Ryan Felton
Planetary Scientist / Astrobiologist
Branch: Exobiology Branch (STX)
Email: ryan.c.felton@nasa.gov
Personal Website: Ryan Felton
Professional Biography
Ryan is a United States Air Force veteran that has taken his experience as an all-source intelligence analyst and, combined with his love for outer space, applied it to being a NASA scientist! He is currently a NASA Postdoctoral Management Fellow (NPMP) spearheading an initiative to improve the usage and understanding of artificial intelligence and machine learning in the astrobiology community. He is additionally a photochemical modeler researching Titan and Titan-like analog exoplanets and generating their corresponding synthetic spectra. These spectra are studied with current and next-generation space based observatories in mind, determining the potential for characterization of these worlds atmospheres.
Education
The Catholic University of America – PhD Physics (2021)
University of Maryland College Park – B.S. in Physics & B.S. in Astronomy (2014)
Research Interests
Photochemical modeling and characterization of Titan and Titan-like worlds
Reducing terrestrial worlds
Photochemical haze production
The search for technosignatures (radio and non-radio)
Select Publications
R.Felton, S. Bastelberger, K. Mandt, A. Luspay-Kuti, T. Fauchez, & S. DomagalGoldman. (2022) “The Role of Atmospheric Exchange in False-Positive Biosignature Detection”. Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, 127, e2021JE006853. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JE006853
Eric W. Lentz & Ryan C. Felton. (2024) “Motivating Emissions from Positive Energy Warp Bubbles”. arXiV: 2405.19381
Select Accepted Proposals
TWSC funded AI Foundation Models for Astrobiology Workshop, February 2025
Websites
https://www.nasa.gov/space-science-and-astrobiology-at-ames/research-teams/ai-astrobiology