Sara Seager

A woman with straight brown hair wears a patterned scarf and a blue jacket, posed against a plain white background.

Professor Seager is Director for the MIT-led Venus Morning Star Missions to Venus and lead for Project Starshade. In the past she was Deputy Science Director for the MIT-led NASA mission TESS and PI for the on-orbit JPL/MIT CubeSat ASTERIA.

Everything Videos

A volcano erupts at night, spewing lava and smoke, while several people observe from a distance in the foreground.

3mins

The Well

The biggest obstacle to discovering life beyond Earth

The biggest obstacle to discovering life in space? Not distance. Not capability. It’s ambiguity — and it’s built into science. MIT astrophysicist Sara Seager explains.

Sara Seager

Illustration of astronauts working on a large spherical satellite or space station in outer space, with stars in the background.

3mins

The Well

We’ve been looking for life. Here’s why we should look for intelligence instead

Thanks to modern tech, Earth is now considered a ‘detectable’ planet. Astrophysicist Sara Seager explains how this idea can lead us to discovering life elsewhere in our universe.

Sara Seager

A group of people dressed in robes decorated with celestial symbols and wearing hats adorned with stars and crescent moons, drawn in a vintage illustration style on a yellow background.

3mins

The Well

We may find alien life, but will we be able to accept the consequences?

Military satellite research brought us GPS. Astronomers influenced medical imaging tech. What would be invented after we discover alien life? Professor Sara Seager explains the consequences of such a groundbreaking discovery.

Sara Seager