astrobiology

Billions of years ago, Mars was hypothesized to have been a habitable world with flowing liquid water and the potential for life. But directly studying its ancient past is currently limited to orbiters and rovers, as scientists have yet to obtain direct samples from Mars. However, meteorites have been found on Earth to have potentially originated from Mars during large impacts that flung chunks o…

[Astronomy & Astrophysics] We investigate how tidal locking affects the magnetic field generation and magnetospheric protection of Earth-like planets orbiting the habitable zone of M dwarfs. While the role of […] The post Tidal Locking As A Negative Feedback On Earth-like Planetary Dynamos: Consequences For Magnetic Shielding And Habitability appeared first on Astrobiology .

Astrobiologists use new starting points to produce ‘organic’ models of our solar system’s formation.

Sometime in Earth's distant past, nearly 4 billion years ago, our planet's earliest lifeforms somehow...

[NASA] Some of Earth’s microbes likely to hitch a ride to space with human explorers could survive in the shaded nooks and crannies of the Moon’s South Pole region, NASA […] The post Human-Related Microbes May Survive At The Moon’s South Pole appeared first on Astrobiology .

Some signs of an alien civilization are easier to spot than signs of life itself. On technosignatures, from CFCs and industrial gases to the pandemic dip in pollution, and why Earth's most detectable moment might be right now.

Studying the sample could help answer how water arrived on Earth and how life started.

Ingredients for life may have been widespread throughout the Solar System in its early years.

Future missions may be able to take only a small, damaged sample from space back to Earth. A simple analysis tool could help determine whether its contents suggest the presence of life.

The Viking missions paved the way for future Mars missions and helped researchers understand the red planet’s climate and geology.