Expanding Into Space

One approach NASA is considering for deep space exploration and settlement involves the custom genetic engineering of tiny, simple life forms. The idea is to engineer organisms that will thrive in an alien environment and produce necessities, like food, that would otherwise have to be brought from Earth.

The idea is not terraforming. The alien environment would not be altered in any wholesale way. Rather, the life would be designed to operate within specific confines to accomplish specific tasks. Carrying bacteria from Earth that could produce food or fuel at the destination could reduce the initial mass of an expedition by substantial amounts, for example, thus making a given expedition cheaper, or a larger expedition possible.

Another Possible Mars Meteorite

NASA's Mars rover Opportunity, on its way to Endeavour crater, has spotted what looks to be another meteorite on the surface. If the small, dark rock does in fact turn out to be a meteorite, it will be the fifth one Opportunity has found. The rover will be driven to the rock to make a final determination.

So far, in approaching seven years, Opportunity has traveled 14.5 miles over the surface. Finding that many meteorites in such a small area likely tells us that meteorites are fairly common on Mars. If that's accurate, human expeditions to the planet could not only learn Mars' history and build a future, they could also learn a lot about the history of the Solar System simply by picking up and analyzing the right rocks.

Downside To Lunar Water

The recent discovery of substantial amounts of water on the Moon excited those who want to build manned lunar bases, but it seems that water could also make lunar optical astronomy more challenging.

For decades, astronomers have dreamed of building huge optical telescopes on the Moon, taking advantage of the low gravity and perpetually cloudless sky to probe the mysteries of the universe. That was when the Moon was thought to be dry as chalk, however. Water is a complication. Sunlight breaks water down to hydrogen and hydroxyl, which could distort images taken by huge lunar scopes. Of course, Earth-based telescopes have been made more productive by using techniques that factor out the distortions caused by Earth's atmosphere. That atmosphere is thicker and more active than hydroxyls around the Moon would be, so there's every chance such lunar distortions could be overcome.

Radio astronomy-- especially from the far side of the Moon, where the bulk of the Moon would block radio noise from Earth-- would not be affected by hydroxyl distortion, and therefore retains incredible promise as a lunar-based science.

Discovery's Last Ride

The space shuttle Discovery is scheduled to make its final trip from the Vehicle Assembly Building to the launch pad tonight. Families of the workers who've kept the shuttles flying all these years will be there to watch the transfer.

Discovery will fly the next-to-last scheduled shuttle mission. Congress may yet add one more flight to go next summer, however.

Aboriginal Astronomy

Westerners likely see the Australian Aborigines as a people and culture still in the Stone Age when Europeans first encountered them in the late eighteenth century. Yet, according to a new study, those supposedly simple folk may have been the world's first astronomers.

By noting how the Aborigines used the appearances of certain stars to tell them when to plant, and when to hunt, the study says, an understanding of astronomy is clear. The study also argues that Aboriginal culture, mythology, and legends reveal a deep understanding of astronomy, and that that understanding could go back as far as 20,000 years-- thousands of years before the building of Stonehenge in Britain, for example, which reveals the astronomical knowledge of its builders.

MRO At It Again

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has been an extremely important spacecraft. The remarkable amount of data it has sent back to Earth has been a large factor in helping to revolutionize our understanding of Mars. Yet, for all that, MRO seems to have a mind of its own.

On September 15, MRO's computer put itself into safe mode. That was the fifth computer glitch for the spacecraft in the past two years. Engineers are confident they can get MRO back to doing science, but by now, perhaps an equally interesting question is: Why does the MRO computer keep blinking out?

Trans-Neptunian Objects

Researchers using archived Hubble Space Telescope images have discovered 14 objects that orbit beyond the orbit of Neptune. They range in size from 25 to 60 miles in diameter.

The objects were found in a tiny sliver of the sky, so astronomers expect to find hundreds or thousands more when they expand the search area. Hubble was studying other things when it took the images being studied, so a new understanding of an entire class of objects deep in the Solar System may be acquired as a by-product of other research. Not a bad deal at all.