NASA Postdoctoral Program - Astrobiology of Returned Samples

The NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) offers unique research opportunities to highly-talented scientists to engage in ongoing NASA research projects at a NASA Center, NASA Headquarters, or at a NASA-affiliated research institute. These one- to three-year fellowships are competitive and are designed to advance NASA's missions in space science, Earth science, aeronautics, space operations, exploration systems, and astrobiology. This specific opportunity focuses on investigating the chemical, isotopic, chiral, and spatial distribution of sample-return organics to understand abiotic organic chemical evolution and guide the search for biosignatures. The research will address returned samples from various missions including Artemis (Moon), Hayabusa2 (asteroid Ryugu), OSIRIS-REx (asteroid Bennu), MMX (Phobos), and Mars Sample Return. The work will use laboratory experiments, observations, and models to maximize the value of returned samples and understand prebiotic chemistry beyond the scope of typical mission science teams.