This article will be permanently flagged as inappropriate and made unaccessible to everyone. Are you certain this article is inappropriate? Excessive Violence Sexual Content Political / Social
Email Address:
Article Id: WHEBN0046492478 Reproduction Date:
The Nexus for Exoplanet System Science (NExSS) initiative is a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (
Current NExSS research projects as of 2015:[2]
NExSS will draw from scientific expertise in each of the four divisions of the Science Mission Directorate: Earth science, planetary science, heliophysics and astrophysics.[2] NExSS research will directly contribute to understanding and interpreting future exoplanet data from the upcoming launches of the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite and James Webb Space Telescope, as well as the planned Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope mission.[2]
Functioning as a virtual institute, NExSS is currently composed of sixteen interdisciplinary science teams from ten universities, three NASA centers and two research institutes, who will work together to search for habitable explanets that can support life.[9] The US teams were initially selected from a total of about 200 proposals; however, the coalition is expected to expand nationally and internationally as the project gets underway.[10] Teams will also work with amateur citizen scientists who will have the ability to access the public Kepler data and search for exoplanets.[8]
To help coordinate efforts to sift through and understand the data, NASA needed a way for researchers to collaborate across disciplines. The success of the Virtual Planetary Laboratory research network at the University of Washington led Mary A. Voytek, director of the NASA Astrobiology Program, to model its structure and create the Nexus for Exoplanet System Science (NExSS) initiative.[1][7] Leaders from three NASA research centers will run the program: Natalie Batalha of NASA's Ames Research Center, Dawn Gelino of the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute, and Anthony Del Genio of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies.[8]
In 1995, astronomers using ground-based observatories discovered 51 Pegasi b, the first exoplanet orbiting a Sun-like star.[4] NASA launched the Kepler space telescope in 2009 to search for Earth-size exoplanets. By 2015, they had confirmed more than a thousand exoplanets,[note 1] while several thousand additional candidates awaited confirmation.[6]
[3][2]
Planetary habitability, Extraterrestrial life, Universe, Solar System, Saturn
Astrobiology, Mars, Red dwarf, Jupiter, Biochemistry
University of Texas at Austin, University of California, Berkeley, National Collegiate Athletic Association, Association of American Universities, Arizona State University
Astronomy, Electromagnetism, Quantum mechanics, Thermodynamics, Isaac Newton
Speciation, Evolution, Biology, Paleontology, Ecology
Astrobiology, Solar System, Exoplanet, Astronomy, Astrophysics
Astrobiology, Exoplanet, Earth, Expose, Temperature