In a recent revelation, NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has identified two ‘super-Earth’ exoplanets in the habitable zone of a neighboring star, TOI-2095.

Located approximately 137 light-years away from our solar system, these exoplanets are slightly larger than Earth and they both orbit the same red dwarf star.

The detection of these exoplanets was possible due to the transit method, where they passed, or ‘transited’, in front of their host star, causing a slight decrease in the star’s brightness. By examining these light fluctuations, the existence and some key features of the two planets were discerned.

The red dwarf TOI-2095, despite being cooler than the sun, belongs to the most abundant category of stars in the universe. However, it’s known that red dwarfs are prone to intense bursts of ultraviolet and X-ray radiation during their early stages. This could potentially strip away the atmospheres of nearby orbiting planets, casting doubt on the habitability of such planets, even if they are in the star’s habitable zone, where liquid water could theoretically exist on a planet’s surface.

The intriguing candidates, named TOI-2095 b and TOI-2095 c, are therefore prime subjects for further detailed research. The proximity of TOI-2095 b to its host star is approximately a tenth of the average distance between Earth and the sun. With a diameter 1.39 times that of Earth and potentially 4.1 times its mass, this exoplanet completes its orbit in approximately 17.7 Earth days.

TOI-2095 c, the second planet in the system, is situated slightly further from the star and takes 28.2 Earth days to complete its orbit. It is estimated to have a diameter around 1.33 times that of Earth and potentially up to 7.5 times its mass. Scientists speculate that surface temperatures on both planets could range between 75 degrees Fahrenheit and 165 degrees Fahrenheit (24 to 74 degrees Celsius).

Felipe Murgas of the University of La Laguna in Spain, who led the team that made the discovery, has suggested that the relatively long orbital periods of these two planets could be pivotal in understanding the processes that influence the composition of small planets around red dwarfs.

Since its launch in 2018, NASA’s TESS mission has identified approximately 330 confirmed exoplanets and more than 6,400 potential candidates that require additional study or analysis, showcasing the effectiveness of this mission.

The team plans to conduct further studies on these two super-Earths by precisely measuring their radial velocity, which could help in estimating their masses more accurately, and in turn, determine their densities. This information could aid in understanding whether these planets have retained their atmospheres.

The study was recently uploaded to the preprint server arXiv and awaits peer review.

Swiss startup ClearSpace has recently secured a contract with Arianespace to launch its first space debris removal mission on Europe’s Vega C rocket in the latter half of 2026.

Luc Piguet, the company’s CEO and co-founder, revealed that the 700-kilogram servicer is planned to be launched from French Guiana to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) as a secondary passenger, accompanying a primary payload yet to be determined. The Vega C rocket has the capacity to launch roughly 2,300 kilograms to a reference 700-kilometer polar orbit.

The mission of ClearSpace-1 necessitates compatibility with a co-passenger for its journey towards a spent upper stage of an earlier Vega version, left in an 800-kilometer by 660-kilometer altitude gradual disposal orbit from a 2013 launch. The servicer aims to seize the debris with its four articulated arms.

Under a €110 million ($121 million) contract with the European Space Agency (ESA), ClearSpace will attempt a controlled re-entry, causing the servicer and the 112-kilogram Vega Secondary Payload Adapter (VESPA) to burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere. Piguet explained, “the ESA contract required ClearSpace to fly with Europe’s flagship launch service provider Arianespace for this mission.”

While Germany-based Isar Aerospace and Rocket Factory Augsburg are developing rockets that promise cost and lift performance benefits for a dedicated launch, Piguet mentioned that both companies are still working towards their maiden flights.

Despite Vega C rocket’s successful initial flight in July, it has been grounded since its second mission failed to reach orbit in December. Europe plans to return Vega C to flight by year-end after identifying the cause of the failure as an eroded nozzle component.

Upon completing the initial design phase for the ClearSpace-1 mission, ClearSpace has started procuring components from subcontractors. Piguet anticipates the servicer’s construction to begin next year, with integration scheduled for 2025.

In terms of future funding, Piguet shared that ClearSpace might explore a Series B funding round in 2023 to diversify its capital sources. The company recently raised about $29 million in a Series A round and has a sponsorship deal with Swiss luxury watchmaker Omega.

Although the ESA-backed funding serves as a valuable endorsement, Piguet acknowledged its commercial development constraints, such as geographical spending limits. To address this challenge, ClearSpace launched a U.S.-based subsidiary, ClearSpace Today, Inc., in April, marking its first expansion outside Europe.

Regarding the company’s plans, Piguet said, “Our objective is to start having missions in the U.S., too,” as “if we want to be serious about in-orbit servicing and move on from 2026-2027 … we have to get there with a pipeline of missions that are in progress.” ClearSpace envisions annual launches to establish a recurring business case and scale up commercial operations.

Piguet expects the U.K. to decide between ClearSpace and its Japanese rival, Astroscale, early next year for a British mission to remove two spacecraft from LEO in 2026. Additionally, ClearSpace is seeking co-funding from ESA for a mission to extend the life of a geostationary Intelsat satellite before it runs out of fuel between 2026 and 2028.

ClearSpace’s pioneering space debris removal mission represents a vital step towards sustainable space operations and a safer space environment. Their partnership with Arianespace and ESA support highlights the global urgency in addressing space debris risks. As ClearSpace expands into the U.S. and plans annual launches, their commitment to developing a sustainable business model can inspire more innovations in space debris mitigation.

The success of this mission will set the stage for future in-orbit servicing and debris removal endeavors, ensuring the preservation of the space environment and continued functionality of satellite systems for generations to come.

The pursuit of extraterrestrial life has taken a significant leap forward as the world-renowned National Science Foundation’s Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) joins the quest.

The VLA’s focus is on detecting technosignatures, emissions unique to artificial transmitters, with the potential to reveal advanced civilizations beyond our own.

Situated about 50 miles west of Socorro, New Mexico, the VLA is a remarkable radio astronomy observatory, boasting 27 antennas spread across 23 miles of desert terrain. Since 2017, the VLA has participated in the Very Large Array Sky Survey (VLASS) project. Its new mission involves collecting and analyzing data during VLASS observations, using a specialized receiver to identify narrow-band components in signals from intentionally engineered transmitters and differentiate them from natural occurrences.

The SETI Institute leads this groundbreaking effort in collaboration with the National Radio Astronomy Observatory and the Breakthrough Listen Initiative. The new processing system for SETI is named COSMIC (Commensal Open-Source Multimode Interferometer Cluster).

VLA expert Paul Demorest explains, “COSMIC operates commensally, meaning it functions in the background, using a copy of the data astronomers are obtaining for other scientific purposes.”

COSMIC can identify various transmissions, such as pulsed and transient signals, while monitoring an impressive range of frequencies and examining around ten million star systems. Since 2023, COSMIC has detected signals from Voyager 1, the most distant human-made object, currently located about 15 billion miles away.

Combining the VLA’s unparalleled sensitivity with the COSMIC system makes this SETI search about a thousand times more comprehensive than previous efforts. This collaboration could potentially uncover a radio whisper, suggesting that we are not the only intelligent inhabitants of the Milky Way Galaxy.

Tony Beasley, Director of the NRAO, expressed enthusiasm for the partnership, stating, “The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is proud to partner with the SETI Institute in this exciting initiative. Partnerships that bring together world-class research instruments, private research institutes, and members of the public personally committed to forefront science can enable new important discoveries.”

As the VLA and COSMIC continue searching for extraterrestrial life, researchers and scientists worldwide eagerly await the results. Detecting technosignatures would mark a turning point in human history, transforming our understanding of our place in the cosmos and unlocking new avenues for scientific exploration and collaboration.

Even if the search does not yield immediate results, the collected data will still provide invaluable information for other areas of astronomical research. This could potentially offer new insights into galaxy formation, dark matter distribution, and enigmatic cosmic phenomena like fast radio bursts.

This partnership combines resources and expertise to enhance the likelihood of detecting technosignatures and expand our understanding of the universe. Ultimately, it aims to answer the age-old question of whether we are alone in the universe.

The Super Pressure Balloon Imaging Telescope (SuperBIT) has taken its first images of the cosmos from the edge of space.

Astronomers are hoping to gain valuable data that could help unravel the mysteries surrounding dark matter.

On April 16, the stratospheric observer was carried to a high altitude above Earth’s atmosphere by a football field-sized NASA helium balloon in its first operational flight.

During the flight, SuperBIT captured images of the Tarantula Nebula, a region within the Large Magellanic Cloud, which is a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way located approximately 160,000 light-years from Earth. This immense cloud of gas and dust, spanning 931 light-years, is a hotbed of star formation. The telescope also obtained images of the Antennae galaxies, NGC 4038 and NGC 4039, which are located around 60 million light-years away in the southern constellation of Corvus. These galaxies are currently experiencing a collision and merger that likely began a few hundred million years ago, making them the closest and youngest examples of colliding galaxies.

SuperBIT’s primary goal is to capture images of galaxies in the visible-to-near ultraviolet light spectrum. Although the Hubble Space Telescope covers this range, SuperBIT offers a wider field of view. To study dark matter, the telescope will utilize gravitational lensing, a natural phenomenon predicted by Einstein’s theory of general relativity. Gravitational lensing occurs when massive objects like galaxies warp spacetime, causing light to bend as it travels along the curvature.

Dark matter, which does not interact with electromagnetic radiation or light, is virtually invisible. However, it does interact with gravity, allowing astronomers to infer its presence. Gravitational lensing is an ideal method for mapping dark matter’s distribution, and SuperBIT may help scientists determine whether dark matter particles can bounce off one another when galactic clusters collide. Such research could finally reveal the composition of dark matter particles.

Professor Richard Massey from Durham University explained that SuperBIT would observe clusters of galaxies colliding with each other. He stated, “Essentially, we’re using the largest particle accelerators in the universe to smash lumps of dark matter and see where the bits fly.” He added, “If dark matter goes ‘crunch’, or if bits are chipped off, we could finally start to learn what it’s made of.”

SuperBIT, a collaboration between NASA, Durham University, the University of Toronto, and Princeton University, launched from Wānaka, New Zealand. The telescope and its super-pressure balloon can travel around the globe at an altitude of approximately 21 miles (34 kilometers) for 100 days, above 99.5% of Earth’s atmosphere. This vantage point enables SuperBIT to gather scientific data and take high-resolution images without the blurring effect of the atmosphere.

The telescope can be safely returned to Earth via parachute, allowing the team to update its design. Funding has already been secured to upgrade SuperBIT’s 1.6 feet (0.5-meter) aperture telescope to 5.2 feet (1.6 meters), equipping it with a wider-angle lens and increased megapixels for the camera. This enhancement will increase its light-gathering power tenfold.

With a price tag of approximately $5 million, the balloon-carried telescope represents a significantly more economical option compared to rocket-launched instruments. In fact, SuperBIT costs almost 1,000 times less than equivalent satellite missions. NASA officials envision that the relatively low cost of SuperBIT could pave the way for a fleet of these telescopes to be deployed above Earth, collectively exploring the enigmas of the universe with greater affordability and accessibility.

On April 14th,  the esteemed Ariane 5 rocket carried out its second-to-last mission, launching a European spacecraft on an eight-year voyage to Jupiter.

The Ariane 5 lifted off from Kourou, French Guiana’s European spaceport, after unfavorable weather postponed the launch the day before. The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) spacecraft successfully detached from the Ariane upper stage 26 minutes after liftoff.

Ground controllers established communication with JUICE approximately 40 minutes after liftoff. Shortly after, they deployed the spacecraft’s two large solar arrays, which cover a total area of 85 square meters and will provide power for the six-ton probe.

The signal acquisition from JUICE took slightly longer than anticipated but remained within the normal range. Solar array deployment occurred sooner than expected, which Jean-Marc Nasr, head of space systems at Airbus Defence and Space, explained was due to precise sun acquisition by spacecraft systems. He deemed it “a sign of a perfect mission.”

The launch marks the beginning of JUICE’s lengthy journey to Jupiter and its three largest moons. The Airbus-built spacecraft will utilize several gravity-assist flybys to reach its destination, starting with a joint Earth-moon flyby in August 2024, followed by additional Earth flybys in September 2026 and January 2029, and a Venus flyby in August 2025.

Upon reaching Jupiter in July 2031, JUICE will conduct 35 flybys of Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, investigating their surfaces and underground oceans to determine habitability. The spacecraft will orbit Ganymede from December 2034 until the mission’s conclusion in September 2035.

Josef Aschbacher, ESA’s director general, expressed pride in the mission, stating it addresses “questions of science that are burning to all of us.”

The mission, which has an estimated cost of 1.5 billion euros ($1.65 billion), will utilize ten instruments, including one contributed by NASA. The Japanese space agency JAXA and Israel Space Agency are also partners, providing components for other instruments.

This launch marks the sixth time an Ariane 5 rocket has carried ESA missions, including the December 2021 launch of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope with significant ESA contributions. Since 1996, there have been a total of 116 Ariane 5 launches.

Only one Ariane 5 flight remains, tentatively scheduled for late June, carrying two European government communications satellites, France’s Syracuse 4B and Germany’s Heinrich Hertz.

Stéphane Israël, Arianespace’s CEO, described the final launches as a “wonderful symbol” for France and Germany. The Ariane 5 will be replaced by the Ariane 6, whose maiden flight has been delayed multiple times. The latest target for the Ariane 6 debut is late 2023, though there is speculation it may be pushed back further.

While Aschbacher did not provide a new estimate for the Ariane 6 launch, he expressed confidence in its progress, saying, “We have to go through some decisive milestones in the next couple of weeks, but certainly we are on a good track.” He acknowledged feeling a tinge of sadness about Ariane 5’s retirement but expressed optimism that Ariane 6 will be “an equally good launcher.”