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W. M. Keck Observatory later this month will present, “The Search for Life: A Story Told by Past, Present, Future NASA Science Missions.”

This free public event will begin at 6:30 p.m. (doors open at 6) on Thursday, May 29, at the Gates Performing Arts Center at Hawaii Preparatory Academy, 65-1692 Kohala Mountain Road, in Waimea.

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During this talk, attendees will learn about on the search for life beyond Earth in a journey through NASA’s groundbreaking space science missions. It will start in our own solar system — from the early glimpses of Venus’ scorching surface, to “following the water” on Mars, and out to the subsurface oceans of the moons of the giant planets.

The talk then will explore beyond the solar system, with the space observatories that have revolutionized our understanding of planets around stars other than the Sun — known as exoplanets — from some of the first exoplanet detections with the Hubble Space Telescope, to the foundational exoplanet demographics provided by the Kepler mission, to the most detailed characterizations of exoplanet atmospheres by the James Webb Space Telescope.

Looking to the future, the presentation will highlight how NASA’s Habitable Worlds Observatory aims be the first space telescope capable of searching for “biosignatures” on Earth-like planets around Sun-like stars, shedding light on how common life is in our region of the galaxy, in major step toward answering the question: “Are we alone?”

The presenter is Megan Ansdell, a program officer in the Planetary Science Division and the Astrophysics Division at NASA headquarters.

She serves as the program scientist for the Great Observatory Maturation Program and the Habitable Worlds Observatory. She also serves as the planetary protection lead for the Mars Sample Return Program and the Sample Receiving Project, as well as the lead for artificial intelligence and machine learning.

In 2023, Ansdell was awarded the NASA Early Career Achievement Medal.

Ansdell grew up on Oahu and obtained her doctorate in astrophysics from the University of Hawaii in 2017.