Topic: Hydrogen

APSU chemistry professor Bob Shelton awarded grant to advance green energy research

April 20, 2013 |

Clarksville, TN – Dr. Bob Shelton, Austin Peay State University associate professor of chemistry, has an idea for an extremely efficient automobile. He’d like to see a vehicle powered by water and sunlight rather than gasoline.

“In some ways, that’s the way plants work,” he said. “That’s what we’re going to try to mimic with our photocatalytic hydrogen producers that mimic the reaction of the oxygen-evolving center in plants.”

Austin Peay State University associate professor of chemistry Dr. Bob Shelton.

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NASA funded study shows rain from Saturn’s Rings falls across the Planet

April 14, 2013 |

Written by Jia-Rui Cook
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Pasadena, CA – A new study tracks the “rain” of charged water particles into the atmosphere of Saturn and finds there is more of it and it falls across larger areas of the planet than previously thought.

The study, whose observations were funded by NASA and whose analysis was led by the University of Leicester, England, reveals that the rain influences the composition and temperature structure of parts of Saturn’s upper atmosphere. The paper appears in this week’s issue of the journal Nature.

This artist’s concept illustrates how charged water particles flow into the Saturnian atmosphere from the planet’s rings, causing a reduction in atmospheric brightness. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute/University of Leicester)

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NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory studies atmospheric chemistry of Saturn’s moon Titan

April 4, 2013 |

Written by Jia-Rui C. Cook
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Pasadena, CA – A laboratory experiment at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, simulating the atmosphere of Saturn’s moon Titan suggests complex organic chemistry that could eventually lead to the building blocks of life extends lower in the atmosphere than previously thought.

The results now point out another region on the moon that could brew up prebiotic materials. The paper was published in Nature Communications this week.

The colorful globe of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, passes in front of the planet and its rings in this true color snapshot from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute)

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NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity sees evidence that conditions favorable for Microbial Life extends beyond current location

March 19, 2013 |

Written by Guy Webster
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory

The Woodlands, TX – NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity has seen evidence of water-bearing minerals in rocks near where it had already found clay minerals inside a drilled rock.

Last week, the rover’s science team announced that analysis of powder from a drilled mudstone rock on Mars indicates past environmental conditions that were favorable for microbial life. Additional findings presented March 18th at a news briefing at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in The Woodlands, Texas, suggest those conditions extended beyond the site of the drilling.

On this image of the rock target “Knorr,” color coding maps the amount of mineral hydration indicated by a ratio of near-infrared reflectance intensities measured by the Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/ASU)

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NASA’s Curiosity rover analysis of rock sample reveals Mars at one time could have supported Life

March 13, 2013 |

Written by Dr. Tony Phillips
Science at NASA

Washington, D.C. – An analysis of a rock sample recently collected by NASA’s Curiosity rover shows ancient Mars could have supported living microbes.

“A fundamental question for this mission is whether Mars could have supported a habitable environment,” said Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA’s Mars Exploration Program at the agency’s headquarters in Washington. “From what we know now, the answer is yes.”

These fine-grained sediments, likely deposited under water, suggest that Mars could have supported ancient microbial life. Data gathered by Curiosity indicate a habitable environment characterized by neutral pH, chemical gradients that would have created energy for microbes, and a distinctly low salinity, which would have helped metabolism if microorganisms had ever been present. (Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/MSSS)

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NASA’s Solar Probe Wind data reveals Energy Source for the Solar Wind

March 11, 2013 |

Written by Dr. Tony Phillips
Science at NASA

Washington, D.C. – Using data from an aging NASA spacecraft, researchers have found signs of an energy source in the solar wind that has caught the attention of fusion researchers. NASA will be able to test the theory later this decade when it sends a new probe into the sun for a closer look.

The discovery was made by a group of astronomers trying to solve a decades-old mystery: What heats and accelerates the solar wind?

An artist’s concept of the Wind spacecraft sampling the solar wind. Justin Kasper’s science result is inset.

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APSU Provost Lecture Series to have Biology professor Dr. Sergei Markov to discuss algae for practical purposes

March 7, 2013 |

Clarksville, TN – An Austin Peay State University biology professor, who has gained international recognition with his research in the last few years, will be the next presenter of the Provost Lecture Series at APSU.

Dr. Sergei Markov, associate professor of biology, will present at 3:00pm, Thursday, March 7th in the Morgan University Center, Room 303. All sessions of the Provost Lecture Series are free and open to the public.

The title of his presentation is “Growing algae in photobioreactors for practical purposes.” «Read the rest of this article»

Herschel Space Telescope finds aging Star may still be forming Planets

January 31, 2013 |

Written by Whitney Clavin
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Pasadena, CA – A star thought to have passed the age at which it can form planets may, in fact, be creating new worlds. The disk of material surrounding the surprising star called TW Hydrae may be massive enough to make even more planets than we have in our own solar system.

The findings were made using the European Space Agency’s Herschel Space Telescope, a mission in which NASA is a participant.

At roughly 10 million years old and 176 light years away, TW Hydrae is relatively close to Earth by astronomical standards. Its planet-forming disk has been well studied. TW Hydrae is relatively young but, in theory, it is past the age at which giant planets already may have formed.

This artist’s concept illustrates the planet-forming disk around TW Hydrae, located about 175 light-years away in the Hydra, or Sea Serpent, constellation. In 2011, astronomers used the Herschel space observatory to detect copious amounts of cool water vapor, illustrated in blue, emanating from the star’s planet-forming disk of dust and gas. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

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NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope sees Star forming regions in Large Magellanic Cloud

January 24, 2013 |

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

Greenbelt, MD – Nearly 200,000 light-years from Earth, the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, floats in space, in a long and slow dance around our galaxy.

Vast clouds of gas within it slowly collapse to form new stars. In turn, these light up the gas clouds in a riot of colors, visible in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.

Star forming regions in the Large Magellanic Cloud. (Credit: ESA/NASA/Hubble)

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NASA’s Cassini spacecraft observations show the craters on Saturn’s Moon Titan disappearing

January 18, 2013 |

Written by Jia-Rui Cook
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Pasadena, CA – Titan’s siblings must be jealous. While most of Saturn’s moons display their ancient faces pockmarked by thousands of craters, Titan – Saturn’s largest moon – may look much younger than it really is because its craters are getting erased.

Dunes of exotic, hydrocarbon sand are slowly but steadily filling in its craters, according to new research using observations from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft.

This set of images from the radar instrument on NASA’s Cassini spacecraft shows a relatively “fresh” crater called Sinlap (left) and an extremely degraded crater called Soi (right). Sinlap has a depth-to-diameter ratio close to what we see on Jupiter’s moon Ganymede. Soi has a shallow depth compared to similar craters on Ganymede. These craters are both about 50 miles (80 kilometers) in diameter. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASI/GSFC)

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