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Edwin Kite

@edwinkite.bsky.social
1.2K followers 638 following 31 posts

Resident at Astera Institute. Planetary science professor, U. Chicago. Mars terraforming, Early Mars, rocky exoplanets. sseh.uchicago.edu

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Reposted by Edwin Kite
Cat O'Connell-Cooper @mars-cat.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
"A native sulfur deposit in Gale crater, Mars", Science, in press, doi: 10.1126/science.adu5501 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
A native sulfur deposit in Gale crater, Mars
Martian rocks are known to contain sulfur-bearing species, including sulfates and sulfides. These compounds record a sulfur cycle that operated over Mars’ geological evolution. We used the Curiosity r...
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Reposted by Edwin Kite
Edwin Kite @edwinkite.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
🚨 New paper alert! *Evidence for an Atmosphere on the Ultra-short-period Super-Earth HD 3167 b*, Brandon Park Coy et al., iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3...
iopscience.iop.org
Evidence for an Atmosphere on the Ultra-short-period Super-Earth HD 3167 b
Evidence for an Atmosphere on the Ultra-short-period Super-Earth HD 3167 b, Coy, Brandon Park, Xue, Qiao, Weiner Mansfield, Megan, Eastman, Jason D., Piette, Anjali A. A., Fairnington, Tyler, Smith, C...
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Edwin Kite @edwinkite.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
🚨 New paper alert! *Evidence for an Atmosphere on the Ultra-short-period Super-Earth HD 3167 b*, Brandon Park Coy et al., iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3...
iopscience.iop.org
Evidence for an Atmosphere on the Ultra-short-period Super-Earth HD 3167 b
Evidence for an Atmosphere on the Ultra-short-period Super-Earth HD 3167 b, Coy, Brandon Park, Xue, Qiao, Weiner Mansfield, Megan, Eastman, Jason D., Piette, Anjali A. A., Fairnington, Tyler, Smith, C...
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Reposted by Edwin Kite
Pioneer Labs @pioneerlabs.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
How do we simulate Mars here on Earth? We scrutinized Mars rover data so you don’t have to. 😛 Here’s what it tells us about how to simulate Mars on Earth, and which organisms could grow on Mars! 📄 Report: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
Defined Mars Media (DMM), a chemically defined simulant of the soluble macro- and micro- nutrients in Mars regolith for use in biological research
Mars′ relatively moderate surface conditions, availability of solar energy, and in situ resources like water ice, carbon dioxide, and mineral-rich regolith make it a compelling target for supporting l...
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Edwin Kite @edwinkite.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
Solar sail trajectory from low earth orbit to Mars. (1) Escape from earth (spiral up from ~800km); (2) Navigate through interplanetary space; and (3) Spiral down / get captured at Mars. Top-down visualization, work by Ari Essunfeld and Yuji Takubo, idea by Casey Handmer.
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Edwin Kite @edwinkite.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
NASA Decadal Astrobiology Research and Exploration Strategy sign-up: science.nasa.gov/astrobiology...
science.nasa.gov
NASA-DARES Community Webinar Series Registration Form - NASA Science
Every Wednesday between February 25 - March 25, 202612 - 4 PM ET | 9 AM - 1 PM PT
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Reposted by Edwin Kite
Edwin Kite @edwinkite.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
New paper alert! Led by Madison Turner, "Pacing Early Mars Sedimentary Rock Formation," Geophysical Research Letters: agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Pacing Early Mars Sedimentary Rock Formation
Syndepositional craters constrain accumulation rates at Meridiani Planum to be 4.2−3.1+14.4−11.4−10.5+37.6 ${4.2}_{-3.1}^{+14.4}{-11.4}_{-10.5}^{+37.6}$ μ ${\upmu }$m/yr Best estimates for deposi...
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Edwin Kite @edwinkite.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
New paper alert! Led by Madison Turner, "Pacing Early Mars Sedimentary Rock Formation," Geophysical Research Letters: agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Pacing Early Mars Sedimentary Rock Formation
Syndepositional craters constrain accumulation rates at Meridiani Planum to be 4.2−3.1+14.4−11.4−10.5+37.6 ${4.2}_{-3.1}^{+14.4}{-11.4}_{-10.5}^{+37.6}$ μ ${\upmu }$m/yr Best estimates for deposi...
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Reposted by Edwin Kite
The Economist @economist.com · 31/12/2025
New science is making the export of life into the universe possible, practical and perhaps inevitable
econ.st
How to export life to Mars
A new science—applied astrobiology—is taking shape
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Reposted by Edwin Kite
The Economist @economist.com · 01/01/2026
The goal for space exploration should be a new golden rule linking the search for life elsewhere to the spread of life beyond the bounds of Earth
econ.st
The future of space exploration depends on better biology
Rockets are great, but sewage treatment is what you need for the long haul
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Reposted by Edwin Kite
Javi Ibarrondo @jibarrondo.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
Martian cities could be built from ice | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti... 🧪
science.org
Martian cities could be built from ice
Astronauts could theoretically harness frozen water on the Red Planet to construct habitats and research stations, new analysis suggests
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Reposted by Edwin Kite
Edwin Kite @edwinkite.bsky.social · 13/12/2025
On marsterraforming.substack.com: "An open-source particle screening tool for Mars warming research"(also useful for modeling the effect of natural aerosols!) marsterraforming.substack.com/p/an-open-so.... Code: github.com/mars-terrafo.... Dashboard: mars-terraforming-research.github.io/TerraScreen/
marsterraforming.substack.com
An open-source particle screening tool for Mars warming research
Accelerating iteration on Mars-warming particle designs.
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Edwin Kite @edwinkite.bsky.social · 13/12/2025
On marsterraforming.substack.com: "An open-source particle screening tool for Mars warming research"(also useful for modeling the effect of natural aerosols!) marsterraforming.substack.com/p/an-open-so.... Code: github.com/mars-terrafo.... Dashboard: mars-terraforming-research.github.io/TerraScreen/
marsterraforming.substack.com
An open-source particle screening tool for Mars warming research
Accelerating iteration on Mars-warming particle designs.
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Reposted by Edwin Kite
Edwin Kite @edwinkite.bsky.social · 23/11/2025
New on marsterraforming.substack.com: "A Million Fireflies in the Martian Sky? On Warming Mars Using Solar Sails", by Ari Essunfeld. Based on work by Ari Essunfeld, Yuji Takubo, and Casey Handmer. marsterraforming.substack.com/p/a-million-...
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Edwin Kite @edwinkite.bsky.social · 23/11/2025
New on marsterraforming.substack.com: "A Million Fireflies in the Martian Sky? On Warming Mars Using Solar Sails", by Ari Essunfeld. Based on work by Ari Essunfeld, Yuji Takubo, and Casey Handmer. marsterraforming.substack.com/p/a-million-...
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Reposted by Edwin Kite
Edwin Kite @edwinkite.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
New paper alert! Madison Turner et al., "Early thinning, late persistence, diachronous boundaries, and a regional dichotomy in Mars' young sedimentary rocks", Communications Earth and Environment: (open access link) www.nature.com/articles/s43...
nature.com
Early thinning, late persistence, diachronous boundaries, and a regional dichotomy in Mars' young sedimentary rocks - Communications Earth & Environment
A global analysis of Martian remote sensing data identifies a decrease in sediment accumulation rate and layer thickness with age, suggesting a diachronous transition in sedimentation and a migratory ...
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Edwin Kite @edwinkite.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
New paper alert! Madison Turner et al., "Early thinning, late persistence, diachronous boundaries, and a regional dichotomy in Mars' young sedimentary rocks", Communications Earth and Environment: (open access link) www.nature.com/articles/s43...
nature.com
Early thinning, late persistence, diachronous boundaries, and a regional dichotomy in Mars' young sedimentary rocks - Communications Earth & Environment
A global analysis of Martian remote sensing data identifies a decrease in sediment accumulation rate and layer thickness with age, suggesting a diachronous transition in sedimentation and a migratory ...
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Reposted by Edwin Kite
Edwin Kite @edwinkite.bsky.social · 10/10/2025
An Introduction to Mars Terraforming, 2025 Workshop Summary arxiv.org/abs/2510.07344
arxiv.org
An Introduction to Mars Terraforming, 2025 Workshop Summary
Terraforming Mars is an age old science fiction concept now worth revisiting through the lens of modern science and technology. This document serves as a summary of contemporary ideas about Mars terra...
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Reposted by Edwin Kite
Noema Magazine @noemamag.com · 30/10/2025
“If building space habitats is hard & machine technology is gradually developing more life-like capabilities, does this mean we humans might as well remain Earth-bound forever?” — @rdword.bsky.social #spacetravel #spaceexploration #rovers
noemamag.com
The Future Of Space Is More Than Human | NOEMA
The time has come to expand our visions of life beyond Earth.
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Edwin Kite @edwinkite.bsky.social · 10/10/2025
An Introduction to Mars Terraforming, 2025 Workshop Summary arxiv.org/abs/2510.07344
arxiv.org
An Introduction to Mars Terraforming, 2025 Workshop Summary
Terraforming Mars is an age old science fiction concept now worth revisiting through the lens of modern science and technology. This document serves as a summary of contemporary ideas about Mars terra...
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Reposted by Edwin Kite
Daniel Pomarède @pomarede.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
Check out this U. of Chicago podcast with Edwin Kite offering insights on climate and life on Mars, the Mars Sample Return mission, a transformative scaled up version of Ingenuity that can fly hundreds of kilometers, and more! @edwinkite.bsky.social news.uchicago.edu/big-brains-p... 🧪🔭 #Mars
news.uchicago.edu
Life on Mars: Is it possible for humans? with Edwin Kite
Scientist examines how we could terraform Mars make the Red Planet habitable
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Edwin Kite @edwinkite.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
New paper alert! Brandon Park Coy et al., "The Role of Tectonic Luck in Long-Term Habitability of Abiotic Earth-like Planets" (accepted by PSJ): arxiv.org/abs/2507.23124
arxiv.org
The Role of Tectonic Luck in Long-Term Habitability of Abiotic Earth-like Planets
Carbonate-silicate weathering feedback is thought to stabilize Earth's climate on geologic timescales. If climate warms, faster mineral dissolution and increased rainfall speed up weathering, increasi...
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Edwin Kite @edwinkite.bsky.social · 01/08/2025
open.substack.com/pub/marsterr...
open.substack.com
Fostering a world-scale biosphere on Mars: a research agenda
Mars has been a frozen desert for three billion years. Can we change that?
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Edwin Kite @edwinkite.bsky.social · 03/07/2025
New paper: "Carbonate formation and fluctuating habitability on Mars", Nature, open access: rdcu.be/euuTb . Inspired by data from Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover
rdcu.be
Carbonate formation and fluctuating habitability on Mars
Nature - A modelling study suggests that Mars had a desert-like climate with intermittent liquid-water oases regulated by a negative feedback among solar luminosity, liquid water and carbonate...
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Reposted by Edwin Kite
Edwin Kite @edwinkite.bsky.social · 01/07/2025
Terraforming session @agu.org 2025 Fall Meeting: P008 - Creating sustainable habitats and ecosystems beyond Earth To submit an abstract, please visit agu.confex.com/agu/agu25/pr...
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Edwin Kite @edwinkite.bsky.social · 01/07/2025
Terraforming session @agu.org 2025 Fall Meeting: P008 - Creating sustainable habitats and ecosystems beyond Earth To submit an abstract, please visit agu.confex.com/agu/agu25/pr...
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Edwin Kite @edwinkite.bsky.social · 15/05/2025
www.lanl.gov/media/news/0...
lanl.gov
Is terraforming Mars possible? | Los Alamos National Laboratory
The possibility of terraforming Mars to make it habitable by humans has captured recent headlines and the imagination — but is there science to support it?
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Reposted by Edwin Kite
Erika DeBenedictis @erika-alden.bsky.social · 13/05/2025
Today I and 11 other scientists describe in Nature Astronomy how recent breakthroughs in launch capabilities, climate, and synthetic biology demand a new assessment of the feasibility of terraforming Mars. www.erikadebenedictis.com/s/The-case-f...
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Reposted by Edwin Kite
Erika DeBenedictis @erika-alden.bsky.social · 13/05/2025
Heads up: terraforming Mars isn’t just sci-fi, it’s a real possibility that’s possible with today’s technology. Mars could be green in MY lifetime. 🚀 🌼 What’s stopping us? We need a lot more real research into how to do it right. Don’t nuke Mars! 👇
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Reposted by Edwin Kite
Space Sciences Laboratory @ucbssl.bsky.social · 12/05/2025
Big thanks to @edwinkite.bsky.social whose talk on prospects for terraforming Mars filled our conference room and elicited lively discussion.
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Edwin Kite @edwinkite.bsky.social · 03/05/2025
Another video vision of terraformed Mars through the lens of Casey Handmer's Google Mars overlay: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du7j...
youtube.com
A vision of terraformed Mars through the lens of Casey Handmer's Google Mars overlay
YouTube video by edwinkite1
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Edwin Kite @edwinkite.bsky.social · 03/05/2025
A video vision of terraformed Mars through the lens of Casey Handmer's Google Mars overlay: www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1lf...
youtube.com
A vision of terraformed Mars through the lens of Casey Handmer's Google Mars overlay
YouTube video by edwinkite1
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Reposted by Edwin Kite
Columbia Climate School @climate.columbia.edu · 01/05/2025
🧵1/3 New research by @climate.columbia.edu postdoc Kaitlyn Loftus, Yangcheng Luo, colleagues suggests extreme weather on exoplanet 55 Cancri e may be caused by lava cycle...like Earth’s water cycle, but with molten rock! Lava clouds form & decay in cycle that causes temps to swing by 2500°F in week.
Illustration of two stages of exoplanet 55 Cancri e's proposed lava cycle. The planet may oscillate between cloud-free, hotter conditions (left) and cloudy, cooler conditions (right).
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Edwin Kite @edwinkite.bsky.social · 27/04/2025
It was fun to discuss Mars terraforming with @davidkipping.bsky.social ! Link: m.youtube.com/watch?v=-Dae...
m.youtube.com
#21 Edwin Kite - Early Mars, Terraforming/Settling Mars
YouTube video by Cool Worlds Podcast
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Edwin Kite @edwinkite.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
🚨🚨New paper alert! "Atmospheric dynamics of first steps toward terraforming Mars", Richardson et al. 🚨🚨
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Asterisk Magazine @asteriskmag.bsky.social · 17/03/2025
We could — if we tried — potentially raise Mars's temperature by 30°C well within this century asteriskmag.com/issues/09/gr...
asteriskmag.com
Greening the Solar System—Asterisk
A future where life flourishes beyond Earth is closer than you think. How, precisely, will we get there?
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Reposted by Edwin Kite
Edwin Kite @edwinkite.bsky.social · 06/12/2024
Feasibility of keeping Mars warm with nanoparticles
science.org
Feasibility of keeping Mars warm with nanoparticles
Warming Mars with artificial aerosols appears to be feasible.
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Reposted by Edwin Kite
Pioneer Labs @pioneerlabs.bsky.social · 10/12/2024
Check out 🏆A Biologist’s Guide to Mars Dirt, where we present a receipt for soluble Mars Regolith Media (sMRM) that best simulates what you’d get if you added water to Mars dirt. Will anything grow in this media? Stay tuned! 💧+ 🪨 → 🌱 ? open.substack.com/pub/pioneerl...
open.substack.com
🏆 A Biologist’s Guide to Mars Dirt
Just add water
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Edwin Kite @edwinkite.bsky.social · 10/12/2024
"Population-level Hypothesis Testing with Rocky Planet Emission Data: A Tentative Trend in the Brightness Temperatures of M-Earths" (Brandon Park Coy et al.) arxiv.org/abs/2412.06573
arxiv.org
Population-level Hypothesis Testing with Rocky Planet Emission Data: A Tentative Trend in the Brightness Temperatures of M-Earths
Determining which rocky exoplanets have atmospheres, and why, is a key goal for JWST. So far, emission observations of individual rocky exoplanets orbiting M stars (M-Earths) have not provided definit...
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Edwin Kite @edwinkite.bsky.social · 06/12/2024
Feasibility of keeping Mars warm with nanoparticles
science.org
Feasibility of keeping Mars warm with nanoparticles
Warming Mars with artificial aerosols appears to be feasible.
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