Category Astronomy/Space

In 1971, English mathematical physicist and Nobel-prize winner Roger Penrose proposed how energy could be extracted from a rotating black hole. He argued that this could be done by building a harness around the black hole’s accretion disk, where infalling matter is accelerated to close to the speed of light, triggering the release of energy in multiple wavelengths.

Since then, multiple researchers have suggested that advanced civilizations could use this method (the Penrose Process) to power their civilization and that this represents a technosignature we should be on the lookout for.

Examples include John M...

Data from India’s recent Chandrayaan-3 mission supports the idea that an ocean of molten rock once covered the moon. Scientists from the mission have published their new findings in the journal Nature.

On August 23, 2023, a lander called Vikram successfully touched down on the lunar surface. Controllers then deployed a rover called Pragyan, which had been stowed on Vikram, to explore the landing site.

The location where Vikram touched down was further south than any other landing craft had previously been on the moon. It gave scientists an insight into the geology of the moon that had not yet been sampled.

Pragyan’s measurem...

Water plays a crucial role in human survival on the lunar surface, thus attracting extensive research attention. Prof. Wang Junqiang’s team at the Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering (NIMTE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has recently developed a new method of massive water production through a reaction between lunar regolith and endogenous hydrogen.

Research results of previous lunar explorations, like the Apollo and Chang’E-5 missions, have revealed the widespread presence of water on the moon. However, the water content in lunar minerals is extremely low, ranging from 0.0001% to 0.02%...

Thanks to observations by the Solar Occultation in the Infrared (SOIR) instrument on the Venus Express space probe of the European Space Agency (ESA), researchers have discovered an unexpected increase in the abundances of two water molecule variants — H2O and HDO — and their ratio HDO/H2O in Venus’ mesosphere. This phenomenon challenges our understanding of Venus’ water history and the potential that it was once habitable in the past.

Currently, Venus is a dry, hostile planet. Venus has pressures nearly 100 times higher than Earth and temperatures around 460°C. Its atmosphere, covered by thick clouds of sulphuric acid and water droplets, is extremely dry.

Most water is found below and within these cloud layers...