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Caleb Scharf

@calebscharf.bsky.social
254 followers 44 following 146 posts

Thinker, writer, sometimes both at the same time. Senior Scientist for Astrobiology at NASA Ames. Personal account, anything expressed here is my fault alone.

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Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
I’m very excited to share that I’ll be serving as Project Scientist for NASA’s First Look Science Team working with the remarkable Impact AI team at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville and at IBM to build a Mars Atmosphere AI Foundation Model (MAFM).
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Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
Excited to share preprint of my new research: The Interplanetary Habitable Zone - habitability for space-faring species. A maths framework & agent-based simulation approach: arxiv.org/abs/2602.13404
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Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
Yup
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Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
It's Friday, the holidays are upon us, what better time to read a book about the amazing enterprise of space exploration, and what it means for life on Earth!
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Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
Another conversation about my new book The Giant Leap (@BasicBooks) is now live! Space exploration is such a rich topic and it stirs so many viewpoints, it's very fascinating. convergingdialogues.substack.com/p/456-the-fu...
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Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · 19/11/2025
In my new book I explore the complex history of space exploration and its staggering impacts on human life and all life on Earth - for better or worse. To see what the future might bring we have to place space into context, as fundamental change to evolutionary possibilities.
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Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · 09/11/2025
A topic that has come up in interviews and presentations for my new book The Giant Leap is reconceptualizing the notion of habitability for a planetary system (like ours) where life disperses from its point of origin. I use this graphic to help discuss: [1/n]
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Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · 08/11/2025
Ah yes, back to the horrors of NYC 🤣
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Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
The solar system represents scales of space, causal connection, and resources that life on Earth has not encountered before. What will this do to us and to all life as our efforts to explore and experiment in space expand? This is a major theme of The Giant Leap.
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Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
The solar system represents scales of space, causal connection, and resources that life on Earth has not encountered before. What will this do to us and to all life as our efforts to explore and experiment in space expand? This is a major theme of The Giant Leap.
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Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · 30/10/2025
Potentially contentious idea: space exploration is less about ignoring Earthly problems and more about giving ourselves a chance to do better...
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Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · 27/10/2025
Major events in the history of life are often about new possibilities for evolution. In The Giant Leap I contend that the emergence of space exploration is just one such event.
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Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
Publication day!! 🎉🚀
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Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · 20/10/2025
Tomorrow is pub day for The Giant Leap. It's been a long journey and I'm thrilled that you all get to see the results! This is the most careful, thoughtful take on space exploration that I could give you, and why it matters.
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Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
Almost to this day 78 years ago the first images of Earth were taken from space (65 miles above White Sands in New Mexico) - part of a remarkable history of space exploration I explore in The Giant Leap (Basic/Hachette) coming Oct 21st!
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Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
Solar storms in 1972 triggered the explosion of US magnetic naval mines near North Vietnam. In The Giant Leap I examine the greater implications of the Sun's outbursts for space exploration amazon.com/Giant-Leap-S...
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Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
What if there's a different way to handle Mars exploration than all the options usually discussed? I dig deep into this in The Giant Leap, available Oct 21st amazon.com/Giant-Leap-S...
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Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · 05/10/2025
Countdown to launch...
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Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
Among many tales in The Giant Leap is the often forgotten story of the Apollo 15 and 16 subsatellites left in orbit when the astronauts departed lunar space - and what these revealed about the Moon (Apollo 15 crew poses with subsat here) amazon.com/Giant-Leap-S...
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Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
Here we go! It’s hatching time!
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Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · 11/08/2025
My new paper on lightweight deep learning for planetary imaging data is now available in its final published form at the journal Icarus as a freebie for the next 50 days! authors.elsevier.com/a/1lahj_Rp9u...
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Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · 16/07/2025
I've been exploring 'lightweight' deep learning for image reconstruction in planetary science and astrobiology: "The model is the message" arxiv.org/abs/2507.11400
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Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · 15/07/2025
In 1971 Mariner 9 became the first spacecraft to orbit another planet when it arrived at Mars. But a global duststorm meant the mission had to wait until early 1972 before it could properly examine the martian surface #TheGiantLeap tinyurl.com/29j6bktf
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Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · 15/07/2025
In 1918 Emmy Noether published what would come to be known as Noether's Theorem, cementing the universal basis of conservation laws of momentum and energy that are also key for determining how rockets and orbits behave #TheGiantLeap tinyurl.com/29j6bktf
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Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · 15/07/2025
In 1985 Japan became the 3rd nation to launch a deep space probe. The Sakigake probe (and its near-twin Suisei launched months later) were part of the Halley Comet Armada in 1986 #TheGiantLeap tinyurl.com/29j6bktf
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Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · 09/07/2025
In 1962 the Ranger 3 spacecraft missed the Moon and instead placed a half-meter diameter wooden sphere into orbit around the Sun, where it likely is to this day. #TheGiantLeap tinyurl.com/29j6bktf
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Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
Today in shameless self-promotion: if you're interested in #TheGiantLeap you can pre-order now and get 25% off—July 8–11 only. Use the code PREORDER25 at checkout (print, ebook, or audiobook). Must be a B&N Rewards Member—FREE to join. #BNPreorder @BNBuzz @basicbooks
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Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · 27/06/2025
Updated my banner, because....
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Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
One small step closer…and one giant…well, you get the idea. Super excited to have the galley in hand…and for this to hit the shelves Oct 21st
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Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
A sneak peek, coming Oct 21st 2025, available for preorder now, the latest labor of love
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Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · 11/02/2025
Got important things to say about using machine learning in astrobiology and exploration? Consider contributing to this specially themed collection of papers:
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Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · 01/02/2025
Moon and Venus bringing some delight over NYC this evening!
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Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · 13/01/2025
Spotted at the Miraikan museum in Tokyo. This hourglass isn't filled with sand but with 10 million tiny fabricated capacitors...grey-goo for real 🧪
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Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · 12/01/2025
Well that’s the rest of today taken care of…
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Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · 27/12/2024
Some very spectacular geology on display in Tenerife today 🧪
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Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · 26/12/2024
I had been wondering where I’d put my astrophysics…🧪
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Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · 24/12/2024
Merry Christmas one and all…
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Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · 14/12/2024
Ok nature lovers and observers, want to hazard a guess at where this shoreline is? (hint #1: the answer may surprise you, hint #2: the tide is going out at 12 noon Dec 14th)
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Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
Frankly I suspect that it is simply too lazy to…
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Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · 21/11/2024
Finally a little drought relief in NYC, and it’s wintery enough that the only other lifeforms are of the feathery kind…
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Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · 20/11/2024
At NASA Ames Astrobiology we're building a library of AI & machine-learning seminars & tutorials for science, check it out: www.nasa.gov/ai-astrobiol...
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Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · 17/11/2024
Convergence over the Hudson river this afternoon - which is as good a place as any 😉
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Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · 16/11/2024
Incredible day at the Mars Mission Ideation Factory finale at NASA Ames today
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Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · 30/03/2024
Is it possible that spring is arriving in NYC?
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Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · 02/01/2024
Our new piece at Nature Astronomy on how AI/ML could transform astrobiology has been published - including some new ideas on how it could impact mission design for exploration in the solar system...more on this soon rdcu.be/duEFE
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Caleb Scharf @calebscharf.bsky.social · 31/12/2023
My first post here: A happy new orbit around the Sun from the western front of Manhattan
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