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“If Martian life ever existed, even if viable lifeforms are not now present on Mars, their macromolecules and viruses would survive much, much longer,” says study lead author Michael Daly, a pathologist at Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, in a statement. “That strengthens the probability that, if life ever evolved on Mars, this will be revealed in future missions.”

Mars is an exceedingly hostile place. The planet’s surface is dry and frozen, and cosmic radiation and solar protons are constantly bombarding it. But that may not have always been the case—scientists believe water flowed on Mars between 2 and 2.5 billion years ago, which would’ve made the planet slightly more hospitable.

Researchers were curious to know what kind of life might have evolved—and, potentially, survived into the present—on the Red Planet. To attempt to answer that question, they mimicked the cold, arid conditions of Mars here on Earth with six species of microorganisms.

Mars may not be the geologically dead world we thought it was, as hints of magma have been discovered underground.

The Red Planet is thought to have been volcanically active in the past, but not for many millions of years. Now, by studying a cluster of more than 20 seismic events on Mars using data from NASA’s InSight lander mission, Simon Stähler at ETH Zurich in Switzerland and his colleagues have uncovered a likely magma deposit near Cerberus Fossae, a region of fissures created by fault lines.

InSight landed on Mars in 2018 with the objective of studying seismic waves that travel across the planet’s surface and from deep within its interior. By investigating the speed and frequency of these waves, we can better understand Mars’s geological structure.

Are we alone in the universe? What could a future for humans in space look like? And what would Creon’s advise to Elon Musk be if he wants to make a self-sufficient mass colony there? This Hope Drop features Creon Levit, chief technologist and director of R&D at Planet Labs.

Creon Levit is chief technologist at Planet Labs, where he works to move the world toward existential hope via novel satellite technologies. He also hosts Foresight Institute’s Space Group.

Creon speaks on:

- His experiences working with NASA & Planet Labs.
- Natural systems technologies.
- Regenerative Agriculture.
- His vision for the future.
- And much more!

Creon is chief technologist and director of R&D at Planet Labs, and a Foresight Institute senior fellow. He previously worked at NASA Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, where he was one of the founders of the NAS (NASA Advanced Supercomputing) division, co-PI on the Virtual Wind Tunnel project, co-founder of the NASA Molecular Nanotechnology Group (the first federally funded research lab devoted to molecular nanotechnology), co-PI on the hyperwall project, investigator on the Columbia accident investigation board, member of the NASA engineering and safety center, investigator on the millimeter-wave thermal rocket project, the Stardust re-entry observation campaign, PI on the LightForce project, special assistant to the center director, and chief scientist for the programs and projects directorate.

Submit your contribution to the storytelling bounty from Creon’s prompt to “Imagine a shift in human nature where we could all have love, community, technology, and adventure, as well as lack of severe hardship or fear.” here: https://680d4kcs6ki.typeform.com/to/jHROTs6z.

The newly-designed dish allows users to have a permanent high-performance Starlink installation on their vehicles.

SpaceX announced it is now accepting orders for its new “flat high-performance” Starlink dish for moving vehicles.

In a Tuesday tweet, the private space firm explained that the new offering allows customers to “enjoy high-speed, low-latency internet while on the move!”

The company that will work with US Space Force has also won some NASA contracts.

It’s official: robots are here to stay in space. Robotics software and engineering company PickNik Robotics announced on Tuesday that it has won a SpaceWERX contract to work on robotics for the US Space Force, according to a press release acquired by IE

In addition, the company recently won a NASA Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I contract for continued work on supervised autonomy for space robotics, as well as a Colorado Advanced Industries Accelerator (AIA) grant for space robotics.

Three wins.


The company has three big wins: a SpaceWERX contract, a NASA Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I contract and a Colorado Advanced Industries Accelerator (AIA) grant for space robotics.