Category: NASA

In the early 2030s, NASA plans to deliver pieces of Mars to Earth. This decade will see missions to Titan and Europa, the moons of Saturn and Jupiter, where life may well exist. Anthony Ricardi, professor of invasive ecology and aquatic ecosystems, suggests that without technical analysis it will be difficult to distinguish alien organisms from terrestrial life.

The science fiction novel and movie “Andromeda Strain” described in detail what would happen if a deadly alien microbe made its way to Earth, and the world would have to look for means to contain it. Despite the fact that the author of the novel, Michael Crichton, rather fantasized about the likelihood of such an invasion, in 2013, researchers described a new bacterial life form. She was less than 95% similar to her closest genetic relative. The found bacterium was called tersicoccus phoenicis — in translation it means something like “clean room error”, since it was found in the sterile rooms of NASA and ESA spacecraft located at a distance of almost two thousand kilometers from each other.

Superimposed on this example is the fact that some experts believe in the theory of panspermia, which states that life first originated not on Earth at all, but somewhere in the universe, and was brought here by falling meteorites or comets.

This idea can easily be turned in the opposite direction. For example, in 2019, an Israeli spacecraft with slow—moving vehicles, one of the most indestructible life forms known on Earth, inadvertently fell to the surface of the Moon. Slow walkers can withstand extreme temperatures and pressure, including the vacuum of space.

One of the most terrifying scenarios for NASA and other space agencies is the unexpected spread of an alien virus on Earth. With each mission, the agency is making more and more efforts to ensure that none of these scenarios become a reality.

However, some researchers believe that the current threat prevention standards are not enough: with the advent of increasingly ambitious missions and private space companies, the risk of cross-fee pollution increases.

After analyzing the lunar soil brought by the Chinese Chang’e-5 spacecraft, their team found that the sample contains compounds rich in iron and titanium substances that can work as a catalyst to produce desired products, such as oxygen, using sunlight and carbon dioxide.

Based on these observations, the team proposed a strategy for “extraterrestrial photosynthesis “. Basically, the system will use lunar soil for water electrolysis , extracted on the moon and from astronauts, into oxygen and hydrogen. Carbon dioxide exhaled by the future “inhabitants of the Moon” is also collected and combined with hydrogen obtained by electrolysis of water in the process of hydrogenation , catalyzed by lunar soil.

As a result of this process, hydrocarbons such as methane are formed, which can be used as fuel. The strategy uses no external energy other than sunlight to produce various desired products such as water, oxygen and fuel that could support life on the lunar base.

One of the stars in it changes brightness once in 62 minutes. This is probably due to the fact that one of its sides is much brighter than the opposite. And the reason for this is the radiation of the pulsar tearing it. It probably represents the pulsar “black widow”, which is slowly absorbing its low-mass companion, and the third star orbiting this duo with a period of 10 thousand Earth years.

“At the moment, about two dozen “black widows” are known in the Milky Way. However, our candidate, who received the designation ZTF J1406+1222, is unique in that it was identified in the optical range by the periodic increase in brightness of the side of the dying star facing the pulsar, and not by the gamma or X-ray radiation of the pulsar itself,” the authors of the study say.

How the system was formed remains a mystery. However, based on the collected data, astronomers suggest that, as in the case of known analogues, ZTF J1406+1222 originated in a globular cluster – a dense constellation of old stars – which for a long time slowly drifted to the center of the Milky Way, where the gravity of the central supermassive black hole was torn apart, leaving behind many disparate systems.

According to NASA experts, asteroid 2009 JF1 will fly by the Earth at a minimum distance tomorrow.

Scientists said that if a celestial body collides with our planet, the force of the explosion will reach 230 kilotons in TNT equivalent, which is ten times more than in the explosion in Hiroshima in 1945.

However, the probability of a collision is negligible and is 1:140,000. NASA said that the size of the asteroid is 10 meters, so the inhabitants of the planet have nothing to fear.

Launching satellites using traditional rockets is quite expensive. In this regard, many engineers are looking for alternative ways: for example, to launch miniature rockets from high-flying aircraft.

Spin Launch is developing one of these alternative methods. According to its concept, the device is unwound in a centrifuge with centripetal acceleration up to 10 thousand g, after which it is released and it flies up into the pipe. During the test, a projectile similar to a large bullet flew out of the A-33 “Suborbital Mass Accelerator” at a speed of 1600 kilometers per hour. The flight took 82 seconds, the projectile reached a height of 7620 meters.

During this launch, the accelerator was not working at full capacity. After completion of the work, the full-scale L100 accelerator will have to shoot a 200-kilogram load at a speed of 8000 kilometers per hour into the stratosphere, after which the rocket engines would finish the maneuver and put the device into a stable orbit.

They managed to figure it out thanks to a large-scale computer model that has been run more than 400,000 times.

According to calculations, the last day for life on Earth should come in the year 1000 002 021. It is at this moment that deoxygenation will reach peak values – an inevitable consequence of an increase in solar fluxes. The process of exchange of restoring energy flows between the planet’s mantle and a system consisting of the ocean, atmosphere and crust, was able to accurately simulate a computer. The named date is not final, because it may shift downwards. But nevertheless, humanity still has 1 billion years to choose a new habitat.

“Elon Musk’s idea of a million people settling on Mars is a dangerous misconception. Living on Mars is no better than living at the South Pole or on top of Mount Everest,” Rees said during a speech at the World Government Summit in Dubai.

American astrophysicist Neil Degrasse Tyson agreed with him. In his opinion, in order for the colonizers’ life on Mars to be comfortable, the planet needs to be “turned” into Earth. In addition, Tyson considers it unrealistic to move to another planet in order to escape from a possible catastrophe on Earth. He believes that it is easier to prevent this catastrophe than to create suitable conditions for life on Mars.

At the same time, Tyson urged to support “young people” for whom space serves as a source of inspiration.

In about one billion years, the Earth’s atmosphere will be almost completely deprived of oxygen and enriched with methane, planetary scientists said.

“One of the indicators of extraterrestrial life is the oxygen-rich atmosphere, which suggests the presence of plants and photosynthesis. The modern atmosphere of the Earth with a high oxygen content is a distinctive feature of its biosphere, but the duration of its existence is unknown, especially in the distant future,” the authors of the study say.

Planetary scientists assume that the detection of oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere is possible only for 20-30% of the time of its entire history and, if this is true for other potentially habitable worlds, then we need to rely on additional biosignatures in the search for extraterrestrial life.

It is a red dwarf located 32 light-years from the Sun. The planets have a dense rocky shell. They are larger and twice as massive as the Earth.

The planet closest to the star was designated HD 260655 b. Its radius is about 1.24 Earth’s, and its mass is 2.14 times the mass of our planet. According to scientists, the density of bedrock is 6.2g/cm3.

The planet makes a complete revolution around the star in 2.77 Earth days. The temperature on its surface reaches 435 degrees Celsius.

The second planet was named HD 260655 c. It is larger and more massive, its mass is 3.0 times the mass of the Earth. The planet is located at a distance of 0.047 astronomical units from the star (1 AU is the distance between the Earth and the Sun), makes a complete revolution in 5.7 days, and the temperature reaches 283 degrees Celsius.

Scientists have concluded that the density of the first planet fully corresponds to the Earth. The second one is probably devoid of iron and consists entirely of silicates.