While scientists know there’s water on the Moon, its exact locations and forms remain largely unknown. A trailblazing NASA mission will get some answers.
NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer mission, designed to map and study water on the Moon, will employ innovative instruments to explore surface water dynamics and support future lunar colonies by providing vital data on potential water sources that could be converted into oxygen or fuel.
Unveiling lunar mysteries: nasa’s trailblazer mission.
Bioengineers propose “electro-agriculture,” a method that replaces photosynthesis with a solar-powered reaction converting CO2 into acetate, potentially reducing U.S. agricultural land needs by 94% and supporting controlled indoor farming.
Initial experiments focus on genetically modified acetate-consuming plants like tomatoes and lettuce, with potential future applications in space agriculture.
Revolutionary Electro-Agriculture
Astronomers have discovered one of the fastest-spinning neutron stars ever recorded, known as 4U 1820–30, which rotates an astonishing 716 times per second. Located 26,000 light-years away in the Sagittarius constellation, this neutron star is part of an X-ray binary system where its intense gravity pulls material from a companion white dwarf, triggering explosive thermonuclear bursts.
NASA’s Curiosity rover, currently exploring Gale crater on Mars, is providing new details about how the ancient Martian climate went from potentially suitable for life – with evidence for widespread liquid water on the surface – to a surface that is inhospitable to terrestrial life as we know it.
Although the surface of Mars is frigid and hostile to life today, NASA’s robotic explorers at Mars are searching for clues as to whether it could have supported life in the distant past. Researchers used instruments on board Curiosity to measure the isotopic composition of carbon-rich minerals (carbonates) found in Gale crater and discovered new insights into how the Red Planet’s ancient climate transformed.
“The isotope values of these carbonates point toward extreme amounts of evaporation, suggesting that these carbonates likely formed in a climate that could only support transient liquid water,” said David Burtt of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and lead author of a paper describing this research published October 7 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “Our samples are not consistent with an ancient environment with life (biosphere) on the surface of Mars, although this does not rule out the possibility of an underground biosphere or a surface biosphere that began and ended before these carbonates formed.”
The earthlings are yet again going to experience the breathtaking celestial event known as Leonid meteor shower which will be active from November 3 to December 2 this year and peak overnight from November 16 to 17.
When Earth travels through the debris left behind by comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle the Leonids are produced. It happens during its highly elliptical orbit around the Sun every 33 years, reported Space.
It is worth noting that the Leonids are regarded as some of the fastest meteors, zipping through the sky at 44 miles (71 kilometres) per second, as per NASA.
“The Moon’s South Pole is a completely different environment than where we landed during the Apollo missions,” said Dr. Sarah Noble. “It offers access to some of the Moon’s oldest terrain, as well as cold, shadowed regions that may contain water and other compounds.”
Where will NASA’s Artemis Program precisely land astronauts near the lunar south pole? This is what the famed space agency hopes to figure out as they recently narrowed the list of potential landing regions from 13 to 9, underscoring NASA’s ongoing urgency in selecting a final landing site prior to landing astronauts on the Moon with the Artemis III in the next few years, along with landing the first woman and person of color on the lunar surface, as well. The selected regions will provide scientific opportunities based on geology, terrain, and access to water ice, the latter of which can be used for fuel, drinking, creating oxygen through electrolysis, and much more.
NASA has identified the following potential landing regions not listed in priority: Peak near Cabeus B, Haworth, Malapert Massif, Mons Mouton Plateau, Mons Mouton, Nobile Rim 1, Nobile Rim 2, de Gerlache Rim 2, Slater Plain. Each landing region consists of several square miles with more precise landing sites being determined later.