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COSPAR Panel On Planetary Protection Endorses Proposed Update To The Mars Planetary Protection Policy
Source: LinkedIn [COSPAR]. Yesterday, 29 September, the COSPAR Panel on Planetary Protection (PPP) at its Executive meeting endorsed a proposed update to the Mars planetary protection policy, following a year-long consultation and a long-term process of engagement with the scientific community and stakeholders, including extensive discussions at recent Panel meetings, Workshops and Sessions at the…
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Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer Astrobiology Droid Completes Earth Flyby
[ESA] The European Space Agency’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) skimmed the very outer edge…
Roman Space Telescope’s Wide Field Instrument Activated – Coronagraph Checked Out
[NASA] NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope team has successfully activated the Wide Field Instrument,…
Nonequilibrium Formation of C4 Carbonyls in Interstellar Ices Linked to Amino Acids
[ACS Central Science] Complex organic molecules in interstellar ices and carbonaceous asteroids record key steps…
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 readingExoplanets, -moons, -comets
Astronomy & Telescopes
Atmospheres, Climate, Weather
How Ocean Chemistry On Earth Helped Life Keep Breathing
[UC Riverside] Scientists have helped solve a longstanding mystery about how Earth remained habitable after oxygen first accumulated in its atmosphere more than 2 billion years ago, providing evidence that an ancient ocean chemistry sustained life-friendly conditions. The study, published in Nature Communications, was led by researchers including UC Riverside geologist Andrey Bekker. They found…
Read moreExploration Gear & Tech
Offworld Expedition Training: Astronauts Explore An Ancient Earth Volcano
[ESA]. From its rim, remnants of recent eruptions lie open for this crew of astronauts learning geology for planetary exploration. Participants of PANGAEA’s 10th edition…
Looking Inside Living Antarctic Cells For The First Time
[British Antarctic Survey] Cambridge engineers have built the first microscope to see inside living cells in sub-zero conditions, revealing secrets of Antarctic fish survival. Editor’s…
On-demand Microfluidic Synthesis Of Silver Nanoparticles For SERS Detection Of Organic Compounds: A Preliminary Feasibility Study For Astrobiology Applications
[Spectrochimica Acta Part A] The detection of organic molecules at trace concentration levels remains a critical challenge for astrobiology research. While Raman spectroscopy is a…
Imaging & Spectroscopy
A Glimpse of the Solar System’s Origins: Striking Details on the Molecules Inside a Meteorite
[Brookhaven National Laboratory] Researchers at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory and Brookhaven National Laboratory have teamed up to get a fresh look at the…
Enceladus Offers Clues In The Search For Extraterrestrial Life
[Free University Berlin] With a global ocean of liquid water below a thick crust of ice, Saturn’s moon Enceladus is one of the most promising…
Probing Exoplanetary Chemistry with Ariel: Scientific Priorities and Observational Strategies
[astro-ph.EP] Over the past two decades, increasingly precise observations have revealed that exoplanet atmospheres are chemically diverse and often far from equilibrium, with processes such…
Biosignatures & Paleobiology
Uncatalyzed Guanosine Phosphorylation under Potentially Prebiotic Conditions
[Chem EurJ] The phosphorylation of nucleosides and their subsequent polymerization are key issues in the study of the Origins of Life. How these chemical processes…
Nordic-based Observations Of Binary Asteroid (163693) Atira Reveal A Hydrated CM Chondrite Composition
[astro-ph.EP] We present photometric, spectroscopic, and polarimetric observations of (163693) Atira collected on the night of 05 March 2024. A dual-band lightcurve acquired in the…
Thioacetaldehyde (CH3CHS) On Interstellar Ices: A Key Molecule To Unravel Two Chemical Dichotomies In The ISM
[astro-ph.GA] Thioacetaldehyde (CH3CHS), recently detected in TMC-1, has an abundance approximately 36 times lower than its oxygen analog, acetaldehyde (CH3CHO). This makes the CH3CHS/CH3CHO pair…