Created and developed by: Laura Venner

Active Solar Energy

The conversion of sunlight into electricity achieved through use of a solar panel or by heating a transfer fluid to produce steam to run a generator.

Amino Acids

Molecules that are critical to life that serve as the building blocks of proteins.

Atmosphere

The gaseous mass or envelope surrounding a celestial body, especially the one surrounding the earth, and retained by the celestial body’s gravitational field.

Biology

The science of life and of living organisms including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, and distribution.

Crest

The top of a wave (see wavelength).

Cryomagma

Ice-volcanic melt, these substances are usually liquids and form plumes, but can also be in vapor form. After eruption, cryomagma condenses to a solid form when exposed to the very low surrounding temperature.

Cryovolcano

Icy volcano. Rather than molten rock, these volcanoes erupt volatiles such as water, ammonia, or methane.

Cyanobacteria

Bacteria which are aquatic and photosynthetic, that is, that live in water and can manufacture their own food – also called blue-green algae

DNA

Deoxyribonucleic acid; a very large molecule which carries genetic instructions for the biological development of all cellular forms of life and many viruses

Electromagnetic radiation

Energy radiated in the form of a wave as a result of the motion of electric charges.

Electromagnetic spectrum

The entire range of light which includes the rainbow of colors we normally see.

Exoplanet

A planet outside of our solar system.

Extremophiles

Bacteria-like organisms living under conditions we consider extreme and uninhabitable.

Genetics

The branch of biology that deals with heredity, especially the mechanisms of hereditary transmission and the variation of inherited characteristics among similar or related organisms.

Hydrothermal vent

A crack along a rift or ridge in the deep ocean floor that spews out water heated to high temperatures (above 350°C [660°F] have been recorded) by the magma under the Earth’s crust.

Kelvin

A unit used to measure temperature; scale on which absolute zero, the coldest possible temperature, is zero kelvins (0 K).

Temperature conversion table

From	To Fahrenheit	To Celsius	To Kelvin
ºF	—	(ºF – 32) / 1.8	(ºF – 32) * 5/9 + 273.15
ºC	(ºC * 1.8) + 32	—	ºC + 273.15
K	(K – 273.15) * 9/5 + 32	K – 273.15	—

Passive solar energy

The capture of sunlight for radiant heat achieved through window placement and orientation of a building.

Photon

A discrete bundle of electromagnetic (or light) energy.

Radiation

The transfer of energy waves moving through space.

Robotic explorer

A robot designed to make scientific research measurements and usually under telerobotic control.

Telemetry

The science and technology of automatic measurement and transmission of data by wire, radio, or other means from remote sources, as from space vehicles, to receiving stations for recording and analysis.

Telescope

An instrument designed for the observation of remote objects and the collection of electromagnetic radiation.

Telerobotics

The area of robotics concerned with the control of robots from a distance, chiefly using wireless connections.

Tidal heating

The heating of the interior of one planetary body caused by stresses induced from the gravitational pull of another.

Trough

The bottom of a wave (see wavelength).

Wavelength (Symbol: λ)

The distance between two crests or two troughs of a wave