NExSS Quantitative Habitability Science Working Group Archives

Visual summary of key considerations and arguments about the nature and scope of the definition and use of the term “habitable.” There are strong and valid arguments both for a simpler and more specific meaning and for a more complex and more universal meaning. Any single definition for “habitability” fails to meet the majority of the requirements. -- The Planetary Science Journal

Astrobiology (general), Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Courses, Habitable Zones, Nomenclature, Systematics, Natural History, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Science Fiction, SETI & Technosignatures, Status Report

A Terminology And Quantitative Framework For Assessing The Habitability Of Solar System And Extraterrestrial Worlds

by Keith CowingJuly 17, 2025July 17, 2025

The search for extraterrestrial life in the solar system and beyond is a key science driver in astrobiology, planetary science, and astrophysics.

"Strange New World" - Star Trek Enterprise episode 104 - Enterprise passes a previously unknown Minshara-class (M-class) planet with an Earth-like atmosphere and surface. - Paramount/CBS

Press Release

A Terminology and Quantitative Framework for Assessing the Habitability of Solar System and Extraterrestrial Worlds

by Keith CowingJune 2, 2025June 27, 2026

Our paper fills this gap based on a three year-long study by the NExSS Quantitative Habitability Science Working Group. We reviewed past studies of habitability, but find that the lack […]

NExSS Quantitative Habitability Science Working Group

A Terminology And Quantitative Framework For Assessing The Habitability Of Solar System And Extraterrestrial Worlds

A Terminology and Quantitative Framework for Assessing the Habitability of Solar System and Extraterrestrial Worlds

Opportunity to Contribute to NASA DARES Community White Paper on Phototrophic Biosignatures

NASA Establishes Mars Forward Operational Risk and Contamination Evaluation (M-FORCE) Tiger Team to Shape Mars Planetary Protection Protocols

Miraflores Butte On Mars

Ocean World Exploration: 2026 American Samoa ROV + Mapping Exploration

Development Of An Adaptive Optics Testbed At MPIA For The ELT/Planetary Camera And Spectrograph (PCS)