When astronauts returned from NASA’s final Apollo Moon mission in 1972, some of the samples they collected were sealed and carefully stored away in the hope that future researchers using […]
Earthshine observations offer a unique opportunity to study Earth as an exoplanet seen from the Moon. As the Sun-Earth-Moon geometry changes, Earth can be observed as a spatially unresolved exoplanet […]
Moons tidally interact with their host planets and stars. A close moon is quickly synchronised by the planet, or becomes captured in a higher spin-orbit resonance.
The search for habitable conditions beyond Earth is a top priority in astrophysics.
Synopsis: Standing ACO Release Date: July 30, 2025Appendix A Call for Proposals Release Date: July 30, 2025Appendix A Proposal Due: September 24, 2025
Scientists have developed a technology that may help humans survive on the Moon. In a study publishing July 16 in the Cell Press journal Joule, researchers extracted water from lunar […]
Cosmochemical studies have proposed that Earth accreted roughly 5-10% of its mass from carbonaceous (CC) material, with a large fraction delivered late via its final impactor, Theia (the Moon-forming impactor). […]
![Scheme of a geothermal valley between two snow-covered Hadean volcanoes. The fumaroles, thermal springs, apron pools, and terracettes are shown based on the reconstruction of the 3.48 Ga old Hadean geothermal system. On the right, various reactions of CO2 sequestration in a Hadean volcanic system are indicated, see Section 3.2.5 and Section 3.2.6. Inserts: (A) volcanic fumaroles, image from https://home.nps.gov/articles/000/fumaroles.htm, credit: USGS. (B) Schematic cross section of a pH-neutral hot spring, redrawn with modifications from [341,342]. (C) White Terraces of New Zealand as an example of volcanic terracettes (painted by Charles Bloomfield in 1884, two years before the terraces were buried under the waters of the lake Rotomahana following the eruption of Mt. Tarawera. Image credit: Museum of New Zeeland, https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/42254, accessed on 23 December 2024.). (D) Interconversion of nitriles, amides, and ammonium salts of organic acids, represented by their simplest species, in geothermal pools in the presence of inorganic catalysts; each of the nitrogen-containing compounds shown is considered as a substrate for further synthetic reactions. Formamide and other amides, as the least volatile components, may have sustained/buffered the whole system. -- Life via PubMed](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Origin-Of-The-RNA-World-In.png?resize=1200%2C720&ssl=1)
The ubiquitous, evolutionarily oldest RNAs and proteins exclusively use rather rare zinc as transition metal cofactor and potassium as alkali metal cofactor, which implies their abundance in the habitats of […]
Colonization of the Moon and other planets is an aspiration of NASA and may yield important benefits for our civilization.
Previous models of microbial survival on the moon do not directly consider the permanently shadowed regions (PSRs). These regions shield their interiors from many of the biocidal factors encountered in […]
