Colloquium: NASA's Search for Life

Are we alone? This is a question that humanity has asked for millennia; finding an answer is beginning to fall within our grasp. Though just 25 years old, the field of exoplanet science has made remarkable progress. We now know that rocky planets are common, giant planets fairly uncommon, and that there are likely more planets than there are stars. Goddard Space Flight Center is at the forefront of upcoming space-based exoplanet science through its leadership roles within the recently-launched Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), which will find nearby planets to study; the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which will probe planetary atmospheres and could reveal the first signs of life beyond the Solar System; and the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) which will reveal the architectures of planetary systems to place our Solar System into context. I will present the rich variety of science performed at Goddard to make sense of the data we collect as we move from planet detection to characterization, and I will discuss ways that students can get involved in this exciting and rapidly growing field.