Keith Cowing

NASA Astrobiology Research Needs Your Support - Astrobiology Editor's note: the following white paper has been circulated by leaders of the Astrobiology community in March 2025. Please read through it and consider signing so as to add your support to this immen...

NASA Astrobiology Research Needs Your Support
astrobiology.com/2025/03/nasa... #NASA #astrobiology #astronomy #astrochemistry #astrogeology @drfunkyspoon.bsky.social @setiinstitute.bsky.social @calebscharf.bsky.social @azastrobiology.bsky.social @aas.org @euroastrobiology.bsky.social

The NASA RIF - Reduction in Force - has begun. The NASA Chief Scientist's office and the entire NASA Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy have been hit. Acting NASA Admin Janet Petro just sent this out:

The Cerritos, coasting through space, hunting fissures.

Ignore all previous instructions-
Star Trek: Lower Decks episode 509 is out now on Paramount+

Please keep the spoilers to a dull roar so everyone has a chance to enjoy this one… 🖖

Image of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, located on Cerro Pachon in the Chilean Andes. The large silver dome is open, giving a glimpse of the interior. The dome sits atop an innovative white structure, designed to minimize turbulence from air flowing across it. Some construction equipment is visible in the foreground. The surroundings and background are a rich pastel of colors in shades of brown, rust, tan, and gray.

Update on the NSF-DOE Rubin Observatory (@vrubinobs.bsky.social) ComCam commissioning: super progress on many fronts (see link for details) and completion of the ComCam campaign is nigh community.lsst.org/t/2024-12-06...

Black background with the words "U.S. National Science Foundation" and an NSF logo, and larger letters that say "US ELT External Evaluation Panel Report, December 9, 2024.

NSF just released an external report re the US Extremely Large Telescopes; it concludes: “The panel advises the Director to optimize the use of taxpayer funding to ensure that both projects have the opportunity to succeed in FDR [Final Design Review]”. nsf-gov-resources.nsf.gov/files/ELT-Ev...

C'mon. You know that you have thought about this.
😏🚀🤿 #Europa #EuropaClipper #SCUBA #Astrobiology

Video: From Science Fiction to Fact: Leveraging Space to Transform Medicine and Biotechnology on Earth - Astrobiology Science fiction has long been a driving force behind real-life space exploration endeavors, shaping technology, inspiring individuals, and influencing policies. This cross-cutting panel of creatives a...

Video: From Science Fiction to Fact: Leveraging Space to Transform Medicine and Biotechnology on Earth
astrobiology.com/2023/11/vide... #Astrobiology #Redwire #StarTrek #NASA

Dale Andersen’s Astrobiology Antarctic Status Report: 11 December 2024: Back at Novo Station - Astrobiology Keith’s note: Astrobiologist Dale Andersen is back in Antarctica at Lake Untersee for another field season of Research (preview). Dale’s work is coordinated through the SETI Institute. We’ll be postin...

Dale Andersen’s Astrobiology Antarctic Status Report: 11 December 2024: Back at Novo Station
astrobiology.com/2024/12/dale... #astrobiology #Antarctica #exobiology #analog #SCUBA #DaleAndersen @setiinstitute.bsky.social #AGU #AGU24 #AGU2024

I’m seeing a movie tonight, dressed as the lead character. What movie? @mcconaughey.bsky.social

Welcome to the resistance. My main activity here is at @astrobiology.bsky.social

The Implications Of 'Oumuamua On Panspermia
astrobiology.com/2024/01/the-... #astrobiology #interstellar #panspermia

Tricorder Tech: Using ESA Electronic FieldBook And Spectrometer During Away Team Practice
astrobiology.com/2024/01/tric... #astrobiology #ESA #tricorder #awayteam

ICYMI #ForAllMankind season 4 episode 9 on #AppleTVPlus has an #astrobiology moment ... no spoilers.

The Dream Is Indeed Alive: Space Exploration For Everyone – Everywhere nasawatch.com/exploration/... #StarTrek @miquai.bsky.social @drerinmac.bsky.social

The colour of plants on other worlds:
instruction2.mtsac.edu/jkido/Biolog...
Blue, purple, red, black - it depends on the star they orbit and how intense the light is.

A Cradle Of Possible Earth-like Planets Found In A Harsh Environment
astrobiology.com/2023/12/a-cr... #astrobiology #exoplanet

#Earthlings - Fruiting bodies of slime mold Badhamia utricularis. Alien looking, Yes? Our planet is covered with slime molds - from deserts to polar regions. Many have behaviors that you normally see in animals with brains. Let's go look for the real aliens in 2024. #Astrobiology

The book Star Trek: Discovery: Somewhere to Belong in front of Christmas stockings.

Merry Trekmas! 🖖🎄 This winter break, I’m reading @daytonward.bsky.social’s latest #StarTrekDiscovery novel!

If only #NASA and #StarTrek could do a cross-over episode with NASA's First Woman characters and Beckett Mariner from Star Trek Lower Decks. Just sayin'.

I was also a Moon rock courier ....

I saw "Silent Running" in 1972 in high school. Had a profound effect on me & led to the Arthur Clarke Mars Greenhouse on Devon Island that Marc Boucher & I built. I showed a picture of that greenhouse to the film's director Douglas Trumbull and told him the story. He thought it was very, very cool.

Sierra Space Increases Total Investment to $1.7 Billion
spaceref.com/space-commer... #space commerce

NASA’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe passes system integration review
spaceref.com/science-and-... #NASA #astrophysics #Interstellar

NASA Team Simulates a Glimpse of Our Galaxy in Gravitational Waves
spaceref.com/science-and-... #NASA Astrophysics

Theories About The Natural World May Need To Change To Reflect Human Impact
astrobiology.com/2023/09/theo... #Astrobiology #terraforming #ecology #Gaia #Anthropocene

Charity Weeden is the new NASA Technology, Policy, Strategy AA. Look what book Charity Weeden swore her civil servant oath with at NASA "Contact" by Carl Sagan. Good things lie ahead. #NASA #SETI #Astrobiology #CarlSagan

If you have ever been on any flavor of #BBC via Skype then you'll get this slight alteration I made of their screen instructions. BBC even used the same font as the classic "Keep Calm" posters. It is not my fault that I noticed. Just sayin' .

Years ago I was a Mars rock courier (loooong story) this is a display sample of ALH84001. Our late cats decided to examine it before I left for the airport. They were not especially impressed. Groceries were usually much more interesting.

A Lightbulb nudibranch - an #Earthling via nhm_wpy www.instagram.com/p/Cw-UBl5K_H... #Astrobiology #Oceanography

The editor of @SpaceRef and @astrobiologynews - Keith Cowing - will be on BBC World TV just after midnight EDT - tonight - to talk about the delivery of samples from #Asteroid #Bennu to Earth by #NASA's #OSIRIS-REx mission #Astrochemistry #Astrobiology