January 2017
New oceans beckon for solar sail technology
... space that successfully demonstrated deep space propulsion and navigation as it flew in the inner solar system near Venus (Figure 1). The Japanese mission was called IKAROS (Interplanetary Kite-craft Accelerated by Radiation Of the Sun). In 2015...
September 2017
Australia’s unique space history
... tracking station in 1960. This station played an important role in the early exploration of the Moon, Mars and Venus, as well as the Apollo programme, before being closed in 1972. A spaceflight tracking station used for the Mercury...
May 2018
PLATO the habitable zone explorer
... see the disc of the planet as it passes in front of its host star - like we can with the transits of Venus or Mercury in our Solar System - but we can detect the small decrease in the star’s brightness that is caused...
June 2018
Space 2080 a future perspective
... exploration The collection of data on Saturn’s rings is done with hundreds of probes inspecting their rocks. The atmosphere of Venus is modelled with the aid of autonomous aer’Bots which drift with the winds. Following the characterisation...
November 2019
PROSPECTing for lunar polar volatiles
... landers including Huygens, Beagle2, Philae and Schiaparelli, and has supported the implementation of the Mars Express, Venus Express, and ExoMars 2016 and 2020 missions.
February 2020
Preserving our space heritage
...? If you know where and when to look, the ISS is pretty unmistakable. In fact, during its construction it overtook Venus to become the second brightest object visible in the night sky, after the Moon. Even so, watching the...
