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Institute for Earth and Space Exploration

Western student first to spot asteroid speeding past Earth

Western student first to spot asteroid speeding past Earth

For as long as he can remember, Cole Gregg has been interested in space. Last week, the Western University graduate astronomy student had a night he’ll never forget as he spotted a previously undiscovered asteroid flashing through the night sky. Studying at home due...

‘Conscientiousness’ key to team success during space missions

‘Conscientiousness’ key to team success during space missions

NASA is working towards sending humans to Mars by 2030. If all goes according to plan, the flight crew’s return trip to the red planet will take about two-and-half years. That’s a long time to spend, uninterrupted, with co-workers. Now, imagine if the astronauts don’t...

Recipe is different but Saturn’s moon Titan has ingredients for life

Recipe is different but Saturn’s moon Titan has ingredients for life

Catherine Neish is counting the days until her space launch. While the Western planetary geologist isn’t space-suiting up for her own interstellar voyage, she is playing a key role in an international mission – dispatching a robotic drone to Saturn’s moon Titan – set...

New international partnership launches Western into space

New international partnership launches Western into space

As a child, Jayshri Sabarinathan looked to the heavens most nights from her family’s apartment terrace using her prized possession – a telescope – desperate to catch a glimpse of the infamous Halley’s comet zooming though the sky. Fast forward 34 years and a new...

Did meteorite impacts help create life on Earth and beyond?

Did meteorite impacts help create life on Earth and beyond?

What if impact craters, long seen as harbingers of death, turned out to be the cradle of life? For Western University planetary scientist Gordon Osinski, this isn’t just the big question posed in his latest study, but an overriding theme of his celebrated academic...

Early Mars was covered in ice sheets, not flowing rivers

Early Mars was covered in ice sheets, not flowing rivers

A large number of the valley networks scarring Mars’ surface were carved by water melting beneath glacial ice, not by free-flowing rivers as previously thought, according to a new study by Western and University of British Columbia researchers. The findings...

CSA contract giant leap towards launching Western into space

CSA contract giant leap towards launching Western into space

Western University’s Institute for Earth and Space Exploration (Western Space) has landed a major contract from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) to develop an Integrated Vision System for future rover missions that could ultimately represent a flagship Canadian...

Junior Astronauts touching down at H.B. Beal

Junior Astronauts touching down at H.B. Beal

The Canadian Space Agency’s Junior Astronauts initiative was launched last year with a goal to engage elementary and secondary school students and get them excited about the cosmos by showcasing different ways they can be involved in and enriched by planetary and...

Western to officially launch Institute for Earth and Space Exploration

Western to officially launch Institute for Earth and Space Exploration

Western University’s new Institute for Earth and Space Exploration (Western Space) works towards two long-term objectives: Launching Western into Space and Bringing Space Down to Earth. At a special event on Monday, October 7, faculty, staff and students leading...