The galactic recipe for Exo-Planets

The first Ground Control lifts off with one of the biggest questions in science: Is there another Earth out there?

Professor Stephanie Werner from the University of Oslo's Centre for Planetary Habitability (PHAB) joins us to share her newly funded research project "Galactic Recipe for Exo-Planets" (GREP) — a 12 million NOK project backed by the Research Council of Norway that will explore how exoplanets form and what makes some of them potentially habitable.

Of nearly 5,000 known exoplanets, only about 5% show potentially Earth-like characteristics. What determines whether a planet becomes a barren rock or a world with oceans? The answer lies in the host star's composition, temperature, and dynamic processes — a cosmic recipe that Werner and her team are working to decode.

The timing couldn't be better: ESA's PLATO space telescope — equipped with 26 cameras to survey more than 200,000 stars — is set to launch in late 2026, opening an entirely new chapter in the hunt for habitable worlds. Werner's project will use PLATO's data to test competing models of planet formation and predict what new discoveries might reveal.

Join us for a fascinating session at the intersection of planetary science, space technology, and one of humanity's most fundamental questions.