![Figure showing the structure of pure carbon planets ranging from 0.1 to 20 Earth masses with a surface temperature of 300K. Color bar indicates density in g/cm3 . -- [astro-ph.EP]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Modeling-Carbon.png?resize=1200%2C719&ssl=1)
[astro-ph.EP] A planet’s interior structure not only influences its habitability, but it also provides information about the planet’s formation and history.
Habitable Zones
Posted inExtremeophiles and Extreme Environments
Rethinking The Origin Of Life At Seafloor Hydrothermal Vents
[PNAS] Alkaline vents have dominated a class of hypotheses for the origins of life since their discovery a quarter of century ago, but advances in understanding the nature of these […]
Posted inExtremeophiles and Extreme Environments
Cultivation Of Halophilic Archaea In Shallow Subsurface Martian Conditions Has Implications For Extant Life On Mars
[biorxiv.org] The present-day martian surface is generally considered inhospitable to life because of low atmospheric pressure, intense surface radiation, global desiccation, and oxidizing chemistry which has been increasing since the […]
![Three-dimensional layout of the four-aperture SELF optical model implemented in Ansys Zemax OpticStudio (Ansys, Inc. 2024), showing the arrangement of the primary and secondary mirrors, together with the optical path used for focalplane image generation. The inset provides a magnified view of the secondary mirrors. -- [astro-ph.IM]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Deep-Learning.png?resize=1200%2C720&ssl=1)
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology
Deep Learning-Based Coarse Alignment and Cophasing of a Distributed-Aperture Telescope. Application to the Small ExoLife Finder (SELF)
[astro-ph.IM] The ExoLife Finder (ELF), a 35–50-meter-class Fizeau interferometric telescope, was designed to detect biosignatures on exoplanets through direct imaging. The Small ExoLife Finder (SELF), a 3.5-meter prototype, serves as […]
Posted inPlanetary Protection & Biosafety
NASA Establishes Mars Forward Operational Risk and Contamination Evaluation (M-FORCE) Tiger Team to Shape Mars Planetary Protection Protocols
[NASA OSMA]. NASA’s Office of Safety and Mission Assurance (OSMA), in partnership with the Science Mission Directorate (SMD), is seeking applicants for a newly established external Tiger Team named Mars Forward […]
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology
Opportunity to Contribute to NASA DARES Community White Paper on Phototrophic Biosignatures
[Prebiotic Chemistry and Early Earth Environments RCN] Opportunity to contribute to the “White Paper on Phototrophic Biosignatures: Research Priorities for the Search for Life on Other Worlds“, developed as community […]
![Cumulative oxygen loss for planets at the habitable zone of each sample star over 1 Gyr, assuming constant stellar XUV flux at the HZ and no replenishment of oxygen. The curves are calculated using the energy-limited O2 loss prescription from V. S. Airapetian et al. 2017. Colored lines show individual stars, with solid segments representing the earliest ages (for stars with age ranges) and dashed segments extending beyond the minimum age. The black solid line shows the solar reference. Horizontal lines indicate the present-day Earth atmospheric O2 content (∼0.2 bars; dotted) and the total mass of Earth’s oceans (∼240 bars; dashed), providing reference levels for planetary habitability. -- [astro-ph.SR]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Panchromatic.png?resize=1200%2C720&ssl=1)
Posted inHabitable Zones
Panchromatic Spectra of Nearby Low-mass and Sun-like Stars with Directly Imageable Habitable Zones
[astro-ph.SR] Characterizing the high-energy radiation environments of stars plays a critical role in determining which systems’ planets are capable of retaining atmospheres and sustaining habitable conditions.
![Surface temperature of the 22 exoplanets in an aquaplanet configuration. Obliquity and eccentricity are set to zero, and all are tidally locked with Earth-like atmospheric chemistry and pressure. Level lines correspond to the temperatures of 223.15, 273.15, and 323.15 K. White lines indicate the terminator, that is, the boundary between the illuminated and the dark sides of a planet. Black dots indicate the prevalence of sea ice (ice fraction larger than 0.5). -- [astro-ph.EP]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Assessing-1.png?resize=1200%2C717&ssl=1)
Posted inHabitable Zones
Assessing The Climate And Habitability Of Tidally Locked Rocky Exoplanets
[astro-ph.EP] Tidally locked exoplanets orbiting M dwarf stars are prime targets in the search for habitable worlds, yet their complex climate dynamics challenge conventional models of habitability.
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets
An Evolving Cosmic Shoreline and Sandbar Bounding the Rocky Airless Valley
[astro-ph.EP] Recent JWST observations challenge the traditional ‘cosmic shoreline’ from both sides, revealing thick volatile atmospheres on the hottest close-in ‘lava worlds,’ where irradiation should drive the most extreme escape, […]
Posted inRobotics/Rovers/UAVs
Robotic Lava Tube Mapping And Multimodal Data Collection Using Quadruped And LiDAR
[Frontiers in Robotics and AI]. As part of TU Delft Rhizome 2.0 and Moonshot projects, focusing on the development of extraterrestrial habitats in lava tubes, the robotic mapping of an […]