NASA has selected 16 cool new futuristic space technology concepts for further study. Four of them are from NASA’s own Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), including a railway system on the moon to move cargo. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/futuristic-space-technology-concepts-nasa-jpl-niac…
Tag: water worlds
Water worlds may be abundant in our galaxy
A new study suggests that our Milky Way galaxy is filled with planets like Earth, containing continents and oceans. If so, life might be common in the Mlilky Way. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/water-common-on-planets-pebble-accretion-milky-way…
A new way of forming planets
In the last 25 years, scientists have discovered over 4000 planets beyond the borders of our solar system. From relatively small rock and water worlds to blisteringly hot gas giants, the planets display a remarkable variety. This variety is not unexpected. The sophisticated computer models, with which scientists study the formation of planets, also spawn very different planets. What the models…
Beneath the surface of our galaxy’s water worlds
Out beyond our solar system, visible only as the smallest dot in space with even the most powerful telescopes, other worlds exist. Many of these worlds, astronomers have discovered, may be much larger than Earth and completely covered in water—basically ocean planets with no protruding land masses. What kind of life could develop on such a world? Could a habitat like…
Scientists lead study of galaxy’s ‘water worlds’
Astrophysical observations have shown that Neptune-like water-rich exoplanets are common in our galaxy. These “water worlds” are believed to be covered with a thick layer of water, hundreds to thousands of miles deep, above a rocky mantle. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-04-scientists-galaxy-worlds.html…
Ripples on Pluto hint at subsurface ocean
A new study of unusual ripples on Pluto’s far side add to the evidence for a subsurface ocean on this distant and cold dwarf planet. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/pluto-subsurface-ocean-new-horizons…
These alien geysers spew life’s building blocks
The Cassini mission to Saturn is over, but scientists still pore over its data. The newest discovery is of organic compounds – the ingredients of amino acids, the building blocks of life – in water vapor plumes from Saturn’s moon Enceladus. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/new-organic-compounds-discovered-in-enceladus-plumes-ingredients-of-amino-acids…
The ‘Lost City’ of Atlantis Massif Could Reveal How Life Survives on Dark, Alien Water Worlds
Simple chemical reactions on hydrothermal vents could power life on dark worlds like Saturn’s world, Enceladus. Source: https://www.livescience.com/65824-lost-city-of-microbes-on-atlantis-massif.html
Unfathomably deep oceans on alien water worlds?
Distant water exoplanets might have oceans thousands of miles deep. That’s in contrast to Earth’s ocean, which is about 6.8 miles (about 11 km) deep at its deepest point. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/exoplanet-water-worlds-deep-oceans-2019-study…