wire - news in brief

Sascha Quanz searches for traces of life on extrasolar planets orbiting alien stars. The astrophysicist believes that gaining an understanding of life and its origin on Earth is an important stepping stone. Our Earth was formed around 4.5 billion years ago, and fossil evidence of life can be found in rocks that are over 3.5 billion years old.

The ARRAKHIS consortium, for which EPFL has the science lead, has just successfully passed the mission definition review of the project, a very important first milestone towards full completion of the mission preparation.

SNSF Ambizione grants are aimed at early-career postdoctoral researchers who wish to conduct their first independent project in Switzerland.

Quantum mechanics describes the forces that hold the world together on the smallest scale. The theory of relativity explains the world at the cosmic level. The two seem incompatible - and a unifying theory is nowhere in sight. Without quantum mechanics, many of the technologies that we take for granted would be inconceivable.

Optical data communications lasers can transmit several tens of terabits per second, despite a huge amount of disruptive air turbulence. scientists and their European partners demonstrated this capacity with lasers between the mountain peak, Jungfraujoch, and the city of Bern in Switzerland. This will soon eliminate the necessity of expensive deep-sea cables.

Empa research helps Swiss watches to glow in the dark: The luminescent material Swiss Super-LumiNova, which was refined at Empa, now adorns the hands and dials of a number of wristwatches, including the MoonSwatch collection from Swatch and Omega.

JUICE, the European spacecraft that is scheduled to launch later today, will explore Jupiter and its icy moons. Some of the components on board have been manufactured at Empa using a specially developed soldering process. Vibrations, vacuum, radiation and extreme temperature fluctuations: Scientific instruments intended for spacecraft must be able to withstand harsh conditions for years and still function with the utmost precision and reliability.

The JUICE mission of the European Space Agency ESA, which aims to explore the planet Jupiter and its three largest moons, is all set to go. The space probe will carry on board the high-tech detector RADEM developed at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI. Among other things, this will provide information about the complex radiation conditions and the highly dynamic magnetic environment of the Jupiter system.

The European Space Agency ESA-s Juice space mission is scheduled to start its journey to Jupiter on April 13, 2023.

The Astrophysical Spectropolarimetry research project, led by Renzo Ramelli of the USI-affiliated Istituto ricerche solari Aldo e Cele Daccò (IRSOL), has been approved by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). The project aims to study the evolution and structure of the solar magnetic field, focusing on the formation of solar flares using modern equipment and innovative observation techniques.

On January 31, the EPFL Spacecraft Team's onboard computer Bunny was launched in California, USA, hosted on a D'Orbit spacecraft as part of Starlink's 2-6 mission.

Waste causes problems not only on Earth, but also in space. A research team from the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts is currently developing a space debris detector. This can autonomously control satellites that are to clean up space in the future. Above our heads, there is a huge mess: In low-Earth orbits - about 800 km above the Earth - there are currently around 5,500 active and defective satellites orbiting.

The lander's team has tried to contact the spacecraft twice without response, leading them to conclude it has run out of energy. NASA's InSight mission has ended after four years of collecting unique science on Mars.

Nobel laureate and astrophysicist Didier Queloz and earth scientist Cara Magnabosco on the origin of life on Earth, complex life beyond our planet, and the inevitable end of every life. You're both tackling the big questions about the universe. Doesn't it sometimes make you feel small and insignificant? Didier Queloz: Yes, it does indeed.

Daniel Angerhausen believes that fundamental research is essential, especially in the current crisis.

The new exhibition produced by EPFL Pavilions transforms the scientific inquiry of astrophysics into sensory and emotional experiences.

After a thousand days in orbit, the CHEOPS space telescope shows almost no signs of wear. Under these conditions, it could continue to reveal details of some of the most fascinating exoplanets for quite some time. CHEOPS is a joint mission by the European Space Agency (ESA) and Switzerland, under the aegis of the University of Bern in collaboration with the University of Geneva.

The new Space Sustainability Rating hosted at eSpace, the EPFL Space Center, encourages space actors to design and implement sustainable and responsible space missions - trailblazing the path to ensure the long-term sustainability of the space environment.

The European data processing and analysis consortium for Gaia, in which the UNIGE participates, publishes its third catalogue of data. A colossal amount of new information about our galaxy. The European consortium for the data processing and analysis of the Gaia satellite, led by the European Space Agency (ESA), has published its third catalogue.

By becoming a member of the SKA Observatory (SKAO), the largest and most ambitious radio astronomy collaboration in the world, Switzerland intends to foster Swiss research and industry while contributing to an international initiative that promises to revolutionize our understanding of the Universe.

The robotic explorer GLIMPSE, created at ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich, has made it into the final round of a competition for prospecting resources in space.

The U.S. start-up Cryptosat has taken the EPFL developed Drand protocol, the internet's first production grade, publicly verifiable randomness beacon, into space for an historic experiment.

EPFL engineering student Lucas Froissart designed an exoskeleton capable of propelling robot explorers into subsurface tunnels on the moon.

After two years in orbit, the CHEOPS space telescope has exceeded expectations. By reliably revealing details of some of the most fascinating exoplanets, it has quickly become a key instrument for astronomers in Europe and has led to fruitful collaborations throughout the continent.

Digital twins are computer-based models of an object or even a human organ, and the technology behind them is advancing at a rapid pace.

Have you ever wanted to explore outer-space? Now you can, without leaving Earth, thanks to powerful, open-source beta software VIRUP that builds - in real-time - a virtual universe based on the most detailed contemporary astrophysical and cosmological data.

The Bernese theoretical astrophysicist Kevin Heng has achieved a rare feat: On paper, he has derived novel solutions to an old mathematical problem needed to calculate light reflections from planets and moons.

An international team, led by the UNIGE, has investigated five astronomical objects that could help us understand the mysterious nature of brown dwarfs.

What secrets are held by the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way? Andrea Ghez, astronomer and Nobel Laureate in Physics, will discuss this question as part of next week's Paul Bernays Lectures 2021.