Western researchers, leading an international team, have shown that the first ‘real chance’ of Mars developing life started early, 4.48 billion years ago, when giant, life-inhibiting meteorites stopped striking the Red Planet. The findings not only clarify possibilities for Earth’s nearest neighbour, but may reset the timeline for life on our home planet, as well. Source: https://phys.org/news/2019-06-resets-timeline-life-mars.html…
Tag: meteorites
Cementing our place in space
As your dog drags you around the block for his morning walk, you’re probably not thinking about the wonders of the neighborhood sidewalk. But that concrete is pretty great. Next to water, it’s the most widely used material on Earth. In the future, concrete may be equally useful off the planet—when humans construct a permanent base on the moon. They’ll need…
The tell-tale clue to how meteorites were made, at the birth of the solar system
April 26, 1803 was an unusual day in the small town of L’Aigle in Normandy, France – it rained rocks. Source: https://phys.org/news/2019-06-tell-tale-clue-meteorites-birth-solar.html…
Mud ball meteorites rain down in Costa Rica
“Mud ball” meteorites – full of clays, organics and water – are unique among space rocks. And a lot of them fell in April 2019 on a small town in Costa Rica, much to the delight of scientists. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/mudball-meteorite-fall-aguas-zarcas-costa-rica-2019…
Earth’s Oldest Meteorite Collection Just Found in the Driest Place on the Planet
Researchers scouring the desert for space rocks found the oldest collection of meteorites on Earth. Source: https://www.livescience.com/65558-atacama-desert-has-meteors-for-days.html
Comet Halley’s 2 meteor showers
The famous Comet Halley spawns the Eta Aquariids – going on now – and the Orionids in October. Plus where the comet is now, parent bodies of other meteor showers … and Isaac Newton’s Vis-viva equation, his poetic rendition of instantaneous motion. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/comet-halley-parent-of-2-meteor-showers…
State-of-the-art imaging uncovers the exciting life history of an unusual Mars meteorite
With human and sample-return missions to Mars still on the drawing board, geologists wishing to study the red planet rely on robotic helpers to collect and analyse samples. Earlier this year we said goodbye to NASA’s Opportunity rover, but Insight landed in November 2018, and several space agencies have Mars rover missions on their books for the next few years. But…