Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Category: habitats – Page 90

The Orion Nebula is a diffuse nebula situated in the Milky Way, being south of Orion’s Belt in the constellation of Orion. It is one of the brightest nebulae, and is visible to the naked eye in the night sky. M42 is located at a distance of 1,344 ± 20 light years and is the closest… This wide-field view of the Orion Nebula (Messier 42).

In one of the most detailed astronomical images ever produced, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope is offering an unprecedented look at the Orion Nebula. This turbulent star-formation region is one of astronomy’s most dramatic and photogenic celestial objects.

This crisp image reveals a tapestry of star formation, from the dense pillars of gas and dust that may be the homes of fledgling stars to the hot, young, massive stars that have emerged from their gas-and-dust cocoons and are shaping the nebula with their powerful ultraviolet light.

Continue reading “Zooming on the Orion Nebula” | >

This op-ed originally appeared in the June 10, 2019 issue of SpaceNews magazine.

If humanity is to ever settle new planets, we will need radically new technologies; this much is obvious. But we may already have the perfect material to step up and fill the role: graphene. It is easily transported, easily manipulated, and an abundance of carbon in the galaxy could bode well for graphene, which is a carbon-based material. Its strength and versatility could well become a crucial component in colonization. For instance, spacecraft filled with advanced, massive 3D printers could ferry intrepid settlers to new corners of the galaxy, supplying a near-endless supply of material and equipment, perhaps even being used to construct homes that can withstand the conditions of other worlds.

Graphene’s discovery in 2004 sparked the flame of endless possibility within the science and technology communities due to its astounding properties. Only a single atomic layer thick and constructed in a lattice, honeycomb-like formation, graphene is nearly 200 times stronger than steel and better at conducting electricity and heat than any other conductor. It’s flexible, allows 97 percent of white light to pass through it (making it perfect for solar energy), and the list of properties continues.

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Social media influencer Khalil Underwood made the stunning observation that bees outside his house were having an adverse reaction to the California earthquake.

“YO THE BEES ARE FREAKING OUT AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE ME JUST HAD!!!!!” Underwood tweeted on Friday. “Theres like 70 on the floor just buzzing & dying.”

This morning, he shared a video showing thousands of bees lying dead or twitching in his driveway.

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Down in the deep ocean, where the Sun’s rays don’t penetrate, there dwells a beast so perfectly efficient it has remained practically unchanged for 200 million years. It’s called the bluntnose sixgill shark (Hexanchus griseus), and, like many deep-sea creatures, its lifestyle remains something of a mystery.

Scientists have managed to bring them up to the surface to tag them for tracking in the past. But under normal circumstances, they prefer the darker waters of the meso- and bathypelagic zones (up to 2,500 metres or 8,200 feet deep), coming into shallower waters only under the cover of night to feed.

Since being brought up to the surface can disorient and discombobulate the sharks, the data collected afterwards may not be a true representation of their normal movements. So a team of scientists sought to do something that’s never been accomplished before: tag a sixgill shark in its natural habitat.

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Biology student Mattia Menchetti performed an experiment on a colony of European paper wasps which yielded some very colorful results. Paper wasps are known for their water-resistant nests constructed out of fibers of dead wood and plant stems which have been chewed into a pulp and mixed with saliva. Menchetti provided a captive colony of these wasps with colored paper and in a beautiful display of entomological artwork, the insects produced a vibrant, rainbow nest.

Menchetti began by giving the wasps bits of yellow paper, and slowly introduced more and more multicolored sheets. The colony happily made use of the material to construct a sturdy, technicolor home to house their larvae. Paper wasps are some of the most common wasp species, typically seen in backyards around North America. They tend to establish a single nest across multiple seasons and generations; for this reason, their homes must be incredibly durable. A protein found in the saliva of these wasps is actually so effective at waterproofing their nests that it has been used by scientists to construct a biodegradable drone.

Menchetti has performed a variety of scientific studies about insects, mammals, and the ecology of alien species, which he explains in further detail on his website.

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Wherever there are people, the party is sure to follow. Well, a party of microbes, at least. That is what scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory have found after a 30-day microbial observation of the inflatable lunar/Mars analog habitat (IMAH).

What is an “analog habitat?” For NASA, analogs are experiments and processes that are developed and tested on the ground in the confines of special laboratories on Earth. Because of the danger, distance, and expense of space flight, it makes good sense to test out conditions that space travelers will face — before they ever launch.

For NASA, there are five different space stresses evaluated in analog missions. These stresses are the subject of analog missions that often make use of a carefully designed habitat to replicate space conditions. These five challenges are:

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