From the potential of more "Earth's" being
out there, to the potential for new space colonies, join me as I reveal to you 8 recent
discoveries from space! 8. Water On Mars
The idea of "water on Mars" is not new, in fact, there have been finds that said that
Mars used to have water, and that gave us hope for new chances to explore Mars and be
on Mars one day. Which is why scans from the Mars Reconnaissance
Orbital in 2018 were so important. For it discovered that formations on the planet
were actually caused by water that is still there right now. This was a confirmation based on a finding
of "hydrated salts" on certain slopes of the planet. “Our quest on Mars has been to ‘follow
the water,’ in our search for life in the universe, and now we have convincing science
that validates what we’ve long suspected,” said John Grunsfeld, astronaut and associate
administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. “This is a significant development, as it
appears to confirm that water -- albeit briny -- is flowing today on the surface of Mars.” That's huge, because water on Mars right now
means that it could be changed and altered to support ingestion, which is the endgame
goal here in regards to colonizing the planet. “It took multiple spacecraft over several
years to solve this mystery, and now we know there is liquid water on the surface of this
cold, desert planet,” said Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA’s Mars Exploration
Program at the agency’s headquarters in Washington. “It seems that the more we study Mars, the
more we learn how life could be supported and where there are resources to support life
in the future.” This was one big step for man for sure, but
it wasn't the only discovery on Mars in the last year.. 6. Organic Matter On Mars
Life on Mars...something that many people have thought about, talked about, dreamed
about, and most importantly, imagined about via TV shows, movies, and more. But in June of 2018, proof that there might
be life on Mars, or that there was life on Mars, was found. As one of the Mars rovers was researching
a 3 billion year old mud stone...and found organic matter. As in, it found life...in part. "With these new findings, Mars is telling
us to stay the course and keep searching for evidence of life," said Thomas Zurbuchen,
associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters. "I'm confident that our ongoing and planned
missions will unlock even more breathtaking discoveries on the Red Planet." Add this to the fact that there has now been
confirmed findings of Methane in the Martian atmosphere (meaning that it can from an organic
construct), and it would seem to indicate that life on Mars isn't as impossible as once
believed. And now, the hunt is on for even more material,
and even more proof that life either is, or was on, the red planet, and whether we can
use what we find to help get humanity there one day. 5. Death Of Saturn's Rings
When you think of the planet Saturn, your mind likely goes right to its rings, right? After all, they're a defining feature, and
they're something that really helps make the planet stand out. Not to mention, the rings are both massive
and beautiful, making it a planet many want to study. Yet, it's because of these studies that it's
been discovered that the rings of Saturn...are dying. How does that happen? How can rings of a massive size die? Well according to NASA, the rings are losing
the moisture in the rocks that form the rings. The moisture itself is being pulled into the
planet itself. So because of the loss of moisture, the rocks
are breaking down, and when they break down far enough, they'll cease to exist. "We are lucky to be around to see Saturn's
ring system, which appears to be in the middle of its lifetime," lead author James O'Donoghue,
a space physicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, said in a statement. "However, if rings are temporary, perhaps
we just missed out on seeing giant ring systems of Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune, which have
only thin ringlets today!" But if you're worried about the rings suddenly
vanishing overnight, you have nothing to fear. It is believed it will take another 300 million
years for the rings to fully "vanish". However, NASA has said that while their prediction
is accurate based on various figures, should the rate of moisture absorption continue to
grow, it would accelerate the process. 4. Getting Into Jupiter's Orbit
NASA has long tried to get a space craft into Jupiter's orbit and it's not hard to see why
given the unique nature of Jupiter, as well as its massive size. However, because of conditions in the planet's
atmosphere, it's very difficult. Not to mention, getting a craft near the planet
in terms of its position in space is also hard given its distance from Earth and the
time it would take to get there. Thankfully though, on July 4th, 2016, the
Juno was the first spacecraft to make it into Jupiter's orbit. An accomplishment so grand even NASA said
it was hard for them to pull off. If you're curious about the craft that made
this journey, the Juno is a solar-powered spacecraft, and it was sent to Jupiter to
learn more about the planet through pictures, videos and scans. Already, it has sent back video of storms
taking place on the surface of Jupiter, as well as a volcanic eruption happening on the
nearby moon of Io. Now, should these scans and studies continue
without incident, it's very possible that we'll learn more about Jupiter than we ever
have before, and that could lead to some very interesting discoveries. But only time will tell if that'll happen
in good time. 3. Comet Soup
NASA sent their Deep Impact space craft into a comet called Tempei 1 in 2005. You heard that right, NASA actually made one
of their craft collide with an actual comet. Pretty weird huh? But I promise, there was a purpose. They did it because they wanted to analyze
the content and particles that were released from the impact. The comet itself was thought to have existed
since near the beginning of our solar system, and thus, NASA wanted to see what the comet
was made of. As it would give clues as to what was "out
there" during the beginning, or the perceived beginning at least. So, what did the craft reveal about the "comet
soup"? The scans revealed that it was filled with
things like silicates, clay, carbonates, iron-bearing compounds and "aromatic hydrocarbons". Some of which are things that we use to this
day on Earth. So does this paint a better picture about
our Earth? Yes and no. We do have a slightly more filled in picture,
but it's still something that needs to be investigated further to understand truly what
was out there in the beginning. Still, it's a step, and a good one at that. 2. Ice Volcanoes
And you thought the volcanoes on Earth were bad? Well on the dwarf planet (a planet that never
matured to full size) called Ceres, it may have Ice Volcanoes. Yeah, that's right, Ice Volcanoes, that could
well and truly be a thing! This was discovered by NASA via their Dawn
Spacecraft in 2015, which was observing Ceres (which orbits between Mars and Jupiter for
the record). These are called Cryovolcanoes" because instead
of fire and ash, they could potentially shoot out ice and mud. How do we know this? Observation of Ceres helped prove that the
planet is covered with ice both above and below its surface. To that end, should these structures "erupt",
the only thing it can shoot is ice and mud, because that's the only thing around it. “The members of the (Dawn science) team
expected a lot of things, but not what we finally got,” says Ralf Jaumann of the German
Aerospace Center. “I was completely surprised, and ‘completely’
means ‘completely.’ ”
At present, one of these Cryovolcanoes haven't had an eruption in view of the craft, but
given all the other weird things that are out there (such as a planet that rains glass,
no joke), it's not so far of a stretch to think that an ice volcano could be out there. 1.Other "Earths" .One of the biggest wishes of man is to find another planet like Earth where we can go
and settle should we need to leave our own .planet., And should we actually have the technology
to do so...but let's not dwell on that right now. Well, it was discovered by NASA in February
2017 that there might be 7 Earth-like planets in a place just outside our own galaxy. In fact, all seven planets inhabit one galaxy. As you hopefully known, Earth is a very special
planet, it has an atmosphere that has oxygen (amongst other gasses) and thus allows life
to breath and grow. It is orbiting a sun that doesn't bombard
our planet with too much heat, nor does it give it too little. This is why finding another "Class-M" planet
as they are called has been so rare, because what we need to survive is very specific. Yet, they seem to have found seven of these
kinds of planets that are orbiting a dwarf star called TRAPPIST-1. According to images they are about the same
size as Earth, and some of them (based on pictures and scans) do appear to have water
on their own. Should this be true, and should we be able
to reach them, this could be a major colonization option for Earth. Plus, should this water be like ours, it is
reasonable to expect there to be life within that water, and in that's true, it'll be the
first life outside of Earth to be discovered. The possibilities here are very interesting,
not just because we might have found another planet to live on, but we might have found
a bunch to live on in a very short area. Which means that could be heading to a place
where we could inhabit lots of planets...and yet not be that far from each other. Sure, it's still a pipe dream right now...but
it may not be later... What did you think about these new discoveries
that NASA and others have found over the last few years? Which ones do you think will truly change
things for us in regards to how we view space and its possibilities? Let me know in the comments below, be sure
to subscribe, and I'll see you next time!
