Mission Cup 2021 Semi-Finalist: Voyager 2 – the wandering mission pushing the limits of exploration

NASA’s Voyager 2 mission was launched in 1977 along with its sister Voyager 1 mission to explore the outer Solar System and beyond. The Voyager 2 spacecraft took in a grand tour of flybys of the Jupiter (in 1979) and … Continue reading →

How to heat a solar system

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This post was written by Prof Jamie Gilmour Around 4.5 billion years ago the sun formed when part of a huge cloud of gas and dust began to collapse.  If you could go back in time at look at what … Continue reading →

Around the solar system in 3967 characters

This blog post was written by The Planetary Science team in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences. ————— Every three years our group applies to the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) for funds to support our research. As … Continue reading →

NASA’s Genesis Mission: Nitrogen

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Last time we talked oxygen; this week it is nitrogen’s turn. Analysing the isotopic composition of nitrogen in the solar wind was the second highest priority science objective of the Genesis mission. Nitrogen has two stable isotopes: 14N and 15N. … Continue reading →

NASA’s Genesis Mission: Oxygen

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Following on from my last post highlighting the scientific objectives of NASA’s Genesis mission, today I’m going to focus on oxygen. Analysing the isotopic composition of oxygen in the solar wind was the highest priority science objective of the Genesis … Continue reading →

NASA’s Genesis Mission: The Science

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Last year I wrote a few posts about NASA’s Genesis mission, explaining some of the background to the mission and why we need to know more about the original composition of the material our Solar System formed from. I wrote … Continue reading →

outReaching the new generation of planetary scientists

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Hello readers!! This past month Sarah, Mark and myself have had the pleasure of being involved in two secondary school visits to SEAES, both year 8 classes. Now I say pleasure but being both mine and Marks first school visits, … Continue reading →

Mantle Plumes: A Giant Nebula Lava Lamp

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In my previous blog post I promised to write an article detailing the chemistry of mantle plumes and rift systems. However before I go into the detailed chemistry of the inner Earth it occurred to me that many of you … Continue reading →

Never stop Exploring – Why do we study the Moon?

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First off I’ll let you into a secret, my names Natalie and I’m a lunar geologist. You guessed it, I study moon rocks, and by rocks I mean small samples of grains and ‘dust’, but awesome nevertheless. My job here … Continue reading →

What is our Solar System made of?

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According to the nursery rhyme, little boys are made of frogs and snails and puppy dog’s tails, whereas little girls are made of sugar and spice and everything nice! But what about our solar system? What is that made from? … Continue reading →