Space

Specialists still believe that the outer regions of our system, where Saturn is located, are extremely unlikely to be home to living organisms. The mass of organic compounds that could theoretically end up in its underground ocean does not exceed 7,500 kilograms of glycine (an elemental amino acid) in a year.

Molecules penetrate into the water beneath the crust due to the ingress of various space objects into the satellite. But due to their limited number, the probability of the following reactions is almost zero.

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Every year many asteroids approach the Earth at a distance less than the distance to the Moon, but catastrophic collisions are extremely rare. A new study conducted by experts from Sweden’s Luleå University of Technology suggests that our planet has some kind of defence system in the form of its powerful gravitational forces, and it is this system that copes with dangerous celestial bodies.

Researchers have been looking for Earth-approaching asteroids that have been blown to pieces for years, but they have been unable to detect them. According to scientists, any fragments that form in this way blend into the background so quickly that it is simply impossible to identify the family of such asteroids.

Seven years earlier, the Swedes had developed a model that calculated the trajectories of asteroids of different sizes to determine their numbers at different distances from the Sun. They compared the results obtained by their model with observations of celestial bodies for seven years, and realised that they had undercounted some small asteroids at a distance comparable to the orbits of Earth and Venus.

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Representatives of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said they would need more time to confirm whether the landing module had reached the important goal of landing within 100 metres of the planned point.

The experts also said that the solar panels on the vehicle do not generate electricity and the landing module is powered by an onboard battery that will last only a few hours.

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Unlike other planets that spin counterclockwise, it does so clockwise, as if something once turned it upside down. Recently, scientists have suggested that once it did, Venus attracted and destroyed its own moon.

The lunar influence may have caused the tides that first slowed Venus’ rotation. The frequent tides and orbital interaction resulted in the moon coming dangerously close to Venus, and the planet’s strong gravity smashed the moon to pieces.

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For example, the presence of water on the Moon was confirmed, as well as the presence of iron oxide in surface rocks. Special attention was paid to high-pressure minerals formed during asteroid impacts.

They found an unknown phosphate mineral in one of the samples and named it changesite (Changesite-(Y)). According to scientists, it could have arisen during the final stage of crystallisation of basalts found near the landing site of Chang’e-5.

Another interesting discovery was the presence of stishovite and zeifertite. These are similar in composition to silica, but have a slightly different crystal lattice.

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