Ok - So we all play games, read comics and watch Anime / Scifi's / Documentaries that more than often feature Human Exploration of the Great Cosmos. This thread is dedicated to anything SPACE related, be it new news, images you would like to share, shows you think guys should watch or even games that best capture what SPACE represents to us, the hairless apes that call Earth home.

Asteroid craters on Earth shelter life -- and they might do so on planets like Mars as well, a new study suggests.

Micro-organisms have been discovered living deep underneath a site in the U.S. where an asteroid crashed some 35 million years ago, wrote Charles Cockell of the University of Edinburgh’s School of Physics and Astronomy – and similar craters on Mars would be a great spot to probe for aliens
NASA and other leading scientists told FoxNews.com they agree -- and the discovery by Cockell and colleagues should impact future U.S. research on Mars.

“The planetary science community recognizes that the deep subsurface promises to be a protected habitat for potential Martian life," NASA spokesman Dwayne C. Brown told FoxNews.com.

To get beneath the crater on Earth, Cockell and co. drilled nearly two kilometers under one of the largest asteroid impact craters around, in the Chesapeake Bay area. Rock samples showed microbes are unevenly spread throughout the crater formation, which implies the environment is still settling 35 million years after impact.

Heat from the impact of an asteroid collision would have killed everything at the surface of the crater, but fractures on rocks deep below enabled water and nutrients to flow in and support life.

The surface of Mars is seemingly inhospitable to life. But the new research shows that a few inches underground, Mars may be a very different planet, agreed a former leading NASA scientist

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/04/20/mars-craters-safe-haven-for-life/#ixzz1senNxguK


Mars may have been covered with a vast ocean about 3 billion years ago, as shown in this artist's rendition based on actual topography of Mars from NASA Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter. (G. Di Achille)


More recent "True colour" images of Mars

I think that this is a great thread idea, here is something I found, it could open up some avenues it seems:

Two Google billionaires, a famous filmmaker, Microsoft’s former chief software architect and a former shuttle astronaut will unveil a space exploration company next week that they say will create a new industry.

The exact nature of Planetary Resource’s business is still under wraps, but speculation centers on the possibility of an asteroid mining company.

“The company will overlay two critical sectors — space exploration and natural resources — to add trillions of dollars to the global GDP,” the company said in a media alert announcing an unveiling next Tuesday. “This innovative start-up will create a new industry and a new definition of ‘natural resources.’”

Planetary Resources was co-founded by space visionary Peter Diamandis, the man behind the Ansari X-Prize competition, and commercial space entrepreneur Eric Anderson, the chairman of Space Adventures, the company that brokers space-tourist flights to the International Space Station.

Diamandis hinted at his next big project in an interview this month with Forbes.

“What I can tell you is that since my childhood, I’ve wanted to do one thing: Be an asteroid miner,” he said in an interview posted on YouTube. “So stay tuned on that one.”

Former NASA Mars mission manager Chris Lewicki is the president and chief engineer of Planetary Resources. Lewicki was a senior flight director on the Mars Spirit and Opportunity rover missions, and the surface operations manager for NASA’s Mars Phoenix Lander mission.

Diamandis, Anderson and Lewicki also are involved with a secretive start-up called Arkyd Astronautics. The company’s LinkedIn profile says it “develops technologies and systems to enable low-cost commercial robotic exploration of the solar system.”

Among Planetary Resources Inc. investors are:

— Ross Perot Jr., the son of the former presidential candidate.

— Google co-founder and CEO Larry Page and Google chairman Eric Schmidt.

— Filmmaker James Cameron.

— Billionaire Microsoft alum Charles Simonyi, who flew twice to the International Space Station.

Advisers include veteran shuttle mission specialist Tom Jones. Jones holds a doctorate in planetary science. His specialties: remote sensing of asteroids, meteorite spectroscopy and applications of space resources. Jones also performed advanced program planning for NASA’s Solar System Exploration division, investigating future robotic missions.

Planetary Resources will unveil its venture on Tuesday in Seattle.

Oh wow, having that much money - I guess that would be the most logical thing left to do with it! I wonder which of the above names will be the first to step on the Moon or Mars!

Excellent thread! I love space stuff.

Finding Martian life on earth is exciting and it open up the possibility of new break throughs in science!

Trust us humans to want to venture out in space for minerals If they do find usable resources on asteroids then the NASA space budget will probably be tripled instead of slashed

Here is some news that only seems to be coming out of Japan (strange)

Solar poles to become quadrupolar in May

The Yomiuri Shimbun

Magnetic field polarity at the solar poles will reverse and become quadrupolar in May, meaning positive fields will emerge in the North and South poles and negative fields will emerge on the equator, according to the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan and other institutes.

When a similar phenomenon occurred about 300 years ago, the Earth's average temperature fell slightly.

A research team led by Saku Tsuneta, a professor at the observatory, analyzed solar magnetic fields data using Hinode, an observational satellite, and confirmed that the polarity of the magnetic field at the North Pole began to reverse in July last year.

The researchers also found the magnetic field at the South Pole, which was expected to reverse along with the North Pole, maintained a positive polarity, ensuring the formation of a quadrupole magnetic field.

The cause behind the shifts in polar fields is not understood. However, it is known that the shifts coincide with the increase and decrease in the number of sunspots over an about 11-year cycle.

The current sunspot cycle has stretched for close to 13 years. A similar situation occurred in the 17th to 18th century, when the average temperature of the Northern Hemisphere decreased by 0.6 C. The research team believes the quadrupolar pattern also emerged at that time.
(Apr. 21, 2012)

Source

4 Quadrupole Magnetic Shift in Sun Mimics Mini Ice Ages

Apparently, the magnetic shifts in the Sun mimic those that occurred during the mini-Ice Ages of the 17th century, reports the Japanese Astronomical society. They also claim that this is the reason for the "halting" in the progress of global warming. Basically the sun's magnetic field has shifted from a straight N-S configuration -


to a N-Equator Equator-S, 4 pole configuration


Source

The sun is in a very high active phase at the moment so maybe this is not so unbelievable. I can't find anything on western sites though... Why are NASA not reporting on this? They have all their SDO satellites constantly pointing at the sun

@ Corr - Its most likley the only reason we will see funding for space exploration - So Mega coperations / Countries can claim dibs on resources. Im sure we will see whole planets being mined/drained to depletion in the distant future. Even gas planets. but by Humans doing this we will be able to explore even further than our local resources can take

Well its always been about wealth and power. There have been no manned missions to the moon since the space race ended and the USA and Russia found out it was just a big rock.

I read this article (un-space related) about how the artic is becoming big property since all this resources are becoming easily accessible under the ice. - So sad that we are always chasing after money. I'll post that article in the news thread when I find it

Did they manage to drill through that Arctic Ice sheet?

They are preparing for the resources opening up. Will just post the link here

http://news.yahoo.com/ice-cap-melts-militaries-vie-arctic-edge-072343565.html

Well it was only a matter of time before major occupation began to happen in the arctic.

Tea said ...

Ok - So we all play games, read comics and watch Anime / Scifi's / Documentaries that more than often feature Human Exploration of the Great Cosmos. This thread is dedicated to anything SPACE related, be it new news, images you would like to share, shows you think guys should watch or even games that best capture what SPACE represents to us, the hairless apes that call Earth home.

Yay! So glad there's a thread on this now! I love everything and anything to do with space... Damn now I wanna watch a sci-fi movie lol

What do you guys think of the theory that the DNA of humans originates from Mars?

Snow said ...

What do you guys think of the theory that the DNA of humans originates from Mars?

The theory of fertilization from Mars is a good one and although there is evidence for it, for now I don't see why you would build such grand bridges when there is already enough evidence for the origin of life on Earth in the first place.

The origin of life is an important question, but just because some complex molecules were found in some fragments does not mean that we came from Mars necessarily.

@ Corr - Sorry I meant That antartic cap thats been covering the fresh water lake for the last 200 million years the ones the russians were drilling almost a kilometer to get through?

@ Snow - Its highly plausible that Bacteria that possibly came from Comets or meteors asssisted in the creation of more complex life, not so much from mars itself, although I would be highly surprised if we were part of some intelligent design plan? perhaps just lucky enough to have the right circumstances for complex life on earth. - I higly recommend watching BBC's EARTH - The power of the planet. (not BBC's planet Earth, although that was amazing too)that show gives you insight into the creation of the planet, the possible creation of the Earth we know, having being made from 2 smaller planets that collided, How most of earth water actually got to our planet and the shear inpropability of Earth's perfect location in the solar system and other factors that have allowed for complex life!yes one of the best documentaries I have ever watched.

However it make me sad to learn that the moon is slowly drifting away from us due to our planets gravitational pull not being strong enough to keep it in orbit to us

@Tea - That's Lake Vostok and it's in the Antarctic. The science team broke through the ice in Feb but the pressure released pushed water up the drilled chamber and that froze. They are drilling through that out again and plan to break through in Dec. They will then send a robot down to collect samples.

@Snow - I do think that it is possible that if there was life on mars it was created at the same time. Mars and earth are theorised to have similar environmental conditions (water, high pressure atmosphere) at around the time that life is said to have formed on earth. Seems very coincidental especially since they are proving now that there was life on mars...

@ Corr - shame, millions of dollars wasted on the first attempt - surely they must have anticipated that? guess we have to wait until December!

Tea said ...

@ Corr - shame, millions of dollars wasted on the first attempt - surely they must have anticipated that? guess we have to wait until December!

I got it a bit wrong. The scientists intended it to freeze over in Feb 2011 so that the drill hole would be secure when the team was away in the Antarctic winter. They have not broken through to the lake yet, but plan to do so in Dec.


Now more space stuff Here is a link to NASA gallery which compares different locations on earth (as seen from space) with how they looked many years ago to now

http://climate.nasa.gov/sof

Snow said ...

What do you guys think of the theory that the DNA of humans originates from Mars?

The idea is sound, however I think people use Mars far too often as a ground point. The fact is that life could have been seeded from anywhere in the universe since most asteroids travel throughout most of the universe, so its entirely plausible, with the fact that most asteroids are essentially frozen and any bacteria/dna on it remaining in a frozen state, to be deposited on earth or anywhere else really, when said asteroid crashes into the planet.

As for Earth been the only place life could develop because of us having the optimal conditions. Well I don't really believe that since we're basing the evolution of life entirely on what we've studied here, on our planet, for us. That certainly doesn't make it definitive proof since we're only studying one environment.

Life could easily evolve into different shapes in other more hostile environments. As it stands we've already found on our own planet species that live in hot water vents in deep oceans, something we once considered impossible, and in deep caves other organisms surviving in pools of sulphuric acid, in fact thriving there. More things once considered impossible. So whose to say there's nothing alive on Venus for example.

I want to be on board the Destiny in SGU! And I heard that the space exploration for resources was a hoax? Is it real?

The below might be old news to some but after watching a moving, unique documentary about space, people and Chile. One fact just took me by surprise - Calcium in space from exploded stars.

However as documentaries go Nostalgia of the light, is a must see. A film shot entirely in one of the most arid places in the world where the lack of moisture allows viewers of the night time sky, Astonomers and other star gazers, to opportunity see our galaxy as clearly as if you were in space. Incredible.


Got Milk - or err umm Calcium?

-----------------------------------

Except on Earth, the Milky Way galaxy doesn't contain any milk. But it sure does have a lot of calcium. There's enough calcium floating between the stars to fortify trillions upon trillions of gallons of milk.

Calcium comes from stars. In fact, all of the elements that make up your body and the planet Earth itself, other than hydrogen and helium, were made in stars or during during explosions of massive stars.

Stars are like mighty chemical factories. They burn hydrogen and helium through a process of nuclear fusion, which produces a tremendous amount of heat energy. In addition to energy, the fusion process in massive stars (stars having more than 8 times the mass of our sun) results in carbon, nitrogen, iron and other atoms. As iron accumulates in the stellar core, the fusion process no longer produces heat energy. At this point in the life of a massive star, the core collapses and the star explodes, sending all those atoms racing into space. Some atoms bump into each other in the fury, fusing to create even heavier atoms such as gold, silver and uranium. These atoms spread across the galaxy over the course of billions of years.

Cassiopeia A is a star that exploded about 320 years ago. No astronomer recorded the explosion at the time, but we can still see the remains of the explosion today in the form of a colorful supernova remnant. By measuring the motion of the gas in the remnant, astronomers deduce its age.

http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/teachers/calcium/got_calcium_litho.html

And

"The explosions are important because they produce the heavy elements that are critical for life as we know it," Filippenko said. "We're made of star stuff."

Scientists have identified a type of supernova, or exploding star, that produces unusually large amounts of calcium — enough perhaps to explain the abundance of that element in the universe and in our bones.

Perhaps more significant for astronomers, these calcium-rich exploding stars — eight have been identified so far — may also represent a new class of supernova, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Nature.

Scientists have known for decades that supernovae created the stuff our universe is made of, including the carbon in our cells, the iron in our blood and — yes — the calcium in our bones. This is part of the reason researchers study supernovae.

for more on this article...
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/may/19/science/la-sci-supernova-20100520