Interstellar Updates

 

These are items of interest to the interstellar exploration community that we’ve found in our quest for information that will help us advance toward our goals.  If you know of anything we’ve overlooked, or any sources of such information we should monitor, or if you would like to be added to our IRG-updates mailing list and receive these updates in you email every weekday, please send that information to info@irg.space.

You can now search our database of interstellar updates and find items of interest to you.

August 6, 2019 updates

Parameterizing the Search Space of Starshade Fuel Costs for Optimal Observation Schedules
https://arc.aiaa.org/doi/10.2514/1.G003747

Space travel might fry your brain, causing permanent learning and memory problems
https://phys.org/news/2019-08-space-brain-permanent-memory-problems.html

New concerns for neurocognitive function during deep space exposures to chronic, low dose rate, neutron radiation
https://www.eneuro.org/content/early/2019/08/05/ENEURO.0094-19.2019

Analytical estimates of secular frequencies for binary star systems
https://arxiv.org/abs/1908.01048

Eccentricities and the Stability of Closely-Spaced Five-Planet Systems
https://arxiv.org/abs/1908.01117

Atmospheric characterization of terrestrial exoplanets in the mid-infared: biosignatures, habitability & diversity
https://arxiv.org/abs/1908.01316

Expected performances of the Characterising Exoplanet Satellite (CHEOPS). I. Photometric performances from ground-based calibration
https://arxiv.org/abs/1908.01636

Unexpected gap creating two peaks in the periods of planets of metal-rich sunlike single stars
https://arxiv.org/abs/1908.01679

Is there anybody out there?
https://arxiv.org/abs/1706.01907

August 5, 2019 updates

E.T. Hunt Shouldn’t Be Limited to Earth-like Life, Scientists Say
https://www.space.com/alien-life-hunt-not-limited-earth-like-life.html

TESS Science Conference I
https://tsc.mit.edu/

TESS Science Conference I Live
http://web.mit.edu/webcast/tess/sum19/

Community Involvement in the WFIRST Exoplanet Microlensing Survey
https://arxiv.org/abs/1908.00548

The HST PanCET Program: Exospheric Mg II and Fe II in the Near-UV transmission spectrum of WASP-121b using Jitter Decorrelation
https://arxiv.org/abs/1908.00619

August 2, 2019 updates

Shining (Star)light on the Search for Life
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2019/shining-starlight-on-the-search-for-life

The uncertainty of detecting planets
https://phys.org/news/2019-08-uncertainty-planets.html

Analytical Solution for the Three-Dimensional Motion of a Circumbinary Planet Around a Binary Star
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1384107619302003

An Exo-Kuiper Belt and An Extended Halo around HD 191089 in Scattered Light
https://arxiv.org/abs/1908.00006

Investigating Trends in Atmospheric Compositions of Cool Gas Giant Planets Using Spitzer Secondary Eclipses
https://arxiv.org/abs/1908.00014

Sensitivity Analyses of Exoplanet Occurrence Rates from Kepler and Gaia
https://arxiv.org/abs/1908.00203

August 1, 2019 updates

Interstellar Probe: Highway to the stars
https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EPSC-DPS2019/EPSC-DPS2019-1093-1.pdf

A Conceptual Framework for Breakthrough Technologies
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/proceedings-of-the-international-conference-on-engineering-design/article/conceptual-framework-for-breakthrough-technologies/FAF1912C994C1ED73E834685BC94DFDC

Preliminary Calculations of Particle Bombardment Physics due to Dust and Charged Particles in the Interstellar Medium on the Breakthrough Initiatives Project Starshot Gram-Scale Interstellar Probe
https://www.interstellarresearchcentre.com/s/StarshotParticleBombardmentkflongb.pdf

Measuring Dust Impact Effects in the Interstellar Mediumfor the 1000 AU Interstellar Probe Mission
https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EPSC-DPS2019/EPSC-DPS2019-1991-1.pdf

The Hubble Space Telescope PanCET Program: Exospheric Mg ii and Fe ii in the Near-ultraviolet Transmission Spectrum of WASP-121b Using Jitter Decorrelation
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-3881/ab2986

Analyzing Atmospheric Temperature Profiles and Spectra of M dwarf Rocky Planets
https://arxiv.org/abs/1907.13135

Identifying Candidate Atmospheres on Rocky M dwarf Planets via Eclipse Photometry
https://arxiv.org/abs/1907.13138

A Scaling Theory for Atmospheric Heat Redistribution on Rocky Exoplanets
https://arxiv.org/abs/1907.13145

Identifying Atmospheres on Rocky Exoplanets Through Inferred High Albedo
https://arxiv.org/abs/1907.13150

Hot Hydrogen Climates near the inner edge of the Habitable Zone
https://arxiv.org/abs/1907.13169

The Habitability of GJ 357 d : Possible Climates and Observability
https://arxiv.org/abs/1907.13215

July 31, 2019 updates

Planetary system around the nearby M dwarf GJ 357 including a transiting, hot, Earth-sized planet optimal for atmospheric characterization
https://arxiv.org/abs/1904.12818

Characterizing K2 Candidate Planetary Systems Orbiting Low-mass Stars. IV. Updated Properties for 86 Cool Dwarfs Observed during Campaigns 1–17
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-3881/ab2895

Properties of the Interstellar Medium along Sight Lines to Nearby Planet-hosting Stars
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ab1f6d

Photosynthesis on Exoplanets and Exomoons from Reflected Light
https://arxiv.org/abs/1907.12576

Flaring activity of Proxima Centauri from TESS observations: quasi-periodic oscillations during flare decay and inferences on the habitability of Proxima b
https://arxiv.org/abs/1907.12580

Effects of primitive photosynthesis on Earth’s early climate system
https://arxiv.org/abs/1907.12995

Anoxygenic photosynthesis and the delayed oxygenation of Earth’s atmosphere
https://arxiv.org/abs/1907.13001

Dealing With δ-Scuti Variables: Transit Light Curve Analysis of Planets Orbiting Rapidly-Rotating, Seismically Active A/F Stars
https://arxiv.org/abs/1906.01029