The accumulation of dust on the solar panels of NASA's InSight Mars Lander is set to bring the mission to a close this summer. But extraterrestrial seismometry is just beginning, explain our researchers.
Despite being a researcher and keen on quantitative descriptions, I chose more intuitive and fun title for this article. But what does it actually mean when we say that the Sun is “energetic”? In this article, we’ll take a look at how solar activity has been increasing during the 2020s, and the significance of solar observations by future missions such as Solar-C (EUVST).
It has been a record breaking year for discovering ancient celestial objects, including a candidate for the oldest galaxy ever observed. Our researchers take a look at what comes next.
As with all sounding rockets, the flight was brief and the 8m long rocket dropped into the sea eight minutes after launch. Splashing down alongside the rocket were records of the flight on a chip embedded in JAXA’s newest re-entry capsule. That data would reveal that for six seconds above the Earth, the S-520-31 was powered by a new type of rocket engine in the first successful space flight demonstration in the world.
At the end of 2020, a near-Earth asteroid was discovered that was dubbed 2020 XL5. Further analysis of the asteroid's orbit published last month revealed that this new discovery was actually an Earth Trojan: an asteroid that shares the Earth's orbit around the Sun. ISAS researchers discuss this new discovery, and plans for future exploration.
“Life cannot survive unless it can be born somewhere,” points out Associate Professor Suzuki Shino in the Department of Interdisciplinary Space Science at ISAS. “To discover extraterrestrial life, we must therefore understand the kinds of planetary environment that can produce life. So searching for the origin of life and extraterrestrial life are two sides of the same coin.”
Approximately 13.8 billion years ago, the Universe is believed to have exploded into existence in an event known as the Big Bang. But what happened immediately afterwards has been difficult to determine. Searching for evidence is the task proposed for the ISAS mission LiteBIRD, which is currently scheduled to launch in 2027.
“We need long term and sustainable collaboration, despite societal and political changes. This is what we call a friendship in our private life, and it is our obligation to establish these institutional friendships as well.”
NASA has recently announced that “Humanity has touched the Sun”. But what does this mean? Our researchers take a look at the importance of understanding our nearest star.
Grains from asteroid Itokawa returned to Earth by Hayabusa have provided evidence for a new source for the Earth's water. Our researchers take a look at what this could mean for the habitability of planets.
