10 August 2020
Salty dwarf planet Ceres could be hiding an ocean
... area and an upsurge of briny water was driven to the surface by a small amount of gas such as water vapour, methane or ammonia. Fast forward a few years and the theory has now expanded. In a series of seven papers published...
30 September 2020
Another detection of phosphine on Venus possibly found in archival data
... middle clouds of Venus – the region which has been identified as a potential habitable zone, including OH (hydroxide), CH4 (methane), HS (sulfanyl) amongst others and a few atomic species. Atomic phosphorous was also detected, however, compounds...
06 January 2021
India lays out its space plans for the next 10 years
...(GTO) payload capability to almost 5.5 tonnes. In addition, the LPSC will also advance development on on liquid oxygen (LOX)/Methane propulsion, Green and electric propulsion. NASA also uses liquid oxygen as an oxidiser in its RS-25 main engines that...
12 March 2021
Scientists find a rocky exoplanet rebuilding its atmosphere
... at the exoplanet instead. To the team’s surprise, observations with Hubble picked up spectral signs of hydrogen cyanide (HCN), methane, and an aerosol haze – not the water-rich one previously indicated. Where did this “secondary atmosphere...
19 May 2021
Scientists unexpectedly find heavy metal vapour in comets throughout our Solar System, and beyond
... of water – material left over from when the planets formed – such as carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), methane (CH4), and ammonia (NH3). Even when close to the Sun, these gases do not change much in composition...
28 July 2021
Japan successfully tests rocket engine propelled by shock waves
Japan successfully tested a rocket engine that was propelled by shock waves produced by burning a mixture of methane and oxygen gases, the country’s space agency said Tuesday. Known officially as a pulse detonation engine (PDE), it ...
