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A new mission will create an artificial solar eclipse in space. ESA’s Proba-3 mission launched today, beginning its mission to study the Sun’s corona. Proba-3 is a novel kind of mission in which a pair of spacecraft will fly in precise formation to create an artificial eclipse, lining up perfectly with the Sun so that one spacecraft’s shadow is cast on the other. This will allow the trailing spacecraft to study the Sun’s corona. Pictured: An artist’s impression of the mission. Image credit: ESA.
Venus may not have had a watery past after all. New research from the University of Cambridge suggests that Venus’ interior is too dry today for oceans to have ever existed on its surface. If confirmed, this would mean that Venus has been a dry, inhospitable planet throughout its history instead of having had a period in which life on the surface could have been possible.
NASA has provided more insight into its decision to cancel VIPER. In response to a request from Congress, NASA explained that, according to their calculations, launching VIPER in September 2025 as planned would have resulted in the cancellation of up to four commercial lunar lander missions and the delay of up to four more.
VERITAS is back on track, but another potential delay looms. The NASA mission to Venus was delayed by three years in 2023 because of workforce issues at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and work on the mission was paused in fiscal year 2024. Although the VERITAS team is now working on the mission again, they are concerned that NASA may seek to further delay the launch from 2031 to 2032.
Carol (Cari) Sagan Greene, Carl Sagan’s sister, recently passed away. Cari was a social worker, a dedicated volunteer, a leader in her community, and a great friend to The Planetary Society. She donated bone marrow three times to prolong Carl’s life when he was battling myelodysplastic syndrome, showing astonishing dedication to her brother.
Jared Isaacman will be the next NASA administrator. President-elect Donald Trump announced this week that Jared Isaacman, a billionaire who has commanded two SpaceX commercial spaceflights, is his nomination. Planetary Society Chief of Space Policy Casey Dreier has provided an early analysis of this choice and what it could mean for space exploration.
