An article published in the journal “Science Advances” describes the discovery of ingredients that are considered key to the origin of life on Earth on the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. In particular, glycine, an amino acid found in proteins, and phosphorus, an element that forms DNA and cell membranes. These observations were made by the ROSINA instrument aboard ESA’s Rosetta space probe.
A few hours ago, the Sentinel-1B satellite, part of the Copernicus / GMES, was launched from the Kourou spaceport, in French Guiana, on a Soyuz-STA/Fregat-M rocket. After about 25 minutes, the satellite regularly separated from the rocket’s last stage and started sending signals. Along with it some nanosatellites of the CubeSat type and the Microscope microsatellite of the French space agency CNES were launched.
An article published in the journal “Astronomy & Astrophysics” presents maps and a catalog of compact sources obtained thanks to a project called Herschel infrared Galactic Plane Survey (Hi-GAL). The observations made during the ESA Herschel Space Telescope’s mission were used to create maps of the complete Plan Galactic in the far infrared with a level of completeness never seen before.
An article published in the journal “Nature Physics” describes an analysis of the data collected by ESA’s Venus Express space probe during the final phase of its mission. After about eight years orbiting the planet Venus, in 2014 it was sent down lower and lower into the atmosphere, where it collected many new data before ending up getting destroyed. This allowed for example to discover the extraordinarily low temperatures of some atmospheric waves that have an average of about -157° Celsius (about -250° Fahrenheit).
