Search for Life
This is What Perseverance’s Landing Site Looked Like Billions of Years Ago. See Why it’s Such a Compelling Target?
Today is a milestone in NASA's Perseverance mission to Mars. At 1:40 pm Pacific time today, the rover will have…
Here’s a Clever Idea, Looking for the Shadows of Trees On Exoplanets to Detect Multicellular Life
That's the kind of headline that can leave us scratching our heads. How can you see tree shadows on other…
Maybe Volcanoes Could Explain the Phosphine in Venus’ Atmosphere
The detection of phosphine in Venus' atmosphere was one of those quintessential moments in space science. It was an unexpected…
Why Lava Tubes Should be Our Top Exploration Priority on Other Worlds
When magma comes out of the Earth onto the surface, it flows as lava. Those lava flows are fascinating to…
Deep Down in Ocean Worlds, it’s Difficult to Tell Where the Oceans End and the Rock Begins
We all know what water is. And what rock is. The difference is crystal clear. Well, here on Earth it…
Worlds With Hydrogen in Their Atmospheres Could Be the Perfect Place to Search for Life
We're waiting patiently for telescopes like the James Webb Space Telescope to see first light, and one of the reasons…
A NASA Panel Says We Don’t Need to be so Careful About Infecting Other Worlds
It's time to update the rules. That's the conclusion of a panel that examined NASA's rules for planetary protection. It…
A Jarful of Titan Could Teach Us A Lot About Life There, and Here On Earth
Titan is a distant, exotic, and dangerous world. It's frigid temperatures and hydrocarbon chemistry is like nothing else in the…
Saltwater Similar to the Earth’s Oceans has been Seen on Europa. Another Good Reason Why We Really Need to Visit This Place
Jupiter's moon Europa is an intriguing world. It's the smoothest body in the Solar System, and the sixth-largest moon in…
A Nuclear-Powered Tunneling Robot that Could Search for Life on Europa
The search for life has led astronomers to the icy moons in our Solar System. Among those moons, Europa has…