At the end of the last global ice age, the deep-frozen Earth reached a built-in limit of climate change and thawed into a slushy planet.
ice
Posted inCryobiology, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Microgravity, People Of Astrobiology, Space Stations, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Offworld Science: Studying The Main Component Of Our Water World In Microgravity
Astronaut Don Pettit: Science and Art, or Art and Science; related subjects where it really doesn’t matter which comes first. So I have access to a freezer kept at -95 […]
Posted inArctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Astrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Cryobiology, Enceladus, Europa, Icy Worlds, Status Report
Sealing Europa’s Vents By Vapor Deposition: An Order Of Magnitude Study
Fractures and vents in the ice crust of Europa, exposing the sub-surface ocean to the vacuum, might be responsible for the generation of planetary-scale water-vapor plumes.
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology, Cryobiology, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Habitable Zones, Mars, Microbiology & Virology, Press Release, Radiation
Potential Microbial Habitats In Martian Ice
Dusty ice exposed at the surface of Mars could provide the conditions necessary for the presence of photosynthetic life, according to a modelling study. The findings, published in Communications Earth […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Status Report
Infrared Spectra of Solid-State Ethanolamine: Laboratory Data in Support of JWST Observations
Ethanolamine (NH2CH2CH2OH, EA) has been identified in the gas phase of the ISM within molecular clouds. Although EA has not been directly observed in the molecular ice phase, a solid […]
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology, Europa, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Can Life Exist On An Icy Moon? The Europa Clipper Astrobiology Mission Aims To Find Out
Deep down, in an ocean beneath its ice shell, Jupiter’s moon Europa might be temperate and nutrient-rich, an ideal environment for some form of life — what scientists would call […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Status Report
Ice Origins of OCS and Chemistry of CS2-bearing Ice Mantles
Understanding the formation of carbonyl sulfide (OCS) in interstellar ices is key to constrain the sulfur chemistry in the interstellar medium (ISM), since it is the only ice S-bearing molecule […]
Posted inAstrogeology, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Mars, Press Release
Mars Is A World Shaped By Ice
ESA’s Mars Express has captured an astonishing array of landforms emerging from a thick winter blanket of frost as spring arrives in the south polar region of Mars. Some of […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Status Report
Proposed Importance Of HOCO Chemistry: Inefficient Formation Of CO2 From CO And OH Reactions On Ice Dust
With the advent of JWST ice observations, dedicated studies on the formation reactions of detected molecules are becoming increasingly important. One of the most interesting molecules in interstellar ice is […]
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.