Navigating and mapping rivers has long been a central component in human exploration.  Whether it was exploring the canyons or using the Amazon to try to find , rivers, and our exploration of them, have been extremely important.  Now, scientists have mapped out an entirely new, unique river basin.  This one happens to be on an entirely different planet, and dried up billions of years ago. Three to four billion , Mars did in fact have of water.  Evidence for these rivers has shown up in satellite imagery and rover samples for almost as long as we have been exploring the...…Navigating and mapping rivers has long been a central component in human exploration.  Whether it was exploring the canyons or using the Amazon to try to find , rivers, and our exploration of them, have been extremely important.  Now, scientists have mapped out an entirely new, unique river basin.  This one happens to be on an entirely different planet, and dried up billions of years ago. Three to four billion , Mars did in fact have of water.  Evidence for these rivers has shown up in satellite imagery and rover samples for almost as long as we have been exploring the...WW…

Named for the ancient goddess of fertility, the planet Venus could not be more hostile to life as we know it. Aside from being the hottest planet in the Solar System, Venus has also an atmosphere that is 92 times denser than Earth’s, and regularly experiences sulfuric acid rain. But as we’ve learned from multiple surveys, Venus was once a much milder climate and even had vast oceans on its surface.For astronomers and geologists alike, the burning question is, how much of its water did Venus hold onto during this massive transition? According to by Moa Persson of the (IRF), Venus actually...…Named for the ancient goddess of fertility, the planet Venus could not be more hostile to life as we know it. Aside from being the hottest planet in the Solar System, Venus has also an atmosphere that is 92 times denser than Earth’s, and regularly experiences sulfuric acid rain. But as we’ve learned from multiple surveys, Venus was once a much milder climate and even had vast oceans on its surface.For astronomers and geologists alike, the burning question is, how much of its water did Venus hold onto during this massive transition? According to by Moa Persson of the (IRF), Venus actually...WW…

When you need a robotic arm in space, you call in the experts. Over the past several decades, the Canadian Space Agency has expertly provided robotic arms for the Space Shuttle and International Space Station. And now it will build the next-generation of robotic systems for going to the Moon, called Canadarm3.The CSA says the new robotic arm will be Canada’s contribution to the Lunar Gateway for NASA’s Artemis program, which is becoming the next major international collaboration in human space exploration. CSA leaders add that this is another important step forward in the country’s...…When you need a robotic arm in space, you call in the experts. Over the past several decades, the Canadian Space Agency has expertly provided robotic arms for the Space Shuttle and International Space Station. And now it will build the next-generation of robotic systems for going to the Moon, called Canadarm3.The CSA says the new robotic arm will be Canada’s contribution to the Lunar Gateway for NASA’s Artemis program, which is becoming the next major international collaboration in human space exploration. CSA leaders add that this is another important step forward in the country’s...WW…

For almost a century, astronomers have understood that the Universe is in a state of expansion. Since the 1990s, they have come to understand that as of four billion years ago, the rate of expansion has been speeding up. As this progresses, and the galaxy clusters and filaments of the Universe move farther apart, scientists theorize that the mean temperature of the Universe will gradually decline. But according to new research led by the (CCAPP) at Ohio State University, it appears that the Universe is actually getting hotter as time goes on. After probing the thermal history of the...…For almost a century, astronomers have understood that the Universe is in a state of expansion. Since the 1990s, they have come to understand that as of four billion years ago, the rate of expansion has been speeding up. As this progresses, and the galaxy clusters and filaments of the Universe move farther apart, scientists theorize that the mean temperature of the Universe will gradually decline. But according to new research led by the (CCAPP) at Ohio State University, it appears that the Universe is actually getting hotter as time goes on. After probing the thermal history of the...WW…

Dark matter makes up the vast majority of matter in the universe, but we can’t see it. At least, not directly. Whatever the dark matter is, it must interact with everything else in the universe through gravity, and astronomers have found that if too much dark matter collects inside of red giant stars, it can potentially cut their lifetimes in half.When stars like our sun near the end of their lives, they stop fusing hydrogen in their cores. Instead, the fusion takes place in a shell surrounding a dense core of inert helium – the leftover ash from that nuclear reaction. Over the course of...…Dark matter makes up the vast majority of matter in the universe, but we can’t see it. At least, not directly. Whatever the dark matter is, it must interact with everything else in the universe through gravity, and astronomers have found that if too much dark matter collects inside of red giant stars, it can potentially cut their lifetimes in half.When stars like our sun near the end of their lives, they stop fusing hydrogen in their cores. Instead, the fusion takes place in a shell surrounding a dense core of inert helium – the leftover ash from that nuclear reaction. Over the course of...WW…

Most of the potentially habitable exoplanets we’ve discovered orbit small red dwarf stars. Red dwarfs make up about 75% of the stars in our galaxy. Only about 7.5% of stars are g-type like our Sun. As we look for life on other worlds, red dwarfs would seem to be their most likely home. But red dwarfs pose a serious problem for habitable worlds.Red dwarfs are small and cool stars, so planets would need to orbit close to the star to be warm enough for life. This means the worlds are at greater risk from stellar activity. We’ve long known that red dwarfs can be quite active in their youth....…Most of the potentially habitable exoplanets we’ve discovered orbit small red dwarf stars. Red dwarfs make up about 75% of the stars in our galaxy. Only about 7.5% of stars are g-type like our Sun. As we look for life on other worlds, red dwarfs would seem to be their most likely home. But red dwarfs pose a serious problem for habitable worlds.Red dwarfs are small and cool stars, so planets would need to orbit close to the star to be warm enough for life. This means the worlds are at greater risk from stellar activity. We’ve long known that red dwarfs can be quite active in their youth....WW…

Gravitational-wave astronomy is still in its infancy. LIGO and other observatories have opened a new window on the universe, but their gravitational view of the cosmos is limited. To widen our view, we have the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav).Gravitational waves are created by the motion of massive objects. Most of the gravitational waves we’ve detected come from the merger of black holes. In their last moments, binary black holes orbit each other very quickly, producing rapid and strong gravitational waves. But most of the gravitational waves...…Gravitational-wave astronomy is still in its infancy. LIGO and other observatories have opened a new window on the universe, but their gravitational view of the cosmos is limited. To widen our view, we have the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav).Gravitational waves are created by the motion of massive objects. Most of the gravitational waves we’ve detected come from the merger of black holes. In their last moments, binary black holes orbit each other very quickly, producing rapid and strong gravitational waves. But most of the gravitational waves...WW…

Does it feel like all eyes are on Venus these days? The discovery of the potential biomarker phosphine in the planet’s upper atmosphere last month garnered a lot of attention, as it should. There’s still some uncertainty around what the phosphine discovery means, though.Now a team of researchers claims they’ve discovered the amino acid glycine in Venus’ atmosphere.The paper announcing the finding is titled “.” The lead author is Arijit Manna, a Ph.D. Research Scholar in the Dept. of Physics at Midnapore College in West Bengal, India. The paper is at the pre-print site arxiv.org, which means...…Does it feel like all eyes are on Venus these days? The discovery of the potential biomarker phosphine in the planet’s upper atmosphere last month garnered a lot of attention, as it should. There’s still some uncertainty around what the phosphine discovery means, though.Now a team of researchers claims they’ve discovered the amino acid glycine in Venus’ atmosphere.The paper announcing the finding is titled “.” The lead author is Arijit Manna, a Ph.D. Research Scholar in the Dept. of Physics at Midnapore College in West Bengal, India. The paper is at the pre-print site arxiv.org, which means...WW…

is the technology that is thirty years away, and always will be – according to skeptics at least.  Despite its difficult transition into a reliable power source, the nuclear reactions that power the sun have a wide variety of uses in other fields.  The most obvious is in weapons, where are to this day the most powerful weapons we have ever produced. But there’s another use case that is much less destructive and could prove much more interesting – space drives.The concept fusion drive, called a direct fusion drive (or ) is in development at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory...…is the technology that is thirty years away, and always will be – according to skeptics at least.  Despite its difficult transition into a reliable power source, the nuclear reactions that power the sun have a wide variety of uses in other fields.  The most obvious is in weapons, where are to this day the most powerful weapons we have ever produced. But there’s another use case that is much less destructive and could prove much more interesting – space drives.The concept fusion drive, called a direct fusion drive (or ) is in development at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory...WW…

Does it seem like science is catching up with science fiction? Sometimes it does. Especially when there’s an announcement like this one. A Chinese company says that they’ll be launching an asteroid-mining robot by November. Origin Space is a private company based in Beijing. Though they’re calling this an “asteroid mining robot,” it’s really a pre-cursor mission to actual mining. In reality, NEO-1 as it’s called, will be testing technologies aimed at the eventual mining of asteroids. According to multiple news sources, NEO-1 will be launched on a Chinese Long March rocket as a secondary...…Does it seem like science is catching up with science fiction? Sometimes it does. Especially when there’s an announcement like this one. A Chinese company says that they’ll be launching an asteroid-mining robot by November. Origin Space is a private company based in Beijing. Though they’re calling this an “asteroid mining robot,” it’s really a pre-cursor mission to actual mining. In reality, NEO-1 as it’s called, will be testing technologies aimed at the eventual mining of asteroids. According to multiple news sources, NEO-1 will be launched on a Chinese Long March rocket as a secondary...WW…