Could there be life on Venus?

Jupiter’s moons might be warming each other much more than previously thought. Moons like Europa have subsurface oceans that are warmed by gravitational stretching and squishing. Scientists thought giant host planets like Jupiter were the main cause, but new modeling shows the moons’ own orbital resonances with each other may cause most of the warming effect. Pictured: The four largest moons of Jupiter in order of distance from Jupiter: Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. Image credit: NASA

After Japan’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft drops off samples of asteroid Ryugu at Earth in December, the spacecraft will head for asteroid 1998 KY26. Hayabusa2 won’t arrive at 1998 KY26 until July 2031, but on the way there it will make 3 flybys of another asteroid, 2001 CC21. Learn more about the mission here.

NASA plans to buy lunar soil from a private company to prove it can legally be done. While the 1971 United Nations Moon Agreement prohibits the ownership of lunar materials, the U.S. is not a signee, and the Trump administration supports an updated international legal framework for extracting space resources. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine says the plan is for a private company to fly to the Moon, collect a sample, and then sell it to NASA by 2024. Buyer beware: if NASA wants to return the sample to Earth, they’ll have to do so themselves.

NASA is considering alternate landing sites for Artemis 3, the mission planned for 2024 that will return humans to the Moon. The agency has previously said it will target the Moon’s south pole, where permanently shadowed craters host water ice that could be mined for air, water, and propellant. A landing near the equator could simplify the mission. One possible target: old Apollo sites.

The European Space Agency awarded funding for construction of the Hera planetary defense mission. Hera will launch in 2024 to visit asteroid Didymos after NASA’s DART mission intentionally crashes into the asteroid’s small moon in 2022. Earth-based observers will record how the moon’s orbit changes, and Hera will conduct an extensive survey of the impact site. Together the missions will determine whether smashing a spacecraft into a dangerous asteroid is a good way to shift its orbit away from Earth.

This week Planetary Radio brings you two episodes discussing the latest breaking news in space. On the Space Policy Edition, Chief Advocate Casey Dreier is joined by Scott Pace, the Executive Secretary of the National Space Council, to talk about the current administration's whole-of-government strategy to expand humanity's presence beyond Earth. Next, host Mat Kaplan talks with Venus scientist Javier Peralta about the discovery of possible biosignatures in the upper clouds of our neighboring planet. Pictured: An artist's impression of Venus, with an inset showing a representation of the phosphine molecules detected in the high cloud decks. Image credit: ESO et al.

In case you missed it: you can still find a video recording of our live event celebrating the latest book from Planetary Society co-founder Louis Friedman, Planetary Adventures. Lou traveled to Russia more than 50 times over the course of his career, working to advance international space cooperation and the exploration of Mars. As the USSR became the Russian Federation, Lou watched the attempted launch of the first-ever solar sail from a submarine, flew above a Soviet airfield in a balloon, and toured a top-secret Russian nuclear lab with Edward Teller, inventor of the U.S. hydrogen bomb. He has captured these and other stories in his new book, which you can buy in our online store.