Astronomers have discovered another Earth-sized exoplanet that is the closest one to our own Solar System found so far, but it might not be a nice place to live or even visit, with conditions thought to be more like Venus than our home world.
Read MoreGJ 1132b: nearest Earth-sized exoplanet discovered so far may be a ‘Venus twin’
Looking ahead to future planetary missions, NASA has selected five new science investigations for refinement over the next year. Later, one or two of those missions will be chosen to actually be launched, perhaps as early as 2020. The selections are part of NASA’s Discovery Program, which had requested the proposals in November 2014. Initially, 27 proposals had been submitted, from which the five current finalists were chosen. The five proposals would study Venus, near-Earth objects, an unusual metallic asteroid and Trojan asteroids.
Read MoreNew NASA planetary science proposals include Venus and ‘metallic asteroid’ missions
In what may be a significant step toward the seemingly far-off goal of sending a rover to the surface of Venus, NASA has awarded two grants totalling $245,000 to a semiconductor technology firm to design complex integrated circuits which could withstand the extremely harsh environment on this neighboring world.
Read MoreNASA awards grants to Ozark IC to create circuits for proposed Venus rover
With so much attention now on the rovers and spacecraft at Mars, Saturn, Ceres, comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, and, soon, Pluto, it may seem like Earth’s closest planetary neighbor Venus has been forgotten again. But no, Venus is still very much on the minds of researchers who are busy developing a concept airplane which could cruise for years in the hellish planet’s atmosphere.
When one thinks about snow-capped mountains, the last place that might come to mind is Venus, a place where on the surface it is hot enough to melt lead. But as it turns out, Venus does have snow – sort of.