Three weeks from Sunday night, an amiable, whip-smart engineer named Ray Baker will be staring into his computer screen at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, hopeful and helpless - or, as he puts it, "sweating blood."
Space Exploration
Jul 16, 2012
5
0
After decades spent scanning the heavens for signs of life elsewhere in the cosmos, astronomer Jill Tarter is stepping back, and letting a colleague take charge of the quest.
Space Exploration
May 22, 2012
13
0
The search for life should be an essential component of a sample return mission from Mars, according to a recent report examining the science behind such a venture.
Space Exploration
Apr 20, 2012
12
0
Photosynthesis maintains Earth's habitability for life as we know it, and shapes the way we search for habitable worlds around distant stars. Scientists have discovered a microbe that can use low-energy light to perform photosynthesis. ...
Cell & Microbiology
Mar 16, 2012
7
3
Two metres below the surface of the Atacama Desert there is an 'oasis' of microorganisms. Researchers from the Center of Astrobiology (Spain) and the Catholic University of the North in Chile have found it in hypersaline ...
Earth Sciences
Feb 16, 2012
4
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Australian scientists who modelled conditions on Mars to examine how much of the red planet was habitable said that "large regions" could sustain life.
Space Exploration
Dec 12, 2011
41
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In searching for life in the universe, a field known as astrobiology, scientists rely on Earth as a template for biological and evolutionary processes. This includes searching for Earth analogs, rocky planets that orbit within ...
Astrobiology
Oct 19, 2023
0
15
Astronomers are currently searching for signs of life in the "habitable zones" of nearby stars, which is defined as the band around a star where liquid water can potentially exist. But a recent paper argues that we need to ...
Astrobiology
Apr 10, 2023
1
33
Robotic rovers are currently exploring the surface of Mars. Part of a rover's mission is to survey the planet for signs of life. There might be nothing to find—but what if there is, and the rovers just can't "see" it?
Planetary Sciences
Feb 25, 2023
1
43
The study of exoplanets, worlds which orbit stars other than our sun, is currently being transformed by the new James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). We will shortly gain our first insight into conditions on rocky, potentially ...
Astrobiology
Oct 24, 2022
0
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