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Meeting with NASA legend Jeffrey Hoffman
Is life on Mars possible? What does it feel like to sit on the tip of a loaded rocket? What does Jeffrey Hoffman think about private space missions and what does NASA think about it? Read more…
Water is one of the most important chemical compounds needed for the development of life. Water molecules are also widely present in the universe, being the main component of comets. However, direct observation of cometary water is very difficult.
“It is much easier to observe hydrogen atoms released in the gaseous envelopes of comets due to the decay of water molecules”, said Michal Drahus, HYADES principal investigator.
These atoms emit a very large amount of light through the so-called Lyman alpha line, making them an extremely sensitive tracer of cometary water – both the ordinary water and its heavier variants, whose presence is evidenced by deuterium – the only stable isotope of hydrogen. However, observation of the cometary Lyman alpha line is also very difficult, since it is in the far ultraviolet range and is completely absorbed by Earth’s atmosphere. To solve this problem, as part of the HYADES (HYdrogen And DEuterium Survey) a new satellite will be specifically designed to observe the Lyman alpha line from space, outside Earth’s atmosphere.
Is life on Mars possible? What does it feel like to sit on the tip of a loaded rocket? What does Jeffrey Hoffman think about private space missions and what does NASA think about it? Read more…
Michal Drahus discussed the scientific background of HYADES as an invited speaker at the plenary session during the EAS Annual Meeting in Padova, Italy (1-5 July 2024). A recording of his talk can be found Read more…
Piotr Guzik received XVIII Artur Rojszczak Award. The award was given on May 18 2024 in Krakow during the Convention of the Club of Scholars of the Foundation for Polish Science (Zjazd Klubu Stypendystów Fundacji Read more…