NASA shared a hopeful bit of news for anyone who likes the idea that our solar system is not special. On January 22, 2026, the agency published an update on ExoMiner++, an open source AI software package built to help scientists identify planets orbiting other stars by scanning for the tiny, repeating dips in brightness that happen when a planet crosses in front of its star.
The headline detail is simple and exciting. The same family of tools that helped confirm hundreds of exoplanets in the past is now being aimed more deeply at data from TESS, NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite. TESS keeps collecting huge amounts of light-curve data, and that flood is exactly where smart automation can help. Instead of replacing astronomers, the AI helps narrow the search, flagging the most planet-like signals so people can spend their time checking what matters most.
This kind of work is quietly human at its core. Every new round of better tools means more discoveries that are shared, debated, and improved by a wider community. By keeping ExoMiner++ open source, NASA is also making it easier for researchers, students, and independent teams to learn from the methods and build on them. It is a small but real step toward faster, more transparent science, and toward a clearer map of the worlds that are out there.
Source: https://science.nasa.gov/open-science/deep-learning-exoplanets-tess/