Science, education and outreach opened strong at the SETI Institute in 2021. Our researchers are publishing their work in peer-reviewed journals and sharing breakthroughs in science. They are participating in NASA and international missions. And they are taking the lead in education and science on official committees and strategic planning groups. Our Center for Education selected 30 teachers for the Airborne Astronomy Ambassadors program and launched the NASA Community College Network to bring NASA subject matter experts, research and educational resources into community college science classrooms. And the Center for Outreach connected our work to the world through virtual public lectures, livestream broadcasts, media outlets worldwide, social media and our radio program and podcast.

Here are some highlights:

54 peer-reviewed publications including:

• Bishop J.L., Yeşilbaş, M., Hinman, N. H., Burton, Z. F. M., Englert, P. A. J., et al. including Gulick, V. C. (2021) Martian subsurface cryosalt expansion and collapse as trigger for landslides, Science Advances, 7, 6, eabe4459.
• Cabrol, N. A., Tracing a modern biosphere on Mars, Nature Astronomy 5 (3): 210-212, 2021.
• Ertem, G. (2021) The Role of Minerals in Events That Led to the Origin of Life, Astrobiology, 21, 2.
• Schulze-Makuch D. (2021) The case (or not) for life in the Venusian clouds, Life, 11(3), 255.
• Scipioni, F., White, O. L., Cook, J. C., Bertrand, T., Cruikshank, D. P., Grundy, W. M., Beddingfield-Cartwright, C., Binzel, R. P., Dalle Ore, C. M., et al. (2021) Pluto’s Sputnik Planitia: Composition of geological units from infrared spectroscopy, Icarus, 359, 114303.

Conference proceedings and abstracts including:

• Backman, D.E., Harman, P.K., Clark, C., (2021) NASA’s Airborne Astronomy Ambassadors: Integrating NASA Assets into Learning Environments, 237th AAS Meeting , Bulletin of the AAS, 53(1).
• Esposito, T. M., Marchis, F., Peluso, D., Avsar, A., Zellem, R. T. (2021) Transiting Exoplanet Followup by Citizen Scientists with the Global Unistellar eVscope Network, 237th AAS Meeting, Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 53, 1.
• Fenton, L. K., Metzger, S., Michaels, T. I., Scheidt, S. P., Dorn, T. C., LDV Neakrase, L. D. V. (2021) Surface roughness length as a function of fetch length at a planetary analog field site, 52nd Lunar Planet. Sci. Conf., Abstract #2287.
• Hargitai, H. (2021) The Pocket Atlas of Mars: A Public Outreach Project, 52nd Lunar Planet. Sci. Conf., Abstract #2109. 
• Steel, S., Harman, P. K., Backman, D. E., Clark, C., and Fraknoi, A. (2021) The NASA Community College Network, 237th AAS Meeting, Bulletin of the AAS, 53(1).

Missions including:

• Sobron, P. Mars 2020 rover mission (Perseverance) Science Team member, SHERLOC and SuperCam instrument development and operation. Ongoing
• Sobron, P.  ExoMars 2022 rover mission Science Team member, Raman Laser Spectrometer (RLS) instrument development and operation. Ongoing.
• Spry, J. A. Mission support to the NASA Office of Planetary Protection for the New Horizons, OSIRIS-REx, Parker Solar Probe, ARTEMIS, InSight, MarCO, Solar Orbiter, EM1, EM1 secondary payloads (cubesats) and Psyche. 2015. Ongoing.
• Tiscareno, M. S. Leader of the Saturn Ring Skimmer team. The team is waiting to hear from the Planetary Science Decadal Survey regarding whether the concept was selected for additional study.  Any study would not be conducted by the team members but would still advance the concept. Ongoing.
• Wong, M. H. Participating Scientist on the Juno mission. Ongoing.

Highlights including

• Kagawa, H. BioNutrients-1 project had an orbit operation in the International Space Station, January 1, 2021.
• Sobron P. Validated TRL4 breadboard of a Raman spectrometer for the Europa lander and now building brassboard as part of a MatISSE project.
• Sobron P. Validated TRL6 brassboards of deep-sea spectroscopy payload and lander for a PSTAR project; moving on to the environmental qualification phase for the instrument.

Learn more and download the full report HERE.