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Daniel Glavin Wins 2010 Nier Prize
Daniel Glavin, winner of the 2010 Nier Prize. Photo Credit: Chris Gunn
Daniel Glavin has been selected by the international Meteoritical Society as the recipient of the 2010 Nier Prize. The prestigious Nier Prize is awarded to young scientists performing valuable research in fields related to meteoritics and planetary science.
Dr. Glavin was presented with the prize for his work on extraterrestrial organic chemistry. By examining carbonaceous meteorites, Glavin and his team have made important contributions toward understanding why life uses only left-handed versions of amino acids. It turns out that molecules delivered to Earth in meteorites may have played a role in life’s eventual bias toward...Source: [NASA GSFC]
November 18, 2009 / Posted by: Aaron Gronstal
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Vatican Hosts Study Week on Astrobiology
This past week in Rome as part of the International Year of Astronomy, the Pontifical Academy of Sciences hosted a Study Week on Astrobiology, an interdisciplinary event during which “cloistered astrobiologists confronted each other’s fields of research” and dialogued about the connections. The participants included many from the extended astrobiology community, including John Baross, David Charbonneau, Roger Summons, Andy Knoll, Chris Impey, Jonathan Lunine, Jill Tarter, Sara Seager, and Giovanna Tinetti.
“The questions of life’s origins and of whether life exists elsewhere in the universe are very suitable and deserve serious consideration,” said the Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, an...
November 17, 2009 / Posted by: Daniella Scalice
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Taking a Bite of Antarctic Ice
University Valley, Antarctica.
Members of NASA’s IceBite team will spend the next six weeks studying the only place on Earth where the terrain resembles that of the Phoenix landing site on Mars. The place: a mile above sea level in Antarctica’s McMurdo Dry Valleys. The ultimate goal: to test ice-penetrating drills for a future mission to the martian polar north. Astrobio.net will be providing a direct link to scientists involved in the expedition, so now you can ask the scientists questions while they’re in the field.Source: [astrobio.net]
November 16, 2009 / Written by: Henry Bortman
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Ethics of Space Exploration
Last week, the Santa Clara University Markkula Center for Applied Ethics hosted a panel to discuss Challenges Raised by Life in Space. Today on KQED’s radio show The Forum, host Michael Krasney interviews some of those panelists for a national audience. They discuss a range of topics from the value and moral standing of the diversity of potential life elsewhere in the universe, to the modification of extraterrestrial ecosystems to suit human needs, to possible forward contamination of other planets through exploration.
November 12, 2009 / Posted by: Daniella Scalice
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Eigenbrode Earns Chief Technologist’s Top Prize
The Office of the Chief Technologist selected scientist Jennifer Eigenbrode as its 2009 “IRAD Innovator of the Year” for her work verifying that a new sample-preparation method would benefit the SAM instrument on MSL. Image Credit: Chris Gunn
NASA Goddard scientist Jennifer Eigenbrode has been selected as the recipient of the 2009 IRAD Innovator of the Year award. Her work has added important capabilities to the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument, which will be included on the upcoming Mars Science Laboratory (MSL). Dr. Eigenbrode’s work will allow MSL to analyze large carbon molecules if they are discovered on Mars, and could play an important role in determining the potential for past or present life on the Red Planet.When MSL reaches Mars in 2012, the rover will analyze samples...
Source: [Link]
November 11, 2009 / Posted by: Aaron Gronstal
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NASA participates in the Arctic Mars Analogue Svalbard Expedition (AMASE) 2009
Throughout most of the month of August, an international team of scientists participated in the Arctic Mars Analogue Svalbard Expedition (AMASE) in Norway, conducting scientific research and testing instruments for future NASA and European Space Agency (ESA) Mars robotic missions.The Svalbard archipelago is unique in the diversity of geological formations it contains. Few places in the world include a record of so many geological eras exposed in outcrops that can be studied without moving significant amounts of soil and vegetation. Some of these formations are considered interesting analogues for Mars terrains. AMASE 2009 test...
October 26, 2009 / Written by: Linda Billings
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Oases for Life on the Mid-Caymen Rise
A team of oceanographers and astrobiologists is currently exploring one of the deepest points in the Caribbean Sea. The expedition is funded by NASA’s Astrobiology Science and Technology for Exploring Planets (ASTEP) program. Follow the team’s blog as they search for life in this extreme seafloor environment.
Blog by PI Chris German: http://oases-expedition.blogspot.com/
Blog by Master of R/V Cape Hatteras: http://www.sailblogs.com/member/chmaster/
An article concerning the expedition recently appeared in The Economist at: http://www.economist.com/sciencetechnology/PrinterFriendly.cfm?story_id=14585735.Source: [astrobio.net]
October 21, 2009 / Posted by: Aaron Gronstal
