Marc Kaufman

Marc Kaufman is the founder of the online column Many Worlds (manyworlds.space), and the author of two books about space: First Contact: Scientific Breakthroughs in the Search for Life Beyond Earth (Simon & Schuster) and Mars Up Close: Inside the Curiosity Mission. He also reported on NASA for the Washington Post.

The National Academies panel didn't go for the LUVOIR telescope as proposed, but endorsed its basic purpose and many of its elements.

Academy Panel Recommends that NASA Focus on Finding Life in the Galaxy

Large telescopes are the key.

Scientists might someday announce that they've found life in the seas on Saturn's moon Titan (shown here in a Cassini radar image). But how will they -- and we -- be sure?

NASA Wants Standards for Evaluating Claims of Extraterrestrial Life

Scientists aim to help the public judge: Is this discovery believable or not?

This rare picture of an exoplanet (called 2M1207B) shows a red world several times Jupiter’s size orbiting a brown dwarf much smaller and dimmer than our sun. LUVOIR is after more elusive targets: small, rocky planets around bright stars.

The Space Telescope That Could Find a Second Earth

What will it take to capture images of a distant world capable of harboring life?

Spacesuit builders ILC Dover and Collins Aerospace showed off their privately developed Astro exploration suit at an event on Capitol Hill last July. NASA may need help from such commercial ventures if it hopes to make a 2024 moon landing.

Designing a Moon Suit for the 21st Century

The date for the next lunar landing has been set, but the astronauts don’t have a thing to wear.

‘Oumuamua, shown here in an artist’s concept, was the first object seen to enter our solar system from interstellar space. Could it be an artifact sent by some distant civilization?

Signs

We've been listening for extraterrestrials. Now we're starting to look.

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