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Even $1.5 billion in subsidies and loan guarantees can’t save a “clean” energy company from bankruptcy. That’s the takeaway from the looming failure of SunEdison, a company that touts itself as the “largest global renewable energy development company.” Once a darling of Wall Street and the green Left because of SunEdison’s portfolio of wind and solar projects, the company’s stock is now in free fall. Furthermore, two related companies that were spun off from SunEdison — TerraForm Global and TerraForm Power — also appear to be in financial distress. On March 30, Brian Wuebbels, the CEO of both TerraForm companies,...

The plan for an artificial Martian magnetosphere may sound “fanciful,” but researchers say that emerging research is starting to show that a miniature magnetosphere can be used to protect humans and spacecraft.NASA Earth is most fortunate to have vast webs of magnetic fields surrounding it. Without them, much of our atmosphere would have been gradually torn away by powerful solar winds long ago, making it unlikely that anything like us would be here.Scientists know that Mars once supported prominent magnetic fields as well, most likely in the early period of its history when the planet was consequently warmer and...

Artist's conception of a terraformed Mars. Credit: Ittiz/Wikimedia Commons Guide to Space, Mars, TerraformingHow Do We Terraform Mars? 15 Mar , 2016 by Matt Williams As part of our continuing “Definitive Guide To Terraforming” series, Universe Today is happy to present our guide to terraforming Mars. At present, there are several plans to put astronauts and ever settlers on the Red Planet. But if we really want to live there someday, we’re going to need to do a complete planetary renovation. What will it take?Despite having a very cold and very dry climate – not to mention little atmosphere...

DARPA Wants to Create Synthetic Organisms to Terraform and Change the Atmosphere of Mars Biotech, Space, Synthetic Biology June 25, 2015 by Giulio Prisco 435SHARES TwitterLinkedinFacebook The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) believes that it's on the way to creating synthetic organisms capable of terraforming Mars into a planet that looks more like Earth, Motherboard reports.Speaking at a recent biotech conference hosted by DARPA, Alicia Jackson, deputy director of DARPA’s Biological Technologies Office (BTO) said: For the first time, we have the technological toolkit to transform not just hostile places here on Earth, but to go into space not...

The Indiana-based company has developed a "Mars room," which plays host to a test chamber capable of emulating the inhospitable conditions prevailing on the red planet. In the Mars room, Chief scientist Eugene Boland at Techshot Inc is exploring the potential of using ecosystem-building pioneer organisms such as bacteria or algae as oxygen factories. The organisms would use Mars' ample supply of regolith as fuel, and may even serve a dual purpose in removing nitrogen from the M ..

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2003 February 5 Unusual Gullies and Channels on Mars Credit: Malin Space Science Systems, MGS, JPL, NASA Explanation: What could have formed these unusual channels? Inside Newton Basin on Mars, numerous narrow channels run from the top down to the floor. The above picture covers a region spanning about 1500 meters across. These and other gullies have been found on Mars in recent high-resolution pictures taken by the...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2002 September 30 D. rad Bacteria: Candidate Astronauts Credit: Michael Daly (Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences), DOE Explanation: These bacteria could survive on another planet. In an Earth lab, Deinococcus radiodurans (D. rad) survive extreme levels of radiation, extreme temperatures, dehydration, and exposure to genotoxic chemicals. Amazingly, they even have the ability to repair their own DNA, usually with 48 hours. Known as an extremophile, bacteria...

Underground Ice Reportedly Detected on MarsSun May 26, 9:50 PM ETWASHINGTON (Reuters) - NASA (news - web sites)'s Mars Odyssey spacecraft has reportedly detected water ice under the surface of the red planet, according to scientific papers to be published this week, a finding that could be a giant step in exploration of Mars. Many astronomers believe Mars used to have quantities of liquid water on its surface, but they have never agreed on where the water went. Research to be published in this week's edition of the journal Science may help answer that question. Liquid water is seen as...