Where and how do we search for life in our solar system? There are several planets or moons that have environments which could support life or at one time might have. I will discuss the best locales--Mars, Europa, Enceladus and Titan—and describe concepts and plans for spacecraft missions to further explore the potential of these places for life—and to actually search there for signs of life.
Dr. Jonathan Lunine came to Caltech in 2024 as JPL Chief Scientist and Professor of Planetary Science after serving on the faculties of Cornell University, University of Arizona, and University of Rome Tor Vergata. His research centers on the
formation and evolution of planetary systems, the nature of planetary interiors and atmospheres, and where environments suited for life might exist in the solar system and beyond. He was an interdisciplinary scientist on the Cassini/Huygens
mission to Saturn and on the James Webb Space Telescope. He is co-investigator on the Juno mission at Jupiter. On the Europa Clipper mission, he is coinvestigator for the Mapping Imaging Spectrometer for Europa (MISE) and a member of the gravity science team. He is a co-investigator on the 3GM gravity experiment on the JUICE mission to Ganymede. Lunine is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences and the International Academy of Astronautics.