Planets

The Ingenuity helicopter's shadow (Photo NASA/JPL-Caltech)

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Yesterday, the Ingenuity helicopter conducted its first flight on planet Mars. The duration was only 40 seconds and it reached an altitude of just over 3 meters but it was important to lift off the ground this drone built to test the technologies needed to fly a vehicle in the Martian atmosphere, which is very thin. The flight was autonomous, pre-scheduled, and initiated by a command launched from Earth. The images, along with telemetry data, were transmitted to the Mars Rover Perseverance mission control center.

Distribution of molecular gas around some observed protostars in the Perseus Molecular Cloud

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An article published in “The Astrophysical Journal” reports a study of organic molecules detected in 50 regions of protoplanetary disk formation in the Perseus Molecular Cloud. A team of researchers coordinated by the RIKEN Cluster for Pioneering Research used the ALMA radio telescope to detect the various molecules present in that molecular cloud, discovering that the distribution of complex organic molecules varies greatly in different areas. The composition was similar in young protoplanetary disks.

Mars dust storm (Image ESA/DLR/FU Berlin, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO)

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An article published in the “Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets” and one published in the journal “Icarus” report two studies that offer new information on the processes of water loss on the planet Mars. Two teams of researchers led respectively by Anna Fedorova of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Jean-Yves Chaufray of the French Laboratoire Atmospheres Observations Spatiales mainly used observations conducted with ESA’s Mars Express space probe’s SPICAM instrument together with data collected from other space probes to study the Martian atmosphere. The conclusion is that seasonal cycles and dust storms are the main causes of the dispersion of water in space. However, some of the water on Mars may still be present in the subsoil as well as in the polar ice caps.

'Oumuamua's artist's representation (Image courtesy William Hartmann)

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Two articles published in the “Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets” report as many parts of a research on the interstellar asteroid ‘Oumuamua proposing the theory that it’s composed mainly of solid nitrogen and is a fragment of an exoplanet similar to Pluto. Professor Steven Desch and Dr. Alan Jackson of Arizona State University tried to evaluate the characteristics of different types of ice to see which one best matched the characteristics observed in ‘Oumuamua. Their conclusion is that nitrogen ice would explain this interstellar asteroid’s behavior. According to their reconstruction, between 400 and 500 million years ago, a collision detached a fragment from a planet similar to Pluto and launched it into interstellar space.

Jupiter and an artistic representation of the winds in its South Pole region

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An article published in the journal “Astronomy & Astrophysics” reports the first direct measurement of the speed of winds in the central region of the planet Jupiter’s atmosphere. A team of researchers led by Thibault Cavalié of the Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Bordeaux in France found a way to measure the velocity of winds in the stratosphere in the area hit by comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 in July 1994. Years later, hydrogen cyanide molecules released into the Jovian atmosphere continue to travel together with the winds, and these movements are detectable in the emissions captured by the ALMA radio telescope. The result is that these winds reach 1450 kilometres an hour near Jupiter’s poles.