Unveiling hidden oceans on distant exoplanets. This week on Planetary Radio.

I'm Sarah Alhamid of the Planetary Society with more of the human adventure across

our solar system and beyond. In today's episode, we dive into new research that could

reshape our understanding of water and its potential for sustaining life across the cosmos.

Luzandra Oja, assistant professor at Rutgers University, joins us to discuss how subsurface

liquid water on exoplanets could exponentially increase our likelihood of finding habitable

worlds beyond our solar system. Then we'll check in with Bruce Betz, Chief Scientist of the Planetary

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Now, let's get into the heart of today's episode. My interview with Dr. Luzandra Oja

or Luzu. He's a planetary scientist and an assistant professor in the Department of Earth

and Planetary Sciences at Rutgers University in New Jersey, USA. His team's recent study

presented at the Goldchmit Geochemistry Conference challenges conventional wisdom by dramatically

increasing the odds of discovering liquid water on distant exoplanets. His work suggests

that even worlds with inhospitable surface conditions could harbor subsurface oceans.

That's consistent with what we see inside of our solar system. Luzandra reveals the remarkable

mechanisms that could sustain liquid water beneath frozen exteriors and explains how moons

like Europa and Enceladus offer compelling examples of such hidden oceans. By investigating

planets orbiting M dwarf stars, also called red dwarf stars, the most common type of star

in our galaxy, his team's new model suggests that the prevalence of exoplanets with liquid water

...