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Proof-of-work computation used in cryptocurrencies has witnessed significant growth in the U.S. and many other regions around the world. One of the most significant bottlenecks for the scalable deployment of such computation is its energy…
With N-body simulations of a planetary system with an asteroid belt we investigate how the asteroid impact rate on the Earth is affected by the architecture of the planetary system. We find that the $\nu_6$ secular resonance plays an…
Liquid water oceans are at the center of our search for life on exoplanets because water is a strict requirement for life as we know it. However, oceans are dynamic habitats---and some oceans may be better hosts for life than others. In…
The compositions of stars and planets are connected, yet, the definition of "habitability" and the "habitable zone" only take into account the physical relationship between the star and planet. Planets, however, are made truly habitable by…
The abundances of elements in the Earth and the terrestrial planets provide the initial conditions for life and clues as to the history and formation of the Solar System. We follow the pioneering work of Bond et al. (2010) and combine…
In this work the orbital dynamics of Earth satellites about the geosynchronous altitude are explored, with primary goal to assess current mitigation guidelines as well as to discuss the future exploitation of the region. A thorough…
(abridged) Search for planets around main-sequence (MS) stars more massive than the Sun is hindered by their hot and rapidly spinning atmospheres. This obstacle has been sidestepped by radial-velocity surveys of those stars on their post-MS…
The lunar surface has historically been considered an optimal site for a broad range of astronomical telescopes. That assumption, which has come to be somewhat reflexive, is critically examined in this paper and found to be poorly…
We have investigated the abundance anomalies of lithium for stars with planets in the temperature range of 5600--5900 K reported by Israelian and coworkers, as compared to 20 normal stars at the same temperature and metallicity ranges. Our…
We describe our ongoing work on, and future plans for, searches in bulk matter for fractional charge elementary particles and very massive elementary particles. Our primary interest is in searching for such particles that may have been…
Advances in robotics and additive manufacturing have become game-changing for the prospects of space industry. It has become feasible to bootstrap a self-sustaining, self-expanding industry at reasonably low cost. Simple modeling was…
The study of chemical abundances in stars with planets is an important ingredient for the models of formation and evolution of planetary systems. In order to determine accurate abundances, it is crucial to have a reliable set of atmospheric…
The tidal heating of hypothetical rocky (or terrestrial) extra-solar planets spans a wide range of values depending on stellar masses and initial orbits. Tidal heating may be sufficiently large (in many cases, in excess of radiogenic…
Laser scanning can provide timely assessments of mine sites despite adverse challenges in the operational environment. Although there are several published articles on laser scanning, there is a need to review them in the context of…
Recent discoveries imply that Early Mars was habitable for life-as-we-know-it; that Enceladus might be habitable; and that many stars have Earth-sized exoplanets whose insolation favors surface liquid water. These exciting discoveries make…
In the past 15 years, astronomers have revealed that a significant fraction of the stars should harbor planets and that it is likely that terrestrial planets are abundant in our galaxy. Among these planets, how many are habitable, i.e.…
We determine abundances or upper limits for all of the 55 stable elements from copper to uranium for the A1 Vm star Sirius. The purpose of the study is to assemble the most complete picture of elemental abundances with the hope of revealing…
Many exoplanets are discovered in binary star systems in internal or in circumbinary orbits. Whether the planet can be habitable or not depends on the possibility to maintain liquid water on its surface, and therefore on the luminosity of…
Direct detection of dark matter continues to elude scientists' many attempts to see it interact, and still to this day the only way we know it is there is through observed gravitational effects. The many search experiments are at the point…
A trending astronomical phenomenon to study is the variation in brightness of asteroids, caused by its rotation on its own axis, non-spherical shapes, changes of albedo along its surface and its position relative to the sun. The latter…