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James L. Green

James L. Green
 Chief Scientist: NASA (from 2018)
 Director, Planetary Science Division: NASA HQ (2006-2018)
 Missions led as PSD Director: (include) New Horizons, 
 MESSENGER, Dawn
 Ph D.: Space Physics: University of Iowa 
 Author: Over 100 refereed planetary science papers
 Podcast: Gravity Assist (https://www.nasa.gov/gravityassist)
How will humanity first discover ET Life?Best guess: Biosignatures (Solar System)
 Life will be found in the Solar System before on distant exoplanets
 Where in the Solar System?
 Mars
 Curiosity Rover: Has already found the major chemical building blocks of life, including oxygen and complex organic molecules
 Perseverance Rover: Scheduled to land in February 2021, will continue search for biosignatures
Where in the Solar System?
 Mars (continued) 
 Atmosphere: Oxygen & methane exist, possibly being emitted by life
 Rosalind Franklin Rover (ESA): May find evidence for life by the mid-2020s.
 Ocean Moons: Europa (Jupiter) & Enceladus (Saturn) 
 Vast quantities of water underneath ice shells
 Might house deep hydrothermal vents, teeming with life if Earth vents
 Europa Clipper (NASA): May find microbes by flying through jets spewing through surface cracks � all before the end of the 2020s
 Titan
 Life different than Earth -- may use liquid methane like water
 Dragonfly (NASA): may find evidence for life scouted by flying �-- within the next two decades