In a recent study, a collaborative team of researchers discuss the potential for future lunar settlers to establish a backup data storage system of human activity in the event of a global catastrophe on Earth that could be used to recover human civilization on a post-catastrophe planet. This comes as NASA’s Artemis missions plan to send people back to the Moon for the first time since 1972, coupled with current global events such as the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and the War in Ukraine, with Russian President Vladimir Putin recently threatening nuclear war. Given the current state of world affairs, how important is it to establish a type of off-world data backup?
Continue reading “The Moon is the Perfect Spot for Humanity’s Offsite Backup”Two Newly-Discovered Exoplanets are Probably the Result of a Catastrophic Collision
![Simulation of a collision between two 10 Earth-mass planets. Image Credit: Zoe Leinhardt and Thomas Denman, University of Bristol](https://www.universetoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/hires-2000x1200.jpg)
How can two planets so similar in some respects have such different densities? According to a new study, a catastrophic collision may be to blame.
In our Solar System, all the inner planets are small rocky worlds with similar densities, while the outer planets are gas giants with their own similar densities. But not all solar systems are like ours.
Continue reading “Two Newly-Discovered Exoplanets are Probably the Result of a Catastrophic Collision”