Seismic Missions Could Reveal the Solar System's Underworlds

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July 28, 2022

Dear Reader, This week, we're thinking about otherworldly underworlds. After the runaway success of the seismic science experiments aboard NASA's InSight Mars mission, which led to the detection of more than a thousand marsquakes, planetary scientists are plotting ways to place seismometers on a panoply of future missions to reveal the hidden depths of worlds across the solar system. Our lead story has the details. Elsewhere this week, we have stories on new instruments to detect the glow of alien life, a novel phase of matter that may exhibit two time dimensions, the origins of zero, "hidden gems" within the Webb telescope's first images, and more. Speaking of the Webb… If you happen to be in or around the New York metropolitan area this evening, do consider coming out to a sensational (and free!) gathering at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn, where the Webb telescope's top scientist, Nobel laureate John Mather, will be in conversation about the mission with the renowned astronomer Wendy Freedman as well as the physicist and author Janna Levin.

Lee Billings, Senior Editor, Space & Physics @LeeBillings

Planetary Science Seismic Missions Could Reveal the Solar System's Underworlds Seismology has been a long-overlooked tool in planetary exploration, but the success of NASA's InSight lander has reignited the field By Jonathan O'Callaghan

Astronomy Behold, Some Hidden Gems from JWST's First Images Astronomers and the public alike are delighting in the glittering depths of the universe revealed by the James Webb Space Telescope By Fionna M. D. Samuels

Quantum Physics New Phase of Matter Opens Portal to Extra Time Dimension Physicists have devised a mind-bending error-correction technique that could dramatically boost the performance of quantum computers By Zeeya Merali

Space Exploration Russia Plans to Leave the International Space Station after 2024 The announcement comes as NASA and Roscosmos are laying plans to transition to other orbital habitats By Brett Tingley,SPACE.com

Extraterrestrial Life New Instrument Could Spy Signs of Alien Life in Glowing Rocks Organisms on Earth produce a wide array of durable "biofluorescent" materials. If those on other planets do, too, the Compact Color Biofinder should be able to detect them By Allison Gasparini

Mathematics The Elusive Origin of Zero Who decided that nothing should be something? By Shaharir bin Mohamad Zain,Frank Swetz

Engineering There Are Too Few Women in Computer Science and Engineering It's not that they aren't interested; it's the culture of these fields and how they exclude women and girls By Sapna Cheryan,Allison Master,Andrew Meltzoff

Scientific American Space & Physics, Volume 5, Issue 4

FROM THE STORE Extraterrestrials and the Search for Life Do aliens exist? The enduring mystery of whether we're alone in the universe is a question that continues to drive scientific study into groundbreaking directions. This collection examines the latest thinking in the search for life, from discussing why we haven't found evidence of aliens so far to determining where and how to conduct the search to opening up the possibilities for what otherworldly life could truly look like.

QUOTE OF THE DAY "The decision to leave the station after 2024 has been made." Yuri Borisov, chief of Roscosmos, Russia's federal space agency

FROM THE ARCHIVE Largest Marsquake Ever Recorded May Be InSight's Swan Song NASA's three-and-a-half-year mission to collect seismic data from Mars is running out of juice By Joanna Thompson | May 2022

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