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    Category Astronomy/Space

    Jupiter’s Moon Europa may have had a Slow Evolution

    June 20, 2023, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Amid the Jovian system, Europa is of particular interest to scientists because of the strong evidence for nutrients, water and energy to potentially provide a habitable environment for some form of life beyond Earth. In addition, Europa is believed to be made up into four layers (from surface to center): an ice shell, salt water ocean, rocky mantle, and metallic core.Read More

    Plate Tectonics Not Required for the Emergence of Life

    June 19, 2023, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Plate tectonics involves the horizontal movement and interaction of large plates on Earth’s surface. New research indicates that mobile plate tectonics—thought to be necessary for the creation of a habitable planet—was not occurring on Earth 3.9 billion years ago. (University of Rochester illustration / Michael Osadciw)

    The finding contradicts previous assumptions about the role of mobile plate tectonics in the development of life on Earth. New finding contradicts previous assumptions about the role of mobile plate tectonics in the development of life on Earth. Moreover, the data suggests that ‘when we’re looking for exoplanets that harbor life, the planets do not necessarily need to have plate tectonics,’ says the lead author of a new paper.

    Scientists have taken a journey ba...

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    Key Building Block for Life found at Saturn’s Moon Enceladus

    June 16, 2023, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Diagram of phosphorus discovered at Saturn's moon Enceladus
     SwRI Lead Scientist Dr. Christopher Glein was part of a team that found phosphorus, a key building block for life, from the subsurface ocean of Saturn’s small moon, Enceladus. Liquid water erupts from the moon’s subsurface ocean, forming a plume that contains grains of frozen ocean water. Some of these ice grains go on to form Saturn’s E ring. The team analyzed Cassini spacecraft data from ice grains in the E ring, which revealed fingerprints of soluble phosphate salts from Enceladus’ ocean. Courtesy of SwRI and Freie Universität Berlin

    The search for extraterrestrial life in our solar system just got more exciting. A team of scientists including Southwest Research Institute’s Dr...

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    Pass the salt: This Space Rock holds clues as to how Earth got its Water

    June 14, 2023, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Asteroid Itokawa as seen by the Hayabusa spacecraft
    Asteroid Itokawa as seen by the Hayabusa spacecraft. The peanut-shaped S-type asteroid measures approximately 1,100 feet in diameter and completes one rotation every 12 hours.JAXA

    The discovery of tiny salt grains in a sample from an asteroid provides strong evidence that liquid water may be more common in the solar system than previously thought. Sodium chloride, better known as table salt, isn’t exactly the type of mineral that captures the imagination of scientists. However, a smattering of tiny salt crystals discovered in a sample from an asteroid has researchers at the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory excited, because these crystals can only have formed in the presence of liquid water.

    Even more intriguing, according to the research team, is the fact that th...

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