplanet System Science (NExSS) initiative.[1] Leaders from three NASA research centers will run the program: Natalie Batalha of NASA’s Ames Research Center, Dawn Gelino of the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute, and Anthony del Genio of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies.[7]

Research

NExSS will draw from scientific expertise in each of the four divisions of the Science Mission Directorate: Earth science, planetary science, heliophysics and astrophysics.[2] Functioning as a virtual institute, NExSS is currently composed of 16 interdisciplinary science teams from ten universities, three NASA centers and two research institutes.[8] The US teams were initially selected from a total of about 200 proposals, however the coalition is expected to expand nationally and internationally as the project gets underway.[9] Teams will also work with amateur citizen scientists who will have the ability to access the public Kepler data and search for exoplanets.[7] NExSS research will directly contribute to understanding and interpreting future exoplanet data from the upcoming launches of the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite and James Webb Space Telescope, as well as the planned Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope mission.[2]

Infrared image of 2M1207b (reddish), the first directly observable extrasolar planet

Current NExSS research projects as of 2015:[2]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ There are 1918 confirmed exoplanets as of April 29, 2015.[5]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Tollefson, Jeff (April 17, 2015). "Climate scientists join search for alien Earths." Nature 520, 420. doi:10.1038/520420a.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Loff, Sarah (April 21, 2015). "NASA’s NExSS Coalition to Lead Search for Life on Distant Worlds." NASA. Retrieved April 22, 2015.
  3. ↑ Gronstal, Aaron L. (April 2015). "NASA's Exoplanet Nexus — Part 1: A History in Climate Studies, Part II: Looking to the Stars". NASA. GISS. Retrieved April 25, 2015.
  4. ↑ "NASA Taps UW Scientist in Search for Life Beyond the Solar System." University of Wyoming News. Retrieved April 25, 2015.
  5. ↑ Schneider, J. "Interactive Extra-solar Planets Catalog". The Extrasolar Planets Encyclopedia.
  6. ↑ Netburn, Deborah (April 24, 2015). "NASA gathers scientists to help find life beyond Earth". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 25, 2015.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Carreau, Mark (April 24, 2015). "NASA Widens Circle of Experts In Search for Life Beyond Earth." Aviation Week. Retrieved April 25, 2015.
  8. ↑ Sanders, Robert (April 22, 2015). "Astronomers join forces to speed discovery of habitable worlds." UC Berkeley News Center. Retrieved April 22, 2015.
  9. ↑ Cassidy, Chris (April 25, 2015). "NASA leaves local aerospace stars Harvard, MIT off ‘unprecedented’ mission to find extraterrestrial life." Boston Herald. Retrieved April 26, 2015.

Further reading

External links