Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Professor of Planetary Science
Professor of Physics
Professor of Aerospace Engineering
Class of 1941 Professor
The Kavli Prize in Astrophysics

About

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.

Discover more about Professor Sara Seager’s work

Biography

Sara Seager is an astrophysicist and planetary scientist at MIT.

Exoplanets

Professor Seager’s main research goal is to find and identify another Earth.

Conferences and Events

Sara has given talks on exoplanet discovery in the media, including CNN and the BBC.

Space Missions

AWARDS

The Kavli Prize in Astrophysics

Seager has devoted much of her research to characterizing the atmospheric gases of exoplanets via spectroscopy, predicting in 1999 that sodium ought to be detectable – which motivated and was confirmed by the first exoplanet atmospheric observations two years later.

The MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship

Adapting fundamental maxims of existing planetary science to create a comprehensive theoretical framework for determining the characteristics of planets beyond our solar system.

The Officer of the Order of Canada

Prof. Sara Seager, professor of astrophysics and RCGS gold medal recipient, became an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2024.