The last two years of studying Mars’ glaciers have yielded more interesting results than expected
Geological and mineralogical evidence suggests that approximately four billion years ago, Mars was warm and wet enough to support abundant liquid water on its surface, ranging from rivers and lakes to a vast northern sea. This period spans two geological eras: the Noachian, which lasted from 4.1 to 3.7 billion years ago, and the Hesperian, which lasted from 3.7 to approximately 3 billion years ago. The Noachian era is characterized by warmer conditions, but in its final stages, Mars would have begun to cool as it steadily lost its atmosphere to space.
Researchers have provided numerous pieces of evidence that Mars once had water. And perhaps still does
Once upon a time, liquid water was abundant on the surface of Mars—oceans, lakes, and rivers—but it disappeared about 3 billion years ago; today, rovers explore dried-up lake beds and empty riverbeds. While some of Mars’s water is locked up as ice in the polar caps and as permafrost in the mid-latitudes, the rest of Mars’s water was assumed to have escaped into space. It was thought that atmospheric water vapor was destroyed by solar ultraviolet radiation, and Mars’s low gravity was thought unable to retain the hydrogen portions of this vapor, which would then be carried into space by the solar wind without the global magnetic field to protect it. Meanwhile, the oxygen portions of the vapor would have oxidized surface rocks, leading to the formation of the rusty-red planet we see today.
Pluto’s ‘Heart’ Hints at Its Rich Geological World
When the New Horizons mission flew past Pluto in 2015, it discovered a geologically rich world, not the cold, dark landscape many expected. Almost immediately, researchers discovered two features, named Mount Wright and Mount Piccard, which were suspected to be ice volcanoes, and further study confirmed their identity.
Mars’ Perseverance and Curiosity rover teams have collected enough samples and are awaiting their return home
Sulfur crystals, traces of serpentine, pyroxene, and feldspar were discovered. For example, data obtained from the Perseverance rover’s instruments show that Jezero Plateau is composed almost entirely of serpentine minerals, formed by the reaction of large amounts of water with iron- and magnesium-containing minerals in igneous rocks. A variety of photomosaics were also collected, and atmospheric measurements were taken.
Creating water, oxygen, and fuel from air and soil: fantasy became reality in 2026. Technologies and proposals
The invention, developed by Jordanian-American chemist and 2025 Nobel Prize laureate in Chemistry Omar Yaghi, uses a scientific technique called reticular chemistry to create molecularly modified materials that can extract moisture from the air and collect water even in arid desert conditions.
The most general and up-to-date information about the “former” ninth planet of the Solar System – Pluto
Pluto is the largest known dwarf planet in the Solar System. It was previously considered the ninth and farthest planet from the Sun. In 2006, its status was downgraded. This strange world is located in the Kuiper Belt—a region beyond Neptune filled with hundreds of thousands of rocky, icy bodies, each over 100 kilometers in diameter, as well as 1 trillion or more comets. Pluto ceased to be a planet in 2006 when it was reclassified as a dwarf planet, sparking controversy and debate in the scientific community and among the general public.
Satellites in Earth orbit monitor soil moisture, water availability, river flow, and the global water cycle
The primary objective of the SMAP mission is to assess the moisture content of the surface soil layer and its state (frozen or thawed). Another pioneering reconnaissance mission of the European Space Agency, the HydroGNSS satellites, has become an important step in expanding global understanding of water availability and the impact of climate change on the global water cycle. The SWOT (Surface Water and Ocean Topography) satellite allows for the assessment of river discharge, defined as the volume of water flowing per second at a given point along the river.
Unique properties of ionic liquids, superalcohols and cosmic radiation indicate the existence of life beyond Earth
Life may exist right under our noses in the Solar System—the moons of Jupiter and Saturn are of great interest. Europa and Enceladus may harbor vast subsurface oceans where at least microbial life could be possible. Thanks to new data obtained with the James Webb Space Telescope, scientists have discovered compelling evidence of extraterrestrial life on one exoplanet. But is water truly a necessary ingredient for life? A new study has determined that ionic liquids can form where liquid water cannot, thanks to their ability to remain liquid over a wide range of temperatures and pressures. These ionic liquids may ultimately support biomolecules such as proteins.
Water is an inevitable consequence of planet formation and is much more common in the galaxy than scientists previously thought
The findings suggest that water may not be a rare cosmic coincidence, but rather an inevitable consequence of planet formation, making it far more common in the galaxy than scientists previously thought. Water is life, at least as we know it. All life on Earth uses liquid water, and researchers studying the origins of life believe that the complex chemistry of life likely originated either in a warm pool on the Earth’s surface or near a deep-ocean hydrothermal vent. Therefore, planetary scientists are particularly interested in extraterrestrial locations where liquid water exists. Based on existing exoplanet data, super-Earths and sub-Neptunes are considered the most common classes of planets in our galaxy, and some of them are likely water worlds. However, these planets are large, and the interactions between the water in their oceans and the rocks in their interiors will determine how habitable they might be.
The Juno spacecraft has discovered salts, organic compounds and water vapor on the surface and in the atmosphere of Ganymede, Jupiter’s largest moon
NASA’s Juno spacecraft has discovered salts and organic compounds on the surface of Ganymede, Jupiter’s largest moon. The discovery was made during a June 2021 flyby, during which Juno studied Ganymede with its Jovian InfraRed Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) instrument, an instrument designed to study the chemistry and interactions in the atmospheres of Jupiter and its moons. Ganymede, one of these moons, is the largest moon in the solar system — at 5,268 kilometers (3,200 miles) wide, larger than the planet Mercury — and has a vast ocean beneath its icy crust.
Planet-Forming Molecules Discovered in Most Extreme Environments
An international team of astronomers has used the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope to make the first observation of water and other molecules in the inner disk regions that form rocky planets, in one of the most extreme environments in our galaxy.
The Erigone family of asteroids are water-rich space rocks that offer a window into the solar system’s past
A family of primitive asteroids is giving astronomers a window into the past as they seek to unravel the history of these small space rocks that are believed to have once brought water to Earth.
Mars rover Perseverance finds interesting rock that may have harbored microbial life billions of years ago
Analysis by instruments on board the rover shows that the rock has qualities that meet the definition of a possible indicator of ancient life. The rock contains chemical signatures and structures that could have been formed by life billions of years ago, when there was flowing water in the area the rover was exploring. The science team is considering other explanations for the observed features, and further research will be needed to determine whether ancient life is a valid explanation.
As part of the Artemis project, scientists are studying the features of the lunar landscape
A meteorite study shows that in ancient lunar history, the Moon’s crust contained more water than scientists previously thought. Moonquakes are similar to earthquakes. In the case of the Moon, they are caused by folds that form on the Moon’s surface as it shrinks. The Moon is shrinking because the Moon’s interior has cooled over the past few hundred million years.
Features of the landscape on Mars – new discoveries
Olympus Mons is one of a dozen large volcanoes, many of which are ten to a hundred times taller than their Earthly counterparts. If Martian space tourism takes off in the coming decades, Olympus Mons could become a prime destination for adventure enthusiasts. Olympus may once have been a volcanic island surrounded by an ocean nearly 4 miles (6 km) deep, according to geological evidence found in the high cliffs. Another new study found that the rover discovered polygonal wedges 35 kilometers underground – the first time they have been discovered beneath the planet’s surface. Evidence suggests that the wedges formed between 3.7 and 2.9 billion years ago due to major climate changes in Mars’ past. The Mars Express orbiter has discovered enough water ice buried beneath the Red Planet’s equator to cover the entire planet in a shallow ocean if it melted.
Scientists have proven: there are asteroids – piles of rubble that carry water, carbon and amino acids
Scientists have proven that there are asteroids that are resistant to external influences. This means that the tested methods are not suitable for protecting the Earth from such objects. Scientists have discovered possible “seeds of life” in the matter of asteroids: The idea that life originated outside our solar system has been around for a very long time, and now analysis of new asteroid samples is providing evidence for this “panspermia” theory.
Heavy hydrogen used in nuclear energy and water turned out to be older than Earth
In protoplanetary disks, water is virtually omnipresent. Recent studies of the water content of early planetary systems like ours show that water is an abundant and ubiquitous molecule, originally synthesized on the surface of tiny grains of interstellar dust by hydrogenation of frozen oxygen, reports the journal Elements. In the molecular cloud from which a new planetary system will emerge, oxygen attaches and freezes to the dust grains it encounters. Once a hydrogen molecule intersects with this frozen oxygen, water ice is formed.
The Hubble telescope discovered water vapor in the atmosphere of an exoplanet located 97 light years from Earth
Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have observed the smallest exoplanet to have water vapor in its atmosphere. Planet GJ 9827d, which is only about twice the diameter of Earth, could be an example of potential planets with water-rich atmospheres in other parts of our galaxy. GJ 9827d was discovered by NASA’s Kepler space telescope in 2017. It orbits the red dwarf every 6.2 days. The star GJ 9827 is located 97 light years from Earth in the constellation Pisces.
Researchers are studying layers of water ice on Mars
Mars appears to be a dry world now, but there are plenty of signs on the planet’s surface that there was once plenty of water, including dry river beds, ancient ocean and lake beds, and valleys carved by water. Significant reserves of water ice have also been discovered on Mars, such as huge polar ice caps, buried glaciers closer to the equator, and near-surface ice permeated by the Martian soil.
NASA has recognized the existence of life on Mars in the past and present
The goal of the NIAC project is to collect the necessary samples before human arrival on Mars, planned by NASA, the Chinese National Space Agency and SpaceX, by 2040, by 2033 and before 2030, respectively, according to the space agencies’ respective statements. Human arrival will undoubtedly complicate the search for indigenous Martian life, so from an astrobiological perspective, these planned manned missions to Mars have set a very strict timeline for the search for life on pristine Mars.
The era of liquid water on Mars ended three billion years ago
Chinese scientists have concluded that groundwater on Mars under the Utopia Planitia remained active until the Amazonian (recent) period of the geological history of the Red Planet, which was previously considered cold and dry. In sedimentary deposits of Amazonian age, Zhuzhong instruments identified hydrated sulfates, hydrosilica, ferric oxides and chlorides. These minerals require liquid salt water to form.
Lunar Mission: Polar Moon Craters Become Cold Traps and Capable of Preserving Water Ice
Planetary scientists have found that magnetic anomalies in the region of the Moon’s south pole can protect deposits of water ice in craters from destruction by the solar wind by deflecting ions, according to a report from the 53rd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference.
Far-reaching plans – terraforming Mars
The main problem for changing the appearance of Mars is the lack of a strong magnetic field that can protect the atmosphere from solar winds that burn water in it. The magnetic field creates a kind of bubble that protects the planet from the oncoming solar winds. For example, the Earth’s magnetic field prevents most high-energy particles from reaching the planet’s surface.
Scientists have confirmed the dangers of reusable plastic tableware
Studies have shown that reusable plastic bottles contaminate water with hundreds of potentially dangerous toxic substances from the walls of the vessel. And if the bottle has been in the dishwasher, then the number of such elements increases to thousands.
China, USA and Russia are the main participants in the “moon race”
All three countries have long-term programs, the ultimate goal of which is the creation of a permanent base on the Earth’s satellite. The potential of the Moon as a raw material base for the Earth is enormous – scientists believe so.
Russian-European orbital module found new evidence of the existence of water on Mars
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has discovered signs and minerals in the craters of Mars that suggest that there was once water there, the Roscosmos press service reports.
After a 45-year break, the lunar program is being revived in Russia
At the beginning of October 2021, the Russian automatic station Luna-25 will be launched to search for water ice, a key resource for the construction of a habitable base.
Volcanic activity on Mars prevents water from completely evaporating
Seismic activity on Mars indicates tectonic activity that is similar to that on Earth. The NASA InSight probe detected earthquakes on Mars with an amplitude of up to 4 points.
Environmentalists announce the fight against microplastics
The main sources of microplastics: plastic dishes, synthetic clothing, washing powders, cosmetics and household chemicals with polymers (Acrylates/C10-30, Acrylates Crosspolymer (ACS), Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, Carbomer, Ethylen-Vinylacetat-Copolymere, Nylon-6, Nylon- 12, Polyacrylate, Polymethyl Methacrylate, Polyquaternium, Polyquaternium-7, Polyethylene (PE), Polypropylene (PP), Polyothylenteraphthalat (PET), Polyurethan (PUR), Polyurethan-2, Polyurethan-14, Polyurethan-35, etc.)
Water evaporating from Mars remains on its surface in the form of hydrated minerals
Water on the surface of Mars is conserved in rocks. The cessation of tectonic activity on the Red Planet stopped the circulation of water from the atmosphere back to the surface.