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UCLA’s New Degree Program in Planetary Science

https://epss.ucla.eduUCLA #planetaryscience #space #astronaut #geology #gobruins NASA As the keynote speaker during Commencement in 2021, Jessica remarked that the NASA Artemis lunar program relies heavily on the work of EPSS, helping her prepare for astronaut training: “We are building off of our understanding of the Apollo samples analyzed in this department, planning landing sites and …

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NASA’s $2.2bn Perseverance LANDS on Mars: Rover survives ‘seven minutes of terror’ to embark on 2-year mission to search for extra terrestrial life in crater that was once a lake

In the third of a ‘trilogy’ of the latest missions to explore Mars, first China with Tianwen-1 successfully reaching the Red Planet (with plans to ambitiously deploy a rover to the surface in May/June of this year). Second was Dubai and the United Arab Emirates successfully sending their Hope spacecraft to Mars, being the very …

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China’s Tianwen-1 sends back its first picture of Mars

In an ever ambitious campaign to study not only the Moon, but Mars, now China’s Tianwen-1 probe carries an orbiter, lander, and rover, set to touch down on Mars shortly. This would be the first instance of another country other than the United States successfully and safely landing at the surface of Mars. As over …

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Don’t Miss The Rare Close Approach of Jupiter and Saturn!

This evening, on 21 December 2020, you may be able to catch a phenomena not seen since 4 March 1226, which occurred roughly ~800 years ago. As viewed from the Earth, it will appear as these two planets, Jupiter and Saturn will ‘merge’ into one, which could be a fantastic sight for astrophotographers! The featured …

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UCLA Professor David Jewitt Featured on Veritasium Episode ‘These are the asteroids to worry about’

Check out UCLA Professor David Jewitt featured on a recent Veritasium (Derek Muller) fun-filled episode discussing the threat of asteroids encountering the Earth and the effects on life! The science of asteroid orbits and the importance of why they are studied as a hot topic in Solar System science is discussed in detail in this …

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Hayabusa-2: Pieces Of An Asteroid Found Inside Space Capsule

The very first samples, in human history have been recovered from the surface of an asteroid named ‘Ryugu’ (Japanese for: “Dragon Palace”, a magical underwater palace in Japanese folklore). Mysterious ‘black particles’ are in the capsule chambers, which will each tell a story of what the pristine samples of asteroids look like. JAXA, the Japanese …

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As NASA Has Selected The New Class of Astronauts, UCLA EPSS Alumni Jessica Watkins Gets Chosen Among The Newest People to Set Foot on The Moon

Former UCLA EPSS Graduate Student (under the direction of advisor Dr. An Yin also a fellow iPLEX member) has recently been selected by NASA’s new ARTEMIS Program to successfully land a man, and put the first woman on The Moon. Jessica’s strengths include working with Professor An Yin’s group working on planetary geology, more specifically, …

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Chang’e-5 Successfully Lands On Moon To Collect Youngest Lunar Samples

In China’s latest endeavour to explore to the Moon, our closest neighbour in space, the next successor (and fifth in a series of many successful Chang’e missions), Chang’e-5 has just recently touched down on the Moon to collect what is believed to be the youngest Lunar samples. Landing on the surface of another planetary body …

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Puerto Rico: Iconic Arecibo Observatory Telescope Collapses

Very sad news comes to us today from Puerto Rico, with the Arecibo Observatory (a radio telescope used for decades pioneering advances in planetary and stellar astronomy) meeting its end after the 900 ton instrument platform collapsed this morning. While the telescope itself survived many natural disasters such as Earthquakes and hurricanes, the loss of …

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