Australian and South American researchers posit wandering “ploonets” as unseen actors in distant solar systems.

Moons ejected from orbits around gas giant exoplanets could explain several astronomical mysteries, an international team of astronomers suggests.

Researchers led by Mario Sucerquia, from the Universidad de Antioquia, Colombia, and Jaime Alvarado-Montes from Australia’s Macquarie University, modelled the likely behaviour of giant exomoons predicted to form around massive planets – and discovered that they would be expelled and sent packing.

Roughly 50% of these ejected moons would survive both the immediate expulsion and avoid any subsequent collision with the planet or the star, ending up as quasi-planets travelling around the host star, but in eccentric “Pluto-like” orbits.

Planning space missions is traditionally a time-consuming and costly process. But the new Australian National Concurrent Design Facility (ANCDF), housed at UNSW’s Canberra campus, speeds things up so a mission can be planned in weeks rather than months.

Harnessing the expertise, design processes and software of the French Space Agency CNES (Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales), the UNSW team has created Australia’s first concurrent design facility.

The ANCDF allows engineers and scientists—both professionals and students—to design different parts of a mission in parallel rather than one after the other, which is the traditional approach. [continue reading…]

This week on radio, Tim Thwaites is talking about killer volcanoes; rogue satellites; robot gardeners; the anti-waggle song; and more… [continue reading…]

This week on radio, Tim Thwaites is talking about sex at sea; asteroid dust; breathless caterpillars; seeds as pills; and more…
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This week on radio, Tim Thwaites is talking about growing drugs in sunflowers; electric dolphins; silent submarines; fingerprinting zombies; and more… [continue reading…]

This week on radio, Tim Thwaites is talking about hacking the genome; rebooting the heart; anemones with personality; how diamonds aren’t forever; and more… [continue reading…]

For the past few years Victorian students have been walking on the (facsimile) surface of Mars at the Victoria Space Science Education Centre in Strathmore. Now they will also be able to control a Mars rover and search for water—emulating the intrepid Mars rovers that have caught public imagination in recent years.

The Victorian Education Minister is launching the robotic mission at 11 am tomorrow, Thursday.
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This week on radio, Tim Thwaites is talking about wayward whales; possums in packs; battling sea monsters; space junk; and more [continue reading…]

This week on radio, Tim Thwaites is talking about friendly bacteria; lasers in space; prescribing placebos; nanodiamonds; and more [continue reading…]