[UC Riverside] The Planetary Geochemistry and Astrobiology Laboratory is led by Assistant Professor Fabian Klenner, a new faculty member in UCR’s Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences. His research focuses […]
Exploration Gear & Tech
Posted inWater/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
MBARI Ocean World Expedition: Movement In The Deep
Editor’s note: When we start to mount Astrobiology missions to explore ocean worlds we’ll need ways for our robotic submersibles to observe and interact with whatever life forms they may […]
Posted inMagnetic Fields, Electromagnetism, bioelectricity,
Tidal Locking As A Negative Feedback On Earth-like Planetary Dynamos: Consequences For Magnetic Shielding And Habitability
[Astronomy & Astrophysics] We investigate how tidal locking affects the magnetic field generation and magnetospheric protection of Earth-like planets orbiting the habitable zone of M dwarfs.
Posted inAnalog Studies
Offworld Astrogeology Training In Iceland
Iceland’s diverse volcanic terrain is an excellent stand-in for lunar and planetary processes and provides an ideal environment in which to simulate surface science operations. Editor’s note: when it comes […]
Posted inMissions & Hardware
Planetary Recon: Interworld Slingshot Resource Surveys
[NASA] This proposal explores a new class of reconnaissance spacecraft that map minerals from orbit using Raman spectroscopy during high-speed flybys–without landing, sample return, or extended dwell. Editor’s note: for […]
Posted inMars
Preparing ExoMars For Rosalind Franklin Astrobiology Rover Delivery
[ESA] The footage shows the simultaneous deployment of two landing legs from the ExoMars landing platform, in two sequential pairs.
![View of the Hindsight application: drive panel synchronization (A) ensures consistent arrangement of data sources. The playhead (B) is accessible across the drive panel, tying all visualizations to the same timestamp. The fault in question is highlighted across data in red via the fault overlay (C). -- [cs.HC]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Hindsight.png?resize=1200%2C723&ssl=1)
Posted inRobotics/Rovers/UAVs
Hindsight: Similarity-Based Analytics For Mars Rover Drive Retrieval
[cs.HC] While Mars rover operators plan drives across hazardous Martian terrain and diagnose unexpected faults, the necessary information is distributed across separate systems and often reconstructed through manual correlation and […]
![Top: Hexagonal segmented primary mirror designs with no central obscuration with different number of rings and varying segment sizes (flat-to-flat (m) 1-Hex: 2.64, 2-Hex: 1.45, 3-Hex: 1.19, 4-Hex: 0.85, 5-Hex: 0.66), all designs have an inscribed diameter of ∼6 m. Middle: Binary apodizer masks optimized for their respective aperture design. Bottom: Respective coronagraphic PSFs with an annular dark hole ranging from 3.4λ/D - 12λ/D, and a spatial average contrast floor of ∼4 × 10−11 inside the dark hole. -- [astro-ph.IM]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Segmentlevel.png?resize=1200%2C720&ssl=1)
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes
Segment-level Thermal Sensitivity Analysis For Exo-Earth Coronagraphy With Segmented Space Telescopes
[astro-ph.IM] Direct imaging and characterization of Earth-like planets require ultra-stable wavefronts to achieve a starlight suppression level of 100 parts per trillion (ppt) in the coronagraphic dark region of the […]
Posted inMars
IMPRESS: A Planetary Penetrator Network for Astrobiology, Prospecting, and Exploration of Mars
[Astrobiology (Journal)] The International Mars Prospecting Ride-Share System (IMPRESS) is presented here as a scalable, democratized, and low-cost mission architecture for distributed measurements on the martian surface and in the […]
Posted inExtremeophiles and Extreme Environments
Small-Scale Mineral And Microbial Heterogeneities Near A Fumarole At The Furnas Hydrothermal Zone On The Azores
[Life (Basel)]. The Azores are characterized by intense volcanic activity, creating unique environments such as fumarole sites, where geothermal gases and high temperatures drive distinct chemical and biological processes.