Virtual Planetary Laboratory project a five-year study of planetary habitability<\/strong><\/h3>\nRobinson joined the NASA Astrobiology Institute\u2019s Virtual Planetary Laboratory<\/a> (VPL) in 2007 while working on his dissertation. Recently, the VPL joined NASA\u2019s Nexus for Exoplanet System Science<\/a> (NExSS), a network of more than 75 earth scientists (including NAU research professor Paul Dijkstra<\/strong>), heliophysicists, planetary scientists and astrophysicists at 18 different institutions. As part of this new membership, the VPL team, led by Victoria Meadows at the University of Washington, was awarded a $10 million grant in 2018 for a five-year study of planetary habitability, of which $230,000 was awarded to NAU for Robinson\u2019s work.<\/p>\nRobinson and his collaborators are using computer models to help scientists better understand which exoplanets may be habitable, based on their appearance and a range of other factors related to the chemical makeup of their atmospheres. One of their goals is better characterizing Earth\u2019s neighbor, the planet Venus.<\/p>\n
\u201cVenus is instructive because of its position in our solar system, just inside the inner edge of the habitable zone,\u201d Robinson said.<\/p>\n
A Venus-like exoplanet could play tricks on telescopes because the clouds that make up its atmosphere prevent observers from seeing its surface.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom a distance, it just looks like a white, reflective thing. It could fool you into thinking the planet you\u2019ve detected isn\u2019t anything like the actual planet, which is extremely hot and uninhabitable at the surface,\u201d he said. \u201cIf your goal is to find habitable worlds, you might \u2018waste\u2019 time studying it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The team\u2019s focus should help future researchers narrow down the search for habitable planets.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we spend some time now thinking about how to recognize a Venus from chemical signatures in its atmosphere, then when we see something bright and reflective around another star, we can make better observations of specific colors or wavelengths that show this is probably more like Venus, and not some other kind of reflective world,\u201d Robinson said.<\/p>\n
Biosignature project simulating Earth\u2019s atmosphere at various evolutionary stages <\/strong><\/h3>\nRobinson is principal investigator on another major study for which NAU has been awarded $371,000\u2014\u201cBack to Basics: Assessing Earth\u2019s Atmospheric Biosignatures from Space and Across Time.\u201d Part of NASA\u2019s Exobiology<\/a> program, this project will investigate how best to use future space telescopes to determine whether life may be present on an exoplanet by observing the presence of certain gases in its atmosphere, such as oxygen, methane and ozone.<\/p>\nRobinson is collaborating with Giada Arney of NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center and Michael Way of NASA\u2019s Goddard Institute for Space Studies on this project as well as co-investigators Linda Sohl of Columbia University, Edward Schwieterman of the University of California, Riverside and Michael Line from Arizona State University. He will be recruiting a graduate student for the two-year project later this year.<\/p>\n
To determine atmospheric composition of exoplanets, which can indicate a biosignature, or basic signature of life, Robinson is developing a three-dimensional spectral imaging simulator\u2014using NAU\u2019s Monsoon high-performance computing cluster\u2014to generate models of what Earth may have looked like from space at various stages of its evolution. These models will help differentiate, for example, how Earth may have looked from space before the planet was inhabited as compared to how it may have looked when the planet was populated by plant life and animal life, based on the chemical composition of the atmosphere.<\/p>\n
Robinson and his collaborators are using computer models to help scientists better understand which exoplanets may be habitable, based on their appearance and a range of other factors related to the chemical makeup of their atmospheres. One of their goals is better characterizing Earth\u2019s neighbor, the planet Venus.<\/p>\n
\u201cVenus is instructive because of its position in our solar system, just inside the inner edge of the habitable zone,\u201d Robinson said.<\/p>\n
A Venus-like exoplanet could play tricks on telescopes because the clouds that make up its atmosphere prevent observers from seeing its surface.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom a distance, it just looks like a white, reflective thing. It could fool you into thinking the planet you\u2019ve detected isn\u2019t anything like the actual planet, which is extremely hot and uninhabitable at the surface,\u201d he said. \u201cIf your goal is to find habitable worlds, you might \u2018waste\u2019 time studying it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The team\u2019s focus should help future researchers narrow down the search for habitable planets.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we spend some time now thinking about how to recognize a Venus from chemical signatures in its atmosphere, then when we see something bright and reflective around another star, we can make better observations of specific colors or wavelengths that show this is probably more like Venus, and not some other kind of reflective world,\u201d Robinson said.<\/p>\n
Biosignature project simulating Earth\u2019s atmosphere at various evolutionary stages <\/strong><\/h3>\nRobinson is principal investigator on another major study for which NAU has been awarded $371,000\u2014\u201cBack to Basics: Assessing Earth\u2019s Atmospheric Biosignatures from Space and Across Time.\u201d Part of NASA\u2019s Exobiology<\/a> program, this project will investigate how best to use future space telescopes to determine whether life may be present on an exoplanet by observing the presence of certain gases in its atmosphere, such as oxygen, methane and ozone.<\/p>\nRobinson is collaborating with Giada Arney of NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center and Michael Way of NASA\u2019s Goddard Institute for Space Studies on this project as well as co-investigators Linda Sohl of Columbia University, Edward Schwieterman of the University of California, Riverside and Michael Line from Arizona State University. He will be recruiting a graduate student for the two-year project later this year.<\/p>\n
To determine atmospheric composition of exoplanets, which can indicate a biosignature, or basic signature of life, Robinson is developing a three-dimensional spectral imaging simulator\u2014using NAU\u2019s Monsoon high-performance computing cluster\u2014to generate models of what Earth may have looked like from space at various stages of its evolution. These models will help differentiate, for example, how Earth may have looked from space before the planet was inhabited as compared to how it may have looked when the planet was populated by plant life and animal life, based on the chemical composition of the atmosphere.<\/p>\n
Robinson is collaborating with Giada Arney of NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center and Michael Way of NASA\u2019s Goddard Institute for Space Studies on this project as well as co-investigators Linda Sohl of Columbia University, Edward Schwieterman of the University of California, Riverside and Michael Line from Arizona State University. He will be recruiting a graduate student for the two-year project later this year.<\/p>\n
To determine atmospheric composition of exoplanets, which can indicate a biosignature, or basic signature of life, Robinson is developing a three-dimensional spectral imaging simulator\u2014using NAU\u2019s Monsoon high-performance computing cluster\u2014to generate models of what Earth may have looked like from space at various stages of its evolution. These models will help differentiate, for example, how Earth may have looked from space before the planet was inhabited as compared to how it may have looked when the planet was populated by plant life and animal life, based on the chemical composition of the atmosphere.<\/p>\n
![\"NAU](\"http:\/\/news.nau.edu\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/NAU_primary-281_3514-300x213.png\")