News about PaperPanda, Open Access, and Research
Less than a year after nailing its first interplanetary mission with a flawless Mars orbit insertion, the United Arab Emirates has selected its next destination: the asteroid belt. In October, the UAE announced that it was aiming to launch a new spacecraft in 2028. Like the Hope Mars orbiter, the as-yet-unnamed asteroid mission is designed … Read more
In the search for “potentially-habitable” extrasolar planets, one of the main things scientists look at is stellar activity. Whereas stars like our own, a G-type (G2V) yellow dwarf, are considered stable over time, other classes are variable and prone to flare-ups – particularly M-type red dwarf stars. Even if a star has multiple planets … Read more
A vast system of canyons that dramatically scars the face of Mars could be harboring reserves of hidden water. An unusually high quantity of hydrogen has been detected in the heart of the 4,000 kilometers (2,485 miles) of canyons known as Valles Marineris, nicknamed the Grand Canyon of Mars. We know this thanks to new … Read more
Water ice may be lurking just a few feet below the Martian surface at one of the Red Planet’s most dramatic sites. That’s according to new research based on data gathered by the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO), part of the ExoMars mission operated by the European Space Agency (ESA) and its Russian counterpart, Roscosmos. ExoMars … Read more
Two European Space Agency (ESA) astronauts are set to begin exploring Mars after they land on toy store shelves later this week. Playmobil, in cooperation with ESA, is set to release its “Mars Expedition” playset in Europe and the United Kingdom on Friday (Dec. 17). The co-branded toy includes everything that children ages 6 to … Read more
NASA’s Mars helicopter Ingenuity soared through the Red Planet skies for the 17th time last weekend, but we’ll have to wait a little longer yet to get a full accounting of the flight. The 4-pound (1.8 kilograms) chopper appeared to hit all of its marks during the 614-foot-long (187 meters) traverse, which occurred on Dec. … Read more
When we started finding planetary systems around other stars we thought many of them would be like ours. We’ve now found hundreds – and it’s so far, so wrong Space 1 December 2021 By Stuart Clark Duc LOng Once upon a time, there was a solar system. In it lived four small rocky planets called … Read more
The European Space Agency’s Mars Express collected data from China’s Zhurong Mars rover and successfully sent it to Earth following a series of experimental communications tests. The Zhurong rover was designed only to communicate with its companion orbiter, Tianwen 1; however, the rover has long outlived its planned mission and the orbiter is no longer … Read more
A greenhouse in Antarctica testing technologies that could one day grow food for Mars colonists has produced an abundant harvest of greens, vegetables and spices completely without soil and natural light, showing promise for future space missions. The greenhouse, called EDEN ISS, is operated by the German Aerospace Center (known by its German acronym, DLR) … Read more