Astrobiology Mission Ideation Factory

The NASA Astrobiology Program hosts Astrobiology Mission Ideation Factories, workshops providing early career researchers the opportunity to work on teams developing new concepts for astrobiology missions.

Activity

31

Past Participants

7

Missions Proposed

About

Astrobiology Mission Ideation Factories are intensive and interactive workshops focused on developing creative ideas for future life detection missions. These workshops are held for two weeks spread out over two years, and bring together 25-30 early career scientists from a broad range of disciplines to produce radically innovative research proposals that address the biggest questions in astrobiology.

During the workshops, participants engage with their colleagues in a creative, free-thinking environment - away from their everyday routines and responsibilities - immersing themselves in a collaborative process developing their own life detection missions. Over the course of the workshops, participants are part of a multidisciplinary group of scientists who work to build a shared understanding of the unique challenges faced by their mission goals, define what their most important research questions are, and generate novel ideas to address these burning science questions.

Format and Outcomes

Mission Ideation Factories are workshops that develop a cohort of early career scientists who are mentored by experts in the field of astrobiology. These workshops are one to two weeks long, spread out over multiple years, with online training and development offered in addition to the in-person workshops.

The main focus of the these workshops is on idea generation for a potential life detection mission, and is facilitated by KnowInnovation as they implement their unique Ideas Lab. This methodology involves free-form idea generation, which progresses towards mission concepts with continual feedback from the scientific mentors at each step of the process. Ultimately, teams are formed around each mission concept and they must flesh out these missions and present their proposals to their peers, mentors, and NASA leadership. These mission proposals are then reviewed and ranked by the mentors with feedback provided for each participant.

After the first in-person workshop, additional follow-up workshops may be held to further develop ideas or launch "virtual missions" based upon these initial mission ideas.

Next Event

The Search for Life on Icy Moons

The NASA Astrobiology Program is hosting a Mission Ideation Factory focused on the search for life on Ocean Worlds. NASA would like to provide early career researchers the opportunity to develop new concepts for astrobiology missions.

This event will be an Ideas Lab-like activity focused on developing astrobiology missions. The goals of the Mission Ideation Factory are on providing an enriching experience for the participants, and is intended to be a first step in further development of top ideas for finding life on Ocean Worlds. Participants are expected to be early career post-docs and graduate students, with an interest in becoming more involved in astrobiology-focused space missions.

The event will be held for a week beginning October 20, 2025, at the NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) in Cleveland, OH. We encourage those with an interest in participating to submit an application. Applications open on June 1st and close June 30th, 2025 at 11:59pm ET. Applicants can expect to hear back about the selection decisions in the last week of July 2025. NASA will cover the cost of travel, accommodation, and meals for all those selected to participate in the event.

There will be an informational Town Hall for interested participants on Tuesday, June 17th, from 12-1:30pm ET. In addition, for all accepted attendees there will be a virtual orientation scheduled prior to the beginning of the Ideation Factory.

Apply to Mission Ideation Factory about The Search for Life on Icy Moons