NASA Postdoctoral Program - The EXoplanet Climate Infrared TElescope (EXCITE) Experiment: Exoplanet atmospheric characterization from a high altitude balloon

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 the EXoplanet Climate Infrared TElescope (EXCITE) experiment, a 0.5m infrared spectrograph that flies from a high-altitude balloon. EXCITE's primary science mission is to perform phase-resolved spectroscopy of hot Jupiter-type exoplanets in the near-infrared. EXCITE is a moderate-sized international collaboration that partners governmental, academic, and private sector institutions in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and Italy. EXCITE flew its North American engineering flight in August 2024, and is next preparing for a science flight from the Antarctic. This opportunity will provide hands-on research experience in the preparation and deployment of the EXCITE payload, with topic areas including: infrared detectors and readout, cryogenics and cryocoolers, optics, data acquisition, balloon attitude control, science modeling, and science data analysis.