Topic: Deuterium

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to study Mars’ transition from Wet to Dry

February 22, 2018 |

Written by Christine Pulliam
Space Telescope Science Institute

Baltimore, MD –  The planet Mars has fascinated scientists for over a century. Today, it is a frigid desert world with a carbon dioxide atmosphere 100 times thinner than Earth’s. But evidence suggests that in the early history of our solar system, Mars had an ocean’s worth of water.

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope will study Mars to learn more about the planet’s transition from wet to dry, and what that means about its past and present habitability.

Hydrogen atoms escape from the Mars upper atmosphere, while water containing heavy hydrogen (deuterium) remains trapped on the planet. The escape of hydrogen helped to turn Mars from a wet planet 4.5 billion years ago into a dry world today. (NASA)

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NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover detects organic chemical in atmosphere and organic molecules in rock powder on Mars

December 17, 2014 |

Written by Guy Webster
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Pasadena, CA – NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover has measured a tenfold spike in methane, an organic chemical, in the atmosphere around it and detected other organic molecules in a rock-powder sample collected by the robotic laboratory’s drill.

“This temporary increase in methane — sharply up and then back down — tells us there must be some relatively localized source,” said Sushil Atreya of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, a member of the Curiosity rover science team. “There are many possible sources, biological or non-biological, such as interaction of water and rock.”

This illustration portrays possible ways methane might be added to Mars’ atmosphere (sources) and removed from the atmosphere (sinks). (NASA/JPL-Caltech/SAM-GSFC/Univ. of Michigan)

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NASA reports data from Rosetta Orbiter show origin of Earth’s water not from comets like Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

December 11, 2014 |

Written by DC Agle
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Pasadena, CA – The question about the origin of oceans on Earth is one of the most important questions with respect to the formation of our planet and the origin of life. The most popular theory is that water was brought by impacts of comets and asteroids.

Data from the Rosetta Orbiter Spectrometer for Ion and Neutral Analysis (ROSINA) instrument aboard the European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft indicate that terrestrial water did not come from comets like 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The findings were published today in the journal Science.

NASA reports data from Rosetta Orbiter show origin of Earth’s water not from comets like Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

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NASA Astronomers discover “Super Jupiter” planet orbiting Massive Star

November 20, 2012 |

Written by Francis Reddy
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

Greenbelt, MD – Astronomers using infrared data from the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii have discovered a “super-Jupiter” around the bright star Kappa Andromedae, which now holds the record for the most massive star known to host a directly imaged planet or lightweight brown dwarf companion.

Designated Kappa Andromedae b (Kappa And b, for short), the new object has a mass about 12.8 times greater than Jupiter’s. This places it teetering on the dividing line that separates the most massive planets from the lowest-mass brown dwarfs.

The “super-Jupiter” Kappa Andromedae b, shown here in an artist’s rendering, circles its star at nearly twice the distance that Neptune orbits the sun. With a mass about 13 times Jupiter’s, the object glows with a reddish color. (Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/S. Wiessinger)

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New NASA Missions to Investigate How Mars Turned Hostile

November 21, 2011 |

Written by Bill Steigerwald
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

Greenbelt, MD – Maybe because it appears as a speck of blood in the sky, the planet Mars was named after the Roman god of war. From the point of view of life as we know it, that’s appropriate.

The Martian surface is incredibly hostile for life. The Red Planet’s thin atmosphere does little to shield the ground against radiation from the Sun and space. Harsh chemicals, like hydrogen peroxide, permeate the soil.

Liquid water, a necessity for life, can’t exist for very long here—any that does not quickly evaporate in the diffuse air will soon freeze out in subzero temperatures common over much of the planet.

This artist's concept shows the MAVEN spacecraft orbiting Mars. (Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center)

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