Revised 12 December 2025 Many of you will be aware of the discovery announced back in February 2017 of seven Earth-sized planets orbiting a small cool star known as Trappist-1. (Gillon et al 2017). In this post I'll talk about this exciting finding and the possibility that some of these planets might support life. The planet around… Continue reading The Trappist-1 system.
Category: Alien Life
An idea for Christmas from Explaining Science
Revised 12 December 2025 Now that Christmas is nearly upon us, if you've not done so already why not treat yourself to an e-book from Explaining Science. If you'd like to know more about popular astronomy , I've written three e-books which are available in the Amazon Kindle store at a nominal cost. By… Continue reading An idea for Christmas from Explaining Science
What Went Wrong with the Schiaparelli Mars landing
The Schiaparelli probe tragically failed to land on Mars due to its parachute malfunctioning, resulting in a crash at high speed. Despite this setback for the European Space Agency, the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter remains successful, set to study methane in the Martian atmosphere, making the overall mission worthwhile.
Schiaparelli’s landing on Mars
The Schiaparelli Spacecraft tragically failed to land on Mars, crashing at 300 km/h. Launched on March 14, 2016, with the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, it aimed to study Martian surface conditions. It only planned to be operational for a week because it lacked solar panels, relying solely on a non-rechargeable battery.
ExoMars TGO: Tracking Methane in the Martian Atmosphere
The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, launched in 2016, aimed to study methane on Mars, a gas that might indicate geological or biological activity. Initially suspected to exist in trace amounts, recent findings revealed no detectable methane, leading to questions about previous measurements and highlighting mysteries around Mars' atmospheric composition.
