ESCAPADE successfully began its journey to Mars. The NASA mission includes two twin spacecraft, which will work together to study Mars’ magnetic field and atmosphere to better understand how the planet became less habitable over time. ESCAPADE launched on a Blue Origin New Glenn rocket on Nov. 13. Pictured: An illustration showing Mars bombarded by solar particles, a result of its lack of a magnetic field. Image credit: NASA/GSFC.
A new crater discovery is the largest ever found from our geological epoch. The Jinlin crater, discovered in Zhaoqing, Guangdong Province, China, is thought to have formed in the early to mid-Holocene — our current geological epoch. At approximately 900 meters (nearly 3,000 feet) in diameter, this makes it the largest known impact crater from this time period.
A coronal mass ejection (CME) from another star has been observed for the first time. Astronomers using the European Space Agency’s XMM-Newton space observatory and the LOFAR telescope recently got the first definitive observation of another star — a red dwarf about 40 light-years away — ejecting material in the form of a CME. The eruption was powerful enough to have stripped away the atmosphere of any nearby planet.
The briefly stranded Chinese taikonauts are now back on Earth. The Shenzhou-20 crew was originally unable to return as planned from the Tiangong-3 space station after their capsule was damaged by space debris. This week, they returned home aboard the Shenzhou-21 capsule.
Canada is increasing its contributions to the European Space Agency. The Canadian government announced this week that it will expand its investment in ESA programs by $528.5 million CAD, a tenfold increase compared to previous contributions. Canada is the only non-European partner in the European Space Agency, an arrangement that dates back to 1979.