Category Archives: Space Exploration

Less than a year after nailing its first interplanetary mission with a flawless Mars orbit insertion, the United Arab Emirates has selected its next destination: the asteroid belt.

In October, the UAE announced that it was aiming to launch a new spacecraft in 2028. Like the Hope Mars orbiter, the as-yet-unnamed asteroid mission is designed to meet specific science goals, but it is also being carefully engineered to shape the nation's future as the UAE looks to diversify its traditionally oil-focused economy. That gives the UAE's missions a different flavor than what NASA fans are used to seeing.

"We do this in a completely different mechanism," Sarah Al Amiri, the chair of the UAE Space Agency, told Space.com. "We don't have a typical process of proposals and then narrowing it down and so on. It's an interesting way of working, but I enjoy it thoroughly because you have everyone sitting at the same table scientists, engineers, mission designers discussing all these different potential programs."

Related: The greatest asteroid missions of all time!

The new mission will draw heavily on the team's experience with the Hope mission, which the UAE designed to arrive in orbit by the nation's 50th anniversary, which occurred this month. Hope, also known as the Emirates Mars Mission, was designed to push the nation's technical skills and ambitions while also finding a way to give the world's scientists a new batch of data to consider.

But even while Hope was still on Earth, before its launch in July 2020, UAE space leaders had begun to consider in the background what they could do next, Al Amiri said, considering multiple potential missions. (Al Amiri declined to provide any details about other missions the team considered in case the UAE revives them in the future.)

Dreaming up a new mission, the UAE wanted to start with what it had already built with Hope, but this time, incorporating the nation's private companies as well. "We used the Emirates Mars Mission to build capabilities and capacity in the country, and then we're using this mission to build capabilities and capacity in industry directly," Al Amiri said.

But carrying over from Hope is a key partnership with the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado Boulder, which signed onto the Mars mission in 2014. "Seven years ago, we had no idea what it would be like to work with the Emiratis," Pete Withnell, program manager for Hope at LASP, told Space.com. "It was challenging from a technical perspective, but very rewarding on a personal one, and we have lifelong friendships coming out of this."

Also familiar will be the spacecraft itself: Although the new asteroid probe will go to a different destination to do a different type of science than Hope, it will build directly on its predecessor's template for spacecraft design and construction.

That said, the new mission will need better heat protection to survive a swing past Venus on its way out to the asteroid belt, and it will need stronger power production to run on the reduced sunlight available farther from the sun.

"The soft spot was this mission, where it used enough of the Emirates Mars Mission to reduce risk, because it's a much harder mission to go to the asteroid belt," Al Amiri said. "It's enough change and enough challenge to be able to trigger it forward."

In embarking on another mission, the UAE also wanted to mimic the science approach it took for Hope: to focus on a destination of high interest but to chase a data set that would tell scientists something new about the solar system. For Hope, that meant studying the Martian climate and atmosphere using a unique orbit that allows the spacecraft to see much of the planet at once. For the new mission, it means developing a complex itinerary of asteroid visits culminating with a landing attempt.

But which asteroids precisely, it's too early to say. So far, the team isn't focused on specific space rocks; instead, it is developing a mission sketch of what might be feasible given the spacecraft and some basic science goals.

"Because we're basing this off of a spacecraft design that we know with minor tweaks, that was part of our decision-making process actually how much can this spacecraft handle?" Al Amiri said.

"We knew sort of the size of the asteroids that we needed to target and the types of maneuvering that the spacecraft needs to go through," she added. "Based on that we did an initial sort of orbit design of the spacecraft to identify where its route's going to be, around when do we launch."

Only now is the team beginning to evaluate precisely which asteroids the spacecraft can and should visit.

"I think that's the excitement of all this it's sort of like choosing destination unknown," Heather Reed, who has also been a part of both missions from the LASP side, told Space.com. "With any luck, we have a varied set of things that we're looking at, so hopefully all of them are different."

The new mission joins a substantial list of spacecraft invested in understanding the secrets of asteroids. NASA is waiting for samples from a near-Earth asteroid called Bennu to be delivered in 2023. The agency also just launched the first-ever mission to the Trojan asteroids that orbit the sun at the same distance as Jupiter and is preparing for next year's launch of a mission designed to unpack the secrets of an asteroid that appears to be mostly metal.

Meanwhile, last year, Japan celebrated a delivery of samples drawn from an asteroid called Ryugu, which it just shared with NASA. Japan and China are each planning to launch an asteroid mission later in the decade; Europe is building a spacecraft that will visit an asteroid after NASA slams its own spacecraft into the space rock next fall.

But despite the interest in the asteroid belt and even without a firm sense of the instruments the spacecraft will carry, there's little chance that the UAE can go there and learn nothing new, since it's "a largely unexplored region of space," Withnell said.

"The asteroid belt provides a good snapshot in the past, our understanding of the evolution of our solar system, and a snapshot into the future into the role they will play in space exploration," Al Amiri said.

"There is so much new to discover," Reed said. "All we have to do is get there, right?"

That, of course, is the challenge the team will tackle over the next five years as the project works toward a 2028 launch date.

"The Emiratis like to do things big and they don't like particularly to do them in a safe way. They like to take risks," Withnell said. "Those are two things that speak very well to engineers and scientists."

Email Meghan Bartels at mbartels@space.com or follow her on Twitter @meghanbartels. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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UAE looks to build on Mars mission success with tour of the asteroid belt - Space.com

The last private spaceflight of the year blasted off and safely returned to earth last weekend.

According to AP Aerospace Writer Marcia Dunn, the passengers included Laura Shepard Churchley, the eldest daughter of astronaut Alan Shepard, who famously hit golf shots on the surface of the moon as a member of the Apollo 14 moonshot. Good Morning America co-host and former all-star defensive end for the New York Giants, Michael Strahan, was also along for the ride, which turned out to be about 50 miles shorter than Mr. Shepards 1961, Mercury flight.

The Saturday launch, which was reportedly delayed for two days by windy conditions, also included space exploration company, Voyager Space, chairman and CEO Dylan Taylor, financier Lane Bess and his son Cameron, as well as investor Evan Dick.

According to Dunn, the flight lasted about 10 minutes and sent the occupants skyward for 66 miles, into what NASA refers to as the mesosphere layer of the earths atmosphere.

The capsule traveled just above the imaginary line which marks the beginning of space 62 miles above sea level, where the passengers were able to experience several moments of weightlessness before the capsule parachuted them back to earth.

I thought about Daddy coming down and thought, gosh he didnt even get to enjoy any of what Im getting to enjoy, Shepard Churchley said after the flight. He was working. He had to do it himself. I went up for the ride!

Blue Origin, the company Shepard Churchley and Strahan flew with Saturday, is owned by Amazon tycoon Jeff Bezos, who went on the companys first launch in July.

In October, actor William Shatner, perhaps better known as Captain James Kirk from the original Star Trek TV series, rode along on Blue Origins second launch.

Billionaire Richard Branson pioneered space tourism earlier in July by blasting off with his own company, Virgin Galactic.

While regular launches of paying customers and celebrity guests have only been available for a few months, Space X, founded by Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk has been around since 2002. The company routinely launches NASA satellites into space.

They were the first private company to deliver cargo to the International Space Station and have made two successful flights bringing astronauts to ISS in May and Nov. 2020.

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First year of space tourism comes to a close with astronaut's daughter, all-star football player among passengers - Northeast Valley News

You are invited to a journey of Indias space exploration, through a talk by the team of Space Handshakes, an initiative involving casual conversations about space and space-related matters. The guest at the latest event is Srinivas Laxman, a journalist and writer of several books on space and ISRO. Speaking to Laxman will be Ruchira Sawant, co-founder of Space Handshake. Hosted by Indic Inspirations, the event seeks to bring space, legends and experience to the public. The talk will be followed by a Q&A session. At Indic Inspirations Experience Centre, Munshi Chambers, Near Passport Office, Koregaon Park Annex, Ghorpadi Mundhwa Road, on December 18, 11 am-1 pm. Contact: 89990 93398.

Sakharam Binder, a play by Vijay Tendulkar, was written in Marathi and first performed in 1972. The protagonist thinks he has the system by the tail and can disregard the culture and societal values as long as he is truthful. The system is the de facto enslavement of women in post-colonial India. The play Laxmi ka Sakharam, based on Tendulkars classic, takes a look at Sakharams views about the narrow-minded attitude of the world around him, while he himself is a borderline misogynist. At Raah: Literacy and Cultural Centre on December 19, 6 pm. Before the play, there will be a free Stage Acting Primer from 4 pm to 6 pm. Donor passes: Rs 500. Register: https://www.townscript.com/e/sankharam-unleashed-344123.

Phoenix Marketcity has organised a community-driven Christmas Toy Donation Drive that will span the city and reach out to corporates, schools, gated communities, banks and spaces apart from the mall. They are calling out to collect old toys that their children have outgrown and donate it to this cause. Donation baskets for toy collection have been placed in more than 20 societies in and around Pune, Kotak Mahindra bank branches and at the mall. The drive that began on December 17, will continue till the end of the month.

Swatantra Theatres 8th Annual Theatre Festival, Swatantra Rang, features classics such as Asghar Wajahats Jis Lahore Nai Dekhya and Ajay Shuklas story of red tape and corruption Taj Mahal Ka Tender on December 18 (6 pm and 8:45 pm, respectively).

On December 19, the stage will be set for Sarveshwar Dayal Saxenas political satire Bakri and Alakhnandans Ujbak Raja Teen Dacoit, based on Hans Christian Andersons The Emperors New Clothes (6 pm and 8:45 pm, respectively). At Open Air Theatre, Swatantra Theatre (Inside Jain Vidyalaya next to BMCC, Deccan Area). Entry: Donor passes will be available one hour before the show; advance booking at Bookmyshow.

A 400-year-old story molded in copper, Tambat Ali or Coppersmiths Lane, is a part of Punes living heritage. A walk by the Western Routes on December 18 aims to get people to look closer at how the Tambats preserve this age-old and dying craft despite the challenges in their way. Timings: 10am-12 pm. Entry: Rs 350. Contact: 9405591758.

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Pune: This weekend, travel to space and take a tour of Tambat Ali - The Indian Express

Looking Back and Looking Forward for SETI

From the seminal Drake Equation to new strategies for exploring the cosmos for extraterrestrial intelligence, SETI scientists are dedicated to the search.

To speed the cosmic trawl, researchers are increasingly leaning on a concept first articulated in of all places economics. Due to the current limits of technology, the modern SETI enterprise is mainly a search for potential civilizations thatwantto be found. Extraterrestrial intelligences would, by definition, be rational agents, and might intentionally beam out signals indicating their presence, shouting We are here! into the void. If so, astronomers could turn our common intelligence to their advantage, working out how to cooperate even without communicating. All they need to do is think like aliens.

The COSMIC program hardware has been installed at the VLA and the data is beginning to flow, allowing observational data to be analyzed in parallel for potential extraterrestrial signatures.

Last year, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) and the SETI Institute agreed to cooperate in the development and installation of the COSMIC system at VLA. COSMIC, funded by the SETI Institute, analyzes data from VLA to identify possible transmissions by extraterrestrial technology.

Living Worlds, an award-winning original planetarium show developed at the Cal Academy, begins daily showings at the Morrison Planetarium. Narrated by Daveed Diggs, the program looks at Earth and beyond to explore how to discover life elsewhere in the galaxy.

Living Worldsfollows the odyssey of life on our planet and the exploration of its possible alien abodes beyond Earth, said Dr. Nathalie A. Cabrol, astrobiologist and the Director of the Carl Sagan Center for Research at the SETI Institute. It brings together attention to details and scientific rigor while always keeping it as a priority to make it visually stunning.Living Worldsis a journey through time and space, where life is both the observer and the planetary experiment now on a quest to figure out its own origin.

Using astronaut health and rodent data, a Frontier Development Lab (FDL) team has created a method that allows more accurate prediction of genes affected by radiation, which can lead to cancer or immunity diseases.

"The FDL Astronaut Health team achieved some truly incredible results in this year's challenge - both in their novel combination of human and mice data and the identification of several causal genes responsible for cancer," saidPatrick Foley, Intel lead technical mentor. "This work is a testament to what can happen when public and private institutions work together and how federated learning can be used to unlock discoveries that would otherwise remain buried. We are confident that this research will go on to drive better health outcomes for astronauts and enrich the lives of every person on Earth."

Jill Tarter is interviewed on the astronomy podcast Astrophiz.

Dr Jill Tarter is fantastic! Listen to this amazing interview with a scientist/astronomer who has always been at the forefront of SETI research.

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has found its first planet that orbits two stars. Previous circumbinary planet detections required at least three transits of the stars to confirm; a new technique with TESS only requires two transits.

The TESS discovery involves anew techniquedeveloped in part by scientists from the Planetary Science Institute, a nonprofit organization founded in 1972, based in Tucson, Arizona, and dedicated to solar system exploration.Veselin B. Kostovof the SETI Institute a research-based nonprofit, based in Mountain View, California led the new study.

The tally of exoplanets discovered using the Kepler spacecraft has increased by 301, thanks to a new AI algorithm called ExoMiner. The SETI Institute partnered with several other organizations, including NASA, to develop the algorithm and scan the Kepler data on candidate potential planets.

As [Hamed] Valizadeganexplained:When ExoMiner says something is a planet, you can be sure its a planet. ExoMiner is highly accurate and in some ways more reliable than both existing machine classifiers and the human experts its meant to emulate because of the biases that come with human labeling. Now that weve trained ExoMiner using Kepler data, with a little fine-tuning, we can transfer that learning to other missions, including TESS, which were currently working on. Theres room to grow.

Unistellars eVscope telescope was named as a CES (Consumer Electronics Show) Innovation Award Honoree by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), and is in the running for their Best of Innovation award, to be issued in January 2022.

TheUnistellareVscope 2 is the worlds most powerful digital telescope for consumers. It enables anyone to discover the universe and contribute to meaningful space science. Uncompromised optics and cutting-edge technology let users experience deep space faster, easier and clearer than ever.

The recent purposeful explosion of a satellite not only endangered the International Space Station and its astronauts, but the resulting debris field can also impede use of ground-based telescopes.

"Space debris is a key concern that could threaten space exploration plans. You should notice that this incident generated 1,500 trackable orbital debris, which is quite different from tracked orbital debris," says Franck Marchis, Chief Scientific Officer at Unistellar and Senior Planetary Astronomer at SETI Institute, a not-for-profit research organization studying the origin of life in space.

"The daunting task of monitoring that amount of new debris, along with the debris that already exists in space, will be unmanageable with traditional big telescope infrastructures. The growing network of small, smart digital telescopes is key to ensuring space exploration is accessible and safe," Marchis says.

With all of the exoplanets that have been discovered, it is possible that there is a twin of the Earth a Planet B? What would life on such a planet be like?

There really is no Planet B for us, said Jill Tarter, astronomer and former director of the Center for SETI Research who currently holds the Chair Emeritus for SETI Research. Unless we figure out a way to solve all of the global issues that we face here and mitigate those challenges, wherever we go well create the same problems that weve done here on this planet. Theres no escape hatch.

With the possibility that extraterrestrial life may be found in our lifetimes, exaggerated claims of the media, which are then disproved, can diminish trust in the science behind the story. NASA scientist James Green has a new proposal for reporting on SETI progress.

Imagine, for example, that NASAs Europa Clipper probewhich is due to launch in 2024 ona mission looking for signs of life on Jupiters moon Europadetects possible fleeting evidence of organic molecules under that worlds icy shell. How do you announce that? Seth Shostak, an astronomer with the California-based SETI Institute, told The Daily Beast. (SETI stands for the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.)

Big Picture Science

Join hosts Seth Shostak and Molly Bentley each week as they explore emerging science and technology research.

Dimming the SunDoes geoengineering offer a Plan B if nations at the U.N. climate meeting can't reduce carbon emissions? The Glasgow meetinghas been called the last best chance to take measures to slow down global heating. But we're nowhere near to achieving the emission reductions necessary to stave off a hothouse planet.We consider both the promise and the perils of geoengineering, and ask who decides about experimenting with Earths climate.

With guests Elizabeth Kolbert, David Keith, Kim Cobb

Your Inner TreeDeclining biodiversity is a problem as fraught as climate change.Loss of habitat, monoculture crops, and the damming of waterways all lead to massive species extinction. They tear at lifes delicate web, and threaten a balance established by four billion years of evolution.Can we reassess our relationship to Nature? We consider logging efforts that make elephants part of the work force, and how to leverage the cooperative behavior of trees.Becoming Natures ally, rather than its enemy.

With guests Suzanne Simard, Carl Safina, Jacob Shell

Suitable for Life?Life nearby? Weve not yet found any on our favorite planet, Mars. But even if Mars is sterile, could we ever change that by terraforming it? Or seeding it with life from Earth?The Red Planet is not the only game in town: A new NASA mission to a Jovian moon may give clues to biology on a world where, unlike Mars, liquid water still exists.Also, the promise of the James Webb Space Telescope and why the solar systems largest active volcano offers clues to the habitability of other worlds.

With guests Kate Craft, Julie Rathbun, Courtney Dressing, Chris McKay

Skeptic Check: Shroom with a ViewMagic mushrooms or psilocybin - may be associated with tripping hippies and Woodstock, but they are now being studied as new treatments for depression and neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimers. Is this Age of Aquarius medicine or something that could really work? Plus, the centuries-long use of psychedelics by indigenous peoples, and a discovery in Californias Pinwheel Cave offers new clues about the relationship between hallucinogens and cave art.

With guests Merlin Sheldrake, Albert Garcia-Romeu, David Wayne Robinson, Sandra Hernandez

Talk the WalkBirds and bees do it and so do fish. In a discovery that highlights the adaptive benefits of walking, scientists have discovered fish that can walk on land. Not fin-flap their bodies, mind you, but ambulate like reptiles.And speaking of which, new research shows that T Rex, the biggest reptileof them all, wasnt a sprinter, but could be an efficient hunter by outwalking its prey.Find out the advantage of legging it, and how human bipedalism stacks up. Not only is walking good for our bodies and brains, but not walking can change your personality and adversely affect your health.

With guests Hans Larsson, Shane OMara, Brooke Flammang

More Big Picture Science episodes can be found at http://bigpicturescience.org/episodes.

SETI Live

SETI Institute hosts interview cutting-edge scientists each week on social media. Recent SETI Live episodes include:

Breakthrough Listen Candidate 1: Alien Technology or not?In a new paper published last researchers concluded that BLC1 was an artifact of Earth-based interference from human technologies. Dr. Sofia Sheikh took it a few steps further to see if it were possible to establish a process for what to do if a signal of interest is found. The result is a technosignature verification framework that can be used for future candidate signals. Join Franck Marchis and Sofia Sheikh in a discussion of this work.

How to Better Visualize Complex Systems?Learning science is about understanding complex systems and interactions among their entities. Telescopes are for observing objects that are far away, and microscopes are for exploring the tiniest objects. But what tools do we have for visualizing general patterns, processes, or relationships that can be defined in terms of compact mathematical models? Visualizing the unseeable can be a powerful teaching tool.

SETI Institute affiliate Dr. Mojgan Haganikar has written a book, Visualizing Dynamic Systems, that categorizes the visualization skills needed for various types of scientific problems. With the emergence of new technologies, we have more powerful tools to visualize invisible concepts, complex systems, and large datasets by revealing patterns and inter-relations in new ways. Join the SETI Institutes Pamela Harman as she explores what is possible with Haganikar.

Strange Radio Waves from the Galactic CenterA team of radio astronomers detected unusual signals from deep in the heart of the Milky Way using CSIROs ASKAP radio telescope. The radio waves fit no currently understood pattern of variable radio source and could suggest a new class of stellar object. What could this be? Pulsar, huge solar flare, or something else?

We invited the lead author of the paper, published in October in Astrophysical Journal, Ziteng Wang and his Ph.D. supervisor Professor Tara Murphy, both from the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Sydney, to discuss with SETI Institute Senior astronomer Franck Marchis their discovery and its extraordinary behavior.

Takween: Geometry and Creation ( A SETI AIR Conversation)A Conversation with SETI Artist in Residence Zeinab Alhashemi

Could the codes of creation be embedded in geometry? Dubai-based SETI Artist in Residence Zeinab Alhashemi is exploring how the patterns that exist in nature connect to art, mathematics, and spirituality. Zeinab sees geometry as a universal language that brings together culture and science. She has become known for her large-scale, contemporary art installations that deconstruct the viewers understanding of their surroundings and introduce an alternative point of view. Her most recent work is the kinetic sculpture Takween, which is currently being exhibited at the Dubai 2020 expo. Based on the ancient motif of the Viscia Pisces, it symbolizes creation, time, and the celestial spheres.

A New Way to Detect Planets with Two Stars27 days, 2 transits, 3 eclipses, and the 1st circumbinary planet detected from a single sector of TESS data!

Researchers announced they detected a planet in a 200-day orbit around two stars from observations of just one TESS sector over an observation period of 27 days. Previous detections of circumbinary planets required observing three transits which was not possible in the short observation window. Franck Marchis will discuss the discovery with SETI Institute scientist and lead author on the discovery's paper, Veselin Kostov.

Recent Signals of Interest for SETIYou've read it in many headlines, researchers detect mysterious signal from outer space, but what does that mean? And how do scientists determine if a signal is from ET or natural phenomenon? Join this Giving Tuesday SETI Live with Dr. Wael Farah, a researcher at the SETI Institute's Allen Telescope Array, to learn all about recent signals of interest and how the scientific community studies them. Beth Johnson will host.

Videos of all past Facebook Live events can be found on our Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/SETIInstitute/, or on our YouTube channel, https://www.youtube.com/SETIInstitute.

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SETI Institute in the News Media Roundup. November 2021 - SETI Institute

KILGORE The Kilgore Public Library is blasting off into the holiday season with a NASA My Library ornament contest. A special Christmas tree at the library also has been decorated with hand-painted and personally designed space-themed ornaments.

The contest was held to celebrate the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, which is planned to follow the Hubble Space Telescope as NASAs flagship astrophysics mission and is scheduled to be launched Wednesday, according to NASA.

Library patrons and community members designed and decorated a number of ornaments, which can be seen hanging on the space-themed tree at the library. Participants voted for their favorite ornament this past week.

Winners are:

Patron Choice Award: Anelise Green

Planet, Stars, Galaxies Winner: Milo Moehring

James Webb Space Telescope Winner: Aubrey LaDuke

Rockets Winner: Harrison Anderson

Library Director Stacey Cole said the tree and ornaments are part of the librarys year-long celebration of NASA and space exploration.

Earlier this year, the Kilgore library was selected to be part of NASA My Library, an education initiative created to increase and enhance STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) learning opportunities, including in geographic areas and populations underrepresented in STEAM education.

Kilgore Public Library is one of just 60 libraries nationwide to be part of this initiative, and were thrilled to have been selected, said Kaitlin Waldecker, library programming coordinator. We look forward to introducing STEAM concepts to our younger patrons and to exploring the universe together with people of all ages during our public programs in 2021 and 2022.

As a NASA My Library partner, the Kilgore Public Library will hold public programs that explore science and technology.

As part of this initiative, Kilgore Public Library also will receive training and resources to implement NASA events and programming, access to a university subject matter expert to support patron engagement and $1,600 for programming expenses.

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Blasting off into the holidays: Kilgore library's tree showcases space theme - Longview News-Journal

RJ Pierce, Tech Times 15 December 2021, 08:12 pm

(Photo : Artezio from Unsplash) Could China Beat NASA in Terms of Mars Exploration? Space Race Report Says it's 20 Years Ahead of the US (Photo : by NASA via Getty Images) JEZERO CRATER, MARS - FEBRUARY 18: In this handout image provided by NASA, the first high-resolution, color image to be sent back by the Hazard Cameras (Hazcams) on the underside of NASAs Perseverance Mars rover after its landing in the area known as Jezero crater on February 18, 2021 on the planet Mars. A key objective for Perseverance's mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet's geology and past climate, paving the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith. (Photo : Getty Images )

A Mars spacecraft might have just spotted water ice hidden a few feet under the Red Planet's version of the Grand Canyon.

(Photo : Artezio from Unsplash)Could China Beat NASA in Terms of Mars Exploration? Space Race Report Says it's 20 Years Ahead of the US

According to Space.com, the discovery was made by the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) spacecraft, which is part of a joint mission by the European Space Agency (ESA) and Roscosmos called ExoMars.

The water ice was detected by virtue of the data collected by the TGO. Using a machine called a Fine Resolution Epithermal Neutron Detector (FREND), the spacecraft was able to detect high levels of hydrogen at Candor Chaos, a site located close to the Martian Grand Canyon called Valles Marineris.

To brush up on your elementary school science, hydrogen is a key component of water.

In an official statement, the ESA said that the central part of Valles Marineris is packed with "far more water than expected." They even compared it to Earth's own regions covered in permafrost. There, water ice remains under the land for a long time because of the constant cold.

The TGO Mars spacecraft was able to make the discovery from almost 250 miles above the planet's surface. But it also allows scientists to "look down" to as much as 3 feet below the dusty surface of Mars, where they hope to find water-rich regions that could go undetected by other instruments.

With this discovery, the ESA ExoMars mission hopes to better understand what happened to the planet's water in the distant past. Furthermore, it will also help them improve their techniques for finding organic materials, as well as signs of life on Mars-or any other potentially habitable exoplanet.

For now, the ExoMars mission and the TGO spacecraft will continue to study the Red Planet and find out once and for all if life ever existed there, according to the ESA.

(Photo : by NASA via Getty Images)JEZERO CRATER, MARS - FEBRUARY 18: In this handout image provided by NASA, the first high-resolution, color image to be sent back by the Hazard Cameras (Hazcams) on the underside of NASAs Perseverance Mars rover after its landing in the area known as Jezero crater on February 18, 2021 on the planet Mars. A key objective for Perseverance's mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet's geology and past climate, paving the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith.

Water is a critical part of life as it is known on Earth. Even in our world's harshest environments, the presence of microscopic water molecules have almost always been linked to the existence of living organisms.

Read Also: NASA Mars Rover's Rock Sample Sports 'Something No One Has Ever Seen'

It is not the first one to do so, but it further corroborates the fact that liquid water-or water ice, in this case-does flow on Mars, albeit very sparingly.

This massive confirmation was made way back in 2015 by NASA, using data from their Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) spacecraft. The probe used an instrument called an imaging spectrometer to detect signatures of so-called "hydrated minerals" on specific slopes on the planet.

On these slopes, the liquid water flows intermittently at temperatures over -10 degrees Fahrenheit, but eventually disappears when it gets colder than that.

Given that water is an essential sign of potential life, numerous theories are floating around suggesting that Mars might have been a livelier world in the distant past. But where did all the water go in the first place?

(Photo : Getty Images )

There are two places where it could have gone, as per National Geographic. One, around 30 to 99 percent of all the planet's water got trapped into minerals in its crust. Two, the rest of it just went to space. This is the conclusion of a study published last March 17th in the journal Science, which was presented at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference.

For now, the TGO spacecraft and the whole ExoMars mission will continue prodding.

Related Article: Giant Hole In Mars Atmosphere Responsible For Loss Of Water On Red Planet

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by RJ Pierce

2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.

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Mars Spacecraft Spots WATER ICE Under The Red Planet's 'Grand Canyon' - Tech Times

In a recent profile penned inVanity Fair,Andy Jassy comes off smelling like a rose. Without the thorns.

According to author Nick Bolton, Amazon's newly crowned CEO is the "anti-Bezos" -- an unassuming, inoffensive nice guy who really knows how to run a business. In fact, he's been at the helm of AWS (Amazon Web Services) for a while, growing the service into an operationworth hundreds of billions of dollars -- all while somehow somehow avoiding the internecine warfare that so often plagues those of his rank.

Jessy isn't perfect, Bolton explains. He's boring, too detail-oriented, and perhaps most egregious, too much of an Amazonian.

It's true that Bezos could no longer be the face of his own company. Problems withworking conditionsand wages have stained the company's reputation. Just recently, in fact, the company suffered a public lashing because ithid internal Covid-19 casesfrom its own workers. Meanwhile, Bezos racks up billions in personal wealthand targets monstrously expensive space exploration.

But is Jassy the right man to take the helm? It really seems like a thinly-veiled PR move. Bezos will still be chairman of the board, effectively calling the shots with a different title. Jassy, meanwhile, will likely toethe party line, as revealed in Bolton's lengthy interview. Despite prodding about corporate missteps over the years, he largely championed Amazon's position.

What Amazon really needs is a cultural shakeup that can only happen if a real anti-Bezos steps in. The company needs a leader who understands employee exploitation, wage imbalance, power dynamics and manipulation, and is willing to admit to wrongdoing with a plan for rectification.

Jassy just doesn't seem to be that person. While he may be a "nice guy" -- counter to the image many of us have of Bezosat this point -- it's only a matter of time until the reputation of the company is conflated with Jassy. As the face of the company, still effectively run by Chairman Bezos, Jassy will likely become another face to represent the exploitation and foibles that have come to characterize Amazon leadership.

I hope that I'm wrong. I hope Jassy is, truly, the anti-Bezos Amazon needs -- that we all need. But I'm not holding my breath.

The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.

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The #1 Reason Amazon's New "Anti-Bezos" CEO, Andy Jassy, Is A Step In the Wrong Direction - Inc.

Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

This subterranean creature has 1,306 legs. Yes, that's a record.

Deep underground in an exploratory drill hole in a mining region of Australia, scientists have discovered a "marvel of evolution," a remarkably elongated blind millipede possessing the most legs - 1,306, to be precise - of any known animal. The threadlike pale-colored millipede reaches about 3-1/2 inches (95 mm) long and about four-hundredths of an inch (0.95 mm) wide, with a conical head, beak-shaped mouth and large antennae - likely one of its only sources of sensory input because it lacks eyes, scientists said on Thursday.

Russia hopeful of space rides from NASA to ISS from 2022 - agency head

Moscow expects NASA to start taking cosmonauts to the International Space Station again and is hopeful that cooperation can resume next year, the head of the Russian space agency was quoted as saying on Wednesday. Russia has been the only country capable of delivering people to the ISS since 2011, when the U.S. space agency retired its space shuttle and divert resources towards deeper space exploration.

Ground control to Maezawa: SoftBank's Son speaks to orbiting protege

SoftBank Group Corp founder and CEO Masayoshi Son said he spoke by phone to fashion magnate and protege Yusaku Maezawa, who is currently on a trip to the International Space Station. "Maezawa called my mobile but it cut out!! I tried to call him back but he was out of range," Son posted to his 2.9 million Twitters followers late on Wednesday.

Omicron thrives in airways, not lungs; new data on asymptomatic cases

The following is a summary of some recent studies on COVID-19. They include research that warrants further study to corroborate the findings and that has yet to be certified by peer review. Omicron multiplies faster in airways, slower in lungs

Zoo in Chile tests experimental COVID vaccine on lions and tigers

At the Buin Zoo on the outskirts of the Chilean capital Santiago, a veterinarian sporting a tiger-striped face mask administers an experimental COVID-19 vaccine to a tiger in a cage, as another zoo worker feeds the animal chunks of raw meat via a pair of long tongs. The Buin Zoo, like others around the world, is looking to keep its animals safe from the coronavirus. It is administering an experimental formula donated by global animal health company Zoetis Inc to its 10 most susceptible animals, zoo director Ignacio Idalsoaga said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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Science News Roundup: This subterranean creature has 1,306 legs. Yes, that's a record.; Russia hopeful of space rides from NASA to ISS from 2022 -...

Students engaged in integrating a payload into the small satellite on the table.

A new earth and planetary exploration technology (EPET) certificate is preparing students for the Earth and space exploration workforce in their major science or engineering discipline, and the first cohort will graduate in December from the University of Hawaii at Mnoa. The certificate program is provided by the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology (HIGP) and supported by the Hawaii Space Flight Laboratory.

The EPET certificate program is one of the only opportunities for UH students to obtain a formal education in an important growth area of the economy, space exploration and aerospace engineering, said Peter Englert, a professor in HIGP. It is also one of the few programs where science and engineering students will work together on course projects, an enriching experience, and an opportunity.

The EPET certificate program consists of four courses totaling 15 credits that are taught in four consecutive semesters starting in the spring. The courses are cross listed with mechanical engineering and form the core of the concentration in aerospace engineering of the Mechanical Engineering Department. Program goals are to provide science and engineering majors with a comprehensive understanding of scientific and engineering knowledge, in theory and practice, to successfully explore from the deepest oceans to the far reaches of our solar system.

I thoroughly enjoyed the EPET program, said Lynzee Hoegger, who is in the first cohort of the EPET certificate. Its been really great getting to be a part of the bridge between space science and technology. I also enjoyed that we didnt just hear from one professor with one area of expertise but instead many different professors from many different fields would teach us each week.

This certificate is an example of UH Mnoas goal of Enhancing Student Success (PDF), one of four goals identified in the 201525 Strategic Plan (PDF), updated in December 2020.

The EPET curriculum provides a modern learning experience by combining lecture-, laboratory-, field- and project-based approaches with effective interdisciplinary group learning strategies to integrate the nature of planetary materials and landforms with the science and engineering tools. These include sensors and scientific instruments, robotic vehicles as platforms for remote sensing and sampling, spacecraft fundamentals, and mission architecture, planning and operation.

I would recommend the certificate to other students because it gives you a chance to work with people outside of your major and to have to think outside of the box to solve problems that may arise in a space mission, said Hoegger.

The satellite that students are completing in fall 2021 will likely be part of the Pleiades Mission together with Cal Poly Pomona, Portland State Aerospace Society and Stanford University. The payload is a general radiation detector.

It is also fun to work on research projects that design and build space flight sensors, space flight missions, and finally a small functioning spacecraft, said Englert. Some of these spacecrafts will have an opportunity to be launched while students are still in school.

The EPET certificate program is for students enrolled in science and engineering undergraduate degree programs at UH Mnoa, other parts of the UH System, and other universities. The program can also accommodate professionals working in the community who wish to upgrade knowledge and skills.

The next cohort of students for the EPET certification program will begin in spring 2022. For more information, see HIGPs website.

Continued here:

First space research, exploration certificate cohort graduates | University of Hawaii System News - UH System Current News

image:Saski and postdoctoral research scientist Sonika Kumar in the lab. view more

Credit: Clemson University

Clemson researcher Chris Saski admits sending the Universitys iconic Tiger Paw to space aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft is, quite literally, an out-of-this-world experience.

But its the potential for the experiments in the flight hardware to which the Paw is attached that truly excites him.

Saskis cotton regeneration research, adorned with Clemson stickers, intends to take off Dec. 21 from NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida bound for the International Space Station (ISS). Upon arrival, Saskis research project titled Unlocking the Cotton Genome to Precision Genetics will be conducted in microgravity with the goal of facilitating the ability to directly edit the genome of elite cotton varieties, quickly adding traits like disease resistance or drought tolerance without the need for the lengthy conventional breeding process that can take over a decade.

Understanding gene function and subsequent genome engineering technology has the potential to change the lives of everyone and everything on the planet, said Chris Saski, associate professor of systems genomics in Clemsons Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences.

With no solution yet in place to satisfy a growing demand for fuel, food and fiber as the global population continues to expand, Saski believes this research is a large step in the right direction toward solving that problem.

Conducting these experiments in microgravity gives us a unique environment to disentangle the genetics ofsomatic embryogenesis regenerating a whole plant from a single cell and we believe we can translate this research into application, he said. This project will lead to new understanding of the genes involved. As we understand it now, this genetic program is encoded in all crop genomes, but it is suppressed. This research could ultimately allow us to switch on this genetic program in other crops and be able to do genome editing and engineering more readily and directly on commercial varieties and eventually provide an accelerated path to food, fuel and fiber for a growing population of people on Earth.

Food for thought or living on another planet

But if potentially addressing issues such as global hunger wasnt enough, the possibilities go far beyond, said Saski, who admitted he never imagined space missions would one day be part of his work.

When I started my position as a researcher here at Clemson, I quickly realized that there really are no boundaries to the questions that one can ask, he said. I just created a vision, worked hard and tried to set the bar high. I envision that translation of this research into application could enable deep space exploration missions, it could allow for plants to be stored as single cells and you could store and supply a diversity of plant species for astronauts that are doing research or even living on another planet.

Broadly, the project seeks to explore the cotton genome and how it reacts in microgravity and normal gravity. It was selected as a winner in theCotton Sustainability Challenge, which was run by the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) and funded by Target Corporation, providing researchers and innovators the opportunity to propose solutions to improve crop production on Earth by sending their concepts to the ISS U.S. National Laboratory. CASIS is the organization tasked by NASA to manage the ISS National Lab.

One of Saskis collaborators is Jeremy Schmutz, faculty investigator at HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology since 2008, who said the project aims to understand how callus cells divide and regenerate in space and how this affects the quality of transformed cells.

We have shown that cotton has very little diversity as a species, which greatly limits the possibilities of improving the sustainability of cotton through traditional breeding techniques, Schmutz said. Accelerating the speed at which we can transform cotton opens up the ability to rapidly test genes linked to beneficial traits and also make positive targeted modifications in important cotton lines for U.S. growers and the many industries that depend on high-quality cotton production.

Embryogenesis in microgravity

Conventional breeding process currently takes more than a decade

And why does conducting research in microgravity make a difference?

Microgravity is the condition in which people or objects appear weightless. Plants have evolved at a force of 1g the force of gravity on Earth, responsible for things such as keeping our feet planted firmly on the ground but without that force, or in microgravity, there can be a drastic effect on gene expression.

Studying developmental programs like embryogenesis in microgravity allows us to disentangle what genes are involved by comparing experiments on the ISS and on Earth, according to Saski.

Our experiment is aimed at understanding the genetic architecture and coordination of embryogenesis, he said. Understanding this program could facilitate the ability to directly edit the genome of elite breeding germplasm, adding traits such as disease resistance or drought tolerance without the need for the long conventional breeding process.

Don Jones, director of Breeding, Genetics and Biotechnology at Cotton Incorporated, echoed Saskis sentiment that this understanding could be a direct and immediate benefit of sending the project to space but said the potential for longer-term benefits is also vast.

Past space exploration has resulted in benefits for all of humanity that oftentimes far exceeds the expectations of those who were conducting the initial research. Conventional breeding now takes at least a decade to deliver improved varieties to cotton growers that can withstand drought and disease, both of which will increase with climate change, Jones said. Understanding and improving embryogenesis will allow such varieties to be developed significantly faster, and when the payoff is faster, more companies and institutions become interested in investing real dollars into cotton research with a shortened payoff time horizon.

Low Earth Orbit: Falling around the planet

The effects of microgravity can be seen when astronauts and objects float in space. But the prefix micro- means very small, not nonexistent, so microgravity refers to the condition where gravity seems to be very small.

The ISS operates in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) or about 200 to 250 miles high. At that height, Earths gravity is still very strong, thus a person who weighs 100 pounds on the ground would weigh 90 pounds there.

Earths gravity pulls objects, including the space station, toward its surface. As a result, the ISS is constantly falling toward Earth. But the station also is moving very fast so fast it matches the curve of the Earths surface.

If you throw a baseball, gravity will cause it to curve down; it will hit the ground soon, Saski said. A spacecraft in orbit moves at the right speed so that the curve of its fall matches the curve of Earth. For the space station, that speed is 17,500 miles per hour. The spacecraft keeps falling toward the ground but never hits it. Instead, it falls around the planet. The moon stays in orbit around Earth for this same reason.

For the purposes of this research, however, that difference between 1g gravitational force and microgravity can have a significant effect.

Microgravity is a different environment its different from the Earth, said Saski. Plants, for example, have been adapted in Earths 1g gravitational pull. Now we live in an era when we have unprecedented technological capabilities, and we can study things in adverse environments like microgravity to help understand the genetics underlying certain developmental programs or traits.

Saski and Clemson postdoctoral research scientist Sonika Kumar are studying plant cells analogous to human stem cells; in this case, plants cells that are not de-differentiated not a certain part of the plant allowing for complementary experiments to disentangle the genetic architecture of somatic embryogenesis.

That disentanglement would enable scientists to turn on this programming in other crops and do genome editing and genome engineering more readily. The potential, then, is for growers to feed a growing and expanding population of people on Earth.

Genetic and epigenetic changes control the process of somatic embryogenesis, Kumar said. Discovering the mechanism and genetic factors behind somatic embryogenesis will open new avenues to stimulate the cellular reprogramming of somatic embryogenesis that will be helpful in fast delivery of cotton varieties having a combination of multiple traits like excellent fiber quality, climate resilience and tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses. This project with the objective of cotton sustainability challenge will improve the social and economic development of growers, stakeholders and industries.

Power of the Paw

As for the Tiger Paw, Saski said the ISS-required custom flight and operations hardware the payload that will be aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft looked largely bare and boring in its original state.

Mission Director Dave Reed and his team at Techshot, a company recently acquired by space infrastructure company Redwire, are converting Saskis experiments into a payload for space travel and designing the operational hardware they are also responsible for putting the Clemson stickers on the flight hardware.

The evolution from scientific proposal to spaceflight is typically referred to as payload development, andthe Redwire payload development team has the challenging task of merging the scientific investigation with the capability of spaceflight hardware and the constraints of resources such as upmass, astronaut time and cold stowage return of harvested material.

On behalf of our whole payload development team, we are proud to be supporting this exciting investigation that promises to yield new discoveries for the benefit of life on Earth, Reed said. Much of our work on ISS is about exploring how microgravity can positively impact industries, people and systems back on Earth, and this investigation supports this mission.

Saskis project represents the first time that a plant tissue culture experiment will be performed on orbit in NASAs Advanced Plant Habitat, which is designed to provide sunlight-strength illumination in order to grow plants such as radishes, peppers and tomatoes.

Plant tissue culture requires very, very low daytime light levels, just enough to maintain a circadian rhythm in the culture and a tiny fraction of what Plant Habitat was designed to produce, Reed said. To provide such a low light level, Redwire engineers developed an elegantly simple sun shade akin to one you would find at a terrestrial plant nursery.

As the team began to work on developing a payload to such specifications, Saski also inquired about the possibility of putting a Tiger Paw sticker on any of the hardward a request Reed said was not trivial.

In spaceflight, labels are serious business. Everything from font size to color to label material is prescribed, Reed said. Our team worked with the label approval team to find a spot where the sticker could be acceptably placed. For Dr. Saski, it was all a part of the great revelation about the intricacies of the spaceflight experience.

Because competition for research space aboard the ISS, which is roughly the size of a football field, is on a global scale, the presence of the Paw is no small feat.

Being able to send the beloved Tiger Paw to space has been an amazing experience, Saski said. Being selected for this opportunity and conducting research and being able to put it out there as far as it could possibly go has been a vision of my research program and aspirations since Ive joined the faculty here at Clemson.

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Unlocking the cotton genome: Space-bound research 'large step' toward feeding Earth's rapidly growing population - EurekAlert