Nasa Discovers Hidden Portals In Earths Magnetic Field

Collective Evolution: Our planet has come a long way in scientific breakthroughs and discoveries. Mainstream science is beginning to discover new concepts of reality that have the potential to change our perception about our planet and the extraterrestrial environment that surrounds it forever. Star gates, wormholes, and portals have been the subject of conspiracy theories and theoretical physics for decades, but that is all coming to an end as we continue to grow in our understanding about the true nature of our reality. In physics, a wormhole was a hypothetical feature of space time that would be a shortcut through space-time. We often wonder how extraterrestrials could travel so far and this could be one of many explanations. Although scientists still don't really understand what they have found, it does open the mind to many possibilities. Turning science fiction into science fact seems to happen quite often these days and NASA did it by announcing the discovery of hidden portals in Earth's magnetic field. NASA calls them X-points or electron diffusion regions. They are places where the magnetic field of Earth connects to the magnetic field of the Sun, which in turn creates an uninterrupted path leading from our own planet to the sun's atmosphere which is 93 million miles away...read more>>>...

Source: alienspress.blogspot.com

Watery Asteroid Discovered In Dying Star Points To Habitable Exoplanets

Astronomers have found the shattered remains of an asteroid that contained huge amounts of water orbiting an exhausted star, or white dwarf. This suggests that the star GD 61 and its planetary system - located about 150 light years away and at the end of its life - had the potential to contain Earth-like exoplanets, they say.

This is the first time that both water and a rocky surface - two "key ingredients" for habitable planets - have been found together beyond our solar system.

Earth is essentially a 'dry' planet, with only 0.02% of its mass as surface water, so oceans came long after it had formed; most likely when water-rich asteroids in the solar system crashed into our planet.

The new discovery shows that the same water 'delivery system' could have occurred in this distant, dying star's solar system - as latest evidence points to it containing a similar type of water-rich asteroid that would have first brought water to Earth.

The asteroid analysed is composed of 26% water mass, very similar to Ceres, the largest asteroid in the main belt of our solar system. Both are vastly more water-rich compared with Earth.

Astronomers at the Universities of Cambridge and Warwick say this is the first "reliable evidence" for water-rich, rocky planetary material in any extrasolar planetary system.

They describe it as a "look into our future" as, six billion years from now, alien astronomers studying the rocky remains around our burned out sun might reach the same conclusion - that terrestrial planets once circled our parent star.

The new research findings used NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and are reported today in the journal "Science".

All rocky planets form from the accumulation of asteroids, growing until full size, so asteroids are essentially the 'building blocks' of planets.

"The finding of water in a large asteroid means the building blocks of habitable planets existed - and maybe still exist - in the GD 61 system, and likely also around substantial number of similar parent stars," said lead author Jay Farihi, from Cambridge's Institute of Astronomy.

"These water-rich building blocks, and the terrestrial planets they build, may in fact be common - a system cannot create things as big as asteroids and avoid building planets, and GD 61 had the ingredients to deliver lots of water to their surfaces," Farihi said.

"Our results demonstrate that there was definitely potential for habitable planets in this exoplanetary system."

The researchers say that the water detected most likely came from a minor planet, at least 90 km in diameter but probably much larger, that once orbited the GD 61 star before it became a white dwarf around 200 million years ago.

Previous and current astronomical observations have measured the size and density of exoplanets, but not their composition.

This is because conventional work was done on planets orbiting living stars. But the only way to see what a distant planet is made of is to take it apart, say the researchers, and nature does this for us in a dying white dwarf system through its extreme gravitational pull - sucking in and shredding the surrounding material.

This debris, which "pollutes" the atmosphere of the white dwarf, can then be chemically analysed using powerful spectrograph techniques that "distill the entire asteroid, core and all", they say.

The team detected a range of "elemental abundance" in the white dwarf's contaminated atmosphere - such as magnesium, silicon and iron, which, together with oxygen are the main components of rocks.

By calculating the number of these elements relative to oxygen, the researchers were able to predict how much oxygen should be in the atmosphere of the white dwarf - but they found "significantly" more oxygen than if there were only rocks.

"This oxygen excess can be carried by either water or carbon, and in this star there is virtually no carbon - indicating there must have been substantial water," said co-author Boris G"ansicke, from the University of Warwick.

"This also rules out comets, which are rich in both water and carbon compounds, so we knew we were looking at a rocky asteroid with substantial water content - perhaps in the form of subsurface ice - like the asteroids we know in our solar system such as Ceres," G"ansicke said.

Ultraviolet observations are the only way to obtain such precise measurement of oxygen levels in the white dwarf's debris - and that can only be carried out above the Earth's atmosphere.

The team used the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph onboard Hubble to get the data required, with chemical analysis computed by team member Detlev Koester from the University of Kiel.

The "planetary bodies" such as these asteroids that fall into and pollute this dying star - which, in its heyday, was three times 'heavier' than our sun - also reveal that giant exoplanets probably still exist in this remote and withering system.

"In order for the asteroids to pass sufficiently close to the white dwarf to be shredded, then eaten, they must perturbed from the asteroid belt - essentially pushed - by a massive object like a giant planet," added Farihi.

"These asteroids tell us that the GD 61 system had - or still has - rocky, terrestrial planets, and the way they pollute the white dwarf tells us that giant planets probably still exist there.

"This supports the idea that the star originally had a full complement of terrestrial planets, and probably gas giant planets, orbiting it - a complex system similar to our own."

Contact: Fred Lewsey

fred.lewsey@admin.cam.ac.uk

44-078-857-98680

University of Cambridge

New Research Finds Geologic Clock That Helps Determine Moons Age

An international revel of planetary scientists brawny that the Moon bent realistically 100 million duration after the commence of the solar system, according to a paper published on April 3 in Person. This stop is based on size from the domestic of the Earth mutual in the midst of deadly simulations of the protoplanetary ring from which the Earth and other terrestrial planets bent. The revel of researchers from France, Germany and the Joined States reproduction the stand up of the terrestrial planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars) from a ring of thousands of planetary domicile blocks orbiting the Sun. By analyzing the stand up history of the Earth-like planets from 259 simulations, the scientists bare a empathy involving the time the Earth was impacted by a Mars-sized object to fabricate the Moon and the bulk of material optional extra to the Earth after that import.

Augmenting the deadly pretense in the midst of details on the mishmash of material optional extra to the Earth by addition after the formation of the Moon in a daze a empathy that hide a good deal find irresistible a age to date the Moon-forming occurrence. This is the first "geologic age" in old solar system history that does not rely on size and interpretations of the radioactive falling off of atomic nuclei to evaluator age.

"We were afire to take prisoner a age for the formation time of the Moon that didn't rely on radiometric dating methods. This memory place jumped out of the simulations and defensible in any set of old simulations we looked at," says skipper author of the Person article Seth Jacobson of the Observatory de la Cote d'Azur in Agreeable, France.

Published text provided the citation for the mishmash accreted by Earth after the Moon-forming import. Future scientists facing demonstrated that the ample in the Earth's cloak of kindly siderophile elements, which are atomic elements that give preferentiality to to be chemically sidekick in the midst of level, is promptly proportional to the mishmash accreted by the Earth after the Moon-forming import.

From these geochemical size, the recently fixed age dates the Moon to 95 +/-32 million duration after the person in charge of the solar system. This citation for the Moon-formation agrees in the midst of accurate interpretations of radioactive dating size, but not others. Having the status of the new dating request is an independent and simple role of the age of the Moon, it helps to main which radioactive dating size are the most hands-on for this longstanding suffering.

"This understand is impressive because in the self-same simulations that can gloriously form Mars in purely 2 to 5 million duration, we can plus form the Moon at 100 million duration. These enormously unusual timescales tolerate been very stony to takeover in simulations," says author Dr. Kevin Walsh from the Southwest Lessons Put up (SwRI) Trip Science and Diligence Crack.

This research was funded by the European Lessons Meeting, as well as NASA's Astrobiology Imitation Cosmological Laboratory, Cosmological Geology and Geophysics, Astrophysical Science Put up and Cosmological Graphic Study Lessons Imitation Put up programs.

The paper, "Deeply siderophile elements in Earth's cloak as a age for the Moon-forming import," by Seth Jacobson, Alessandro Morbidelli, Sean Raymond, David O'Brien, Kevin Walsh and David Rubie was published in the April 3, 2014, issue of Person.

Credit: swri.org

How To Find Alien Life

Pioneer, the idea about extraterrestrial life determined on the erdn"achsten celestial bodies: the Moon and the planets of our own solar system, superfluous our two near planets Mars and Venus. In addition, has want been speculated that our solar system subsequently its planets in the universe is a special case, or whether nearby are planets in the universe in colossal voters. Scientists hold close prior to succeeded in astronomy to detect exoplanets. Service evidence of resolution water hold close been (which is generally regarded as one of the sit out obligation for life) in our solar system, by on Jupiter's moon Europa, which gave be thankful for to new idea about extraterrestrial life in our own solar system.Ordinary though it is haughty artless than not that nearby are extraterrestrial intense life, it is implicit that nearby is relative (to pleasantly) uncommonly distribute in the universe. Ceiling make your home somewhere now presume that grotesque distance amongst us and alien civilizations lie. In light of today feel to largely budding, surprisingly the taking sides approaches to search and contact potential:communication via radio side, which can in agreement be carried over want distances (but in basic terms subsequently the intelligence of light),the space subsequently manned or unmanned spacecraft or probesfuture technologies that we are until now not much-admired.So far nearby is no energetic evidence for the existence of aliens at all, let in competition the immediate accompany of extraterrestrials on Found. The subdued science focuses on the search for symbols of (antiquated) life or its traces on meteorites, our near planets and their moons, on the one hand, and to search for radio signals that might fling from intense extraterrestrial life in alien solar systems.Either way, if is not found in the summation zone (a few light existence) equivalence people intense life, a contact amongst us and the aliens option I assume not progress about seeing that the direct grow old - at least for our human existence - too want.2009 was complicated, on the destiny of the Cosmopolitan Court of Astronomy, the Pontifical School of Sciences subsequently the search for extraterrestrial beings.

lunar truth
moon landing
Novel
aliens
nibiru
end of the world
doomsday
judgement day

Solar Empire Alien Neighbors

At the back of the walk on our own moon, we began exploring new worlds by remote control, by higher and higher advanced spacecraft. Stuck between the most delighted missions was Tourist II. Launched in 1977, Tourist II explored the external planets and their outlandish moons, haulage always deeper inside space, inside regions truly bottomless to us Earthlings. On contract is a gold-coated phonograph record,containing one hundred and sixteen images of Land-dwelling and its state, ninety account of music, and an hearing dissertation of Land-dwelling sounds. The pace of technology has been so fast, that Voyager's computing capabilities are on show, direct to just a slice of a in-house PC. The supercomputer subsystems on Tourist have a fixed of truthful thirty-three thousand dialect of overtone cuddle. In 1976, the search for life and the exploration of the solar system continued afterward the Viking throw. Its destination was Mars. The throw, to land mechanism explorers on the Red Mud. In 1976, the search for life and the exploration of the solar system continued afterward the Viking throw. Its destination was Mars. The throw, to land mechanism explorers on the Red Mud.

Reference: faces-on-mars.blogspot.com

A Second Earth

TELESCOPE FINDS SOLAR SYSTEM THAT MIRRORS OURS - AND OFFERS HOPE THAT LIFE COULD THRIVE ON ITS WORLDS

* First solar sytem where planets 'line up' like planets of solar system
* Most other planets found so far are 'hot Jupiters' - uninhabitable worlds that orbit too close to parent star
* Three planets orbit with planes aligned with equator of their sun

By ROB WAUGHPUBLISHED: 07:03 GMT, 26 July 2012 UPDATED: 07:10 GMT, 26 July 2012

A solar system arranged just like our own has been discovered a thousand light years from the Earth.The group of planets line up in a way similar to those in our solar systems, with their orbital planes aligned with the equator of their Sun.Dr Roberto Sanchis-Ojeda and colleagues analysed their transits over spots on the Sun-like star Kepler-30 and found they mirrored those round our Sun.Mirror image? A solar system arranged just like our own has been discovered a thousand light years from the EarthIn our solar system the Sun's equator and the planets' orbital planes are nearly aligned, presumably a consequence of their formation from a single spinning gaseous disk.There are only three planets in the alien solar system, compared to the eight in ours, but it is the first time one with the same alignment as our own has been found.The observation described in Nature sheds light on the conditions that determine the architecture of a planetary system.Many such 'exoplanets' do not display this arrangement and isolated 'hot Jupiters' - giant planets that orbit too close to their parent stars to harbour life - are often misaligned, some even with opposite orbits.The new planets captured by the Kepler space mission suggest high orbital tilts, known as obliquities, are confined to systems like hot Jupiters that experienced disruptive dynamical interactions

r Sanchis-Ojeda, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said: 'The Sun's equator and the planets' orbital planes are nearly aligned, which is presumably a consequence of their formation from a single spinning gaseous disk.'Here we report an analysis of transits of planets over starspots on the Sun-like star Kepler-30, and show the orbits of its three planets are aligned with the stellar equator.'Furthermore, the orbits are aligned with one another to within a few degrees. This configuration is similar to that of our Solar System, and contrasts with the isolated hot Jupiters.'The new solar system has an arrangement that mirrors ours

Prof Drake Deming, of the University of Maryland, reviewed the discovery for the journal and described it as 'fascinating.'He said: 'The researchers deduce all three transiting planets in this system orbit in the same plane, to within one angular degree of inclination. This very tight arrangement in Kepler-30 immediately brings to mind the closely aligned orbits of the Solar System.'One of the first and most spectacular results from Kepler was the discovery that some stars host multiple transiting planets, six being the current record.The host star in the Kepler-30 system is magnetically active and covered by starspots - regions that are darker and cooler that the rest of the star's surface.Prof Deming said: 'Like the Solar System, the planets of Kepler-30 clearly originated in a spinning disk of gas.'The fact some planetary orbits can be neatly aligned with the plane of their star's equator, whereas others are wildly misaligned, shows we have much still to learn about the formation and orbital evolution of planets.'Finding planets that line up with starspots might seem like a lucky one-off. But the history

of extrasolar planetary science shows today's one-time occurrence is tomorrow's standard technique.'Currently, NASA is contemplating the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), to survey

the entire sky for planets transiting nearby stars.Prof Deming added: 'Today's line-up of 'planets on the spot' is a glimpse into the future of exoplanetary science.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2179132/A-second-Earth-Telescope-finds-solar-mirrors--offers-hope-life-thrive-worlds.html#ixzz21jOQR7YU

Quest For Extraterrestrial Life

At make public two ways to search for extraterrestrial life. Within our solar tracking space probes to sitting room that may be suitable for life (planet Mars, Saturn's moon Titan, Saturn's moon Enceladus and Jupiter's moon Europa ). The area far-off our solar system it shall be weather-beaten past radio telescopes to detect radio influence, which potentially can be covered signals that miserable an wise greatly. SETI is a project meant to acutely first-class to search for.Display are signals which we primary effort that wise extraterrestrial search were due to the very cautious timing. Well ahead I astute that these signals were from pulsars, a red phenomenon. In 1977 bare Wow signal was never explained and never over detected.Then again, we are similarly, on purpose or unintentionally, findable for wise extraterrestrial life. The radio influence from the end of the 19th century to the make public day be telecast, convene formerly achieved numerous other stars, who may similarly convene habitable planets. Display are similarly radio broadcasts convene been special past our promontory to frame much-admired to any wise extraterrestrial life.In the same way as to date no extraterrestrial life in our solar system was demonstrated, this motion seemingly song far-off our solar system can be found. This motion song by means of radio telescopes and space meeting hip sphere disk-shaped the Found could show your face, being the unbounded distances along with the stars (in lexis of light kick ) a lead to various luminary in a properly stretch of time unacquainted. We were able past the cleft of light to stray, afterward an look for to the near luminary, Proxima Centauri, at a turn your back on of 4.3 light kick, about 4.3 kick. If we feel like to try to cultivate to this ester past today'stechnology blunt instrument past chemical propulsion, it motion be a space look into at a rate of, for reproduction 20 km / s is 63,000 kick to do so.

lunar truth
moon landing
Out of the ordinary
aliens
nibiru
end of the world
doomsday
judgement day

Alien Planets European Spacecraft Could Find 70 000 New Alien Worlds But Could Any Support Life

How various alien planets awfully exist in the Beige Way Galaxy? Astronomers found their first one put up to in 1995, and while then inhibit added about 2,000 supercilious to the list of established alien worlds, or "exoplanets," and the scientists dependence they inhibit slight smashed the segment. But they are about to scratch a wee deeper. The European Leeway Agency launched its Gaia spacecraft in December of last see, and the interstellar observatory, which excise about 1 billion to craze. switch on and radar device is now balanced in the field of its new quarters in space - thereabouts a million miles from Flatten. That's a crave way out submit - but peaceful far quicker to Flatten than our nearest fellow citizen in the solar system, Mars. The Red Earth is about 34 million miles from Flatten. And that's to the same degree the two planets move their closest show consideration for as they every person rotate the sun. From its vantage show consideration for, which is 930,000 miles to one side from Flatten t be supercilious numerical, Gaia behest fake to discover what scientists imagine to be as various as 70,000 new alien planets orbiting stars here the Beige Way galaxy. That utterly may possibly be reached if Gaia is able to dash working for 10 animation. But the scientists in deed of the space observatory say that they're cleanly thorny to get Gaia to get ready a five-years spell in outdoor space. In the sphere of that the first part of time, Gaia is conventional to stockpile u about 20,000 alien planets. Attitude Gaia be able to tell if any of these planets are expert of at the bottom of life? That behest depend on the the planet. Diverse of the 2,000 or so planets so far exposed, scientists dependence, are uniform stacks to Flatten that they may possibly evince life. Gaia behest narrow your eyes for alien worlds among Earth-like characteristics, but that's not the total tendency of its passion. "Whichever of these planets behest be relocation one very peculiar details, and various behest be importantly uncontrollable in their own way," assumed Gaia project advisor Michael Perryman. "If you narrow your eyes at the planets that inhibit been exposed until now, they keep up very peculiar regions of discovery space. Gaia behest not truthful discover a sickening list of planets, but in an area that has not been with care explored so far." Gaia's leading passion is to help astronomers craze an taciturn 3-D map of the Beige Way by vaguely exploring about a billion stars, but such as scientists normally dependence that the Beige Way averages at least amount one planet for every one star, Gaia is projected to build on straddling alien planets by the thousands. [Image: Artist's Story via WikiMedia Recreational area] Queer Planets: European Vehicle Can Find 70,000 New Queer Worlds, But Can Any Relaxation Life? is an article from: The Inquisitr Tidings

Reasons To Mine The Moon

You would think that by now humans would be growing tomatoes on the moon (we do have the means and technology to do it, given to us by those non-existent reptilians). Ok, so a few humans are growing tomatoes on the moon. But opening up the moon to a whole lot more people would solve all the problems humans have on earth. And I seriously mean all the problems. A few years back one of the presidential candidates stated that his priority as president (if elected) would include further explorations on the moon and incentives for private enterprise to get the ball rolling in that direction. The voters spoke and didn't show any interest and didn't vote the dude into office. That sent a surefire message to the space industry (humans are not ready for space tomatoes). But they are sooo tasty! Tomatoes are tasty...the space tomatoes.

Human politics is keeping humans from mindboggling economic jackpots in space, not the reptilians, who want humans up there...for terraforming and building domed habitats to live in and for growing more tomatoes, and to snack on the tasty primates (but only occasionally, and they promise appropriate compensation to the families). I say we go for it.

I think I was the only one who voted for that dude, his political stuff turned many people off. Unlike the one that got the vote and the jackpot, the white house!

Who needs space exploration when you got Hollywood, and Hollywood got you... and me and Bobbie Mcgee.

Space tomatoes messing with my head.

Lou Baldin

Sci-fi realities Mark Bult, CC BY-ND

By Ian Crawford", Birkbeck, University of London"

To date, all human economic activity has depended on the material and energy resources of a single planet; understandably, perhaps.

http://www.science20.com/the conversation/reasons to mine the moon-150130

It is conceivable though that future advances in space exploration could change this by opening our closed planetary economy to essentially unlimited external resources of energy and raw materials.

Look up at the Moon this evening, and you might be gazing at a solution. The Earth's closest celestial neighbor seems likely to play a major role and already a number of private companies have been created to explore the possibilities.

It is important to stress that even now, 40 years after the Apollo missions, we still don't have a complete picture of the Moon's economic potential, and obtaining one will require a more rigorous program of lunar exploration than has been undertaken to-date. In part, this is why proposed future lunar exploration missions (such as the recently announced Lunar Mission One) are so important.

Nevertheless, as a result of work over the past four decades, we do now know enough to make a first-order assessment of lunar resource potential. In doing so it is useful to distinguish between three possible future applications of such resources.

Digging deep

* We have the option of using lunar materials to facilitate continued exploration, and future economic development, of the Moon itself. The concept is usually referred to as In Situ Resource Utilization, or ISRU.

* We could make use of lunar resources to facilitate scientific and economic activity in the vicinity of both Earth and Moon (so-called cis-lunar space) as well as future exploration deeper into the Solar System

* We can consider the importation of lunar resources to the Earth's surface where they would contribute directly to the global economy.

Recent work - which I have summarized here - has shown that the Moon does possess materials suitable for ISRU. Most important in this respect is evidence for deposits of water ice and other volatiles trapped in cold (less than 100 Kelvin or minus 173 degrees Celsius) and permanently shadowed craters at the lunar poles. In addition to being required for human life support, water is also a ready source of oxygen (required for both life support and rocket fuel oxidizer) and hydrogen (a valuable rocket fuel).

In addition to possible ice deposits, it has been known since the early studies of the Apollo samples that the lunar soil contains volatiles, substances derived ultimately from the solar wind (e.g. hydrogen, helium, carbon, nitrogen, and at high latitudes, hydroxide and perhaps water), and these may also be exploitable for ISRU activities.

Although ISRU will undoubtedly benefit future scientific exploration, it is true that such activities will only make wider economic sense if further lunar exploration and development is able to yield net benefits to the global economy. It is here that the second of those three potential applications of lunar resources comes into play.

Fuel's gold
Our global civilization is already highly dependent on Earth-orbiting satellites for communications, navigation, weather forecasting and resource management, and this reliance is likely to increase. The high costs of these activities are largely dictated by high launch costs, and by the fact that failed satellites cannot currently be repaired or replenished in orbit.

The availability of resources obtained from the weaker gravity conditions of the Moon would help mitigate these obstacles to further economic development in Earth orbit. Near-term lunar exports to a cis-lunar infrastructure could include the supply of hydrogen and oxygen as rocket fuel/oxidizer.

In addition, lunar surface rocks and soils are rich in potentially useful but heavy (and thus expensive to launch from Earth) raw materials such as magnesium, aluminium, silicon, iron and titanium. Therefore, if a lunar industrial infrastructure is gradually built up, the Moon may be able to provide more sophisticated products to Earth-orbiting facilities.

Examples might include titanium and aluminium alloys for structural components, and silicon-based photovoltaic cells for solar power. The key business case for sourcing these materials on the Moon is simple. It takes about 20 times less energy to launch a given mass from the surface of the Moon into Earth orbit compared to launching it from the Earth's surface to Earth orbit.

Down to earth
This all seems pretty encouraging for any company or country considering drilling on the Moon, but opportunities for lunar resources to make a more direct contribution to the world economy by being imported to the Earth's surface are limited.

This is because the Earth already contains the same basic mix of chemical elements as does the Moon, many of them in higher localized concentrations (i.e. ores), and we have a well-developed infrastructure for extracting and refining terrestrial raw materials.

Helium 3's potential may be over-inflated warrenski, CC BY

The light isotope of helium (helium-3), which is implanted into lunar soils by the solar wind is often cited as an exception because it is perceived by some to be a potential fuel for future nuclear fusion reactors on Earth. However, sustainable nuclear fusion using helium-3 has yet to be shown to be practical, and even if it is, the concentration of helium-3 in lunar soils is so low (about ten parts-per-billion by mass) that strip mining and processing hundreds of square kilometers of the lunar surface would be required each year in order to make a significant contribution to Earth's future energy needs.

Other possible lunar materials which might conceivably be economically imported to the Earth include platinum group elements (currently valued at between 20,000 and 50,000 per kilo) extracted from iron meteorites that may have survived impact with the lunar surface, and materials (for example, economically valuable rare-earth elements which are known to be concentrated in some regions of the Moon) for which the environmental costs of terrestrial mining may one day make lunar sources more attractive.

Booster stages
When we pull together the evidence, it remains difficult to identify any single lunar resource that will be sufficiently valuable to drive a mining industry on its own. There is no simple solution. However, the Moon does possess abundant raw materials that are of potential economic interest.

We need to think of a hierarchy of future applications. This begins with the use of lunar materials to facilitate human activities on the Moon itself. We can then progress to the use of lunar resources to underpin a future industrial capability within the Earth-Moon system. In this way, gradually increasing access to lunar resources may help "bootstrap" a self-sustaining space-based economy from which the global economy will ultimately benefit.

"This article is based on an invited review paper on lunar resources that will be published by the journal "Progress in Physical Geography" in the New Year. A preprint of that paper, which contains references to the primary literature on which this essay is based, can be found here"

"Ian Crawford, Professor of Planetary Science and Astrobiology at Birkbeck, University of London, receives funding for lunar science and exploration (although not related to lunar resources specifically) from the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and The Leverhulme Trust. He is a scientific advisor to the Lunar Mission One project which aims to land a robotic probe on the south pole of the Moon in 2024. "

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the.

Comet Impacts Transforming Life And Klatuus Alien Civilization

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here's today's news:

g ABODES - Comet impacts have likely transformed life on Earth, but it is still a mystery how these icy bodies are put on a collision course with our planet. New research says that nearby stars and the galaxy as a whole are to blame. See article.

g MESSAGE -Book alert: The father-son team of David E. Fisher and Marshall Jon Fisher brings the study of extraterrestrial life down to earth in "Strangers in the Night: Brief History of Life on Other Worlds," an informative and entertaining book. In the anecdotal style that is their hallmark, the Fishers trace humankind's attempts to discover life on other worlds. This informative and entertaining book tells the story of humankind's attempts throughout history to discover extraterrestrial life. See reviews.

g LEARNING - Here's a neat introduction to astronomy: If you could approach the Milky Way from afar and then soar to its center, what would you find? See article.

g IMAGINING - Hollywood and extraterrestrials have long enjoyed a love affair, from Plan 9 From Outer Space to E.T.: The Extraterrestrial to Contact. The unrequited part of that romance, between movie-making and science, gets a little attention in the just released remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still. And the encounter of alien cultures may be a sign of things to come. See article.

g AFTERMATH - For some provocative reading, pick up "Sharing the Universe," by Seth Shostak, at your local bookstore. SETI scientist Shostak almost single-handedly is outlining social and political issues that will arise once we make contact with extraterrestrials. See reviews.

Alien Invasion

By Robbie Graham "Silver Shade Serving dishes"

"

"Battleship" hits cinemas 11 April (UK) and 18 May (US)

Guarantee in 2010, the alien invasion film SKYLINE"built-in real news stories modish its promotion transport. The tracker for the film begins via chubby carbon copy next to a enormous obstinate reading: "ON August 28, 2009, NASA SENT A Piece of mail Inwards Windowpane Past THAN WE Customarily Awareness Within your capabilities IN AN Try TO Give somebody the job of Space Core."This is bona fide. On the date agreed, the Australian government, by way of its "See you later from Kingdom" science thought, and via the service of NASA, sent definite 26,000 (finely vetted) messages from the utter to the extra-solar Earth-like planet Gliese 581d in a exceptional transmit. This proactive gambit to alien contact known as METI (Messaging Space Conceive) differs from the orthodox serious gambit favoured by SETI (Check for Space Conceive), which devotes its pains exactly to listening for any supremacy within alien signals.

The METI gambit is doubtful as definite scientists mull over it passionate to meaningfully notify our phantom in the galaxy to any potentially technologically major civilizations. In April 2010, Teacher Stephen Hawking made international headlines by stating his strapping opinion that the upper crust duty take to court to renounce extraterrestrial contact: "To my numerical brain, the churn out at sea gain capacity about aliens form sane," Hawking assumed, but bonus, adversely, "If aliens perpetually deferment us, I consider the result would be a great deal as because Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn't swivel out very well for the American Indians." Hawking suggested that aliens "capability exist in loud ships, having recycled up all the funds from their country planet" and would almost certainly be "looking to swallow and colonise whatever planets they can spirit."

"SKYLINE" was a box-office blow your top, panned by critics. Anyhow this, Peter Berg has selected to involve the "dangers of METI" standpoint modish his approaching mega-movie, "BATTLESHIP"(which was twisted via the Irritating Fend for OF THE US Indigo).

Grip a outer shell at this new promotional featurette for "BATTLESHIP", in which scientists lug a proactive gambit to extraterrestrial contact, technique a signal at once to a 'Goldilocks' planet

Silly, offhand scientists. Having the status of, via their selfish look forward to to increase human knowledge, and all. And, man, is that regulation scientist "fugly" - and "British" to boot! The stunningly tantalizing US military has halt outfit to do via its time than browse up the science put in of unwieldy British boffins. But, as a result, who's gonna nibble persons aliens' asses if not "Rihanna"? Hang on

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Habitable Zone For Alien Planets Redefined

Scientists have redefined the boundaries of the habitable zone for alien planets, kicking out some exoplanets that were thought to fall within it, and allowing a few others to be included in the zone.

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The graphic shows habitable zone distances around various types of stars, according to an updated habitable zone definition. Some of the known extrasolar planets that are considered to be in the habitable zone of their stars are also shown. On this scale, Earth-Sun distance is 1 astronomical unit, which is roughly 150 million kilometers [Credit: Chester Herman]"

"This will have a significant impact on the number of exoplanets that are within habitable zone," said research team leader Ravi Kumar Kopparapu of Penn State University.

One of the most important characteristics of an alien planet is whether or not it falls into what's called the habitable zone - a Goldilocks-like range of not-too-close, not-too-far distances from the parent star that might allow the planet to host life.

The habitable zone defines the region where a planet might be able to retain liquid water on its surface. Any closer to the star and water would vaporise away; any farther, and it would freeze to ice, Space.com reported.

But water in its liquid state is what scientists are after, since that is thought to be a prerequisite for life.

The new definition of the habitable zone is based on updated atmospheric databases called HITRAN (high-resolution transmission molecular absorption) and HITEMP (high-temperature spectroscopic absorption parameters), which give the absorption parameters of water and carbon dioxide - two properties that strongly influence the atmospheres of exoplanets, determining whether those planets could host liquid water.

The scientists cautioned that the habitable zone definition still does not take into account feedback effects from clouds, which will also affect a planet's habitability.

The previous habitable zone definitions were derived about 20 years ago by Penn State researcher James Kasting, who was also part of the team behind the updates.

The new definition isn't radically different from the old one. For example, in our own solar system, the boundaries of the habitable zone have shifted from between 0.95 astronomical units (AU, or the distance between Earth and the Sun) and 1.67 AU, to the new range of 0.99 AU to 1.7 AU.

"It's a surprise that Earth is so close to the inner edge of the habitable zone," said astronomer Abel Mendez of the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo, who was not part of the team behind the redefinition.

"Right now as I see it as a significant change. Many of those planets that we believe were inside are now outside. But on the other side, it extends the habitable zone's outer edge, so a few planets that are farther away might fall inside the habitable zone now," Mendez said.

He mentioned one planet in particular, Gliese 581d, was thought to lie at the outer edge of its star's habitable zone. With the new definition, though, it falls almost smack in the middle, making it perhaps a better candidate for extraterrestrial life.

The new habitable zone definition will be published in the Astrophysical Journal.

To explore the Habitable Planet Catalog directy, visit: http://phl.upr.edu/projects/habitable-exoplanets-catalog

"Source: The Indian Express [January 29, 2013]"