Recent News
- Found: Another molecule needed at the origin of life
- For real: A new way to produce electricity
- New: Single molecule sensor array
- Finally(?)…artificially making blood stem cells in quantity
- Update: Chinese space station
- Looking at the strange face of antimatter
- Life on Mars, if it exists, is below the surface
- A different kind of lens for time
- Oh please, “skinput”
- Update: More Moon water
- Cutting cancer cell immortality short
- First time: Watching the unfolding story of proteins in living cells
- Newly named: Copernicum (element 112)
- Making jet fuel from biomass
- Nanobubbles are really slick
Tag Archives: Moon
Enceladus has (at least) a sea, possibly life
It’s all but official. New data released from the Cassini spacecraft has confirmed that Enceladus, one of the moons of Saturn, has liquid water – as a sea – underneath its exterior layer of ice. The idea of Enceladus having large bodies of liquid water is not new but thanks to Cassini, the evidence is [...]
Posted in News: Exogenous Life Also tagged ammonia, Cassini, Enceladus, Europa, Mars, rocky core, Saturn, tiger stripes, Titan, water jets Leave a comment
To the Moon with reservations
The year is 1966. NASA is preparing the Apollo astronauts for a landing on the Moon. No opportunity to have realistic Moon-like experiences is too cumbersome or expensive, so the astronauts are trucked out to the desert near Tuba City in Arizona. They go a batch at a time to bake their spacesuits and wander [...]
The U.S. in space: Moon, out. Commerce, in.
It’s not like the United States is the only game in space. It wasn’t even the only country with a Moon project. China and Russia both made noises about going to the Moon with men (or women). Still, the U.S. was the pioneer on the Moon – the Apollo Project, “One giant step for mankind…”, [...]
Posted in Essay Also tagged Apollo Program, Cassini, Constellation Program, Kepler, NASA, space Leave a comment
On the Moon or elsewhere: Follow the water
In the detective business, the standard advice is: “Follow the money.” In human space exploration, perhaps somewhat similar advice applies: “Follow the water.” This needs debate, however there are some potent arguments in favor of the notion that human (as differentiated from robotic or probe) exploration of space should go where sources of water are [...]
Posted in Impact: Solar System Also tagged Enceladus, Europa, hydrogen, Mars, moon water, NEOs, oxygen, rocket fuel, space travel, water, water-ice Leave a comment
In the impact plume: More Moon water
Taking measurements of the impact plume from crashing the used rocket-shell of the LCROSS mission into a crater near the south pole of the Moon, NASA scientists have released the first findings: Yes, there is water on the Moon, and at least in this particular crater, a fair amount of it.
Update: More Moon water