Blue Ghost Just Landed on the Moon.

Firefly.

Over the next 50 minutes, the lander gradually slowed down before firing its thrusters to precisely align with a safe, flat landing area. In the final phase, Blue Ghost autonomously selected a boulder-free landing site, safely touching down at 3:34 a.m. EST (0834 GMT).

Firefly Aerospace CEO Jason Kim summed up the moment perfectly: “Everything went according to plan—even the landing. We’ve got Moon dust on our boots!”

Private Lunar Landings Are Becoming a Reality

Just over a year ago, Odysseus, a lander built by Intuitive Machines, became the first private mission to successfully reach the Moon. Now, Blue Ghost joins the ranks, proving that commercial spaceflight is no longer just an ambition—it’s a reality.

Firefly Aerospace applied lessons learned from past missions, including Israel’s Beresheet lander, which crashed in 2019, to refine its design and improve landing precision.

What’s Next for Blue Ghost?

Powered by solar energy, the lander will conduct scientific experiments for 14 Earth days, including:

• Measuring radiation levels to support future crewed missions.
• Testing new methods for collecting and storing lunar soil and rock samples.
• Studying how Moon dust interacts with sunlight, a phenomenon first documented during Apollo 17.

One of the mission’s most anticipated events will take place on March 14, when Blue Ghost is set to capture a total solar eclipse as seen from the Moon. Just days later, on March 16, it will record the lunar sunset.

What Do We Know About the Lander’s Condition?

While the landing was a success, one small detail caught the attention of viewers—only three of the lander’s four legs confirmed full contact with the surface.

During the livestream, indicators showing the four landing legs were supposed to turn blue upon touchdown. However, only three changed color, raising questions about whether the fourth leg is fully on the ground.

At this stage, it’s unclear if this was due to a telemetry issue or if the lander is resting on uneven terrain. NASA and Firefly Aerospace are now reviewing the data to determine if this could affect the lander’s stability or science operations.

Blue Ghost Is “Upright and Stable”

Despite the minor uncertainty, Firefly Aerospace has confirmed that Blue Ghost is upright and stable.

“The Blue Ghost lunar lander softly touched down on the Moon’s surface in an upright, stable configuration on the company’s first attempt,” Firefly stated.

“As part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, Firefly’s Blue Ghost Mission 1, named Ghost Riders in the Sky, sets the stage for the future of cislunar exploration, becoming the first commercial company in history to achieve a fully successful Moon landing,” the statement continued.

Blue Ghost Landed Within Its 100-Meter Target

According to Ray Allensworth from Firefly Aerospace, Blue Ghost landed on the lunar surface within its designated 100-meter (330-foot) target zone.

During its final descent, the lander executed two hazard-avoidance maneuvers to steer clear of obstacles.

“Among the hazards Blue Ghost avoided were rocks and boulders,” Allensworth confirmed.

With upcoming landings planned by Resilience (ispace) and Athena (Intuitive Machines), it’s becoming clear that private companies are taking the lead in lunar exploration.

Will they be the ones to build future Moon bases? Time will tell, but the future of lunar exploration has never looked more exciting.

{ https://curiosmos.com/ }

02-03-2025 om 22:21 geschreven door peter  

The updated estimate was calculated by NASA’s Center for NEO Studies (CNEOS), the ESA’s Near-Earth Objects Coordination Centre (NEOCC), and the NEO Dynamic Site (NEODyS). The Subaru observations were conducted using the telescope’s Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC), a wide-field prime-focus camera that captured images of 2024 YR₄ as it grew dimmer. The observations have since been forwarded to the Minor Planet Center (MPC) of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Dr. Tsuyoshi Terai of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), who led the observations, explained:

“Although 2024 YR₄ appeared relatively bright at the time of its discovery, it has been steadily fading as it moves away from the Earth. By late February, observations would have been extremely challenging without a large telescope. This mission was successfully accomplished thanks to the Subaru Telescope’s powerful light-gathering capability and HSC’s high imaging performance.”

Based on these latest observations, the IAWN reports that 2020 YR₄ will “pass at a distance beyond the geosynchronous satellites and possibly beyond the Moon.” They also indicate that there is no significant potential that the asteroid will impact Earth in the next century. The IAWN also states that it will continue to track 2024 YR4 through early April. At this point, it will be too faint to image and won’t be observable from Earth again until 2028.

Further Reading:

• NAOJ

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

02-03-2025 om 21:55 geschreven door peter  

By Jackie Wattles and Ashley Strickland, CNN

Earth is visible in the distance in this image captured by Blue Ghost following its lunar landing. 

Firefly Aerospace

Relive Blue Ghost’s lunar landing as it happened and follow updates on its ongoing mission.

CNN — 

An uncrewed spacecraft developed in the United States has successfully soft-landed on the moon, making Texas-based Firefly Aerospace only the second private-sector company ever to complete such a feat.

Firefly’s 6.6-foot-tall (2-meter-tall) Blue Ghost lunar lander touched down on the moon’s near side around 2:34 a.m. CT (3:34 a.m. ET) Sunday.

A parade of lunar landers developed by the private-sector have launched this year, part of a convoy of robotic spacecraft that NASA and its partner agencies hope will pave the way for astronauts to return to the moon’s surface later this decade.

Success was far from guaranteed. In February 2023, another Texas-based space company, Intuitive Machines, became the first private-sector company to soft-land a vehicle on the moon, but broadly speaking, about half of all lunar landing attempts have ended in failure.

Firefly CEO Jason Kim said that the lander was “stable and upright” after landing.

“Every single thing was clockwork, even when we landed,” Kim said. “We got some moon dust on our boots.”

Each of Blue Ghost’s four feet were equipped with sensors that were designed to immediately confirm when they had touched lunar soil. But when the spacecraft touched down, the webcast showed only three of the vehicle’s four landing legs confirmed contact.

Firefly’s Ray Allensworth, the program director for Blue Ghost, told CNN in an interview that there may be a benign explanation.

“So there’s also a good chance that the software just ignored — threw the data out — from that sensor because maybe it tripped early. I’m not 100% sure,” Allensworth said. “We’d have to go back and look at the data.”

But it is abundantly clear that Blue Ghost is sitting upright, she said. What’s more, all signs so far point to the fact that Blue Ghost touched down within its expected 330-foot (100-meter) target, Allensworth said in a news conference.

Firefly Aerospace shares the first images of the lunar surface from Blue Ghost following its successful touchdown. 

Firefly Aerospace

The lander also conducted two “hazard avoidance” maneuvers during its final descent that included boulders and rocks, indicating that Blue Ghost’s autonomous landing software worked as it needed to, she said.

The mission landed near an ancient volcanic feature called Mons Latreille, which lies on the far eastern edge of the moon’s visible face just north of the equator. Mons Latreille is located within Mare Crisium — or “Sea of Crises” in Latin — a sprawling lunar basin that stretches 340 miles (550 kilometers) wide.

The team chose the site because “it avoids large magnetic anomalies — (or interruptions) — on the lunar surface that could disrupt some of our payload measurements,” said Ryan Watkins, the program scientist for NASA’s Exploration Science Strategy and Integration Office, during a December briefing.

An ‘incredible achievement’

About 40 minutes after landing, Blue Ghost’s first image of its new home arrived on Earth, showcasing the lunar dust beneath its feet, craters and a portion of the lander as seen by one of its cameras.

“The navigation system did such a phenomenal job finding what looks like a relatively flat surface for us to land on,” said Brigette Oaks, Firefly’s vice president of engineering.

The shadow of the Blue Ghost lander can be seen on the lunar surface, with Earth visible above it. 

Firefly Aerospace

Kim said he hopes the landing inspires the next generation of kids. “You never know where you’re going to land,” he said. “We just landed on the moon. We hope that the Fireflies today inspire a whole generation. There’s space for everyone in space.”

NASA’s acting administrator Janet Petro offered her gratitude to the Firefly team and everyone who worked on the mission, highlighting their motivation and dedication.

“This incredible achievement demonstrates how NASA and American companies are leading the way in space exploration for the benefit of all,” Petro said. “We have already learned many lessons — and the technological and science demonstrations onboard Firefly’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 will improve our ability to not only discover more science, but to ensure the safety of our spacecraft instruments for future human exploration — both in the short term and long term.”

While the lander touched down during the middle of the night for North America, lunar daytime is just beginning at Blue Ghost’s landing site.

“That’s when the sun rises at our landing site in Mare Crisium, and we want to take full advantage of the entire lunar day (14 Earth days) when we have sunlight to operate our 10 payloads,” said Risa Schnautz, Firefly’s director of marketing and communications in an email to CNN.

Blue Ghost will spend the next 14 days conducting science and technology demonstrations, including collecting lunar samples, drilling into the subsurface, conducting X-ray imaging and capturing high-definition imagery.

Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost lander and its in-house designed "Spectre" Reaction Control System thrusters (center). 

Firefly Aerospace

Blue Ghost’s suite of science equipment

Blue Ghost comes equipped with 10 science instruments and technology demonstrations from NASA, some of which already began collecting data as the lunar lander traversed the roughly 239,000-mile (384,400-kilometer) void between Earth and the moon.

The equipment includes a device that’s testing out how GPS services might be used in orbit and on the lunar surface, a vacuum that will aim to suck up soil, and a telescope that will observe how Earth’s protective magnetic field, also known as the magnetosphere, responds to space weather.

Blue Ghost's planned landing site of Mons Latreille (inset) within Mare Crisium. 

CNN/NASA

Firefly is also expecting the spacecraft to deliver stunning images from its landing site.

Allensworth said that rather than using its high-definition cameras to stream a live broadcast of the lunar landing, Blue Ghost’s team in mission control wanted to focus the vehicle’s communications bandwidth on delivering accurate real-time data, getting information about the spacecraft’s altitude and speed.

“Even though you might have the camera capability to do live streaming, it’s not always the most practical thing to do in the moment,” Allensworth said.

During its 14 days of operations on the moon, Blue Ghost will photograph an eclipse, during which Earth will block the sun’s rays from the moon’s surface for about five hours. The vehicle is also expected to snap pictures of a phenomenon last witnessed by astronauts more than 50 years ago.

“There’s a phenomenon called the lunar horizon glow (scattered light caused by floating electrostatic particles) that only the Apollo 15 and 17 astronauts have seen with their eyes,” Kim told CNN in a previous interview. “We’re going to be able to capture that in 4K-by-4K high-definition video and share that with the rest of the world.”

An animation demonstrating some of Blue Ghost's operations on the lunar surface. 

Firefly Aerospace

Firefly’s Blue Ghost will also continue collecting data for several hours into lunar night — when brutally cold conditions thrust the landing zone near Mons Latreille into shadow and temperatures could drop to as cold as minus 280 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 173 degrees Celsius).

The fall of lunar night has typically spelled the end for lunar landers. But NASA wants Blue Ghost to go for it. The space agency even upped the value of the contract it’s paying to Firefly — from $93 million to $101 million — in part so that the company could prepare the lander to survive such frigid temperatures, Kim said.

Paving the way for humans on the moon

The Blue Ghost lander is part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services, or CLPS, initiative.

The program is a concerted effort by the space agency to encourage the private sector to develop lunar landers in the hopes that their robotic exploration will pave the way for astronauts to return to the moon for the first time in 50 years under the Artemis program.

Dr. Joel Kearns, deputy associate administrator for exploration in NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, said Firefly made something that is incredibly difficult look easy.

“This is an incredibly challenging technical feat to pull off, to land anything on the surface of the moon, and what you saw today is an existence of proof that the model that NASA has been pursuing since 2018 is possible to be successful,” he said, referring to the CLPS program.

Firefly employees at a watch party in Cedar Park, Texas, celebrate as Blue Ghost successfully touches down on March 2. 

Jackie Wattles/CNN

There are 14 companies currently able to bid on CLPS contracts, which provide money to carry out lunar landings. So far, two companies — Astrobotic Technology and Intuitive Machines — have attempted missions, but only the latter has managed a soft touchdown.

Astrobotic’s first mission last year failed shortly after reaching orbit because of propulsion issues. And while Intuitive Machines’ mission was largely successful, its lander tipped over on its side, limiting the length of time it was able to operate.

Two other private-sector vehicles are currently making their own approaches to the moon. Intuitive Machines’ second lander launched Wednesday and is heading for the moon’s south pole region. And a lander built by Japan-based company Ispace, which launched alongside Blue Ghost in January, will attempt a soft landing this spring — an effort to redeem the company’s failed first attempt in 2023.

Kim told CNN he is looking forward to Firefly’s next lunar mission for NASA, which is already on the books and is slated to land a Blue Ghost vehicle on the far side of the moon. So far, only China has sent a spacecraft there.

The CEO said Firefly has exciting new technology on deck for that feat.

A separate spacecraft for that mission, called Elytra, will be put in orbit around the moon to serve as a communications relay, beaming data between the spacecraft and Earth because Blue Ghost’s antennas won’t be able to point directly home.

“That orbiter is very exciting because we could put cameras on there, we could put other sensors on there, and now we can start creating a new category of mapping out the moon,” Kim said. “And so we’re really excited about doing that, because there’s a lot of government and science and commercial entities that want that data.”

RELATED VIDEOS

Firefly’s Blue Ghost captures amazing moon view during lunar orbit maneuver

Watch Live: Firefly's Blue Ghost Mission 1 sending lander to the moon

{ https://edition.cnn.com/science/space }

02-03-2025 om 21:32 geschreven door peter  

NASA Thought It Was Just a Shadow—Now Scientists Say the ‘Face on Mars’ Hides a Secret Millions of Years Old

At a time when humanity was just beginning to explore the Red Planet, the Face on Mars fueled imaginations across the globe.

by Ivan Petricevic

 

The famous face of Mars. Image taken by the Viking 1 orbiter on July 25, 1976...

Image Credit: NASA/JPL.

Who doesn’t love a good mystery? Especially when that mystery is also packed with logic, science and a touch of strangeness.

In 1976, NASA’s Viking 1 Orbiter captured an image that would ignite decades of speculation, mystery, and even conspiracy theories. The photo, taken over a region of Mars known as Cydonia, revealed a peculiar landform resembling a human face. With deep-set “eyes,” a prominent “nose,” and a distinct “mouth,” the so-called Face on Mars seemed like a relic of an ancient extraterrestrial civilization. The first time I saw it I was “convinced” that there was something on Mars that we were not seeing entirely. I firmly believed that it was possible that something artificial could indeed exist on Mars. But…

NASA was quick to dismiss the idea, explaining that the eerie formation was nothing more than a trick of light and shadow. Despite this, the image spread like wildfire, and many weren’t ready to accept such a mundane explanation. Was this really just an illusion, or was there something more to the story?

The Birth of a Martian Myth

At a time when humanity was just beginning to explore the Red Planet, the Face on Mars fueled imaginations across the globe. Some saw it as undeniable proof that an intelligent civilization once inhabited Mars, leaving behind monumental structures like those of ancient Egypt. Others believed it was part of a broader cover-up by space agencies to hide the truth about extraterrestrial life.

The theories didn’t stop there. Enthusiasts pointed to nearby formations in Cydonia, claiming they resembled pyramids and city ruins, further supporting the idea of an ancient Martian civilization. For decades, these beliefs persisted, bolstered by grainy, low-resolution images that left plenty of room for speculation.

But as technology advanced, so did our understanding of Mars.

A Closer Look: Science vs. Pareidolia

Fast forward to the 21st century, and the Face on Mars underwent a major reality check. In 2006, NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter equipped with the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera revisited Cydonia, capturing images with unprecedented clarity. The result? The face seemingly vanished.

What was once thought to be an alien monument was revealed to be a natural mesa—an elevated, flat-topped landform shaped by erosion. This geological feature, common on both Earth and Mars, was sculpted over millions of years by wind and possibly water. The original Viking image, taken at just the right angle under specific lighting conditions, had simply exaggerated the shadows, creating the illusion of facial features.

More Than Just a Face: A Window Into Mars’ Wet Past

While the Face on Mars itself turned out to be an illusion, the region where it sits remains of great scientific interest. Mars was once a much wetter world, with evidence suggesting that an ancient ocean once covered much of its northern hemisphere—including Cydonia.

Recent studies have revealed that mesas in this region contain clay minerals, indicating prolonged interactions with water. This supports the theory that Mars had a more Earth-like past, with rivers, lakes, and possibly even life. The European Space Agency’s upcoming Rosalind Franklin rover is set to explore nearby terrain, potentially unlocking further secrets about the Red Planet’s ancient climate.

Why the Face on Mars Still Matters

Even though we now understand that the Face on Mars is a simple geological formation, its story remains a fascinating chapter in space exploration history. It serves as a powerful reminder of how human perception—particularly pareidolia, our tendency to see familiar shapes in random patterns—can fuel incredible myths and mysteries.

More importantly, the region itself is far from a dead end. Scientists continue to study the Cydonia mesas, uncovering new clues about Mars’ past. The “face” might not be a relic of an ancient civilization, but what lies beneath it could still rewrite what we know about the Red Planet.

So, while the dream of a Martian city might have faded, the search for answers is far from over. Could the remnants of an ancient ocean still hold traces of past life? Future missions may finally give us an answer. And maybe, just maybe, one day we will discover something on Mars that only a few saw coming.

{ https://curiosmos.com/category/mysteries/ }

01-03-2025 om 18:47 geschreven door peter  

Since the end of the Apollo Era, scientists have studied sample return capsules re-entering Earth’s atmosphere. These studies have helped scientists develop safe and effective methods for sample-return missions and provided insight into the atmospheric entry of meteoroids and asteroids. Until now, these studies employed infrasound and seismic sensors to record the resulting geophysical signals. However, Dr. Donahue and her team saw an opportunity since the trajectory and timing of the OSIRIS-REx mission’s SRC were known in advance.

As Dr. Donahue told Universe Today via email, the reentry was a chance for them to test DAS systems with fiber optic cables to record the geophysical effects produced by the sonic boom. “DAS systems interrogating an optical fiber are still relatively rare,” she said. “Knowing ahead of time the precise trajectory gave us the scarce opportunity to situate multiple DAS interrogators near the point of highest heating and capture the sonic boom as it impacted the ground.”

The team rapidly deployed two DAS interrogators and more than 12 km (7.45 mi) of surface-draped fiber-optic cables. Their network included six collocated seismometer-infrasound sensor pairs, all spread across two sites near the town of Eureka in the Nevada Desert. As Dr. Donahue described:

“Once the team got the hang of rolling out the 4 spools of optical fiber that each weighed over 100 kgs, installing and retrieving the fiber took less time than setting up the six co-located seismic and infrasound stations. Approximately 5 km of the optical fiber was located at the local Eureka airport, along with many other teams deploying sensors such as infrasound, seismic, and GPS.  The other 7 km of fiber was located along a remote dirt road in Newark Valley.”

With the help of this network, the team obtained a stunning profile of the sonic boom as it struck the ground. The DAS interrogators recorded an impulsive arrival with an extended coda that had similar features to those recorded by the seismometers and infrasound sensors. Whereas traditional sensors only measure sonic booms at one point, Dr. Donahue said that her team’s data revealed how the boom’s wavefront transformed as it impacted the irregular terrain of the Nevada landscape.

In addition to being the first time these methods were used to record an SRC reentry, the results of this test could have significant implications when it comes to predicting potential meteor and asteroid strikes. Said Dr. Donahue:

“By having an extremely dense array of sensors, DAS has the possibility of better characterizing the trajectory and size of a meteor. The topology (e.g., hills) of the ground is known to have an influence on wavefront recorded at the surface of the earth. By having a dense line of sensors that span over the changes in the earth’s elevation, these effects could be better accounted for to produce a more accurate characterization of a meteor’s trajectory.”

Following the completion of its primary mission, the OSIRIS-REx, NASA prepped the spacecraft for the next phase of its mission. In 2029, the spacecraft – renamed the OSIRIS-APEX (Apophis Explorer) – will rendezvous with the Near-Earth Asteroid 99942 Apophis and collect another sample.

Further Reading: 

• GeoScienceWorld

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

01-03-2025 om 18:26 geschreven door peter  

On Earth, extremophiles belong to all three domains of life (Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukarya). They are characterized by their ability to withstand pressure, acidity, temperatures, and other conditions that would be fatal to other organisms. After Earth, Mars is considered the most habitable planet after Earth in the Solar System, hence why most of humanity’s astrobiology efforts are focused there. In addition to the low atmospheric pressure (1/100th of Earth’s at sea level), the surface is subject to extreme temperature variations and is contaminated by perchlorites and toxic metals.

Scientists speculate that if life exists on Mars today, it will likely take the form of microbes living in high-salinity briny patches beneath the surface. As Tomajoli told Universe Today via email, this makes extremophiles (like Artemia franciscana) ideal test subjects for predicting what life is like in similar planetary environments:

“The definition of life is crucial, especially when searching for traces of it on other planetary bodies (e.g., Mars), where life might not exist as we traditionally imagine it. Artemia cysts present an interesting case: in their dormant state, they cannot be classified as living but rather as potential life. Studying organisms with such characteristics helps broaden the perspective in astrobiological research.”

In particular, extremophiles present opportunities for researching species adaptation, which has become a major focus of scientific research due to anthropogenic Climate Change. Worldwide, rising carbon emissions and increasing temperatures are leading to changes in weather patterns, increased ocean acidity, drought, wildfires, and the loss of habitats. As a result, countless marine and terrestrial species are forced to adapt to conditions that are becoming more extreme.

“In the context of climate change, life conditions are shifting toward extreme boundaries, making survival more challenging for many organisms,” Tomajoli added. “Extremophiles, which thrive in Earth’s most remote environments, are valuable models for understanding metabolic adaptations. Their apparent simplicity is, in fact, an advantage, allowing them to adapt better than more complex organisms to extreme environmental constraints.”

Tomajoli and her colleagues chose Artemia franciscana for their study, a species of brine shrimp known to thrive in high-salinity environments. The eggs they produce, known as cysts, are dormant and can be stored indefinitely, making them extremely useful for aquaculture and scientific research. As Tomajoli indicated, they have also been used in previous space missions, including the Biostack experiment on the Apollo 16 and 17 missions and the ESA’s EXPOSE platform mounted on the International Space Station’s (ISS) exterior.

These experiments all tested the resilience of certain life forms and their progeny to cosmic rays. However, as Tomajoli added, no further studies have been conducted regarding the physiological adaptations of Artemia franciscana, and there is currently no scientific literature available on the topic:

“In particular, Artemia brine shrimps are considered halophiles (literally “salt-loving” organisms) and thrive in environments that can be considered Mars analogs (or laboratories for Mars studies) such as temporary lakes that undergo frequent evaporation, prompting Artemia to produce cryptobiotic cysts. Additionally, Artemia is an easily cultivable model, making it suitable for biological and astrobiological experiments. A recent article by Kayatsha et al., 2024  also showed that Artemia franciscana was among all the microinvertebrates that were tested, the more resistant one to perchlorates salts present in the regolith of simulated martian soil.”

For their experiment, Tomajoli and her colleagues placed dormant cysts in Mars-like pressure conditions. Once they hatched into nauplii, the team analyzed their aerobic and anaerobic metabolism, mitochondrial function, and oxidative stress. As indicated in their paper, brine shrimp born in Martian pressure conditions managed to adapt quite well. They further share how these results could lead to further studies to evaluate the metabolic adaptations of the cysts to longer exposure times, combinations of different Mars-like conditions, or studies of the adaptations of the nauplii in other stages of development:

“Artemia franciscana showed an exciting potential for physiological adaptations, enabling organisms to cope with the environmental challenges they encounter in space… Nauplii’s cells appear to activate responses to avoid mitochondrial dysfunction and continue their growth processes. These adaptation mechanisms highlight Artemia franciscana’s resilience and ability to thrive in hostile environmental conditions. The results reported in this study further support the potential use of Artemia franciscana for astrobiological purposes, highlighting the animals’ metabolic and redox state changes as a response to adaptation to an extreme condition mimicking the space.”

The implications of this research are far-reaching, embracing astrobiology, human space exploration, and mitigating the effects of Climate Change. Not only could it help point the way toward potential life on Mars, in the interior oceans of icy bodies, and other extreme environments. It could also inform future missions to Mars and other deep-space destinations, where astronauts will need to rely on closed-loop bioregenerative life support systems (BLSS), grow their own food, and conduct research into the effects of exposure to lower gravity, elevated radiation, and other harsh conditions.

At home, the study of extremophiles and adaptation mechanisms could provide insight into climate resilience and adaptation, consistent with the goals outlined in the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). As they summarize in their paper:

“Understanding the mechanisms of Artemia franciscana adaptations to space-simulated conditions could provide new insights into the study of the limits of life, as well as contribute to the search for biosignatures—traces of past life on other planetary bodies. Additionally, it could offer a viable solution for the long-term survival of human space missions, helping establish self-sustaining populations in confined environments. Artemia could serve as a renewable food source for astronauts, given its richness in essential nutrients, including proteins, lipids, and vitamins.”

Tomajoli and her colleagues have also conducted simulations with a full Mars-like atmosphere for longer periods of time. The paper describing this experiment will be released soon. In the meantime, the search for life on Mars and beyond continues. Knowing it can exist out there and under what conditions will help narrow that search and encourage us to keep investigating.

Further Reading: 

• Science Direct

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

01-03-2025 om 17:29 geschreven door peter  

CCOR-1, a newly activated coronagraph onboard NOAA’s GOES-19 weather satellite, is the first of its kind in geostationary orbit. Positioned deep inside the Moon’s orbit, it offers a perspective unavailable to previous coronagraphs like those on SOHO. 

New Moons are typically dark and invisible, but NOAA's CCOR-1 coronagraph just captured one in stunning detail.

Watch sun erupt in 1st images from NOAA's groundbreaking new satellite

(Image credit: NOAA/NASA)

In the footage, the Moon appears full, an illusion caused entirely by sunlight reflecting off Earth. The brightness isn’t constant, though. As sunrise progresses over the Western Hemisphere, the increasing Earthshine becomes so intense that some frames are saturated with light. 

Credit image/source: https://spaceweather.com

{ https://ufosightingshotspot.blogspot.com/ }

01-03-2025 om 17:03 geschreven door peter  

By SHIVALI BEST FOR MAILONLINE 

The idea of a doomsday vault hidden on a remote Arctic island might sound like something from the latest James Bond movie. 

But the Svalbard Global Seed Vault is very much real - and could one day save Earth from disaster. 

Located on a mountainside on Spitsbergen, an island in the remote Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard in the Arctic Sea, the vault houses 'spare copies' of over 1.3million seed varieties. 

The seeds are stored inside the vault at temperatures of around −18°C (−0.4°F). 

And the permafrost and thick rock surrounding the bunker ensure the samples will remain frozen, even if power is lost. 

Should disaster strike - whether that is by war, an accident or a natural disaster - the vault could provide survivors with access to every important crop variety in the world. 

This week, the vault received more than 14,000 new samples, ranging from seeds of Nordic tree species from Sweden to rice from Thailand. 

'The seeds deposited this week represent not just biodiversity, but also the knowledge, culture and resilience of the communities that steward them,' said executive director Stefan Schmitz of the Crop Trust.

The idea of a doomsday vault hidden on a remote Norwegian Arctic island might sound like something from the latest James Bond movie, but the Svalbard Global Seed Vault is very much real - and could one day save Earth from disaster

Located on a mountainside on Spitsbergen, an island in the remote Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard in the Arctic Sea, the vault houses 'spare copies' of over 1.3million seed varieties

The seeds are stored inside the vault at temperatures of around −18°C (−0.4°F). And the permafrost and thick rock surrounding the bunker ensure that the samples will remain frozen, even if power is lost

Genebanks around the world hold collections of crops for safekeeping. 

However, many are not in ideal locations, which leaves them - and their collections - at risk. 

'Many of these are vulnerable, exposed not only to natural catastrophes and war, but also to avoidable disasters, such as lack of funding or poor management,' Crop Trust explains on its website. 

'Something as mundane as a poorly functioning freezer can ruin an entire collection.'

To combat this issue, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault opened its doors back in 2008, as the 'ultimate insurance policy for the world's food supply'. 

According to Crop Trust, the Seed Vault is in the ideal location for five reasons.

Firstly, Svalbard is remote, yet still accessible. 

'Svalbard is the farthest north a person can fly on a scheduled flight, offering a remote location that is nevertheless accessible,' it explained. 

Should disaster strike - whether that's by war, an accident or a natural disaster - the Seed Vault could provide survivors with access to every important crop variety in the world today

This week, the vault received more than 14,000 new samples, ranging from seeds of Nordic tree species from Sweden to rice from Thailand

The area is geologically stable and the humidity levels are low, while the Seed Vault is also well above sea level

Next, while the entrance may be visible, the Seed Vault itself is more than 100 metres into the mountain. 

The area is geologically stable and the humidity levels are low, while the Seed Vault is also well above sea level. 

'[It is] protected from ocean flooding according to worst-case scenario sea-level rises,' Crop Trust explained. 

Finally, the permafrost and thick rock offer natural freezing, providing a cost effective and fail-safe method to conserve seeds. 

The Arctic vault has the capacity to store up to 500 seeds from 4.5 million varieties of crops - a total of 2.5 billion seeds. 

As of May 2024, the vault holds more than 1.3 million seed varieties originating from almost every country in the world. 

Now, 14,000 new samples from 21 genebanks have been added to this growing collection. 

Essential varieties of sorghum and pearl millet have come from Sudan's crop genebank, while so-called 'velvet beans' were provided from Malawi. 

While the entrance may be visible, the Seed Vault itself is more than 100 metres into the mountain

As of May 2024, the vault held more than 1.3million seed varieties originating from almost every country in the world

14,000 new samples from 21 genebanks have been added to this growing collection

The permafrost and thick rock offer natural freezing, providing a cost-effective and fail-safe method to conserve seeds

Read More

• Mysterious 'doorway' in Antarctica is discovered on Google Maps 

'In Sudan, where conflict has displaced more than eight million people and disrupted agriculture, these seeds represent hope,' said Ali Babikar, director of Sudan's Agricultural Plant Genetic Resources Conservation and Research Centre. 

'By safeguarding this diversity in Svalbard, we're preserving options for a resilient, food-secure future, regardless of the challenges we face.' 

Another important deposit came from a genebank in the Philippines, where extreme events have already destroyed some of the nation's seed stocks. 

'The rapid loss of genetic diversity in the field and loss of diversity in our diets make conservation and accessibility more important than ever,' said Hidelisa De Chavez of the University of the Philippines. 

She added that crop diversity 'is the backbone of agriculture around the world.' 

What is the Svalbard Global Seed Vault?

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is buried on an island off of Norway's northern coast.

It already stores nearly one million samples of seeds, which represent 13,000 years of agricultural history.

The vault provides a last resort back-up to a network of seed banks around the world, which store seeds but can be threatened by war, accidents and natural disasters.

Plants are also vulnerable to biodiversity loss as a result of invasive species, pests and climate change.

Permafrost and thick rock ensure seed samples remain frozen even without power.

The vault aims to secure millions of seeds representing every important crop variety available in the world today.

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

28-02-2025 om 22:22 geschreven door peter  

During its 12-year mission, Lucy will visit eight asteroids. Two are in the main belt, and six are Jupiter trojans. Asteroid Donaldjohanson is a main-belt, carbonaceous C-type asteroid—the most common variety—about 4 km in diameter and is Lucy’s first target. It’s not one of the mission’s primary scientific targets. Instead, the flyby will give Lucy mission personnel an opportunity to test and calibrate the spacecraft’s navigation system and instruments.

The animation below blinks between images captured by Lucy on Feb. 20th and 22nd. It shows the perceived motion of Donaldjohanson relative to the background stars as the spacecraft rapidly approaches the asteroid.

via GIPHY

The flyby is like a practice run before Lucy visits the Jupiter trojans. These asteroids are clusters of rock and ice that never coalesced into planets when the Solar System formed. These are the “fossils of planet formation,” the most well-preserved evidence from the days of Solar System formation.

Currently, Donaldjohanson is 70 million km away and will remain a tiny point of light for weeks. Only on the day of the encounter will the spacecraft’s cameras capture any detail on the asteroid’s surface. In the images above, the dim asteroid still stands out from the dimmer stars of the constellation Sextans. Lucy’s high-resolution L’LORRI instrument, the Long Lucy LOng Range Reconnaissance Imager, captured the images.

Lucy is following a unique flight pattern. It’s essentially a long figure-eight.

Even this early in its mission, Lucy has delivered some surprising results. In November 2023, it flew past asteroid 152830 Dinkinesh. The flyby was intended as a test for the spacecraft’s braking system, but instead, it revealed that Dinkinesh has a small satellite. Closer observations showed that the satellite is actually a contact binary, which means it’s composed of two connected bodies. This was a valuable insight into asteroids.

There are surprising discoveries in every mission, and Lucy is no exception. As it makes its way through its list of targets, it will almost certainly show us some surprises.

The Trojans are difficult to study from a distance. They’re a long way away. Scientists aren’t certain how many there are; there may be as many Trojans as there are main-belt asteroids. The Trojans exhibit a wide variety of compositions and characteristics, which could indicate that they came from different parts of the Solar System. By studying the Trojans in all their diversity, Lucy will hopefully help scientists reconstruct their origins and how they were captured by Jupiter.

The Solar System has a long history and we’ve only just become a part of it. Some of the clues to our origins are out there among the battered rocks of the asteroid belt and the Jupiter Trojans. Lucy will give us our best look at the Trojans. Who knows what it might reveal?

• Press Release: NASA’s Lucy Spacecraft Takes Its 1st Images of Asteroid Donaldjohanson
• Press Release: NASA Lucy Images Reveal Asteroid Dinkinesh to be Surprisingly Complex
• ASU Institute of Human Origins: Lucy’s Story

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

28-02-2025 om 17:01 geschreven door peter  

Studying a Rebounding Ice Cap

Broquet and his team decided to measure glacial isostatic rebound on Mars under the northern ice cap. It’s about 1,000 kilometers wide and three kilometers thick. They studied its formation by combining models of the planet’s thermal evolution with calculations of glacial isostatic adjustment, along with gravity, radar, and seismic observations.

The team concluded that the Martian northern polar cap is quite young, and it’s depressing the ground underneath. “We show that the ice sheet pushes the underlying ground into the mantle at a rate of up to 0.13 millimetres per year,” said Broquet. That’s a fairly small deformation, according to team member Ana-Catalina Plesa. “The small deformation rates indicate that the upper mantle of Mars is cold, highly viscous and much stiffer than Earth’s upper mantle,” she said.

Understanding Planetary Construction

So, how can measurements of ice weighing down planetary surfaces tell us so much? Remember that rocky planets like Earth and Mars are in constant states of change. Those changes can range from short-lived events like volcanic eruptions to long-lived ones like Ice Ages. Each alteration affects the surface, as does the rate at which the surface deforms and “bounces back”. Earth scientists use techniques such as the study of glacial isostatic adjustment to probe deep beneath the surface to understand the characteristics of those layers.

When ice weighs down the surface, the amount of depression depends on the mantle’s viscosity. That’s a measure of how much the mantle’s rocky materials resist flowing. Earth’s mantle rocks are more than a trillion times more viscous than asphalt. They still deform, however, and flow over geological timescales of millions of years. Using radar data and other methods to study the rate of depression and rebound of Earth’s surface, scientists can find the mantle viscosity. As it turns out, when you apply the same methods to Mars, it presents some surprises, including a seemingly cold north pole and the recently volcanically active equatorial regions.

Estimating Mars’s Interior

To understand why the Mars interior is the way it is, you need estimates of Mars’s gravity field (which varies), seismic measurements made by the InSight lander, and other data. They all help to determine rates of depression and rebound on the Red Planet’s surface and interior. The result? It appears that the surface under the Martian north pole has not had nearly enough time to fully deform under the weight of the ice. Broquet’s group estimates that Mars’s north pole surface area is currently subsiding at rates of up to 0.13 millimeters per year. For it to be that slow, the underlying upper mantle viscosity tells us that the Martian interior is quite cold.

The team’s measurements indicate the ice cap is young—well more than any other large-scale feature seen on the planet. It’s most likely to be between 2 and 12 million years.

Other places on the planet may not be quite so frigid as the polar regions. “Although the mantle underneath Mars’s north pole is estimated to be cold, our models are still able to predict the presence of local melt zones in the mantle near the equator,” said study co-author Doris Breuer.

These findings represent the first time that scientists found glacial isostatic adjustment operating on another rocky planet. Future missions to Mars could include more instruments to measure the rise and fall of the Martian surface in response to glaciation.

For More Information

• Mars’s Northern Ice Cap is Young with a Cold, Stiff Mantle Beneath
• Glacial Isostatic Adjustment Reveals Mars’s Interior Viscosity Structure

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

28-02-2025 om 16:41 geschreven door peter  

28-02-2025 om 16:16 geschreven door peter  

New information is pushing Asteroid 2024 YR4 off of our front pages. Initial estimates gave it a 2.8% chance of striking Earth in 2032. Now, the European Space Agency says the chance of it striking our planet is down to a paltry 0.001%.

Scientists dislike expressing things in absolute terms because Nature can make fools of us all, so this is as close to zero as it’s likely to get.

2024 YR4 was discovered by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) telescope in Chile a couple of days after Christmas. ATLAS is an early-warning system for smaller asteroids. When it detected the asteroid on December 27th, 2024, it sent out an alert. Follow-up observations indicated the asteroid’s impact probability was greater than 1%, and that triggered our planetary defence response, which at this point consists of a greater effort to understand the rock and its trajectory.

It’s easy to get used to these asteroid warnings. However, it’s a bad idea to ignore the threat they pose. 2024 YR4 is not very large, only between 40 to 90 metres (130 to 300 ft) in diameter. Its small mass doesn’t mean it’s not dangerous. An asteroid that large can cause serious damage in a populated area. Earth has been struck many times in the past, and there are more impacts in its future.

More worryingly, follow-up observations at first showed the asteroid’s impact probability rising. At its highest rating on 18th February, it had a 2.8% chance of striking Earth. The spike of concern was dulled the next day when observations with the ESO’s Very Large Telescope cut that number in half. People unfamiliar with space, Earth, and asteroids have asked why there’s so much uncertainty. The simple answer is that everything in space is moving. The object is also tiny and dark.

The Very Large Telescope is one of the world’s most advanced telescopes and even it could barely see the asteroid, as the GIF below shows.

via GIPHY

In the two months following its detection, the ESA’s Near-Earth Object Coordination Centre—along with other institutions—monitored the asteroid. More data is better data in this case, and observations allowed astronomers to refine its orbit to determine how much of a threat it posed.

2024 YR4 follows an elliptical orbit around the Sun and crosses Earth’s path, making it a near-Earth Object (NEO). It takes almost four years to complete an orbit, and its last perihelion was on 22 November 2024. Its closest approach to Earth was on Christmas, two days before its discovery. At that time, it came to within 830,000 km of Earth. In December 2028, it will make its next closest approach at just more than 8 million km of Earth. Unfortunately, between this April and leading up to the next approach, none of our ground-based telescopes will be able to see it.

One problem in determining the impact threat is that everything in space is moving. Nothing is still. So, each time the asteroid comes near the Earth or the Moon, the gravity from both bodies has a chance of changing 2024 YR4’s orbit. These are called gravitational keyholes, and they complicate efforts to determine its orbit.

This rising and then falling impact probability is an established pattern in asteroid detection and monitoring. At first, there’s more uncertainty, but as astronomers continue to observe it, uncertainty is reduced.

What it boils down to is this: We spotted another small yet potentially dangerous rock with a chance to strike Earth. We watched it and saw that its chance of striking us shrank. Now, the rock will disappear into the blackness of space for three years.

Where does that leave us?

Each time another asteroid approaches, it triggers concern about protecting Earth. Should we launch a nuke and blow it to pieces? How about a kinetic impactor to change its orbit slightly? How about evacuating people from the impact zone?

We’re developing ways to protect the planet. NASA’s DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) showed that a relatively small mass can deter an approaching asteroid. Nukes are not needed and, in fact, can create an unpredictable shower of debris.

One proposal for asteroid redirection envisions kinetic impactors waiting to be launched on short notice. They can be at a Lagrange point or possibly on the lunar surface, on standby until needed. The more advance notice we have, the smaller the kinetic mass needed to deter an asteroid.

The main effort right now is centred on finding all dangerous asteroids and constraining their orbits. The upcoming Vera Rubin Observatory will detect many asteroids and will help us identify which ones are hazardous.

The type of massive asteroid that rocked the dinosaurs is increasingly unlikely. It was between 10 and 15 km in diameter, and large asteroids like it tend to remain stable in the asteroid belt. But the smaller ones in the decameter size range are more likely to be perturbed out of their orbits and become NEOs. It’s those ones we really have to worry about.

Asteroids are like pandemics. There’s always another one in the future. It’s simply nature. The danger from this one seems to have diminished, but another one will eventually come close.

Though the danger posed by 2024 YR4 has diminished, the overall threat posed by the asteroid population remains the same. In a sense, it’s not about any individual asteroid. It’s about our understanding of the risks in our space environment and how we can protect ourselves and Earth.

We’re not fully prepared to deflect an incoming asteroid if necessary, but we’re working towards it. In the meantime, get used to the occasional news article about asteroids with tiny yet real chances of striking Earth. 0.001% is tiny, but it’s not zero.

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

27-02-2025 om 20:30 geschreven door peter  

On Earth, geologists regularly study rock that has made itself easy to examine by coming up from the deeper crust and presenting itself. The same thing happens on Mars, though impacts do the lifting, not plate tectonics. Perseverance is studying the rocks on the crater rim in its current Crater Rim Campaign. The location it’s exploring is an exposed outcrop named Tablelands.

One type of rock that can teach us a lot about Mars’ ancient history is serpentine. It’s common on Earth and Mars and forms in the presence of water. Its presence on Mars is some of our strongest evidence that the planet was once wet.

Perseverance sampled Silver Mountain, a rock in the Tablelands. The rover used its abrasion tool on its robotic arm to create a fresh surface it could analyze. That analysis showed Silver Mountain is rich in pyroxene, a type of silicate found in almost every igneous and metamorphic rock. The rover also collected a core.

After that, it visited a rock named Serpentine Lake that showed telltale signs of serpentine. Perseverance used its abrasion tool to clean the rock for a detailed investigation. Serpentine Lake has an intriguing texture, described in a press release as “cookies and cream.” It’s also high in serpentine and other minerals that form in the presence of water.

After that, Perseverance doubled back to revisit a rock named “Cat Arm Reservoir.”

It was the first rock the rover studied on the canyon rim. The rover analyzed its composition and detected coarse pyroxene and feldspar crystals, indicating an igneous origin. Unfortunately, Perseverance’s sample tube was empty. Sometimes, the rock the rover tries to sample is weak and turns to dust. This is rare, but it did happen during the rover’s very first sampling attempt, and it happened again with Cat Arm Reservoir.

Perseverance travelled a small distance and tried to collect a core sample from Cat Arm Reservoir again. That attempt also failed. Then the rover chose a different spot nearby named “Green Gardens” and successfully collected a core sample. It’s next to the abrasion patch on Serpentine Lake.

Like the Serpentine Lake rock, Green Garden is also green, which is a characteristic of the mineral serpentine. Serpentine forms in the presence of water when hydrothermal vents alter ultramafic rocks. Scientists are interested in these minerals because their structure and composition can reveal the history of water on Mars. On Earth, serpentine rock also hosts microbial life, so the same may have been true on Mars. Unfortunately, it’s not clear how much evidence of this life can be preserved.

Perseverance will spend some more time exploring the Tablelands outcrop. It may re-examine the Serpentine Lake abrasion patch and analyze the debris from the Green Gardens drilling and coring. This could take a couple of weeks.

Next on its agenda is “Broom Point,” further down the crater rim. Broom Point contains a spectacular formation of layered rock, which is also intriguing to scientists.

Mars’ ancient history is told in its ancient rocks, but it’s impossible to know in advance which rock holds which clues and how everything will fall into place.

We don’t know what Perseverance will discover about Broom Point. But the rock will tell us something. It always does.

• Press Release: Cookies, Cream, and Crumbling Cores
• Press Release: Gardens on Mars? No, Just Rocks!
• Press Release: Assessing Perseverance’s First Sample Attempt
• NASA: Where is Perseverance?

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

27-02-2025 om 18:48 geschreven door peter  

• READ MORE: Elon Musk calls for the destruction of NASA's prized possession

By WILIAM HUNTER

Since leaving Earth on January 15, NASA's Blue Ghost lander has been sending back some stunning images of space.

Now, the autonomous lander has captured a truly jaw-dropping view as it records a unique close-up of the moon. 

In an incredible video, you can see the distant Earth rising and setting behind the curve of the lunar surface.

Taken on February 18, the timelapse reveals the stunning view from the Blue Ghost lander as it completed its second orbit, from about 75 miles (120 km) away. 

Having now circumnavigated the moon three times, the lander's operator, US private firm Firefly Aerospace, is making final preparations before touchdown on March 2.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Firefly Aerospace wrote: 'Earth rise, Earth set, repeat!'

Meanwhile, on social media, space fans have been wowed by the incredible glimpse of our lunar satellite, with its incredible patchwork of deep craters.  

One commenter wrote: 'What a cool time to be alive! The Moon up close once again!'

NASA's Blue Ghost moon lander has captured a jaw-dropping video of the Earth (indicated by red arrow) rising and setting behind the curve of the lunar surface 

Taken on February 18, the timelapse reveals the stunning view from Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lunar lander as it completed its second orbit prior to a touchdown 

The close-up images also show the lunar lander's solar panel and some scientific instruments 

The robotic Blue Ghost lunar lander was launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

On board are 10 NASA science investigations and technology demonstrations as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative.

These include instruments to record data on the lunar surface and experimental GPS tracking systems.

Over a weeks-long journey, the lander travelled roughly 238,855 miles (384,400 km) and entered lunar orbit on February 13 where it was scheduled to wait for 16 days.

On its way, Blue Ghost captured incredible images of Earth as it shrunk into a small pale dot in the distance.

While orbiting the moon, Blue Ghost has been completing a series of engine burns to bring it into a tighter orbit.

On February 18, the lander completed a three-minute and 18-second burn to push itself into a significantly lower elliptical orbit around the moon.

Shortly after lowering itself down, Blue Ghost recorded a flyby of the far side of the moon (usually hidden from Earth) at an altitude of just 75 miles (120km).

Blue Ghost was constructed by Firefly Aerospace and is carrying 10 NASA science and technology payloads as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative

Blue Ghost (pictured) is carrying a number of scientific instruments including devices which will gather vital data for NASA's upcoming Artemis missions 

The craft has been designed to conduct the final movements of its landing autonomously and is equipped with advanced navigation instruments and thrusters to control its movement 

After leaving Earth on January 15, the lander made a weeks-long journey to the moon (seen here above Earth) in order to attempt a landing on the lunar surface

On social media, space fans rushed to share their amazement with the stunning views

One commenter called the video 'the coolest thing I've seen in weeks' 

Another amazed commenter said that the footage of the Earth rising over the moon was their favourite video 

Although it is commonly referred to as the 'dark side' of the moon because it always faces away from Earth, this side receives just as much light from the sun as the near side.

On social media, many commenters rushed to share their admiration and amazement.

'Good luck! One small landing, one giant leap', one commenter wrote on X.

Another wrote: 'Well this is the coolest thing I've seen in weeks', while one impressed commenter chimed in: 'This is my favorite video now'. 

Of course, not everyone online was so impressed and some conspiratorially-minded commenters even questioned whether the footage was real.

One conspiracy theorist wrote: 'What a joke. gotta be a serious sheep to think this is real footage. hilarious'.

'It looks like cheap plastic moon', wrote one commenter.

Another claimed: 'If you believe this, you are not thinking critically. Good luck.'

Since leaving Earth on January 15, NASA's Blue Ghost lander has been sending back some stunning images of space, including this photo of Earth

As the lander moved further away from Earth, images showed our planet disappearing into the distance 

Blue Ghost captured its first image of the moon on February 14 after reaching lunar orbit

Some conspiracy theorists rushed to share wild claims that the footage had been faked 

One commenter wildly claimed that people who believed in the reality of space travel were 'not thinking critically' 

One conspiracy theorist claimed that the footage looked like a 'cheap plastic moon' 

The Blue Ghost lunar lander was launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Aboard are 10 NASA science investigations and technology demonstrations as part of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative

The lander is expected to land on March 2, on the far eastern side of the moon's near side. It will operate for 14 days before the cold lunar night damages its electronics. Pictured, Blue Ghost's view of the moon's far side

Blue Ghost completed its third and final lunar orbit as of Monday and is making preparations for its last manoeuvres.

Next, the lander will perform a 16-second burn to enter a very low and nearly circular orbit around the moon.

Finally, once the spacecraft falls to 62 miles (100km) above the surface, it will fire its engines for 19 seconds to drop its path down to the landing site.

Blue Ghost is expected to land on the eastern edge of the moon's Earth-facing side near an ancient volcanic feature called Mons Latreille within the 300-mile-wide (483 km) basin of the Mare Crisium, or 'Sea of Crises'.

From there, it will use its scientific payloads to gather information about the moon.

This includes making use of a lunar sunset to study a phenomenon called 'dust levitation' in which dust appears to float above the surface.

This was first sketched by Apollo 17 astronaut Eugene Cernan during NASA's last mission to the moon over 50 years ago.

Blue Ghost will then operate for 14 Earth days until the near side of the moon is cast into shadow, plunging the lander into the freezing lunar night.

With temperatures as low as -130°C (-208°F) and no light to charge its batteries, this is expected to break the lander's electronics and put an end to the mission.

NASA will land the first woman and first person of color on the moon in 2026 as part of the Artemis mission

Artemis was the twin sister of Apollo and goddess of the moon in Greek mythology. 

NASA has chosen her to personify its path back to the moon, which will see astronauts return to the lunar surface by 2026 -  including the first woman and the next man.

Artemis 1, formerly Exploration Mission-1, was the first in a series of increasingly complex missions that will enable human exploration to the moon and Mars. 

The uncrewed flight, which successfully launched in November last year, travelled more than 1.4 million miles on a path around the moon and back to Earth. It splashed down in the Pacific Ocean in December 2022, 25-and-a-half days after launch.

Artemis 1, formerly Exploration Mission-1, was the first in a series of increasingly complex missions that will enable human exploration to the moon and Mars. This graphic explains the various stages of the mission

Orion stayed in space longer than any ship for astronauts has done without docking to a space station, while it also returned home faster and hotter than ever before. 

It will now be followed by Artemis II, a manned mission which is scheduled for launch next year.

The crew will fly around the moon and back to prepare for Artemis III, which NASA is targeting as the mission to return humans to the lunar surface. 

Eventually NASA seeks to establish a sustainable human presence on the moon by 2028 as a result of the Artemis programme.

The space agency hopes this colony will uncover new scientific discoveries, demonstrate new technological advancements and lay the foundation for private companies to build a lunar economy. 

Who is Victor Glover? The man set to become NASA's first black astronaut to orbit the moon

Victor Glover (pictured) was selected as an astronaut in 2013 and became the first African American ISS expedition crewmember to live on the ISS seven years later

NASA is set to send the first-ever black astronaut to the moon.

Victor Glover, 46, was selected to take part in the space agency's Artemis II mission — the US' first lunar mission in a half-century.

The Pomona, California, native will be the first person of color to travel into deep space, hundreds of thousands of miles beyond the low-Earth orbiting International Space Station (ISS).

NASA officials say the diverse crew assignments signify the cultural shifts that have taken place since the original Apollo missions, which ended in 1972, at a time when white men dominated space exploration.

Glover was also the first black man to ever live on the International Space Station (ISS) in 2020 and is among 15 African Americans to be selected as an astronaut.

In his esteemed career since being selected as an astronaut in 2013, Mr Glover has logged over 3,000 flight hours in 40 different aircraft.

Artemis II - which will launch in November 2024 - will see the four-man crew orbit the moon in the Orion spacecraft but not land.

Their goal is to test new technology, including heat shields that protects Orion as it travels 24,500 mph in 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit on its way back.

If successful, NASA plans to launch an expedition to land on the moon titled Artemis III. Another success would spell out a trip to Mars for NASA. 

‘I wanna thank God for this Amazing opportunity,’ Mr Glover said during a new conference Monday.

‘This is a big day. We have a lot to celebrate. It’s so much more than the four names that have been announced. We need to celebrate this moment in human history.

'Artermis II is more than a mission to the Moon and back. It’s more than a mission that has to happen before we send people to the surface of the moon. It is the next step on the journey that gets humanity to Mars.

‘This crew will never forget that.’

Mr Glover was born in 1976 in Pomona, around 30 miles east of Los Angeles.

The city is far from the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, known for its high poverty rate and relatively high crime. 

Mr Glover grew up in Ponoma, CA, 30 miles east of Los Angeles

He said his parents and teachers served as mentors as him growing up.

'Early on in life it had to be my parents; they encouraged me and challenged me and held me to high standards. Outside of home, I had teachers that did the same,' he told USA Today in 2017.

'They all challenged me, and they encouraged me.'

Mr Glover continued that his teachers and parents urged him to go the engineering school and eventually become a test pilot — leading to him becoming an astronaut. 

He graduated from Southern California's Ontario High School in 1994, and went on to attend California Polytechnic State University, before completing his graduate education at Air University and the US Naval Academy.

'I’m the first person in my family to graduate from college, and being at graduation with my mom and my dad and my stepdad and my little brothers and my grandparents,' he said to USA Today.

'That was unreal, that was cool and it was special for me.'

In 1999 he was commissioned as part of the US Navy. After completing flight training in Corpus Christy, Texas, he was 'given his wings' and awarded the title of pilot in 2001.

He then moved to San Diego to learn to fly the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet, known as one of the Navy's more versatile aircraft.

After spending the next two years training in Florida and Virginia, he was deployed to Iraq in 2004 for six months.

Mr Glover was working in the office of the late Sen John McCain as a legislative fellow when he was selected by NASA to become an astronaut in 2013.

NASA only selects a handful of the thousands of people that apply to be a member of the nation's astronaut corps each year. Only 15 black astronauts have ever been selected out of 348.

A vast majority of the 41 current astronauts have a military background, like Mr Glover.

He completed his astronaut training in 2015. Three years later, he was selected to be a part of the first ever operational flight of SpaceX's Crew Dragon, a reusable aircraft designed by the firm Elon Musk found in 2002.

As part of that mission, he would live on the ISS from November 17, 2020 to May 2, 2021.

The nearly six-month-long stay on the station makes him the first black astronaut to inhabit it.

Jeanette Epps, 52, who was selected to be an astronaut in 2009 is set to become the second African American, and first black woman, to live on the ISS after the launch of Boeing Starliner-1 in 2024 or later.

In 2020, Mr Glover said it was an honor to be the first black person selected to the ISS.

'It is something to be celebrated once we accomplish it, and I am honored to be in this position and to be a part of this great and experienced crew,' he said during a news conference. 

'I look forward to getting up there and doing my best to make sure, you know, we are worthy of all the work that's been put into setting us up for this mission.'

In an interview with The Christian Chronicle later that year, he said there were qualified black astronauts that should have earned the honor before him.

'I've had some amazing colleagues before me that really could have done it, and there are some amazing folks that will go behind me,' he said. 

'I wish it would have already been done, but I try not to draw too much attention to it.' 

Who is Christina Koch? The first female NASA astronaut set to orbit the moon

Christina Koch is set to become the first woman to go around the moon when NASA's Artemis II mission takes off next year.

Christina Koch, 44, from Grand Rapids, Michigan, is set to become the first woman to go around the moon

The Grand Rapids, Michigan native, 44, is already the record-holder for the longest amount of time a woman has spent in space, 328 days, and for taking part in the first all-female spacewalk in 2019.

Selected to become an astronaut in 2013, Ms Koch said she has not followed a 'checklist' in order to become an astronaut — but instead chased her passions whether this be rock climbing, sailing or even learning to surf in her 40s.

She said in 2020: 'I really don't remember a time when I didn't want to be an astronaut. 

'For me, I learned that if I was going to be an astronaut, it was because my passions had turned me into someone that could contribute the most as someone contributing to human space flight.'

While she's exploring space, her husband Robert will be left taking care of housework and the couple's puppy, LBD. It is not believed that they have children.

'Am I excited? Absolutely!' she said at a news conference at the crew's announcement Monday.

‘The one thing I'm most excited about is that we will carry your excitement,your aspirations, your dreams, on this mission.’

She also said: ‘We are going to launch from Kennedy space center, we are going to here the words “go for launch” on top of the most powerful rocket NASA’s ever made.’

NASA has sent a total of 355 people to space so far, of which some 55 have been women — or 15 percent. It has also sent 24 people to orbit the moon and 12 to walk on the lunar surface who were all men.

Russian Valentina Tereshkova was the first woman to ever leave the earth's atmosphere — setting off in 1937. American women did not get sent to space until 1983.

Ms Koch, however, will make history on the Artemis II mission when she completes her long-awaited trip around the moon.

She revealed her love of space in a video when she was announced as a member of the Artemis I team in 2020.

The astronaut said: 'I am someone who has loved exploration on the frontier since I was little. 

'I used to be inspired by the night sky and throughout my career,  it's been this balance between engineering for space science missions and doing science in really remote places all over the world.

'I loved things that made me feel small, things that made me ponder the size of the universe, my place in it and everything that was out there to explore.'

She added: 'I didn't necessarily live my life following check boxes of how you could become an astronaut.

'But I followed those passions and one day I looked at what I had become and the skills I had gathered and I asked "could I sit across from a table and present myself as someone who could do this well?". And I thought, I'm going to give this a shot.' 

She went to North Carolina State University in Raleigh to get a bachelor's and a master's in Electrical Engineering.

She then became an Electrical Engineer at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, before becoming a research associate for the United States Antarctic Program — living an entire year in the Arctic.

Ms Koch was one of eight selected as part of NASA's 21st class of astronauts in 2013. After two years of training, she became a full-fledged astronaut.

Her first space flight came in 2019 when she was sent to the International Space Station (ISS) to work as a flight engineer.

She stayed up there for 328 days, taking the record for the longest spaceflight by a woman. The previous record holder, Peggy Whitson, was in space for 288 days.

While in space she also took the record for the first all-women space walk — when an astronaut gets out of a vehicle while in space — with Jessica Meir.

The pair spent seven hours and 17 minutes on the side of the ISS as they worked to replace a power controller. The walk also included a brief call with President Trump.

Upon her return to Earth in 2020, Ms Koch said she felt 'like a baby' who was two weeks old and working hard to hold up its head.

Back on Earth, she lives in Galveston, Texas, just outside of the Houston area.

Among her interests are backpacking, running, yoga, photography and travel.

Now she will be a part of a groundbreaking mission in NASA's goal towards putting a man on Mars. 

The Artemis II mission marks NASA's first trip to the moon in half a century. It says it will be performed to help test kit in preparation for getting humans onto Mars.

The agency sent an empty Orion capsule around the moon last year before it returned to Earth in a long-awaited dress rehearsal.

If this latest mission goes well, then another flight to land people on the moon will be sent in 2025 — as part of tests ahead of getting people onto Mars.

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

26-02-2025 om 23:43 geschreven door peter  

Titan’s thick atmosphere gives it an orange haze that obscures its surface from direct view. This haze is caused by photochemical reactions in the upper atmosphere, where sunlight breaks down methane into more complex organic molecules. The presence of such an atmosphere makes Titan an excellent natural laboratory for studying atmospheric processes, weather patterns, and potential prebiotic chemistry.

The Role of Atmospheric Pressure and Weather

Unlike the thin atmospheres found on other moons, Titan’s atmospheric pressure is about 1.5 times that of Earth’s at sea level. This means that if a human were to stand on Titan’s surface, they wouldn’t require a pressure suit – only an oxygen mask and protection from the cold. The atmosphere also supports weather patterns, including methane rain, seasonal changes, and even massive storm systems that resemble those found on Earth. This dynamic climate makes Titan an extraordinary candidate for future exploration.

A World with Liquid Lakes and Seas

Titan is the only known celestial body in the solar system, apart from Earth, to have stable liquids on its surface. However, instead of water, these lakes and seas are composed of liquid methane and ethane. The most notable of these bodies of liquid are Kraken Mare, Ligeia Mare, and Punga Mare, located in Titan’s northern hemisphere.

The Hydrological Cycle on Titan

Titan’s hydrological cycle is similar to Earth’s water cycle but operates with hydrocarbons instead of water. Methane and ethane evaporate, form clouds, and eventually precipitate as rain. This cycle plays a crucial role in shaping Titan’s landscape, creating river channels, shorelines, and even seasonal weather patterns. The presence of these liquid reservoirs raises intriguing questions about the possibility of exotic life forms that could survive in liquid methane rather than water.

A Complex Organic Chemistry Resembling Early Earth

Another compelling reason why Titan is so intriguing is its rich organic chemistry. Scientists believe that Titan’s atmosphere and surface processes closely resemble conditions on early Earth before life emerged. The Cassini-Huygens mission provided detailed insights into Titan’s atmospheric chemistry, revealing the presence of complex organic molecules, including hydrocarbons and nitriles, which are essential building blocks for life.

Implications for Prebiotic Chemistry

Titan’s environment provides a unique opportunity to study prebiotic chemistry – the chemical processes that might have led to the emergence of life. The interactions between sunlight, methane, and nitrogen in Titan’s atmosphere result in the production of tholins, complex organic compounds that could play a role in the development of life. By studying Titan, scientists hope to gain a better understanding of how life might arise elsewhere in the universe.

A Subsurface Ocean That Might Harbor Life

While Titan’s surface is dominated by ice and hydrocarbon lakes, evidence suggests the existence of a vast liquid water ocean beneath its icy crust. This subsurface ocean is believed to contain water mixed with ammonia, which acts as an antifreeze, allowing the ocean to remain in a liquid state despite Titan’s frigid temperatures.

Comparison with Other Ocean Worlds

Titan is not the only moon suspected to harbour a subsurface ocean – Europa and Enceladus also have hidden oceans beneath their icy shells. However, Titan’s ocean is unique because of its potential interaction with the organic-rich surface. If material from the surface can mix with the subsurface ocean, Titan could have the necessary conditions for life to develop. The presence of a liquid water ocean beneath an organic-rich environment makes Titan an extremely promising target for astrobiology.

Future Missions That Could Unlock Its Mysteries

Titan’s unique characteristics make it a prime target for future space missions. One of the most anticipated upcoming missions is NASA’s Dragonfly, a drone-like rotorcraft designed to explore Titan’s diverse landscapes and search for signs of prebiotic chemistry.

What Dragonfly Will Explore

Scheduled for launch in the late 2020s, the Dragonfly mission will land on Titan and travel across its surface, investigating dunes, lakes, and potentially even cryovolcanic regions. The mission’s primary goal is to study Titan’s chemistry and assess its habitability. By directly sampling the organic compounds and surface materials, Dragonfly could provide groundbreaking insights into the building blocks of life beyond Earth.

Dragonfly will also help scientists understand Titan’s meteorology, geology, and potential subsurface interactions. Since Titan’s atmosphere is dense and gravity is low, the drone will be able to fly efficiently, covering long distances to explore multiple sites. This mobility will allow NASA to study various environments and compare their chemical compositions.

The Cassini Mission and Its Impact on Our Understanding of Titan

NASA’s Cassini-Huygens mission, which explored Saturn and its moons from 2004 to 2017, played a crucial role in expanding our knowledge of Titan. The Cassini spacecraft performed over 100 flybys of Titan, using radar to penetrate the thick atmosphere and map the moon’s surface.

The most groundbreaking event was the Huygens probe landing in 2005, the first successful landing on Titan. The probe transmitted data for over 90 minutes, revealing a world with river channels, icy pebbles, and an atmosphere rich in organic compounds. Cassini’s radar also confirmed the existence of methane lakes and provided evidence for Titan’s subsurface ocean.

The Cassini mission fundamentally changed our understanding of Titan, showing it to be one of the most Earth-like worlds in the solar system and a key target for future exploration.

Frequently Asked Questions

Could Humans Survive on Titan?

While Titan’s atmospheric pressure is hospitable, its extreme cold (around -290°F or -179°C) and lack of oxygen make it inhospitable for humans without specialized equipment. However, its dense atmosphere and low gravity make it a relatively easy place to land and explore compared to other celestial bodies.

What Makes Titan Different from Europa and Enceladus?

Europa and Enceladus are known for their subsurface oceans and potential hydrothermal activity. However, Titan stands out due to its thick atmosphere, surface lakes, and complex organic chemistry, making it a unique target for studying both atmospheric and prebiotic processes.

How Does Titan’s Weather Compare to Earth’s?

Titan experiences methane rain, seasonal weather changes, and wind-driven dunes, all of which resemble weather patterns on Earth. However, instead of water, methane dominates the climate, creating a fascinating and alien environment unlike anything else in the solar system.

RELATED VIDEOS

Why Titan Is Saturn’s Most Intriguing Moon

The Bizarre Characteristics of Titan | Our Solar System's Moons: Titan

£{ https://curiosmos.com/ }

26-02-2025 om 20:32 geschreven door peter  

Well that’s ruined all my lectures! I’ve spent years talking about space and a go to fact is the red colour of Mars. It’s been long believed that it was caused by the same chemical process that creates rust on Earth, a new paper suggests this is not the case! The team of researchers simulated conditions of Mars in a lab and now think a chemical called ferrihydrite, an iron oxide that contains water. It now looks like the planet’s characteristic red colour is due to a time when Mars was covered in water! 

Mars, often called the Red Planet is the fourth planet from the Sun. With a thin atmosphere composed mostly of carbon dioxide, Mars features a stark landscape of vast plains, huge volcanoes including Olympus Mons (the largest in our solar system), and deep canyons like Valles Marineris. Its surface has evidence of ancient rivers and lakes, suggesting Mars once had conditions that could have been suitable for microbial life. Its extreme temperature changes and frequent global dust storms are typical of this harsh world. 

The distinctive red colour goes back centuries; the ancient Egyptians called Mars ‘Her Desher’ which translates to ‘the Red One’, the Romans named it after the God of war and the Chinese called it ‘the fire star.’ Even Babylonian records that go back to 2000 BC noted its red colour. In 1610, when Galileo first observed Mars through a telescope, he confirmed its planetary nature but also noted a more red/brown hue. This was largely due to the poor quality optics of the day and it wasn’t until optics improved that its red colour was observed in all its glory.

A team of researchers led by Dr Adomas Valantinas from Brown University in USA have published a paper in Nature Communications that has analysed the red colouration of Mars and challenge the common view that it’s a rust like material that is responsible. They used data from a number of different Mars missions from NASA’s Reconnaissance Orbiter to ESA’s Mars Express and ExoMars (which has the Colour and Stereo Surface Imaging System onboard.) The data from the orbiters was supported by data from various rovers too and further supplemented by analysis of artificial Mars-like materials in a laboratory.

The analysis, which included experiments and measurements at the University of Grenoble, Brown University and the University of Winnipeg revealed the presence of Ferrihydrite. Not only was it present in the Martian dust, it seemed to be widespread across the Martian landscape. Ferriydrite is an oxyhydroxide mineral (one that contains oxygen, hydrogen and at least one metal.)

The widespread discovery of ferrihydrite on in Martian dust helps us to understand more about the geological history of Mars and its potential habitability. The existence of the ferrihydrite tells us that there were once cooler, wet conditions on Mars since that is a neccessity for the formation of the mineral. It’s an exciting discovery because its one more reason to believe that Mars was once a hospitable world. 

The team are keen to learn more and are now waiting for Martian samples to study directly and for that, they are waiting for the Perseverance rover. It has been systematically collecting core samples of Martian soil from the Jezero Crater and storing them in titanium tubes ready for transport home. Once the team has these, they will be able to check whether their theory about ferrihydrite is correct.

Source : 

• Why Mars could be red

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

26-02-2025 om 18:25 geschreven door peter  

Perseverance rover exploring Mars, analyzing the terrain for signs of ancient life.

Frontiers

• A high-energy laser is fired at a rock sample, causing a small portion to vaporize. This process is known as laser ablation, it removes only a tiny fraction of the material allowing it to analyze samples with little to no thermal damage. 
• The vaporized material is then ionized, meaning the atoms are electrically charged. 
• The mass spectrometer sorts and measures these ions, having the ability to identify their composition down to a micrometer scale. 
• Scientists then look for specific biosignatures, such as the presence of carbon, minerals associated with biological activity, such as dolomite or clay, and microscopic fossil structures. 

Before sending this technology to Mars, scientists needed to prove that it could detect ancient life here on Earth. They chose gypsum samples from the Sidi Boutbal quarry in Algeria, a region rich in sulfate minerals that formed during the Messinian Salinity Crisis when the Mediterranean Sea partially dried up. This event left behind mineral deposits similar to those found on Mars. 

Using the mass spectrometer and high-resolution optical microscopy, scientists discovered long, twisting fossil filaments embedded in the gypsum. These filaments were surrounded by dolomite, clay, and pyrite – minerals known to form in the presence of microbial life.

{ https://interestingengineering.com/ }

26-02-2025 om 17:59 geschreven door peter  

If life ever appeared on Mars, it also likely occurred billions of years ago when the planet was warm and wet. There’s a strong possibility that it was also confined to water for a long time. If it did, then ancient sediments could hold fossilized evidence of microbes.

NASA’s Perseverance rover landed in Jezero Crater, an ancient paleolake with deep sediments, in an attempt to detect evidence of ancient life. Jezero also contains an ancient river delta, an excellent place for sediments to collect and potentially preserve microbial evidence.

Perseverance carries a laser as part of its Supercam instrument, an improved version of MSL Curiosity’s Chemcam instrument and laser. Supercam analyzes rocks and soils and searches for organic compounds that are biosignatures of ancient microbial life.

Now, scientists are working on a new laser that could detect microbial fossils on Mars. The device will examine gypsum deposits for signs of these fossils. The device has already been tested in Mars-analogue gypsum deposits in Algeria.

The method is explained in new research published in Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences. Its title is “The search for ancient life on Mars using morphological and mass spectrometric analysis: an analog study in detecting microfossils in Messinian gypsum.” The lead author is Youcef Sellam, a PhD student at the Physics Institute at the University of Bern.

“Our findings provide a methodological framework for detecting biosignatures in Martian sulfate minerals, potentially guiding future Mars exploration missions,” said Sellam. “Our laser ablation ionization mass spectrometer, a spaceflight-prototype instrument, can effectively detect biosignatures in sulfate minerals. This technology could be integrated into future Mars rovers or landers for in-situ analysis.”

Sellam is referring to sulphate minerals, including gypsum, left behind when bodies of water dry up. The minerals precipitate out and collect as deposits, as has happened repeatedly in the Mediterranean Sea during the Messinian salinity crisis.

“The Messinian Salinity Crisis occurred when the Mediterranean Sea was cut off from the Atlantic Ocean,” said Sellam. “This led to rapid evaporation, causing the sea to become hypersaline and depositing thick layers of evaporites, including gypsum. These deposits provide an excellent terrestrial analog for Martian sulfate deposits.”

We know something similar happened on Mars because gypsum deposits are plentiful. Since these deposits form rapidly, there’s a chance for fossils to be preserved before they can decompose.

“Gypsum has been widely detected on the Martian surface and is known for its exceptional fossilization potential,” explained Sellam. “It forms rapidly, trapping microorganisms before decomposition occurs, and preserves biological structures and chemical biosignatures.”

Gypsum deposits on Earth have been extensively studied for evidence of microbes.

“Prokaryotic communities are often found dwelling within modern evaporites, such as gypsum, forming in sabkhas, lacustrine, and marine terrestrial sediments,” the authors explain in their paper. “They mainly participate in carbon, iron, sulphur, and phosphate biogeochemical cycles, extracting water and using various survival strategies to avoid ecological stresses. Consequently, investigating these fossil filaments may enhance our comprehension of the cryptic conditions that led to the formation of the Primary Lower Gypsum unit during the Messinian Salinity Crisis, the biosignature preservation potential of gypsum, and the possible preservation of such fossils in ancient, hydrated sulphate deposits on Mars.”

Detecting evidence in Earth’s gypsum deposits is relatively simple. However, doing it on Mars is rife with challenges. Since scientists already know that Mediterranean gypsum deposits hold evidence of life, Sellam went to test the method there.

Sellam and his co-researchers tested their method at the Sidi Boutbal (SB) quarry in the Lower Chelif basin in Algeria. “The Chelif Basin is one of the largest Messinian peripheral sub-basins, characterized by an elongated and ENE–WSW oriented structure spanning over 260 km in length and 35 km in width,” the authors explain in their paper. The quarry contains gypsum deposits that are tens of meters thick.

The researchers used several methods in their work, including optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and spatially resolved laser ablation mass spectrometry (LIMS). These aren’t new technologies, but combining them into an instrument that can be carried by a rover is new.

In their tests in Algeria, the researchers used a miniature laser-powered mass spectrometer, which can analyze the chemical composition of a sample in detail as fine as a micrometre. They also sampled gypsum and analyzed it using the mass spectrometer and an optical microscope. Many natural rock formations can mimic microbial fossils, so they followed criteria to distinguish between potential microbial fossils and natural rock formations. Microbial fossils display morphology which is irregular, sinuous, and potentially hollow.

In their paper, the authors report finding “a densely interwoven network of brownish, sinuous, and curved fossil filaments of various sizes.”

Their method also detects the presence of chemical elements necessary for life, carbonaceous material, and minerals like clay or dolomite, which can be influenced by the presence of bacteria. “The inner layer of the filament is morphologically and compositionally distinct from the gypsum, mainly composed of Ca, S, O, and traces of Si,” the authors write.

The authors found not only fossil filaments, but also dolomite, clay minerals, and pyrite surrounding the gypsum they were embedded in. This is important because their presence signals the presence of organic life. Prokaryotes supply elements that clays need to form and also help dolomite form, which often forms in the presence of gypsum. The only way that dolomite can form without life present is under high pressures and temperatures. To scientists’ knowledge, those conditions weren’t present on early Mars.

This is interesting progress, but there’s still lots of work to do.

It starts with identifying clay and dolomite in Martian gypsum. Along with other biosignatures, this indicates that fossilized life is there. If the system can identify other chemical minerals, that would help, too. Ultimately, finding organically formed filaments at the same time would be solid evidence that the planet once supported life.

“While our findings strongly support the biogenicity of the fossil filament in gypsum, distinguishing true biosignatures from abiotic mineral formations remains a challenge,” cautioned Sellam. “An additional independent detection method would improve the confidence in life detection. Additionally, Mars has unique environmental conditions, which could affect biosignature preservation over geological periods. Further studies are needed.”

If this method proves to be reliable, it’ll have to wait a while before being implemented.

The ESA’s Rosalind Franklin rover will launch to Mars in 2028. It will look for subsurface chemical and morphological evidence of life. Its instruments have already been chosen. Other nations and agencies have missions to Mars in the planning and proposal stages, but none of them are full-featured rovers like Curiosity and Perseverance.

However, another rover mission to Mars in the future is almost a certainty. Maybe this technology will be ready to go by then.

“Although the Messinian Salinity Crisis, during which the Primary Lower Gypsum formed, remains only partially understood, future astrobiological investigations on Mars should consider hydrated sulphate deposits as promising indicators of ancient Martian environmental conditions. This contribution underscores that hydrated sulphates serve as archives of biological history on Earth and potentially on Mars, should evidence of past life be found,” the authors conclude.

• Press Release: Laser-powered device tested on Earth could help us detect microbial fossils on Mars
• Published Research: The search for ancient life on Mars using morphological and mass spectrometric analysis: an analog study in detecting microfossils in Messinian gypsum

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

26-02-2025 om 17:44 geschreven door peter  

A Tantalizing Worldlet

Certainly, asteroid Kamo’oalewa is an intriguing space rock. An Apollo Group Near Earth Asteroid, Kamo’oalewa is a rare quasi-satellite of the Earth. Discovered on the night of April 27^th, 2016 from the Haleakala Observatory, the asteroid received the provisional designation 2016 HO3. The formal name means ‘oscillating fragment’ in the Hawaiian language. The asteroid currently fluctuates from being a quasi-satellite and horseshoe orbit between the Sun-Earth L1-L2 and L4-L5 Lagrange points, respectively. One day—perhaps a 100 million of years or so in the future—Kamo’oalewa may ultimately strike the Earth or the Moon.

A reddish object, Kamo’oalewa is either an S- or L-type asteroid, about 40 to 100-meters in size. The asteroid also bears a striking spectral resemblance to Apollo 14 and Luna 24 soil returns, suggesting it may in fact be ejecta from the impact that formed the Giordano Bruno crater on the Moon. The farside crater is thought to be about 4 million years old.

Following Asteroid Kamo’alewa

A recent study out of the European Space Agency’s Near-Earth Objects Coordination Centre (NEOCC) entitled Astrometry, Orbit Determination and Thermal Inertia of the Tianwen-2 Target Asteroid (469219) Kamo’oalewa is looking to better understand the tiny world ahead of the mission’s arrival. Specifically, the study looks to refine the orbit of the asteroid, and understand how the Yarkovsky and YORP (Yarkovsky-O’Keefe-Radzievskii-Paddack) effects act on the orbit and rotation of the asteroid over time. The Yarovsky Effect is the result of how sunlight alters the path of small asteroids over time, as they absorb solar energy and re-emit it as heat. YORP is a similar phenomena, but includes the scattering of sunlight due to the shape and surface structure of the asteroid. Kamo’oalewa is a fast rotator, spinning on its axis once every 27 minutes. This will add to the challenge of grabbing a sample.

“We observed Kamo’oalewa and precisely measured its position in the sky,” lead researcher on the study Marco Fenucci (ESA/ESRIN/NEO Coordination Centre) told Universe Today. “Thanks to these new measurements, we were able to determine the Yarkovsky effect with a signal-to-noise ratio of 14, and the overall accuracy of the orbit was improved.”

The study used current observations from the Calar Alto Observatory in Spain and Loiano Astronomical Station based in Italy, as well as pre-discovery observations found in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) from 2004. These were especially challenging for the team to incorporate, as SDSS used a unique drift scan method to complete images. Also, an NEO asteroid like Kamo’oalewa has a relatively fast proper motion against the starry background. These two factors presented a challenge to pinning the asteroid’s time and location down in earlier images.

An Enigmatic World

“Thanks to the accurate measurement of the Yarkovsky effect on Kamo’oalewa, we were able to estimate the surface thermal inertia,” says Fenucci. “Our best estimate indicates that the thermal inertia is smaller than that of Bennu and Ryugu (the target for JAXA’s Hayabusa2 mission). A low value of thermal inertia is usually due to the presence of regolith on the surface of the asteroid. The presence of regolith was not expected on such fast rotators.”

Certainly, the tiny world is worthy of further scrutiny. Any information will be handy leading up the Tianwen-2’s arrival. Like NASA’s OSIRIS-REx, which sampled asteroid 101955 Bennu in 2020, Tianwen-2 will use a touch-and-go sample technique, in addition to an anchor-and-attach method to acquire its samples of asteroid Kamo’oalewa.

“Kamo’oalewa will be the smallest asteroid visited by a spacecraft, and also the one with the shortest rotation period,” says Fenucci. “In terms of composition, the spectrum is similar to that of S-type asteroids, for example, Itokawa or Eros.” The reddish aspect of the asteroid in the visible-to-near infrared part of the spectrum, however, remains a mystery. “This is a typical feature of lunar regolith,” says Fenucci. “However, this particular feature can also be caused by space weathering. The Tianwen-2 mission should give an answer to the question of the origin of Kamo’oalewa.”

Tianwen-2 Mission Timeline

Currently rendezvous with the asteroid is set for 2026, with a departure in 2027. The CNSA team hopes to nab about 100 grams of Kamo’oalewa, about the mass of medium-sized apple. After that, the mission will dispatch its return capsule on Earth flyby in late 2027. Then, it will head onward to explore periodic comet 311/P PanSTARRS. The mission will reach the comet in 2034.

China has certainly taken a prudent, incremental path to space exploration. CNSA’s Chang’e program has returned samples of the lunar near and far side. Tianwen-1 was successful at Mars, scoring a combination orbiter, lander and rover on the Red Planet, all in one mission. China also has long term plans to combine these proven techniques in a Mars sample return mission of their own. This could launch as early as 2028.

It will be exciting to see asteroid Kamo’oalewa up close, as Tianwen-2 attempts to unravel the origin story for this elusive world.

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

26-02-2025 om 17:30 geschreven door peter  

 Georgina Jedikovska

{ https://interestingengineering.com/ }

25-02-2025 om 00:16 geschreven door peter