Chondrites are undifferentiated sediments of material left over from the earliest solar system and are widely considered as representatives of the unprocessed building blocks of the terrestrial planets. The chondrites, […]
2018
Posted inMars, Press Release
Geologic Constraints on Early Mars Climate
Early Mars climate research has well-defined goals (Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group 2018). Achieving these goals requires geologists and climate modelers to coordinate. Coordination is easier if results are expressed […]
Posted inPress Release, Radiation
BioSentinel Microfluidics Project To Measure Deep Space Radiation
Earth’s magnetic field shields space station crew from much of the radiation that can damage the DNA in our cells and lead to serious health problems. When future astronauts set […]
Posted inMars, Missions & Hardware, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving
Strategic Investments in Instrumentation and Facilities for Extraterrestrial Sample Curation and Analysis
NASA’s investment in new instruments to analyze extraterrestrial samples is insufficient to provide for replacement of existing instruments, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and […]
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets, Press Release
Kepler-730: A Hot Jupiter System with a Close-in, Transiting, Earth-sized Planet
Kepler-730 is a planetary system hosting a statistically validated hot Jupiter in a 6.49-day orbit and an additional transiting candidate in a 2.85-day orbit. We use spectroscopic radial velocities from […]
Posted inPress Release, SETI & Technosignatures
NASA and the Search for Technosignatures: A Report from the NASA Technosignatures Workshop
This report is the product of the NASA Technosignatures Workshop held at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, Texas, in September 2018. This workshop was convened by NASA for […]
Posted inCeres
Spectrophotometric Modeling and Mapping of Ceres
We report a comprehensive analysis of the global spectrophotometric properties of Ceres using Dawn Framing Camera images collected from April to June 2015 during the RC3 and Survey mission phases. […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Press Release
Space telescope Detects Water in a Number of Asteroids
Using the infrared satellite AKARI, a Japanese research team has detected the existence of water in the form of hydrated minerals in a number of asteroids for the first time. […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Press Release
2-deoxyribose Could Exist In Interstellar Space
New research suggests that the sugar molecule that puts the “D” in DNA — 2-deoxyribose — could exist in the far reaches of space. A team of NASA astrophysicists were […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Press Release
Gas Phase Chemistry of Cool Exoplanet Atmospheres: Insight from Laboratory Simulations
Photochemistry induced by stellar UV flux should produce haze particles in exoplanet atmospheres. Recent observations indicate that haze and/or cloud layers exist in the atmospheres of exoplanets. However, photochemical processes […]