Japanese Successfully Land Rovers On An Asteroid

On September 21st 2018, JAXA, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, announced that they have successfully landed two rovers on an asteroid. The two rovers which are named MINERVA-II1, were deployed by the Hyabusa2 spacecraft, which is in orbit around the asteroid, Ryugu. The Haybusa2 mission was launched in December 2014 and rendezvoused with the Ryugu asteroid in June of 2018.

MINERVA stands for Micro Nano Experimental Robot Vehicle for Asteroid. The two rovers will not roll across the asteroid for they have no wheels. Instead, the two robots will hop around during their exploration of the asteroid's surface. A third lander and an impactor, as well as several other experiments will also be deployed during the mission. The Hayabusa2 spacecraft's mission is to probe the asteroid for 18 months before returning to Earth in 2020.
 

Astronomers May Have Found Vulcan

On spetember 18th 2018, scientist announced in the Journal Nature that they have discovered an exoplanet that coould be the real life home of the fictional character Spock, from the TV show, Star Trek. The planet has been discovered orbiting the star, 40 Eridani, which as noted by Gene Roddenberry, is where the planet Vulcan orbits. The star is also know as HD 26965 and it was discovered by a team working on the Dharma Planet Survey

HD 26965 or 40 Eridani is about the same age of the Earth or around 4 billion years. It's 16 light years from Earth. The exoplanet in question is twice the size of the Earth and is considered to be a, "super earth." The planet has a 42 day orbit aournd its star and lies just inside the habitable zone. HD 26965 is cooler and less masive than Earth's sun, and it is just one star of a trinary star sytem. The discovery of 40 Eridani or HD26956 was made using the DEFT telecscope in Arizona.

Australian Scientists Discover New Species Of Fish

On September 10th 2018, a team of scientists from the University of Newcastle, announced that they have discovered three new species of snailfish. The discovery was made after a 7,500 foot dive into the Atacama Trench in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Chile and Peru. The new find is being tentatively being called the pink, the blue, and the purple snailfish. A member of the team, Dr. Thomas Linley said that it is rare to discover three new species at one time.

According to Dr Linley, the new species can be described as, "surprisingly active." The snailfish have long, translucent, gelatinous bodies that have no scales. Their eyes are beady, and unlike most deep sea predators, they don't have menacing teeth. It is believed that the new species would melt if brought to the ocean's surface, but the team was able to retrieve a specimen, in good condition, which they took back to their lab to be analyzed.

Scientists Want To Nudge Asteroids Toward Earth

On August 4th 2018, a team of scientists announced in the journal Acta Astronautica, that they have devised a method by which asteroids could be brought into Earth orbit for the purpose of mining them. The leader of the team, and PhD student at the University of Glasgow, Minghu Tan, believes that asteroids that are under 30 meters in diameter could be maneuvered into orbit through the process of aerobarking.

Minghu and his colleagues, Colin McInnes and Matteo Ceriotti have theorized that asteroids millions of miles away could be nudged toward the Earth by using an automated spacecraft. The spacecraft would keep the asteroids on accurate trajectories by making course corrections as needed. When an asteroid is close enough the spacecraft would begin the aerobraking process. The asteroid would graze the atmosphere, there by slowing it down to orbital speed.

Once the asteroid has been safely maneuvered into Earth orbit, it could be mined for water and precious metals such as gold and platinum