tldrdailynews.com logo
Tag

Atmosphere

All articles tagged with #atmosphere

Venus Clouds Offer Earth-like Pressure, Sparking Airborne Exploration Plans
space2 days ago

Venus Clouds Offer Earth-like Pressure, Sparking Airborne Exploration Plans

At about 50 kilometres above Venus’ surface, the atmosphere’s pressure and temperature reach Earth-like levels (around 1 atm and 30–75°C), prompting NASA’s HAVOC study to revisit the idea of atmospheric exploration with airships and balloons. While still uninhabitable and not a surface mission, this narrow band in Venus’ clouds could enable long‑term measurements and study of climate and chemistry, offering a different target than Mars for future exploration.

via Space Daily|
#airship#atmosphere#havoc
Proxima Centauri b: the nearest habitable-zone world under a harsh red-dwarf glare
science2 days ago

Proxima Centauri b: the nearest habitable-zone world under a harsh red-dwarf glare

Proxima Centauri b sits in the habitable zone of the nearest star, but its true habitability depends on whether it retains a substantial atmosphere, which could be stripped by intense X-ray/UV radiation and stellar winds from Proxima Centauri. Models show liquid water is possible only with a suitable atmosphere, making this nearby world a key test case for whether rocky planets around red dwarfs can keep air and water, and a prime target for future atmospheric observations.

via Space Daily|
#atmosphere#exoplanet#habitable-zone
Mars's Lost Dynamo: From a Wetter World to a Frozen Desert
science5 days ago

Mars's Lost Dynamo: From a Wetter World to a Frozen Desert

Mars once had a global magnetic field strong enough to shield its atmosphere from the solar wind, but when the dynamo faded around four billion years ago the atmosphere and surface water were gradually stripped away by solar wind over hundreds of millions to billions of years, turning Mars from a possibly habitable world into the current cold desert; the loss was slow and interlinked with interior cooling and crustal water sequestration, with MAVEN confirming ongoing atmospheric loss today.

via Space Daily|
#atmosphere#dynamo#magnetic-field
Mars Terraforming Faces Century-Scale Energy Hurdles
science15 days ago

Mars Terraforming Faces Century-Scale Energy Hurdles

A new analysis concludes that terraforming Mars into a breathable world would demand massive gas and energy quantities—orders of magnitude beyond present capabilities—making long-term, planet-wide terraforming unrealistic for now. The practical near-term path would be local 'shirtsleeve' greenhouses (paraterraforming) while future civilizations tackle the enormous energy and material challenges, with Mars' water resources aiding but not removing the fundamental hurdles.

via SciTechDaily|
#atmosphere#energy#mars
Space is just up there: Earth's air is an apple-skin-thin shield
sciencespace16 days ago

Space is just up there: Earth's air is an apple-skin-thin shield

A Space Daily explainer shows that the 100-kilometre Kármán line is a regulatory boundary, not a physical cliff; if you drove straight up at highway speed you’d reach space in under an hour, illustrating how incredibly thin Earth's breathable air is. About 99% of the atmosphere’s mass sits in the lowest ~32 km, and by 100 km altitude the air is roughly one millionth as dense as at sea level. The atmosphere’s layered protection—troposphere for life-supporting gases and the ozone-rich stratosphere—makes surface habitability possible, underscoring how the “apple-skin” thickness of the air is truly remarkable.

via Space Daily|
#atmosphere#earth#karman-line
Mars Terraforming: Scientists Map a Long-Term Plan to Warm the Red Planet
space-exploration19 days ago

Mars Terraforming: Scientists Map a Long-Term Plan to Warm the Red Planet

Space scientists have published a blueprint for warming Mars as a potential first step toward terraforming, exploring approaches like aerosol dispersion and solid-state greenhouse membranes. The plan emphasizes a modular, long‑term campaign, outlines costs and risks, and calls for more data (subsurface ice maps, climate monitoring, and Mars sample return) before any large‑scale effort, while noting the proposal does not claim warming Mars is inherently desirable.

via Space|
#aerosols#astrobiology#atmosphere
Small Kuiper Belt Object Displays a Fragile Atmosphere, Defying Expectations
science20 days ago

Small Kuiper Belt Object Displays a Fragile Atmosphere, Defying Expectations

Astronomers using a 2024 stellar occultation detected signs of a thin, possibly temporary atmosphere around the tiny Kuiper Belt object 2002 XV93 (about 500 km across), challenging assumptions that such small bodies can hold an atmosphere. Any atmosphere would likely last under 1,000 years without replenishment, and no frozen surface gases were found by JWST to fuel it. Two scenarios are proposed: recent internal gas release or a comet impact. If confirmed, this would be the first atmosphere detected on a trans-Neptunian object other than Pluto, prompting further observations to understand the mechanism.

via BBC Sky at Night Magazine|
#2002-xv93#atmosphere#kuiper-belt
Seattle and Atlanta top World Cup stadium rankings for atmosphere and soccer fit
sports22 days ago

Seattle and Atlanta top World Cup stadium rankings for atmosphere and soccer fit

The Athletic ranks 16 World Cup venues across the U.S., Mexico and Canada on matchday experience, atmosphere, transport/location, aesthetics and suitability for soccer. Seattle’s Lumen Field and Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium share the top score (47/50), with SoFi Stadium close behind (44/50). Other strong performers include several venues with standout atmosphere or soccer-specific design, while MetLife Stadium in New Jersey scores lowest (30/50) largely due to transport/perimeter issues. The results underscore how central locations and good fan access boost ratings, though some venues excel in atmosphere regardless of logistical challenges.

via The New York Times|
#atmosphere#soccer#sports
Mars Atmosphere Mission Memento: MAVEN Retired After 11 Years of Groundbreaking Science
space-exploration23 days ago

Mars Atmosphere Mission Memento: MAVEN Retired After 11 Years of Groundbreaking Science

NASA has decommissioned MAVEN after an 11-year mission that transformed our understanding of Mars’ atmosphere; after a December 2025 contact loss, a review concluded the spacecraft is not recoverable. MAVEN revealed how solar activity accelerates atmospheric loss, documented planetwide auroras, and produced hundreds of scientific papers while also serving as a high-rate data relay. With other orbiters and a potential future telecom network stepping in to fill the gap, MAVEN’s legacy—exceeding its initial two-year plan—will endure for decades as the orbiter remains in Mars orbit until it naturally reenters.

via Space|
#atmosphere#mars#maven
Mars’s Hidden Water and Atmosphere Found Deep Beneath the Surface
science29 days ago

Mars’s Hidden Water and Atmosphere Found Deep Beneath the Surface

Seismic data from NASA’s InSight reveal a large underground reservoir of liquid water deep beneath Mars, while MIT researchers link the missing atmosphere to methane trapped in smectite clay formed by water-rock interactions—potentially storing around 1.7 bar of CO2, about 80% of Mars’s lost atmospheric inventory. If confirmed, both water and atmospheric gas could still lie beneath the crust, offering targets for future exploration and resource use, though extraction would be challenging.

via BBC Sky at Night Magazine|
#atmosphere#insight#mars
Teegarden’s Star b: a nearby Earth-like world in the habitable zone with an atmospheric mystery
science29 days ago

Teegarden’s Star b: a nearby Earth-like world in the habitable zone with an atmospheric mystery

Teegarden’s Star b is a rocky planet at least 1.16 Earth masses, orbiting a faint red dwarf 12.5 light-years away in the star’s habitable zone. While it ranks among the most Earth-like in mass and irradiation, it does not transit its star, blocking the primary method for reading an atmosphere via transmission spectroscopy. The planet’s true mass and whether it has an atmosphere remain unresolved, with next‑generation observatories—such as the ELT's Planetary Camera and Spectrograph and a proposed LIFE interferometer—needed to study its light directly and potentially detect an atmosphere.

via Space Daily|
#atmosphere#exoplanets#habitable-zone
Blue Glow, Fiery Reality: HD 189733b’s Wind-Swept, Ocean-Free Atmosphere
space1 month ago

Blue Glow, Fiery Reality: HD 189733b’s Wind-Swept, Ocean-Free Atmosphere

HD 189733b looks blue from afar, but it is a scorching hot Jupiter with no ocean. Its cobalt hue comes from a hazy atmosphere rich in silicate particles, not reflected water, while the dayside temperature reaches about 2,000°F and winds can reach up to 5,400 mph, possibly driving glass-like rain. The planet has become a key testbed for exoplanet observation techniques, including direct wind mapping, reminding us that a blue color does not mean Earth-like kinship.

via Space Daily|
#astronomy#atmosphere#exoplanets