Tag Archives: NASA

Ridges on Mars Suggest Ancient Flowing Water

By Guest PostFebruary 2, 2013Scienceactive hydrology, ancient martian subsurface, applied physics lab, biosphere, brown university, craters on mars, curiosity rover, flowing water, fluid flow, fossils of cracks, fracture conduits, gale crater, habitable environment, hydrothermal fluid, hypothesis, jack mustard, johns hopkins university, landing site, lee saper, mars reconnaissance orbiter, martian surface, mineral hardened material, minerals, NASA, nili fossae, nilosyrtis, orientation data, planetary exploration, regional scale volcanism, ridges, subsurface hydrology, surrounding rocks

Ridges in impact craters on Mars appear to be fossils of cracks in the Martian surface, formed by minerals deposited by flowing water. Water flowing beneath the surface suggests life may once have been possible on Mars.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Networks of narrow ridges found in impact craters on Mars appear to be the fossilized remnants of underground cracks through which water once flowed, according to a new analysis by researchers from Brown University.

The study, in press in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, bolsters the idea that the subsurface environment on Mars once had an active hydrology and could be a good place to search for evidence of past life. The research was conducted by Lee Saper, a recent Brown graduate, with Jack Mustard, professor of geological sciences. (more…)

NASA to Launch Ocean Wind Monitor to Space Station

By Guest PostJanuary 31, 2013Environmentaircraft, cargo spacecraft, climate, climate models, columbus laboratory, direction, earth, earth winds, energy cycles, formation, high intensity storms, howard eisen, hurricane katrina, hurricane monitoring, international space station, iss rapidscat instrument, jet propulsion laboratory, measure, microwave radar sensor, mike suffredini, NASA, ocean atmosphere interaction, ocean surface, ocean wind data, pasadena, quikscat hardware, quikscat satellite, scatterometer, spacex dragon, tropical clouds, tropical systems, water, weather, weather forecasts, wind speed

PASADENA, Calif. – In a clever reuse of hardware originally built to test parts of NASA’s QuikScat satellite, the agency will launch the ISS-RapidScat instrument to the International Space Station in 2014 to measure ocean surface wind speed and direction.

The ISS-RapidScat instrument will help improve weather forecasts, including hurricane monitoring, and understanding of how ocean-atmosphere interactions influence Earth’s climate. (more…)

Synchrotron Infrared Unveils a Mysterious Microbial Community

By Guest PostJanuary 31, 2013Science16s rrna gene, acid mine runoff, advanced light source, alexander probst, als, ancient things, another amazing lifestyle, archaea, bacteria, barbs, berkeley lab, biochemistry, biofilm, black smokers, boiling hot springs, bsisb, carbon, christine moissl eichinger, common hydrocarbon, deep sea, deepwater horizon, dna microarray, extremophiles, fatty acids, fourier transform, functional groups, giovanni birarda, gulf of mexico, hami, hami protein, hoi-ying Holman, hooks, hydrogen atoms, infrared spectromicroscopy, inhospitable environments, jet propulsion laboratory, kasthuri venkateswaran, latin, long alkylic chains, lovers, membrane lipids, microbe samples, muehlbacher schwefelquelle, mysterious microbial community, NASA, oil plume, oil spill research, phylochip, protein strands, second genome, sippenauer moor, sm1 euryarchaeon, sm1 research team, southern germany, sr ftir, strings of pearls, sulfur springs, synchrotron ftir, synchrotron infrared, synchrotron radiation, syntrophic, todd desantis, university of regensburg

Berkeley Lab scientists join an international collaboration to understand how archaea and bacteria work together deep in a cold sulfur spring

In the fall of 2010, Hoi-Ying Holman of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) was approached by an international team researching a mysterious microbial community discovered deep in cold sulfur springs in southern Germany.

“They told me what they were doing and said, ‘We know what you contributed to the oil-spill research,’” recalls Holman, who heads the Chemical Ecology group in Berkeley Lab’s Earth Sciences Division. “They wondered if I could help them determine the biochemistry of their microbe samples.” (more…)

Thawing ‘Dry Ice’ Drives Groovy Action on Mars

By Guest PostJanuary 27, 2013Sciencearizona, candice hansen, carbon dioxide sublimation, crism, dark fans, driving factor, dry ice, dynamic process, dynamic world, earth, frozen carbon dioxide, ganna portyankina, groovy action, hirise camera, ice cap, mars, mars reconnaissance orbiter, mars south pole, mars today, martian sand dunes, martian years, NASA, north polar, planetary science institute, seasonal changes, switzerland, thawing, transient grooves, tucson, university, university of bern

PASADENA, Calif. — Researchers using NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter see seasonal changes on far-northern Martian sand dunes caused by warming of a winter blanket of frozen carbon dioxide.

Earth has no naturally frozen carbon dioxide, though pieces of manufactured carbon-dioxide ice, called “dry ice,” sublime directly from solid to gas on Earth, just as the vast blankets of dry ice do on Mars. A driving factor in the springtime changes where seasonal coverings of dry ice form on Mars is that thawing occurs at the underside of the ice sheet, where it is in contact with dark ground being warmed by early-spring sunshine through translucent ice. The trapped gas builds up pressure and breaks out in various ways. (more…)

Study Finds Severe Climate Jeopardizing Amazon Forest

By Guest PostJanuary 20, 2013Environment, Natureamazon basin, Amazon rainforest, amazonia, amazonian droughts, amazonian trees, atmospheric condition, california, carbon cycle, carbon dioxide, climate change, climate phenomenon, cloud, decaying wood, degradation, double whammy, drought, earth, ecosystem, effect, forest, forest canopy, forest recovery, global data, katrina, large scale, megadrought, NASA, quikscat spacecraft, radar data, rainfall measuring mission, rainforest, rainforest ecosystem, rita, sassan saatchi, satellite, satellite microwave, scatterometer radar, sea surface temperature, seawinds scatterometer, size of california, southern, steady decline, tropical, tropical atlantic, united kingdom, university of oxford, vegetation, water availability, western amazonia, wildfire, yadvinder malhi

PASADENA, Calif. – An area of the Amazon rainforest twice the size of California continues to suffer from the effects of a megadrought that began in 2005, finds a new NASA-led study. These results, together with observed recurrences of droughts every few years and associated damage to the forests in southern and western Amazonia in the past decade, suggest these rainforests may be showing the first signs of potential large-scale degradation due to climate change.

An international research team led by Sassan Saatchi of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., analyzed more than a decade of satellite microwave radar data collected between 2000 and 2009 over Amazonia. The observations included measurements of rainfall from NASA’s Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission and measurements of the moisture content and structure of the forest canopy (top layer) from the Seawinds scatterometer on NASA’s QuikScat spacecraft. (more…)

NASA Mars Rover Preparing to Drill into First Martian Rock

By Guest PostJanuary 16, 2013Scienceaileen yingst, bassinite, bradbury landing, calcium, california institute, camera, chemcam, chemical composition, concretions, curiosity, drill hardware, drilling, drilling target, drt, dust removal tool, Environment, evidence, flat rock, fractures, france, gale crater, gillespie lake rock, gypsum, hydrated calcium sulfate, hydrogen, imager, internet buzz, jet propulsion laboratory, john grotzinger, john klein, laser pulsing chemistry, level, mahli, mars, mars hand lens, mars rover curiosity, mars science laboratory, martian flower, martian material, mast camera, mastcam, microbial life, mineral, mission, nantes, NASA, nicolas mangold, pale veins, pasadena, red planet, richard cook, rock, samples, sedimentary rocks, shaler unit, shallow depression, sheepbed outcrop, stream flow, sulfur, Technology, terrain, tucson, veins, wet environment, wet history, yellowknife bay

PASADENA, Calif. — NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity is driving toward a flat rock with pale veins that may hold clues to a wet history on the Red Planet. If the rock meets rover engineers’ approval when Curiosity rolls up to it in coming days, it will become the first to be drilled for a sample during the Mars Science Laboratory mission.

The size of a car, Curiosity is inside Mars’ Gale Crater investigating whether the planet ever offered an environment favorable for microbial life. Curiosity landed in the crater five months ago to begin its two-year prime mission. (more…)

Life Possible on Extrasolar Moons

By Guest PostJanuary 14, 2013Scienceastrobiology, astrophysics potsdam, benign environment, climatic conditions, earth size, energy source, exomoons, exoplanets, extrasolar moons, extrasolar planets, Germany, greenhouse effect, habitable edge, habitable moons, habitable worlds, habitable zone, issue, jupiter, kepler space telescope, leibniz institute, life, liquid surface water, mars, NASA, orbiting planets, possible, rene heller, rory barnes, solar system, sources of light, stellar illumination, sterile gas giants, theoretical model, theoretical question, tidal heating, university of washington

In their search for habitable worlds, astronomers have started to consider exomoons, or those likely orbiting planets outside the solar system. In a new study, a pair of researchers has found that exomoons are just as likely to support life as exoplanets.

The research, conducted by Rory Barnes of the University of Washington and the NASA Astrobiology Institute and René Heller of Germany’s Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam, will appear in the January issue of Astrobiology. Heller is lead author of the paper. (more…)

NASA’s Galex Reveals the Largest-Known Spiral Galaxy

By Guest PostJanuary 11, 2013Scienceall sky survey, baerbel koribalski, barred spiral galaxy, biggest stellar system, brazil, california, catholic university, cathy horellou, Chile, claudia mendes, constellation pavo, de, dimitri gadotti, disk galaxy, duilia de mello, dwarf galaxy, eli dwek, european southern observatory, fernanda urrutia viscarra, fossil record, galactic encounter, galaxy evolution explorer, galex, goddard, gravitational interaction, greenbelt, ic 4970, institute of technology, largest, milky way galaxy, mission, NASA, ngc 6872, oliveira, onsala space observatory, pasadena, rafael eufrasio, sao paulo, space flight center, spiral arms, star formation, stellar population, Sweden, two micron, united states, university, very large telescope

PASADENA, Calif. — The spectacular barred spiral galaxy NGC 6872 has ranked among the biggest stellar systems for decades. Now a team of astronomers from the United States, Chile and Brazil has crowned it the largest known spiral, based on archival data from NASA’s Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) mission, which has since been loaned to the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

Measuring tip-to-tip across its two outsized spiral arms, NGC 6872 spans more than 522,000 light-years, making it more than five times the size of our Milky Way galaxy. (more…)