October 2020

The crater triplet in Noachis Terra (Image ESA/DLR/FU Berlin, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO)

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ESA has published photos taken by its Mars Express space probe’s High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) of a crater triplet in the Noachis Terra region on planet Mars. That region gave its name to the Noachian era in which, between about 3.7 and 4.1 billion years ago, the red planet was hit by a particularly large number of meteorites, and Noachis Terra is full of craters still existing. A crater triplet with an overlap indicating three very close impacts is interesting not only as a curiosity but also for the geological history it can tell together with others from the same region.

The points of the various landings made by the lander Philae on the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

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An article published in the journal “Nature” reports a reconstruction of the trajectory of ESA’s Rosetta mission’s Philae lander in its touchdown on the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. A team of researchers examined data collected by the Rosetta space probe and the Philae lander to find out where the latter made its second touchdown on the comet, which was followed by further bounces before finally landing. The study also showed that the affected materials contained an abundant amount of ice as soft as freshly laid snow, to the point of being described as softer than cappuccino froth.

The Moon, water, and the SOFIA flying telescope

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Two articles published in the journal “Nature Astronomy” report as many studies on the presence of water on the Moon. A team of researchers used the SOFIA flying telescope to find direct evidence of the presence of water molecules even in regions other than the polar ones. Another team examined the so-called cold traps, regions in the shadows on the lunar surface where there’s perennial darkness that can allow the presence of water ice, mapping their distribution. In the end, the amount of water present on the Moon may be far greater than that known from previous research. However, there are still various questions, starting with the possibility that it’s partly present in glass beads and therefore not immediately usable in space missions.

The TAGSAM mechanism's head

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NASA has announced that the first visual inspection of the OSIRIS-REx space probe’s TAGSAM system, which captured soil samples from asteroid Bennu in the night between 21 and 22 October, has done its job well. In fact, the problem appears to be that the mechanism captured far too many materials and, after OSIRIS-REx moved away from Bennu, they started escaping. For this reason, the mission team decided to skip the various operations that would have allowed more significant examinations of the samples to try to seal them in the Sample Return Capsule to bring them back to Earth.

Io and Jupiter

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An article accepted for publication in “The Planetary Science Journal” reports a study on Io, one of Jupiter’s satellites, which specifically concerns its volcanoes. A team of researchers led by astronomer Imke de Pater of the University of Berkeley, USA, used the ALMA radio telescope to examine Io’s atmosphere as it enters and leaves Jupiter’s shadow, a phenomenon called an eclipse. That’s because during an eclipse it receives no sunlight, temperatures drop to the point that only the sulfur dioxide emitted by volcanoes is warm enough not to solidify. The conclusion is that between 30% and 40% of Io’s atmosphere is generated by volcanic activity. The researchers also found that some volcanoes emit not sulfur compounds but potassium chloride.