News
Planets Need More Water To Support Life Than Scientists Previously Thought
21+ hour, 37+ min ago (700+ words) Unfortunately for science fiction fans, desert worlds outside our solar system are unlikely to host life, according to new research from University of Washington. Scientists show that an Earth-sized planet needs at least 20 to 50% of the water in Earth's oceans…...
From Dust to Planets - A Chemical Perspective
22+ hour, 37+ min ago (232+ words) Chemical and chronological information preserved in meteorites permits the reconstruction of events and processes in the solar nebula from the formation of the first solids to the accretion of planetary bodies and their subsequent differentiation. The path from a gas-dust…...
Mars Curiosity Blog Sols 4845-4851: Bye-Bye Boxwork, Bye-Bye
22+ hour, 20+ min ago (491+ words) astrobiology. com Mars Curiosity Blog Sols 4845-4851: Bye-Bye Boxwork, Bye-Bye Earth planning date: Friday, March 27, 2026 Last weekend's drive took us just over the southernmost contact of the boxwork terrain with the surrounding layered sulfate unit. This was our third time crossing…...
Thermophysical Properties of Europa's Surface Constrained by Galileo Photopolarimeter-Radiometer Temperature Measurements
2+ day, 20+ hour ago (220+ words) We reanalyze the PPR dataset to derive maps of Europa's albedo and thermal inertia, and infer the microphysical properties of its icy regolith. Using the KRC thermal model, we fit brightness temperatures and interpret the results with conductivity models of…...
Extreme Arabian Environments And Their Microbiomes: New Frontiers For Astrobiology And Biosignature Discovery
1+ week, 19+ hour ago (190+ words) Astrobiology assesses the habitability of planetary bodies and the potential for extraterrestrial life. Well-known analog environments include the Atacama Desert (Chile) for space mission validation, the Mc Murdo Dry Valleys (Antarctica) for Mars analog studies, and Rio Tinto (Spain) for…...
Waves Hit Different On Other Planets
22+ hour, 6+ min ago (691+ words) On a calm day, a light breeze might barely ripple the surface of a lake on Earth. But on Saturn's largest moon Titan, a similar mild wind would kick up 10-foot-tall waves. This otherworldly behavior is one prediction from a…...
Deep Microbial Colonization in 2-Billion-Year-Old Ultramafic Rock from the Bushveld Complex
4+ day, 21+ hour ago (156+ words) Archean cratons may provide stable microbial habitats in the deep subsurface, as evidenced by the discovery of billion-year-old crustal fluids. However, the long-term habitability of these cratonic environments is uncertain, as polymetamorphic evolution in most cratons typically destroys microbial habitats…...
Volcanic Ash Creeps Across Mars - The View From Orbit
4+ day, 21+ hour ago (635+ words) Noticeable change on Mars often takes millions of years " but the European Space Agency's Mars Express has captured a blanket of dark ash creeping across the planet in just decades. A new image from Mars Express's High Resolution Stereo Camera…...
Community Survey: Field-Based Studies And Sample Processing Facility
22+ hour, 13+ min ago (176+ words) Scientists at Northern Arizona University are conducting a research study gathering views from members of the planetary science community on field-based studies and the interest in a potential centralized facility for sample processing and analysis. The Field Sample Processing and…...
What Triggered Earth's Shift From A Greenhouse To An Icehouse Climate And The Onset Of The Late Paleozoic Ice Age?
21+ hour, 52+ min ago (447+ words) astrobiology. com What Triggered Earth's Shift From A Greenhouse To An Icehouse Climate And The Onset Of The Late Paleozoic Ice Age? Scientists have debated for decades what caused the Late Paleozoic climate transition from a greenhouse to an icehouse…...