NASA’s ExoMiner++ Expands Search for New Worlds

In January NASA published a new open-source artificial intelligence tool that they developed and says it is helping scientists around the world accelerate the search for planets beyond our solar system, a field known as exoplanet discovery. The software, called ExoMiner++, builds on previous successes to analyze data collected by NASA’s space telescopes and flag potential exoplanets for further study.

From Kepler to TESS: Open-Source AI in Action

ExoMiner++ is an upgraded version of NASA’s original ExoMiner model, which was designed to sift through data from the retired Kepler Space Telescope. The original tool played a key role in validating 370 previously unknown exoplanets by distinguishing real planet signals from look-alike false positives.

In its current form, ExoMiner++ has been trained on datasets from both Kepler and NASA’s ongoing Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission, enabling it to process a much larger volume of observations. In an initial run on TESS data, the open-source software flagged approximately 7,000 exoplanet candidates, accelerating what would otherwise be a labor-intensive analytical process for astronomers.

Because TESS monitors nearly the entire sky for tiny dips in starlight caused by planets passing in front of their host stars, the mission generates vast amounts of data. ExoMiner++ uses deep learning and neural networks to sort through these light curves and predict which signals are most likely to represent real planets, allowing scientists to focus follow-up observations on the most promising targets.

Open Source for Open Science

Importantly, ExoMiner++ is made available as open-source software, meaning anyone with the skills and computational resources can download it from repositories such as GitHub and use it to conduct their own exoplanet analyses. This open approach aligns with NASA’s broader commitment to open science, which includes public access to the agency’s data and tools to support reproducibility and collaborative discovery around the world.

“Open-source software like ExoMiner accelerates scientific discovery,” said Kevin Murphy, NASA’s Chief Science Data Officer. By enabling researchers globally to leverage the same tools and algorithms, the open-source release of ExoMiner++ enhances the scientific community’s ability to make new discoveries using public mission data.

Enabling Global Research Collaboration

The open availability of ExoMiner++ has implications beyond exoplanet science. It highlights how transparent, community-accessible tools can democratize research — allowing universities, independent scientists, and student researchers to contribute to cutting-edge scientific work without needing proprietary software.

This model of open-source scientific software not only accelerates discovery but also enriches the educational landscape. Students and early-career researchers can learn from, adapt, and build upon real world tools used in active scientific inquiry, fueling innovation across disciplines such as astronomy, data science, and artificial intelligence.