On June 14, 2026, Mars Perseverance rover completed a Martian “marathon” by surpassing 26.2 miles (42.195 kilometers) of travel. The day before, NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter snapped this view of […]
Biosignatures
Posted inAnalog Studies, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Desert Worlds, Exploration Gear & Tech, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Mars, Microbiology & Virology, Sample Return
Lipid Biomarkers In Microbialites From A Maar Lake: An Astrobiological Study Of Biomarker Preservation under Mars Analog Conditions
Lipids constitute resistant biomarkers that have been proposed as pacemakers in the search for possible microbial life-forms in Mars’ past.
Posted inMars
Energy-Limited Radiolytic Habitability in the Shallow Martian Subsurface: Implications for ExoMars Rosalind Franklin and Tianwen-3
The surface of Mars is sterilized by ionizing radiation and pervasive oxidants; its shallow subsurface, shielded from ultraviolet light and the most reactive oxidation, may instead preserve habitable conditions.
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes
Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Arrives In Florida Ahead of Launch
NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope arrived June 21, at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, marking the start of final prelaunch preparations before liftoff later this summer.
Posted inIcy Worlds
Dynamic Controls On Subsurface Water Chemistry And Habitability On Icy Moons
Icy moons are natural satellites whose surfaces contain a substantial fraction of frozen materials, most notably water ice.
Posted inAstrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Mars, Meteorites & Asteroids, Origin & Evolution of Life, Panspermia, Sample Return, Status Report
Mars Organic Geochemistry-Are We Alone, and Where Did We Come From?
This review of martian organic geochemistry aims to contextualize recent findings of organic molecules in martian meteorites and from Mars missions within the broader study of origins of life on […]
Posted inAI - Data - Apps - Cybernetics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exploration Gear & Tech, Intelligence & Language, Press Release, SETI & Technosignatures, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
CETI, SETI, And Seismology Synergies: AI Model Hears Whale Calls In Seismic Data
Researchers repurposed an AI model designed for visual identification tasks to detect Bryde’s whale calls contained with seismic data collected in the South China Sea.
Posted inAway Teams & Field Reports, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Microbiology & Virology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Panspermia, Press Release, Sample Return, Space Life Science, Tricorders & Sensors
Planetary Genomics: Basecamp Research Launches The Trillion Gene Atlas
Editor’s note: If we aspire to mount expeditions to new worlds and then embrace the task of characterizing and quantifying whatever life forms we find, the ability to map and […]
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report
Earth As A Transiting Exoplanet
Context. Detecting and characterizing the atmosphere of rocky planets in the habitable zone is a key objective of exoplanet research in the era of JWST and the upcoming E-ELT. Spectroscopy […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report
Hubble Science in the 2030s White Paper: High-Contrast Optical and UV Spectroscopy with HST/STIS
The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) on the Hubble Space Telescope currently stands as the sole space-based astronomical facility providing visible-light coronagraphic imaging — and the only facility anywhere that […]