The issue is (of course) that it should not be either or, even with constrained budgets. To paraphrase - exploration and science are linked and feed off each other, even if agency programmes are structured differently. I think this is the strongest combination.
The quote that @leighfletcher.bsky.social has clipped is also missing the point. The Moon can be a very good observation platform - including for exoplanet science, as just a plucked example. We need to ensure that it remains viable in the rush. 1/2
Are you watching the Artemis II launch tonight? Learn more about the search for water on the moon from DPhil candidate Fiona Henderson.
Congratulations to DPhil student Alex McGinty on his fantastic UKExom presentation concerning the GCM modelling of the ultrashort-period planet TOI-561b. He's been making comparisons to the JWST phase curve, results are still in prep so cannot post, but look interesting!
Congratulations to Dr Baptiste Klein (@astroklein.bsky.social) on his talk at #UKExoM meeting in Bristol. He explains how he accounts for stellar variability when studying exoplanets at high resolution!
Congratulations to DPhil student John Allen on his poster talk and presentation! He’s been doing lots of interesting GCM modelling of WASP-76b and comparing his results to the recently observed JWST phase curve!
Illustration showing the main Comet Interceptor spacecraft and the two probes observing a comet from multiple directions at the same time.
The data Giotto collected are still available for anybody to download and use through the Planetary Science Archive 👉
https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/psa/giotto
And if you're curious about what future endeavours we have in plan as far as comets are concerned, check out esa.int/cometinterceptor 3/3
Fiona Henderson ( @oxfordphysics.bsky.social ) and I have written a new article for @theconversation.com on what a #Moon base could look like.
Fi's a lunar scientist and did a great job, check it out!
🧪🔭 #planetsci
theconversation.com/nasa-plans-t...
Planets Day 2026 is a one-day meeting for researchers interested in how planets work; how to observe them; and how they could develop complex life. If you work/study in any Oxford school or department check the link in bio for more.
📍 16 March, 9am to 6pm, Jesus College, Oxford.
NASA plans to establish the first elements of a permanent Moon base by 2030.
From nuclear reactors to lava tubes and lunar south pole ice - here’s how it could actually happen ⬇️
Heritage for both came from Lunar Trailblazer and Comet Interceptor. #planetsci
Direct link to the pdf here:
ceoi.ac.uk/wp-content/u...
CEOI has made a case study for the @oxfordphysics.bsky.social thermal imaging system development that lead to our Broad Horizons Earth-observing prototype and the BEBOP/LightShip Mars mission.
Check our Broad Horizons here:
ceoi.ac.uk/technologies...
🔬🔭 #planetsci
An oblique view of a glaciated landscape on Mars. A lobate valley glacier extends towards the viewer from a small valley, and terminates in a lobe. Flow-related structures are visible on the surface.
5 days left to apply for a postdoc job with me, working on Martian glaciation!
Advert: tinyurl.com/6rzzk5d4
Relevant for glaciologists, geomorphologists, ice flow modellers, GIS or deep learning folks.
Closes 19th Jan. Queries via email.
📸HiRISE / @theseaning.bsky.social
ESA’s Comet Interceptor mission moves up launch
A delay in one European Space Agency mission is creating an opportunity for an earlier, and more capable, launch for another ESA spacecraft.
Congratulations to Prof Suzanne Aigrain (@airbornegrain.bsky.social), who has been awarded the George Darwin Lectureship!
Helen Grant (Kent) is now talking at @royalastrosoc.bsky.social on sample return from flying through the watery plumes of Enceladus and the volcanic plumes of Io. What missions those would be!
At the @royalastrosoc.bsky.social getting very excited about future sample return missions, including JAXA's MMX - launch next year, bringing back bits of Mars' moon Phobos. The hope is we'll get Martian samples sitting on the surface of the moon too. www.mmx.jaxa.jp/en/
Prof Patrick Irwin won the prestigious David Bates Medal from the EGU 2026, recognizing his exceptional contributions to planetary and solar system sciences. Irwin shared, "I am humbled to be joining such a list of laureates...I am absolutely thrilled and very thankful to my colleagues and the EGU."
And here is the 'Small Body Sample Return Missions' SDM...
In 1647, self-taught astronomer and brewer Johannes Hevelius created the first detailed map of the Moon 🌕
Nearly four centuries later, @bodleian.ox.ac.uk have brought his Selenographia into the digital age – letting anyone explore the world’s first lunar atlas.
Learn more ⬇️
Great Astrophysics colloquium today given by Prof Chris Lintott @chrislintott.bsky.social about interstellar objects and what we know so far about 3I/ATLAS
Attendees with DPhil student, Michelle Colantoni, at Observe the Moon Night 2025
The Department's annual Intl Observe the Moon Night drew 66 visitors for an evening of lunar discovery, where families explored the Moon's science & history. Catch up on our lunar research: www.physics.ox.ac.uk/news/celebrating-interna... or https://bit.ly/4qS5EoD
Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics (AOPP) Open Day 2025
Online, 2 Dec, 1:30-4pm
Meet academics plus drop-in sessions with ample opportunity for you to ask questions.
Fill in the form via www.physics.ox.ac.uk/study/postgraduates/dphi...
Looking to start a PhD in Physics & Astronomy in 2026? The team @physicsuol.bsky.social have announced their STFC-funded projects on offer next year, spanning astrophysics, planetary science, and space instrumentation. Deadline: Jan 18th, contact us to learn more!
le.ac.uk/study/resear...
A family picture of the Oxford Space Instrumentation laboratory’s thermal imagers. Clockwise from top is one of the development models for Comet Interceptor’s MIRMIS instrument (left half is a contribution from VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and right half is from Oxford); the flight spare optical layout and calibration target for Lunar Trailblazer’s LTM (in gold); and the BEBOP demonstration model, which is based on LTM and MIRMIS, but larger.
Oxford’s BEBOP thermal camera has been selected for ESA's 2032 Mars mission! It'll provide critical weather data to boost the safety of future robotic and human explorers. Read the full article: Link in bio or visit www.physics.ox.ac.uk/news/oxford-instrument-l...
check with @drksolsen.bsky.social as he is on the ACS team for TGO.
We are hiring again, help us test a bunch space-bound instruments from comets to exoplanets: my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...
If you are at #EPSCDPS2025 come find me or any of the Oxford people from more info..
oof, endian-ness mind mayhem
One possible target for Comet Interceptor (and so our @ukspaceagency.bsky.social supported MIRMIS instrument) is an interstellar object. However, as Colin and Pau show the odds are still against this but it will be interesting to see how this changes with detections from deeper survey.
