17 May 2021
European startup to produce oxygen from lunar soil for ESA 2025 mission
... proposed as a technique for producing water on the Moon, the process involves separating ilmenite – a compound which contains iron, titanium and oxygen (FeTiO3) – from lunar soil, crushing it to a fine powder and then heating it in an enclosed...
14 July 2021
Phosphine gas on Venus points to volcanism not life, study says
... Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in northern Chile, the pair say that phosphides, bound in metals such as iron, are finding their way to the surface from deep within Venus’ interior by plume volcanism. Volcanic plumes...
16 August 2021
Saturn's rings help reveal the planet has a "fuzzy" core
.... Scientists are sure that it doesn't but it does have a dense core at its centre made up of metals like iron and nickel surrounded by rocky material and other compounds solidified by intense pressure and heat. Why do scientists...
22 December 2021
Scientists present the first-ever analysis of samples retrieved from Ryugu
... paper, “key distinctive signatures have been identified at a submillimetre scale. In particular, carbonates (a fraction of them enriched in iron) as well as NH-rich compounds have been detected.” The exact nature of the NH-rich compounds the team...
