Earth formed from dry, rocky building blocks
Friday, 07 July 2023 12:18Billions of years ago, in the giant disk of dust, gas, and rocky material that orbited our young sun, larger and larger bodies coalesced to eventually give rise to the planets, moons, and asteroids we see today. Scientists are still trying to understand the processes by which planets, including our home planet, were formed. One way researchers can study how Earth formed is to examine the magmas
Satellogic and OHB to collaborate on environmental earth observation applications
Friday, 07 July 2023 12:18Satellogic Inc. announced this week that it will collaborate with OHB SE, a German-based aerospace and technology group on the development of advanced Earth Observation data-based services focused on environmental sustainability. The organizations will explore applications where EO data and products can further support decision-making in agriculture, forestry, energy, critical infrastructu
Highly oxidizing magma of the early Earth
Friday, 07 July 2023 12:18Elucidating the atmosphere and surface environment of the early Earth, especially before the origin of life, is a key to understanding the habitability of the Earth. The atmosphere of terrestrial planets has been thought to be formed by degassing volatiles from the interior and its composition is mainly controlled by the oxidation state of the mantle. To understand the mantle oxidation state, th
Superconducting qubit foundry accelerates progress in quantum research
Friday, 07 July 2023 12:18In the past three decades, quantum computing has grown from a theoretical fantasy to a worldwide industry, pushing closer to a technology that could one day solve problems too complex for even the most powerful supercomputers. MIT Lincoln Laboratory is not only at the forefront of research, but is making quantum research accessible to a broader community through its Superconducting Qubits at Lin
'Sandwich' discovery offers new explanation for planet formation
Friday, 07 July 2023 12:18Scientists have made a new discovery on how small planets might form. Researchers at the University of Warwick investigated the "birth environment" of planets - areas of gas and dust that swirl around a central star - known as the protoplanetary disc. They discovered a new method of planet formation in this region, not yet described in previous research. The work has been submitted t
PIGS finds ancient stars in the heart of the Milky Way
Friday, 07 July 2023 12:18An international team of researchers has obtained the largest set of detailed observations yet of the oldest stars in the centre of our Galaxy, the Milky Way. The Pristine Inner Galaxy Survey (PIGS) team finds that this group of stars is slowly spinning around the centre of the Milky Way, despite being thought to have formed in a chaotic fashion. They also seem to spend most of their long
Seven European IoT providers choose EchoStar for real-time satellite connectivity
Friday, 07 July 2023 12:18EchoStar Corporation (Nasdaq: SATS) reports that seven leading European Internet of Things (IoT) service providers have signed multi-year commercial agreements to develop and sell IoT solutions using EchoStar Mobile's Pan-European, satellite based, LoRa-enabled IoT network. The customers, API-K, Cyric, DalesLandNet, Dryad, Galaxy1, ProEsys and Symes are leveraging the real-time network to
Week in images: 03-07 July 2023
Friday, 07 July 2023 12:13Week in images: 03-07 July 2023
Discover our week through the lens
Chocolate heaven
Friday, 07 July 2023 11:00ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen will bring a different kind of chocolate to the International Space Station on his Huginn mission, created by the Danish chef Thorsten Schmidt.
De-icing Euclid for 20/20 vision
Friday, 07 July 2023 08:34A look back at our first ESA Academy’s Navigation Training Course
Friday, 07 July 2023 08:19From 26 to 30 June, the first ESA Academy’s Navigation Training Course took place at ESEC-Galaxia, the European Space Security and Education Centre , in Belgium. Developed in collaboration with ESA’s Directorate of Navigation, the course attracted 30 Master and PhD students of 12 different nationalities from engineering and scientific subjects with basic knowledge of Navigation to enrich their university portfolio with a unique experience. Let’s have a look at the event and impressions from the participants!
Martian treasure hunt in Iceland
Friday, 07 July 2023 07:30A team of martian scientists scouts the foothills of a volcano in Iceland hunting for a particular type of soil that matches samples collected by NASA’s Perseverance rover on the Red Planet.
The majestic landscape has a rusty colour from the dark, dense rock ejected during volcanic eruptions. The volcanic terrain, cool temperatures and sparse vegetation make the area very similar to ancient Mars. These conditions helped Iceland become the first European stopover for a treasure hunt that is searching for Mars-like samples around the world.
The effort is part of the joint Mars Sample Return
Scientists work to prevent interplanetary pollution that could pose a threat to life on Earth
Friday, 07 July 2023 07:05Formulating policies for planetary protection issues and keeping them up-to-date is the responsibility of the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) panel on planetary protection. In an article in Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences, an international group of experts affiliated with COSPAR reviewed the panel's role, and its Planetary Protection Policy, including recent considerations regarding the Policy for the Moon, Venus, Mars and small planetary bodies.
Now writing on the Frontiers news site, the panel's leadership consisting of chair Dr. Athena Coustenis and vice chairs Niklas Hedman and Prof Peter Doran explain why this endeavor is so important for future deep-space explorers.
Imagine robotic rovers taking soil samples on the surface of Mars, looking for evidence of past life and instead finding bacteria that had traveled all the way from Earth: the impact on subsequent research would be incalculable. Or picture a probe digging through the crust of an icy moon such as Europa or Enceladus, and injecting organic contamination from Earth into the subsurface ocean, thus compromising any further search for life in that body.
At the same time, if extant or extinct life were to exist on such bodies, returning samples to our planet without proper measures to prevent hazards to our biosphere could lead to important risks for humanity.
Earth from Space: Cyclone Mocha
Friday, 07 July 2023 07:00Europe leans on SpaceX to bridge launcher gap
Thursday, 06 July 2023 21:29Europe, temporarily lacking its own access to space, plans to rely more on SpaceX to launch key science and navigation spacecraft while working to restore its launch capabilities.