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NASA SMD ROSES-25 Amendment 68: New Opportunity: D.8 Habitable Worlds Observatory Precursor Science Investigations [UPDATE 2]
[NASA]. The Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) is a large-aperture ultraviolet/visible/near-infrared observatory concept recommended by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine decadal survey, “Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s” (Astro2020). 3 September 2026 UPDATE ROSES-25 Amendment 73: D.9 Habitable Worlds Observatory Instrument Concept Assessments: Correction regarding collaborators on category 2…
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RED26 Astrobiology Lectures Are Now Online
Editor’s note: The full series of RED26 Astrobiology lectures is now online here: https://red-astrobiology.fr/ Registration…
The Refractory Fraction Of Phosphorus In Planet-forming Discs
[astro-ph.EP] Context. Phosphorus (P) is an essential element for life on Earth and a potential…
Atmosphere Detected On The Coldest Lava World To Date
[University of Chicago] In the search for extraterrestrial life, it makes sense to first look…
Earth As A Potential Source Of Llife For Europa’s Subsurface Ocean
The paper discusses the possibility of dust particles containing living bacteria ejected from Earth reaching Europa and landing on its surface. It is shown that, taking certain factors into account, over a period of 30 − 80 Myr (the estimated age of Europa’s ocean), Jupiter’s moon would have been impacted…
Keep readingDust To Dust: Prospects For Passive Technosignatures As Relics Of ETI
Technological societies are separated in time, not just space — that is the lesson of the Drake equation. Might the best way to seek them be to find technosignatures that persist long after their creators? I present work I and my collaborators have done on the idea of passive technosignatures,…
Keep readingHabitable Zones
Astronomy & Telescopes
Atmospheres, Climate, Weather
Icy Ocean Planet Research: NASA ROSES-25 Amendment 71: New Opportunity A.16 Cryosphere
[NASA]. A.16 Cryosphere solicits high-impact efforts focused on sea ice, ice sheets, and glaciers. The expectation is that proposed investigations will use the wealth of data from NASA satellites and airborne campaigns to address the most urgent and impactful topics in cryospheric science, as identified in the National Academy of Sciences Decadal Survey, Thriving on…
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Rethinking The Origin Of Life At Seafloor Hydrothermal Vents
[PNAS] Alkaline vents have dominated a class of hypotheses for the origins of life since their discovery a quarter of century ago, but advances in…
Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy of Planetary Materials Using Laser Deposited Plasmonic Gold Nanoparticles
[x-mol.net] This work demonstrates a surface-enhanced raman spectroscopy (SERS) approach based on laser deposition of Au plasmonic nanoparticles onto several relevant mineral surfaces. A pulsed…
NASA Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI) Cooperative Agreement Notice (NNH26ZDA016C) Final Text And Due Dates
[NASA] The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Science Mission Directorate (SMD) and Human Spaceflight Mission Directorate (HSMD) have released the final text of the…
Imaging & Spectroscopy
Potential Survivable Niches For Microbial Life On The Lunar South Pole
[astro-ph.EP]. Most lunar surface conditions are incredibly harsh for microbial survival. High ultraviolet radiation, temperatures, and energetic particle radiation limit survival over most unprotected lunar…
JWST Telemetry Combined With Active Coronagraphy: Raw Contrast Predictions For Exoplanet Imaging With The Habitable Worlds Observatory
[astro-ph.IM] We provide a quantification of the technological gap between the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) for the goal…
A Clearer View of HAT-P-1 b: JWST NIRSpec G395H Reveals Water, Carbon Dioxide, and Possibly Hydrogen Sulfide
[astro-ph.EP] As part of JWST’s Exoplanet Grand Tour Survey, we use panchromatic transmission spectroscopy to connect HAT-P-1 b’s previously studied optical and near-infrared atmosphere to…
Biosignatures & Paleobiology
tinyRNA-seq: An Optimized Approach To Sequencing Tiny RNAs And Primitive RNA Genomes
[biorxiv.org] Very short RNAs play critical roles in modern biology, and are thought to have been crucial for genome replication during the origin of life.…
Functional Profiling Of Spacecraft Cleanroom Microbiomes Through Genome‑wide Phenotype Predictions
[biorxiv.org] Current planetary protection approaches rely heavily on spore-based tests developed for Mars missions and may not adequately assess contamination risks for icy ocean worlds…
On The Impact Of Correlated Noise and Spectral Resolution On The Retrieval Analysis Of The Habitable World Observatory
[astro-ph.EP] Finding signs of life elsewhere in the universe is the holy grail of the field of exoplanets. Future space missions such as the Habitable…
