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November 29, 2013
NASA announced in official press release plans to grow plants on the moon by 2015 in a project, considered as the “A first step in long term presence”. “If we send plants and they thrive, then we probably can . they can be as sensitive as humans to environmental conditions, sometimes even more so. They carry genetic material that can be damaged by radiation as can that of humans”  NASA underlined.


NASA scientists will work together to create a 1kg “self-contained habitat” containing seeds and germination material payload on a commercial lunar lander-”the Moon Express lander, the spacecraft being built by the private company Moon Express , part of the Google Lunar X-prize competition.”


A 3D printed model of the habitat that will contain the seedlings and the materials they need to germinate.
“After landing in late 2015, water will be added to the seeds in the module and their growth will be monitored for 5-10 days and compared to Earth based controls. Seeds will include Arabidopsis, basil, and turnips,” Nasa say.


Scientists underlined that it difficult to encourage the plants growth in the hard environment of the moon. they added that partial gravity and radiation of the moon will need to be accounted for, although the plant will travel with their water and enough for five days.  the plants growth data will be gathered by cameras and sensors and sent back to Earth.


the experiment will scientists to determine the possibility of establishing human habitats in moon and the universe. “Can humans live and work on the moon? Not just visit for a few days but stay for decades? A first step in long term presence is to send plants,” explains Nasa.

Source: NASA Press Release

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August 01, 2013
The best current candidate for life are the super-Earths: planets similar to, but much larger than ours. With thick atmospheres and high temperatures, conditions on a super-Earth will be very strange, and it's likely the planet will be very tectonically active, but it might have a magentic field to protect life from radiation.

Life thrives in a huge ocean
A super-Earth could be completely covered by a deep ocean. The mantle consists of a thick layer of ice, which is only formed under high pressure. According to astrophysicists, an inner rock mantle is located beneath the thick ice cap. The mantle probably generates a protective magnetic field.

Living organisms need Earth-like conditions
Exoplanets the size of the Earth probably have a geology very much like ours. A solid iron core surrounded by a liquid core with a flow that generates a magnetic field. Tectonic plates move slowly about on top of the mantle.

Earthquakes and volcanoes provide vital nutrients
A massive super-globe could feature an outer mantle with a strong heat flow, on which tectonic plates  float. The geology will be violent with huge A mountain ranges, but lots of earthquakes and active volcanoes will bring nutrients to the surface.

Source: Science Illustrated Magazine
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July 24, 2013
A favorite theme of science fiction is "the portal"--an extraordinary opening in space or time that connects travelers to distant realms. A good portal is a shortcut, a guide, a door into the unknown. If only they actually existed....

It turns out that they do, sort of, and a NASA-funded researcher at the University of Iowa has figured out how to find them.
 "We call them X-points or electron diffusion regions," explains plasma physicist Jack Scudder of the University of Iowa. "They're places where the magnetic field of Earth connects to the magnetic field of the Sun, creating an uninterrupted path leading from our own planet to the sun's atmosphere 93 million miles away."

Observations by NASA's THEMIS spacecraft and Europe's Cluster probes suggest that these magnetic portals open and close dozens of times each day. They're typically located a few tens of thousands of kilometers from Earth where the geomagnetic field meets the onrushing solar wind. Most portals are small and short-lived; others are yawning, vast, and sustained. Tons of energetic particles can flow through the openings, heating Earth's upper atmosphere, sparking geomagnetic storms, and igniting bright polar auroras.
NASA is planning a mission called "MMS," short for Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission, due to launch in 2014, to study the phenomenon. Bristling with energetic particle detectors and magnetic sensors, the four spacecraft of MMS will spread out in Earth's magnetosphere and surround the portals to observe how they work.

 Just one problem: Finding them. Magnetic portals are invisible, unstable, and elusive. They open and close without warning "and there are no signposts to guide us in," notes Scudder.
Actually, there are signposts, and Scudder has found them.
Portals form via the process of magnetic reconnection. Mingling lines of magnetic force from the sun and Earth criss-cross and join to create the openings. "X-points" are where the criss-cross takes place. The sudden joining of magnetic fields can propel jets of charged particles from the X-point, creating an "electron diffusion region."

To learn how to pinpoint these events, Scudder looked at data from a space probe that orbited Earth more than 10 years ago.

 "In the late 1990s, NASA's Polar spacecraft spent years in Earth's magnetosphere," explains Scudder, "and it encountered many X-points during its mission."
Because Polar carried sensors similar to those of MMS, Scudder decided to see how an X-point looked to Polar. "Using Polar data, we have found five simple combinations of magnetic field and energetic particle measurements that tell us when we've come across an X-point or an electron diffusion region. A single spacecraft, properly instrumented, can make these measurements."

 This means that single member of the MMS constellation using the diagnostics can find a portal and alert other members of the constellation. Mission planners long thought that MMS might have to spend a year or so learning to find portals before it could study them. Scudder's work short cuts the process, allowing MMS to get to work without delay.

It's a shortcut worthy of the best portals of fiction, only this time the portals are real. And with the new "signposts" we know how to find them.

Source: NASA 

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