and Excellence NASA’s Search for Life in our Galaxy

Dr. Gary H. Blackwood Manager, NASA Exploration Program Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology

May 12, 2021 Citi Program Management Awareness Week

© 2021 All rights reserved URS300140 Artist concept of Kepler-16b There Are More Planets than Stars

“And on those other worlds, are there beings who wonder as we do?” - Carl Sagan

1 ex·o·plan·et [ˈeksōˌplanət]

a planet which orbits a star outside our

2 The Search for Life in our Galaxy

Excellence: Explore, Inspire, Aspire !

Planet Earth

3 NASA Highlights

4 Where’s NASA? Jet Propulsion Laboratory Pasadena, California

6 How is NASA Organized?

Mission Directorates: • Human Exploration and Operations • Science • Space Technology • Aeronautics Research

7 Moon to Mars

8 Space Launch System

9 NASA Key Science Themes

Discovering the Secrets of the Universe Searching for Life Elsewhere

Safeguarding and Improving Life on Earth

10 NASA Science Mission Directorate SOLAR JASD SYSTEM

HELIOPHYSICS ASTROPHYSICS

EARTH

11 NASA Science Fleet

12 GRACE Follow-On Tracking Earth’s Water Movement across the Whole Planet

GRACE Data 2002–2017

13 James Webb Space Telescope 2021 Launch

14 Voyager 2 Enters Interstellar Space

15 16 The Search for Life in our Galaxy Are We Alone? Do We Understand Life?

NASA/Joyce Definition: “A self-sustaining chemical system capable of Darwinian evolution” Traits Common to Life on Earth

• Ordered structure • Reproduction • Growth and development • Response to environment • Homeostatis • Evolutionary adaptation • Energy utilization

20 What Is Essential for Life?

Source of Energy

Essential Elements

Solvent to Host Chemical Reactions

21 Extreme Environments Support Life

22 Exploring the Red Planet

Search for Technosignatures Probing the Atmospheres of Exoplanets “Astronomers think that many stars besides the sun have their own planetary systems, and that some of these planets may support some form of life”

1962

27 Seeing an Exoplanet Is as Hard as… How Are Exoplanets Discovered? Two Popular Methods

Doppler Spectroscopy Transit ()

29 Where Are the Eggsoplanets?

30 HR 8799

31 When Were Exoplanets Discovered?

Credit: Hugh Osborn

32 Kepler Mission: Three Key Results

1. There are more planets than stars in the galaxy

2. Small planets are common

3. Small planets in the Habitable Zone are common

33 A Familiar Habitable Zone

34 Diversity of Exoplanets

35 Exoplanet Types

36 Understanding Exoplanets Transmission Spectroscopy: Sunny with a Chance of Clouds

37 Spectroscopy Detection of Biosignatures

Light from Star Light from Star Light from Planet and Planet - =

38 Habitable Zone

39 Exoplanets in the Habitable Zone

40 Spectra of Our Solar System Planets

41 “Blue of the sky” measures total amount “Vegetation Earth’s Spectra of atmosphere jump” indicates Carbon dioxide presence of suggests possible land plants volcanic activity Methane indicates presence of anaerobic bacteria

Oxygen Water and ozone vapor were produced suggests by living organisms habitability Credit: M. Turnbull 42 Starlight Suppression

External Occulters (Starshades)

Internal Occulters (Coronagraphs)

43 44 Starshade (External Occulter)

45 WFIRST

JWST2 PLATO Missions TESS

Kepler LUVOIR5 CHEOPS 4

Spitzer Gaia

Hubble1 Starshade HabEx5 CoRoT3 Rendezvous5

OST5 NASA Non-NASA Missions Missions

W. M. Keck Observatory Large Binocular 6 1 WIYN 6 SMARTS 1.5m NASA/ESA Partnership Telescope 2 NASA/ESA/CSA Partnership 5 2020 Decadal Survey Studies 3 CNES/ESA Ground Telescopes with NASA participation 6 NSF Partnership (NN-EXPLORE) 4 ESA/Swiss Space Office Excellence: Explore, Inspire, Aspire!

47 Explore: to traverse for the purpose of discovery; to scrutinize, to examine

Inspire: to fill with animating influence; to impel Aspire: to seek ambitiously, with intent, towards a goal with high value; ascend, soar. The Search for Life is Aspirational It Draws us, and Impels us Credit: Nick Siegler To Explore and Inspire 48 49 Ingenuity on Mars

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech 50 Exploration: Inquiry

Kepler Mission

• Prioritization • Problem Solving • Decision Making • Risk Mitigation

Roman • Inclusive Space • Transparent Telescope

51 Inspiration Exploring a Galaxy of Worlds while Inspiring Our Own

52 Exoplanet Travel Bureau

53 “Exoplanet Earth” Edition We Are a Leo Sun from Trappist-1

• S o l

54

Return to Our Solar System, to Planet Earth

Pale Blue Dot Image by Voyager 1 beyond Neptune

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Earth and Moon From Cassini Mission at Saturn

Credit: Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Credit: Credit: NASA Credit: Credit: NASA/Johnson Credit: NASA “All these worlds are yours” - Arthur C. Clarke

63 Thank you!

64 Acknowledgements

This work was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. © 2021 All rights reserved. e Likely Rocky Super-Earth Orbiting a Nearby Sun-like Star

Credit: F. Feng, University of Hertfordshire 66 Our Place in the Universe

The Universe The Local Supercluster The Local Group The Milky Way

Size: 93 billion light years Size: ~110 million light years Size: We are ~10 million light years here Size: ~100 kilo light years

67