[NASA] “Pluto never stops surprising us,” said Alan Stern, principal investigator of New Horizons and lead study author from the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado. “In addition to suggesting […]
Keith Cowing
Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA Space Station Payload manager/space biologist, Away Teams, Journalist, Lapsed climber, Synaesthete, Na’Vi-Jedi-Freman-Buddhist-mix, ASL, Devon Island and Everest Base Camp veteran, (he/him) 🖖🏻
![Physical and chemical gradients predicted to dictate habitability across depth in the martian subsurface. These include (1) constraints on water; although water activity (aw) gradients are not yet known for Mars, predicted liquid brine stability depends on primary ionic composition with perchlorate-rich brines transitioning into chloride- and sulfate-enriched brines with depth and temperature (Chevrier and Slank, 2024; Stevens and Cockell, 2023). It is important to note that porosity is expected to decrease with depth, which may also influence water availability, with any potential brines increasingly localized to pore spaces and fractures (Michalski et al., 2018). (2) Surface radiation exposure is expected to subside to lower background radionuclide decay around 3–5 m depth. (3) If liquid water is present at depth, chemotrophic microbial communities could utilize the products of water–rock interaction including inorganic electron donors/acceptors and simple abiotic organics. Image created using biorender.com.-- [Astrobiology (Journal)]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Life-Detection.png?resize=1200%2C719&ssl=1)
Posted inMars
Life Detection In The Martian Subsurface: Advancements In Microbial Metabolic Research Under Mars Laboratory And Field-Analog Conditions Since Viking
[Astrobiology (Journal)] Following the Viking experiments in 1976, many of the original inferences of biological metabolism have been replicated via abiotic mechanisms we now know are plausible on Mars’ surface.
Posted inMicrobiology & Virology
Offworld Microbiology: Staphylococcus Aureus Biofilm Studies
[NASA] Preflight image of Syto9 staining of Staphylococcus aureus biofilm as part of ODYSSEY, an investigation that evaluates biofilm formation and exchange of genetic material among two species of bacteria […]
Posted inAstrogeology
High Solubility Of Water In Post-perovskite And Bridgmanite In The Earth’s Deep Lower Mantle
[physics.geo-ph] Water in the Earth’s mantle induces melting, giving rise to strong chemical heterogeneity, and alters its rheological and transport properties, which are keys to understanding seismic-wave speeds anomalies, convective […]
Posted inBrown Dwarfs
SMDET-1: A Nearby Y Dwarf Candidate
[astro-ph.SR] We present the discovery of SMDET-1, a red, fast-moving object (μ≈1.3″/yr) identified in time-resolved unWISE coadds using a pixel-level deep learning methodology called SMDET.
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets
CHEOPS Photometry From 2024 Reveals A Reversal In The Transit-timing Variations Of AU Mic c
[astro-ph.EP]. We present new CHEOPS transit observations of AU Mic b and AU Mic c obtained between June and September 2024, extending the baseline of transit-timing measurements of this young […]
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets
ESCAPE: A Small Explorer Mission To Study The Stellar Drivers Of Exoplanet Evolution
[astro-ph.EP] The long-term stability of exoplanetary atmospheres depends critically on the extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) photon and high-energy particle fluxes from the host star, which are poorly constrained.
![Schematic overview of instability-inducing mechanisms through which planets may be ejected from a system. These mechanisms, each discussed throughout this work, include close approaches between neighboring planets (top left; Section 2), binary-induced instabilities (top center and right, and bottom left; Section 3), flyby encounters (bottom center; Section 4), and post-main-sequence orbital evolution (bottom right; Section 5).-- [astro-ph.EP]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/The-Dynamics.png?resize=1200%2C719&ssl=1)
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets
The Dynamics Of Planetary Ejection
[astro-ph.EP] The ubiquity of free-floating planets inferred from microlensing and direct imaging surveys suggests that planetary ejection—a process in which planets initially born encircling a stellar host become gravitationally unbound—is […]
![Computed abundance maps of ammonium cyanate, ammonium formate, ammonium acetate, ammonium hydrosulfide and ammonium carbamate in the solid phase for r < 50 au and computed after 1 Myr and 10 Myrs. We also show the ratio of the vertically integrated abundances of these salts relative to water ice. -- [astro-ph.EP]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Ammonium-salt-.png?resize=1200%2C720&ssl=1)
Posted inAstrochemistry
Ammonium Salt Formation And Abundance In Protoplanetary Disks
[astro-ph.EP] Ammonium salts may represent an important reservoir of volatile species in Solar system primitive bodies, but the question of how and when these salts can form during the star […]
![Time evolution for two morphological dynamics in PISA specimens: (a) gelation takes place in an oxygen-poor PISA specimen, (b) “Phoenix” dynamics take place in the oxygen-rich PISA specimen (Adapted with permission from reference [19]).-- [Life]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Degradation.png?resize=1200%2C718&ssl=1)
Posted inOrigin & Evolution of Life
Degradation, Osmosis and the Emergence of Basic Functionalities in Abiotic Synthetic Life-like Chemical Systems
[Life] Autonomous and interconnected multiscale out-of-equilibrium processes, including chemical and physical feedbacks, occur at the micron and lower scales during the heterotrophic synthesis of simple abiotic protocells, such as the […]