Daily Archives: January 27, 2022

We're going to infinity, and beyond with our list of the best space exploration games out there.

Its a big universe out there, and video games have made traversing star systems a common activity. There was a time when space exploration games were limited to certain genres, but now its more of a theme, a core idea that defines the philosophies of wildly different titles. In this article, our aim is to showcase some of the biggest and best space exploration games out there. This is not a ranking, and all of the titles mentioned have something interesting and unique to offer despite sharing a common goal: making us feel closer to the stars.

But, what makes a good space exploration game? Well, we like to think they dont have to be realistic experiences all the time. Its all about the wonder of going out there and uncovering the cosmos secrets. Maybe the task is simply to abandon Earth, or maybe space is simply defining an otherwise simple adventure or tales of conquest. The journey is what matters, and outer space is inherently the most unpredictable setting we can wish for.

If youre looking for something more peculiar, you might want to check out our list of the best PSVR space games, or the best Star Wars games. The somewhat extensive list well be exploring in this article isnt bound to certain franchises or platforms, and weve tried to include something for everyone. Now, lets blast off into the unknown.

An open-world game on the surface, Outer Wilds takes flight and sends players on a timed adventure across a solar system stuck in a 22-minute loop which ends with the sun going bye-bye. Its all about the freedom of exploration and figuring out the systems secrets each planet is strange in its own way, and an extinct alien race might hold the key to breaking the time loop and stopping the sun from going supernova.

This ones an easy recommendation for almost anyone looking for a compelling and emotional non-linear adventure that doesnt overstay its welcome and is filled with interesting characters. Of course, its jam-packed with puzzles and situations that make your head spin. Take that into account before putting on your space suit.

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We promised you a bit of space conquest, and Endless Space 2 is the best turn-based, space-set strategy title that you can find right now. It completely behaves like a normal 4X game (explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate), but the path to victory is never the same. This sci-fi universe is vast and rich, and so are its possibilities, but one thing always remains true: reaching new systems and colonizing their planets never gets old.

Build an isolated empire, expand your borders across the stars through diplomacy, or let money do the talking to keep your enemies away. Its expansion packs make things weirder and more unpredictable, as if sentient trees which colonize worlds with celestial vines werent strange enough.

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Space flight simulation aficionados are familiar with this one, as its been dominating that genre for years now, and with good reason. In spite of its steep learning curve, few games are as massive and rewarding as Elite Dangerous the persistent online universe and a 1:1 scale representation of the Milky Way galaxy houses many gameplay possibilities that move at their own pace.

Elite Dangerous certainly isnt for everyone, and is more of a lived-in experience that grows with you. Dont expect to get a lot done in one hour. The journey matters here way more than crossing off tasks. Still, the number of different occupations (from space trucker to pirate) guarantee more than enough variety to keep patient players entertained for hundreds of hours. Furthermore, the Odyssey expansion (released May 19, 2021) introduces an on-foot FPS element to the game, although the community doesnt seem to be vibing with it.

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Faster Than Light aint a looker, but its got it where it counts. It can be largely described as a procedurally generated roguelite, and the goal is to reach an allied fleet in order to deliver a package of critical information. The problem is that there are a bunch of dangerous space sectors between your single spacecraft and the bulk of your allies. Plus, a massive rebel fleet is also chasing you.

The game focuses on managing the ships systems and your crew, who are the blood that keep the entire thing working. Its profoundly stressful but highly addictive, and remains one of the most unique space-related indie titles available. Moreover, you get to make some hard decisions as you push forward through the cosmos in a piece of junk, so its not all about battling pirates and fixing your ship with little to no resources.

Everyone remembers how much of a disaster the launch of No Mans Sky was, but Hello Games turned the ship around in spectacular fashion around a year and a half into post-launch development. With a few more years of massive updates, it now packs an absurd amount of content, so youll never be at a loss for anything to do. And, in case you didnt know, its procedurally generated universe is practically endless and can be fully explored with friends and/or random players.

As stated by the developers, No Mans Sky captures a sense of exploration and optimism typically seen in the sci-fi literature of the 1970s. That promise was always there, but the original experience was extremely shallow. Now, it feels like one of the liveliest universes weve explored in a video game. The first couple of hours might be rough, but it quickly picks up and goes where no game has gone before.

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Squads Kerbal Space Program (KPS) is another game that may not seem very enticing at first, but contains lots of absorbing ideas and executes most of them in an engrossing and charming manner. It took a while to get KSP out of Steams early access program, but the final result has captured countless players minds for years, and user-created mods might have something to do with that.

The player controls a space program operated by small humanoids called Kerbals, and the goal is simple: come up with vehicles and plans to explore their star system while avoiding catastrophic failures. KSP plays out like a comedy based on the history of space exploration, and its slowly gained a cult following that is now eagerly awaiting the sequel, which launches in 2022.

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We know this is an odd pick, but hear us out. Spore: Galactic Adventures was a great expansion pack that turned the basic Spore late-game experience (uneven and mostly shallow) into an exciting set of space adventures. Jumping from one planet to another and exploring every corner of the galaxy became more than just a chore, and the extensive adventure and planet creators gave users even more tools to come up with fun content.

Spore hasnt aged that well overall, but its Complete Collection is, in our humble opinion, worth revisiting even now. Maxis threw lots of exciting ideas into it, and many of them still havent been successfully replicated by more modern titles. We wouldnt reject a reboot either.

Relic Entertainments Homeworld games are landmarks of the real-time strategy genre, and even bigger triumphs for lovers of good, meaty science fiction. Gearbox Softwares substantial remaster of both titles only solidified their legendary status and made them relevant again. The series has now started to grow past the classic games, but theyre still must-play releases.

As in most RTS titles, the Homeworld games focus on gathering resources to build military forces to crush your opponents, but the plot and worldbuilding that hold everything together make them stand out: the Kushan exiles of the planet Kharak set out on a mission to reclaim their ancient homeworld of Hiigara from the Taiidan Empire. Its a sprawling epic about space nomads with really cool ships. Whats not to love?

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Best space exploration games | Space

Tell me something. Do you believe in God?'

Snow darted an apprehensive glance in my direction. 'What? Who still believes nowadays?'

'It isn't that simple. I don't mean the traditional God of Earth religion. I'm no expert in the history of religions, and perhaps this is nothing new--do you happen to know if there was ever a belief in an...imperfect God?'

'What do you mean by imperfect?' Snow frowned. 'In a way all the gods of the old religions were imperfect, considered that their attributes were amplified human ones. The God of the Old Testament, for instance, required humble submission and sacrifices, and and was jealous of other gods. The Greek gods had fits of sulks and family quarrels, and they were just as imperfect as mortals...'

'No,' I interrupted. 'I'm not thinking of a god whose imperfection arises out of the candor of his human creators, but one whose imperfection represents his essential characteristic: a god limited in his omniscience and power, fallible, incapable of foreseeing the consequences of his acts, and creating things that lead to horror. He is a...sick god, whose ambitions exceed his powers and who does not realize it at first. A god who has created clocks, but not the time they measure. He has created systems or mechanisms that serves specific ends but have now overstepped and betrayed them. And he has created eternity, which was to have measured his power, and which measures his unending defeat.'

Snow hesitated, but his attitude no longer showed any of the wary reserve of recent weeks:

'There was Manicheanism...'

'Nothing at all to do with the principles of Good and Evil,' I broke in immediately. 'This god has no existence outside of matter. He would like to free himself from matter, but he cannot...'

Snow pondered for a while:

'I don't know of any religion that answers your description. That kind of religion has never been...necessary. If i understand you, and I'm afraid I do, what you have in mind is an evolving god, who develops in the course of time, grows, and keeps increasing in power while remaining aware of his powerlessness. For your god, the divine condition is a situation without a goal. And understanding that, he despairs. But isn't this despairing god of yours mankind, Kelvin? Is it man you are talking about, and that is a fallacy, not just philosophically but also mystically speaking.'

I kept on:

'No, it's nothing to do with man. man may correspond to my provisional definition from some point of view, but that is because the definition has a lot of gaps. Man does not create gods, in spite of appearances. The times, the age, impose them on him. Man can serve is age or rebel against it, but the target of his cooperation or rebellion comes to him from outside. If there was only a since human being in existence, he would apparently be able to attempt the experiment of creating his own goals in complete freedom--apparently, because a man not brought up among other human beings cannot become a man. And the being--the being I have in mind--cannot exist in the plural, you see? ...Perhaps he has already been born somewhere, in some corner of the galaxy, and soon he will have some childish enthusiasm that will set him putting out one star and lighting another. We will notice him after a while...'

'We already have,' Snow said sarcastically. 'Novas and supernovas. According to you they are candles on his altar.'

'If you're going to take what I say literally...'

...Snow asked abruptly:

'What gave you this idea of an imperfect god?'

'I don't know. It seems quite feasible to me. That is the only god I could imagine believing in, a god whose passion is not a redemption, who saves nothing, fulfills no purpose--a god who simply is. Stanisaw Lem, Solaris

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Space Exploration Quotes (212 quotes) - Goodreads

When humanity contemplates sending assets to other planets, what should be our goal? There are two fundamental choices:

1) Use artificial intelligence (AI) astronauts to plant seeds of scientific innovation in other locations, so that intelligence is duplicated and not at risk of extinction.

2)Make numerous copies of what nature already produced on Earth.

The choice is between taking pride in what nature manufactured over 4.5 billion years on Earth through unsupervised evolution and natural selection, or aspiring to a more intelligent form of supervised evolution elsewhere.

The first choice AI is apt to an industrial duplication line, for which the proof of concept for the assembly line was already demonstrated on Earth and we can duplicate it in an Earth-like environment. We are emotionally attracted to the second choice, because we are attached to ourselves and our natural path for maintaining the longevity of our genetic-making through biological reproduction.

Prioritizing the natural processes of the second choice is misguided for two reasons. First, we tend to think we are special and so reproducing more of us is appealing. Second, we forget the extensively long series of trial and error that ended up in our naturally selected species. The second choice reflects a unique selection bias, namely we like who we are and imagine that if we duplicate natural selection in an Earth-like environment somewhere else something as special as us will result. Of course, natural selection holds no such guarantee. This underscores the appeal of the first choice of AI, which promotes new systems that are more advanced and adaptable to very different environments. If evolution is supervised by AI systems with 3D printers, it could be more efficient at identifying optimal solutions to new challenges that were never encountered before.

The second approach was the sort adopted by barbarian cultures throughout human history. Its brute-force simplicity in making copies of existing systems could lead to dominance by numbers, but its main weakness is that it is vulnerable to new circumstances that previous systems cannot survive. For example, the dinosaurs were not smart enough to use telescopes capable of alerting them to the dangers of giant space rocks. Also, the ideas offered by Ancient Greek philosophy survived longer than the Roman Empire despite the latters military might in conquering new territories.

AI scientists could use machine learning to navigate through virgin territories and adapt more effectively to their challenging terrain than terrestrial life forms. In this vein, AI systems could be viewed as our technological kids and a phase in our own Darwinian evolution, as they represent a form of adaption to new worlds beyond Earth. There is no reason for us to be attached to primitive representations of life on Earth, just as there is no reason to resurrect the dinosaurs.

Periods of snowball Earth removed some forms of life from our terrestrial habitat, but the physical challenges on other planets could be so extreme that envisioning terrestrial life there is a non-starter. Adopting survival tactics by AI systems in these alien environments might be essential for tailoring sustainable torches that carry our flame of consciousness there.

Is there a smarter kid on our cosmic block who already figured out the best strategy? If so, it would be interesting to find out whether the first choice or the second are more popular among extraterrestrial civilizations.

The first choice has a higher likelihood of survival in the face of natural disasters, such as loss of planetary atmospheres, climate change, meteorite impacts, evolution of the host star, nearby supernova explosions or flares from supermassive black holes. However, the second choice natures choice could be sufficiently infectious, like the omicron variant of COVID-19, so as to seed many locations at once and compensate for its reduced impact.

By studying other planets for signs of life we could identify which choice is most favorable and even might learn what was most popular by civilizations elsewhere. Based on human history, we might find evidence for a lot of barbarian cultures that had perished and a much smaller population of intelligent cultures that maintained longevity. Although more difficult to find, those precious needles in the haystack that survived over billions of years, could teach us an important lesson about the favorable path. To put my cards on the table even before we find them: I am all in favor of option A for AI than B for barbarian.

Avi Loebis head of HarvardsGalileo Project,a systematic scientific search for evidence of extraterrestrial technological artifacts. Loeb is the founding director of Harvard'sBlack Hole Initiative, the director of the Institute for Theory and Computation at the Harvard-SmithsonianCenter for Astrophysics, and he chairs the advisory board for the Breakthrough Starshot project.He is the author ofExtraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth.

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Two choices in space exploration | TheHill - The Hill

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida in 2015 Orlando Sentinel via Getty Images

A piece of a SpaceX rocket will crash into the moon after spending nearly seven years hurtling through space, experts predict.

The Falcon 9 booster was launched by Elon Musk's space exploration company in 2015, but after completing its mission, it didnt have enough fuel to return to Earth. The rockets second stage has been in an uncontrolled orbit ever since.

Therockethas been pulled by the competing gravitational forces of the Earth, moon, and sun, which has made its path chaotic, says Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

"It's been deadjust following the laws of gravity, McDowell says to Georgina Rannard for BBC. "Over the decades there have been maybe 50 large objects that we've totally lost track of. This may have happened a bunch of times before, we just didn't notice.

While the SpaceX rocket isnt the only piece of space junk orbiting Earth, it could be the first documented rocket collision with the moon, according to data analyst Bill Gray who developed software that tracks near-Earth objects. Gray predicts the rocket will hit the far side of the moon on March 4, 2022.

I realized that my software complained because it couldnt project the orbit past March 4, Gray told Timothy Bella of the Washington Post. And it couldnt do it because the rocket had hit the moon.

The SpaceX booster was part of the companys first deep-space mission designed tomonitor solar storms and Earth's climate, per Live Science's Ben Turner.After the booster sent the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Deep Space Climate Observatory satellite to a gravitationally-stable Lagrange point, the rockets second stage became derelict.

When the rockets second stage finally collides with the moon at roughly 5,771 mph, it will explode on impact.

"It's basically a four-tonne empty metal tank, with a rocket engine on the back. And so if you imagine throwing that at a rock at 5,000 miles an hour, it's not going to be happy," McDowell tells theBBC.

Unlike deliberate collisions with the lunar surface, this impact is not likely to reveal anything new about the moon. In 2009, NASA fired its Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite onto the moon's south pole, which released a plume of material that allowed scientists to confirm the presence of water ice.

Though thebooster's crash will be largely uneventful, space debris can have serious consequences. Because of the high speed that objects travel in space (around fivemiles per second), a collision with even a tiny chip of free-floating paint can damage a spacecraft. Last November, astronauts in the International Space Station were forced to shelter in their spacecraft when they passed through a debris cloud from a Russian anti-satellite test. All of that space junk whizzing around the planet could complicate future space travel.

"If we get into the future where there are cities and bases on the moon, we want to know what's out there, McDowell tells theBBC. It's much easier to get that organized when there is slow traffic in space, rather than waiting until it's a problem."

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A Chunk of a SpaceX Rocket Is Going to Slam Into the Moon - Smithsonian

Michelle Nichols refers to herself as an astroeducator, and the label could not be more apt. In a comprehensive slide presentation for the Levy Lecture audience on Jan. 25, Nichols described the history of the International Space Station (ISS), the ingenious temporary home to a constantly changing group of international astronauts.

The idea of living in space has been a mainstay of science fiction for years. The first known image of a home among the stars appeared in the 1869 novella The Brick Moon by Edward Everett Hale. In 1928, Herman Potonik, an Austro-Hungarian army officer, engineer and space enthusiast, conceived of humans living permanently in space on an orbiting spacecraft and drew the first architectural model for this structure.

In the 1950s, Wernher von Braun was a German aerospace engineer who worked for NASA after being recruited by the Americans. He was a major proponent of using rockets for space exploration and envisioned employing a team of scientists to build a satellite in space based on the same spherical shape advanced by Potonik.

In 1971, the idea of a space station moved from fantasy to reality. The Soviet Union launched Salyut 1, the first space station inhabited by humans. It was tubular in shape and included a docking station to receive astronauts launched into orbit weeks or months later. The Salyut program lasted for 20 years, ending in 1991 with Salyut 7.

Nichols summarized the advances made by the Soviet Union during this period, including the transition from monolithic to modular stations, the use of multiple docking ports, orbital handovers from one crew to another, the use of unmanned resupply vehicles, and the viability of conducting long spaceflight programs, which were science experiments that lasted for many months. The international scientific community cheered these advances.

Using photos from NASA and other sources, Nichols took the audience through decades of spacecrafts and space stations, including U.S. Skylabs 1, 2 and 3 and the Soviet Unions Mir space station launched in 1986. Mir was essentially assembled in orbit between 1986 and 1996. Later managed by Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union, it served as an example of international partnership and development as astronauts from several countries were sent to Mir to participate in building and maintaining the structure and conducting experiments within it.

The United States led construction of the ISS, which began in 1998. Over the course of 13 years, other countries including Russia and Canada built and supplied components of the station. Nichols marveled at the photo of the finished ISS, reminding the audience, The International Space Station was constructed once. These modules were never put together on the ground, together as one piece. That would have been impossible to do. There were no second chances.

The audience viewed photographs of various astronauts going about their everyday routines such as working on a laptop, shaving, exercising, getting ready for sleep, getting a haircut, conducting experiments, preparing food, eating, playing a musical instrument and moving from one module to another. One of the most challenging aspects of life in space is just knowing where everything is. There is plenty of storage space, but every inch of the structure has a purpose and every object must have a function or reason for being there. Within the ISS, weight and volume are too precious and too expensive to allocate other than purposefully.

Nichols noted that the three most frequently asked questions concern normal functions such as eating, sleeping and going to the bathroom. The physical processes of those three actions work the same in space as they do on earth, but the lack of gravity necessitates accommodations such as handholds and footholds, Velcro to secure items, and tying ones occupied sleeping bag to surfaces at all four corners. Every aspect of the astronauts lives is measured and monitored; they are walking science experiments and they wouldnt have it any other way. Each of them worked for years to be selected as astronaut candidates, make it through training and be chosen to go to space.

The audience response to Nichols presentation, her fourth as a Levy Lecture speaker, was overwhelmingly positive. Viewer Tom Wallace emailed saying, Amazing! Thanks so much for this beautiful, inspirational and informative presentation! One anonymous commenter was excited to watch the webinar with a grandchild. Several noted how much they learned by listening to Nichols. A particularly effusive audience member observed, I wasnt sure I would be interested in this presentation, but gave it a try. So glad I did!! Excellent speaker that held my attention! Taught me all kinds of new things. Fascinating! Thank you!

The webinar is available on the Levy Senior Center Foundation YouTube channel.

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Levy Lecture: Exploring the International Space Station - Evanston RoundTable

Artists concept of an Orion spacecraft at the moon. Credit: NASA

NASA will announce later this year the four astronauts who will slingshot around the far side of the moon on the Artemis lunar programs first crew mission, currently scheduled for launch in 2024, the head of the agencys human space exploration division recently said. The crew is expected to include three U.S. fliers and one Canadian astronaut.

The Artemis 2 mission will follow two years after NASAs Artemis 1 test flight, an unpiloted pathfinder mission scheduled to launch no earlier than March from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Artemis 1 will be the first flight of NASAs Space Launch System, a heavy-lift rocket designed for lunar missions thats been in development for more than a decade. It will also be first trip by NASAs Orion crew capsule to the moon, following a demonstration flight that orbited Earth in 2014.

The goal of NASAs Artemis program is to land astronauts on the moons surface for the first time since the final Apollo lunar mission in December 1972. The Artemis programs first attempt to land a crew on the moon is penciled in for the Artemis 3 mission, scheduled for 2025, with a derivative of the Starship vehicle SpaceXs is developing in South Texas.

Before attempting a lunar landing, NASA will send four astronauts on a voyage around the far side of the moon on Artemis 2. The mission will carry the crew farther from Earth than any humans in history.

Jim Free, head of NASAs exploration systems development programs, said Jan. 18 that the agency soon plans to reveal which astronauts will fly on Artemis 2.

Were planning on making the announcement for the Artemis 2 crew this year, Free said in a meeting of the NASA Advisory Councils Human Exploration and Operations Committee.

NASA announced a cadre of 18 astronauts in December 2020 for possible assignments to early Artemis lunar missions. The same month, NASA and the Canadian Space Agency revealed an agreement to put a Canadian astronaut on the Artemis 2 flight around the moon.

The Canadian flier will join three U.S. astronauts on the Artemis 2 mission.

Canada also secured a spot for a Canadian astronaut on a future mission to the Gateway mini-space station NASA and its international partners plan to construct in orbit around the moon. NASA is providing the flight opportunities for Canadian astronauts in exchange for Canadas contribution of a large robotic arm for the Gateway,which is intended to serve as a waypoint, spacecraft refueling station, and deep space research outpost in the vicinity of the moon.

After launching from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to begin the Artemis 2 mission, the Space Launch System will place the Orion crew capsule into orbit around Earth, where the astronauts will perform checkouts, test out the ships rendezvous and docking systems, and then fire Orions service module engine to fly to the moon a quarter-million miles away.

The Artemis 2 mission will follow a hybrid free return trajectory around the moon. The Orion crew capsule wont enter orbit around the moon, but still instead loop around the far side and return directly to Earth for splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.

The Orion spacecraft will arc out to a distanceof 4,600 miles (7,400 kilometers) beyond the far side of the moon, farther than any humans have ever traveled into space.

The Artemis 2 mission will last around 10 days, paving the way for future landing expeditions and longer-duration flights to the Gateway. As of November, the launch of the Artemis 2 mission from Kennedy Space Center was scheduled in May 2024.

NASA hasnt confirmed flight opportunities for Japan and the European Space Agency, the other major partners in the Artemis program. But astronauts from both partners are expected to fly to the moon in the Artemis program.

ESA supplies the service modules for Orion missions, and is developing a refueling and communications module for the Gateway station. Japan is helping work on an international habitation module, along with ESA, and could send resupply ships to the Gateway complex.

The first two elements of the Gateway are being built in the United States by Maxar Technologies and Northrop Grumman for launch together on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket no earlier than May 2024.

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Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.

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NASA to name astronauts this year for first Artemis moon mission Spaceflight Now - Spaceflight Now

Plus Ultra Space Outposts (Plus Ultra), a European company developing a lunar satellite constellation, and ispace Europe (ispace EU), the European branch of ispace, inc., have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate on joint lunar missions. The MoU includes the transport and deployment of satellites into lunar orbit, as early as 20241, to provide communications and navigation services.

Additionally, Ultra and ispace intend to combine their complementary capabilities to further explore the possibilities of commercial space resources on the Moon and in lunar orbit. Under the terms of the MoU, ispace would transport Plus Ultras lunar communication satellites as customer payloads to the Moon. In return, Plus Ultra would provide lunar communications and navigation services to ispace, among other potential collaborations.

Plus Ultra is planning to launch a lunar satellite constellation called Harmony to provide continuous, high-speed communications of up to 100 Mbps between any location on or around the Moon, including cislunar orbit, anywhere on Earth. With plans to begin operations in 20241, Harmony is envisioned to optimize the navigation of space vehicles, such as those operated by ispace, as well as for commercial and governmental operators of landers, rovers, space tugs, and larger transportation systems on and around the lunar surface, with the aim of enabling a whirlwind of activity on the Moon that ushers in a new era for the space economy.

Carlos Manuel Entrena Utrilla, founder & CEO, Plus Ultra said, We need a paradigm shift for space exploration and business to establish a cis-lunar economy and the collaboration with ispace is a great step towards that goal. The agreement with ispace already shows the strong commercial interest in Harmonys services allowing us to start offering complete packages for lunar vehicles and other device deployments. With our constellation we are aiming to set the de facto industry standard for lunar communications and navigation, taking it from the exclusive resource it is now to a regular 24/7 service that enables new opportunities. With the Moonlight Initiative and NASAs Near Space Network respectively, space agencies like ESA and NASA have explicitly shown their interest for a lunar communications and navigation system.

Julien-Alexandre Lamamy, managing director, ispace Europe added, A continuous, high-speed communications infrastructure is essential to enable the development of the cis-lunar ecosystem. Thats why were so pleased to work with Plus Ultra and utilize our complementary capabilities to not only achieve mutual interests, but also to establish the building blocks of a sustainable future for the lunar industry.

Dr. Marc Serres, CEO, Luxembourg Space Agency concluded, The Luxembourg Space sector has been showing continuous dynamism and development over the past years and I am thrilled to see that Plus Ultra is now also establishing its presence in the Grand Duchy. The moon is the next stop on the way to space exploration and space resources utilisation. We strongly believe in collaboration as a key success factor for the future of the space industry, and I am delighted to see the development of such projects with our national ecosystem.

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1as of January 2022

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Plus Ultra and ispace's MoU Aim to Deploy Communications and Navigation Infrastructure in Lunar Orbit SatNews - SatNews Publishers

Deep beneath the salty ocean, the seafloor is cracked. Hot gases from the layers below bubble into the water, sustaining colonies of microbial life that are eking out an existence far from the sunkissed surface.

This may sound like a scene from the bottom of Earths vast oceans, but its actually a possible description of Europa one of the icy moons orbiting Jupiter. And thanks to the upcoming Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) mission, we may finally have the opportunity to find out how accurate that description is.

Astrobiologists scientists who look for signs of life beyond the confines of our planet have long adhered to a simple mantra: follow the water. Thats because every living thing on Earth, from the tiniest bacterium to the mighty blue whale, needs liquid water to survive. While alien life without water may be possible, looking for that molecular marriage between hydrogen and oxygen is an excellent place to start.

In the hunt for HO, much has been made of the habitable zone the narrow ring around a star where the temperature is just right for liquid water. Earth sits in this region, so the majority of our water neither freezes nor boils. But the habitable zone is an imperfect concept.

At least five objects in the outer Solar System have sub-surface oceans, says Dr Mark Fox-Powell, an astrobiologist at the Open University. All are far beyond the outer reaches of the traditional habitable zone. Three of these oceans can be found beneath the surfaces on a trio of Jupiters moons: Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. Jupiter has a habitable zone of its own. The required heat isnt coming from the Sun, but from the gravity of Jupiter. It expands and contracts the moons, warming them up like squash balls.

Scores and fractures criss-cross Europas icy crust. The red-brown material is thought to be salt and sulphur compounds that have been modified by radiation Science Photo Library

While we have been to the Jovian system many times, these moons have rarely been the main attraction. The last time we were there studying them directly was with the Galileo spacecraft in the 1990s, says Fox-Powell. Instead, the focus has tended to fall on the giant planet itself. But now theres JUICE, a dedicated mission heading for its icy satellites.

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At the heart of the JUICE mission is a spacecraft thats been built by the European Space Agency (ESA). It bears a slight resemblance to a giant bird, with solar panel wings stretching out on either side of the spacecrafts main body. The sunlight at Jupiter is 30 times dimmer than the light that reaches Earth, so the panels need to be big. They cover an area equal to 85m, or about half the size of a volleyball court.

Its three-metre-diameter antenna will send the data JUICE collects back to mission control, although it will take almost two hours to travel the more than half a billion kilometres to Earth.

A scale model of the RIME antenna undergoes testing at the Hertz facility in the Netherlands ESA/ M Cowan

ESA had been working towards launching JUICE in 2022 until the coronavirus pandemic hit. Instead of the planned liftoff, this coming year will now see frantic activity as ESA scrambles to claw back the time lost during lockdown, and make the final preparations needed to ready the landmark mission for its rescheduled launch in 2023.

The original plan was for JUICE to take a convoluted route, involving five flybys of Earth, Venus and Mars to use the planets gravitational might to slingshot the spacecraft towards Jupiter, a journey that was set to take 7.5 years. ESA has yet to reveal exact details of the new timeline, but JUICE should arrive at Jupiter at the start of the 2030s. Once there, it will spend at least three years exploring Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. It will be joined by NASAs Europa Clipper mission, currently scheduled for launch in 2024 and arrival in April 2030.

Weve known about these moons for a long time. Along with Io the most volcanically active place in the Solar System Europa, Ganymede and Callisto make up the so-called Galilean moons, first seen by the Italian astronomer Galileo at the start of the 17th Century.

Of the trio that JUICE will focus on, Europa tends to steal the limelight. Its definitely the poster child of the Galilean moons, says Fox-Powell. Thats because beneath its icy crust sits an ocean that contains more liquid water than all of Earths seas, lakes and rivers combined. If theres life swimming around in our oceans, could the same be true of Europa?

Part of the problem is that the ocean is hiding beneath a thick, icy surface. We cant access it directly, says Fox-Powell. Thankfully, scientists think the icy crust and the water are interacting, a bit like the molten rock beneath Earths surface that breaks through during volcanic activity. It means we can use material on the surface to study the oceans indirectly, Fox-Powell says.

Plumes of water from the ocean below often erupt through Europas icy surface, as illustrated here. Science Photo Library

We may even be able to collect a sample of that material, despite JUICE being unable to land on Europa. The spacecraft is carrying 10 high-precision instruments to Jupiter, including the Particle Environment Package (PEP). Its designed to study dust and other molecules that have been kicked up from the surface, says Fox-Powell. Its not impossible that, if that material came from the oceans, it could contain molecules that are indicative of life.

If there are organisms in Europas oceans, then theyll need a source of energy. Hidden beneath the icy crust, they cant get that energy from the Sun. Fox-Powell sees two potential options. The Jovian system is an environment flooded with intense levels of radiation as Jupiters magnetic field slings and funnels high-energy particles around.

Any ocean material that ends up on the surface is going to be irradiated, Fox-Powell says. That changes the chemistry of the ice. One likely scenario is that the radiation is breaking water into hydrogen and oxygen, with that oxygen potentially seeping back down into the ocean below. Other potential by-products include compounds containing the element sulphur. On Earth, theyre known to support microbial life, says Fox-Powell. JUICE will help us to learn more about that ocean-surface boundary and to what extent the conditions are suitable for biology.

Alternatively, life may have colonised the ocean floor. On Earth, there are whole communities of organisms that thrive on the seabed without any sunlight whatsoever. The source of their energy is hydrothermal vents cracks in the boundary between the ocean and Earths hot interior. JUICE could help us see how geologically active Europas interior is.

While Europa grabs the lions share of public attention, its not JUICEs main target. The mission will only fly by Europa twice but will buzz past Callisto on 12 occasions. Callisto is the outermost of the four Galilean moons, so is least affected by Jupiters gravity and radiation. In contrast to Europa, whose surface is constantly reshaped by material welling up from beneath the ice, Callisto has the oldest surface in the Solar System. Unchanged for billions of years, its pockmarked by more impact craters than any other body orbiting the Sun.

Astronomers suspect that a 200km-deep ocean lies beneath Callistos ancient surface. This is where JUICEs Radar for Icy Moons Exploration (RIME) instrument will come into its own. It will transmit radio waves that can penetrate the icy shells of the Galilean moons down to a depth of around nine kilometres. From the way the radio waves are reflected back, we should be able to learn more about the moons internal structures.

Another approach will be provided by the Gravity and Geophysics of Jupiter and Galilean Moons (3GM) instrument. It will measure the gravitational fields of Callisto and the other icy moons, which will reveal how different layers of material including water are stacked up inside them.

JUICE will also use Callisto for a leg-up. Mission controllers will use the gravity of the moon to increase the spacecrafts inclination by about 30 so it can get a better look at Jupiters polar regions the source of Jupiters vast and intense magnetic field.

It is magnetism that determined where JUICE will spend the bulk of its time: Ganymede. Along with a dozen fly-bys, the spacecraft will also go into orbit around Ganymede and stay there for eight months. It will be the first time that a spacecraft from Earth has orbited a moon other than our own.

Ganymede is the most exciting body in the Solar System, says Prof Michele Dougherty, from Imperial College London. For one thing, its bigger than any other moon. In fact, its bigger than the dwarf planet Pluto and the planet Mercury. Like Europa, its also thought to have a sub-surface ocean that contains more water than we have on Earth.

Yet its Ganymedes magnetism thats the main attraction. Its unique among the moons of the Solar System for having a magnetic field of its own. Dougherty is the principal investigator for J-MAG an instrument on JUICE for measuring magnetic fields. J-MAG is located at the end of a 10.6m-long boom to keep it away from magnetic interference from the main spacecraft. Its sensitive electronics are locked inside a lead-lined vault to protect them from Jupiters intense radiation.

Auroral activity on Ganymede holds clues as to the magnetic influence of Jupiter NASA/ ESA

Dougherty wants to measure Ganymedes magnetic field in detail, including how it interacts with Jupiters own magnetic field. Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have spotted auroral activity on Ganymede. The equivalent of the northern and southern lights on Earth, the auroras should wobble around Ganymedes poles due to the influence of Jupiters magnetism.

That they dont, suggests a sub-surface ocean of salty water on Ganymede thats conducting electricity and counter-balancing Jupiters magnetic might. Studying Ganymedes magnetic field could provide further clues about the size and nature of this ocean. In turn, that could help us understand if its a place that may be home to alien life.

Separating Ganymedes magnetic field from Jupiters is far from straightforward, though, particularly given how much the planet dominates its surrounding satellites. Its like trying to find needles in a haystack, Dougherty says, but theyre changing size, shape and colour all the time. Still, shes confident the team can pull it off. The flybys will be used to practise, with the really important data coming once JUICE settles into orbit around Ganymede. The results are going to be spectacular, Dougherty says.

If shes right, itll be the crowning achievement at the end of a long and winding road. Dougherty was previously involved in another flagship spacecraft: the Cassini mission to Saturn. Discussions about JUICE began in earnest in 2008, when Cassini had already been at Saturn for four years.

It was one of Saturns moons Enceladus that made people sit up and take notice. My team was instrumental in discovering that Enceladus has plumes of water vapour, Dougherty says. Water from a sub-surface ocean was being spat out into space, showing that its possible to find water beyond the traditional habitable zone.

The discoveries at Enceladus showed us that focusing on moons of the outer planets was a good thing to do. Soon a plan was hatched to get a closer view of Jupiters icy moons. Not that its all been plain-sailing. At one point during the pandemic, with labs closed, Doughertys team was building parts of J-MAG on their kitchen tables. Building an instrument is always stressful, but the pandemic took that stress to the next level, she says.

A simplified mock-up of the JUICE spacecraft is used to carry out tests Airbus/ Rolf Schwark

That effort is all the more remarkable given that the team will eventually destroy all of that hard work. Sometime in 2034, the spacecraft is likely to run out of propellant. Without any fuel, scientists will no longer be able to manoeuvre it around the Jovian system. So the team will do whats been done before with spacecraft like Cassini and the MESSENGER mission to Mercury: deliberately crash it.

By smacking into the surface of Ganymede, JUICE will provide one final experiment to see what this gargantuan moon is made of. Its days of exploring Jupiters icy moons will be over, but scientists will continue to pore over JUICEs collection of valuable data for a long time afterwards. In 20 years time, our understanding of these moons will be different, says Fox-Powell. JUICE is going to provide a real revolution. It could, finally, tell us whether or not were alone in this vast and often surprising Solar System.

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JUICE: What secrets lie beneath the icy surface of Jupiters moons? - BBC Science Focus Magazine