Core segregation and atmosphere formation are two of the major processes that redistribute the volatile elements-hydrogen (H), carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and sulfur (S)-in and around rocky planets during their […]
Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Posted inAway Teams & Field Reports, Exploration Gear & Tech, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Away Team Report: Scientists Locate New Hydrothermal Vent Field Using State-of-the-Art Mapping Technology
An international research team has discovered a new high-temperature hydrothermal vent field that hosts several 10- to 15-meter-tall actively venting chimney clusters. Scientists located the vent field in the Pacific […]
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology, Cryobiology, Europa, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Missions & Hardware, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Investigating Europa’s Habitability with the Europa Clipper
Jupiter’s moon Europa is one the most promising candidates for hosting life today among ocean worlds in the solar system.
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
An Alien Haze, Created In A Lab, Enables Better Viewing Of Distant Water Worlds
Scientists have simulated conditions that allow hazy skies to form in water-rich exoplanets, a crucial step in determining how haziness muddles observations by ground and space telescopes.
Posted inBiogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Microbiology & Virology, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Protecting The Lost City Hydrothermal Vent System
Lost City is a unique marine hydrothermal vent field in Area Beyond National Jurisdiction on the front line of deep-sea features that policy-makers should seek to protect.
Posted inAstrochemistry, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Enceladus, Icy Worlds, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
The Behavior of Organics in Rapidly Frozen Brine With Relevance To Enceladus
NASA-supported scientists have provided new information about the behavior of organic molecules frozen in brine (e.g. salty water) under conditions similar to the surface of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. The results […]
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Characterizing Exoplanet Habitability
A habitable exoplanet is a world that can maintain stable liquid water on its surface. Techniques and approaches to characterizing such worlds are essential, as performing a census of Earth-like […]
Posted inAnalog Studies, Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Enceladus, Europa, Icy Worlds, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Field-Based Planetary Protection Operations for Melt Probes: Validation of Clean Access into the Blood Falls, Antarctica, Englacial Ecosystem
Subglacial environments on Earth offer important analogs to Ocean World targets in our solar system. These unique microbial ecosystems remain understudied due to the challenges of access through thick glacial […]
Posted inBiogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Icy Worlds, Impact events, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Mars, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Ice Exposing Impacts On Mars
These Mars global maps show the likely distribution of water ice buried within the upper 3 feet (1 meter) of the planet’s surface and represent the latest data from the […]
Posted inAstrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Press Release, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
From Seafloor To Space: New Bacterial Proteins Shine Light On Climate and Astrobiology
Gigatons of greenhouse gas are trapped under the seafloor, and that’s a good thing. Around the coasts of the continents, where slopes sink down into the sea, tiny cages of […]