Aki Roberge Aki Roberge

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Exoplanets and Stellar Astrophysics Laboratory

Code 667
Greenbelt, MD 20771

Phone: (301) 286-2967
Email: Aki.Roberge at nasa.gov

NASA staff webpage
Complete CV and publication list (PDF file)


My work focuses on 1) observations of planet-forming disks around nearby young stars and 2) development of future missions to observe planets around other stars, aka. exoplanets.

My thoughts on "The Search for Life", NASA Curious Universe podcast (2022)

A short video I narrated about discovery of carbon monoxide gas clumps - and maybe an unseen exoplanet - around the young star Beta Pictoris (2014)

Selected Professional Activities

Associate Director for Technology & Strategy, Astrophysics Division, NASA Goddard (2022)

Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, Deputy Program Scientist (2020-2021)

NASA Science Mission Directorate Large Mission Study, team member (2019-2020)

LUVOIR Decadal Survey Mission Concept Study, NASA Study Scientist (2016-2019)

NASA Astrophysics Roadmap, team member (2013)

Planet formation in action around Beta Pictoris
Planet formation in action around Beta Pictoris [Credit: ALMA / NASA GSFC / F. Reddy]

Selected Projects

From 2016 to 2019, I was the Study Scientist for the LUVOIR Decadal Survey Mission Concept Study. The Large UV / Optical / IR Surveyor (LUVOIR) is envisaged a highly capable, multi-wavelength observatory with ambitious science goals.

One of LUVOIR's primary aims is detailed investigation of a wide range of exoplanets, including those that might be habitable - or even inhabited. LUVOIR would also enable great leaps forward in a broad range of space science, from the early universe, through galaxy formation and evolution, star and planet formation, to remote sensing of Solar System bodies.

The science of LUVOIR, from galaxy formation to living worlds
The science of LUVOIR, from galaxy formation to living worlds
[Credit: NASA / A. Roberge]

From 2013-2015, I was a member of the Exoplanet Probe Science and Technology Definition Teams. The goal was to study concepts for relatively near-term, medium-sized space telescopes aimed at direct observations of exoplanets and planet-forming disks. I was on the External Occulter team, which studied a concept that uses a free-flying starshade to block out bright stars and see the faint planets or disks around them.

An artist's conception of a starshade mission
A starshade mission movie
[Credit: NASA / JPL / Caltech]
NASA Logo, National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Goddard