Astrobiology News

BioRock: Researchers to Examine Microbe-Mineral Interactions in Space

Jul 24, 2019 by News Staff

BioRock, a new investigation on the International Space Station (ISS), is expected to help gain insight into the physical interactions of liquid, rocks, and microorganisms under microgravity conditions for biomining in space. In addition, data from this investigation can be used to inform the development of life support systems involving microbial components on long-duration spaceflight missions. Biorock is the first use of a prototype miniature mining...

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This enhanced-color view of Enceladus is largely of the southern hemisphere and includes the south polar terrain at the bottom of the image. Ancient craters remain somewhat pristine in some locales, but have clearly relaxed in others. Northward-trending fractures, likely caused by a change in the moon’s rate of rotation and the consequent flattening of the moon’s shape, rip across the southern hemisphere. The south polar terrain is marked by a striking set of ‘blue’ fractures and encircled by a conspicuous and continuous chain of folds and ridges, testament to the forces within Enceladus that have yet to be silenced. The mosaic was created from 21 false-color frames taken during Cassini’s close approaches to Enceladus on March 9 and July 14, 2005. Images taken using filters sensitive to UV, visible and IR light (spanning wavelengths from 338 to 930 nm) were combined to create the individual frames. Image credit: NASA / JPL / Space Science Institute.

Enceladus’ Ocean Contains High Concentrations of Carbon Dioxide and Hydrogen, Scientists Say

Jun 25, 2019 by News Staff

Saturn’s small icy moon Enceladus contains a global subsurface ocean. According to new research from the University of Washington, the ice-covered ocean...

This artist’s impression shows a view of the surface of Proxima b orbiting Proxima Centauri. Alpha Centauri AB also appears in the image to the upper-right of Proxima itself. Proxima b is a little more massive than the Earth and orbits in the habitable zone around its star, where the temperature is suitable for liquid water to exist on its surface. Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO.

Our Closest Neighboring Exoplanets Could Be Habitable After All

Apr 11, 2019 by News Staff

Proxima b, TRAPPIST-1e, Ross-128b and LHS-1140b — the closest potentially habitable exoplanets — orbit a different kind of star than our Sun:...

An artist’s impression of a terraformed Mars. Image credit: Daein Ballard / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Hungarian Researchers Claim to See Biosignatures in Martian Meteorite

Apr 4, 2019 by Natali Anderson

ALH-77005, a Martian rock found in Antarctica, contains numerous mineralized ‘biosignatures,’ including coccoidal, filamentous structures and organic...

An artist’s concept of a planet orbiting in the habitable zone of a K-type star. Image credit: NASA Ames / JPL-Caltech / Tim Pyle.

Exoplanets around K-Type Dwarf Stars are Promising Targets in Search for Alien Life: Study

Mar 11, 2019 by News Staff

K-type dwarf stars are dimmer than the Sun but brighter than the faintest stars. These stars live a very long time — 17 billion to 70 billion years,...

Mosaic of the Valles Marineris hemisphere of Mars projected into point perspective, a view similar to that which one would see from a spacecraft. The distance is 1,550 miles (2,500 km) from the surface of the planet. The mosaic is composed of 102 Viking Orbiter images of Mars. The center of the scene shows the entire Valles Marineris canyon system, over 1,240 miles (2,000 km) long and up to 5 miles (8 km) deep, extending form Noctis Labyrinthus, the arcuate system of graben to the west, to the chaotic terrain to the east. Many huge ancient river channels begin from the chaotic terrain from north-central canyons and run north. The three Tharsis volcanoes (dark red spots), each about 15.5 miles (25 km) high, are visible to the west. South of Valles Marineris is very ancient terrain covered by many impact craters. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Salty, Oxygenated Water on Mars Could Host Simple Aerobic Life

Oct 23, 2018 by News Staff

Caltech researcher Vlada Stamenković and co-authors calculated that if liquid water exists on the Red Planet, it could contain more oxygen than previously...

If the development of life on other inhabited worlds follows a similar timeline to life on Earth, vegetation red edge (VRE) biosignatures are only present for a fraction of a planet’s habitable lifetime once vegetation covers the surface; a VRE biosignature similar to that on the present-day Earth would be difficult to detect without very high-precision instruments; however, the team’s models show that the VRE signature increases with geological time, as well as with increasing vegetation surface fraction and decreasing cloud coverage. Image credit: Jack O’Malley-James / Wendy Kenigsberg / Brand Communications.

Earth’s Natural History May Serve as Guide for Astrobiologists to Spot Inhabited Exoplanets

Sep 27, 2018 by News Staff

By looking at Earth’s natural history, Cornell University’s Carl Sagan Institute astrobiologists Jack O’Malley-James and Lisa Kaltenegger have found...

An artist’s impression of a water-world exoplanet. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Water-World Exoplanets Could Be Friendly to Life

Sep 3, 2018 by News Staff

Astronomers have largely assumed that water-world exoplanets would not support the cycling of minerals and gases that keeps the climate stable on Earth,...

An artist’s impression of a habitable exoplanet orbiting a red dwarf. Image credit: Sci-News.com / NASA.

Stellar Flares: Life Givers or Sterilizers of Worlds?

Aug 15, 2018 by James Romero

Have Carl Sagan and astrobiologists been too hard on stellar flares? A new study imagines an alternative scenario where they power photosynthesis around...

Researchers Identify Exoplanets with Optimal Chemical Conditions for Life’s Origin

Aug 2, 2018 by News Staff

Scientists from the University of Cambridge and the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, UK, have identified a group of exoplanets where the same chemical...

An artist’s impression of a potentially habitable exoplanet. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Planets Don’t Need Plate Tectonics to Be Habitable

Aug 1, 2018 by News Staff

There may be more habitable exoplanets than we previously thought, according to Pennsylvania State University researchers Bradford Foley and Andrew Smye,...

Early Moon. Image credit: NASA.

Moon May Have Had Conditions Suitable for Life, Astrobiologists Say

Jul 24, 2018 by News Staff

There may have been two windows of habitability for the Moon, according to new research by University of London’s Professor Ian Crawford and Dr. Dirk...

Exoplanet Biosignatures: Will We Be Able to Recognize Extraterrestrial Life If We See It?

Jun 26, 2018 by News Staff

A team of leading astronomers, biologists and geologists have come together under the Nexus for Exoplanet System Science (NExSS), a NASA research coordination...

This Hubble WFPC2 image shows Alpha Centauri A (left) and Alpha Centauri B (right). Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

X-Rays Pose No Threat to Alpha Centauri AB Exoplanets, Chandra Data Show

Jun 12, 2018 by News Staff

New observations by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory indicate the two brightest stars in the triple-star system Alpha Centauri are not pummeling any...

An artist’s impression of an Earth-sized exoplanet orbiting an M-dwarf star. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

We May Miss Life-Hosting Exoplanets If We Only Look for Their Oxygen

Jun 8, 2018 by James Romero

There could be a flaw in the search for atmospheric oxygen as a signature of life around most of our nearby exoplanets. A team from the University of Washington...

Mosaic of the Valles Marineris hemisphere of Mars projected into point perspective, a view similar to that which one would see from a spacecraft. The distance is 1,550 miles (2,500 km) from the surface of the planet. The mosaic is composed of 102 Viking Orbiter images of Mars. The center of the scene shows the entire Valles Marineris canyon system, over 1,240 miles (2,000 km) long and up to 5 miles (8 km) deep, extending form Noctis Labyrinthus, the arcuate system of graben to the west, to the chaotic terrain to the east. Many huge ancient river channels begin from the chaotic terrain from north-central canyons and run north. The three Tharsis volcanoes (dark red spots), each about 15.5 miles (25 km) high, are visible to the west. South of Valles Marineris is very ancient terrain covered by many impact craters. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Curiosity Finds Organic Molecules in Ancient Rocks, Seasonal Methane Releases on Mars

Jun 8, 2018 by News Staff

NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity has detected organic molecules in 3-billion-year-old sedimentary rocks at the base of the Murray formation at Pahrump Hills,...

A study of the inhabitants of Easter Island served in part as the basis for a mathematical model showing the ways a technologically advanced population and its planet might develop or collapse together. Image credit: Michael Osadciw / University of Rochester.

How Do Extraterrestrial Technological Civilizations Solve Climate Change?

Jun 7, 2018 by News Staff

As the population of a technologically advanced civilization grows, it uses more and more of its planet’s resources. By consuming the resources, the...

This artist’s concept depicts the dry environment seen at Mars today versus the early Martian environment. Image credit: Simon Fraser University.

Iron-Rich Rocks are Best Place to Seek Fossil Evidence of Martian Life, Scientists Say

May 29, 2018 by News Staff

Iron-rich rocks near ancient lake sites on Mars are the most promising and best understood astropaleontological targets, according to new research led...

If an industrial civilization had existed on Earth many millions of years prior to human era, what traces would it have left and would they be detectable today? Image credit: Michael Osadciw, University of Rochester.

Silurian Hypothesis: Were There Industrial Civilizations on Earth before Humans?

Apr 17, 2018 by News Staff

How do we really know there weren’t previous civilizations on our planet that rose and fell long before humans appeared? That’s the question posed...

This is a mosaic image, one of the largest ever taken by Hubble of the Crab Nebula, a 6-light-year-wide expanding remnant of a star’s supernova explosion. Japanese and Chinese astronomers recorded this violent event nearly 1,000 years ago in 1054, as did, almost certainly, Native Americans. Image credit: NASA / ESA / J. Hester / A. Loll, Arizona State University.

Phosphorus May Be More Rare in Universe than Previously Thought

Apr 9, 2018 by News Staff

A new study from Cardiff University suggests there may be a cosmic lack of phosphorus, a crucial ingredient for life. This is a mosaic image, one of the...

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