Astrobiology

Astrobiology
NASA-funded scientists have discovered that life on Earth over 3 billion years ago relied on the metal molybdenum, which was incredibly scarce in the environment at the time. The study, published in Nature Communications on Tuesday, is the first to show that molybdenum was used by ancient life this far back in our planet’s history. […]
Posted May 5, 2026
Mars
Astrobiology
Curiosity (Rover)
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Perseverance (Rover)
NASA’s Curiosity and Perseverance rovers have captured two 360-degree landscapes that highlight how the missions are revealing details of the Red Planet’s formation, watery past, and potential for life. Located 2,345 miles (3,775 kilometers) apart from each other on Mars — about the distance from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C.
Posted April 27, 2026
Curiosity (Rover)
Astrobiology
Mars
Mars Science Laboratory (MSL)
Radioisotope Power Systems (RPS)
The Solar System
After years of lab work, the results are in: A rock that NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover drilled and analyzed in 2020 includes the most diverse collection of organic molecules ever found on the Red Planet. Of the 21 carbon-containing molecules identified in the sample, seven of them were detected for the first time on Mars. […]
Posted April 21, 2026
Astrobiology
Astrophysics
Astrophysics Division
Science-enabling Technology
Technology Highlights
A team of NASA researchers is developing new types of optical masks that could help enable the many orders of magnitude of starlight suppression needed for future space observatories to pick out very faint habitable exoplanets from the far brighter glare of their stellar hosts. 
Posted March 24, 2026
Exoplanet Science
Astrobiology
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
With the first images from the spacecraft now in hand, the team behind NASA’s Star-Planet Activity Research CubeSat, or SPARCS, is ready to begin charting the energetic lives of the galaxy’s most common stars to help answer one of humanity’s most profound questions: Which distant worlds beyond our solar system might be habitable?  Initial, or […]
Posted March 12, 2026
Astrobiology
Earth Observatory
Ice & Glaciers
Landsat 9
Planetary Analogs
Surface Water
Water on Earth
Lake Unter-See in Antarctica, sealed beneath thick ice, contains unusually high levels of dissolved oxygen and cone-shaped microbial reefs resembling some of Earth’s oldest fossils.
Posted March 11, 2026
Astrobiology
Uncategorized
NASA-supported scientists have resurrected an enzyme first used by organisms on Earth 3.2-billion years ago and, in the process, have validated a chemical biosignature in rocks that is used to understand ancient life on Earth.
Posted January 30, 2026
Dragonfly
Astrobiology
Langley Research Center
Missions
Planetary Science
Planetary Science Division
Science Mission Directorate
The Solar System
Titan
In sending a car-sized rotorcraft to explore Saturn’s moon Titan, NASA’s Dragonfly mission will undertake an unprecedented voyage of scientific discovery.
Posted January 9, 2026
Titan
Astrobiology
Cassini
Deep Space Network
Dragonfly
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Planetary Science
Planetary Science Division
Saturn
Saturn Moons
A key discovery from NASA’s Cassini mission in 2008 was that Saturn’s largest moon Titan may have a vast water ocean below its hydrocarbon-rich surface. But reanalysis of mission data suggests a more complicated picture: Titan’s interior is more likely composed of ice, with layers of slush and small pockets of warm water that form […]
Posted December 17, 2025
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