Meteorite Discovery: Key Building Block for Organic Molecules
Scientists from Japan and NASA have confirmed the presence in meteorites of a key organic molecule that may have been used to build other organic…
Astrobiology
The White House Releases National Strategy for Planetary Protection
The National Strategy for Planetary Protection reflects the critical importance of planetary protection to the future of space science, exploration, and life on Earth. Planetary…
VENUS Apparatus: Device Mimics Life’s First Steps in Outer Space
Called VENUS, the device will give scientists an unprecedented ability to study how molecules form in the icy clouds of space. A device developed by…
NASA Moves to the Next Phase in a Campaign to Return Mars Samples to Earth
During this next phase, the program will mature critical technologies and make critical design decisions as well as assess industry partnerships. NASA and ESA (European…
Alien Life on Exoplanets: The Upside of Volatile Space Weather
Robust stellar flares might not prevent life on exoplanets, could facilitate its detection. Although violent and unpredictable, stellar flares emitted by a planet’s host star…
Discovery Provides More Evidence That Saturn’s Moon Enceladus Could Support Life in Its Subsurface Ocean
Models Point to a Potentially Diverse Metabolic Menu at Enceladus Using data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, scientists at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) modeled chemical processes…
Chemistry of Life: Key Building Block for Organic Molecules Discovered in Meteorites
Scientists from Japan and the USA have confirmed the presence in meteorites of a key organic molecule that may have been used to build other…
Stellar Flares With a Chance of Radio Bursts: Space Weather Discovery Puts “Habitable Planets” at Risk
Stellar Flares With a Chance of Radio Bursts: The Weather From Proxima Centauri A discovery that links stellar flares with radio-burst signatures will make it…
NASA to Study Ryugu Asteroid Sample Collected by Japan’s Hayabusa2 in New Astromaterials Research Lab
Just weeks after NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft made a successful touch-and-go grab of samples from asteroid Bennu, researchers at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston are looking…
Solving a Paradox to Uncover Key Clues About Our Solar System’s History
New clues lead to a better understanding of the evolution of the solar system and the origin of Earth as a habitable planet. In a…
Asteroid Ryugu Sample Collected in Space and Delivered to Earth – Now NASA Astrobiologists Prepare to Probe It
On December 6 local time (December 5 in the United States), Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa2 dropped a capsule to the ground of the Australian Outback from…
Australia-Bound Asteroid Sample From Japan’s Hayabusa2 Mission May Reveal Life’s Origins
A Japanese space mission will deliver samples collected from asteroid Ryugu in a capsule to the outback desert of Woomera in South Australia this Sunday…
Researchers Discover Phosphorus – an Element Necessary for Life – in Particles Collected From a Comet
An international study led by the University of Turku discovered phosphorus and fluorine in solid dust particles collected from a comet. The finding indicates that…
Best Region for Life on Mars Was Miles Below Surface
New study sheds light on subsurface melting of thick ice billions of years ago. The most habitable region for life on Mars would have been…
Massive Explosions of Energy Far From Earth May Have Left Traces in Our Planet’s Biology and Geology
Massive explosions of energy happening thousands of light-years from Earth may have left traces in our planet’s biology and geology, according to new research by…
Potential Plumes on Jupiter’s Icy Moon Europa Could Come From Water in the Crust
Scientists have theorized on the origin of the water plumes possibly erupting from Jupiter’s moon Europa. Recent research adds a new potential source to the…
Building Blocks of Life Can Form in Interstellar Clouds Long Before Stars
An international team of scientists has shown that glycine, the simplest amino acid and an important building block of life, can form under the harsh…
Harbinger of Extraterrestrial Life? Explaining Cryovolcanic Eruptions on Jupiter’s Moon Europa
A new model shows how brine on Jupiter’s moon Europa can migrate within the icy shell to form pockets of salty water that erupt to…