Space

No Simple Genetic Test To Separate Earth From Mars Life- Zubrin's Argument Examined

NASA hopes to go full speed ahead with its "Road to Mars" to land humans on the planet, and Elon Musk wants to build a city of a million on Mars by 2100, but it is rare for anyone in the debates to mention planetary protection. I think many assu ...

Article - Robert Walker - Mar 11 2016 - 12:19pm

Can We Risk Microbes From Human Crashes- On Mars? If Not, What Happens To Dreams To Colonize The Planet?

I wrote this soon after ExoMars's successful launch to Mars, 2015. Hurray! In the program about the mission, before and during the launch, the presenters talked about the care they take to sterilize the lander of microbes to protect Mars. And indeed, ...

Article - Robert Walker - Mar 21 2016 - 5:28am

Solar Storms Trigger Jupiter's 'Northern Lights'

Solar storms trigger Jupiter's intense 'Northern Lights' by generating a new X-ray aurora that is eight times brighter than normal and hundreds of times more energetic than Earth's aurora borealis, new research finds.  It is the first ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 25 2016 - 8:26am

Simple Ways To See Nibiru Is Totally Nuts- And Limits On Planets Hiding In Our Solar System

In case you haven't heard of it, Nibiru is a totally nuts idea. Yet it gets many people very scared. I started to get messages about it as a result of writing articles about asteroid impacts, and how we can detect and deflect asteroids. It is possibl ...

Article - Robert Walker - Feb 7 2017 - 10:09pm

Could Anything Make Humans Extinct In The Near Future?

Untitled Document This is one of the questions I get asked most often since I started to cover the topic of asteroid impacts. Will humans will become extinct within a decade, or within a century? And can this happen through natural disasters? For instance ...

Article - Robert Walker - Dec 17 2018 - 11:00pm

Case For Moon- New Positive Future For Humans In Space- Open Ended With Planetary Protection At Its Heart

If you are keen on Mars colonization, it is not hard to find a future vision to inspire you. Elon Musk has plans to send a hundred people at a time in his proposed "Mars Colonial Transporter" and found a city of 80,000, and eventually a million. ...

Article - Robert Walker - May 21 2016 - 10:26pm

1917 Astronomical Plate Discovered To Be First-Ever Evidence Of Exoplanet System

You can never predict what treasure might be hiding in your own basement- a year ago, a 1917 image on an astronomical glass plate from the Carnegie Observatories' collection shows the first-ever evidence of a planetary system beyond our own Sun.  Her ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 18 2016 - 9:01am

Unique Fragment From Earth’s Formation Returns Home

Unlike most asteroids, C/2014 S3 (PANSTARRS) was formed in the inner Solar System at the same time as the Earth itself, but was ejected at a very early stage and has not been baked by billions of years near the Sun. Instead, it has been preserved in the be ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 29 2016 - 2:02pm

Cosmic Dust Reveals Earth's Ancient Atmosphere

Using the oldest fossil micrometeorites- space dust- ever found, Monash University-led research has made a surprising discovery about the chemistry of Earth's atmosphere 2.7 billion years ago. The findings of a new study published today in the journa ...

Article - News Staff - May 13 2016 - 7:27am

Jupiter: Europa's Ocean Could Have Earth-Like Chemical Balance, Even Without Volcanic Hydrothermal Activity

One belief is that Jupiter's moon Europa has a deep, hidden ocean of salty liquid water beneath its icy shell. Whether the Jovian moon has the raw materials and chemical energy in the right proportions to support biology is a topic of speculation and ...

Article - News Staff - May 18 2016 - 7:30am