Out Of This World

A new report appearing in The Journal of Leukocyte Biology argues that human missions to Mars, as well as all other long-term space flights might be compromised by microbial hitchhikers, such as bacteria. That’s because long-term space travel packs a one-two punch to astronauts: first it appears to weaken their immune systems; and second, it [...]

Researchers are developing a new type of rocket propellant made of a frozen mixture of water and “nanoscale aluminum” powder that is more environmentally friendly than conventional propellants and could be manufactured on the moon, Mars and other water-bearing bodies.
The aluminum-ice, or ALICE, propellant might be used to launch rockets into orbit and for long-distance [...]

An innovative technique called L.I.F.E. imaging used successfully to detect bacteria in frozen Antarctic lakes could have exciting implications for demonstrating signs of life in the polar regions of Mars, according to an article published in the current issue of Astrobiology, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.. The article is available free [...]

Flying high over the Gulf of Mexico, researchers from NASA and Case Western Reserve University found a key to unlocking oxygen from the surface of the moon.
The celestial body has no atmosphere like Earth’s, holding the precious element just a breath away. But, oxygen to breathe, grow food, create water and burn rocket fuel — [...]

This 360-degree panoramic image, covering the entire celestial sphere, reveals the cosmic landscape that surrounds our tiny blue planet. This gorgeous starscape serves as the first of three extremely high-resolution images featured in the GigaGalaxy Zoom project, launched by ESO within the framework of the International Year of Astronomy 2009 (IYA2009). GigaGalaxy Zoom features a [...]

Mars may not be as dormant as scientists once thought. The 2004 discovery of methane means that either there is life on Mars, or that volcanic activity continues to generate heat below the martian surface. ESA plans to find out which it is. Either outcome is big news for a planet once thought to be [...]

The mysterious 1908 Tunguska explosion that leveled 830 square miles of Siberian forest was almost certainly caused by a comet entering the Earth’s atmosphere, says new Cornell University research. The conclusion is supported by an unlikely source: the exhaust plume from the NASA space shuttle launched a century later.
The research, accepted for publication (June 24, [...]

A lunar eclipse helped a group of international scientists take a snapshot of earth’s chemical fingerprint, which could help to identify planets most similar to earth where life may be thriving.
University of Central Florida Associate Professor Eduardo Martin was a member of the team that made the observation, which is published in the June 11 [...]

Thanks to the ability of astronomers to detect the presence of extrasolar planets orbiting distant stars, scientists today are able to examine hundreds of solar systems. Now researchers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass. have created an “astro-comb” to help astronomers detect lighter planets, more like Earth, around distant stars. The Harvard [...]

Space shuttles and rockets are not the only things being launched at Kennedy Space Center. Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex recently launched a new Web site with the help of MarketNet, a Dallas-based interactive agency!
Kennedy Space Center, NASA’s launch headquarters, is the only place on Earth where you can tour launch areas, meet a veteran [...]

Questions such as “How to search for weird alien life?” and “Would Earth microbes survive if delivered to the surface of Mars?” are addressed in articles that are part of the collection of reports presented in the current issue of Astrobiology, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. available free online.
David Smith, Andrew [...]

A Duke University professor and his graduate student have discovered a universal principle that unites the curious interplay of light and shadow on the surface of your morning coffee with the way gravity magnifies and distorts light from distant galaxies.
They think scientists will be able to use violations of this principle to map unseen clumps [...]

Where does space begin? Scientists at the University of Calgary have created a new instrument that is able to track the transition between the relatively gentle winds of Earth’s atmosphere and the more violent flows of charged particles in space — flows that can reach speeds well over 1000 km/hr. And they have accomplished this [...]

This monthly magazine features exclusive reports of innovations developed by NASA and its industry partners/contractors that can be applied to develop new/improved products and solve engineering or manufacturing problems.
Authored by the engineers or scientists who did the work, the briefs span a wide array of fields, including electronics, physical sciences, materials, computer software, mechanics, machinery/automation, [...]

A scientist at Rochester Institute of Technology has expanded the Hubble Space Telescope’s capability without the need for new instruments or billions of dollars.
Dan Batcheldor and his team improved the calibration of Hubble’s Near-Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer to enable high-precision polarimetry. Scientists like Batcheldor use this observational technique to read scattered light when investigating [...]

Planetary geologists at Brown University have found a gully fan system on Mars that formed about 1.25 million years ago. The fan offers compelling evidence that it was formed by melt water that originated in nearby snow and ice deposits and may stand as the most recent period when water flowed on the planet.
Gullies are [...]

Cardiff University researchers who are part of a British-German team searching the depths of space to study gravitational waves, may have stumbled on one of the most important discoveries in physics according to an American physicist
Cardiff University researchers who are part of a British-German team searching the depths of space to study gravitational waves, may [...]

A team of NASA-funded scientists, including two from UC Santa Barbara, have discovered cosmic radio noise that they find completely unexpected and exciting.
The finding came from data collected from a large helium-filled NASA balloon, big enough to fit a football field inside. The scientists discovered cosmic radio noise that is blasting six times louder than [...]

In 1609, exactly four centuries ago, Galileo revolutionised humankind’s understanding of our position in the Universe when he used a telescope for the first time to study the heavens, which saw him sketching radical new views of the moon and discovering the satellites orbiting Jupiter.
In synch with the International Year of Astronomy (IYA), which marks [...]

At first, figuring out how pebble-sized rocks organize themselves in evenly spaced patterns in sand seemed simple and even intuitive. But once Andrew Leier, an assistant geoscience professor at the U of C, started observing, he discovered that the most commonly held notions did not apply.
And even more surprising, was that his findings revealed answers [...]