NASA recruited a team from Hampton University to lead their study on locating planets that are habitable and this project is a part of NASA's Exoplanet System Science (NExSS) series of programs.
The project got a shot in the arm with a funding of $3.8 Million through a grant from NASA's Astrobiology program. Prof. William B Moore, from Hampton University will lead the project. "Living, Breathing Planet Project" is the name of this project.
Moore said that this quest for identifying planets and life forms away from Earth will provide answers to some of mankind's questions. He added that Hampton University will be utilizing their expertise in the atmospheric measurements and planetary science through their "Atmospheric Measurement and Planetary Science" Department, according to Hampton University.
In collaboration with NASA, they intend to discover insights on extra terrestrial life and life forms. They also want answers to what such a discovery may hold for the future of our planet and humans, according to Globe News Wire.
The group is going to collaborate with researchers from the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics, NASA Godard Space Flight Center, National Institute of Aerospace, Science Systems and Applications Inc, the University of Maryland College Park, the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech.
A study on the loss of hydrogen and other atmospheric compounds will be conducted with researchers making observations on how stars use magnetic fields to remove atmospheric layers. Jim Gree, NASA's Director of Planetary Science said that this search for other worlds is of interest to planetary and climate scientists apart from astronomers.
The project is going to involve multi-disciplinary research and will include geochemical, atmospheric sampling, remote sensing and telescopic images. The data is going to be collected ypically through telescopes or other methods is going to be used to create models and find what conditions make a planet habitable.