The German space agency DLR has published new photographs of Mawrth Vallis, a large valley on Mars where there are traces of the ancient presence of liquid water. It’s not a surprise because for years scientists have known the presence of phyllosilicates, clay minerals that can only exist where there was water. A view created using a mosaic of nine imagine taken by ESA’s Mars Express space probe’s HRSC instrument shows Mawrth Vallis in all its glory.
A little while ago the astronauts Tim Kopra and Tim Peake and the cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko returned to Earth on the Soyuz TMA-19M spacecraft, landed without problems in Kazakhstan. The three of them spent about six months on the International Space Station, where they arrived on December 15, 2015 as part of Expedition 46.
Yesterday ESA held a press conference to announce the results of the LISA Pathfinder space probe’s tests. This demonstration mission of the technologies needed to detect gravitational waves in space has been called a success beyond expectations. The mission team scientists published an article in the journal “Physical Review Letters” which describes the test results.
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.
