NASA announced their new Carl Sagan Postdoctoral Fellowships in Exoplanet Exploration, created to inspire the next generation of explorers seeking to learn more about planets, and possibly life, around other stars. NASA's new Sagan fellowships will allow talented young scientists to follow the path by Sagan with award stipends of approximately $60,000 per year, for a period of up to three years, to selected postdoctoral scientists. Topics can range from techniques for detecting the glow of a dim planet in the blinding glare of its host star, to searching for the crucial ingredients of life in other planetary systems. A call for Sagan Fellowship proposals went out to the scientific community earlier this week, with selections to be announced in February 2009.

The Sagan Fellowship will join NASA's new Einstein Postdoctoral Fellowship in Physics of the Cosmos and the Hubble Postdoctoral Fellowship in Cosmic Origins. All three fellowships represent a new theme-based approach, in which fellows will focus on compelling scientific questions that ask if there are Earth-like planets orbiting other stars. Planets beyond our solar system, called exoplanets, are being discovered at a staggering pace, with more than 300 currently known. Decades ago, long before any exoplanets had been found, the late Carl Sagan imagined such worlds, and pioneered the scientific pursuit of life that might exist on them. Sagan was an astronomer and a highly successful science communicator.

"NASA's science-driven mission portfolio, its cultivation of young talent to pursue cutting-edge research, and the decision to commit its genius to a question of transcendent cultural significance, would have thrilled Carl," said Ann Druyan, Sagan's widow and collaborator, who continues to write and produce.

"That this knowledge will be pursued in his name, as he joins a triumvirate of the leading lights of 20th century astronomy, is a source of infinite pride to our family," said Druyan. "It signifies that Carl's passion to engage us all in the scientific experience, his daring curiosity and urgent concern for life on this planet, no longer eclipse his scientific achievements."

Ann was asked, What would Carl say if he knew about NASA's new Sagan Fellowships?

"In the nearly 12 years since Carl's death, there have been numerous honors to his memory, dedicated in many countries around the planet. I am certain that none of them would have meant more to him than these fellowships. That this distinction comes from the men and women of NASA, and that the questions that interested him most will be pursued in his name — he would have been overwhelmed.

"Let's remember that his lifelong campaign for science communication and protecting life on this world led some to question whether he was a "real" scientist. I still encounter this attitude from time to time. Carl would've been the first to say that it was a minor price to pay, but it did hurt. Nothing does more to put that misconception to rest than this fellowship program. During our 20 years together, there were many high points to savor. I've been imagining Carl's reaction to this one and it has kept me aglow." You can read more of her interview at this website.

Recently, NASA's Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes have made landmark observations of hot, Jupiter-like planets orbiting other stars. The telescopes detected methane and water in the planets' atmospheres — the same molecules that might serve as tracers of life if discovered around smaller, rocky planets in the future. In a 1994 paper for the journal Nature, Sagan and colleagues used these and other molecules to identify life on a planet — Earth. They used NASA's Galileo spacecraft to observe the molecular signatures of our "pale blue dot," as Sagan dubbed Earth, while the spacecraft flew by.

NASA's Kepler mission, which Sagan championed in his last years, will launch next year and will survey hundreds of thousands of nearby stars for Earth-like worlds, some of which are likely to orbit within the star's water-friendly "habitable zone" favorable for life as we know it.