NASA supported the project to find extraterrestrial life

The group of researchers published six studies aimed at explaining how scientists should look for exoplanets for the signs of life, both now and later, using near-future technologies. An exoplanet is a planet outside our solar system. As of June 2, 2018, there were 3,786 confirmed planets in 2,834 systems, with 629 systems having more than one planet.

The various journals are part of the Nexus for Exoplanet Systems Science (NExSS) program. This series of scientific investigations is supported by NASA with other space agencies and academic departments, resulting from a first meeting that took place in Seattle in 2016.

Martin Still, NASA's exoplanet scientist at headquarters, Washington, said about the studies: "We are moving from life theory elsewhere in our galaxy to a robust science that will ultimately give us the answer to this deep question: Are we alone? "

New studies on extraterrestrial life

The first six studies come from the University of Washington, the University of California-Riverside, and the Tokyo Institute of Technology, under the heading Extreme Tech. The focus is on what we currently know about detecting signs of life in a solar system other than ours. The first wave of studies shows that to reach the goal, several agencies from different countries have to collaborate.

Atmospheric signals

One of the NASA Goddard Institute's work focuses on the types of signals that scientists should look for in order to badess whether there is life on another planet. Signal types include atmospheric gases, such as oxygen and methane. Another example is the detection of light from the surface of a planet, which could be a sign of a life form, such as vegetation. This study is published in Astrobiology and is entitled "Biosignatures of exoplanets: at the dawn of a new era of planetary observations".

Biosignatures of planets

A second example comes from the University of Washington who is interested in biosignatures from exoplanets. This is based on chemical signatures to develop a probability scale. This scale begins with "very likely to support life" up to "very unlikely to sustain life". This study is also published in the journal Astrobiology under the title "Biosignatures of exoplanets: a framework for their evaluation".

Using powerful telescopes

A third study focuses on how we might find life, examining the capabilities of the ESO Extremely Large Telescope and James Webb Space Telescope, who are trained to look for life. This includes searching for rocky planets and collecting biosignature data. This is again being led by NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, with research called "Exoplanet Biosignatures: Perspectives of Observation."