Juice will be flying by Earth soon. ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) spacecraft, which launched in April 2023, will perform a flyby of Earth on Aug. 20. This will be the first of four gravity assist maneuvers that will put Juice on precisely the right path to arrive at Jupiter with the correct speed and direction in July 2031. Pictured: An artist’s impression of Juice at Jupiter’s moon Ganymede. Image credit: ESA / ATG Medialab.
NASA is likely to delay the next crew launch to the ISS. The Crew 9 mission to the International Space Station planned to launch on Aug. 18 will likely be delayed by over a month due to ongoing concerns about the Boeing Starliner spacecraft currently attached to the station, which may not be able to safely return the current ISS crew back to Earth.
The more we learn about stars, the better we understand exoplanets. A new study using data from NASA’s Galaxy Evolution Explorer space telescope looked at ultraviolet emissions from small mass stars, finding that far-ultraviolet emissions are higher than previously expected. This calls into question the typical assumption that exoplanets around these kinds of stars might be prime targets in the search for life.
Graphene has been found in Chang’e-5 lunar samples. Graphene is a form of carbon consisting of a single layer of atoms arranged in a honeycomb nanostructure. On Earth, graphene is very useful in optics, electrics, and mechanics. The researchers who found graphene in Chang’e-5’s lunar sample proposed that it may have formed from volcanic activity, solar winds, or meteorite impacts. Continued study of this sample may help develop ways to produce the material inexpensively and expand its use.