Life Could Exist Deep Underground on Mars
Recent science missions and results are bringing the search for life closer to home, and scientists at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian…
Astrobiology
The Detection of Phosphine in Venus’ Clouds Is a Big Deal – Here’s How We Can Find Out if It’s a Sign of Life
On September 14, 2020, a new planet was added to the list of potentially habitable worlds in the Solar System: Venus. Phosphine, a toxic gas…
Saturn’s Moon Titan Has Ingredients for Life
Catherine Neish is counting the days until her space launch. While the Western planetary geologist isn’t space-suiting up for her own interstellar voyage, she is…
NASA’s Perseverance Rover Will Peer Beneath Mars’ Surface to Search for Signs of Life
The agency’s newest rover will use the first ground-penetrating radar instrument on the Martian surface to help search for signs of past microbial life. After…
Pristine Space Rock Offers NASA a Peek at the Building Blocks of the Evolution of Life
During a 2012 expedition to Antarctica, a team of Japanese and Belgian researchers picked up a small rock that appeared coal black against the snow…
Some Planets May Be Better for Life Than Earth: Researchers Identify 24 Superhabitable Exoplanets
Earth is not necessarily the best planet in the universe. Researchers have identified two dozen planets outside our solar system that may have conditions more…
This Device Is the Most Sensitive Instrument in the Search for Life in Space
Researchers at the University of Bern have developed the highly sensitive ORIGIN instrument, which can provide proof of the smallest amounts of traces of life,…
If It Wasn’t for Jupiter, Venus Might Be Habitable Today
Study shows the destabilizing effect of the giant gas planet. Venus might not be a sweltering, waterless hellscape today, if Jupiter hadn’t altered its orbit…
Mars Express Spacecraft Has Discovered Liquid Water Ponds Buried Under the Martian Surface
ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft has discovered several ponds of liquid water buried under the ice in the south polar region of Mars. The spacecraft’s radar…
Experts Explain: If There Is Life on Venus, How Could It Have Gotten There?
Considering what we know about the key ingredients for life’s formation on Earth, here are three explanations for how this process may have occurred on…
NASA’s New Mars Rover Will Use X-Rays to Hunt for Chemical Fingerprints Left by Ancient Microbes
PIXL, an instrument on the end of the Perseverance rover’s arm, will search for chemical fingerprints left by ancient microbes. NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover…
Researchers Have Developed a Fully Automated Analyzer That Could Help Detect Signs of Extraterrestrial Life
Although Earth is uniquely situated in the solar system to support creatures that call it home, different forms of life could have once existed, or…
Stellar Phosphorus Guides Search for Potentially Habitable Exoplanets
Stellar chemical compositions used as proxy for potentially habitable systems. A Southwest Research Institute scientist has identified stellar phosphorus as a probable marker in narrowing…
What Is Phosphine and Why Does It Point to Extra-Terrestrial Life Floating in the Clouds of Venus?
An international team of astronomers recently announced the discovery of a rare molecule — phosphine — in the clouds of Venus. On Earth, this gas…
Massive Hunt for Extraterrestrial Life Completed: What Astronomers Found in Search of 10 Million Star Systems for Alien Technology
A radio telescope in outback Western Australia has completed the deepest and broadest search at low frequencies for alien technologies, scanning a patch of sky…
NASA Issues Announcement Regarding Claims of Possible Signs of Life on Venus
[On Monday, scientific research was published showing phosphine, a possible signature of life, present in the atmosphere of Venus. The following is NASA’s announcement related…
Can Alien Life Survive a Star’s Death? Webb Space Telescope Will Reveal the Answer
When stars like our sun die, all that remains is an exposed core – a white dwarf. A planet orbiting a white dwarf presents a…
Why Scientists Believe There May Be Extra-Terrestrial Life Floating in the Atmosphere of Venus
An international team of astronomers, led by Professor Jane Greaves of Cardiff University, today announced the discovery of a rare molecule – phosphine – in…