Here are today’s most important updates from the realm of Science and Space.
Scientists from Warsaw University of Technology in Poland designed a unique plan to grow trees on Mars. The new research concluded that carbon dioxide (CO2) needs to be pulled up on the red planet to support plant growth. "The atmospheric conditions existing on Mars today make the existence of life impossible. The requirements for plant growth on Mars have been considered in the context of terraforming and for low-pressure greenhouses," said lead author of the study, Robert Olszewski. The next step for this research would be simulating a balanced diurnal temperature fluctuations on Red Planet for gardening.
#ESA's Proba-3 twin spacecrafts are being prepared to be shipped from Belgium to SDSC-SHAR this saturday! 🛰
— ISRO Spaceflight (@ISROSpaceflight) October 31, 2024
It is slated to launch on a PSLV-XL on December 4! 🚀 #ISRO pic.twitter.com/Djju1ybbBo
Credit - X/@ISROSpaceflight
European Space Agency’s (ESA) Proba-3 mission for solar observation has departed from Europe for its launch site in India. “Once in orbit, Proba-3’s two satellites will enable sustained views of the Sun’s faint surrounding atmosphere, or corona, that has previously only been visible for a few brief moments during terrestrial solar eclipses,” as mentioned in the mission details on ESA website. Scheduled for the lift off on December 4, 2024, this will be ESA’s first launch from India since 2001. It will be launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre near Chennai using ISRO’s PSLV-XL rocket.
Credit - X/@isro
India has launched its first-ever analogue space mission in Ladakh’s Leh to simulate life in interplanetary habitat while addressing the obstacles that astronauts may encounter on upcoming missions beyond our planet. The Human Spaceflight Centre of Isro, AAKA Space Studio, the University of Ladakh, IIT Bombay and Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council have collaborated for this pioneering initiative. Ladakh’s unique geological features, resembling Martian and lunar landscapes along with cold, arid conditions and high altitude provide the ideal system for testing modern technologies and essential strategies for such long-duration space missions.
Credit - X/@esaspaceflight
A research team including real life father and daughter, based in the U.S. have decoded a mock ‘alien signal’ collected by ESA's ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter more than a year ago. Not only one, but three radio observatories on the Earth heard the same message. The message is part of science/art project named "A Sign in Space". It focuses on how humanity might react if they receive any real alien message. The message turned out to be an image of 5 amino acids or the building blocks of proteins. But what would aliens be trying to convey by sending the amino acids? Scientists are trying to solve this mystery.
