Search for Life

NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft, headed to Jupiter’s ice-covered moon Europa in October 2024, will carry a laser-etched message that celebrates humanity’s connection to water.

Space mysteries Astronomers are especially interested in the habitability of these kinds of planets, which always face their star with the same side, because they are incredibly common in the universe.

As a planetary scientist and astrobiologist who studies ice grains from Enceladus, I'm interested in whether there is life on this or other icy moons. I also want to understand how scientists like me could detect it.

"As fantastical as it may sound, astrobiodefense is neither hypothetical nor fictional."

The search for alien life can now include purple bacteria, thanks to a new catalog of chemical makeup of the lavender-hued organisms.

For the chief leader of the SETI Institute, established to search for and understand life beyond Earth, there's a need to step back and cuddle up to a cup of cosmic reality.

Wide-open spaces of the western U.S. may partly explain the region’s higher UAP sightings, according to a new study.

The future European Space Agency mission could include an orbiting spacecraft as well as a lander, both of which would sample ocean material in Enceladus' plumes.

A single icy moon grain could host tiny microbes or cellular remnants of life. If so, NASA's Europa Clipper may one day be able to find life near Jupiter.

Solar sails are well suited for life-hunting missions to icy, ocean-harboring moons like Europa and Enceladus, a new study suggests.