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6 days ago | 
astrobiology.com | Keith Cowing
Ocean Worlds Exploration and the Search For LifeAuthors: NOW Co-Leads & Steering CommitteeNetwork for Ocean Worlds (NOW)The NOW NASA Decadal Astrobiology Research and Exploration Strategy Position Paper (with endorsements)Original postingPreambleOcean Worlds in the outer Solar System, with liquid water oceans in contact with rocky seafloors, represent the highest priority for our community in the search for extant life beyond Earth [1].
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6 days ago | 
astrobiology.com | Keith Cowing
Using the Korea Microlensing Telescope Network (KMTNet), an international team of researchers has discovered that super-Earth exoplanets are more common across the universe than previously thought, according to a new study.
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6 days ago | 
astrobiology.com | Keith Cowing
This study is jointly completed by Dr. Weijia Sun (Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences), Dr. Hrvoje Tkalčić (The Australian National University), Dr. Marco G. Malusà (University of Milano-Bicocca), and Dr. Yongxin Pan (Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences). Liquid water plays a crucial role in regulating the habitability of Mars.
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6 days ago | 
astrobiology.com | Keith Cowing
The hydrothermal field Menez Gwen was the target location of the first dive of the ROV MARUM-QUEST 5000 at a water depth of about 830 meters. During the dive, which lasted several hours, the team successfully tested the system, took samples and documented everything. During expedition M210 of the METEOR, geochemical and biological samples will be taken from hydrothermal vents along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge in the North Atlantic.
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6 days ago | 
astrobiology.com | Keith Cowing
Meeting OverviewNASA’s Exoplanet Program Analysis Group (ExoPAG) meetings are a vital platform where the science community can actively shape the future of exoplanet exploration. By participating in the ExoPAG, you have the unique opportunity to influence NASA by proposing and contributing to Science Interest Groups (SIGs) and Study Analysis Groups (SAGs).
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6 days ago | 
astrobiology.com | Keith Cowing
We report observations of comet C/2014 UN271 (Bernardinelli-Bernstein) carried out on UT 2024 March 8 and 17 at a heliocentric distance (rH) of 16.6 au using the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA). The CO (J=2-1) line at 230 GHz was detected along with continuum emission from its dust coma and large (βΌ140 km) nucleus, revealing the nature of the activity drivers and outgassing kinematics of the largest Oort cloud comet discovered to date.
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6 days ago | 
astrobiology.com | Keith Cowing
A growing body of evidence suggests that molecular oxygen (O2) accumulated in some shallow marine environments beneath the effectively anoxic Archaean atmosphere 4.0 to 2.5 billion years (Ga) ago. Yet, the temporal and spatial distribution of these oxygen oases is not well known.
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1 week ago | 
nasawatch.com | Keith Cowing
Keith’s note: The current Administration’s erasure of science across various government agencies is being dialed up. NOAA has been hit. Now NSF is getting whacked. And you should know NASA is not going to escape. According to this AAAS/Science article: NSF faces radical shake-up as officials abolish its 37 divisions: “The National Science Foundation (NSF), already battered by White House directives and staff reductions, is plunging into deeper turmoil.
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1 week ago | 
astrobiology.com | Keith Cowing
Astrobiology.com Editor’s note: Recently the Fram2 mission took four astronaut explorers on an orbital path that covered both of our planet’s polar regions. This was the fist human mission to orbit Earth at an inclination of 90° i.e. over both the North and South poles. The Fram2 mission was named to honor the Norwegian exploration ship “Fram” which conducted some of the most iconic, initial explorations of Earth’s polar regions.
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1 week ago | 
astrobiology.com | Keith Cowing
The TRAPPIST-1 planetary system is observationally favorable for studying if planets orbiting M stars can retain atmospheres and host habitable conditions. Recent JWST secondary eclipse observations of TRAPPIST-1 c rule out a thick CO2 atmosphere but do not rule out atmospheric water vapor or its photochemical product, oxygen. Given the high expected escape rate, maintenance of atmospheric water vapor would require a present-day water source, such as volcanic outgassing.
