Prabal Saxena
(RESEARCH AST, PLANETARY STUDIES)
| Email: | prabal.saxena@nasa.gov |
| Phone: | 301.286.5759 |
| Org Code: | |
| Address: |
NASA/GSFC Mail Code 698 Greenbelt, MD 20771 |
| Employer: |
Brief Bio
Prabal Saxena is a research space scientist in the Planetary Geology, Geophysics and Geochemistry Lab at NASA Goddard. His work focuses on lunar science, exoplanets, solar system exploration and instrument and mission development. He is currently a CLPS Project Scientist who is serving as backup Project Scientist on the CT-4/IM-6 mission. He is currently a lead for the Sellers Exoplanets Environment Collaboration at NASA Goddard, which serves as a network of NASA and external scientists solving questions related to exoplanets and the systems in which they reside and manages the internal science funding mechanism related to exoplanet at Goddard. He is part of multiple UV instrumentation development efforts, including a leader of the PReSSiC (Planetary Remote Sensing using SiC detectors) project, that is building, testing and validating a High Sensitivity Silicon Carbide Focal Plane Detector that would be optimized for miniaturized instrumentation that can be part of planetary science missions. He also works on numerous instrument and mission concepts, as well as part of numerous research teams, and is advisor for postdoctoral scientists and graduate students.
Positions/Employment
Research Space Scientist - Planetary Studies
NASA Goddard - Greenbelt, MD
2022 - Present
Postdoctoral Scientist
UMD CRESST II - Greenbelt, MD
2018 - 2022
NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow
ORAU - Greenbelt, MD
2015 - 2018
Education
George Mason University, School of Physics, Astronomy and Computational Sciences
PhD in Computational Sciences with Concentration in Astrophysics, NSF GK-12 Fellow
Columbia University, Columbia College
B.A. in Physics with Concentrations in Math and Astrophysics
Grants
Airlock and Lander Venting Contamination Applied to Moon to Mars - NASA ROSES Solar System Science - Awarded: 2026-05-09
Dates: -
Identifying Potentially Survivable Niches & Areas of Biological Interest on Lunar Poles - NASA ROSES PPR - Awarded: 2024-11-19
Dates: -
Habitability of Collisionally Formed & Tidally Heated TNOs - NASA ROSES Habitable Worlds - Awarded: 2017-03-05
Dates: -
PReSSiC: Planetary Remote Sensing using SiC detectors - NASA ROSES Planetary Instrument Concepts for the Advancement of Solar System Observations - Awarded: 2022-08-12
Dates: -
Design of a broad utility, visible-blind, SiC, UV spectrometer for Astrophysics, Planetary and Earth Science applications - NASA STMD Early Career Initiative - Awarded: 2023-08-02
Dates: -
Detectability of water in the atmosphere of terrestrial habitable zone exoplanets due to exo-volcanism: a false positive for habitability - NASA ROSES Habitable Worlds - Awarded: 2023-06-03
Dates: -
Selected Publications
Refereed
2026. "Mitigating plume surface interactions using lunar craters.", npj Space Exploration, 2 (1): 28 [10.1038/s44453-026-00045-w] [Journal Article/Letter]
2026. "Modeling Volcanic Plume Heights across Exoplanet Atmospheres: Insights from TRAPPIST-1.", The Astrophysical Journal, 1003 (2): 201 [10.3847/1538-4357/ae6650] [Journal Article/Letter]
2026. "Venting and Outgassing Simulations of Pressurized Lunar Modules: Contamination of the Lunar Environment.", The Planetary Science Journal, 7 (5): 113 [10.3847/psj/ae63c4] [Journal Article/Letter]
2025. "Innovative SiC ultraviolet instrumentation development with potential applications for the Habitable Worlds Observatory.", Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems, 11 (04): [10.1117/1.jatis.11.4.042225] [Journal Article/Letter]
2025. "Development and validation of novel SiC UV instrumentation for astronomy and planetary applications.", UV, X-Ray, and Gamma-Ray Space Instrumentation for Astronomy XXIV, 23 [10.1117/12.3063375] [Proceedings]
2025. "Photobombing for the Large Interferometer For Exoplanets (LIFE). A New Criterion for Target Confusion and Application to a Mid-infrared Rotating Nulling Interferometer.", The Astronomical Journal, 169 (5): 244 [10.3847/1538-3881/adbe6c] [Journal Article/Letter]
2025. "Earth as an Exoplanet: Investigating the Effects of Cloud Variability on the Direct-imaging of Atmospheres.", The Planetary Science Journal, 6 (4): 87 [10.3847/psj/adbe7f] [Journal Article/Letter]
2024. "PReSSiC: Planetary Remote Sensing using SiC detectors.", 243rd Meeting of the American Astronomical Society, id. 329.05. Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 56 (No. 2 e-id): [Proceedings]
2023. "Two Warm Super-Earths Transiting the Nearby M Dwarf TOI-2095.", The Astronomical Journal, 166 (5): 195 [10.3847/1538-3881/acfa9f] [Journal Article/Letter]
2023. "In Situ Optimized Substrate Witness Plates: Ground Truth for Key Processes on the Moon and Other Planets.", Earth and Space Science, 10 (9): [10.1029/2023ea003004] [Journal Article/Letter]
2022. "Photobombing Earth 2.0: Diffraction-limit-related Contamination and Uncertainty in Habitable Planet Spectra.", The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 934 (2): L32 [10.3847/2041-8213/ac7b93] [Journal Article/Letter]
2021. "Simulating Reflected Light Exoplanet Spectra of the Promising Direct Imaging Target, υ Andromedae d, with a New, Fast Sampling Method Using the Planetary Spectrum Generator.", The Astronomical Journal, 162 (1): 30 [10.3847/1538-3881/abf657] [Journal Article/Letter]
2021. "TRAPPIST Habitable Atmosphere Intercomparison (THAI) Workshop Report.", The Planetary Science Journal, 2 (3): 106 [10.3847/psj/abf4df] [Journal Article/Letter]
2021. "Lifetime of a transient atmosphere produced by lunar volcanism.", Icarus, 359 114304 [10.1016/j.icarus.2021.114304] [Journal Article/Letter]
2021. "Tidal Dissipation in Dual-body, Highly Eccentric, and Nonsynchronously Rotating Systems: Applications to Pluto–Charon and the Exoplanet TRAPPIST-1e.", The Planetary Science Journal, 2 (1): 4 [10.3847/psj/abc0f3] [Journal Article/Letter]
2019. "Sodium and Potassium Signatures of Volcanic Satellites Orbiting Close-in Gas Giant Exoplanets.", The Astrophysical Journal, 885 (2): 168 [10.3847/1538-4357/ab40cc] [Journal Article/Letter]
2019. "The Mid-InfraRed Exo-planet CLimate Explorer MIRECLE: Exploring the Nearest M-Earths Through Ultra-Stable Mid-IR Transit and Phase-Curve Spectroscopy.", Astro2020: Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics APC White Paper, [Other]
2019. "Was the Sun a Slow Rotator? Sodium and Potassium Constraints from the Lunar Regolith.", The Astrophysical Journal, 876 (1): L16 [10.3847/2041-8213/ab18fb] [Journal Article/Letter]
2018. "WFIRST CGI integral field spectrograph performance and post-processing in the OS6 observing scenario.", Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2018: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Wave, [10.1117/12.2312400] [Proceedings]
2018. "Exoplanet Science Priorities from the Perspective of Internal and Surface Processes for Silicate and Ice Dominated Worlds.", National Academy of Sciences 2018 Exoplanet Science Strategy White Paper, [Other]
2018. "Relevance of tidal heating on large TNOs.", Icarus, 302 245-260 [10.1016/j.icarus.2017.11.023] [Journal Article/Letter]
2017. "Current science requirements and planned implementation for the WFIRST-CGI Integral Field Spectrograph (IFS).", Techniques and Instrumentation for Detection of Exoplanets VIII, [10.1117/12.2274711] [Proceedings]
2017. "Simulating the WFIRST coronagraph integral field spectrograph.", Techniques and Instrumentation for Detection of Exoplanets VIII, [10.1117/12.2273066] [Proceedings]
2017. "Commissioning and performance results of the PISCES instrument.", Techniques and Instrumentation for Detection of Exoplanets VIII, [10.1117/12.2272653] [Proceedings]
2017. "A model of the primordial lunar atmosphere.", Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 474 198-205 [10.1016/j.epsl.2017.06.031] [Journal Article/Letter]
2014. "The observational effects and signatures of tidally distorted solid exoplanets.", Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 446 (4): 4271-4277 [10.1093/mnras/stu2111] [Journal Article/Letter]
Non-Refereed
2025. "Potential Survivable Niches for Microbial Life at the Lunar Poles.", EPSC-DPS Joint Meeting 2025, [10.5194/epsc-dps2025-443] [Proceedings]
2022. "Lunar Samples are Time Capsules of the Sun.", Heliophysics Decadal Survey White Paper, [https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2208.13307] [Other]
2021. "Mission to Characterize Volatiles in Old, Cold, Permanently Shadowed Regions on the Moon.", BAAS, Planetary/Astrobiology Decadal Survey Whitepapers, 53 (4): e-id. 365 [10.3847/25c2cfeb.f3dc6df2] [Journal Article/Letter]
2019. "Sputter Loss of an Early Transient Lunar Atmosphere.", European Planetary Science Conference, EPSC-DPS2019-70. [Proceedings]
2019. "Limits on X-Ray Luminosity from Pluto's H2 Corona.", LPI/Pluto System After New Horizons, 2133 id.7080 [Proceedings]
2019. "The Sun was likely a Slow Rotator: Lunar Geochemical Constraints.", LPI, (50.3050s): [Proceedings]
2019. "The Sun was likely a Slow Rotator: Lunar Geochemical Constraints.", Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, 50 [Proceedings]
2018. "Highly Volcanic Exoplanets, Lava Worlds, and Magma Ocean Worlds: An Emerging Class of Dynamic Exoplanets of Significant Scientific Priority.", ArXiv e-prints, [Journal Article/Letter]