A needle in countless haystacks: Finding habitable worlds - Ariel Anbar. Scientists Find Evidence of Water in Meteorite, Reviving Debate Over Life on Mars. This scanning electron microscope image of a polished thin section of a meteorite from Mars shows tunnels and curved microtunnels. Image Credit: NASA› Full image and caption February 27, 2014 A team of scientists at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., has found evidence of past water movement throughout a Martian meteorite, reviving debate in the scientific community over life on Mars. In 1996, a group of scientists at Johnson led by David McKay, Everett Gibson and Kathie Thomas-Keprta published an article in Science announcing the discovery of biogenic evidence in the Allan Hills 84001(ALH84001) meteorite. In this new study, Gibson and his colleagues focused on structures deep within a 30-pound (13.7-kilogram) Martian meteorite known as Yamato 000593 (Y000593).
The team's findings have been published in the February issue of the journal Astrobiology. "This is no smoking gun," said JPL's White. Calculating the odds of intelligent alien life - Jill Tarter. The Drake Equation. "What do we need to know about to discover life in space? " How can we estimate the number of technological civilizations that might exist among the stars? While working as a radio astronomer at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank, West Virginia, Dr. Frank Drake conceived an approach to bound the terms involved in estimating the number of technological civilizations that may exist in our galaxy. The Drake Equation, as it has become known, was first presented by Drake in 1961 and identifies specific factors thought to play a role in the development of such civilizations. Where, N = The number of civilizations in The Milky Way Galaxy whose electromagnetic emissions are detectable.
R* = The rate of formation of stars suitable for the development of intelligent life. fp = The fraction of those stars with planetary systems. ne = The number of planets, per solar system, with an environment suitable for life. fl = The fraction of suitable planets on which life actually appears. S Kepler Telescope Discovers First Earth-Size Planet in 'Habitable Zone' The artistic concept of Kepler-186f is the result of scientists and artists collaborating to imagine the appearance of these distant worlds. Image credit: NASA Ames/SETI Institute/JPL-Caltech› Full image and caption April 17, 2014 Using NASA's Kepler Space Telescope, astronomers have discovered the first Earth-size planet orbiting a star in the "habitable zone" -- the range of distance from a star where liquid water might pool on the surface of an orbiting planet.
The discovery of Kepler-186f confirms that planets the size of Earth exist in the habitable zone of stars other than our sun. While planets have previously been found in the habitable zone, they are all at least 40 percent larger in size than Earth, and understanding their makeup is challenging. Kepler-186f is more reminiscent of Earth. Although the size of Kepler-186f is known, its mass and composition are not.
"We know of just one planet where life exists -- Earth. "M dwarfs are the most numerous stars," said Quintana. The Universe in 3D: Planet & Star Size Comparison. Mars Exploration Rover Mission: Science. Goal 1: Determine Whether Life Ever Arose on Mars From the tiniest bacterium to the largest tree, all life as we know it requires water. Though we don't yet know if life ever existed on Mars, within weeks of arriving, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity discovered that the plains of Meridiani were once a water-soaked place. While analyzing rocks and soils on Mars, the robotic geologist, equipped with a toolbox of scientific instruments, found hard spheres the size of peppercorns.
Sometimes the spheres, nicknamed "blueberries," were loosely scattered across the surface; other times, they were anchored within individual rock layers. After weeks of meticulous measurements, Opportunity demonstrated that the spheres consisted primarily of the mineral hematite. On Earth, hematite generally -- though not always -- forms in the presence of water. When Opportunity later discovered the mineral jarosite, scientists were ecstatic. NASA's Alien Anomalies caught on film - A compilation of stunning UFO footage from NASA's archives.