Research

Current Research at the SETI Institute

NASA

  • Distribution, Preservation and Detection of Organic Biomarkers in Mars Analogue Environments
  • Improving SpiceyPy: The Python Spice Interface
  • Airborne Astronomy Ambassadors (AAA)
  • New High Resolution Topographic Maps of Pluto and Charon
  • Planetary Imaging and Topography Cooperative Agreement
  • Constraining the mineralogical, geochemical, and climatic history of Juventae Chasma
  • Advancing our Understanding of Aqueous Alteration and Gypsum Formation at Olympia Undae Through Analysis of CRISM and HiRISE Imagery
  • Characterization of Low-Hydrate Mg and Fe Sulfates to Support their Detection on Mars
  • Characterizing Variations in the Spectroscopic Features due to H2O and/or OH on the Surface of the Moon
  • Characterizing Ammonium Bearing Materials to Constrain Ammonium in the Regoliths of Rocky Bodies in our Solar System
  • Analysis of Aqueous Materials on Mars Using Orbital CRISM Data
  • Radar Speckle Investigations of Near-Earth Asteroid Spin States during 2021 – 2023
  • Exoplanet Technologies Development
  • A TESS Monitoring Survey of Young Intermediate-Mass Stars
  • From exocomets to technosignatures: hidden occulters in planetary systems
  • Stellar Physics on the Early Pre-main Sequence: The K2 View
  • An All-sky Time-domain Survey for Young Stars
  • Dynamical History Of The Uranian Moons
  • Origin and Evolution of the Martian Moon System
  • Orbital Evolution of Saturn's Moons by Resonance Locking
  • Tracking the organic matter in the outer Saturn System
  • Integrated laboratory, modeling and observational investigations of the origins of Pluto’s surface dark materials
  • Understanding the Origin, Evolution, and Properties of the Most Luminous Massive Star Forming Complexes in the Milky Way
  • Transiting Exoplanet Science with a Global Network of Small Ground-based Telescopes
  • Cosmic Cataclysms and Citizen Science: Rapidly observing high-energy phenomena with a global telescope network
  • Windblown Mineral Grains as a Source of Natural Transport of Biological Contamination
  • The Generation of Atomic and Molecular Opacities for the Modelling of Brown Dwarfs and Extrasolar Planets
  • Precision Pointing Reconstruction And Backplanes In Support Of Legacy Outer Planet Missions
  • The Production of Astrobiologically Important Organics: Protoplanetary Disk Modeling
  • Chemical and Physical Processing of PAHs in the Solar Nebula
  • Diagnosing disk wind conditions through thermochemical and MHD modeling
  • Characterizing the physical and chemical structure of protoplanetary disks from their gas line emission
  • The Formation And Evolution Of Prebiotic Organics In Extraterrestrial Environments Exploring The Role Of Astrochemistry In The Origin Of Life
  • Characteristics and climatology of atmospheric waves from 6 Mars years of observations by the MRO Mars Climate Sounder
  • Determination of highly accurate rovibrational line lists for ammonia and its isotopologues for use in analyzing astronomical spectra and modeling of exoplanet atmospheres
  • Towards Accurate Rovibrational Line List for Use in Modeling and Interpreting Observations of ISM and (Exo)Planet Atmospheres: N20
  • An orbital element survey of near-Earth long-period comets
  • Physical and Chemical Properties of Outer Solar System Dust in Late Stages of Accretion Towards Planetesimal Formation
  • Meteorite-Type Dependent Orbital Element Survey of Small Impacting NEO
  • Systematics of Asteroid Fragmentation on Entry
  • Characterization of Solar Energetic Particles/ HSR
  • Modeling The Formation Of Mars'S Proto-Satellite Disk
  • TESS' royal road to stellar astrophysics — uniform analysis of hundreds of thousands of eclipsing binaries
  • Laying the Foundation for a Comprehensive View of Transiting Exoplanets with the Galactic Bulge Survey
  • A Uniform Catalog of Planets from TESS Full Frame Images
  • Laying the Foundation for a Comprehensive View of Transiting Exoplanets with the Galactic Bulge Survey
  • Open-Data Science Architecture and Tools for Planetary Research Data
  • Planetary Science and Exploration Studies
  • Comparative Planetology of Aeolian Transport Modes
  • LEADER
  • Early Mars climate evolution recorded in aqueous alteration products
  • Comprehensive Study of Dust, Molecules, and Ejecta in Supernovae and their Remnants for the JWST Era
  • Constraining the macromolecular organics in Enceladus’ plumes under hypervelocity impact conditions
  • NASA Ames LADWP ISFM
  • The chemical evolution of TNOs and Centaurs: Irradiation of ices and the red spectral slopes
  • Matrix Isolation/Optical Constants of Ices; The NASA Center for Optical Constants (NCOC)
  • Molecular Beam Gas-Ice-Grain Astrochemistry in Support of the JWST Mission
  • Micro-Sampling System for Mineralogical Instruments
  • Mapping α-particle X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometer (Map-X)
  • XTRA: An eXTraterrestrial Regolith Analyzer for Lunar Soil
  • Data Processing and Analysis Support for NASA ATAP
  • Data Processing and Analysis Support for NASA Science Pipelines
  • In-situ Spectroscopic Europa Explorer (iSEE)
  • In-situ Vent Analysis Divebot for Exobiology Research (InVADER)
  • Detecting the fundamental chiral building blocks of life
  • Systematic Characterization of Jet and Curtain Eruptions on Enceladus
  • Investigating Irregular Vertical Structures at the Edges of Saturn's A and B Rings
  • The NASA Community College Network
  • Detection of Organics by Gas Chromatography/Gas Phase Fluorescence (GC/GPF)
  • How Nitrogen Cycling Determines Planetary Habitability
  • The Ring-Moon Systems Node of the Planetary Data System
  • Cassini UVIS Data Product Enhancement and Visualization
  • Quantifying Spectroscopic Performance Requirements for Detecting Biosignatures with a Habitable Worlds Observatory
  • Library of Terran Worlds: Assessing the Habitability of Earth-Similar Planets Among Nearby Stars
  • Assessing Atmospheric Impacts of X-ray and UV Irradiation on Earth-like Planets in Directly Imageable Habitable Zones
  • Turbulent Concentration And The First Planetesimals
  • Testing Arid Transformation Of Organics Via In-Situ Extraction (Tatooine)
  • Modeling of the Formation of Sharp-Edged Depressions on Titan
  • A Global Geologic Map of Tethys
  • Computer Modeling from proteins, to networks, to protocells in the Origins of Life
  • Computer Modeling from proteins, to networks, to protocells in the Origins of Life
  • From Antarctica to Space: molecular response and physiological adaptation of moss to simulated deep space cosmic ionizing radiation and spaceflight microgravity

NSF

  • Collaborative Research: Polarimetric Asteroseismology of Massive Hot Stars
  • Quantitative Molecular Dynamics of Extremophile Metalloproteins -- Combining Experiment and Computation
  • Comprehensive Analysis of Period Changes in Eclipsing Binaries as a Probe of Stellar Astrophysics
  • Collaborative Research: Simulations, Theory and Observations of Plasma Turbulence and Heating Found in Solar Chromosphere
  • Collaborative Research: CEDAR: Investigation of Gigantic Jets, Their Ionospheric Effects, and How They Couple the Troposphere and Ionosphere
  • Collaborative Research: Advancing predictive understanding of summertime Arctic sea ice cover
  • REU Site: Life in the Universe - Astronomy, Astrobiology, and Planetary Science at the SETI Institute

STScI

  • IceAge: Chemical evolution of ices during star formation
  • Illuminating the dust properties in the diffuse ISM with JWST
  • The Sickle: Pillars of Creation in the Galactic Center
  • ERS observations of the Jovian System as a demonstration of JWST's capabilities for Solar System Science
  • Probing the icy regoliths of Europa with imaging polarimetry
  • Ice giant atmospheres, rings and moons - physics of the macroscopic to the microscopic
  • Snowline pulsations and UV photo-chemistry in planet-forming regions

Planetary Science Institute

  • Characterizing the Dynamic Activity of Martian Mega-Ripples and Transverse Aeolian Ridges
  • Seasonal, annual, and multidirectional sand flux trends related to global or regional forcing factors
  • Detection and Characterization of Circumbinary Planets Around TESS Eclipsing Binaries
  • Analyses of Sulfates in Chaos Regions on Mars
  • A fresh examination of the Moon's young craters: Insights from new datasets and analysis tools

USGS

  • Planetary Spatial Data Infrastructure Development and Support
  • USGS-SETI Collaborative Research in Innovative New Technologies for Investigation of Resources and Hazards

NIH

  • Spectroscopy of Fe-S Cluster Proteins -- Information for Structure and Function

U.S. Department of the Interior

  • SETI Institute Astronomy Program for Lake Mead NRA Visitors

USRA

  • Virtual Trips to Extreme Environments (VTEE)
  • Data Capabilities: A data-driven modeling infrastructure to support research and education in volcanology, geochemistry and petrology
  • Supporting Planetary Science & Mission Work with the Astrobiology Spectral Database

ARDC

  • GNU Radio Hackathon at Hat Creek Radio Observatory
  • AGISETI: ARDC-Supported GNU radio-based Interactive SETI Curriculum
  • GNU Radio Usability Enhancements project

Tawani Foundation

  • 2024 International Arctic Expedition
  • Anthropo Snow Project

Heising-Simons Foundation

  • Emerging Technologies for Astrophysics Missions workshop

Lounsbery Foundation

  • Satellite Impacts and Community Astronomy Network (SICAN)

The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation

  • Bridging Science and Community: Enhancing the Unistellar Network's Outreach and Impact

Arizona State University

  • Tracing Rocky Exoplanet Compositions

Boise State University

  • Exploring Martian Boundary Layer Processes

Brown University

  • Quantitatively assessing the origin and evolution of cometary smooth terrains

Johns Hopkins University

  • Finding Titan's mid-latitude channels
  • Unraveling the Disk - Sensitivity, spectral and spatial resolution requirements for accurate determinations of disk masses
  • Assessing Movement & Growth as Agnostic Biosignatures

McGill University

  • CHIME Project

New Mexico State University

  • Dynamical instabilities in the aid of planet formation in circumstellar disks

Oregon State University

  • The NANOGrav Physics Frontiers Center

Tufts University

  • A Next Generation Circumbinary Planet Search With TESS

University of Arizona, Tucson

  • Support of the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE)
  • OSIRIS Rex

University of Central Florida

  • Polarization Signatures of Habitable Exoplanets
  • A roadway for time resolved polarimetric observations of habitable exoplanets with spectopolarimetry

University of Colorado

  • SII-NRDZ: Radio Astronomy Dynamic Satellite Inteference-Mitigation and Spectrum Sharing (RADYSISS)

University of Idaho

  • The Recent History of Saturn's Dusty Rings

University of Puerto Rico

  • NANOGrav@UPRM: Growing and Characterizing the NANOGrav

University of Tennessee

  • Gravitational-Wave Detector

Lowell Observatory

  • Pluto's Secret Sauce: Do Subsurface Volatile Fluids Shape Its Geology?

AstronetX

  • Lunar-Based Camera Concept Development