12 December 2018
OSIRIS-REx discovers ingredients for water on Bennu
...-REx spacecraft has already found the ingredients for water on Bennu – an indication that the much larger asteroid ... that together form OH. Although not quite the formula for water (that requires an additional hydrogen atom), these hydroxyls are suspected...
12 August 2019
Communicating water-powered CubeSats tested in space by NASA
... have also show-horned in a steam-powered thruster. This method of propulsion requires a heat input of 2.9 W/mN to vapourise the water and support continuous thrust and to help keep the propellant tank warm enough – it must maintain a 45ºC minimum...
October 2018
Could salty brines be the key to microbial life on Mars?
... with extensive, transiently habitable environments in the shallow subsurface ‘soil’. The publication, entitled ‘Shallow transient liquid water environments on present-day Mars, and their implications for life’, reviews the evidence for present day...
October 2021
Mining lunar hydrogen
... layers of varying thickness. The regolith is an intriguing resource both for its mineral content and as a source of water. It is clear that water is a key substance, not only for life but also because its thermal decomposition or electrolysis allows...
October 2017
Colouring our view of the oceans
... and are visible because of their photosynthetic pigments, primarily chlorophyll. Regional seas, coastal zones and inland waters carry especially high algal concentrations due to the abundance of nutrients from the land. Suspended sediments from...
March 2018
Plumes on Europa - tasting an extra-terrestrial ocean
... transported back into the ocean could also contribute to chemosynthetic metabolism. A composite image showing suspected plumes of water vapour erupting at the 7 o’clock position off the limb of Jupiter’s moon Europa. The plumes, photographed by NASA...
