Oceanic Research
Hunting for Alien Life at the Bottom of the Arctic Ocean 
A team of oceanographers are heading out on a voyage of discovery this month, exploring in detail for the first time a hydrothermal vent field in the Arctic Ocean.
Origin & Evolution of Life
Mixing RNA and DNA To Study How Life Began
For decades, chemists have tested theories for how life began on Earth. One hypothesis has caught the scientific imagination for years: RNA World.
Astrochemistry
Astrochemistry: Discoveries to Inform the Chemical Sciences and Engineering Communities = Proceedings of a Workshop-in Brief
Throughout much of human history, space was thought to be a void in which only ions or radicals existed. It was only in the last half of the 20th century that scientists began to discover the existence of molecules, such as ammonia, in space.
Extrasolar Planets
Energy Budgets for Terrestrial Extrasolar Planets
The pathways through which incoming energy is distributed between the surface and atmosphere has been analyzed for the Earth. However, the effect of the spectral energy distribution of a host star on the energy budget of an orbiting planet may be significant given the wavelength-dependent absorption properties of atmospheric CO2 and water vapor, and surface ice and snow.
Venus
Predicting The Yield of Potential Venus Analogs From TESS And Their Potential for Atmospheric Characterization
The transit method is biased toward short orbital period planets that are interior to their host star's Habitable Zone (HZ).
Extrasolar Planets
An Automated Method to Detect Transiting Circumbinary Planets
To date a dozen transiting "Tatooines" or circumbinary planets (CBPs) have been discovered, by eye, in the data from the Kepler mission; by contrast, thousands of confirmed circumstellar planets orbiting around single stars have been detected using automated algorithms.
Mars
The Composition of Mars
Comparing compositional models of the terrestrial planets provides insights into physicochemical processes that produced planet-scale similarities and differences.
Mars
3D Models Of Mars To Aid Rosalind Franklin Rover In Its Quest For Ancient Life
Scientists at TU Dortmund University have generated high-accuracy 3D models of terrain within the landing ellipse of the ESA/Roscosmos ExoMars rover, Rosalind Franklin. The Digital Terrain Models (DTMs) have a resolution of about 25 cm per pixel and will help scientists to understand the geography and geological characteristics of the region and to plan the path of the rover around the site.
SETI
Allen Telescope Array Upgrade Program Funded
The SETI Institute announced a new gift by Qualcomm founder Franklin Antonio that funds the first phase of a 3-year initiative to revitalize the Allen Telescope Array (ATA).
Biosignatures & Paleobiology
Studying Microbial Mats to Understand Ancient Biosignatures
A recent study supported in part by the NASA Exobiology Program provides further details about lipid biomarkers in stromatolites. The research focuses on microbial mat communities in ponds at Guerrero Negro, Baja California Sur, Mexico.
Geobiology
Rethinking Sulfide in the Ancient Oceans
Researchers supported in part by the Exobiology Program have provided new information about the oxygenation history of the Earth's oceans during the mid-Proterozoic using uranium (U) isotope data.
More top stories from September.
Recent Releases
Recent Status Reports
Calendar
- 23 Sep: Planetary Science Advisory Committee Meeting
- 26 Sep: Astronomy and Astrophysics Advisory Committee Meeting
- 26 Sep: Hearing: Understanding, Forecasting, and Communicating Extreme Weather in a Changing Climate
- 1 Oct: Heliophysics Advisory Committee Meeting
- 3 Oct: STA Meeting WIth Dave Pierce And Dale Nash
- * Submit Your Event | More Events *
Masthead
Tip your editors
tips@spaceref.com