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"content": "\u003cp>Last week \u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/earth-size-planets-the-newest-weirdest-generation\">NASA announced the existence of seven Earth-sized planets \u003c/a>orbiting the same star, TRAPPIST-1, only 40 light years from Earth. Adding to the excitement of this glittering milestone discovery, three of these planets orbit the star within its “\u003ca href=\"https://www.e-education.psu.edu/astro801/content/l12_p4.html\">habitable zone\u003c/a>,” where the strength of the star’s light is suitable to support liquid water on their surfaces.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That was last week’s news. This week the question is, what do we do about it?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While we can’t launch a mission to see these seven worlds up close—or any of the now \u003ca href=\"http://www.exoplanets.org/\">almost 3,000 confirmed extra-solar planets\u003c/a> (exoplanets) for that matter, most of which are much more distant anyway—we can continue devising more advanced tools and techniques for exploring them from Earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1443665\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1443665\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/03/trappist-1-planet.jpg\" alt=\"Artist concept of a planet in the TRAPPIST-1 system, three of which have the potential to support liquid water. \" width=\"1000\" height=\"700\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/03/trappist-1-planet.jpg 1000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/03/trappist-1-planet-160x112.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/03/trappist-1-planet-800x560.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/03/trappist-1-planet-768x538.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/03/trappist-1-planet-960x672.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/03/trappist-1-planet-240x168.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/03/trappist-1-planet-375x263.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/03/trappist-1-planet-520x364.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist concept of a planet in the TRAPPIST-1 system, three of which have the potential to support liquid water. \u003ccite>(ESO/M. Kornmesser)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Today, NASA’s \u003ca href=\"https://kepler.nasa.gov/\">Kepler \u003c/a>and \u003ca href=\"http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/\">Spitzer \u003c/a>telescopes search for and analyze exoplanets from orbit, while a number of Earth-based observatories, such as the Belgian \u003ca href=\"http://www.trappist.ulg.ac.be/cms/c_3300885/en/trappist-portail\">TRAPPIST robotic telescope\u003c/a> in Chile, work the problem from the ground up—so to speak. TRAPPIST made the first two exoplanet detections in the TRAPPIST-1 system in mid-2016, and the Spitzer telescope added the other five to the list in the following months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Enter the next generation of exoplanet hunters\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Next year will see the launches of two new space-based observatories that will advance our exploration of worlds beyond our solar system. They promise to shed more light on Earth-sized exoplanets with the potential to harbor liquid water, and possibly even life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In early 2018, NASA will launch \u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/nasas-tess-the-next-exoplanet-explorer\">TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) \u003c/a>on a Falcon 9 rocket, a launch vehicle produced by the SpaceX Corporation. TESS’s primary mission will be to look for extrasolar planets as they transit in front of their stars—the same method employed by Kepler.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1443668\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1443668\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/03/transit-method.jpg\" alt='Diagram showing how we detect and measure exoplanets using the \"transit method,\" by measuring the amount of dimming of a star by a planet transiting in front of it. ' width=\"1000\" height=\"426\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/03/transit-method.jpg 1000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/03/transit-method-160x68.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/03/transit-method-800x341.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/03/transit-method-768x327.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/03/transit-method-960x409.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/03/transit-method-240x102.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/03/transit-method-375x160.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/03/transit-method-520x222.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Diagram showing how we detect and measure exoplanets using the “transit method,” by measuring the amount of dimming of a star by a planet transiting in front of it. \u003ccite>(Ames Research Center/NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The size and orbital period of a planet, as well as its distance from its star, can be calculated by measuring the amount of light blocked by the planet passing in front of its star, and also how frequently the planet transits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unlike the Kepler telescope, which has sampled a tight patch of stars tens of thousands of light years away, TESS will probe the stars closest to Earth—those within a few hundred light years—and in all directions in the sky. Some of TESS’s intended targets are even visible to the human eye. TESS is expected to survey about 200,000 stars during its two-year mission, and haul in thousands of new exoplanet discoveries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of particular interest to the TESS mission are smaller stars known as dwarf stars. They range from the size of our own sun down to the smaller red dwarfs like TRAPPIST-1. It is easier to detect smaller planets transiting fainter stars, since the proportion of light that they block is greater than for brighter stars. This is sort of like how it’s easier to hear a cricket in a concert hall when the orchestra is playing a soft piece of music than when it is blasting the 1812 Overture.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And with the discovery of TRAPPIST-1’s seven Earth-sized planets, there is renewed interest in planetary systems like it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There has been \u003ca href=\"http://www.space.com/6560-life-thrive-red-dwarf-star.html\">debate whether red dwarf stars are suitable to foster life-friendly environments\u003c/a> on any planets they may possess. Dwarf stars often engage in temperamental behavior, exhibiting wild swings in their light output and producing violent flare explosions. Any planets close enough to them to possess liquid water could be adversely impacted by this behavior. Also, planets orbiting close to their star eventually become “tidally locked” to it, keeping the same side always turned toward it. One side would experience perpetual daylight, the other side unending night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1443667\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 512px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1443667\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/03/CompLifeZoneRGBwTxt_512px.jpg\" alt='Illustration of the \"habitable zones\" of stars of different brightness--habitable zones shown in green. The smaller and cooler a star, the closer its habitable zone is. ' width=\"512\" height=\"288\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/03/CompLifeZoneRGBwTxt_512px.jpg 512w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/03/CompLifeZoneRGBwTxt_512px-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/03/CompLifeZoneRGBwTxt_512px-240x135.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/03/CompLifeZoneRGBwTxt_512px-375x211.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Illustration of the “habitable zones” of stars of different brightness–habitable zones shown in green. The smaller and cooler a star, the closer its habitable zone is. \u003ccite>(Kepler/NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Still, we have learned by studying life on Earth that it can be highly resilient and adaptable to changes in environment, so there is some hope of detecting life even in these types of systems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Later in 2018, \u003ca href=\"https://jwst.nasa.gov/origins.html\">NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope\u003c/a> will succeed the now-aged Hubble telescope. It will be launched from Guiana on a European Ariane rocket. Among its numerous applications, the James Webb Space Telescope will offer follow-up observations of confirmed exoplanets, such as any detected by TESS.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The James Webb Space Telescope will make spectroscopic measurements to detect and analyze the chemical compositions of exoplanet atmospheres—which is where things could really get interesting. If life exists on any given exoplanet, it has likely altered the composition of its atmosphere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Earth, animal life produces methane, and plant life adds free oxygen to the atmosphere. If we can detect chemicals in an exoplanet atmosphere that might not be present without the work of life forms, how exciting would that be?\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "After announcing the existence of seven Earth-sized planets only 40 light years from Earth, NASA says it will launch two new telescopes that promise to take the search to a whole new level.",
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"description": "After announcing the existence of seven Earth-sized planets only 40 light years from Earth, NASA says it will launch two new telescopes that promise to take the search to a whole new level.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Last week \u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/earth-size-planets-the-newest-weirdest-generation\">NASA announced the existence of seven Earth-sized planets \u003c/a>orbiting the same star, TRAPPIST-1, only 40 light years from Earth. Adding to the excitement of this glittering milestone discovery, three of these planets orbit the star within its “\u003ca href=\"https://www.e-education.psu.edu/astro801/content/l12_p4.html\">habitable zone\u003c/a>,” where the strength of the star’s light is suitable to support liquid water on their surfaces.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That was last week’s news. This week the question is, what do we do about it?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While we can’t launch a mission to see these seven worlds up close—or any of the now \u003ca href=\"http://www.exoplanets.org/\">almost 3,000 confirmed extra-solar planets\u003c/a> (exoplanets) for that matter, most of which are much more distant anyway—we can continue devising more advanced tools and techniques for exploring them from Earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1443665\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1443665\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/03/trappist-1-planet.jpg\" alt=\"Artist concept of a planet in the TRAPPIST-1 system, three of which have the potential to support liquid water. \" width=\"1000\" height=\"700\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/03/trappist-1-planet.jpg 1000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/03/trappist-1-planet-160x112.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/03/trappist-1-planet-800x560.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/03/trappist-1-planet-768x538.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/03/trappist-1-planet-960x672.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/03/trappist-1-planet-240x168.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/03/trappist-1-planet-375x263.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/03/trappist-1-planet-520x364.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist concept of a planet in the TRAPPIST-1 system, three of which have the potential to support liquid water. \u003ccite>(ESO/M. Kornmesser)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Today, NASA’s \u003ca href=\"https://kepler.nasa.gov/\">Kepler \u003c/a>and \u003ca href=\"http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/\">Spitzer \u003c/a>telescopes search for and analyze exoplanets from orbit, while a number of Earth-based observatories, such as the Belgian \u003ca href=\"http://www.trappist.ulg.ac.be/cms/c_3300885/en/trappist-portail\">TRAPPIST robotic telescope\u003c/a> in Chile, work the problem from the ground up—so to speak. TRAPPIST made the first two exoplanet detections in the TRAPPIST-1 system in mid-2016, and the Spitzer telescope added the other five to the list in the following months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Enter the next generation of exoplanet hunters\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Next year will see the launches of two new space-based observatories that will advance our exploration of worlds beyond our solar system. They promise to shed more light on Earth-sized exoplanets with the potential to harbor liquid water, and possibly even life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In early 2018, NASA will launch \u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/nasas-tess-the-next-exoplanet-explorer\">TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) \u003c/a>on a Falcon 9 rocket, a launch vehicle produced by the SpaceX Corporation. TESS’s primary mission will be to look for extrasolar planets as they transit in front of their stars—the same method employed by Kepler.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1443668\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1443668\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/03/transit-method.jpg\" alt='Diagram showing how we detect and measure exoplanets using the \"transit method,\" by measuring the amount of dimming of a star by a planet transiting in front of it. ' width=\"1000\" height=\"426\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/03/transit-method.jpg 1000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/03/transit-method-160x68.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/03/transit-method-800x341.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/03/transit-method-768x327.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/03/transit-method-960x409.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/03/transit-method-240x102.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/03/transit-method-375x160.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/03/transit-method-520x222.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Diagram showing how we detect and measure exoplanets using the “transit method,” by measuring the amount of dimming of a star by a planet transiting in front of it. \u003ccite>(Ames Research Center/NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The size and orbital period of a planet, as well as its distance from its star, can be calculated by measuring the amount of light blocked by the planet passing in front of its star, and also how frequently the planet transits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unlike the Kepler telescope, which has sampled a tight patch of stars tens of thousands of light years away, TESS will probe the stars closest to Earth—those within a few hundred light years—and in all directions in the sky. Some of TESS’s intended targets are even visible to the human eye. TESS is expected to survey about 200,000 stars during its two-year mission, and haul in thousands of new exoplanet discoveries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of particular interest to the TESS mission are smaller stars known as dwarf stars. They range from the size of our own sun down to the smaller red dwarfs like TRAPPIST-1. It is easier to detect smaller planets transiting fainter stars, since the proportion of light that they block is greater than for brighter stars. This is sort of like how it’s easier to hear a cricket in a concert hall when the orchestra is playing a soft piece of music than when it is blasting the 1812 Overture.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And with the discovery of TRAPPIST-1’s seven Earth-sized planets, there is renewed interest in planetary systems like it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There has been \u003ca href=\"http://www.space.com/6560-life-thrive-red-dwarf-star.html\">debate whether red dwarf stars are suitable to foster life-friendly environments\u003c/a> on any planets they may possess. Dwarf stars often engage in temperamental behavior, exhibiting wild swings in their light output and producing violent flare explosions. Any planets close enough to them to possess liquid water could be adversely impacted by this behavior. Also, planets orbiting close to their star eventually become “tidally locked” to it, keeping the same side always turned toward it. One side would experience perpetual daylight, the other side unending night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1443667\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 512px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1443667\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/03/CompLifeZoneRGBwTxt_512px.jpg\" alt='Illustration of the \"habitable zones\" of stars of different brightness--habitable zones shown in green. The smaller and cooler a star, the closer its habitable zone is. ' width=\"512\" height=\"288\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/03/CompLifeZoneRGBwTxt_512px.jpg 512w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/03/CompLifeZoneRGBwTxt_512px-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/03/CompLifeZoneRGBwTxt_512px-240x135.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/03/CompLifeZoneRGBwTxt_512px-375x211.jpg 375w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Illustration of the “habitable zones” of stars of different brightness–habitable zones shown in green. The smaller and cooler a star, the closer its habitable zone is. \u003ccite>(Kepler/NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Still, we have learned by studying life on Earth that it can be highly resilient and adaptable to changes in environment, so there is some hope of detecting life even in these types of systems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Later in 2018, \u003ca href=\"https://jwst.nasa.gov/origins.html\">NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope\u003c/a> will succeed the now-aged Hubble telescope. It will be launched from Guiana on a European Ariane rocket. Among its numerous applications, the James Webb Space Telescope will offer follow-up observations of confirmed exoplanets, such as any detected by TESS.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The James Webb Space Telescope will make spectroscopic measurements to detect and analyze the chemical compositions of exoplanet atmospheres—which is where things could really get interesting. If life exists on any given exoplanet, it has likely altered the composition of its atmosphere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Earth, animal life produces methane, and plant life adds free oxygen to the atmosphere. If we can detect chemicals in an exoplanet atmosphere that might not be present without the work of life forms, how exciting would that be?\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "7 Earth-Size Worlds Found Orbiting Star; The Planets Could Hold Life",
"headTitle": "7 Earth-Size Worlds Found Orbiting Star; The Planets Could Hold Life | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>For the first time ever, astronomers have discovered seven Earth-size planets orbiting a nearby star — and these new worlds could hold life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This cluster of planets is less than 40 light-years away in the constellation Aquarius, according to NASA and the Belgian-led research team who announced the discovery Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The planets circle tightly around a dim dwarf star called Trappist-1, barely the size of Jupiter. Three are in the so-called habitable zone, where liquid water and, possibly life, might exist. The others are right on the doorstep.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1425606\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 3200px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1425606\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Planets_lower_res.jpg\" alt=\"The TRAPPIST-1 star, an ultra-cool dwarf, has seven Earth-size planets orbiting it. This artist's concept appeared on the cover of the journal Nature on Feb. 23, 2017. \" width=\"3200\" height=\"4000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Planets_lower_res.jpg 3200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Planets_lower_res-160x200.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Planets_lower_res-800x1000.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Planets_lower_res-768x960.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Planets_lower_res-1020x1275.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Planets_lower_res-1920x2400.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Planets_lower_res-1180x1475.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Planets_lower_res-960x1200.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Planets_lower_res-240x300.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Planets_lower_res-375x469.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Planets_lower_res-520x650.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 3200px) 100vw, 3200px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The TRAPPIST-1 star, an ultra-cool dwarf, has seven Earth-size planets orbiting it. This artist’s concept appeared on the cover of the journal Nature on Feb. 23, 2017. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-Caltech)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Scientists said they need to study the atmospheres before determining whether these rocky, terrestrial planets could support some sort of life. But it already shows just how many Earth-size planets could be out there — especially in a star’s sweet spot, ripe for extraterrestrial life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The takeaway from all this is, “we’ve made a crucial step toward finding if there is life out there,” said the University of Cambridge’s Amaury Triaud, one of the researchers. The potential for more Earth-size planets in our Milky Way galaxy is mind-boggling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are 200 billion stars in our galaxy,” said co-author Emmanuel Jehin of the University of Liege. So do an account. You multiply this by 10, and you have the number of Earth-size planets in the galaxy — which is a lot.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last spring, the University of Liege’s Michael Gillon and his team reported finding three planets around Trappist-1. Now the count is up to seven, and Gillon said there could be more. Their latest findings appear in the journal Nature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This compact solar system is reminiscent of Jupiter and its Galilean moons, according to the researchers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Picture this: If Trappist-1 were our sun, all seven planets would be inside Mercury’s orbit. Mercury is the innermost planet of our own solar system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ultracool star at the heart of this system would shine 200 times dimmer than our sun, a perpetual twilight as we know it. And the star would glow red — maybe salmon-colored, the researchers speculate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The spectacle would be beautiful because every now and then, you would see another planet, maybe about as big as twice the moon in the sky, depending on which planet you’re on and which planet you look at,” Triaud said Tuesday in a teleconference with reporters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://youtu.be/bnKFaAS30X8\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Leiden Observatory’s Ignas Snellen, who was not involved in the study, is excited by the prospect of learning more about what he calls “the seven sisters of planet Earth.” In a companion article in Nature, he said Gillon’s team could have been lucky in nabbing so many terrestrial planets in one stellar swoop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But finding seven transiting Earth-sized planets in such a small sample suggests that the solar system with its four (sub-) Earth-sized planets might be nothing out of the ordinary,” Snellen wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gillon and his team used both ground and space telescopes to identify and track the planets, which they label simply by lowercase letters, “b” through “h.” As is typical in these cases, the letter “A” — in upper case — is reserved for the star. Planets cast shadows on their star as they pass in front of it; that’s how the scientists spotted them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tiny, cold stars like Trappist-1 were long shunned by exoplanet-hunters (exoplanets are those outside our solar system). But the Belgian astronomers decided to seek them out, building a telescope in Chile to observe 60 of the closest ultracool dwarf stars. Their Trappist telescope lent its name to this star.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While faint, the Trappist-1 star is close by cosmic standards, allowing astronomers to study the atmospheres of its seven temperate planets. All seven look to be solid like Earth — mostly rocky and possibly icy, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They all appear to be tidally locked, which means the same side continually faces the star, just like the same side of our moon always faces us. Life could still exist at these places, the researchers explained.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Here, if life managed to thrive and releases gases similar to that that we have on Earth, then we will know,” Triaud said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chemical analyses should indicate life with perhaps 99 percent confidence, Gillon noted. But he added: “We will never be completely sure” without going there.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>For the first time ever, astronomers have discovered seven Earth-size planets orbiting a nearby star — and these new worlds could hold life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This cluster of planets is less than 40 light-years away in the constellation Aquarius, according to NASA and the Belgian-led research team who announced the discovery Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The planets circle tightly around a dim dwarf star called Trappist-1, barely the size of Jupiter. Three are in the so-called habitable zone, where liquid water and, possibly life, might exist. The others are right on the doorstep.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1425606\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 3200px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1425606\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Planets_lower_res.jpg\" alt=\"The TRAPPIST-1 star, an ultra-cool dwarf, has seven Earth-size planets orbiting it. This artist's concept appeared on the cover of the journal Nature on Feb. 23, 2017. \" width=\"3200\" height=\"4000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Planets_lower_res.jpg 3200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Planets_lower_res-160x200.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Planets_lower_res-800x1000.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Planets_lower_res-768x960.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Planets_lower_res-1020x1275.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Planets_lower_res-1920x2400.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Planets_lower_res-1180x1475.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Planets_lower_res-960x1200.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Planets_lower_res-240x300.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Planets_lower_res-375x469.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Planets_lower_res-520x650.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 3200px) 100vw, 3200px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The TRAPPIST-1 star, an ultra-cool dwarf, has seven Earth-size planets orbiting it. This artist’s concept appeared on the cover of the journal Nature on Feb. 23, 2017. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-Caltech)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Scientists said they need to study the atmospheres before determining whether these rocky, terrestrial planets could support some sort of life. But it already shows just how many Earth-size planets could be out there — especially in a star’s sweet spot, ripe for extraterrestrial life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The takeaway from all this is, “we’ve made a crucial step toward finding if there is life out there,” said the University of Cambridge’s Amaury Triaud, one of the researchers. The potential for more Earth-size planets in our Milky Way galaxy is mind-boggling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are 200 billion stars in our galaxy,” said co-author Emmanuel Jehin of the University of Liege. So do an account. You multiply this by 10, and you have the number of Earth-size planets in the galaxy — which is a lot.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last spring, the University of Liege’s Michael Gillon and his team reported finding three planets around Trappist-1. Now the count is up to seven, and Gillon said there could be more. Their latest findings appear in the journal Nature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This compact solar system is reminiscent of Jupiter and its Galilean moons, according to the researchers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Picture this: If Trappist-1 were our sun, all seven planets would be inside Mercury’s orbit. Mercury is the innermost planet of our own solar system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ultracool star at the heart of this system would shine 200 times dimmer than our sun, a perpetual twilight as we know it. And the star would glow red — maybe salmon-colored, the researchers speculate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The spectacle would be beautiful because every now and then, you would see another planet, maybe about as big as twice the moon in the sky, depending on which planet you’re on and which planet you look at,” Triaud said Tuesday in a teleconference with reporters.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/bnKFaAS30X8'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/bnKFaAS30X8'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>The Leiden Observatory’s Ignas Snellen, who was not involved in the study, is excited by the prospect of learning more about what he calls “the seven sisters of planet Earth.” In a companion article in Nature, he said Gillon’s team could have been lucky in nabbing so many terrestrial planets in one stellar swoop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But finding seven transiting Earth-sized planets in such a small sample suggests that the solar system with its four (sub-) Earth-sized planets might be nothing out of the ordinary,” Snellen wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gillon and his team used both ground and space telescopes to identify and track the planets, which they label simply by lowercase letters, “b” through “h.” As is typical in these cases, the letter “A” — in upper case — is reserved for the star. Planets cast shadows on their star as they pass in front of it; that’s how the scientists spotted them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tiny, cold stars like Trappist-1 were long shunned by exoplanet-hunters (exoplanets are those outside our solar system). But the Belgian astronomers decided to seek them out, building a telescope in Chile to observe 60 of the closest ultracool dwarf stars. Their Trappist telescope lent its name to this star.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While faint, the Trappist-1 star is close by cosmic standards, allowing astronomers to study the atmospheres of its seven temperate planets. All seven look to be solid like Earth — mostly rocky and possibly icy, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They all appear to be tidally locked, which means the same side continually faces the star, just like the same side of our moon always faces us. Life could still exist at these places, the researchers explained.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Here, if life managed to thrive and releases gases similar to that that we have on Earth, then we will know,” Triaud said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chemical analyses should indicate life with perhaps 99 percent confidence, Gillon noted. But he added: “We will never be completely sure” without going there.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "NASA Considers a Robotic Lander to Search for Signs of Life on Jupiter’s Moon",
"headTitle": "NASA Considers a Robotic Lander to Search for Signs of Life on Jupiter’s Moon | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>We may be one small step closer to “first contact” with extraterrestrial life. On February 7, scientists delivered a report ordered by NASA\u003ca href=\"https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/2017/02/08/nasa-receives-science-report-on-europa-lander-concept\"> detailing the feasibility and potential scientific value\u003c/a> of sending a robotic lander to Jupiter’s ocean-bearing moon, Europa, to search for signs of life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This would be only the third solar system moon on which we have landed, following earlier missions to Earth’s own moon and to Saturn’s liquid-hydrocarbon bearing satellite, \u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/content/ten-years-ago-huygens-probe-lands-on-surface-of-titan\">Titan\u003c/a>. Unlike those two, however, Europa may harbor an environment friendly to life as we know it on Earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If approved by NASA, it would be the first life-detection mission since the \u003ca href=\"https://phys.org/news/2016-10-year-old-viking-life-mars.html\">Viking landers looked for evidence of microbial life\u003c/a> in Mars’ soils back in the late 1970s. Other mission goals include analyzing the composition of surface materials to assess the habitability of Europa and to probe the structure of the frozen crust, information that would inform future missions exploring the moon’s ocean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ever since photos taken by Voyager 2 in 1979 suggested the presence of a deep ocean of liquid water beneath Europa’s cracked icy surface, Jupiter’s moon has become the most tantalizing body in the solar system in the search for extraterrestrial life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1404981\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 790px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1404981\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/voyager-2-europa-1.jpg\" alt=\"One of the first detailed pictures of Europa and its cracked, icy surface, taken by Voyager 2 in 1979.\" width=\"790\" height=\"790\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/voyager-2-europa-1.jpg 790w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/voyager-2-europa-1-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/voyager-2-europa-1-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/voyager-2-europa-1-240x240.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/voyager-2-europa-1-375x375.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/voyager-2-europa-1-520x520.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/voyager-2-europa-1-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/voyager-2-europa-1-50x50.jpg 50w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/voyager-2-europa-1-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/voyager-2-europa-1-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/voyager-2-europa-1-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/voyager-2-europa-1-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 790px) 100vw, 790px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">One of the first detailed pictures of Europa and its cracked, icy surface, taken by Voyager 2 in 1979. \u003ccite>(Voyager/NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Europa’s ocean has made its presence known not only by cracks in the icy crust. In 2014, the Hubble Space Telescope first detected water vapor plumes erupting from below Europa’s surface that are believed to be supplied by that ocean. Also, in the early 2000’s the Galileo spacecraft measured disturbances in Jupiter’s magnetic field caused by Europa, and the nature of those disturbances suggest that its ocean waters are likely salty.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Our current interpretation of the evidence tells us that Europa’s ice crust may be only a few miles thick, and floating on top a salty global ocean as deep as 30 miles and containing twice the amount of water in all of Earth’s oceans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1404985\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 700px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1404985\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/EuropaCutawayCarroll_700_Michael_Carroll.jpg\" alt=\"Artist concept of a cutaway of Europa's interior, detailing the suspected saltwater ocean and thermally active ocean floor. \" width=\"700\" height=\"665\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/EuropaCutawayCarroll_700_Michael_Carroll.jpg 700w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/EuropaCutawayCarroll_700_Michael_Carroll-160x152.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/EuropaCutawayCarroll_700_Michael_Carroll-240x228.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/EuropaCutawayCarroll_700_Michael_Carroll-375x356.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/EuropaCutawayCarroll_700_Michael_Carroll-520x494.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist concept of a cutaway of Europa’s interior, detailing the suspected saltwater ocean and thermally active ocean floor. \u003ccite>(Michael Carroll)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Even more enticing for astrobiologists looking for extraterrestrial life, Europa’s ocean probably sits on top of a rocky sea floor. If so, then heat from the moon’s interior may emerge through hydrothermal vents, supplying energy and chemicals to create an environment suitable to support some form of life. Similar geothermal vents on Earth’s ocean floor support thriving communities of marine life that depend solely on energy and chemicals from Earth’s interior, without any need for sunlight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1409962\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 806px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1409962\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Y2FjNTZkODUxMiMvV09mM0xJTXVIRzRtcEZ5SnVYYkRSTDBlWkZzPS8yNng0NjQ6MTAxNXgxMDExLzgwNng0NDUvZmlsdGVyczpxdWFsaXR5KDcwKS9odHRwOi8vczMuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9wb2xpY3ltaWMtaW1hZ2VzL21yaXl6Ynlrb3U5ZW9seGJ2MWd1ZnhlMzhhbXVhcThkdmVteX.jpg\" alt=\"Artist illustration of plumes of water vapor supplied by Europa's ocean erupting from cracks in its icy crust. \" width=\"806\" height=\"445\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Y2FjNTZkODUxMiMvV09mM0xJTXVIRzRtcEZ5SnVYYkRSTDBlWkZzPS8yNng0NjQ6MTAxNXgxMDExLzgwNng0NDUvZmlsdGVyczpxdWFsaXR5KDcwKS9odHRwOi8vczMuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9wb2xpY3ltaWMtaW1hZ2VzL21yaXl6Ynlrb3U5ZW9seGJ2MWd1ZnhlMzhhbXVhcThkdmVteX.jpg 806w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Y2FjNTZkODUxMiMvV09mM0xJTXVIRzRtcEZ5SnVYYkRSTDBlWkZzPS8yNng0NjQ6MTAxNXgxMDExLzgwNng0NDUvZmlsdGVyczpxdWFsaXR5KDcwKS9odHRwOi8vczMuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9wb2xpY3ltaWMtaW1hZ2VzL21yaXl6Ynlrb3U5ZW9seGJ2MWd1ZnhlMzhhbXVhcThkdmVteX-160x88.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Y2FjNTZkODUxMiMvV09mM0xJTXVIRzRtcEZ5SnVYYkRSTDBlWkZzPS8yNng0NjQ6MTAxNXgxMDExLzgwNng0NDUvZmlsdGVyczpxdWFsaXR5KDcwKS9odHRwOi8vczMuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9wb2xpY3ltaWMtaW1hZ2VzL21yaXl6Ynlrb3U5ZW9seGJ2MWd1ZnhlMzhhbXVhcThkdmVteX-800x442.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Y2FjNTZkODUxMiMvV09mM0xJTXVIRzRtcEZ5SnVYYkRSTDBlWkZzPS8yNng0NjQ6MTAxNXgxMDExLzgwNng0NDUvZmlsdGVyczpxdWFsaXR5KDcwKS9odHRwOi8vczMuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9wb2xpY3ltaWMtaW1hZ2VzL21yaXl6Ynlrb3U5ZW9seGJ2MWd1ZnhlMzhhbXVhcThkdmVteX-768x424.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Y2FjNTZkODUxMiMvV09mM0xJTXVIRzRtcEZ5SnVYYkRSTDBlWkZzPS8yNng0NjQ6MTAxNXgxMDExLzgwNng0NDUvZmlsdGVyczpxdWFsaXR5KDcwKS9odHRwOi8vczMuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9wb2xpY3ltaWMtaW1hZ2VzL21yaXl6Ynlrb3U5ZW9seGJ2MWd1ZnhlMzhhbXVhcThkdmVteX-672x372.jpg 672w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Y2FjNTZkODUxMiMvV09mM0xJTXVIRzRtcEZ5SnVYYkRSTDBlWkZzPS8yNng0NjQ6MTAxNXgxMDExLzgwNng0NDUvZmlsdGVyczpxdWFsaXR5KDcwKS9odHRwOi8vczMuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9wb2xpY3ltaWMtaW1hZ2VzL21yaXl6Ynlrb3U5ZW9seGJ2MWd1ZnhlMzhhbXVhcThkdmVteX-240x133.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Y2FjNTZkODUxMiMvV09mM0xJTXVIRzRtcEZ5SnVYYkRSTDBlWkZzPS8yNng0NjQ6MTAxNXgxMDExLzgwNng0NDUvZmlsdGVyczpxdWFsaXR5KDcwKS9odHRwOi8vczMuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9wb2xpY3ltaWMtaW1hZ2VzL21yaXl6Ynlrb3U5ZW9seGJ2MWd1ZnhlMzhhbXVhcThkdmVteX-375x207.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Y2FjNTZkODUxMiMvV09mM0xJTXVIRzRtcEZ5SnVYYkRSTDBlWkZzPS8yNng0NjQ6MTAxNXgxMDExLzgwNng0NDUvZmlsdGVyczpxdWFsaXR5KDcwKS9odHRwOi8vczMuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9wb2xpY3ltaWMtaW1hZ2VzL21yaXl6Ynlrb3U5ZW9seGJ2MWd1ZnhlMzhhbXVhcThkdmVteX-520x287.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 806px) 100vw, 806px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist illustration of plumes of water vapor supplied by Europa’s ocean erupting from cracks in its icy crust. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-CalTech)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Though we have found sub-surface bodies of liquid water in several solar system objects, only those of Europa and Saturn’s moon \u003ca href=\"http://www.space.com/30419-alien-life-search-enceladus-mission.html\">Enceladus\u003c/a> are believed to be in direct contact with a rocky ocean floor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While scientists consider the new study, a separate NASA mission, the \u003ca href=\"http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/europa-mission/\">Europa Mission\u003c/a>, is already in development and expected to launch sometime in the early 2020’s. The Europa Mission spacecraft will make multiple close passes of Jupiter’s moon, analyzing the structure and composition of its icy crust, the interaction between Europa and Jupiter’s magnetic field, and possibly “sniffing” the chemical makeup of the water vapor plumes erupting from Europa’s southern region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his novel\u003cem>, “2010: Odyssey Two,”\u003c/em> Arthur C. Clarke landed a fictitious \u003ca href=\"https://universe-review.ca/I07-18-2010.jpg\">Chinese spacecraft\u003c/a> and its human crew on Europa, though with a different mission goal in mind. The novel’s Chinese explorers made moon-fall simply to fill their ship’s propellant tanks with water in order to continue their journey. In that case, humans didn’t find life on Europa; it found them. Their adventure ended when huge tentacle-like vines emerged from a crack in the ice to pull the doomed ship into the dark, watery depths below.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s too early to peg any dates for a landing on Europa. NASA is at the earliest conceptual stages for such a mission. As a next step toward deciding how, or if, to proceed, NASA will ask for input from scientists in meetings planned for early this spring. How to land a spacecraft on a moon with no atmosphere and mostly unexplored terrain, and what kinds of scientific instruments it should carry, are some of the questions that will be explored.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since Europa is such a promising place to look for extraterrestrial life, landing a spacecraft there is a next logical step in a series of missions to scrutinize the ice-crusted moon and the mysterious, potentially life-bearing ocean it possesses.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>We may be one small step closer to “first contact” with extraterrestrial life. On February 7, scientists delivered a report ordered by NASA\u003ca href=\"https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/2017/02/08/nasa-receives-science-report-on-europa-lander-concept\"> detailing the feasibility and potential scientific value\u003c/a> of sending a robotic lander to Jupiter’s ocean-bearing moon, Europa, to search for signs of life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This would be only the third solar system moon on which we have landed, following earlier missions to Earth’s own moon and to Saturn’s liquid-hydrocarbon bearing satellite, \u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/content/ten-years-ago-huygens-probe-lands-on-surface-of-titan\">Titan\u003c/a>. Unlike those two, however, Europa may harbor an environment friendly to life as we know it on Earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If approved by NASA, it would be the first life-detection mission since the \u003ca href=\"https://phys.org/news/2016-10-year-old-viking-life-mars.html\">Viking landers looked for evidence of microbial life\u003c/a> in Mars’ soils back in the late 1970s. Other mission goals include analyzing the composition of surface materials to assess the habitability of Europa and to probe the structure of the frozen crust, information that would inform future missions exploring the moon’s ocean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ever since photos taken by Voyager 2 in 1979 suggested the presence of a deep ocean of liquid water beneath Europa’s cracked icy surface, Jupiter’s moon has become the most tantalizing body in the solar system in the search for extraterrestrial life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1404981\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 790px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1404981\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/voyager-2-europa-1.jpg\" alt=\"One of the first detailed pictures of Europa and its cracked, icy surface, taken by Voyager 2 in 1979.\" width=\"790\" height=\"790\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/voyager-2-europa-1.jpg 790w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/voyager-2-europa-1-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/voyager-2-europa-1-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/voyager-2-europa-1-240x240.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/voyager-2-europa-1-375x375.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/voyager-2-europa-1-520x520.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/voyager-2-europa-1-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/voyager-2-europa-1-50x50.jpg 50w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/voyager-2-europa-1-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/voyager-2-europa-1-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/voyager-2-europa-1-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/voyager-2-europa-1-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 790px) 100vw, 790px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">One of the first detailed pictures of Europa and its cracked, icy surface, taken by Voyager 2 in 1979. \u003ccite>(Voyager/NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Europa’s ocean has made its presence known not only by cracks in the icy crust. In 2014, the Hubble Space Telescope first detected water vapor plumes erupting from below Europa’s surface that are believed to be supplied by that ocean. Also, in the early 2000’s the Galileo spacecraft measured disturbances in Jupiter’s magnetic field caused by Europa, and the nature of those disturbances suggest that its ocean waters are likely salty.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Our current interpretation of the evidence tells us that Europa’s ice crust may be only a few miles thick, and floating on top a salty global ocean as deep as 30 miles and containing twice the amount of water in all of Earth’s oceans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1404985\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 700px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1404985\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/EuropaCutawayCarroll_700_Michael_Carroll.jpg\" alt=\"Artist concept of a cutaway of Europa's interior, detailing the suspected saltwater ocean and thermally active ocean floor. \" width=\"700\" height=\"665\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/EuropaCutawayCarroll_700_Michael_Carroll.jpg 700w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/EuropaCutawayCarroll_700_Michael_Carroll-160x152.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/EuropaCutawayCarroll_700_Michael_Carroll-240x228.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/EuropaCutawayCarroll_700_Michael_Carroll-375x356.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/EuropaCutawayCarroll_700_Michael_Carroll-520x494.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist concept of a cutaway of Europa’s interior, detailing the suspected saltwater ocean and thermally active ocean floor. \u003ccite>(Michael Carroll)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Even more enticing for astrobiologists looking for extraterrestrial life, Europa’s ocean probably sits on top of a rocky sea floor. If so, then heat from the moon’s interior may emerge through hydrothermal vents, supplying energy and chemicals to create an environment suitable to support some form of life. Similar geothermal vents on Earth’s ocean floor support thriving communities of marine life that depend solely on energy and chemicals from Earth’s interior, without any need for sunlight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1409962\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 806px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1409962\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Y2FjNTZkODUxMiMvV09mM0xJTXVIRzRtcEZ5SnVYYkRSTDBlWkZzPS8yNng0NjQ6MTAxNXgxMDExLzgwNng0NDUvZmlsdGVyczpxdWFsaXR5KDcwKS9odHRwOi8vczMuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9wb2xpY3ltaWMtaW1hZ2VzL21yaXl6Ynlrb3U5ZW9seGJ2MWd1ZnhlMzhhbXVhcThkdmVteX.jpg\" alt=\"Artist illustration of plumes of water vapor supplied by Europa's ocean erupting from cracks in its icy crust. \" width=\"806\" height=\"445\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Y2FjNTZkODUxMiMvV09mM0xJTXVIRzRtcEZ5SnVYYkRSTDBlWkZzPS8yNng0NjQ6MTAxNXgxMDExLzgwNng0NDUvZmlsdGVyczpxdWFsaXR5KDcwKS9odHRwOi8vczMuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9wb2xpY3ltaWMtaW1hZ2VzL21yaXl6Ynlrb3U5ZW9seGJ2MWd1ZnhlMzhhbXVhcThkdmVteX.jpg 806w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Y2FjNTZkODUxMiMvV09mM0xJTXVIRzRtcEZ5SnVYYkRSTDBlWkZzPS8yNng0NjQ6MTAxNXgxMDExLzgwNng0NDUvZmlsdGVyczpxdWFsaXR5KDcwKS9odHRwOi8vczMuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9wb2xpY3ltaWMtaW1hZ2VzL21yaXl6Ynlrb3U5ZW9seGJ2MWd1ZnhlMzhhbXVhcThkdmVteX-160x88.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Y2FjNTZkODUxMiMvV09mM0xJTXVIRzRtcEZ5SnVYYkRSTDBlWkZzPS8yNng0NjQ6MTAxNXgxMDExLzgwNng0NDUvZmlsdGVyczpxdWFsaXR5KDcwKS9odHRwOi8vczMuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9wb2xpY3ltaWMtaW1hZ2VzL21yaXl6Ynlrb3U5ZW9seGJ2MWd1ZnhlMzhhbXVhcThkdmVteX-800x442.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Y2FjNTZkODUxMiMvV09mM0xJTXVIRzRtcEZ5SnVYYkRSTDBlWkZzPS8yNng0NjQ6MTAxNXgxMDExLzgwNng0NDUvZmlsdGVyczpxdWFsaXR5KDcwKS9odHRwOi8vczMuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9wb2xpY3ltaWMtaW1hZ2VzL21yaXl6Ynlrb3U5ZW9seGJ2MWd1ZnhlMzhhbXVhcThkdmVteX-768x424.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Y2FjNTZkODUxMiMvV09mM0xJTXVIRzRtcEZ5SnVYYkRSTDBlWkZzPS8yNng0NjQ6MTAxNXgxMDExLzgwNng0NDUvZmlsdGVyczpxdWFsaXR5KDcwKS9odHRwOi8vczMuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9wb2xpY3ltaWMtaW1hZ2VzL21yaXl6Ynlrb3U5ZW9seGJ2MWd1ZnhlMzhhbXVhcThkdmVteX-672x372.jpg 672w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Y2FjNTZkODUxMiMvV09mM0xJTXVIRzRtcEZ5SnVYYkRSTDBlWkZzPS8yNng0NjQ6MTAxNXgxMDExLzgwNng0NDUvZmlsdGVyczpxdWFsaXR5KDcwKS9odHRwOi8vczMuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9wb2xpY3ltaWMtaW1hZ2VzL21yaXl6Ynlrb3U5ZW9seGJ2MWd1ZnhlMzhhbXVhcThkdmVteX-240x133.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Y2FjNTZkODUxMiMvV09mM0xJTXVIRzRtcEZ5SnVYYkRSTDBlWkZzPS8yNng0NjQ6MTAxNXgxMDExLzgwNng0NDUvZmlsdGVyczpxdWFsaXR5KDcwKS9odHRwOi8vczMuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9wb2xpY3ltaWMtaW1hZ2VzL21yaXl6Ynlrb3U5ZW9seGJ2MWd1ZnhlMzhhbXVhcThkdmVteX-375x207.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/02/Y2FjNTZkODUxMiMvV09mM0xJTXVIRzRtcEZ5SnVYYkRSTDBlWkZzPS8yNng0NjQ6MTAxNXgxMDExLzgwNng0NDUvZmlsdGVyczpxdWFsaXR5KDcwKS9odHRwOi8vczMuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9wb2xpY3ltaWMtaW1hZ2VzL21yaXl6Ynlrb3U5ZW9seGJ2MWd1ZnhlMzhhbXVhcThkdmVteX-520x287.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 806px) 100vw, 806px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist illustration of plumes of water vapor supplied by Europa’s ocean erupting from cracks in its icy crust. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-CalTech)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Though we have found sub-surface bodies of liquid water in several solar system objects, only those of Europa and Saturn’s moon \u003ca href=\"http://www.space.com/30419-alien-life-search-enceladus-mission.html\">Enceladus\u003c/a> are believed to be in direct contact with a rocky ocean floor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While scientists consider the new study, a separate NASA mission, the \u003ca href=\"http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/europa-mission/\">Europa Mission\u003c/a>, is already in development and expected to launch sometime in the early 2020’s. The Europa Mission spacecraft will make multiple close passes of Jupiter’s moon, analyzing the structure and composition of its icy crust, the interaction between Europa and Jupiter’s magnetic field, and possibly “sniffing” the chemical makeup of the water vapor plumes erupting from Europa’s southern region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his novel\u003cem>, “2010: Odyssey Two,”\u003c/em> Arthur C. Clarke landed a fictitious \u003ca href=\"https://universe-review.ca/I07-18-2010.jpg\">Chinese spacecraft\u003c/a> and its human crew on Europa, though with a different mission goal in mind. The novel’s Chinese explorers made moon-fall simply to fill their ship’s propellant tanks with water in order to continue their journey. In that case, humans didn’t find life on Europa; it found them. Their adventure ended when huge tentacle-like vines emerged from a crack in the ice to pull the doomed ship into the dark, watery depths below.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s too early to peg any dates for a landing on Europa. NASA is at the earliest conceptual stages for such a mission. As a next step toward deciding how, or if, to proceed, NASA will ask for input from scientists in meetings planned for early this spring. How to land a spacecraft on a moon with no atmosphere and mostly unexplored terrain, and what kinds of scientific instruments it should carry, are some of the questions that will be explored.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since Europa is such a promising place to look for extraterrestrial life, landing a spacecraft there is a next logical step in a series of missions to scrutinize the ice-crusted moon and the mysterious, potentially life-bearing ocean it possesses.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Which Way Are Political Winds Blowing for NASA?",
"headTitle": "Which Way Are Political Winds Blowing for NASA? | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>As high-minded and visionary as the narrative of space exploration can be, real ventures into outer space are heavily grounded in financial, technical and political reality.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With a new administration in the White House that has been characterized by game-changing executive orders and unpredictable pivots on foreign and domestic policy, what may be in store for NASA’s mission of space exploration?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Visions of Presidents Past\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>First, some history. What ultimately got humans to the moon in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s was not some lofty goal of raising humanity above a mire of terrestrial problems, but a struggle for dominance between global superpowers, and a president—John F. Kennedy—setting us on that path. The Apollo Program resulted in twelve men landing on the moon, but it was eventually cancelled—among several reasons, because it had successfully accomplished the primary political objective of beating the Soviet Union to a moon landing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1368128\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1368128\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/apollo11.jpg\" alt=\"NASA astronaut Buzz Aldrin during the historic Apollo 11 mission, which first landed men on the moon in 1969.\" width=\"1000\" height=\"780\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/apollo11.jpg 1000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/apollo11-160x125.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/apollo11-800x624.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/apollo11-768x599.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/apollo11-960x749.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/apollo11-240x187.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/apollo11-375x293.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/apollo11-520x406.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">NASA astronaut Buzz Aldrin during the historic Apollo 11 mission, which first landed men on the moon in 1969. \u003ccite>(NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>George W. Bush’s administration set its sights on a \u003ca href=\"http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/moontomars/\">constellation of space achievements\u003c/a>—the “Constellation” Program—whose goals included the completion of the International Space Station, a return of human astronauts to the moon by no later than 2020, and ultimately, a crewed flight to Mars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Barack Obama took office, he cancelled most of his predecessor’s Constellation program, though elements of it, like the Orion spacecraft and a new heavy-lift launch vehicle, were retained. Along with this hardware, \u003ca href=\"http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2016/02/09/president-obama-proposes-19-billion-nasa-fiscal-2017/80053964/\">new plans\u003c/a> for crewed missions to an asteroid (in 2025) and a Mars orbital mission (2030) were put into place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1368237\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1368237\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/journeytomars.jpg\" alt=\"Elements of NASA's "Journey To Mars" vision, whose goal is to send humans to Mars around 2030. \" width=\"1000\" height=\"563\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/journeytomars.jpg 1000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/journeytomars-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/journeytomars-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/journeytomars-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/journeytomars-960x540.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/journeytomars-240x135.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/journeytomars-375x211.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/journeytomars-520x293.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Elements of NASA’s “Journey To Mars” vision, whose goal is to send humans to Mars around 2030. \u003ccite>(NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Which Direction Will NASA Fly Now?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, since the winds of space exploration—at least with respect to the U.S. and NASA—seem to shift reliably with the changing of the guard in Washington D.C., what might a Trump presidency mean for our ongoing exploration of the final frontier?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a question without a solid answer yet—particularly in the absence of a John F. Kennedy-style “Man on the Moon in less than a decade” vision for NASA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So far since President Trump took office, NASA has not received any\u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/01/25/nasa-under-trump-is-still-waiting-for-marching-and-launching-orders/?utm_term=.c607fe61ee19\"> new marching orders\u003c/a>, or even a new NASA Administrator—although the Trump NASA “landing team” has been\u003ca href=\"http://spacenews.com/trump-transition-office-adding-commercial-space-expertise-to-nasa-landing-team/\"> setting up camp\u003c/a> to start legwork for the transition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the past year leading up to the November elections, then-\u003ca href=\"http://www.planetary.org/get-involved/be-a-space-advocate/election2016/trump.html\">candidate Trump said variously of NASA\u003c/a>: that it was one of the most important agencies in the United States government and should remain so; that NASA should be focused on deep-space activities, and that Earth-centric work is best handled by other agencies; and that he wants to free NASA from serving as a logistics agency for low-Earth-orbit activity and refocus its mission on space exploration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Privatization of Space Travel?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another of Trump’s pre-election comments pertaining to NASA was that the government’s space policy should be coordinated to determine where private sector solutions could take the lead, and do so without government investment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recent years have seen a rise in the involvement of privately-held companies in the traditionally public realm of space exploration, both in terms of partnerships between government and the private sector and through independent business ventures .\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The $10 million Ansari X Prize competition in 2004 challenged non-government organizations around the world to develop space-faring technology. “\u003ca href=\"http://www.scaled.com/projects/tierone/\">SpaceShipOne\u003c/a>,” built by Scaled Composites, won the prize that year. Later, Scaled Composites entered into a joint venture with the Virgin Group toward taking passengers into space under the name \u003ca href=\"http://www.virgingalactic.com/\">Virgin Galactic\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1368238\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 900px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1368238\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/dragon.jpg\" alt=\"SpaceX Corporation's "Dragon" space capsule, currently operating as an un-crewed cargo vessel to supply the ISS. SpaceX is also developing a crewed version, "Dragon 2". \" width=\"900\" height=\"599\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/dragon.jpg 900w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/dragon-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/dragon-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/dragon-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/dragon-240x160.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/dragon-375x250.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/dragon-520x346.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">SpaceX Corporation’s “Dragon” space capsule, currently operating as an un-crewed cargo vessel to supply the ISS. SpaceX is also developing a crewed version, “Dragon 2”. \u003ccite>(NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Since the retirement of NASA’s Space Shuttle fleet, some of the work of supplying of the International Space Station has been carried out by the “Dragon” spacecraft and the Falcon 9 launch vehicle, both produced by Elon Musk’s \u003ca href=\"http://www.spacex.com/about\">SpaceX corporation\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now the media is abuzz over \u003ca href=\"https://www.wired.com/2016/09/elon-musk-colonize-mars/\">Elon Musk’s intrepid goals\u003c/a> for SpaceX to send humans to Mars by as early as 2024, and ultimately to colonize it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Elon Musk was \u003ca href=\"http://www.forbes.com/sites/alanohnsman/2017/02/02/elon-musk-to-stay-on-trump-business-council-voice-immigration-order-objections/#1bb3d73d1949\">recently named to\u003c/a> President Trump’s business Advisory Forum.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whatever vision the Trump administration has in mind for NASA’s direction in space exploration, it seems likely that the involvement of private business in the endeavor will continue to grow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "What direction might President Trump's White House take with NASA's space exploration program? Candidate Trump's comments were telling. Here's what we know so far. \r\n",
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"description": "What direction might President Trump's White House take with NASA's space exploration program? Candidate Trump's comments were telling. Here's what we know so far. \r\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>As high-minded and visionary as the narrative of space exploration can be, real ventures into outer space are heavily grounded in financial, technical and political reality.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With a new administration in the White House that has been characterized by game-changing executive orders and unpredictable pivots on foreign and domestic policy, what may be in store for NASA’s mission of space exploration?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Visions of Presidents Past\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>First, some history. What ultimately got humans to the moon in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s was not some lofty goal of raising humanity above a mire of terrestrial problems, but a struggle for dominance between global superpowers, and a president—John F. Kennedy—setting us on that path. The Apollo Program resulted in twelve men landing on the moon, but it was eventually cancelled—among several reasons, because it had successfully accomplished the primary political objective of beating the Soviet Union to a moon landing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1368128\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1368128\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/apollo11.jpg\" alt=\"NASA astronaut Buzz Aldrin during the historic Apollo 11 mission, which first landed men on the moon in 1969.\" width=\"1000\" height=\"780\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/apollo11.jpg 1000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/apollo11-160x125.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/apollo11-800x624.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/apollo11-768x599.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/apollo11-960x749.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/apollo11-240x187.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/apollo11-375x293.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/apollo11-520x406.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">NASA astronaut Buzz Aldrin during the historic Apollo 11 mission, which first landed men on the moon in 1969. \u003ccite>(NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>George W. Bush’s administration set its sights on a \u003ca href=\"http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/moontomars/\">constellation of space achievements\u003c/a>—the “Constellation” Program—whose goals included the completion of the International Space Station, a return of human astronauts to the moon by no later than 2020, and ultimately, a crewed flight to Mars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Barack Obama took office, he cancelled most of his predecessor’s Constellation program, though elements of it, like the Orion spacecraft and a new heavy-lift launch vehicle, were retained. Along with this hardware, \u003ca href=\"http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2016/02/09/president-obama-proposes-19-billion-nasa-fiscal-2017/80053964/\">new plans\u003c/a> for crewed missions to an asteroid (in 2025) and a Mars orbital mission (2030) were put into place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1368237\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1368237\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/journeytomars.jpg\" alt=\"Elements of NASA's "Journey To Mars" vision, whose goal is to send humans to Mars around 2030. \" width=\"1000\" height=\"563\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/journeytomars.jpg 1000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/journeytomars-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/journeytomars-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/journeytomars-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/journeytomars-960x540.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/journeytomars-240x135.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/journeytomars-375x211.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/journeytomars-520x293.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Elements of NASA’s “Journey To Mars” vision, whose goal is to send humans to Mars around 2030. \u003ccite>(NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Which Direction Will NASA Fly Now?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, since the winds of space exploration—at least with respect to the U.S. and NASA—seem to shift reliably with the changing of the guard in Washington D.C., what might a Trump presidency mean for our ongoing exploration of the final frontier?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a question without a solid answer yet—particularly in the absence of a John F. Kennedy-style “Man on the Moon in less than a decade” vision for NASA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So far since President Trump took office, NASA has not received any\u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/01/25/nasa-under-trump-is-still-waiting-for-marching-and-launching-orders/?utm_term=.c607fe61ee19\"> new marching orders\u003c/a>, or even a new NASA Administrator—although the Trump NASA “landing team” has been\u003ca href=\"http://spacenews.com/trump-transition-office-adding-commercial-space-expertise-to-nasa-landing-team/\"> setting up camp\u003c/a> to start legwork for the transition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the past year leading up to the November elections, then-\u003ca href=\"http://www.planetary.org/get-involved/be-a-space-advocate/election2016/trump.html\">candidate Trump said variously of NASA\u003c/a>: that it was one of the most important agencies in the United States government and should remain so; that NASA should be focused on deep-space activities, and that Earth-centric work is best handled by other agencies; and that he wants to free NASA from serving as a logistics agency for low-Earth-orbit activity and refocus its mission on space exploration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Privatization of Space Travel?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another of Trump’s pre-election comments pertaining to NASA was that the government’s space policy should be coordinated to determine where private sector solutions could take the lead, and do so without government investment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recent years have seen a rise in the involvement of privately-held companies in the traditionally public realm of space exploration, both in terms of partnerships between government and the private sector and through independent business ventures .\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The $10 million Ansari X Prize competition in 2004 challenged non-government organizations around the world to develop space-faring technology. “\u003ca href=\"http://www.scaled.com/projects/tierone/\">SpaceShipOne\u003c/a>,” built by Scaled Composites, won the prize that year. Later, Scaled Composites entered into a joint venture with the Virgin Group toward taking passengers into space under the name \u003ca href=\"http://www.virgingalactic.com/\">Virgin Galactic\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1368238\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 900px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1368238\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/dragon.jpg\" alt=\"SpaceX Corporation's "Dragon" space capsule, currently operating as an un-crewed cargo vessel to supply the ISS. SpaceX is also developing a crewed version, "Dragon 2". \" width=\"900\" height=\"599\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/dragon.jpg 900w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/dragon-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/dragon-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/dragon-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/dragon-240x160.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/dragon-375x250.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/dragon-520x346.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">SpaceX Corporation’s “Dragon” space capsule, currently operating as an un-crewed cargo vessel to supply the ISS. SpaceX is also developing a crewed version, “Dragon 2”. \u003ccite>(NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Since the retirement of NASA’s Space Shuttle fleet, some of the work of supplying of the International Space Station has been carried out by the “Dragon” spacecraft and the Falcon 9 launch vehicle, both produced by Elon Musk’s \u003ca href=\"http://www.spacex.com/about\">SpaceX corporation\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now the media is abuzz over \u003ca href=\"https://www.wired.com/2016/09/elon-musk-colonize-mars/\">Elon Musk’s intrepid goals\u003c/a> for SpaceX to send humans to Mars by as early as 2024, and ultimately to colonize it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Elon Musk was \u003ca href=\"http://www.forbes.com/sites/alanohnsman/2017/02/02/elon-musk-to-stay-on-trump-business-council-voice-immigration-order-objections/#1bb3d73d1949\">recently named to\u003c/a> President Trump’s business Advisory Forum.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whatever vision the Trump administration has in mind for NASA’s direction in space exploration, it seems likely that the involvement of private business in the endeavor will continue to grow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "NASA Selects Two Missions to Investigate Solar System's Origin",
"headTitle": "NASA Selects Two Missions to Investigate Solar System’s Origin | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>NASA has given the green light for \u003ca href=\"http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=6713\">two new robotic space missions\u003c/a>, “Lucy” and “Psyche”, which will launch in the early 2020s. And though they are separate missions bound for different destinations, their common goal is to investigate the distant past when the infant solar system was a mere 10 million years old.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of the big questions Lucy and Psyche may help answer include: what were conditions like when our \u003ca href=\"http://www.windows2universe.org/our_solar_system/formation.html\">solar system was in its infancy\u003c/a>? Where in the solar system did the planets originate? And how did the \u003ca href=\"http://www.space.com/19175-how-was-earth-formed.html\">planets form\u003c/a>?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These missions and their retrospective goals take advantage of the fact that there are objects still flying about the solar system that have remained mostly unchanged since the solar system formed. Items including comets and in the case of Lucy and Psyche’s destinations, asteroids, that are like celestial time capsules.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Meet Spacecraft Lucy\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Lucy spacecraft is bound for a special group of asteroids clustered in Jupiter’s orbit, called “Trojans.” Between 2027 and 2033, Lucy will visit as many as six different Trojan asteroids.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1332991\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1830px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1332991\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/Asteroid_Belt.jpg\" alt=\"Diagram showing the locations of the inner solar system planets, the Main Asteroid Belt, and Jupiter and the two groups of Trojan asteroids. The Lucy spacecraft will explore six asteroids in the Trojan group that leads Jupiter in its orbit (the L4 Lagrangian point).\" width=\"1830\" height=\"2035\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/Asteroid_Belt.jpg 1830w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/Asteroid_Belt-160x178.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/Asteroid_Belt-800x890.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/Asteroid_Belt-768x854.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/Asteroid_Belt-1020x1134.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/Asteroid_Belt-1180x1312.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/Asteroid_Belt-960x1068.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/Asteroid_Belt-240x267.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/Asteroid_Belt-375x417.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/Asteroid_Belt-520x578.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1830px) 100vw, 1830px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Diagram showing the locations of the inner solar system planets, the Main Asteroid Belt, and Jupiter and the two groups of Trojan asteroids. The Lucy spacecraft will explore six asteroids in the Trojan group that leads Jupiter in its orbit (the L4 Lagrangian point).\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>There are two groups of \u003ca href=\"http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/cosmos/T/Trojan+Asteroids\">Trojan asteroids\u003c/a>, which accumulate at special locations that lead and trail Jupiter in its orbit around the sun. At these locations, called “Lagrangian points,” the gravitational pull of Jupiter and the sun are equal, and somewhat cancel out to create gravitationally stable “pockets” that asteroids get trapped in—kind of like how dust bunnies accumulate under couches protected from the air currents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The dense concentration of asteroids in the Trojan groups not only offers a sort of “Mother Lode” of nuggets for Lucy to prospect in, but also a variety of materials that may have originated in widely different regions of the outer solar system, possibly far beyond Jupiter’s orbit. This is not unlike how a geologist might explore and collect samples from the downhill end of a river wash, where rocks and soils from different places high in the mountains may have accumulated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since Lucy will be studying ancient, largely unaltered material that originated from Jupiter’s orbit and beyond, we will get a first-hand analysis of the substances from which the gas giant planets and their moons formed long ago. A better understanding of the nature of the material might even tell us something about the interiors of those planets today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lucy was named after the famous 3.2-million-year-old \u003ca href=\"https://iho.asu.edu/about/lucys-story\">Australopithecus fossil skeleton\u003c/a> found in Ethiopia in 1974. Like those ancient bone fossils, the Trojan asteroids are a form of archaeological evidence that can help us reconstruct a picture of the solar system’s past.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Psyche Spacecraft\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/YnYqmoBn-_4\">This spacecraft\u003c/a> will target a singular destination: a very unusual and mysterious asteroid named 16 Psyche. To be launched in 2023, Psyche will arrive at its destination in 2030.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1333106\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 960px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1333106\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/psyche.jpg\" alt=\"Artist concept of the metallic asteroid 16 Psyche, the subject of exploration for NASA's Psyche spacecraft. \" width=\"960\" height=\"742\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/psyche.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/psyche-160x124.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/psyche-800x618.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/psyche-768x594.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/psyche-240x186.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/psyche-375x290.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/psyche-520x402.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist concept of the metallic asteroid 16 Psyche, the subject of exploration for NASA’s Psyche spacecraft. \u003ccite>(Peter Rubin/ASU)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The asteroid 16 Psyche is three times farther from the sun than the Earth and measures about 130 miles across. What makes it so mysterious is that it isn’t a typical asteroid composed of rocky or icy materials. 16 Psyche appears to be made of solid metal—iron and nickel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This means that 16 Psyche is much more similar to Earth’s iron-nickel core than a common asteroid, which has led some scientists to speculate that it might actually be the core of a primordial planet whose lighter rocky mantle layers were stripped away long ago, perhaps by a series of violent collisions with other objects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists believe that the planets were formed around 5 billion years ago in a process of accretion, where smaller pieces of material came together to form larger chunks which in turn were the building blocks of bigger hunks. But they do not know how this “snowballing” process actually took place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At some point in the process a young planet like Earth, hot from the bombardment of material that formed it, would have been largely molten. The heavier liquid materials like iron and other metals would have sunk to the center to form a dense metallic core, while lighter silicate materials floated upward to form the mantle and crust.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The problem with exploring this idea is that the interiors of today’s planets are buried deep, hidden from direct view, and we cannot see their core and mantle layers exactly as they are. We have achieved a fuzzy picture of what Earth’s inner layers may be like by tracking the motion of \u003ca href=\"http://www.livescience.com/25014-seismic-noise-earth-interior.html\">seismic waves that echo\u003c/a> and bounce around inside, but the picture lacks much detail.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But if 16 Psyche is a naked iron planetary core as some suspect, then the Psyche mission will give us a window to peer directly to the core of what was once a planet—a planet maybe as large as Mars, judging by the dimensions of this iron asteroid. This would give us an unprecedented glimpse into how that planet initially formed during its molten phase long ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Space Archaeology\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the field of archaeology, processes like weathering and decomposition and tectonic activity tend to erase, consume, or bury evidence that could tell us something about the past. That’s why archaeologists seek out places where conditions are best for preserving that evidence, like ancient ice, fossil beds, bogs and the like.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lucy and Psyche’s expeditions will dig up clues from as far back as five billion years ago, when the solar system was less than 10 million years old. It’s a great time to be alive when we can send robots millions of miles into space to explore the solar system in the distant past!\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>NASA has given the green light for \u003ca href=\"http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=6713\">two new robotic space missions\u003c/a>, “Lucy” and “Psyche”, which will launch in the early 2020s. And though they are separate missions bound for different destinations, their common goal is to investigate the distant past when the infant solar system was a mere 10 million years old.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of the big questions Lucy and Psyche may help answer include: what were conditions like when our \u003ca href=\"http://www.windows2universe.org/our_solar_system/formation.html\">solar system was in its infancy\u003c/a>? Where in the solar system did the planets originate? And how did the \u003ca href=\"http://www.space.com/19175-how-was-earth-formed.html\">planets form\u003c/a>?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These missions and their retrospective goals take advantage of the fact that there are objects still flying about the solar system that have remained mostly unchanged since the solar system formed. Items including comets and in the case of Lucy and Psyche’s destinations, asteroids, that are like celestial time capsules.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Meet Spacecraft Lucy\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Lucy spacecraft is bound for a special group of asteroids clustered in Jupiter’s orbit, called “Trojans.” Between 2027 and 2033, Lucy will visit as many as six different Trojan asteroids.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1332991\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1830px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1332991\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/Asteroid_Belt.jpg\" alt=\"Diagram showing the locations of the inner solar system planets, the Main Asteroid Belt, and Jupiter and the two groups of Trojan asteroids. The Lucy spacecraft will explore six asteroids in the Trojan group that leads Jupiter in its orbit (the L4 Lagrangian point).\" width=\"1830\" height=\"2035\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/Asteroid_Belt.jpg 1830w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/Asteroid_Belt-160x178.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/Asteroid_Belt-800x890.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/Asteroid_Belt-768x854.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/Asteroid_Belt-1020x1134.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/Asteroid_Belt-1180x1312.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/Asteroid_Belt-960x1068.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/Asteroid_Belt-240x267.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/Asteroid_Belt-375x417.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/Asteroid_Belt-520x578.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1830px) 100vw, 1830px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Diagram showing the locations of the inner solar system planets, the Main Asteroid Belt, and Jupiter and the two groups of Trojan asteroids. The Lucy spacecraft will explore six asteroids in the Trojan group that leads Jupiter in its orbit (the L4 Lagrangian point).\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>There are two groups of \u003ca href=\"http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/cosmos/T/Trojan+Asteroids\">Trojan asteroids\u003c/a>, which accumulate at special locations that lead and trail Jupiter in its orbit around the sun. At these locations, called “Lagrangian points,” the gravitational pull of Jupiter and the sun are equal, and somewhat cancel out to create gravitationally stable “pockets” that asteroids get trapped in—kind of like how dust bunnies accumulate under couches protected from the air currents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The dense concentration of asteroids in the Trojan groups not only offers a sort of “Mother Lode” of nuggets for Lucy to prospect in, but also a variety of materials that may have originated in widely different regions of the outer solar system, possibly far beyond Jupiter’s orbit. This is not unlike how a geologist might explore and collect samples from the downhill end of a river wash, where rocks and soils from different places high in the mountains may have accumulated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since Lucy will be studying ancient, largely unaltered material that originated from Jupiter’s orbit and beyond, we will get a first-hand analysis of the substances from which the gas giant planets and their moons formed long ago. A better understanding of the nature of the material might even tell us something about the interiors of those planets today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lucy was named after the famous 3.2-million-year-old \u003ca href=\"https://iho.asu.edu/about/lucys-story\">Australopithecus fossil skeleton\u003c/a> found in Ethiopia in 1974. Like those ancient bone fossils, the Trojan asteroids are a form of archaeological evidence that can help us reconstruct a picture of the solar system’s past.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Psyche Spacecraft\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/YnYqmoBn-_4\">This spacecraft\u003c/a> will target a singular destination: a very unusual and mysterious asteroid named 16 Psyche. To be launched in 2023, Psyche will arrive at its destination in 2030.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1333106\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 960px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1333106\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/psyche.jpg\" alt=\"Artist concept of the metallic asteroid 16 Psyche, the subject of exploration for NASA's Psyche spacecraft. \" width=\"960\" height=\"742\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/psyche.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/psyche-160x124.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/psyche-800x618.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/psyche-768x594.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/psyche-240x186.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/psyche-375x290.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/psyche-520x402.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist concept of the metallic asteroid 16 Psyche, the subject of exploration for NASA’s Psyche spacecraft. \u003ccite>(Peter Rubin/ASU)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The asteroid 16 Psyche is three times farther from the sun than the Earth and measures about 130 miles across. What makes it so mysterious is that it isn’t a typical asteroid composed of rocky or icy materials. 16 Psyche appears to be made of solid metal—iron and nickel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This means that 16 Psyche is much more similar to Earth’s iron-nickel core than a common asteroid, which has led some scientists to speculate that it might actually be the core of a primordial planet whose lighter rocky mantle layers were stripped away long ago, perhaps by a series of violent collisions with other objects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists believe that the planets were formed around 5 billion years ago in a process of accretion, where smaller pieces of material came together to form larger chunks which in turn were the building blocks of bigger hunks. But they do not know how this “snowballing” process actually took place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At some point in the process a young planet like Earth, hot from the bombardment of material that formed it, would have been largely molten. The heavier liquid materials like iron and other metals would have sunk to the center to form a dense metallic core, while lighter silicate materials floated upward to form the mantle and crust.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The problem with exploring this idea is that the interiors of today’s planets are buried deep, hidden from direct view, and we cannot see their core and mantle layers exactly as they are. We have achieved a fuzzy picture of what Earth’s inner layers may be like by tracking the motion of \u003ca href=\"http://www.livescience.com/25014-seismic-noise-earth-interior.html\">seismic waves that echo\u003c/a> and bounce around inside, but the picture lacks much detail.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But if 16 Psyche is a naked iron planetary core as some suspect, then the Psyche mission will give us a window to peer directly to the core of what was once a planet—a planet maybe as large as Mars, judging by the dimensions of this iron asteroid. This would give us an unprecedented glimpse into how that planet initially formed during its molten phase long ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Space Archaeology\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the field of archaeology, processes like weathering and decomposition and tectonic activity tend to erase, consume, or bury evidence that could tell us something about the past. That’s why archaeologists seek out places where conditions are best for preserving that evidence, like ancient ice, fossil beds, bogs and the like.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lucy and Psyche’s expeditions will dig up clues from as far back as five billion years ago, when the solar system was less than 10 million years old. It’s a great time to be alive when we can send robots millions of miles into space to explore the solar system in the distant past!\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "The Sky's Three Most Stunning Events in 2017",
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"content": "\u003cp>Whatever 2017 may have in store for us down here on Earth, at least \u003ca href=\"http://www.seasky.org/astronomy/astronomy-calendar-2017.html\">the skies\u003c/a> are predictable! Here are some highlights of things to look forward to in the coming year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>1. Eclipse Season\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By far the biggest blockbuster astronomical event of 2017 is the \u003ca href=\"https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEgoogle/SEgoogle2001/SE2017Aug21Tgoogle.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Total Solar Eclipse on August 21\u003c/a>. Though solar eclipses are \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_solar_eclipses_in_the_20th_century\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">not as rare as you might think\u003c/a>, this one stands out as special, with the path of totality slicing right through the United States. “Totality” is when the moon blocks out all of the sun as seen from Earth’s surface.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The moon’s full shadow (the “umbra”) will cut across northern Oregon starting just west of Salem, heading east. For any given location along the path of totality, the full eclipse will last for about two minutes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1299992\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 684px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1299992 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/2017_solar-eclipse.png\" alt=\"Lines marking the path of the upcoming Total Solar Eclipse on August 21, 2017. The green marker labeled GE is the point of Greatest Eclipse. The magenta marker labeled GD is the point of Greatest Duration. \" width=\"684\" height=\"389\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/2017_solar-eclipse.png 684w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/2017_solar-eclipse-160x91.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/2017_solar-eclipse-240x136.png 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/2017_solar-eclipse-375x213.png 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/2017_solar-eclipse-520x296.png 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 684px) 100vw, 684px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The red and blue lines mark the path of the upcoming Total Solar Eclipse on August 21, 2017. The green marker labeled GE is the point of Greatest Eclipse. The magenta marker labeled GD is the point of Greatest Duration. \u003ccite>(NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>You can use this \u003ca href=\"https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEgoogle/SEgoogle2001/SE2017Aug21Tgoogle.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">interactive map\u003c/a> to find out where and when totality will occur. Zoom in and click on any location for details about the eclipse. Keep in mind that the times provided are in Universal Time (UT), which is the same as Greenwich Mean Time. Be sure to correct for local time!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After passing through Salem, Oregon, totality moves eastward, veering slightly south. Along the way it will cross Jackson and Casper, Wyoming, Columbia, Missouri, Nashville, Tennessee, and Charleston, South Carolina. After passing over Charleston it heads off into the Atlantic Ocean. If you live anywhere along the path of totality, you will witness one of the most awesome astronomical spectacles we can see in the sky, something that happens on average only once every 400 years for any given geographic location.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you live outside of the path of totality and can’t make the road trip to get there, you can still enjoy a partial solar eclipse from wherever you live in the country. From the Bay Area about 75 percent of the sun’s disk will be covered by the moon at peak eclipse, around 10:15 a.m. pacific time. Even if you live at the southern tip of Texas, you will still enjoy a partial eclipse with 50 percent of the sun blocked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>2. Gas Giants at Opposition\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Spring and early summer bring our solar system’s two largest planets, Jupiter and Saturn, into position for the best viewing. When the Earth passes between the sun and another planet farther from the sun, that other planet is at “\u003ca href=\"http://www.1728.org/synodicb.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">opposition\u003c/a>“. At this time, it is closest to us and positioned prominently in the nighttime sky. The planet in opposition rises around sunset, reaches its highest point in the sky around midnight, and then sets around dawn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1297036\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 6515px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1297036\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/02-10-06-Saturn.jpg\" alt=\"Saturn as seen through Chabot Space & Science Center's 20-inch telescope, Rachel, in 2006. \" width=\"6515\" height=\"4025\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/02-10-06-Saturn.jpg 6515w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/02-10-06-Saturn-160x99.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/02-10-06-Saturn-800x494.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/02-10-06-Saturn-768x474.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/02-10-06-Saturn-1020x630.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/02-10-06-Saturn-1920x1186.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/02-10-06-Saturn-1180x729.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/02-10-06-Saturn-960x593.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/02-10-06-Saturn-240x148.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/02-10-06-Saturn-375x232.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/02-10-06-Saturn-520x321.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 6515px) 100vw, 6515px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Saturn as seen through Chabot Space & Science Center’s 20-inch telescope, Rachel, in 2006. \u003ccite>(Conrad Jung/Chabot Space & Science Center)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Jupiter reaches opposition on April 7 and Saturn follows on June 15. But viewing an opposition isn’t necessarily a one-day event, and each planet will shine prominently in the night sky for several weeks before and after the opposition. In mid-May, the two will appear together in the hours surrounding midnight, Jupiter falling toward the southwest, Saturn climbing in the southeast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>3. Venus-Jupiter Conjunction\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the appearance of planets come and go at different times every year, rarer are those times when two or more planets form a “conjunction,” appearing close to each other along the same line of sight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1297034\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 610px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1297034\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/jupiter-venus-willy-horsch-2012.jpg\" alt=\"Telescope view of a conjunction of Venus (lower left) and Jupiter in 2012. \" width=\"610\" height=\"493\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/jupiter-venus-willy-horsch-2012.jpg 610w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/jupiter-venus-willy-horsch-2012-160x129.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/jupiter-venus-willy-horsch-2012-240x194.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/jupiter-venus-willy-horsch-2012-375x303.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/jupiter-venus-willy-horsch-2012-520x420.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 610px) 100vw, 610px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Telescope view of a conjunction of Venus (lower left) and Jupiter (upper right) in 2012. \u003ccite>(Willy Horsch)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This year, the two brightest planets of all, Jupiter and Venus, come together on November 13, passing within a third of a degree of each other—less than the width of a full moon! And speaking of the moon, the thin waning crescent moon will be visible higher in the sky, directly above the planetary pair. Think of it like a bonus reward for getting up so early!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This conjunction will be visible for a brief time just before sunrise, low on the eastern horizon—but it’s worth setting the alarm a bit early to glimpse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As unpredictable as life on Earth can be at times, we can always look to the sky for reliable and awe-inspiring spectacles! Just keep looking up.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Whatever 2017 may have in store for us down here on Earth, at least \u003ca href=\"http://www.seasky.org/astronomy/astronomy-calendar-2017.html\">the skies\u003c/a> are predictable! Here are some highlights of things to look forward to in the coming year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>1. Eclipse Season\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By far the biggest blockbuster astronomical event of 2017 is the \u003ca href=\"https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEgoogle/SEgoogle2001/SE2017Aug21Tgoogle.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Total Solar Eclipse on August 21\u003c/a>. Though solar eclipses are \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_solar_eclipses_in_the_20th_century\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">not as rare as you might think\u003c/a>, this one stands out as special, with the path of totality slicing right through the United States. “Totality” is when the moon blocks out all of the sun as seen from Earth’s surface.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The moon’s full shadow (the “umbra”) will cut across northern Oregon starting just west of Salem, heading east. For any given location along the path of totality, the full eclipse will last for about two minutes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1299992\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 684px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1299992 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/2017_solar-eclipse.png\" alt=\"Lines marking the path of the upcoming Total Solar Eclipse on August 21, 2017. The green marker labeled GE is the point of Greatest Eclipse. The magenta marker labeled GD is the point of Greatest Duration. \" width=\"684\" height=\"389\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/2017_solar-eclipse.png 684w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/2017_solar-eclipse-160x91.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/2017_solar-eclipse-240x136.png 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/2017_solar-eclipse-375x213.png 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/2017_solar-eclipse-520x296.png 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 684px) 100vw, 684px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The red and blue lines mark the path of the upcoming Total Solar Eclipse on August 21, 2017. The green marker labeled GE is the point of Greatest Eclipse. The magenta marker labeled GD is the point of Greatest Duration. \u003ccite>(NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>You can use this \u003ca href=\"https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEgoogle/SEgoogle2001/SE2017Aug21Tgoogle.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">interactive map\u003c/a> to find out where and when totality will occur. Zoom in and click on any location for details about the eclipse. Keep in mind that the times provided are in Universal Time (UT), which is the same as Greenwich Mean Time. Be sure to correct for local time!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After passing through Salem, Oregon, totality moves eastward, veering slightly south. Along the way it will cross Jackson and Casper, Wyoming, Columbia, Missouri, Nashville, Tennessee, and Charleston, South Carolina. After passing over Charleston it heads off into the Atlantic Ocean. If you live anywhere along the path of totality, you will witness one of the most awesome astronomical spectacles we can see in the sky, something that happens on average only once every 400 years for any given geographic location.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you live outside of the path of totality and can’t make the road trip to get there, you can still enjoy a partial solar eclipse from wherever you live in the country. From the Bay Area about 75 percent of the sun’s disk will be covered by the moon at peak eclipse, around 10:15 a.m. pacific time. Even if you live at the southern tip of Texas, you will still enjoy a partial eclipse with 50 percent of the sun blocked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>2. Gas Giants at Opposition\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Spring and early summer bring our solar system’s two largest planets, Jupiter and Saturn, into position for the best viewing. When the Earth passes between the sun and another planet farther from the sun, that other planet is at “\u003ca href=\"http://www.1728.org/synodicb.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">opposition\u003c/a>“. At this time, it is closest to us and positioned prominently in the nighttime sky. The planet in opposition rises around sunset, reaches its highest point in the sky around midnight, and then sets around dawn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1297036\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 6515px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1297036\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/02-10-06-Saturn.jpg\" alt=\"Saturn as seen through Chabot Space & Science Center's 20-inch telescope, Rachel, in 2006. \" width=\"6515\" height=\"4025\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/02-10-06-Saturn.jpg 6515w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/02-10-06-Saturn-160x99.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/02-10-06-Saturn-800x494.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/02-10-06-Saturn-768x474.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/02-10-06-Saturn-1020x630.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/02-10-06-Saturn-1920x1186.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/02-10-06-Saturn-1180x729.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/02-10-06-Saturn-960x593.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/02-10-06-Saturn-240x148.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/02-10-06-Saturn-375x232.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/02-10-06-Saturn-520x321.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 6515px) 100vw, 6515px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Saturn as seen through Chabot Space & Science Center’s 20-inch telescope, Rachel, in 2006. \u003ccite>(Conrad Jung/Chabot Space & Science Center)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Jupiter reaches opposition on April 7 and Saturn follows on June 15. But viewing an opposition isn’t necessarily a one-day event, and each planet will shine prominently in the night sky for several weeks before and after the opposition. In mid-May, the two will appear together in the hours surrounding midnight, Jupiter falling toward the southwest, Saturn climbing in the southeast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>3. Venus-Jupiter Conjunction\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the appearance of planets come and go at different times every year, rarer are those times when two or more planets form a “conjunction,” appearing close to each other along the same line of sight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1297034\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 610px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1297034\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/jupiter-venus-willy-horsch-2012.jpg\" alt=\"Telescope view of a conjunction of Venus (lower left) and Jupiter in 2012. \" width=\"610\" height=\"493\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/jupiter-venus-willy-horsch-2012.jpg 610w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/jupiter-venus-willy-horsch-2012-160x129.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/jupiter-venus-willy-horsch-2012-240x194.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/jupiter-venus-willy-horsch-2012-375x303.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/01/jupiter-venus-willy-horsch-2012-520x420.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 610px) 100vw, 610px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Telescope view of a conjunction of Venus (lower left) and Jupiter (upper right) in 2012. \u003ccite>(Willy Horsch)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This year, the two brightest planets of all, Jupiter and Venus, come together on November 13, passing within a third of a degree of each other—less than the width of a full moon! And speaking of the moon, the thin waning crescent moon will be visible higher in the sky, directly above the planetary pair. Think of it like a bonus reward for getting up so early!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This conjunction will be visible for a brief time just before sunrise, low on the eastern horizon—but it’s worth setting the alarm a bit early to glimpse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As unpredictable as life on Earth can be at times, we can always look to the sky for reliable and awe-inspiring spectacles! Just keep looking up.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "At The End of a Difficult Year, We Turn To The Cosmos For Some Perspective",
"headTitle": "At The End of a Difficult Year, We Turn To The Cosmos For Some Perspective | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Terrorist attacks, hurricanes, a divisive U.S. election, Brexit — 2016 has not been easy. With the year coming to an end, we thought it was time to get some serious perspective — from the scale of the entire universe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We’re tackling big questions: what scientists know, and what they have yet to learn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So before you ring in another year, take a moment to contemplate the billions of years that led to 2017 and the billions more yet to come.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3 class=\"edTag\">Where did the universe come from?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>“That happens to be my absolute favorite question,” says \u003ca href=\"http://cosmos.pha.jhu.edu/bennett/\">Chuck Bennett\u003c/a>, an astrophysicist at Johns Hopkins University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He points out that the big-bang theory says the universe started out dense and hot, and that it has been expanding and cooling for 13.8 billion years, but, he says, “the \u003ca href=\"https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/what-powered-the-big-bang\">big-bang\u003c/a> theory doesn’t actually say what happened right at the beginning.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can follow our laws of physics back in time, he says, but they break down close to the start, when things were unspeakably fiery and close together. Still, there may be clues from the weird world of quantum physics. In that world, strange stuff can happen, like particles can just appear out of nowhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Even if you take something that’s a complete vacuum, you’ve gotten all of the particles and dust and everything out of the way, in quantum mechanics you still have particles popping in and out of existence all the time,” explains Bennett.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So maybe the kernel that became our universe just randomly and spontaneously appeared. “It seems bizarre, but that is kind of the going thinking about this,” Bennett says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And if you want to think about something even more bizarre, consider this point made by Caltech theoretical physicist \u003ca href=\"https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/self.html\">Sean Carroll\u003c/a>. If the big bang was the first moment in time, that creates a conundrum: “There’s no verbs before time itself exists, right? There’s no popping into existence, there’s no fluctuating, there’s no quantum mechanical craziness, there is literally nothing,” says Carroll.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3 class=\"edTag\">Is the universe infinite?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>You might be tempted to try to answer this question by stepping outside the universe so you can take a gander. But, obviously, that’s impossible. “There is no such thing as outside the universe, as far as we can tell,” says Carroll.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1283507\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1283507\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Galaxies-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"Galaxies are filled with dark matter, which doesn't interact with ordinary matter. Scientists still aren't sure what dark matter is made of.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Galaxies.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Galaxies-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Galaxies-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Galaxies-240x135.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Galaxies-375x211.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Galaxies-520x293.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Galaxies are filled with dark matter, which doesn’t interact with ordinary matter. Scientists still aren’t sure what dark matter is made of. \u003ccite>(NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA))\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Even though the universe has been expanding for about 14 billion years, that doesn’t mean it’s ballooning out into some other realm. “I know it’s difficult to wrap our minds around,” says Carroll, “but it’s just getting more and more of it, even though it’s not expanding into anything at all.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So if we can’t leave the universe, all we can do is look around inside. Let’s say you flew off the Earth, out of our solar system, out of the Milky Way galaxy, out of our cluster of galaxies, and flew on and on. How far could you go?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t 100 percent know,” says \u003ca href=\"http://jannalevin.com/\">Janna Levin\u003c/a>, a theoretical physicist at Columbia University. “What we see of the universe is vast. We know that the universe is something like 90 billion light-years across.” But that’s just the part we can see.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Anything beyond that has to remain a mystery, because stuff out there is so far away, its light will never be able to reach us. “It makes logical sense to assume the universe goes on beyond that boundary. It would be kind of magical if we were just happening to be able to see right to some boundary and then something crazy happened beyond that, like galaxies ceased to exist,” says Levin. “I mean, that just seems nuts.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So the universe goes on, but is it infinite? “It is somewhat unimaginable but quite possible that our universe simply goes on forever,” says Bennett.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To us, the universe seems flat, so maybe it’s like an endless sheet of paper. But on the other hand, people used to think the Earth was flat, too, because people saw flat land stretching to a horizon, beyond which they could not see. These days, the idea of a flat Earth seems silly — we know it’s really a huge sphere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our universe might be like that,” says Bennett, noting that the universe might be curved and might even curve back on itself like a sphere, “but on a scale that is truly enormous.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If so, and you headed off into the universe, going straight in one direction, you would eventually find yourself right back where you started.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3 class=\"edTag\">What is the universe made of?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>You might think this is one of the easier questions about the universe to answer. But you would be wrong. “All the stuff we’ve ever seen in the laboratory, all the kinds of particles and matter and energy, that only makes up 5 percent of our universe,” says Carroll.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Five percent! So what is the rest of the universe made of? Well, one biggie is something called dark matter. About 25 percent of the universe is dark matter, which is quite literally dark. “It just doesn’t interact with light at all,” says Bennett. “It doesn’t give off any light; it doesn’t absorb light; it doesn’t scatter light; there’s no way to see it. The only way we know that it’s there is because it has gravitational effects.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists discovered dark matter when they looked at the motion of galaxies and realized that something unseen had to be exerting a gravitational pull. Dark matter may be some kind of particle that we just haven’t detected yet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rest of the universe — 70 percent — is something even more crazy, called dark energy. It appears to be some kind of energy that’s inherent to empty space, and it acts to push the universe apart, speeding up its expansion. Like dark matter, dark energy is another big mystery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1283509\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1283509\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Stars-swirl-800x449.jpg\" alt=\"Many scientists believe the stars will die out, and the universe will eventually become cold and dark.\" width=\"800\" height=\"449\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Stars-swirl.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Stars-swirl-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Stars-swirl-768x431.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Stars-swirl-240x135.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Stars-swirl-375x210.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Stars-swirl-520x292.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Many scientists believe the stars will die out, and the universe will eventually become cold and dark. \u003ccite>(NASA, ESA, N. Smith (University of California, Berkeley), and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA))\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Other than the fact that we don’t quite understand 95 percent of the universe, we’re doing really well,” jokes Bennett.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All of the world’s leading theoreticians, who write whole books about the universe, just have to live with this state of affairs. “You’re entitled to say, if you’re so smart, why don’t you tell me what that dark matter is? And I’ll have to confess I don’t know,” says\u003ca href=\"http://www.princeton.edu/physics/people/display_person.xml?netid=pjep\">Jim Peebles\u003c/a>, Albert Einstein professor of science, emeritus and professor of physics, emeritus at Princeton University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s not depressed, however, that so much of the universe remains unknown. “I think I’d be depressed if everything were nearly all known,” says Peebles, “but I don’t feel any danger of that happening.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3 class=\"edTag\">Is our universe the only one?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Let’s face it; people tend to be pretty self-centered. “If you look back at the history of astronomy, you know, we used to think that the Earth was the center of the solar system. Everything was about us,” says Bennett.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even when we figured out that Earth went around the sun, and the sun was part of the Milky Way galaxy, we thought our galaxy was the center of the universe. “Then we learned no, it’s just one galaxy out of hundreds of billions of galaxies out there,” he notes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With that track record in mind, it’s natural to wonder whether our whole universe isn’t so special — if it’s just one among many. “We don’t know yet,” says Bennett, “but it’s very possible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Given that scientists believe the seed that started our universe may have spontaneously popped into existence through a kind of quantum weirdness, that presents an obvious question: If that could happen once, why not more than once? “So then you have this kind of array of universes in which ours is not unique,” says Bennett.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How many universes could there be?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A really, really big number,” says Carroll.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But since everything we can observe and poke and prod is, by definition, part of our universe, it’s unclear how we could ever detect some other universe. This is why some thinkers worry that pondering the so-called multiverse is more like philosophy than science. It’s sort of fun to think about whether our universe is solitary, and it’s a legitimate question, says Peebles, “but since we’ll never be able to answer it, I can’t get very excited.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But maybe this idea could be testable. Imagine if you had two universes that were expanding and ran into each other, says Bennett. If another universe bumped into ours, there could be ways to tell. In fact, there have been \u003ca href=\"https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-articles/1108/110802-first-test-of-multiverse\">efforts\u003c/a> to search the skies for evidence of that kind of impact, but there’s no sign it ever happened. Which might be a good thing, since that kind of event “would be very dangerous at least for people in one of the universes or the other because one of them would probably be destroyed,” Bennett says.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3 class=\"edTag\">How will the universe end?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1283510\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1283510\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Shrinking-Earth-800x800.jpg\" alt=\"Some cosmologists believe our entire universe is just one of countless possibilities.\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Shrinking-Earth.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Shrinking-Earth-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Shrinking-Earth-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Shrinking-Earth-240x240.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Shrinking-Earth-375x375.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Shrinking-Earth-520x520.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Shrinking-Earth-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Shrinking-Earth-50x50.jpg 50w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Shrinking-Earth-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Shrinking-Earth-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Shrinking-Earth-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Shrinking-Earth-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Some cosmologists believe our entire universe is just one of countless possibilities. \u003ccite>(NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA))\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Some say the world will end in fire, some say in ice,” wrote Robert Frost in his famous poem \u003ca href=\"https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/44263\">Fire and Ice\u003c/a>. He favored fire but, hedging his bet, added that:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>I think I know enough of hate\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>To say that for destruction ice\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Is also great\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>And would suffice.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These days, most astrophysicists are guessing the universe will end as cold as ice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The universe, which started out hot and dense, has been expanding and cooling for nearly 14 billion years. We now know it’s actually expanding faster and faster. “This is like hyperdrive on the cooling,” says Bennett. “So it’s the ice solution. Everything would grow dimmer and dimmer; you would stop seeing things in the sky; everything would grow dark and cold.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As everything gets farther and farther apart, each particle of the universe will eventually end up completely alone. It all sounds bleak.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, cheer up! Ending with fire is still possible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since dark energy is pushing the universe to expand faster and faster, and physicists don’t know what dark energy is, it’s possible that it might just decay or go away, making our expanding universe slow down. “Maybe even reverse its course for all we know, and then what? Then we go back to kind of a fiery end,” says Levin. She explains that everything would fly back together toward a big crunch, which is like the big bang happening in reverse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fire or ice, either way, the end is coming. But not for a long while. “We think it will be at least a quadrillion years before the last star burns out,” says Carroll, noting that this is 1,000 trillion years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Our own \u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/sun\">sun\u003c/a> will burn out way sooner, in about 5 billion years. Though Carroll says that’s kind of a parochial concern, when you consider that our Milky Way galaxy has around 100 billion stars and is just one of \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/10/14/497965415/the-universe-has-almost-10-times-more-galaxies-than-we-thought\">trillions\u003c/a> of galaxies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So we are not significant on the cosmic scale. We are not important to the universe. That’s the bad news,” says Carroll. The good news is that, even with our puny brains, we’ve managed to figure that out.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Are we alone here? Is the universe infinite? How will it end? Sometimes the big questions provide succor (or at least, some perspective) on the human struggles we faced here in 2016. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Terrorist attacks, hurricanes, a divisive U.S. election, Brexit — 2016 has not been easy. With the year coming to an end, we thought it was time to get some serious perspective — from the scale of the entire universe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We’re tackling big questions: what scientists know, and what they have yet to learn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So before you ring in another year, take a moment to contemplate the billions of years that led to 2017 and the billions more yet to come.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3 class=\"edTag\">Where did the universe come from?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>“That happens to be my absolute favorite question,” says \u003ca href=\"http://cosmos.pha.jhu.edu/bennett/\">Chuck Bennett\u003c/a>, an astrophysicist at Johns Hopkins University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He points out that the big-bang theory says the universe started out dense and hot, and that it has been expanding and cooling for 13.8 billion years, but, he says, “the \u003ca href=\"https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/what-powered-the-big-bang\">big-bang\u003c/a> theory doesn’t actually say what happened right at the beginning.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can follow our laws of physics back in time, he says, but they break down close to the start, when things were unspeakably fiery and close together. Still, there may be clues from the weird world of quantum physics. In that world, strange stuff can happen, like particles can just appear out of nowhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Even if you take something that’s a complete vacuum, you’ve gotten all of the particles and dust and everything out of the way, in quantum mechanics you still have particles popping in and out of existence all the time,” explains Bennett.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So maybe the kernel that became our universe just randomly and spontaneously appeared. “It seems bizarre, but that is kind of the going thinking about this,” Bennett says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And if you want to think about something even more bizarre, consider this point made by Caltech theoretical physicist \u003ca href=\"https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/self.html\">Sean Carroll\u003c/a>. If the big bang was the first moment in time, that creates a conundrum: “There’s no verbs before time itself exists, right? There’s no popping into existence, there’s no fluctuating, there’s no quantum mechanical craziness, there is literally nothing,” says Carroll.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3 class=\"edTag\">Is the universe infinite?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>You might be tempted to try to answer this question by stepping outside the universe so you can take a gander. But, obviously, that’s impossible. “There is no such thing as outside the universe, as far as we can tell,” says Carroll.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1283507\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1283507\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Galaxies-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"Galaxies are filled with dark matter, which doesn't interact with ordinary matter. Scientists still aren't sure what dark matter is made of.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Galaxies.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Galaxies-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Galaxies-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Galaxies-240x135.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Galaxies-375x211.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Galaxies-520x293.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Galaxies are filled with dark matter, which doesn’t interact with ordinary matter. Scientists still aren’t sure what dark matter is made of. \u003ccite>(NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA))\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Even though the universe has been expanding for about 14 billion years, that doesn’t mean it’s ballooning out into some other realm. “I know it’s difficult to wrap our minds around,” says Carroll, “but it’s just getting more and more of it, even though it’s not expanding into anything at all.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So if we can’t leave the universe, all we can do is look around inside. Let’s say you flew off the Earth, out of our solar system, out of the Milky Way galaxy, out of our cluster of galaxies, and flew on and on. How far could you go?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t 100 percent know,” says \u003ca href=\"http://jannalevin.com/\">Janna Levin\u003c/a>, a theoretical physicist at Columbia University. “What we see of the universe is vast. We know that the universe is something like 90 billion light-years across.” But that’s just the part we can see.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Anything beyond that has to remain a mystery, because stuff out there is so far away, its light will never be able to reach us. “It makes logical sense to assume the universe goes on beyond that boundary. It would be kind of magical if we were just happening to be able to see right to some boundary and then something crazy happened beyond that, like galaxies ceased to exist,” says Levin. “I mean, that just seems nuts.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So the universe goes on, but is it infinite? “It is somewhat unimaginable but quite possible that our universe simply goes on forever,” says Bennett.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To us, the universe seems flat, so maybe it’s like an endless sheet of paper. But on the other hand, people used to think the Earth was flat, too, because people saw flat land stretching to a horizon, beyond which they could not see. These days, the idea of a flat Earth seems silly — we know it’s really a huge sphere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our universe might be like that,” says Bennett, noting that the universe might be curved and might even curve back on itself like a sphere, “but on a scale that is truly enormous.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If so, and you headed off into the universe, going straight in one direction, you would eventually find yourself right back where you started.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3 class=\"edTag\">What is the universe made of?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>You might think this is one of the easier questions about the universe to answer. But you would be wrong. “All the stuff we’ve ever seen in the laboratory, all the kinds of particles and matter and energy, that only makes up 5 percent of our universe,” says Carroll.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Five percent! So what is the rest of the universe made of? Well, one biggie is something called dark matter. About 25 percent of the universe is dark matter, which is quite literally dark. “It just doesn’t interact with light at all,” says Bennett. “It doesn’t give off any light; it doesn’t absorb light; it doesn’t scatter light; there’s no way to see it. The only way we know that it’s there is because it has gravitational effects.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists discovered dark matter when they looked at the motion of galaxies and realized that something unseen had to be exerting a gravitational pull. Dark matter may be some kind of particle that we just haven’t detected yet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rest of the universe — 70 percent — is something even more crazy, called dark energy. It appears to be some kind of energy that’s inherent to empty space, and it acts to push the universe apart, speeding up its expansion. Like dark matter, dark energy is another big mystery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1283509\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1283509\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Stars-swirl-800x449.jpg\" alt=\"Many scientists believe the stars will die out, and the universe will eventually become cold and dark.\" width=\"800\" height=\"449\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Stars-swirl.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Stars-swirl-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Stars-swirl-768x431.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Stars-swirl-240x135.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Stars-swirl-375x210.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Stars-swirl-520x292.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Many scientists believe the stars will die out, and the universe will eventually become cold and dark. \u003ccite>(NASA, ESA, N. Smith (University of California, Berkeley), and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA))\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Other than the fact that we don’t quite understand 95 percent of the universe, we’re doing really well,” jokes Bennett.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All of the world’s leading theoreticians, who write whole books about the universe, just have to live with this state of affairs. “You’re entitled to say, if you’re so smart, why don’t you tell me what that dark matter is? And I’ll have to confess I don’t know,” says\u003ca href=\"http://www.princeton.edu/physics/people/display_person.xml?netid=pjep\">Jim Peebles\u003c/a>, Albert Einstein professor of science, emeritus and professor of physics, emeritus at Princeton University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s not depressed, however, that so much of the universe remains unknown. “I think I’d be depressed if everything were nearly all known,” says Peebles, “but I don’t feel any danger of that happening.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3 class=\"edTag\">Is our universe the only one?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Let’s face it; people tend to be pretty self-centered. “If you look back at the history of astronomy, you know, we used to think that the Earth was the center of the solar system. Everything was about us,” says Bennett.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even when we figured out that Earth went around the sun, and the sun was part of the Milky Way galaxy, we thought our galaxy was the center of the universe. “Then we learned no, it’s just one galaxy out of hundreds of billions of galaxies out there,” he notes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With that track record in mind, it’s natural to wonder whether our whole universe isn’t so special — if it’s just one among many. “We don’t know yet,” says Bennett, “but it’s very possible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Given that scientists believe the seed that started our universe may have spontaneously popped into existence through a kind of quantum weirdness, that presents an obvious question: If that could happen once, why not more than once? “So then you have this kind of array of universes in which ours is not unique,” says Bennett.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How many universes could there be?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A really, really big number,” says Carroll.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But since everything we can observe and poke and prod is, by definition, part of our universe, it’s unclear how we could ever detect some other universe. This is why some thinkers worry that pondering the so-called multiverse is more like philosophy than science. It’s sort of fun to think about whether our universe is solitary, and it’s a legitimate question, says Peebles, “but since we’ll never be able to answer it, I can’t get very excited.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But maybe this idea could be testable. Imagine if you had two universes that were expanding and ran into each other, says Bennett. If another universe bumped into ours, there could be ways to tell. In fact, there have been \u003ca href=\"https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-articles/1108/110802-first-test-of-multiverse\">efforts\u003c/a> to search the skies for evidence of that kind of impact, but there’s no sign it ever happened. Which might be a good thing, since that kind of event “would be very dangerous at least for people in one of the universes or the other because one of them would probably be destroyed,” Bennett says.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3 class=\"edTag\">How will the universe end?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1283510\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1283510\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Shrinking-Earth-800x800.jpg\" alt=\"Some cosmologists believe our entire universe is just one of countless possibilities.\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Shrinking-Earth.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Shrinking-Earth-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Shrinking-Earth-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Shrinking-Earth-240x240.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Shrinking-Earth-375x375.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Shrinking-Earth-520x520.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Shrinking-Earth-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Shrinking-Earth-50x50.jpg 50w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Shrinking-Earth-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Shrinking-Earth-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Shrinking-Earth-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Shrinking-Earth-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Some cosmologists believe our entire universe is just one of countless possibilities. \u003ccite>(NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA))\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Some say the world will end in fire, some say in ice,” wrote Robert Frost in his famous poem \u003ca href=\"https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/44263\">Fire and Ice\u003c/a>. He favored fire but, hedging his bet, added that:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>I think I know enough of hate\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>To say that for destruction ice\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Is also great\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>And would suffice.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These days, most astrophysicists are guessing the universe will end as cold as ice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The universe, which started out hot and dense, has been expanding and cooling for nearly 14 billion years. We now know it’s actually expanding faster and faster. “This is like hyperdrive on the cooling,” says Bennett. “So it’s the ice solution. Everything would grow dimmer and dimmer; you would stop seeing things in the sky; everything would grow dark and cold.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As everything gets farther and farther apart, each particle of the universe will eventually end up completely alone. It all sounds bleak.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, cheer up! Ending with fire is still possible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since dark energy is pushing the universe to expand faster and faster, and physicists don’t know what dark energy is, it’s possible that it might just decay or go away, making our expanding universe slow down. “Maybe even reverse its course for all we know, and then what? Then we go back to kind of a fiery end,” says Levin. She explains that everything would fly back together toward a big crunch, which is like the big bang happening in reverse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fire or ice, either way, the end is coming. But not for a long while. “We think it will be at least a quadrillion years before the last star burns out,” says Carroll, noting that this is 1,000 trillion years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Our own \u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/sun\">sun\u003c/a> will burn out way sooner, in about 5 billion years. Though Carroll says that’s kind of a parochial concern, when you consider that our Milky Way galaxy has around 100 billion stars and is just one of \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/10/14/497965415/the-universe-has-almost-10-times-more-galaxies-than-we-thought\">trillions\u003c/a> of galaxies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So we are not significant on the cosmic scale. We are not important to the universe. That’s the bad news,” says Carroll. The good news is that, even with our puny brains, we’ve managed to figure that out.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Best Science of 2016: Gravitational Waves Send Shockwave (of Excitement) Around the World",
"headTitle": "Best Science of 2016: Gravitational Waves Send Shockwave (of Excitement) Around the World | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>One of the most remarkable science stories of the year was the discovery, a century after it was predicted by Albert Einstein, that gravitational waves are real. Today \u003cem>Science\u003c/em> magazine named the discovery the \u003ca href=\"http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/12/ripples-spacetime-sciences-2016-breakthrough-year\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2016 Breakthrough of the Year\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gravitational waves are distortions in the fabric of spacetime. Back in 1915, Einstein hypothesized these ripples would travel throughout the universe, bending and squeezing space like the surface of a trampoline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/2ncTCM7t79o\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It is mass, according to Einstein’s theory of general relativity, that warps the fabric of space. If the mass is great enough, then other objects will fall towards them, as the Earth is pulled toward the Sun in its rotation. We know this as gravitational attraction. When the distortions travel through space, they’re known as gravitational waves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this year, researchers with the \u003ca href=\"https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory\u003c/a> (LIGO) announced that they had discovered direct evidence of gravitational waves, by matching distortions picked up at two highly precise, identical detectors on different sides of the country. They’d each seen the same disturbance at the same time on September 14, 2015. (The feat was repeated on December 26, 2015 when both detectors felt a gravitational wave again.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1261923\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 620px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1261923\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Localization_Comparison_2.jpg\" alt=\"A sky map of the southern hemisphere showing the approximate locations of the two gravitational-wave ripples detected by LIGO. \" width=\"620\" height=\"620\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Localization_Comparison_2.jpg 620w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Localization_Comparison_2-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Localization_Comparison_2-240x240.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Localization_Comparison_2-375x375.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Localization_Comparison_2-520x520.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Localization_Comparison_2-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Localization_Comparison_2-50x50.jpg 50w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Localization_Comparison_2-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Localization_Comparison_2-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Localization_Comparison_2-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Localization_Comparison_2-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A sky map of the southern hemisphere showing the approximate locations of the two gravitational-wave ripples detected by LIGO. \u003ccite>(LIGO/Axel Mellinger)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“There it was!” LIGO team member Daniel Holz \u003ca href=\"http://www.nature.com/news/the-black-hole-collision-that-reshaped-physics-1.19612\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told \u003cem>Nature\u003c/em>\u003c/a>. “And it was so strong, and so beautiful, in both detectors.” Although the shape of the signal looked familiar from the theory, Holz says, “it’s completely different when you see something in the data. It’s this transcendent moment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Members of the LIGO collaboration can be found \u003ca href=\"http://www.zeemaps.com/pub?group=1820545\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">all around the globe\u003c/a> including at CalTech, Stanford and Sonoma State University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Team LIGO has spent much of 2016 upgrading its observatories. As of late November, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/news/2016-11-30\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">LIGO is now listening again\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, straining to hear new ripples. Far from being the end of an era, LIGO is giving rise to a new field of cosmological physics. You can be a part of it by joining “\u003ca href=\"https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/news/ligo20161018\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Gravity Spy\u003c/a>,” a newly launched citizen science program, that helps researchers separate glitches from true signals. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>One of the most remarkable science stories of the year was the discovery, a century after it was predicted by Albert Einstein, that gravitational waves are real. Today \u003cem>Science\u003c/em> magazine named the discovery the \u003ca href=\"http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/12/ripples-spacetime-sciences-2016-breakthrough-year\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2016 Breakthrough of the Year\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gravitational waves are distortions in the fabric of spacetime. Back in 1915, Einstein hypothesized these ripples would travel throughout the universe, bending and squeezing space like the surface of a trampoline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/2ncTCM7t79o\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It is mass, according to Einstein’s theory of general relativity, that warps the fabric of space. If the mass is great enough, then other objects will fall towards them, as the Earth is pulled toward the Sun in its rotation. We know this as gravitational attraction. When the distortions travel through space, they’re known as gravitational waves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this year, researchers with the \u003ca href=\"https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory\u003c/a> (LIGO) announced that they had discovered direct evidence of gravitational waves, by matching distortions picked up at two highly precise, identical detectors on different sides of the country. They’d each seen the same disturbance at the same time on September 14, 2015. (The feat was repeated on December 26, 2015 when both detectors felt a gravitational wave again.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1261923\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 620px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1261923\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Localization_Comparison_2.jpg\" alt=\"A sky map of the southern hemisphere showing the approximate locations of the two gravitational-wave ripples detected by LIGO. \" width=\"620\" height=\"620\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Localization_Comparison_2.jpg 620w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Localization_Comparison_2-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Localization_Comparison_2-240x240.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Localization_Comparison_2-375x375.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Localization_Comparison_2-520x520.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Localization_Comparison_2-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Localization_Comparison_2-50x50.jpg 50w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Localization_Comparison_2-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Localization_Comparison_2-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Localization_Comparison_2-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/Localization_Comparison_2-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A sky map of the southern hemisphere showing the approximate locations of the two gravitational-wave ripples detected by LIGO. \u003ccite>(LIGO/Axel Mellinger)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“There it was!” LIGO team member Daniel Holz \u003ca href=\"http://www.nature.com/news/the-black-hole-collision-that-reshaped-physics-1.19612\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told \u003cem>Nature\u003c/em>\u003c/a>. “And it was so strong, and so beautiful, in both detectors.” Although the shape of the signal looked familiar from the theory, Holz says, “it’s completely different when you see something in the data. It’s this transcendent moment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Members of the LIGO collaboration can be found \u003ca href=\"http://www.zeemaps.com/pub?group=1820545\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">all around the globe\u003c/a> including at CalTech, Stanford and Sonoma State University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Team LIGO has spent much of 2016 upgrading its observatories. As of late November, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/news/2016-11-30\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">LIGO is now listening again\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, straining to hear new ripples. Far from being the end of an era, LIGO is giving rise to a new field of cosmological physics. You can be a part of it by joining “\u003ca href=\"https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/news/ligo20161018\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Gravity Spy\u003c/a>,” a newly launched citizen science program, that helps researchers separate glitches from true signals. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Scientists Want to Send Underwater Drones to Explore Jupiter's Moon",
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"content": "\u003cp>California’s deep ocean has become the testing ground for robotic missions with far-reaching goals, not only to expand our understanding of Earth’s largely unexplored sea floor, but ultimately to probe the mysterious depths of the ice-shrouded ocean of Jupiter’s moon Europa.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=6686\">small fleet of robotic drones\u003c/a> are being tested in the waters of Monterey Bay, focusing on changes in water temperature and salinity. The goal of the research is to develop a drone capable of making decisions on its own based on the conditions that it finds, rather than simply responding to instructions supplied by human handlers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1222975\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1222975\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/jpl-steve-chien-drones.jpg\" alt=\"NASA/JPL's Steve Chien with some of the submarine drones being tested in Monterey Bay as autonomous ocean exploring robots. \" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/jpl-steve-chien-drones.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/jpl-steve-chien-drones-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/jpl-steve-chien-drones-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/jpl-steve-chien-drones-240x135.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/jpl-steve-chien-drones-375x211.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/jpl-steve-chien-drones-520x293.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">NASA/JPL’s Steve Chien with some of the submarine drones being tested in Monterey Bay as autonomous ocean exploring robots. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-CalTech)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The team conducting the tests includes members from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Caltech, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, and Remote Sensing Solutions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Exploring Oceans Isn’t Easy, Even on Earth\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the immediate research goal is to expand our ability to explore Earth’s oceans using self-directed robots, NASA scientists are casting an eye farther out in space toward \u003ca href=\"http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/europa\">Europa\u003c/a>. Jupiter’s moon possesses an ocean that’s hidden beneath an icy crust and contains more water than all of Earth’s oceans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In some ways it’s easier to explore the surface of Mars than our ocean. Aerial and satellite measurements mostly reveal conditions at the sea’s surface, and cannot penetrate the water to any great depth. Sonar can reveal the overall geography of the ocean floor, but does not show us fine details of geological composition and biological activity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Variations in water temperature and salinity, water currents and the physical geography of the Monterey Canyon — not to mention entangled kelp forests and other ocean life — are factors an ocean-exploring robot must be prepared to deal with and then make navigational and scientific decisions upon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By comparison, robotic rovers on Mars only have to negotiate obstacles like boulders, cliffs, and sand and endure the occasional dust storm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Europa’s Tantalizing Ocean\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The challenge of exploring Europa’s ocean is far greater than exploring our own. First, the Jupiter system is half a billion miles away. That’s a distance which takes radio signals at least half an hour to traverse — one way. Second, Europa’s ocean is topped by a crust of ice that’s probably at least a few miles thick. Third, scientists believe Europa’s ocean is much deeper than Earth’s — possibly 30 miles deep. The deepest part of the Earth’s ocean, in the Mariana Trench near Guam, is 6.8 miles deep.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And of course if scientists design and build a robotic submarine to travel to Europa, bore through miles of ice, and enter the watery realm beneath, they might naturally prefer it reach the bottom of that ocean, and see what’s on Europa’s ocean floor. It’s there we might hope to find the thing that’s piqued our curiosity: the \u003ca href=\"http://www.space.com/32995-jupiter-moon-europa-energy-life.html\">possibility of extraterrestrial life\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1222976\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1222976\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/europa-cutaway.jpg\" alt=\"Cutaway of Jupiter's moon Europa and profile of its sub-ice ocean. Heat generated by tidal forces with Jupiter's gravity emerges from the rocker interior to form the liquid water layer.\" width=\"800\" height=\"566\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/europa-cutaway.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/europa-cutaway-160x113.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/europa-cutaway-768x543.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/europa-cutaway-240x170.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/europa-cutaway-375x265.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/europa-cutaway-520x368.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cutaway of Jupiter’s moon Europa and profile of its sub-ice ocean. Heat generated by tidal forces with Jupiter’s gravity emerges from the rocker interior to form the liquid water layer. \u003ccite>(NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Europa’s ocean is thawed by heat energy generated by tidal interactions with Jupiter’s gravity, which emerges from the suspected rocky mantle below.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whereas on Earth, volcanic vents on the ocean floor spew superheated, chemical-laden water. And, we have found communities of living organisms thriving around these \u003ca href=\"http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/vents.html\">hydrothermal vents\u003c/a>. Complete ecosystems are fueled entirely by the heat and chemicals emerging from Earth’s interior — no sunlight required!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Could similar conditions exist on Europa’s ocean floor, supplying the heat and chemistry to support life in the otherwise dark, sunless world? An answer to this question is the prize we may win with robotic drones that are sophisticated enough to overcome the daunting obstacles ahead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What Might Be Down There?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Artist illustrations of the floor of Europa’s ocean have depicted scenes thriving with lifeforms resembling corals, anemones, jellyfish and such — creatures that we are familiar with on Earth. If there is life to be found on Europa, odds are that it would consist of single-celled creatures. For most of the multi-billion-year history of life on Earth, single-celled plants and animals were the only life-form. Only relatively recently have multicellular organisms appeared on Earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1222977\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 768px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1222977\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/europa-cryobot.jpg\" alt=\"Artist depiction of a robotic submarine probe exploring the floor of Europa's ocean. \" width=\"768\" height=\"610\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/europa-cryobot.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/europa-cryobot-160x127.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/europa-cryobot-240x191.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/europa-cryobot-375x298.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/europa-cryobot-520x413.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist depiction of a robotic submarine probe exploring the floor of Europa’s ocean. \u003ccite>(NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the near future — sometime in the early 2030s — a couple of missions, one by \u003ca href=\"http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/europa-mission/\">NASA \u003c/a>and another by the \u003ca href=\"http://sci.esa.int/juice/\">European Space Agency\u003c/a>, will attempt to analyze water vapor spewing into space from Europa’s ice crust, purportedly emanating from the ocean below. These missions could give us a whiff of the chemistry of the ocean, and possibly even signs of life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A drone mission into Europa’s ocean is probably a bit further into the future, but the work being done with artificially intelligent drones in Earth’s Monterey Bay are concrete baby-steps toward that goal.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>California’s deep ocean has become the testing ground for robotic missions with far-reaching goals, not only to expand our understanding of Earth’s largely unexplored sea floor, but ultimately to probe the mysterious depths of the ice-shrouded ocean of Jupiter’s moon Europa.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=6686\">small fleet of robotic drones\u003c/a> are being tested in the waters of Monterey Bay, focusing on changes in water temperature and salinity. The goal of the research is to develop a drone capable of making decisions on its own based on the conditions that it finds, rather than simply responding to instructions supplied by human handlers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1222975\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1222975\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/jpl-steve-chien-drones.jpg\" alt=\"NASA/JPL's Steve Chien with some of the submarine drones being tested in Monterey Bay as autonomous ocean exploring robots. \" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/jpl-steve-chien-drones.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/jpl-steve-chien-drones-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/jpl-steve-chien-drones-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/jpl-steve-chien-drones-240x135.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/jpl-steve-chien-drones-375x211.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/jpl-steve-chien-drones-520x293.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">NASA/JPL’s Steve Chien with some of the submarine drones being tested in Monterey Bay as autonomous ocean exploring robots. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-CalTech)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The team conducting the tests includes members from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Caltech, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, and Remote Sensing Solutions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Exploring Oceans Isn’t Easy, Even on Earth\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the immediate research goal is to expand our ability to explore Earth’s oceans using self-directed robots, NASA scientists are casting an eye farther out in space toward \u003ca href=\"http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/europa\">Europa\u003c/a>. Jupiter’s moon possesses an ocean that’s hidden beneath an icy crust and contains more water than all of Earth’s oceans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In some ways it’s easier to explore the surface of Mars than our ocean. Aerial and satellite measurements mostly reveal conditions at the sea’s surface, and cannot penetrate the water to any great depth. Sonar can reveal the overall geography of the ocean floor, but does not show us fine details of geological composition and biological activity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Variations in water temperature and salinity, water currents and the physical geography of the Monterey Canyon — not to mention entangled kelp forests and other ocean life — are factors an ocean-exploring robot must be prepared to deal with and then make navigational and scientific decisions upon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By comparison, robotic rovers on Mars only have to negotiate obstacles like boulders, cliffs, and sand and endure the occasional dust storm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Europa’s Tantalizing Ocean\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The challenge of exploring Europa’s ocean is far greater than exploring our own. First, the Jupiter system is half a billion miles away. That’s a distance which takes radio signals at least half an hour to traverse — one way. Second, Europa’s ocean is topped by a crust of ice that’s probably at least a few miles thick. Third, scientists believe Europa’s ocean is much deeper than Earth’s — possibly 30 miles deep. The deepest part of the Earth’s ocean, in the Mariana Trench near Guam, is 6.8 miles deep.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And of course if scientists design and build a robotic submarine to travel to Europa, bore through miles of ice, and enter the watery realm beneath, they might naturally prefer it reach the bottom of that ocean, and see what’s on Europa’s ocean floor. It’s there we might hope to find the thing that’s piqued our curiosity: the \u003ca href=\"http://www.space.com/32995-jupiter-moon-europa-energy-life.html\">possibility of extraterrestrial life\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1222976\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1222976\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/europa-cutaway.jpg\" alt=\"Cutaway of Jupiter's moon Europa and profile of its sub-ice ocean. Heat generated by tidal forces with Jupiter's gravity emerges from the rocker interior to form the liquid water layer.\" width=\"800\" height=\"566\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/europa-cutaway.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/europa-cutaway-160x113.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/europa-cutaway-768x543.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/europa-cutaway-240x170.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/europa-cutaway-375x265.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/europa-cutaway-520x368.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cutaway of Jupiter’s moon Europa and profile of its sub-ice ocean. Heat generated by tidal forces with Jupiter’s gravity emerges from the rocker interior to form the liquid water layer. \u003ccite>(NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Europa’s ocean is thawed by heat energy generated by tidal interactions with Jupiter’s gravity, which emerges from the suspected rocky mantle below.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whereas on Earth, volcanic vents on the ocean floor spew superheated, chemical-laden water. And, we have found communities of living organisms thriving around these \u003ca href=\"http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/vents.html\">hydrothermal vents\u003c/a>. Complete ecosystems are fueled entirely by the heat and chemicals emerging from Earth’s interior — no sunlight required!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Could similar conditions exist on Europa’s ocean floor, supplying the heat and chemistry to support life in the otherwise dark, sunless world? An answer to this question is the prize we may win with robotic drones that are sophisticated enough to overcome the daunting obstacles ahead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What Might Be Down There?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Artist illustrations of the floor of Europa’s ocean have depicted scenes thriving with lifeforms resembling corals, anemones, jellyfish and such — creatures that we are familiar with on Earth. If there is life to be found on Europa, odds are that it would consist of single-celled creatures. For most of the multi-billion-year history of life on Earth, single-celled plants and animals were the only life-form. Only relatively recently have multicellular organisms appeared on Earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1222977\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 768px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1222977\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/europa-cryobot.jpg\" alt=\"Artist depiction of a robotic submarine probe exploring the floor of Europa's ocean. \" width=\"768\" height=\"610\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/europa-cryobot.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/europa-cryobot-160x127.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/europa-cryobot-240x191.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/europa-cryobot-375x298.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/europa-cryobot-520x413.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist depiction of a robotic submarine probe exploring the floor of Europa’s ocean. \u003ccite>(NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the near future — sometime in the early 2030s — a couple of missions, one by \u003ca href=\"http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/europa-mission/\">NASA \u003c/a>and another by the \u003ca href=\"http://sci.esa.int/juice/\">European Space Agency\u003c/a>, will attempt to analyze water vapor spewing into space from Europa’s ice crust, purportedly emanating from the ocean below. These missions could give us a whiff of the chemistry of the ocean, and possibly even signs of life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A drone mission into Europa’s ocean is probably a bit further into the future, but the work being done with artificially intelligent drones in Earth’s Monterey Bay are concrete baby-steps toward that goal.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "John Glenn, First American to Orbit the Earth, Dies",
"headTitle": "John Glenn, First American to Orbit the Earth, Dies | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>John Glenn, whose 1962 flight as the first U.S. astronaut to orbit the Earth made him an all-American hero and propelled him to a long career in the U.S. Senate, died Thursday. The last survivor of the original Mercury 7 astronauts was 95.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Glenn died at the James Cancer Hospital in Columbus, where he was hospitalized for more than a week, said Hank Wilson, communications director for the John Glenn School of Public Affairs.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">‘I’ve been very fortunate to have a lot of great experiences in my life and I’m thankful for them.’\u003ccite>John Glenn in 2012\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>John Herschel Glenn Jr. had two major career paths that often intersected: flying and politics, and he soared in both of them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before he gained fame orbiting the world, he was a fighter pilot in two wars, and as a test pilot, he set a transcontinental speed record. He later served 24 years in the Senate from Ohio. A rare setback was a failed 1984 run for the Democratic presidential nomination.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His long political career enabled him to return to space in the shuttle Discovery at age 77 in 1998, a cosmic victory lap that he relished and turned into a teachable moment about growing old. He holds the record for the oldest person in space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1225861\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1041px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1225861\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-glenn_NASA.jpg\" alt=\"John Glenn (second from the left in the blue NASA suit) next to the orbiter Discovery on Nov. 8, 1998, that carried the STS-95 crew for nine days and 3.6 million miles.\" width=\"1041\" height=\"691\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-glenn_NASA.jpg 1041w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-glenn_NASA-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-glenn_NASA-800x531.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-glenn_NASA-768x510.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-glenn_NASA-1020x677.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-glenn_NASA-960x637.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-glenn_NASA-240x159.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-glenn_NASA-375x249.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-glenn_NASA-520x345.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1041px) 100vw, 1041px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">John Glenn (second from the left in the blue NASA suit) next to the orbiter Discovery on Nov. 8, 1998, that carried the STS-95 crew for nine days and 3.6 million miles. \u003ccite>(NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>More than anything, John Glenn was the ultimate and uniquely American space hero: a combat veteran with an easy smile, a strong marriage of 70 years and nerves of steel. Schools, a space center and the Columbus, Ohio, airport were named after him. So were children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Soviet Union leaped ahead in space exploration by putting the Sputnik 1 satellite in orbit in 1957, and then launched the first man in space, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, in a 108-minute orbital flight on April 12, 1961. After a two suborbital flights by Alan Shepard Jr. and Gus Grissom, it was up to Glenn to be the first American to orbit the Earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Godspeed, John Glenn,” fellow astronaut Scott Carpenter radioed just before Glenn thundered off a Cape Canaveral launch pad, now a National Historic Landmark, to a place America had never been. At the time of that Feb. 20, 1962, flight, Glenn was 40 years old.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1225862\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 331px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-1225862\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-glenn_close-up.jpg\" alt=\"Astronaut John H. Glenn Jr. dons his silver Mercury pressure suit in preparation for launch. On February 20, 1962 Glenn lifted off into space aboard his Mercury Atlas (MA-6) rocket and became the first American to orbit the Earth. \" width=\"331\" height=\"504\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-glenn_close-up.jpg 1041w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-glenn_close-up-160x243.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-glenn_close-up-800x1217.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-glenn_close-up-768x1169.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-glenn_close-up-1020x1552.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-glenn_close-up-960x1461.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-glenn_close-up-240x365.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-glenn_close-up-375x571.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-glenn_close-up-520x791.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 331px) 100vw, 331px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Astronaut John H. Glenn Jr. dons his silver Mercury pressure suit in preparation for launch. On February 20, 1962 Glenn lifted off into space aboard his Mercury Atlas (MA-6) rocket and became the first American to orbit the Earth. \u003ccite>(NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>With the all-business phrase, “Roger, the clock is operating, we’re underway,” Glenn radioed to Earth as he started his 4 hours, 55 minutes and 23 seconds in space. Years later, he explained he said that because he didn’t feel like he had lifted off and it was the only way he knew he had launched.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the flight, Glenn uttered a phrase that he would repeat frequently throughout life: “Zero G, and I feel fine.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It still seems so vivid to me,” Glenn said in a 2012 interview with The Associated Press on the 50th anniversary of the flight. “I still can sort of pseudo feel some of those same sensations I had back in those days during launch and all.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Glenn said he was often asked if he was afraid, and he replied, “If you are talking about fear that overcomes what you are supposed to do, no. You’ve trained very hard for those flights.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Glenn’s ride in the cramped Friendship 7 capsule had its scary moments, however. Sensors showed his heat shield was loose after three orbits, and Mission Control worried he might burn up during re-entry when temperatures reached 3,000 degrees. But the heat shield held.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even before then, Glenn flew in dangerous skies. He was a fighter pilot in World War II and Korea who flew low, got his plane riddled with bullets, flew with baseball great Ted Williams and earned macho nicknames during 149 combat missions. And as a test pilot he broke aviation records.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1225864\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1041px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1225864\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-Glenn_working.jpg\" alt=\"STS-95 payload specialist John Glenn works with the Osteporosis Experiment in Orbit (OSTEO) experiment located in a locker in the Discovery's middeck.\" width=\"1041\" height=\"695\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-Glenn_working.jpg 1041w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-Glenn_working-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-Glenn_working-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-Glenn_working-768x513.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-Glenn_working-1020x681.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-Glenn_working-960x641.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-Glenn_working-240x160.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-Glenn_working-375x250.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-Glenn_working-520x347.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1041px) 100vw, 1041px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">STS-95 payload specialist John Glenn works with the Osteporosis Experiment in Orbit (OSTEO) experiment located in a locker in the Discovery’s middeck. \u003ccite>(NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1225865\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1041px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1225865\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-Glenn_Armstrong.jpg\" alt=\"Sen. John Glenn, left, and Apollo 11 Astronaut Neil Armstrong are seen prior to the start of a dinner at Ohio State University that honored the 50th anniversary of John Glenn's historic flight aboard Friendship 7 in, 2012. \" width=\"1041\" height=\"744\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-Glenn_Armstrong.jpg 1041w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-Glenn_Armstrong-160x114.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-Glenn_Armstrong-800x572.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-Glenn_Armstrong-768x549.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-Glenn_Armstrong-1020x729.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-Glenn_Armstrong-960x686.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-Glenn_Armstrong-240x172.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-Glenn_Armstrong-375x268.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-Glenn_Armstrong-520x372.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1041px) 100vw, 1041px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sen. John Glenn, left, and Apollo 11 Astronaut Neil Armstrong are seen prior to the start of a dinner at Ohio State University that honored the 50th anniversary of John Glenn’s historic flight aboard Friendship 7 in, 2012. \u003ccite>(Bill Ingalls/NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The green-eyed, telegenic Marine even won $25,000 on the game show “Name That Tune” with a 10-year-old partner. And that was before April 6, 1959, when his life changed by being selected as one of the Mercury 7 astronauts and instantly started attracting more than his share of the spotlight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Glenn in later years regaled crowds with stories of NASA’s testing of would-be astronauts, from psychological tests — come with 20 answers to the open ended question “I am” — to surviving spinning that pushed 16 times normal gravity against his body, popping blood vessels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it wasn’t nearly as bad as coming to Cape Canaveral to see the first unmanned rocket test.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re watching this thing go up and up and up … and all at once it blew up right over us, and that was our introduction to the Atlas,” Glenn said in 2011. “We looked at each other and wanted to have a meeting with the engineers in the morning.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1225866\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 396px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-1225866\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/rocket.jpg\" alt=\"John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth on the Friendship 7 mission.\" width=\"396\" height=\"495\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/rocket.jpg 2400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/rocket-160x200.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/rocket-800x1000.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/rocket-768x960.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/rocket-1020x1275.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/rocket-1920x2400.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/rocket-1180x1475.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/rocket-960x1200.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/rocket-240x300.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/rocket-375x469.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/rocket-520x650.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 396px) 100vw, 396px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth on the Friendship 7 mission. \u003ccite>(NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In 1959, Glenn wrote in Life magazine: “Space travel is at the frontier of my profession. It is going to be accomplished, and I want to be in on it. There is also an element of simple duty involved. I am convinced that I have something to give this project.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That sense of duty was instilled at an early age. Glenn was born July 18, 1921, in Cambridge, Ohio, and grew up in New Concord, Ohio, with the nickname “Bud.” He joined the town band as a trumpeter at age 10 and accompanied his father one Memorial Day in an echoing version of “Taps.” In his 1999 memoir,Glenn wrote “that feeling sums up my childhood. It formed my beliefs and my sense of responsibility. Everything that came after that just came naturally.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His love of flight was lifelong; John Glenn Sr. spoke of the many summer evenings he arrived home to find his son running around the yard with outstretched arms, pretending he was piloting a plane. Last June, at a ceremony renaming the Columbus airport for him, Glenn recalled imploring his parents to take him to that airport to look at planes whenever they passed through the city: “It was something I was fascinated with.” He piloted his own private plane until age 90.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Glenn’s goal of becoming a commercial pilot was changed by World War II. He left Muskingum College to join the Naval Air Corps and soon after, the Marines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He became a successful fighter pilot who ran 59 hazardous missions, often as a volunteer or as the requested backup of assigned pilots. A war later, in Korea, he earned the nickname “MiG-Mad Marine” (or “Old Magnet A — ,” which he sometimes paraphrased as “Old Magnet Tail.”)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was the one who went in low and got them,” Glenn said, explaining that he often landed with huge holes in the side of his aircraft because he didn’t like to shoot from high altitudes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1225867\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 360px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-1225867\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/JOhn-Glenn_orange-suits.jpg\" alt=\"STS-95 crew members exit the Operations and Checkout Building where they suited up before leaving for Launch Pad 39-B on Oct. 9, 1998. John Glenn is second from the right. \" width=\"360\" height=\"472\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/JOhn-Glenn_orange-suits.jpg 1041w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/JOhn-Glenn_orange-suits-160x210.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/JOhn-Glenn_orange-suits-800x1051.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/JOhn-Glenn_orange-suits-768x1009.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/JOhn-Glenn_orange-suits-1020x1339.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/JOhn-Glenn_orange-suits-960x1261.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/JOhn-Glenn_orange-suits-240x315.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/JOhn-Glenn_orange-suits-375x492.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/JOhn-Glenn_orange-suits-520x683.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 360px) 100vw, 360px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">STS-95 crew members exit the Operations and Checkout Building where they suited up before leaving for Launch Pad 39-B on Oct. 9, 1998. John Glenn is second from the right.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Glenn’s public life began when he broke the transcontinental airspeed record, bursting from Los Angeles to New York City in 3 hours, 23 minutes and 8 seconds. With his Crusader averaging 725 mph, the 1957 flight proved the jet could endure stress when pushed to maximum speeds over long distances.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In New York, he got a hero’s welcome — his first tickertape parade. He got another after his flight on Friendship 7.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That mission also introduced Glenn to politics. He addressed a joint session of Congress, and dined at the White House. He became friends with President Kennedy and ally and friend of his brother, Robert. The Kennedys urged him to enter politics, and after a difficult few starts he did.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Glenn spent 24 years in the U.S. Senate, representing Ohio longer than any other senator in the state’s history. He announced his impending retirement in 1997, 35 years to the day after he became the first American in orbit, saying “there is still no cure for the common birthday.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Glenn’s returned to space in a long-awaited second flight in 1998 aboard the space shuttle Discovery. He got to move around aboard the shuttle for far longer — nine days compared with just under five hours in 1962 — as well as sleep and experiment with bubbles in weightlessness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a news conference from space, Glenn said “to look out at this kind of creation out here and not believe in God is to me impossible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>NASA tailored a series of geriatric-reaction experiments to create a scientific purpose for Glenn’s mission, but there was more to it than that: a revival of the excitement of the earliest days of the space race, a public relations bonanza and the gift of a lifetime.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“America owed John Glenn a second flight,” NASA Administrator Dan Goldin said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Glenn would later write that when he mentioned the idea of going back into space to his wife, Annie, she responded: “Over my dead body.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Glenn and his crewmates flew 3.6 million miles, compared with 75,000 miles aboard Friendship 7.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shortly before he ran for the 1984 Democratic presidential nomination, a new generation was introduced to astronaut Glenn with the film adaptation of Tom Wolfe’s book “The Right Stuff.” He was portrayed as the ultimate straight arrow amid a group of hard-partying astronauts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Glenn said in 2011: “I don’t think any of us cared for the movie ‘The Right Stuff’; I know I didn’t.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Glenn was unable to capitalize on the publicity, though, and his poorly organized campaign was short-lived. He dropped out of the race with his campaign $2.5 million in the red — a debt that lingered even after he retired from the Senate in 1999.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He later joked that except for going into debt, humiliating his family and gaining 16 pounds, running for president was a good experience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Glenn generally steered clear of campaigns after that, saying he didn’t want to mix politics with his second space flight. He sat out the Senate race to succeed him — he was hundreds of miles above Earth on Election Day — and largely was quiet in the 2000 presidential race.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He first ran for the Senate in 1964 but left the race when he suffered a concussion after slipping in the bathroom and hit his head on the tub.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He tried again in 1970 but was defeated in the primary by Howard Metzenbaum, who later lost the general election to Robert Taft Jr. It was the start of a complex relationship with Metzenbaum, whom he later joined in the Senate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the next four years, Glenn devoted his attention to business and investments that made him a multimillionaire. He had joined the board of Royal Crown Cola after the aborted 1964 campaign, and was president of Royal Crown International from 1967 to 1969. In the early 1970s, he remained with Royal Crown and invested in a chain of Holiday Inns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1974, Glenn ran against Metzenbaum in what turned into a bitter primary and won the election. He eventually made peace with Metzenbaum, who won election to the Senate in 1976.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Glenn set a record in 1980 by winning re-election with a 1.6-million vote margin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He became an expert on nuclear weaponry and was the Senate’s most dogged advocate of non-proliferation. He was the leading supporter of the B-1 bomber when many in Congress doubted the need for it. As chairman of the Governmental Affairs Committee, he turned a microscope on waste and fraud in the federal bureaucracy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Glenn said the lowest point of his life was 1990, when he and four other senators came under scrutiny for their connections to Charles Keating, the notorious financier who eventually served prison time for his role in the costly savings and loan failure of the 1980s. The Senate Ethics Committee cleared Glenn of serious wrongdoing but said he “exercised poor judgment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The episode was the only brush with scandal in his long public career and didn’t diminish his popularity in Ohio.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Glenn joked that the only astronaut he was envious of was his fellow Ohioan: Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve been very fortunate to have a lot of great experiences in my life and I’m thankful for them,” he said in 2012.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1943, Glenn married his childhood sweetheart, Anna Margaret Castor. They met when they were toddlers, and when she had mumps as a teenager he came to her house, cut a hole in her bedroom window screen, and passed her a radio to keep her company, a friend recounted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t remember the first time I told Annie I loved her, or the first time she told me,” Glenn would write in his memoir. “It was just something we both knew.” He bought her a diamond engagement ring in 1942 for $125. It’s never been replaced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They had two children, Carolyn and John David.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He and his wife, Annie, split their later years between Washington and Columbus. Both served as trustees at their alma mater, Muskingum College. Glenn spent time promoting the John Glenn School of Public Affairs at Ohio State University, which also houses an archive of his private papers and photographs.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "John Glenn, the first American astronaut to orbit the Earth, has died at age 95.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>John Glenn, whose 1962 flight as the first U.S. astronaut to orbit the Earth made him an all-American hero and propelled him to a long career in the U.S. Senate, died Thursday. The last survivor of the original Mercury 7 astronauts was 95.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Glenn died at the James Cancer Hospital in Columbus, where he was hospitalized for more than a week, said Hank Wilson, communications director for the John Glenn School of Public Affairs.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">‘I’ve been very fortunate to have a lot of great experiences in my life and I’m thankful for them.’\u003ccite>John Glenn in 2012\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>John Herschel Glenn Jr. had two major career paths that often intersected: flying and politics, and he soared in both of them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before he gained fame orbiting the world, he was a fighter pilot in two wars, and as a test pilot, he set a transcontinental speed record. He later served 24 years in the Senate from Ohio. A rare setback was a failed 1984 run for the Democratic presidential nomination.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His long political career enabled him to return to space in the shuttle Discovery at age 77 in 1998, a cosmic victory lap that he relished and turned into a teachable moment about growing old. He holds the record for the oldest person in space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1225861\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1041px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1225861\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-glenn_NASA.jpg\" alt=\"John Glenn (second from the left in the blue NASA suit) next to the orbiter Discovery on Nov. 8, 1998, that carried the STS-95 crew for nine days and 3.6 million miles.\" width=\"1041\" height=\"691\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-glenn_NASA.jpg 1041w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-glenn_NASA-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-glenn_NASA-800x531.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-glenn_NASA-768x510.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-glenn_NASA-1020x677.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-glenn_NASA-960x637.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-glenn_NASA-240x159.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-glenn_NASA-375x249.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-glenn_NASA-520x345.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1041px) 100vw, 1041px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">John Glenn (second from the left in the blue NASA suit) next to the orbiter Discovery on Nov. 8, 1998, that carried the STS-95 crew for nine days and 3.6 million miles. \u003ccite>(NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>More than anything, John Glenn was the ultimate and uniquely American space hero: a combat veteran with an easy smile, a strong marriage of 70 years and nerves of steel. Schools, a space center and the Columbus, Ohio, airport were named after him. So were children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Soviet Union leaped ahead in space exploration by putting the Sputnik 1 satellite in orbit in 1957, and then launched the first man in space, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, in a 108-minute orbital flight on April 12, 1961. After a two suborbital flights by Alan Shepard Jr. and Gus Grissom, it was up to Glenn to be the first American to orbit the Earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Godspeed, John Glenn,” fellow astronaut Scott Carpenter radioed just before Glenn thundered off a Cape Canaveral launch pad, now a National Historic Landmark, to a place America had never been. At the time of that Feb. 20, 1962, flight, Glenn was 40 years old.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1225862\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 331px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-1225862\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-glenn_close-up.jpg\" alt=\"Astronaut John H. Glenn Jr. dons his silver Mercury pressure suit in preparation for launch. On February 20, 1962 Glenn lifted off into space aboard his Mercury Atlas (MA-6) rocket and became the first American to orbit the Earth. \" width=\"331\" height=\"504\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-glenn_close-up.jpg 1041w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-glenn_close-up-160x243.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-glenn_close-up-800x1217.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-glenn_close-up-768x1169.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-glenn_close-up-1020x1552.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-glenn_close-up-960x1461.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-glenn_close-up-240x365.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-glenn_close-up-375x571.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-glenn_close-up-520x791.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 331px) 100vw, 331px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Astronaut John H. Glenn Jr. dons his silver Mercury pressure suit in preparation for launch. On February 20, 1962 Glenn lifted off into space aboard his Mercury Atlas (MA-6) rocket and became the first American to orbit the Earth. \u003ccite>(NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>With the all-business phrase, “Roger, the clock is operating, we’re underway,” Glenn radioed to Earth as he started his 4 hours, 55 minutes and 23 seconds in space. Years later, he explained he said that because he didn’t feel like he had lifted off and it was the only way he knew he had launched.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the flight, Glenn uttered a phrase that he would repeat frequently throughout life: “Zero G, and I feel fine.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It still seems so vivid to me,” Glenn said in a 2012 interview with The Associated Press on the 50th anniversary of the flight. “I still can sort of pseudo feel some of those same sensations I had back in those days during launch and all.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Glenn said he was often asked if he was afraid, and he replied, “If you are talking about fear that overcomes what you are supposed to do, no. You’ve trained very hard for those flights.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Glenn’s ride in the cramped Friendship 7 capsule had its scary moments, however. Sensors showed his heat shield was loose after three orbits, and Mission Control worried he might burn up during re-entry when temperatures reached 3,000 degrees. But the heat shield held.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even before then, Glenn flew in dangerous skies. He was a fighter pilot in World War II and Korea who flew low, got his plane riddled with bullets, flew with baseball great Ted Williams and earned macho nicknames during 149 combat missions. And as a test pilot he broke aviation records.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1225864\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1041px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1225864\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-Glenn_working.jpg\" alt=\"STS-95 payload specialist John Glenn works with the Osteporosis Experiment in Orbit (OSTEO) experiment located in a locker in the Discovery's middeck.\" width=\"1041\" height=\"695\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-Glenn_working.jpg 1041w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-Glenn_working-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-Glenn_working-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-Glenn_working-768x513.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-Glenn_working-1020x681.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-Glenn_working-960x641.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-Glenn_working-240x160.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-Glenn_working-375x250.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-Glenn_working-520x347.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1041px) 100vw, 1041px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">STS-95 payload specialist John Glenn works with the Osteporosis Experiment in Orbit (OSTEO) experiment located in a locker in the Discovery’s middeck. \u003ccite>(NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1225865\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1041px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1225865\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-Glenn_Armstrong.jpg\" alt=\"Sen. John Glenn, left, and Apollo 11 Astronaut Neil Armstrong are seen prior to the start of a dinner at Ohio State University that honored the 50th anniversary of John Glenn's historic flight aboard Friendship 7 in, 2012. \" width=\"1041\" height=\"744\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-Glenn_Armstrong.jpg 1041w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-Glenn_Armstrong-160x114.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-Glenn_Armstrong-800x572.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-Glenn_Armstrong-768x549.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-Glenn_Armstrong-1020x729.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-Glenn_Armstrong-960x686.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-Glenn_Armstrong-240x172.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-Glenn_Armstrong-375x268.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/John-Glenn_Armstrong-520x372.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1041px) 100vw, 1041px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sen. John Glenn, left, and Apollo 11 Astronaut Neil Armstrong are seen prior to the start of a dinner at Ohio State University that honored the 50th anniversary of John Glenn’s historic flight aboard Friendship 7 in, 2012. \u003ccite>(Bill Ingalls/NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The green-eyed, telegenic Marine even won $25,000 on the game show “Name That Tune” with a 10-year-old partner. And that was before April 6, 1959, when his life changed by being selected as one of the Mercury 7 astronauts and instantly started attracting more than his share of the spotlight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Glenn in later years regaled crowds with stories of NASA’s testing of would-be astronauts, from psychological tests — come with 20 answers to the open ended question “I am” — to surviving spinning that pushed 16 times normal gravity against his body, popping blood vessels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it wasn’t nearly as bad as coming to Cape Canaveral to see the first unmanned rocket test.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re watching this thing go up and up and up … and all at once it blew up right over us, and that was our introduction to the Atlas,” Glenn said in 2011. “We looked at each other and wanted to have a meeting with the engineers in the morning.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1225866\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 396px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-1225866\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/rocket.jpg\" alt=\"John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth on the Friendship 7 mission.\" width=\"396\" height=\"495\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/rocket.jpg 2400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/rocket-160x200.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/rocket-800x1000.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/rocket-768x960.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/rocket-1020x1275.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/rocket-1920x2400.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/rocket-1180x1475.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/rocket-960x1200.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/rocket-240x300.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/rocket-375x469.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/rocket-520x650.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 396px) 100vw, 396px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth on the Friendship 7 mission. \u003ccite>(NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In 1959, Glenn wrote in Life magazine: “Space travel is at the frontier of my profession. It is going to be accomplished, and I want to be in on it. There is also an element of simple duty involved. I am convinced that I have something to give this project.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That sense of duty was instilled at an early age. Glenn was born July 18, 1921, in Cambridge, Ohio, and grew up in New Concord, Ohio, with the nickname “Bud.” He joined the town band as a trumpeter at age 10 and accompanied his father one Memorial Day in an echoing version of “Taps.” In his 1999 memoir,Glenn wrote “that feeling sums up my childhood. It formed my beliefs and my sense of responsibility. Everything that came after that just came naturally.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His love of flight was lifelong; John Glenn Sr. spoke of the many summer evenings he arrived home to find his son running around the yard with outstretched arms, pretending he was piloting a plane. Last June, at a ceremony renaming the Columbus airport for him, Glenn recalled imploring his parents to take him to that airport to look at planes whenever they passed through the city: “It was something I was fascinated with.” He piloted his own private plane until age 90.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Glenn’s goal of becoming a commercial pilot was changed by World War II. He left Muskingum College to join the Naval Air Corps and soon after, the Marines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He became a successful fighter pilot who ran 59 hazardous missions, often as a volunteer or as the requested backup of assigned pilots. A war later, in Korea, he earned the nickname “MiG-Mad Marine” (or “Old Magnet A — ,” which he sometimes paraphrased as “Old Magnet Tail.”)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was the one who went in low and got them,” Glenn said, explaining that he often landed with huge holes in the side of his aircraft because he didn’t like to shoot from high altitudes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1225867\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 360px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-1225867\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/JOhn-Glenn_orange-suits.jpg\" alt=\"STS-95 crew members exit the Operations and Checkout Building where they suited up before leaving for Launch Pad 39-B on Oct. 9, 1998. John Glenn is second from the right. \" width=\"360\" height=\"472\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/JOhn-Glenn_orange-suits.jpg 1041w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/JOhn-Glenn_orange-suits-160x210.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/JOhn-Glenn_orange-suits-800x1051.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/JOhn-Glenn_orange-suits-768x1009.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/JOhn-Glenn_orange-suits-1020x1339.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/JOhn-Glenn_orange-suits-960x1261.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/JOhn-Glenn_orange-suits-240x315.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/JOhn-Glenn_orange-suits-375x492.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/JOhn-Glenn_orange-suits-520x683.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 360px) 100vw, 360px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">STS-95 crew members exit the Operations and Checkout Building where they suited up before leaving for Launch Pad 39-B on Oct. 9, 1998. John Glenn is second from the right.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Glenn’s public life began when he broke the transcontinental airspeed record, bursting from Los Angeles to New York City in 3 hours, 23 minutes and 8 seconds. With his Crusader averaging 725 mph, the 1957 flight proved the jet could endure stress when pushed to maximum speeds over long distances.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In New York, he got a hero’s welcome — his first tickertape parade. He got another after his flight on Friendship 7.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That mission also introduced Glenn to politics. He addressed a joint session of Congress, and dined at the White House. He became friends with President Kennedy and ally and friend of his brother, Robert. The Kennedys urged him to enter politics, and after a difficult few starts he did.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Glenn spent 24 years in the U.S. Senate, representing Ohio longer than any other senator in the state’s history. He announced his impending retirement in 1997, 35 years to the day after he became the first American in orbit, saying “there is still no cure for the common birthday.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Glenn’s returned to space in a long-awaited second flight in 1998 aboard the space shuttle Discovery. He got to move around aboard the shuttle for far longer — nine days compared with just under five hours in 1962 — as well as sleep and experiment with bubbles in weightlessness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a news conference from space, Glenn said “to look out at this kind of creation out here and not believe in God is to me impossible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>NASA tailored a series of geriatric-reaction experiments to create a scientific purpose for Glenn’s mission, but there was more to it than that: a revival of the excitement of the earliest days of the space race, a public relations bonanza and the gift of a lifetime.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“America owed John Glenn a second flight,” NASA Administrator Dan Goldin said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Glenn would later write that when he mentioned the idea of going back into space to his wife, Annie, she responded: “Over my dead body.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Glenn and his crewmates flew 3.6 million miles, compared with 75,000 miles aboard Friendship 7.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shortly before he ran for the 1984 Democratic presidential nomination, a new generation was introduced to astronaut Glenn with the film adaptation of Tom Wolfe’s book “The Right Stuff.” He was portrayed as the ultimate straight arrow amid a group of hard-partying astronauts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Glenn said in 2011: “I don’t think any of us cared for the movie ‘The Right Stuff’; I know I didn’t.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Glenn was unable to capitalize on the publicity, though, and his poorly organized campaign was short-lived. He dropped out of the race with his campaign $2.5 million in the red — a debt that lingered even after he retired from the Senate in 1999.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He later joked that except for going into debt, humiliating his family and gaining 16 pounds, running for president was a good experience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Glenn generally steered clear of campaigns after that, saying he didn’t want to mix politics with his second space flight. He sat out the Senate race to succeed him — he was hundreds of miles above Earth on Election Day — and largely was quiet in the 2000 presidential race.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He first ran for the Senate in 1964 but left the race when he suffered a concussion after slipping in the bathroom and hit his head on the tub.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He tried again in 1970 but was defeated in the primary by Howard Metzenbaum, who later lost the general election to Robert Taft Jr. It was the start of a complex relationship with Metzenbaum, whom he later joined in the Senate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the next four years, Glenn devoted his attention to business and investments that made him a multimillionaire. He had joined the board of Royal Crown Cola after the aborted 1964 campaign, and was president of Royal Crown International from 1967 to 1969. In the early 1970s, he remained with Royal Crown and invested in a chain of Holiday Inns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1974, Glenn ran against Metzenbaum in what turned into a bitter primary and won the election. He eventually made peace with Metzenbaum, who won election to the Senate in 1976.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Glenn set a record in 1980 by winning re-election with a 1.6-million vote margin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He became an expert on nuclear weaponry and was the Senate’s most dogged advocate of non-proliferation. He was the leading supporter of the B-1 bomber when many in Congress doubted the need for it. As chairman of the Governmental Affairs Committee, he turned a microscope on waste and fraud in the federal bureaucracy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Glenn said the lowest point of his life was 1990, when he and four other senators came under scrutiny for their connections to Charles Keating, the notorious financier who eventually served prison time for his role in the costly savings and loan failure of the 1980s. The Senate Ethics Committee cleared Glenn of serious wrongdoing but said he “exercised poor judgment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The episode was the only brush with scandal in his long public career and didn’t diminish his popularity in Ohio.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Glenn joked that the only astronaut he was envious of was his fellow Ohioan: Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve been very fortunate to have a lot of great experiences in my life and I’m thankful for them,” he said in 2012.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1943, Glenn married his childhood sweetheart, Anna Margaret Castor. They met when they were toddlers, and when she had mumps as a teenager he came to her house, cut a hole in her bedroom window screen, and passed her a radio to keep her company, a friend recounted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t remember the first time I told Annie I loved her, or the first time she told me,” Glenn would write in his memoir. “It was just something we both knew.” He bought her a diamond engagement ring in 1942 for $125. It’s never been replaced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They had two children, Carolyn and John David.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He and his wife, Annie, split their later years between Washington and Columbus. Both served as trustees at their alma mater, Muskingum College. Glenn spent time promoting the John Glenn School of Public Affairs at Ohio State University, which also houses an archive of his private papers and photographs.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "If You're Looking For Alien Life, How Will You Know If You've Found It?",
"headTitle": "If You’re Looking For Alien Life, How Will You Know If You’ve Found It? | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>When a robotic probe finally lands on a watery world like Jupiter’s moon \u003ca href=\"http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/europa\">Europa\u003c/a>, what do scientists have to see to definitively say whether the place has any life?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s the question retired astronaut \u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/john-grunsfeld-announces-retirement-from-nasa\">John Grunsfeld\u003c/a> posed to some colleagues at \u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/\">NASA\u003c/a> when he was in charge of the agency’s science missions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We looked at him with blank faces,” recalls \u003ca href=\"https://science.nasa.gov/about-us/leadership/dr-jim-green\">Jim Green\u003c/a>, head of NASA’s planetary sciences division. “What do we need to build to really find life? What are the instruments, what are the techniques, what are the things that we should be looking for?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To get some advice, the agency recently asked the prestigious National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to gather some of the top experts in astrobiology for \u003ca href=\"https://www.eventbrite.com/e/a-workshop-on-searching-for-life-across-space-and-time-registration-26689574235\">a meeting\u003c/a> that begins Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s a growing interest in so-called biosignatures — or substances that provide evidence of life — because NASA has upcoming missions that have real potential to search for them. Those include a visit to \u003ca href=\"http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/europa-mission/\">Europa\u003c/a> in the 2020s and the 2018 launch of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.jwst.nasa.gov/\">James Webb Space Telescope\u003c/a>, which could scan the \u003ca href=\"http://jwst.nasa.gov/origins.html\">atmospheres\u003c/a> of planets around other stars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The last thing NASA officials want is a repeat of the experience with the \u003ca href=\"http://mars.nasa.gov/programmissions/missions/past/viking/\">Viking\u003c/a> missions back in the 1970s, when analysis of Martian soil chemistry produced what was initially interpreted as evidence of life — but then later deemed a false-positive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I remember the aftermath of that,” says \u003ca href=\"http://www.geosc.psu.edu/academic-faculty/kasting-james\">James Kasting\u003c/a>, a professor of geosciences at Penn State University, who was tasked with planning this week’s meeting. “NASA was criticized heavily for looking for life before they had investigated the planet and for not having thought that through carefully. They’re hoping to avoid that same experience.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Finding life means first defining life, and NASA’s Green says the key features are that it must metabolize, reproduce and evolve.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But having that definition doesn’t mean there’s a consensus on what, exactly, to look for. “We have big debates about it, actually,” Kasting says, “and that’s part of what this meeting is all about.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In our own solar system, scientists ponder what kind of extant or extinct life might be found on Mars, icy moons such as Europa or \u003ca href=\"http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/enceladus\">Enceladus\u003c/a>, or the strange methane lakes of \u003ca href=\"http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/titan\">Titan\u003c/a>. If scientists found DNA or RNA, obviously, that would be like finding a smoking gun, assuming it wasn’t a contaminant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the alien life probably wouldn’t have exactly the same kind of genetic material. In fact, its chemistry might be unrecognizable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If I start just doing the usual things to look for life that are successful for looking for life that we know on Earth, there’s no reason to believe that it will be successful in identifying life that has even a mildly different biochemistry,” says \u003ca href=\"http://www.ffame.org/sbenner.php\">Steve Benner\u003c/a>, with the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So he thinks that searches for alien life have to be able to detect something more generic. “It’s a rather esoteric thing, but we’re going to be looking for long, stringy molecules that have repeated, regularly spaced, backbone charges,” Benner says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1217790\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1217790\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/kepler186f.jpg\" alt=\"An artist's rendering of Kepler-186f, the first validated Earth-size planet to orbit in the habitable zone of a distant star. \" width=\"1600\" height=\"899\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/kepler186f.jpg 1600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/kepler186f-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/kepler186f-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/kepler186f-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/kepler186f-1020x573.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/kepler186f-1180x663.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/kepler186f-960x539.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/kepler186f-240x135.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/kepler186f-375x211.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/kepler186f-520x292.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An artist’s rendering of Kepler-186f, the first validated Earth-size planet to orbit in the habitable zone of a distant star. \u003ccite>(T. Pyle/NASA/JPL-Caltech)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Searching for life beyond our solar system poses different challenges, because there’s no interstellar travel that would allow a spacecraft to visit a planet around another star and scoop up dirt or suck up liquid. All scientists will be able to do is look through telescopes and tease apart the light, searching for clues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With that limitation, Benner says, “maybe the best we can do is look for Earth-like life,” though not all scientists agree on that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One \u003ca href=\"https://palereddot.org/biosignature-gases-a-needle-in-a-haystack/\">signal\u003c/a> from a planet in a distant solar system that would be pretty unambiguous would be the simultaneous presence of abundant oxygen and gases such as methane or nitrous oxide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Both oxygen and methane and nitrous oxide are produced predominantly by biology, and so it’s very difficult to build up high concentrations of those gases, two or three of them simultaneously, without having life present,” Kasting says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An issue that’s likely to come up at the meeting is whether it’s enough to see oxygen by itself, or if there also has to be other gases linked to life. That’s because if you looked at the Earth from far away, it would be relatively easy to detect the oxygen because it’s so abundant, but harder to see the methane or nitrous oxide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course, NASA doesn’t just send up probes or telescopes — it also can send out people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As a field geologist, I have this strong bias that it’s going to take people like me, on the surface of Mars, cracking open a lot of rocks, looking for those fossil signatures of early Mars life,” says \u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/offices/ocs/stofan_bio.html\">Ellen Stofan\u003c/a>, NASA’s chief scientist, noting that NASA has a \u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/content/journey-to-mars-overview\">goal\u003c/a> of getting humans to Mars in the 2030’s. “Because it’s not enough just to say, ‘Ah-ha, we’ve got one molecule that we think is biological,’ you need lots of molecules, you need lots of fossil samples, to really understand what are the implications of life beyond Earth.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s optimistic that we’ll find signs of life off our planet in one or more places in the next couple decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To think that within the next 20 years we’re going to start answering some of these questions really blows my mind,” Stofan says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=If+You%27re+Looking+For+Alien+Life%2C+How+Will+You+Know+If+You%27ve+Found+it%3F&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Searching for alien life is harder than you might think, because whatever is out there might be really odd. So leading astrobiologists are meeting to advise NASA on how to go about looking for it.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>When a robotic probe finally lands on a watery world like Jupiter’s moon \u003ca href=\"http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/europa\">Europa\u003c/a>, what do scientists have to see to definitively say whether the place has any life?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s the question retired astronaut \u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/john-grunsfeld-announces-retirement-from-nasa\">John Grunsfeld\u003c/a> posed to some colleagues at \u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/\">NASA\u003c/a> when he was in charge of the agency’s science missions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We looked at him with blank faces,” recalls \u003ca href=\"https://science.nasa.gov/about-us/leadership/dr-jim-green\">Jim Green\u003c/a>, head of NASA’s planetary sciences division. “What do we need to build to really find life? What are the instruments, what are the techniques, what are the things that we should be looking for?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To get some advice, the agency recently asked the prestigious National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to gather some of the top experts in astrobiology for \u003ca href=\"https://www.eventbrite.com/e/a-workshop-on-searching-for-life-across-space-and-time-registration-26689574235\">a meeting\u003c/a> that begins Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s a growing interest in so-called biosignatures — or substances that provide evidence of life — because NASA has upcoming missions that have real potential to search for them. Those include a visit to \u003ca href=\"http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/europa-mission/\">Europa\u003c/a> in the 2020s and the 2018 launch of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.jwst.nasa.gov/\">James Webb Space Telescope\u003c/a>, which could scan the \u003ca href=\"http://jwst.nasa.gov/origins.html\">atmospheres\u003c/a> of planets around other stars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The last thing NASA officials want is a repeat of the experience with the \u003ca href=\"http://mars.nasa.gov/programmissions/missions/past/viking/\">Viking\u003c/a> missions back in the 1970s, when analysis of Martian soil chemistry produced what was initially interpreted as evidence of life — but then later deemed a false-positive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I remember the aftermath of that,” says \u003ca href=\"http://www.geosc.psu.edu/academic-faculty/kasting-james\">James Kasting\u003c/a>, a professor of geosciences at Penn State University, who was tasked with planning this week’s meeting. “NASA was criticized heavily for looking for life before they had investigated the planet and for not having thought that through carefully. They’re hoping to avoid that same experience.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Finding life means first defining life, and NASA’s Green says the key features are that it must metabolize, reproduce and evolve.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But having that definition doesn’t mean there’s a consensus on what, exactly, to look for. “We have big debates about it, actually,” Kasting says, “and that’s part of what this meeting is all about.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In our own solar system, scientists ponder what kind of extant or extinct life might be found on Mars, icy moons such as Europa or \u003ca href=\"http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/enceladus\">Enceladus\u003c/a>, or the strange methane lakes of \u003ca href=\"http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/titan\">Titan\u003c/a>. If scientists found DNA or RNA, obviously, that would be like finding a smoking gun, assuming it wasn’t a contaminant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the alien life probably wouldn’t have exactly the same kind of genetic material. In fact, its chemistry might be unrecognizable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If I start just doing the usual things to look for life that are successful for looking for life that we know on Earth, there’s no reason to believe that it will be successful in identifying life that has even a mildly different biochemistry,” says \u003ca href=\"http://www.ffame.org/sbenner.php\">Steve Benner\u003c/a>, with the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So he thinks that searches for alien life have to be able to detect something more generic. “It’s a rather esoteric thing, but we’re going to be looking for long, stringy molecules that have repeated, regularly spaced, backbone charges,” Benner says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1217790\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1217790\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/kepler186f.jpg\" alt=\"An artist's rendering of Kepler-186f, the first validated Earth-size planet to orbit in the habitable zone of a distant star. \" width=\"1600\" height=\"899\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/kepler186f.jpg 1600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/kepler186f-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/kepler186f-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/kepler186f-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/kepler186f-1020x573.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/kepler186f-1180x663.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/kepler186f-960x539.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/kepler186f-240x135.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/kepler186f-375x211.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/kepler186f-520x292.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An artist’s rendering of Kepler-186f, the first validated Earth-size planet to orbit in the habitable zone of a distant star. \u003ccite>(T. Pyle/NASA/JPL-Caltech)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Searching for life beyond our solar system poses different challenges, because there’s no interstellar travel that would allow a spacecraft to visit a planet around another star and scoop up dirt or suck up liquid. All scientists will be able to do is look through telescopes and tease apart the light, searching for clues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With that limitation, Benner says, “maybe the best we can do is look for Earth-like life,” though not all scientists agree on that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One \u003ca href=\"https://palereddot.org/biosignature-gases-a-needle-in-a-haystack/\">signal\u003c/a> from a planet in a distant solar system that would be pretty unambiguous would be the simultaneous presence of abundant oxygen and gases such as methane or nitrous oxide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Both oxygen and methane and nitrous oxide are produced predominantly by biology, and so it’s very difficult to build up high concentrations of those gases, two or three of them simultaneously, without having life present,” Kasting says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An issue that’s likely to come up at the meeting is whether it’s enough to see oxygen by itself, or if there also has to be other gases linked to life. That’s because if you looked at the Earth from far away, it would be relatively easy to detect the oxygen because it’s so abundant, but harder to see the methane or nitrous oxide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course, NASA doesn’t just send up probes or telescopes — it also can send out people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As a field geologist, I have this strong bias that it’s going to take people like me, on the surface of Mars, cracking open a lot of rocks, looking for those fossil signatures of early Mars life,” says \u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/offices/ocs/stofan_bio.html\">Ellen Stofan\u003c/a>, NASA’s chief scientist, noting that NASA has a \u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/content/journey-to-mars-overview\">goal\u003c/a> of getting humans to Mars in the 2030’s. “Because it’s not enough just to say, ‘Ah-ha, we’ve got one molecule that we think is biological,’ you need lots of molecules, you need lots of fossil samples, to really understand what are the implications of life beyond Earth.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s optimistic that we’ll find signs of life off our planet in one or more places in the next couple decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To think that within the next 20 years we’re going to start answering some of these questions really blows my mind,” Stofan says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=If+You%27re+Looking+For+Alien+Life%2C+How+Will+You+Know+If+You%27ve+Found+it%3F&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Some Assembly Required: New Space Telescope Will Take Shape After Launch",
"headTitle": "Some Assembly Required: New Space Telescope Will Take Shape After Launch | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>The next generation of great space telescopes is heading into its final round of ground tests. The nearly $9 billion \u003ca href=\"http://www.jwst.nasa.gov/\">James Webb Space Telescope\u003c/a> will replace the aging \u003ca href=\"http://hubblesite.org/\">Hubble Space Telescope\u003c/a>. It’s designed to provide unprecedented images of the earliest stars and galaxies that formed in the universe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But before the telescope can get to work, there are still a lot of engineering challenges to overcome.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For example, the Webb telescope is designed to look at the infrared wavelengths of light given off by stars. Infrared is needed to see some of the earliest stars and galaxies that formed billions of years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But to work properly, infrared telescopes have to be kept cold — very cold. So engineers had to design a multilayered sun shield to protect the telescope from the sun’s heat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s like a big umbrella — beach umbrella — so, we keep that facing the sun and the Earth so it dissipates all the heat through all the layers,” says \u003ca href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/in/bego%25C3%25B1a-vila-b5b28742\">Begoña Vila\u003c/a>, an astrophysicist and systems engineer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, in Greenbelt, Md. “That allows all the instruments to cool to the temperatures that we need.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, the sun shield \u003cem>is\u003c/em> big, about the size of a tennis court, and for launch it has to fit into a much smaller space — about the size of a school bus. So engineers had to come up with a way to fold it up. They also had to design a way to fold up the main mirror, and several other critical instruments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1199406\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1199406\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/Artist-rendering-space-telescope.jpg\" alt=\"An artist's rendering of the James Webb Space Telescope. The telescope's silver, umbrella-shape heat shield will be the size of a tennis court, engineers say. It's crucial to keep cool the instruments that detect infrared light from distant stars. Northrop \" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/Artist-rendering-space-telescope.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/Artist-rendering-space-telescope-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/Artist-rendering-space-telescope-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/Artist-rendering-space-telescope-240x180.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/Artist-rendering-space-telescope-375x281.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/Artist-rendering-space-telescope-520x390.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An artist’s rendering of the James Webb Space Telescope. The telescope’s silver, umbrella-shape heat shield will be the size of a tennis court, engineers say. It’s crucial to keep cool the instruments that detect infrared light from distant stars.\u003cbr>Northrop \u003ccite>(Grumman/NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Then, after launch, everything has to unfold in a carefully choreographed sequence of steps over two weeks. You can see that sequence in this \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTxLAGchWnA\">video\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many of the steps are absolutely crucial. A failure would compromise the telescope’s functionality and could render it useless. For the army of scientists and engineers who have been working on the telescope for nearly two decades, the deployment phase will be nerve-wracking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Yes, I think that scares all of us,” says Vila. But there’s no way around it. “We do as much testing as we can.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Webb telescope has had a difficult history. It is over budget and behind schedule, and Congress nearly killed the project earlier in the decade. The telescope is scheduled to launch in October 2018. We should know later that year whether the engineering challenges were successfully cleared.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Some+Assembly+Required%3A+New+Space+Telescope+Will+Take+Shape+After+Launch&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "The James Webb Space Telescope is undergoing its final series of tests in NASA workshops. It's designed to take even grander images than the Hubble telescope. But deploying it will be a major feat.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The next generation of great space telescopes is heading into its final round of ground tests. The nearly $9 billion \u003ca href=\"http://www.jwst.nasa.gov/\">James Webb Space Telescope\u003c/a> will replace the aging \u003ca href=\"http://hubblesite.org/\">Hubble Space Telescope\u003c/a>. It’s designed to provide unprecedented images of the earliest stars and galaxies that formed in the universe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But before the telescope can get to work, there are still a lot of engineering challenges to overcome.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For example, the Webb telescope is designed to look at the infrared wavelengths of light given off by stars. Infrared is needed to see some of the earliest stars and galaxies that formed billions of years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But to work properly, infrared telescopes have to be kept cold — very cold. So engineers had to design a multilayered sun shield to protect the telescope from the sun’s heat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s like a big umbrella — beach umbrella — so, we keep that facing the sun and the Earth so it dissipates all the heat through all the layers,” says \u003ca href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/in/bego%25C3%25B1a-vila-b5b28742\">Begoña Vila\u003c/a>, an astrophysicist and systems engineer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, in Greenbelt, Md. “That allows all the instruments to cool to the temperatures that we need.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, the sun shield \u003cem>is\u003c/em> big, about the size of a tennis court, and for launch it has to fit into a much smaller space — about the size of a school bus. So engineers had to come up with a way to fold it up. They also had to design a way to fold up the main mirror, and several other critical instruments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1199406\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1199406\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/Artist-rendering-space-telescope.jpg\" alt=\"An artist's rendering of the James Webb Space Telescope. The telescope's silver, umbrella-shape heat shield will be the size of a tennis court, engineers say. It's crucial to keep cool the instruments that detect infrared light from distant stars. Northrop \" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/Artist-rendering-space-telescope.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/Artist-rendering-space-telescope-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/Artist-rendering-space-telescope-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/Artist-rendering-space-telescope-240x180.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/Artist-rendering-space-telescope-375x281.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/11/Artist-rendering-space-telescope-520x390.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An artist’s rendering of the James Webb Space Telescope. The telescope’s silver, umbrella-shape heat shield will be the size of a tennis court, engineers say. It’s crucial to keep cool the instruments that detect infrared light from distant stars.\u003cbr>Northrop \u003ccite>(Grumman/NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Then, after launch, everything has to unfold in a carefully choreographed sequence of steps over two weeks. You can see that sequence in this \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTxLAGchWnA\">video\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many of the steps are absolutely crucial. A failure would compromise the telescope’s functionality and could render it useless. For the army of scientists and engineers who have been working on the telescope for nearly two decades, the deployment phase will be nerve-wracking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Yes, I think that scares all of us,” says Vila. But there’s no way around it. “We do as much testing as we can.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Webb telescope has had a difficult history. It is over budget and behind schedule, and Congress nearly killed the project earlier in the decade. The telescope is scheduled to launch in October 2018. We should know later that year whether the engineering challenges were successfully cleared.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Some+Assembly+Required%3A+New+Space+Telescope+Will+Take+Shape+After+Launch&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
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"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
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"marketplace": {
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"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
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"masters-of-scale": {
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},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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"order": 12
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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"morning-edition": {
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"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
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"onourwatch": {
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"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
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"order": 11
},
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"on-the-media": {
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"title": "On The Media",
"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
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},
"link": "/radio/program/on-the-media",
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},
"pbs-newshour": {
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"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/PBS-NewsHour---Full-Show-p425698/",
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},
"perspectives": {
"id": "perspectives",
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"order": 14
},
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"planet-money": {
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"info": "The economy explained. Imagine you could call up a friend and say, Meet me at the bar and tell me what's going on with the economy. Now imagine that's actually a fun evening.",
"airtime": "SUN 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/planetmoney.jpg",
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},
"link": "/radio/program/planet-money",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/planet-money/id290783428?mt=2",
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},
"politicalbreakdown": {
"id": "politicalbreakdown",
"title": "Political Breakdown",
"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
"airtime": "THU 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Political-Breakdown-2024-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"order": 5
},
"link": "/podcasts/politicalbreakdown",
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"amazon": "https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/e0c2d153-ad36-4c8d-901d-f1da6a724824/political-breakdown",
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"possible": {
"id": "possible",
"title": "Possible",
"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Possible-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.possible.fm/",
"meta": {
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"source": "Possible"
},
"link": "/radio/program/possible",
"subscribe": {
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"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/730YpdUSNlMyPQwNnyjp4k"
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},
"pri-the-world": {
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