INFORMATION

Venus is increasingly becoming a touch point for our studies of the exoplanets, as missions like the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)and the upcoming Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) begin to characterize rocky exoplanets around other stars. Understanding the difference between the evolutions of Venus and Earth, which ended up with such different results, is a key to understanding whether we might be looking at an Earth-analogue or a hellish landscape like Venus. A new paper by Rodolfo Garcia of the University of Washington and his colleagues, which is available in pre-print form on arXiv, simulates Venus’ 4.5 billion year evolution as part of the solar system to try to understand some of those differences. from Universe Today https://ift.tt/r10Gc3I via IFTTT

With the ISS set to retire in 2030, several plans are in place to replace it. These include existing space stations, proposals by rising national space agencies, and commercial space stations. In terms of the commercial space sector, the plans are diverse and numerous. from Universe Today https://ift.tt/I3BTrPW via IFTTT

NASA is serving up a double scoop of delicious Saturn imagery in two flavors — near-infrared from the James Webb Space Telescope, and visible light from the Hubble Space Telescope. from Universe Today https://ift.tt/MYDcfbk via IFTTT

We’re getting close to launch day for Dragonfly! Engineers at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, have officially kicked off the integration and testing stage for the car-sized, nuclear-powered helicopter bound for Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. According to a press release for APL, after years of designing, tweaking, and testing individual components in laboratories and on computer simulations, various organizations have started testing actual hardware ahead of the mission’s planned 2028 launch. from Universe Today https://ift.tt/XTNStxE via IFTTT

You’re the Lead Botanist on the third human mission to Mars whose primary job involves growing food for the crew throughout the long mission. While you’re very familiar with the infamous “poop potatoes” from the 2025 film The Martian, the greatest minds in science had since devised a more efficient, and less messy, method for growing food on Mars: cyanobacteria. from Universe Today https://ift.tt/FVAa56k via IFTTT

NASA has outlined an ambitious strategy to start working on a moon base and send a nuclear-powered spacecraft to Mars by the end of 2028 — leading some observers to wonder whether the timeline was realistic or wise. from Universe Today https://ift.tt/fbGAHnr via IFTTT