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SETI Institute scientists make mind-blowing discoveries every day – discoveries that change our understanding of life, of Earth, and of the universe.  Their explorations take them from research locations around the world to observations of deep space. They develop tools, techniques, and methods for getting the answers they seek. And they make sure that share what they learn – not only with their professional colleagues, but with the wider world, especially the next generation of explorers.

Here is a taste of what SETI Institute scientists have been up to:

• 73 peer-reviewed publications on topics including:
  • Impact of Space Weather on Climate and Habitability of Terrestrial Type Exoplanets (Meng Jin, International Journal of Astrobiology)
  • WASP-4b Arrived Early for the TESS Mission (Joseph Twicken and Bill Wohler, The Astronomical Journal)
  • 100 Years of the IAU: Beyond the Galileo Experiment (Nathalie Cabrol, Nature Astronomy)
  • The Curious Case of KOI 4: Confirming Kepler’s First Exoplanet Detection (Jeff Coughlin, The Astronomical Journal)
  • Recent Cryovolcanism in Virgil Fossae on Pluto (Orkan Umurhan, Ross Beyer, Oliver White, Cristina Dalle Ore and Richard Cartwright, Icarus)
     
• 90 conference abstracts and proceedings including:
  • Landscape ecology of photosynthetic communities in the Mars analog Salar de Pajonales (Kimberly Warren-Rhodes, Pablo Sobron, and Nathalie Cabrol, AbSciCon)
  • Radial distribution of textures in Saturn’s main rings (Matthew Tiscareno, AAS Division for Planetary Sciences)
  • Before You Go…Information Needed for the Safe and Productive Astrobiological Exploration of Mars by Crewed Missions (Andrew Spry and Margaret Race, AbSciCon)
  • Life Beyond the Solar System: Remotely Detectable Biosignatures (Franck Marchis, Astro 2020: Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics)
  • Imaging Simulation Toolkit for Exoplanet Reconnaissance (Margaret Turnbull, AAS)
     
• Media stories including:
  • NBC Bay Area Revelations: Exploring Space (Jill Tarter and Nathalie Cabrol)
  • Discover Magazine: Mars Doesn’t Need Our Microbes – How to Keep the Red Planet Pristine (Margaret Race)
  • USA Today: Saturn’s moons may have ‘sculpted’ its famous rings, new study suggests (Matthew Tiscareno)
  • Parabolic Arc: Drone Maps Icy Lava Tube in Iceland in Preparation for Lunar and Martian Cave Exploration (Pascal Lee)
  • Adam Savage’s Tested: What Exoplanets Look Like in Film vs. Reality (Franck Marchis)
     
• Professional and public talks including:
  • Invited lecture at Shimoda Ocean Research Center, Tsukuba University, Shimoda City, Tokyo, Japan: Lake Untersee, An Oasis in a Frozen Desert (Dale Andersen)
  • Career Day at Esther B. Clark School, Palo Alto, CA: Airborne Astronomy Ambassadors: High School Teachers Onboard a NASA Flying Observatory (Dana Backman)
  • Public lecture at the Department of Theoretical Physics, Oxford University, Oxford, UK: Finding Aliens – The Search for Life in the Universe (Bill Diamond)
  • Nightlife in Space, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, CA: Looking for Extraterrestrial Life (Seth Shostak)
  • Public talk at the Stockton Astronomical Society, Stockton, CA: Heliophysics: Science for Living with a Star (Meng Jin)
     
• Contributions to ongoing and planned missions including:
  • Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO): Janice Bishop, Ginny Gulick, Ross Beyer, Livio Tornabene
  • Mars 2020 : Pablo Sobron
  • WetLab2 on the International Space Station : Oana Marcu

Join our journey. Learn more by downloading the full report here: