Articles about Astrobiology

Mars gullies with evidence of dusty ice deposits

Researchers suggest new place to look for microbial life on Mars: ice with bits of dust

Could microbes endure just beneath the surface of Mars, in layers of dusty ice exposed to just the right amount… Read More

Illustration: Europa Clipper above Europa, with Jupiter in background

Researchers find a way to detect signs of extraterrestrial life in a single grain of ice

Scientists have verified that a method to look for cellular life on Europa, an ice-covered moon of Jupiter, just might… Read More

Scientists go to Canada to study the kind of lake where they say life may have arisen

Several years ago, scientists at the University of Washington theorized that key ingredients for life could have built up billions… Read More

Illustration: Cutaway view of Enceladus with water spewing from surface

Scientists trace phosphates to Enceladus, boosting outlook for life on Saturn’s moon

Phosphorus, an essential ingredient for life as we know it, has been detected for the first time in water samples… Read More

Pass the NaCl: Scientists create new types of salt crystals that could exist on Europa

A prime target in the search for extraterrestrial life is Europa, a moon of Jupiter that’s covered with a sheet… Read More

New Earth-sized planet ‘rescued’ from Kepler mission’s old data — and it may be habitable

An alien Earth that just might be habitable has been discovered in years-old records, thanks to sharp-eyed astronomers who gave… Read More

SETI and other alien-hunting strategies are dealing with new tools — and new troubles

The search for extraterrestrial intelligence, better known as SETI, is taking advantage of a widening array of strategies — ranging… Read More

Computer modeling and tiny meteorites suggest that CO2 blanketed ancient Earth

Today, rising carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is a cause for concern, but 2.7 billion years ago, high levels of… Read More

3-D climate modeling could fine-tune the search for faraway signs of alien life

Astronomers have identified thousands of stars that have planets, and that number could mushroom even faster when waves of next-generation… Read More

NASA picks Dragonfly mission to send a nuclear drone to Saturnian moon Titan

NASA has chosen to commit up to $850 million to creating an interplanetary probe unlike any seen before: a rotor-equipped… Read More

Rover teams practice for spelunking on the moon and Mars in California lava tubes

BELLEVUE, Wash. — Underground lava tubes are great places to set up bases on the moon, or look for life… Read More

That burst of Martian methane is long gone, but mystery of life on Mars remains

BELLEVUE, Wash. — NASA says the record-setting belch of Martian methane that its Curiosity rover detected last week has faded… Read More

Is there life on Mars, or on other worlds beyond Earth? The answer may be squishy

BELLEVUE, Wash. — NASA’s Curiosity rover has detected fresh whiffs of Martian methane, once again sparking speculation about a potential… Read More

Astrobiology takes the spotlight: Saturn’s moon Enceladus may offer a ‘free lunch’

The sea that lies beneath the icy surface of Enceladus, one of Saturn’s moons, could provide even more fuel for… Read More

Could Barnard’s Star harbor an icy home for life? Astronomers weigh the options

Where’s the nearest exoplanet with conditions that are right for life? Over the past couple of years, astrobiologists have talked… Read More

Scientists look for new ways to track the technosignatures of alien civilizations

Could extraterrestrial civilizations leave their fingerprints as chlorofluorocarbons in planetary atmospheres, or the waste heat generated by industrial processes, or… Read More

Hubble team has bad news for aliens: Red dwarfs seem to wipe out life’s necessities

Red dwarf stars have been seen as the biggest potential frontier for alien life, in part because they’re the most… Read More

Exoplanet climate analysis pinpoints best place to live in TRAPPIST-1 star system

If you had to pick a place to set up shop amid the seven planets in the TRAPPIST-1 star system,… Read More

Experts urge NASA to build huge new space telescope to look at alien Earths

NASA should add a large, technologically advanced space telescope to its lineup to capture direct images of Earthlike planets beyond… Read More

Astrobiologist lays out undersea scenario for intelligent life on alien water worlds

Instead of cave dwellers gathered around a campfire, roasting mastodon meat, imagine an octopus tribe floating around a hydrothermal vent… Read More

Mars Express delivers radar evidence of hidden lake at Red Planet’s south pole

Radar readings from the European Space Agency’s Mars Express orbiter point to the location of what appears to be a… Read More

Scientists come up with revised ‘Rio scale’ to rate claims of extraterrestrial contact

For almost 60 years, efforts to pick up signs of extraterrestrial civilizations have yielded a big fat zero, but there… Read More

Life on the moon? It could have happened billions of years ago, astrobiologists say

The moon is one of the last places in the solar system you’d expect to find life today, but astrobiologists… Read More

NASA’s Curiosity rover tracks down organic molecules and methane on Mars

The latest evidence for methane and other organic chemicals on Mars isn’t the smoking gun for life on Mars that… Read More

GJ273 star system with radio transmission

How do we get our message across to the extraterrestrials? The answers are evolving

LOS ANGELES — Last year, scientists sent a binary-coded message telling the aliens what time it was. Next year, it’ll… Read More

21-year-old readings boost the case for water plumes spraying out from Europa

News Brief: A closer look at magnetic and plasma wave readings from NASA’s now-defunct Galileo spacecraft firms up the evidence… Read More

‘Eggs’ for alien Earths? At 94, physicist Freeman Dyson’s brain is still going strong

Alien megaspheres … rockets powered by nuclear bombs … freeze-dried life in outer space: These are just some of the… Read More

SETI Institute gives Drake Award to Univ. of Washington astrobiologist Vikki Meadows

University of Washington astrobiologist Victoria Meadows has become the first woman to receive the SETI Institute’s Frank Drake Award, named… Read More

There’s only so much time left to look for life on Mars before life arrives from Earth

STANFORD, Calif. — NASA has been looking for life on Mars for more than 40 years, but the quest could get… Read More

Breakthrough Discuss turns spotlight on search for life elsewhere in solar system

STANFORD, Calif. — Are there microbes falling in the snows of Enceladus? Could a drone fly to biological hot spots… Read More