US EditionNew Model Helps to Figure Out Which Distant Planets May Host Life
- In April 2025, the announcement of possible evidence indicating life on the exoplanet K2-18b sparked intense controversy among experts in astrobiology and planetary science.
- These claims follow previous disputed reports such as similar signs on Venus and highlight the challenge of interpreting ambiguous biosignatures from remote-sensing data.
- To address such challenges, Daniel Apai and colleagues from NASA's Alien Earths project developed a quantitative habitability framework to identify promising worlds and analyze potential biosignatures.
- The framework, available as an open-source model, narrows habitability to conditions supporting specific ecosystems and integrates databases of extremophile organisms to guide life searches beyond Earth.
- This approach supports ongoing and future missions like NASA’s Habitable Worlds Observatory and the Nautilus telescope constellation, aiming to improve characterization of exoplanet atmospheres and assess habitable worlds.
12 Articles
12 Articles
Future Telescopes Could Detect Life Managing their Planet Atmospheres
The challenge in the search for habitable worlds is clear. We need to be able to identify habitable worlds and distinguish between biotic and abiotic processes. Ideally, scientists would do this on entire populations of exoplanets rather than on a case-by-case basis. Exoplanets' natural thermostats might provide a way of doing this.
The Conversation
New model helps to figure out which distant planets may host life
Some 'water worlds' like Jupiter's moon Europa could potentially be habitable for life. NASA/JPL-Caltech/SETI InstituteThe search for life beyond Earth is a key driver of modern astronomy and planetary science. The U.S. is building multiple major telescopes and planetary probes to advance this search. However, the signs of life – called biosignatures – that scientists may find will likely be difficult to interpret. Figuring out where exactly to …
A new study highlights the errors of a research published in 2023 by researchers from Cambridge University who claimed that the Space Telescope James Webb (JWST) has detected signs of the existence of a liquid ocean - and possibly life signs - on the K2-18b exoplanet, a world of sub-neutulin dimensions located at 124 years of light of the sun, transmits the specialized Space.com site, quoted by Agerpres.
Signatures from the exoplanet K2-18b arouse hope to find extraterrestrial life. But how do researchers look for it – and why haven't they discovered one yet?
New model helps to figure out which distant planets may host life - Tech and Science Post
The search for life beyond Earth is a key driver of modern astronomy and planetary science. The U.S. is building multiple major telescopes and planetary probes to advance this search. However, the signs of life – called biosignatures – that scientists may find will likely be difficult to interpret. Figuring out where exactly to look also remains challenging. I am an astrophysicist and astrobiologist with over 20 years of experience studying extr…
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