Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: space

HD 137010 b: Earth-Sized Exoplanet Could Be Icy and Cold

Astronomers have found an Earth-sized exoplanet, HD 137,010 b, orbiting a nearby Sun-like star but likely far too cold to be habitable.

How any Earth-sized exoplanets exist, and how do we find them? This is what a recent study published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters hopes to address as a team of scientists announced the discovery of an Earth-sized exoplanet orbiting a K-dwarf star, the latter of which is smaller and cooler than our Sun. This discovery has the potential to help scientists not only better understand the formation and evolution of Earth-like worlds, but also the methods used to find them.

For the discovery, the researchers analyzed data obtained from the NASA Kepler K2 mission about HD 137,010 b, which is located approximately 146 light-years from Earth. While the data was collected in 2017 using the transit method, which is when astronomers observe a dip in starlight as the planet crosses in front of its star, astronomers only recently were able to analyze the data to confirm this dip in starlight was an exoplanet. Despite the transit only lasting 10 hours, the astronomers estimate this means HD 137,010 b has an approximate orbital period of 355 days and an approximate radius of 1.06 Earths.

Space Station Microbes Harvest Metals from Meteorites

Most microbes aboard the International Space Station can extract valuable metals like palladium from meteorite material in microgravity, showing potential for sustainable space resource mining.

How can microbes be used to help enhance human space exploration, specifically on the Moon and Mars? This is what a recent study published in npj Microgravity hopes to address as a team of scientists investigated how microbes could be used to harvest essential minerals from rocks that could be used to enhance sustainability efforts on long-term human missions to the Moon and Mars. This study has the potential to help scientists develop new methods for improving human spaceflight, which could substantially alleviate the need for relying on Earth for supplies.

For the study, the researchers sent meteorite and microorganism samples to the International Space Station (ISS) where astronauts conducted a series of experiments to ascertain how microorganisms could harvest essential minerals, specifically platinum and palladium, from the meteorite samples. Concurrently, the researchers also conducted the same experiments on Earth to compare the results under microgravity and terrestrial environments.

The goal of the study was to ascertain whether microorganisms could be used on future long-term space missions to harvest precious metals for construction of space habitats. In the end, the researchers and astronauts found that the microorganisms not only successfully extracted metals like palladium and platinum but also had minimal fungal residues typically that results from such processes. This lack of fungal residue was found to be more prevalent under microgravity conditions.

One of the astronauts stuck in space after Starliner malfunction to be on Cape Cod Feb. 20

She is an inspiration!

NASA astronaut Sunita “Suni” Williams, a Needham native with Falmouth ties, will speak about her experiences during a recent space mission at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 20 at the Marine Biological Laboratory’s Falmouth Forum, according to a community announcement.

The lecture, titled “So Much Space… So Much Time!,” will take place in the Cornelia Clapp Auditorium in Lillie Laboratory, 7 MBL St., Woods Hole. It is free and open to the public.

Williams and fellow astronaut Butch Wilmore remained aboard the International Space Station after thruster failures on their spacecraft. They returned to Earth on an alternate vehicle. Williams will share videos and personal accounts to highlight the rapid commercialization of space and the challenges it presents.

Can AI build a machine that draws a heart? What automated mechanism design could mean for mechanical engineering

Can you design a mechanism that will trace out the shape of a heart? How about the shape of a moon, or a star? Mechanism design—the art of assembling linkages and joints to create machines with prescribed motion—is one of the quintessential activities of mechanical engineers, but has resisted automation for almost two centuries.

In his seminal 1841 book Principles of Mechanisms, Oxford professor Robert Willis famously noted, “When the mind of a mechanician is occupied with the contrivance of a machine, he must wait until, in the midst of his meditations, some happy combination presents itself to his mind which may answer his purpose.”

Almost 200 years later, we still teach machine design mostly by apprenticeship. While we can simulate machines of almost any complexity, systematic methods for design are known only for the most trivial contraptions.

The Genius of Computing with Light

Check out shortform and get a FREE trial and $50 OFF the annual plan! at https://www.shortform.com/DrBen.

PsiQuantum are world leaders in the race to utility-scale quantum computing, but they have been shrouded in mystery for over a decade…until now.

Thanks to some good fortune and incredible generosity from the PsiQuantum team I was able to get behind the scenes and see what makes their ground-breaking quantum computer ‘click’

You can see their public paper here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-08820-7

0:00 Silicon Valley’s Most Secretive Quantum Computer.
1:38 A Quantum Computer that runs on Light.
6:03 How to Create a Single Photon.
9:00 How to Build a Quantum Clock.
10:48 Ad Read.
11:54 Detecting Single Photons.
15:00 Creating the Perfect Material.
18:19 How to do math with light.
21:45 How to Build a Scalable Quantum Computer.
24:27 Converting Space to Time.
27:25 The First Photonic Quantum Computer Demonstrator.

PATREON:👨‍🔬 🚀 http://patreon.com/DrBenMiles.

Continue reading “The Genius of Computing with Light” | >

Outer rocky world challenges planet-forming theory

Dr. Ryan Cloutier: “We’ve seen this pattern: rocky inside, gaseous outside, across hundreds of planetary systems. But now, the discovery of a rocky planet in the outer part of a system forces us to rethink the timing and conditions under which rocky planets can form.”

What can rocky planets orbiting in the outer parts of a solar system teach scientists about planetary formation and evolution? This is what a recent study published in Science hopes to address as a team of scientists have discovered a rocky planet orbiting in the outer reaches of an exoplanetary system. This study has the potential to challenge longstanding hypotheses regarding the solar system architecture, specifically regarding rocky planets orbiting closer to their star and larger gas giants orbiting farther away.

For the study, the researchers analyzed four exoplanets in the LHS 1903 system orbiting a red dwarf star, the latter of which is smaller and cooler than our Sun. Due to the planets orbiting closer to their star than our planets orbiting our Sun, the researchers estimated the orbital periods for the four exoplanets were between 2.2 and 29.3 days. However, the researchers were surprised to discover that while the innermost planet was rocky and the second the third planets were gaseous, the outermost planet was also rocky. As a result, this finding contradicts longstanding notions about solar system architecture, specifically regarding our own solar system that rocky planets orbit closer to the star while outer planets are gaseous.

Moon’s Hidden Ridges Reveal Recent Tectonic Activity

“Since the Apollo era, we’ve known about the prevalence of lobate scarps throughout the lunar highlands, but this is the first time scientists have documented the widespread prevalence of similar features throughout the lunar mare,” said Dr. Cole Nypaver.

Does our Moon exhibit recent tectonic activity? This is what a recent study published in The Planetary Science Journal hopes to address as a team of scientists investigated the potential for our Moon to have exhibited recent tectonic activity despite its interior not being geologically active. This study has the potential to help scientists better understand the processes responsible for tectonic activity on planetary bodies and what this could mean for the formation and evolution of planets and moons throughout the cosmos.

For the study, the researchers created the first global map of small mare ridges (SMRs) on the Moon, which are small, narrow tectonic ridges located within the lava plains on the Moon and are similar to lobate scarps, another frequently observed geologic formation on the Moon. They have been hypothesized to result from the Moon shrinking as it’s cooled over billions of years, with the top crust bucking under the pressure of compression.

Using a combination of lunar global mosaics and images from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) Narrow Angle Cameras (NACs), the researchers successfully identified and mapped more than 1,100 new SMRs across the nearside of the Moon. Through this, the researchers demonstrated these SMRs are geologically young compared to the surrounding regions and are widely distributed among the lunar volcanic plains.

Jupiter’s clouds are hiding something big

Jupiter’s swirling storms have concealed its true makeup for centuries, but a new model is finally peeling back the clouds. Researchers found the planet likely holds significantly more oxygen than the Sun, a key clue to how Jupiter—and the rest of the solar system—came together. The study also reveals that gases move through Jupiter’s atmosphere much more slowly than scientists once thought. Together, the findings reshape our understanding of the solar system’s largest planet.

Towering clouds ripple across Jupiter’s surface in dramatic patterns. Like Earth’s clouds, they contain water, but on Jupiter they are far denser and far deeper. These layers are so thick that no spacecraft has been able to directly observe what lies below them.

Now, scientists have taken a major step toward solving that mystery. A new study led by researchers at the University of Chicago and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory has produced the most detailed model of Jupiter’s atmosphere ever created. The work provides a deeper look into the planet’s interior without needing to physically descend into its crushing depths.

Long-term radio observations probe a relativistic binary pulsar system

Astronomers have analyzed the data from long-term radio observations of a binary pulsar known as PSR J1906+0746. Results of the new study, published February 5 on the arXiv pre-print server, deliver important information regarding the nature of this system.

Pulsars are highly magnetized, rotating neutron stars emitting a beam of electromagnetic radiation. They are usually detected in the form of short bursts of radio emission; however, some of them are also observed via optical, X-ray, and gamma-ray telescopes.

/* */