Author Archive
Arriving at Mars
On 19 October 2016, the spacecraft Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) of the European ExoMars mission will manoeuvre into Mars orbit. On board is a camera built at the University of Bern, the Colour and Stereo Surface Imaging System CaSSIS. In the video Principal Investigator Nicolas Thomas explains what will happen after the arrival at Mars. […]
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Swiss Government in the Clean Room
To kick of their annual “school trip” in summer 2016 all seven members of the Swiss Federal Council visited the University of Bern. The professors Willy Benz, Kathrin Altwegg and Nicolas Thomas presented their space projects: the space telescope CHEOPS, the Rosetta spectrometer ROSINA-RTOF and the mars camera CaSSIS. For entering the CHEOPS laboratory the […]
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The sky is full of moons
On the 5th of September 2016, the Minor Planet Center reported that a small moon is in orbit around asteroid (6016) 1991 PA11. This newly discovered companion is actually just one of many such objects. By Adrien Coffinet The Moon, with a capital “M”, has since long ago been known to orbit the Earth. However, we had […]
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Prepare for Lift-Off with the Space Transformer
On 24 November 2016 the completely redesigned permanent space exhibition at the Museum of Transport in Switzerland will open its doors to the public. “Space – The Exhibition” is designed so that visitors can experience a predetermined course through various areas and adventure experiences relating to the theme Space and Space Exploration. The exhibition was developed […]
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“As a child I wanted to be an astronaut”
Hilke Schlichting, Professor at MIT/UCLA, came to NCCR PlanetS as Visiting Scholar for two weeks in September 2016. The Visiting Scholars’ programme invites prominent senior scientists in the field to give scientific seminars and, in addition, to share their experience with young researchers at PlanetS. Hilke Schlichting’s research interests span all aspects of planet formation […]
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Alien biochemistry on Titan
Titan is a large moon of Saturn discovered in 1655 by Christiaan Huygens with a two inch telescope. It is a cold world. At its distance from the Sun it receives just one percent of the sunlight that Earth receives and its surface is a chilly minus 180 centigrade! In December 2004 the Cassini-Huygens twin […]
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PlanetS Board made its choice
Finding as many planets as possible in the close solar neighbourhood and the formation of giant planets at large orbital distances: These are the topics of the two proposals that were selected as new initiatives to be funded by the PlanetS Board. Sascha Quanz and Christophe Lovis are the authors of the first proposal, Christoph […]
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Swiss Federal Council on “School Trip” to the University of Bern
To kick off its annual “school trip” around the country, the Swiss Federal Council paid the Center for Space and Habitability of the University of Bern a visit on July 7th, 2016. The members of government were informed about the important role the university plays in space projects such as ROSINA / Rosetta, ExoMars and […]
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A Successful Open House Day at the Geneva Observatory
The morning rain and afternoon clouds on Saturday 2nd July 2016 did not discourage some 1200 visitors from discovering Astrotech, the new building of the Astronomical Observatory of the University of Geneva, officially opened five days earlier. An important event for PlanetS since it is in this new building that members of the NCCR and […]
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Giving a good talk
By Audra Baleisis In the last issue of the Insider, you had a chance to read a variety of opinions from PlanetS project leaders about what is necessary for a good science talk (for a Journal Club, group seminar, conference, or job talk). With so many different voices, sometimes saying different things, it can be […]
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