2026

Analog Studies, Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Astropharmacy / Biotechnology, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Commercial & Private Sector, Cryobiology, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Habitable Zones, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Microbiology & Virology, Nanotechnology & SynBio, Origin & Evolution of Life, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Polar / Alpine Expeditions, Press Release, Sample Return

XTREMOLIFE: An EU Initiative to Unlock the Biotechnological Potential of Extremophiles

by Keith CowingFebruary 16, 2026February 16, 2026

SUMMARY: The EU-funded project XTREMOLIFE aims to accelerate the bioprospecting and biodiscovery of extremophile microorganisms from desert, polar, and volcanic environments, as well as the identification of their bioactive compounds, […]

Artist's impression of the planetary system around the star LHS 1903. Credit: ESA

Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gas Giants, Press Release, Stellar Cartography

Study Reveals A Planetary System With An Unexpected Rocky Planet In Its Outer Region

by Keith CowingFebruary 16, 2026February 16, 2026

An international scientific team, led by the University of Warwick and involving the Canary Islands Institute of Astrophysics, has used the European Space Agency’s Cheops satellite to discover that the […]

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover used LED lights on the end of its robotic arm to create this rare nighttime view of the Red Planet’s surface on Dec. 6, 2025, the 4,740th Martian day, or sol, of the rover’s mission. Image

Astrogeology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Sample Return

Curiosity Lights Up ‘Nevado Sajama’ at Night

by Keith CowingFebruary 15, 2026February 15, 2026

The LED lights are part of the Mars Hand Lens Imager, or MAHLI, a camera on the end of Curiosity’s robotic arm. The image was captured by the Mast Camera, […]

Allan Hills, Antarctica Credit: Photo by Austin Carter, COLDEX

Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Habitable Zones, Press Release

Course Correction Needed Quickly To Avoid Pathway To ‘Hothouse Earth’ Scenario

by Keith CowingFebruary 15, 2026February 15, 2026

Scientists say multiple Earth system components appear closer to destabilization than previously believed, putting the planet in increased danger of following a “hothouse” path driven by feedback loops that can […]

The Pale Blue Dot is a photograph of Earth taken Feb. 14, 1990, by NASA’s Voyager 1 at a distance of 3.7 billion miles (6 billion kilometers) from the Sun. The image inspired the title of scientist Carl Sagan's book, "Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space," in which he wrote: "Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us." The above image, “Pale Blue Dot Revisited,” was created in 2020 for the 30th anniversary of the iconic picture. The updated version used modern image-processing software and techniques to revisit the well-known Voyager view, while attempting to respect the original data and intent of those who planned the images. NASA/JPL-Caltech Larger image

Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Neptune, Press Release, Uranus, Venus

Pale Blue Dot Anniversary

by Keith CowingFebruary 14, 2026February 14, 2026

The Pale Blue Dot is a photograph of Earth taken on Feb. 14, 1990, by NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft. Earth appears as a tiny speck of light suspended in a […]

ID: ESP_069857_2650 date: 21 June 2021 altitude: 318 km NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona larger image

Analog Studies, Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Astrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Desert Worlds, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Mars, Status Report

Ice Planet Recon: Looking For Avalanches At Mars’ North Pole

by Keith CowingFebruary 14, 2026February 14, 2026

The North Polar Layered Deposits (NPLD) are large layered deposits of dusty water-ice in the northern polar region of Mars. The layering we see is caused mainly by slight variations […]

Strength of key long-term feedbacks governing Earth’s climate system (Forster et al. 2021; Arnscheidt & Rothman 2020; Abbot 2016; Koll & Cronin 2018). Each bar represents the feedback parameter in W m−2 K −1 , estimated from Earth system model assessments and paleoclimate constraints. The upper axis shows the approximate feedback strength associated with a 50 K climate perturbation, representative of transitions between major states (e.g., snowball to temperate). Feedbacks are sorted by magnitude. Negative values (blue) represent stabilizing feedbacks that damp temperature changes, while positive values (orange) indicate destabilizing feedbacks that amplify them. Outgoing longwave radiation and the carbonate–silicate cycle are among the strongest stabilizing processes, while the ice–albedo feedback exerts a strong destabilizing influence. Models incorporating the three dominant feedbacks explain the general behavior of Earth’s long-term mean climate. -- astro-ph.EP

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Habitable Zones, Status Report

Not Earth-like Yet Temperate? More Generic Climate Feedback Configurations Still Allow Temperate Climates in Habitable Zone Exo-Earth Candidates

by Keith CowingFebruary 14, 2026February 14, 2026

Earth’s climate is influenced by over a dozen feedbacks, but only three dominate its long-term climate behavior. Models of the exoplanet habitable zone (HZ) assume that this is similar for […]

Planet mass (or minimum mass) as a function of orbital period for planetary systems hosting cold Jupiters.

Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gas Giants, Habitable Zones, Ice Giant, Icy Worlds, Status Report, Stellar Cartography

TESS Planets In Known Radial Velocity Cold Jupiter Systems: Hot Super Earth Occurrence Is Enhanced By Cold Jupiters

by Keith CowingFebruary 14, 2026February 14, 2026

The correlation between inner super-Earths (SEs) and outer cold Jupiters (CJs) provides an important constraint on the formation and dynamical evolution of planetary systems. Previous studies have suggested a positive […]

LEA of microbial communities from torus room waters and other environmental samples. Symbol “+” indicates the positions of the samples analyzed in this study, together with the sample names (TW1, TW2, SW, SS, RW, and SO). -- Environmental Microbiology

Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Microbiology & Virology, Radiation, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Sample Return, Status Report

Studying Bacteria That Live Inside A Damaged Radioactive Nuclear Power Station

by Keith CowingFebruary 14, 2026February 14, 2026

A major incident occurred at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station following the tsunami triggered by the Tohoku–Pacific Ocean Earthquake in March 2011, whereby seawater entered the torus room in […]

Structures of selected H2O adsorption configurations for cluster (left) and monolayer (right). Ice structures were generated with global optimization. The labels indicate the adsorption energy and the number of hydrogen bonds of type acceptor (A) and donor (D). The color code is as in Figure 1. -- physics.chem-ph

AI - Data - Apps - Cybernetics, Astrochemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Status Report

Machine Learning Exploration Of Binding Energy Distributions Of H2O At Astrochemically Relevant Dust Grain Surfaces

by Keith CowingFebruary 14, 2026February 14, 2026

Binding energies (BEs) of adsorbates on interstellar dust grains critically control adsorption, desorption, diffusion, and surface reactivity, and therefore strongly influence astrochemical models of star- and planet-forming regions.

XTREMOLIFE: An EU Initiative to Unlock the Biotechnological Potential of Extremophiles

Study Reveals A Planetary System With An Unexpected Rocky Planet In Its Outer Region

Curiosity Lights Up ‘Nevado Sajama’ at Night

Course Correction Needed Quickly To Avoid Pathway To ‘Hothouse Earth’ Scenario

Pale Blue Dot Anniversary

Ice Planet Recon: Looking For Avalanches At Mars’ North Pole

Not Earth-like Yet Temperate? More Generic Climate Feedback Configurations Still Allow Temperate Climates in Habitable Zone Exo-Earth Candidates

TESS Planets In Known Radial Velocity Cold Jupiter Systems: Hot Super Earth Occurrence Is Enhanced By Cold Jupiters

Studying Bacteria That Live Inside A Damaged Radioactive Nuclear Power Station

Machine Learning Exploration Of Binding Energy Distributions Of H2O At Astrochemically Relevant Dust Grain Surfaces

Chemical Diversity Of Dense Cores In Orion B: The Role Of The Environment

Precise C-N-O Abundances of Individual Galaxies In The First Billion Years From Ultra-Deep, Rest-UV-to-Optical JWST Spectroscopy

Bacteriophage Qβ: Six Decades at the Frontier of Molecular and Viral Evolution Genome, Particle And Mutational Landscape Of Bacteriophage Qβ

Secondary Ion-Ice Chemistry in UV-Irradiated Oxygen Ice: New Astrochemical Models Including Bulk Ionic Species

Controlled Near-space Exposure Induces Community Restructuring In An Ocean Water Microbiome