Resource Prospector Instrumentation for Volatile Analysis

Resource Prospector Instrumentation for Volatile Analysis, presentation for Exploration Science Forum conference

The conservation status of the world’s reptiles

MB and MR were funded by a grant from the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, BC by the Rufford Foundation. North American and Mexican species assessments were funded by the Regina Bauer Frankenberg Foundation for Animal Welfare. Species assessments under the Global Reptile Assessment (GRA) initiative are supported by: Moore Family Foundation, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Conservation International, Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF), and European Commission. Additional acknowledgements are included in the online supplementary material. The assessment workshop for Mexican reptiles was kindly hosted by Ricardo Ayala and the station personnel of the Estacion de Biologia Chamela, Institut de Biologia, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico. Workshop and logistical organisation of the Philippines assessments was provided by the Conservation International Philippines Office, in particular Ruth Grace Rose Ambal, Melizar V. Duya and Oliver Coroza. Workshop and logistical organisation for the European Reptile and Amphibian Assessments was provided by Doga Dernegi, in particular Ozge Balkiz and Ozgur Koc. Workshop and logistical organisation for assessments of sea snakes and homalopsids was provided by the International Sea Turtle Symposium and Dr. Colin Limpus (Australian Government Environmental Protection Agency). Special thanks to Jenny Chapman (EPA) and Chloe Schaub le (ISTS). Thank you also to Dr. Gordon Guymer (Chief Botanist Director of Herbarium) for accommodating us at the Herbarium in the Brisbane Botanical Gardens, and Mark Read and Kirsten Dobbs (Great Barrier Reef Marine Parks Association) and Dave Pollard and Brad Warren (Ocean Watch Australia) for institutional support. Mohamed Bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund, Conservation International Madagascar and the Darwin Initiative contributed to funding the costs of the Madagascar reptile workshop.Effective and targeted conservation action requires detailed information about species, their distribution, systematics and ecology as well as the distribution of threat processes which affect them. Knowledge of reptilian diversity remains surprisingly disparate, and innovative means of gaining rapid insight into the status of reptiles are needed in order to highlight urgent conservation cases and inform environmental policy with appropriate biodiversity information in a timely manner. We present the first ever global analysis of extinction risk in reptiles, based on a random representative sample of 1500 species (16% of all currently known species). To our knowledge, our results provide the first analysis of the global conservation status and distribution patterns of reptiles and the threats affecting them, highlighting conservation priorities and knowledge gaps which need to be addressed urgently to ensure the continued survival of the world’s reptiles. Nearly one in five reptilian species are threatened with extinction, with another one in five species classed as Data Deficient. The proportion of threatened reptile species is highest in freshwater environments, tropical regions and on oceanic islands, while data deficiency was highest in tropical areas, such as Central Africa and Southeast Asia, and among fossorial reptiles. Our results emphasise the need for research attention to be focussed on tropical areas which are experiencing the most dramatic rates of habitat loss, on fossorial reptiles for which there is a chronic lack of data, and on certain taxa such as snakes for which extinction risk may currently be underestimated due to lack of population information. Conservation actions specifically need to mitigate the effects of human-induced habitat loss and harvesting, which are the predominant threats to reptiles.Esmee Fairbairn FoundationRufford FoundationRegina Bauer Frankenberg Foundation for Animal WelfareMoore Family FoundationGordon and Betty Moore FoundationConservation International, Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF)European Commission Joint Research CentreZayed Species Conservation FundConservation International MadagascarDarwin Initiativ

Changing the Paradigm: Subject Matter Expert Pilot Career Path Program for Unrestricted Officers

Naval Research Program NRWG Poste

Neosabellides alaskensis, a new species of polychaetous annelid from Alaska. American Museum novitates ; no. 1235

2 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.Includes bibliographical references (p. 2)

Neosabellides alaskensis, a new species of polychaetous annelid from Alaska

no.1235 (1943

Environmental Testing of a Fully Automated Carbothermal Reactor for Lunar Oxygen Production

Nathan P. Haggerty, Sierra Space Corporation, United StatesBrant C. White, Sierra Space Corporation, United StatesAaron Paz, NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC), United StatesDesmond O'Connor, NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC), United StatesNilab Azim, NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC), United StatesJanine Captain, NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC), United StatesICES308: Advanced Technologies for In-Situ Resource UtilizationThe 54th International Conference on Environmental Systems was held in Prague, Czechia, on 13 July 2025 through 17 July 2025.Oxygen comprises the majority of propellant mass required for ascent from the lunar surface and for in-space chemical propulsion. Using in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) technologies to produce oxygen on the moon enables a robust lunar economy through a dramatic reduction in lunar launch costs. In the Summer of 2024 Sierra Space completed thermal vacuum (TVAC) testing of a flight-like Carbothermal Oxygen Production Reactor (COPR) through a NASA Tipping Point program. The COPR reactor uses a mass efficient, scalable architecture optimized for a lunar technology demonstration mission. Concentrated solar energy is directly applied to the lunar regolith simulant. The insulating material properties of the regolith isolate the corrosive molten material from the reactor walls and other hardware. This approach allows for a completely passive thermal control system where high temperature (~1800°C) carbothermal processing is performed without requiring exotic materials or complex cooling systems. The reactor also includes an end-to-end automated solid material handling system capable of metering the lunar regolith simulant from a supply hopper into a pressurized volume, weighing it, distributing it into the carbothermal reactor, and removing the reduced metallic slag. Sierra Space demonstrated repeated use of the automated material handling, gas handling and carbothermal reduction processing systems inside NASA JSC’s “dirty” TVAC chamber while at the relevant lunar topographical, vacuum, and temperature conditions. This testing matured key hardware to TRL 6. Oxygen extraction and performance measurements were taken by the NASA KSC Mass Spectrometer Observing Lunar Operations (MSolo) team using a commercial version of their flight instrument. Oxygen extraction energy efficiency and production yield from regolith exceeded the program goals. The COPR system will be integrated with a flight forward solar concentrator, optical shutter, gas analysis system, avionics, and software as a part of the NASA CaRD program integrated testing in early 2025

The production and publication of Captain Henry Butler's South African Sketches (1841)

This essay examines the circumstances surrounding the compilation and publication of Captain Henry Butler's South African Sketches (1841). Focusing on documentary evidence relating to the production, distribution and reception of this illustrated book of hunting scenes, the essay argues for the importance of considering the context and mechanics of publication in assessing the book, its physical appearance and content and, ultimately, its place in nineteenth-century travel writing about the British Empire.The role of the author in mediating the content of the book in the course of the production process is explored through the correspondence that was exchanged between Butler and Ackermann, his publisher. Butler's correspondence also indicates how the demands and concerns of a prospective readership influenced the work.The essay concludes by placing the information about subscriptions, production costs and distribution in the wider context of the market for illustrated books of hunting scenes in the period. Butler's book was only one among many that explored and reflected the hunting prospects, landscape scenes and political circumstances of southern Africa in the nineteenth century. However, as an illustrated travel book that was an item of conspicuous consumption with a clearly defined readership, it is an important representative example that yields much information for students of travel writing in an imperial and colonial context