The VPL team is a member of the NASA Nexus for Exoplanet System Science (NExSS) which is a research coordination network dedicated to the study of planetary habitability. The goals of NExSS are to investigate the diversity of exoplanets and to learn how their history, geology, and climate interact to create the conditions for life. Our research personnel provide both key scientific and technical leadership for current and future NASA missions and engage the public in the excitement of NASAвЂ™s planet detection and characterization efforts. The VPL team is a member of the NASA Nexus for Exoplanet System Science (NExSS) which is a research coordination network dedicated to the study of planetary habitability.

Our effort benefits astrobiology and the NExSS Research Coordination Network with a proven, productive, interdisciplinary science team whose research spans the distribution of habitable worlds, the co-evolution of life with its environment, and the recognition of signatures of life on other worlds. We use observations, laboratory, and fieldwork from the astronomical, Earth observing, planetary and biological sciences as input to these models. To address our key scientific question, we refine and combine existing VPL planetary, astronomical, and ecosystem models to derive a comprehensive, interdisciplinary characterization of a given planetary environment and its likely history. We calculate the likely detectability of these planetary characteristics in photometry and spectra to be returned by NASAвЂ™s James Webb Space TelescopeВ (JWST) and future mission concepts, such as LUVOIR and HabEx.

We work to identify lifeвЂ™s observable impact on a planetary environment for different metabolisms, planetary compositions, and host stars. We explore the evolution and limits of terrestrial planet habitability via a planetвЂ™s interaction with its parent star and planetary system environment. The Virtual Planetary LaboratoryвЂ™s research is driven by a single scientific question: вЂњHow would we determine if an extrasolar planet were able to support life or had life on it already?вЂќ To answer this, the VPL develops and combines scientific models from many disciplines to constrain habitability for newly discovered worlds, like those found by NASAвЂ™s KeplerВ mission.

Planetary interaction science tab