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The European Space Agency just can’t seem to catch a break: the organization hasn’t been able to successfully land a space probe on Mars, with the latest setback marked by the identification of the crash site of ExoMars’ Schiaparelli lander. The ESA’s previous attempt at putting a probe on mars was the ill-fated Mars Express Beagle 2 lander, in 2003.

The probe entered Mars’ atmosphere on October 19, but contact was lost seconds after its descent parachute was jettisoned. An investigation into the probe’s telemetry shows that the parachute was released too early, and the descent thrusters did not fire long enough, resulting in the probe crashing into the Martian landscape.
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As the data being transmitted by the New Horizons space probe continues to flow back to Earth, scientists poring over the information continue to find new surprises, including possible evidence that Pluto has a subsurface ocean of liquid water. Scans of the western lobe of the dwarf planet’s "heart" show that, for some unknown reason, there is extra mass in the region. This came as a surprise to the researchers: the area, dubbed Sputnik Planum, is thought to have been formed by a meteor impact, meaning that it should have negative mass, as one would assume from an impact crater.
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A team of planetary scientists from the California Institute of Technology have published a paper documenting strong circumstantial evidence for a large planet with an orbit outside of Pluto’s. This yet-undiscovered planet is hypothesized to be smaller than Neptune, but would be 10-times more massive than Earth, and comes no closer than 30.5 billion km (19 billion miles) to the Sun.
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UPDATE – Astrologers may get their planet back after all. UPDATE: Paul Rincon writes in the BBC news that there is violent disagreement among astronomers about demoting Pluto from planetary status. Astronomer Alan Stern, of the Southwest Research Institute in Texas (where Whitley did extensive work with the late Bill Mallow on testing parts from the Roswell crash, as well as his implant) says, “I have nothing but ridicule for this decision.”

The vote to demote Pluto took place during the International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) 10-day meeting in Prague. The IAU has officially designated which planets are part of the solar system?and named them?since 1919.
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