Life in other worlds

Space Snapshot

You might be surprised that an image as dry-looking as this one has anything to do with the possible discovery of liquid water on Mars. The above image shows the seismometer on NASA’s InSight lander, which studied tectonic activity on Mars from 2018 until 2022. A team of scientists recently studied how Marsquakes traveled through the rock below to find that the mid-crust, about 10-20 kilometers (6-12 miles) down, may be riddled with cracks and pores filled with water. This discovery is a tantalizing hint that Mars could be hospitable to life as we know it. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Fact Worth Sharing

Cracks and pores filled with water may not sound like much, but the data from NASA’s InSight lander suggest otherwise. The subsurface cracks that InSight discovered on Mars could be filled with enough water to cover the entire planet with an ocean at least a kilometer deep.

Mission Briefings

NEOWISE’s mission is over. NASA’s Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer mission turned its transmitter off for the last time last week, concluding the planetary defense mission’s decade-plus search for potentially dangerous asteroids and comets. NASA ended the mission because NEOWISE will soon drop too low in its orbit around Earth to provide usable science data, and doesn’t have an onboard propulsion system to prevent that. Pictured: This final image captured by NASA’s NEOWISE shows part of the Fornax constellation in the Southern Hemisphere. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/IPAC/UCLA.

The Milky Way may be older than we thought. Using machine learning to analyze data from ESA’s Gaia mission, researchers have found ancient stars in the Milky Way’s thin disk, the area where most stars, including our Sun, orbit. These ancient stars likely formed less than 1 billion years after the Big Bang, 4-5 billion years earlier than our galaxy was thought to have existed.

From The Planetary Society

Europa, like Mars, is thought to hide liquid water beneath its surface. This makes the moon of Jupiter highly interesting to scientists, but also to artists and musicians. This week’s Planetary Radio takes listeners to the public premiere of the “Moons Symphony,” a collection of musical works inspired by the satellites of our Solar System’s planets. The episode includes highlights from a panel discussion featuring members of the Europa Clipper, Dragonfly, and Cassini mission teams about the discoveries that inspired the music. Pictured: Europa imaged by NASA's Juno spacecraft.  Image credit: NASA et al.

With private companies doing more and more in space, why not science? The reason why space science is the domain of national bodies like NASA comes down to the nature of science itself. In a new article, Planetary Society Chief of Space Policy Casey Dreier explores why, despite increasing contributions from commercial entities, the public sector will always be better suited to pursuing scientific inquiry in space exploration.

What's Up

Catch super bright Venus in the western evening skies for a brief time before it sets. Yellowish Saturn rises in the evening east, with very bright Jupiter coming up later in the night, followed closely by reddish Mars. On Aug. 21, the Moon is near Saturn and moves in front of (occults) the planet, as seen from portions of Central America, South America, Europe, and Africa. Learn more about what to look for in August’s night skies.

Wow of the Week

Speculations about where life might exist on, above, or inside a planetary body have yielded varied and interesting ideas. In their 1968 book, "Intelligent Life in the Universe," Iosif Shklovskii and Carl Sagan explored the idea of a biosphere that existed completely within a giant planet’s atmosphere. Sagan commissioned this painting depicting hypothetical floating life forms from astronomical artist Adolf Schaller for his television series, “Cosmos: A Personal Journey.” It was among many paintings Schaller created for the series. Schaller, who became a legendary figure in the world of astronomical art, died earlier this month at age 68. You can read Schaller’s account of what it was like working on this piece, collaborating with Sagan, and discovering his passion for astronomical art. Image credit: Adolf Schaller.

Send us your artwork!

We love to feature space artwork in the Downlink. If you create any kind of space-related art, we invite you to send it to us by replying to any Downlink email or writing to [email protected]. Please let us know in your email if you’re a Planetary Society member!