Latest news with #planetaryscience
CBC
5 days ago
- Health
- CBC
What does space smell like? This perfume-making astrobiologist is trying to find out
After a long career of creating designer perfumes, Marina Barcenilla decided to turn her nose to the cosmos. The fragrance designer enrolled in university in 2015 to study planetary science. She was taking classes in astrochemistry — the chemical makeup of outer space — when she realized she could marry her two passions. "Whenever I see something new, the first question is: I wonder what that smells like," she told As It Happens host Nil Köksal. "One day I thought: Actually, this molecule that I'm studying? I have it in my perfume lab. And this smell that I am imagining? I could actually create it." Barcenilla is now an astrobiology doctoral researcher at the University of Westminster in London, England. When she's not exploring the feasibility of life on Mars, she's recreating the smells of space, from the sulfuric stench of Jupiter's deepest clouds, to the pungent alcohol-like punch at the centre of the Milky Way. Four of those stellar scents are now available for public sniffing at the London Natural History Museum, as part of the ongoing exhibit: Space: Could life exist beyond Earth? 'Antiseptic,' but also like gunpowder? So what does space smell like? "I don't think it smells very good in general," said Barcenilla. Those in the know can attest. Canadian astronaut Julie Payette, upon returning from the International Space Station, told CBC News in 2009 that space smells "cold" and "antiseptic." "I opened the hatch six hours after the space walk. This entire airlock area had been exposed to the vacuum of space for all those hours. So when I opened the door, I smelled what was kind of an antiseptic smell," she said. "It was not detergent but it was definitely like a hospital-smell type and I thought, 'Wow, that's the smell of space.' The more I thought about it, I thought: 'Wow, this is what nothing smells like, because there's probably nothing left in there, not a single microbe or anything.'" Canadian astronaut Chris Hatfield, meanwhile, described it differently, noting in 2013 that he and many others aboard the station reported a "burnt steak and gunpowder" smell in the airlock. "Not exactly a spring garden," he said in a Canadian Space Agency video. Barcenilla says that when it comes to the smells of space, it really depends on what, specifically, you mean. "Most of space is quite empty and … it isn't really going to smell," she said. "But it's when you get to specific planets or moons, or when you go to a molecular cloud where we find high concentrations of different gases and microscopic dust, that we can then find molecules and chemical compounds that have a smell." Barcenilla says she's created 25 smells since she began doing this work in 2017. For the museum exhibit, she whipped up the scent of Mars, which is her scientific specialty; Titan, a large moon orbiting the planet Saturn; Bennu, an asteroid; and Earth as it was some 3.5-4 billion years ago, when life was just beginning. "The early Earth is a bit smelly. It's a combination of a little bit of kind of earthy wet smell, like what you get when it rains, but also with the smell that you get from various microbial strains," she said. "One of the smells that you get is a kind of sulphury cabbagey smell that goes in there as well. So that's a bit stinky." She admits that none of her creations can be fact-checked, per se. "In space, you can't smell so it's always going to be impossible. We don't have air that we can breathe, so that's completely out of the question," she said. "But what I'm trying to do is recreate the chemistry that we find in various places in space." 'The more it stinks, the more people like to smell it' Barcenilla has brought her space smells to schools to teach children, and she's also had a chance to watch people interact with them at the museum. "I always thought people are going to be a bit scared about the smelly stuff, but no, those are the best ones," she said. "The more it stinks, the more people like to smell it and the more they laugh and the more questions they ask about it." Triggering that curiosity, she says, is the whole point. "It's about bringing space closer to Earth, and it's for people to open their minds and understand that everything that we have out there in space has also ended up here on Earth," she said. As foreign as the final frontier may seem, Barcenilla says there's nothing out there that's truly unfamiliar, at least from an olfactory perspective. Jupiter's inner clouds? Barcenilla tells BBC News they're full of ammonia and sulphur, something you might find in fertilizer, and which smells like rotten eggs. The very centre of our galaxy? There you'll find Ethyl formate, a compound commonly found in fruit, and which probably smells, at best, like rum, and at worst, like nail polish remover.
Reuters
19-05-2025
- Science
- Reuters
Study casts doubt on water flows as cause of streaks on Martian slopes
WASHINGTON, May 19 (Reuters) - Images taken of Mars from orbit dating back as far as the 1970s have captured curious dark streaks running down the sides of cliffs and crater walls that some scientists have construed as possible evidence of flows of liquid water, suggesting that the planet harbors environments suitable for living organisms. A new study casts doubt on that interpretation. Examining about 500,000 of these sinewy features spotted in satellite images, the researchers concluded they were created probably through dry processes that left the superficial appearance of liquid flows, underscoring the view of Mars as a desert planet currently inhospitable to life - at least on its surface. The data indicated that formation of these streaks is driven by the accumulation of fine-grain dust from the Martian atmosphere on sloped terrain that is then knocked down the slopes by triggers such as wind gusts, meteorite impacts and marsquakes. "The tiny dust particles can create flow-like patterns without liquid. This phenomenon occurs because extremely fine dust can behave similarly to a liquid when disturbed - flowing, branching and creating finger-like patterns as it moves downslope," said Adomas Valantinas, a postdoctoral researcher in planetary sciences at Brown University and co-leader of the study published on Monday in the journal Nature Communications, opens new tab. "It's similar to how dry sand can flow like water when poured. But on Mars, the ultra-fine particles and low gravity enhance these fluid-like properties, creating features that might be mistaken for water flows when they're actually just dry material in motion," Valantinas added. The study examined about 87,000 satellite images - including those obtained between 2006 and 2020 by a camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter - of slope streaks, which form suddenly and fade over a period of years. They average roughly 1,970-2,540 feet (600-775 meters) long, sometimes branching out and going around obstacles. The slope streaks were concentrated mostly in the northern hemisphere, particularly in three major clusters: at the plains of Elysium Planitia, the highlands of Arabia Terra and the vast Tharsis volcanic plateau including the Olympus Mons volcano, towering about three times higher than Mount Everest. The researchers said limitations in the resolution of the satellite images mean they account for only a fraction of slope streaks. They estimated the actual number at up to two million. Water is considered an essential ingredient for life. Mars billions of years ago was wetter and warmer than it is today. The question remains whether Mars has any liquid water on its surface when temperatures seasonally can edge above the freezing point. It remains possible that small amounts of water - perhaps sourced from buried ice, subsurface aquifers or abnormally humid air - could mix with enough salt in the ground to create a flow even on the frigid Martian surface. That raises the possibility that the slope streaks, if caused by wet conditions, could be habitable niches. "Generally, it is very difficult for liquid water to exist on the Martian surface, due to the low temperature and the low atmospheric pressure. But brines - very salty water - might potentially be able to exist for short periods of time," said planetary geomorphologist and study co-leader Valentin Bickel of the University of Bern in Switzerland. Given the massive volume of images, the researchers employed an advanced machine-learning method, looking for correlations involving temperature patterns, atmospheric dust deposition, meteorite impacts, the nature of the terrain and other factors. The geostatistical analysis found that slope streaks often appear in the dustiest regions and correlate with wind patterns, while some form near the sites of fresh impacts and quakes. The researchers also studied shorter-lived features called recurring slope lineae, or RSL, seen primarily in the Martian southern highlands. These grow in the summer and fade the following winter. The data suggested that these also were associated with dry processes such as dust devils - whirlwinds of dust - and rockfalls. The analysis found that both types of features were not typically associated with factors indicative of a liquid or frost origin such as high surface temperature fluctuations, high humidity or specific slope orientations. "It all comes back to habitability and the search for life," Bickel said. "If slope streaks and RSL would really be driven by liquid water or brines, they could create a niche for life. However, if they are not tied to wet processes, this allows us to focus our attention on other, more promising locations."
CNA
19-05-2025
- Science
- CNA
Study casts doubt on water flows as cause of streaks on Martian slopes
WASHINGTON :Images taken of Mars from orbit dating back as far as the 1970s have captured curious dark streaks running down the sides of cliffs and crater walls that some scientists have construed as possible evidence of flows of liquid water, suggesting that the planet harbors environments suitable for living organisms. A new study casts doubt on that interpretation. Examining about 500,000 of these sinewy features spotted in satellite images, the researchers concluded they were created probably through dry processes that left the superficial appearance of liquid flows, underscoring the view of Mars as a desert planet currently inhospitable to life - at least on its surface. The data indicated that formation of these streaks is driven by the accumulation of fine-grain dust from the Martian atmosphere on sloped terrain that is then knocked down the slopes by triggers such as wind gusts, meteorite impacts and marsquakes. "The tiny dust particles can create flow-like patterns without liquid. This phenomenon occurs because extremely fine dust can behave similarly to a liquid when disturbed - flowing, branching and creating finger-like patterns as it moves downslope," said Adomas Valantinas, a postdoctoral researcher in planetary sciences at Brown University and co-leader of the study published on Monday in the journal Nature Communications. "It's similar to how dry sand can flow like water when poured. But on Mars, the ultra-fine particles and low gravity enhance these fluid-like properties, creating features that might be mistaken for water flows when they're actually just dry material in motion," Valantinas added. The study examined about 87,000 satellite images - including those obtained between 2006 and 2020 by a camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter - of slope streaks, which form suddenly and fade over a period of years. They average roughly 1,970-2,540 feet (600-775 meters) long, sometimes branching out and going around obstacles. The slope streaks were concentrated mostly in the northern hemisphere, particularly in three major clusters: at the plains of Elysium Planitia, the highlands of Arabia Terra and the vast Tharsis volcanic plateau including the Olympus Mons volcano, towering about three times higher than Mount Everest. The researchers said limitations in the resolution of the satellite images mean they account for only a fraction of slope streaks. They estimated the actual number at up to two million. Water is considered an essential ingredient for life. Mars billions of years ago was wetter and warmer than it is today. The question remains whether Mars has any liquid water on its surface when temperatures seasonally can edge above the freezing point. It remains possible that small amounts of water - perhaps sourced from buried ice, subsurface aquifers or abnormally humid air - could mix with enough salt in the ground to create a flow even on the frigid Martian surface. That raises the possibility that the slope streaks, if caused by wet conditions, could be habitable niches. "Generally, it is very difficult for liquid water to exist on the Martian surface, due to the low temperature and the low atmospheric pressure. But brines - very salty water - might potentially be able to exist for short periods of time," said planetary geomorphologist and study co-leader Valentin Bickel of the University of Bern in Switzerland. Given the massive volume of images, the researchers employed an advanced machine-learning method, looking for correlations involving temperature patterns, atmospheric dust deposition, meteorite impacts, the nature of the terrain and other factors. The geostatistical analysis found that slope streaks often appear in the dustiest regions and correlate with wind patterns, while some form near the sites of fresh impacts and quakes. The researchers also studied shorter-lived features called recurring slope lineae, or RSL, seen primarily in the Martian southern highlands. These grow in the summer and fade the following winter. The data suggested that these also were associated with dry processes such as dust devils - whirlwinds of dust - and rockfalls. The analysis found that both types of features were not typically associated with factors indicative of a liquid or frost origin such as high surface temperature fluctuations, high humidity or specific slope orientations. "It all comes back to habitability and the search for life," Bickel said. "If slope streaks and RSL would really be driven by liquid water or brines, they could create a niche for life. However, if they are not tied to wet processes, this allows us to focus our attention on other, more promising locations."
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Trump's proposed 2026 NASA budget cuts will cede our space 'position of leadership to other nations', top scientists say
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Call it an SOSS message – a Save Our Solar System planetary science community communiqué. It is unquestionably a "wait-a-minute" concern running through the space science research groups. Given the considerable uncertainty about the future NASA Science budget given projected Trump Administration funding considerations, the chairs of analysis/assessment groups (AGs), linked to the space agency's Planetary Science Division, issued a statement on May 12 titled "To members of the planetary science community." The letter explains that by abandoning our most ambitious efforts, such as Mars Sample Return, which already have substantial investment, "will cede this position of leadership to other nations, such as China." Lastly, the communiqué concludes that science at NASA deserves "full-throated support from our community and the public." The statement has been stirred up by the President's top-level recommendations on discretionary funding levels for fiscal year (FY) 2026, or so-called "skinny budget." The term skinny budget means that the document contains brief descriptions of programs and recommended financial reductions or increases. Still to come is the "Full Monty" of budget specificity that's expected shortly. That skinny budget was released on May 2 and noted major cuts to NASA's Science Mission Directorate budget, such as cancelling the top Decadal priority flagship mission, Mars Sample Return. "The extent of the proposed cuts to, or cancellation of, missions and programs, including research and analysis, will not be known until the full budget is released," the AG chairs' statement observes. "That budget will make its way through Congress, where changes of unknown magnitude are likely to be made and we won't know the final FY26 budget for some time to come." As reiterated in the statement, the positive impact of science at NASA and crucial role it plays in broad societal terms include: Exploration and research in planetary science enables us to better understand the history of the solar system, as well as our planet and origins; Deep space exploration is a tremendous source of innovation in science and technology having applications well beyond space science research, including in the commercial sector, where over 60 years of investment and development have placed the US at the forefront of research and technological advancements in general; Planetary and space science research has served as an inspiration for generations of present and future scientists and engineers. NASA's science and exploration contribute to our national posture, where US leadership in planetary science is a source of geopolitical soft power; NASA's spaceflight missions and associated scientific research are thoughtfully developed and carefully prioritized, being guided by reports from the independent National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine; these reports are written by top scientists and engineers and represent the consensus view of their respective communities as to the activities that will be of greatest value to science and the American taxpayer over decadal timespans; Science at NASA engages some of the brightest minds of the nation to develop solutions to problems of human survival and growth based on fact-based inquiry and analysis – although life and civilization are robust, the geologic record shows the Earth's and the Solar System's history of catastrophe and global change, from extinction-level impacts to solar storms to ice ages and hot-houses and science enables us to understand these better; and At the broadest level, science everywhere represents fundamental human curiosity, helping us to understand the world around us and develop innovative solutions to problems, enabling us to become more productive, and make informed decisions about societal concerns. In closing, the statement signed by AG officials reminds the reader of an observation of noted space scientist, Carl Sagan: "Cutting off fundamental, curiosity-driven science is like eating the seed corn," Sagan advised. "We may have a little more to eat next winter but what will we plant so we and our children will have enough to get through the winters to come?" For their part, the AG chairs are working diligently to represent the PSD community in this time of change, "but we encourage you to make your voice heard, and the more voices, the more powerful the impact will be."
