Juno is going to be crashed into Jupiter sometime next year.
Mr.GRIM
3893
My guess is they have detected bio markers using Spectrometry on an extra solar planet. It would be an exciting result for sure, but it is argued that such a result cannot ever give you 100% confirmation of life. You can always create edge cases for the reason that those elements/molecules are there.
That being said, we have just started this type of astronomy. Finding more and more of these on planets we would consider “habitable” could eventually be statistically significant.
dtolman
3894
Not with that hashtag hint.
My top 3 would be…
#1 Oxygen/Methane in the spectra of a Super-Earth’s atmosphere
#2 They found Something in an ice plume above Europa or Encladous
#3 Is uh… Meteorite Life Slide Show #2? This time its Boris Johnson instead of Bill Clinton, and we swear this will really pan out (did they even come to a conclusion on that debate)?
Damn it. That’s the one I was hoping for. Life on other planets doesn’t interest me much, unless it’s in our own solar system. Extrasolar planets are too far away to visit, and could still be a false positive anyway.
(Life on other planets could also get politicized at a time when more and more world leaders are ignoring scientists already. It would be an ugly thing to watch happen.)
Did someone jump the gun?
dtolman
3897
Check the date - that’s a year old. September 11th… 2019.
dtolman
3898
This article on Venus’s Atmosphere Harboring Life, or one’s like it, has been getting a bit more attention this weekend if you’re looking for a potential spoiler.
That or Oxygen/Methane found in an (exo) Super Earth’s atmosphere are my top 2 candidates right now.
I’d suggest the big reveal might be “Intelligent life found on Earth,” but that’s too far-fetched.
My hope is they’ve found something interesting about dark matter.
dtolman
3901
Sorry - its already been leaked that it’s Astro-biology related, and a once in a generation level discovery. Thus my limited scope of guesses
antlers
3902
I was thinking it was something like this since I don’t think we have the tech to identify elements in the atmospheres of any exo-planet except close-in gas giants.
dtolman
3903
Discovering the atmospheric composition of any transiting exo-planet is up for grabs - its just a matter of alignment and the sensitivity of the telescope. Take K2-18B - its a Super Earth class planet whose atmosphere has been studied extensively.
Theoretically smaller worlds could have their atmospheres probed by direct imaging as well - but that kind of resolving power probably won’t be available until the next generation of telescopes come online in the next few years…
The James Webb telescope has become like Star Citizen at this point. Good chance it will never leave Earth.
dtolman
3905
Eh - who needs the JWT when you have the FORTY METER wide Extremely Large Telescope less than 5 years away from being switched on?
That’s a sexy telescope. I would like to visit Chile.
Mr.GRIM
3907
Life on Venus! (potentially) Just need to get a spacecraft there to scoop some up now. Hopefully it becomes a priority.
EDIT: Looks like the link has been taken down, as it preceded the embargo date and was not meant to be readable. Here is the cached version: https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:dUWrpm80WHsJ:https://earthsky.org/%3Fp%3D343883+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
https://earthsky.org/space/life-on-venus-astrobiology-phosphine-biosignature
A proposed life cycle for microbes in Venus’ atmosphere. (1) Dehydrated microbes survive in a vegetative state in Venus’ lower haze layer. (2) The spores are lifted by updrafts into the habitable cloud layer. (3) Once encapsulated by liquid, the spores become metabolically active. (4) These microbes divide, and the droplets grow through coagulation. (5) The droplets grow large enough that they sink through the atmosphere, where they begin to evaporate due to higher temperatures, prompting microbes to transform into spores that float in the lower haze layer. Image via Seager et al. (2020)/ Astronomy .
Awesome! Hopefully they can scoop some of the stuff up in a future space mission.
Um, all those stories like The Andromeda Strain have convinced me that alien pathogens are BAD! Bad, I tell you!
dtolman
3910
This paper from 2019 fortuitously is on this exact substance as an exo-planet biomarker. Section 4.3 considers abiotic processes which could create this chemical and well… lets just say that Venus is more ideal for these abiotic processes than the authors imagined in their scenarios.
As exciting as this is, they are going to need missions that look at each of these proposes 4.3 mechanisms and rule them out.
There is a planned Indian mission that is supposed to launch in 2023 (it won’t - it’ll be 2024 because these things always slip) and they considered an atmospheric balloon. There will be pressure to put that back in.
Russia always has something on the drawing boards, and is the only country with a long history of successful missions (including balloon probes!). Too bad the people that made them are all dead or retired at this point. So their proposed Venera-D is gonna get some attention but I’m highly skeptical it’ll launch in this decade. Or arrive their functioning.
Europe has an M5 mission under consideration… with a planned arrival date in the mid 2030’s. Yawn.
The US has 2 Discovery class missions with mid-2020 launch dates, also they had some New Frontiers class missions under consideration in 2019 that were rejected. They will be getting attention. Their are also proposals for essentially atmospheric cubesats which will get a lot more attention as they are cheap, small, and could be finished in time for the October 2021 launch window (likely the 2023 window that India will miss).
For a complete breakdown of missions that could be considered and their generic readiness - see this whitepaper on Venusian exploration from last year.
I could see Davinci+ with an added balloon(s) payload as a strong contender for launch in 2026.
