Technicians encapsulated NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft inside payload fairings on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024, in the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Posted inEuropa, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Jupiter, Missions & Hardware, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Closing The Europa Clipper Astrobiology Probe’s Payload Fairings
Technicians encapsulated NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft inside payload fairings on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024, in the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Posted inArctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exploration Gear & Tech, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Icy Worlds, Microbiology & Virology, Press Release, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Sample Return, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Ocean World Genomics: Molecular Monitoring For Marine Change And Threats Using eDNA
New DNA* technology promises to improve efforts to monitor marine life in the Southern Ocean, and detect the presence of non-native marine species close to Antarctica.
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Polarized Signatures Of The Earth Through Time: An Outlook For The Habitable Worlds Observatory
The search for life beyond the Solar System remains a primary goal of current and near-future missions, including NASA’s upcoming Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO).
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Fossils & Paleontology, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Sea Foam Contains Hemoglycin From Cosmic Dust
In-falling cosmic dust has left evidence of meteoritic polymer amide in stromatolites, both fossil and modern.
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gas Giants, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Estimating Atmospheric Wind Speeds From Gemini Planet Imager Adaptive Optic Telemetry
The Earth’s atmosphere is comprised of turbulent layers that result in speckled and blurry images from ground-based visible and infrared observations. Adaptive Optics (AO) systems are employed to measure the […]
![Vertical velocity and condensate cross-sections in (x,z) taken in the middle of the y-domain for the adiabatic simulation initialized on the moist adiabat. The top row shows the vertical velocity in [m/s] at different times throughout the CM1 simulation. The bottom row shows the condensate mixing ratio in [g/kg] at different times throughout the CM1 simulation. The vertical velocity cross-sections show clear convective inhibition in the lower atmosphere in all time steps. The corresponding condensate mixing ratio show a condensate formation nearly in the whole domain, but re-evaporation occurs at the boundary between the stable and convection regions. -- astro-ph.EP](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/3D-Modeling-of-Moist-Convective-Inhibition.png?resize=1200%2C718&ssl=1)
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gas Giants, Habitable Zones, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
3D Modeling of Moist Convective Inhibition in Hydrogen-Dominated Atmospheres
Many planets have hydrogen-dominated atmospheres, including sub-Neptune exoplanets, recently formed planets with primordial atmospheres, and the Solar System’s giant planets. Atmospheric convection behaves differently in hydrogen-rich atmospheres compared to higher […]
Posted inAstrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Ceres, Comets and Asteroids, Cryobiology, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Impact events, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
An Ancient And Impure Frozen Ocean On Ceres Implied By Its Ice-rich Crust
Ceres is a key object in understanding the evolution of small bodies and is the only dwarf planet to have been orbited by a spacecraft, NASA’s Dawn mission.
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exploration Gear & Tech, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Habitable Zones, Press Release, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Ocean World Update: Deep-sea Discovery Shines Light On Life In The Twilight Zone
The ocean’s twilight zone is deep, dark, and — according to new research — iron deficient. No sunlight reaches this region 200 to 1,000 meters below the sea surface, where […]
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Habitable Zones, Microbiology & Virology, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Joint Genome Institute (JGI)-Enabled Research Demonstrates The Existence Of New Methane Makers
Atmospheric levels of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, regulate Earth’s climate. Most methane is produced in environments without oxygen through a process called methanogenesis. Methanogenic microorganisms therefore play a critical […]