This Week in Space 230

Think you're having a hot summer? Try living on 55 Cancri-e, a super-Earth with daytime temperatures above 4000 degrees Fahrenheit. Most of these super-Earths orbit frighteningly close to their host stars and have long since had their atmospheres scraped away, leaving them baked, parched rocks. But some, like 55 Cancri, still have dense envelopes of air. How is that possible, when the planet is 20 times closer to its star than our own planet Mercury? Dr. Laura Schaefer explains how molten lava worlds defy the odds. Plus: Starship update, the first orbital data centers, and a new year on Mars.

Headlines:

• SpaceX's Starship Achieves First Full Orbital Flight With Satellite Deployments
• Google and Planet Labs Launch AI Data Center Satellite
• Multiple SpaceX Launches Within Hours Mark a New Operational Standard
• Cowboy Space Debuts Power-Beaming AI Data Center in Orbit
• Mars Celebrates a New Year on Its Extended Journey Around the Sun
• NASA Anniversary and Notable Space Birthdays Noted

Main Topic: Living on Lava Worlds—Atmospheres, Extreme Planets, and the Search for Life

• Early Exoplanet Detection Methods and Evolution of Exoplanet Surveys
• Cosmic Shoreline Concept: How Gravity and Stellar Radiation Shape Planetary Atmospheres
• Airless Valleys, Sandbars, and Other New Categories for Rocky Exoplanets
• Permanent Magma Oceans: Why Some Lava-covered Worlds Retain Atmospheres
• Volatiles, Atmosphere Loss, and The Soda-Bottle Effect on Hot Exoplanets
• Sandbar Regime: Superheated Planets Keep Atmospheres Longer Than Expected
• Case Study: 55 Cancri e and the Myth of the Diamond Planet
• K2-18b: Possibilities of a Water World or Another Magma-Lava Hybrid
• Redefining Goldilocks Zones With Atmospheric Survival Factors
• Tidal Heating, Volcanism, and Dynamics Shaping Exoplanet Atmospheres
• Future Directions: Webb Telescope, Habitable Worlds Observatory, and Prospects for Imaging True “Earths”

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Links

• SpaceX launches Starship into orbit for 1st time — largest rocket ever built notches key milestone on dramatic Flight 14 test
• Wow! Watch SpaceX's Starship megarocket deploy satellites into orbit for 1st time ever
• SpaceX launches Google AI satellite, 129 other payloads on 2nd leg of spaceflight tripleheader
• Happy New Year, Mars! The Red Planet begins another circuit around the sun
• Why some planets have theory-defying atmospheres
• The Habitable Zone
• 55 Cancri e
• Cosmic Sandbar, Airless Valley, and Cosmic Shoreline
• K2-18 b
• Nearby super-Earth K2-18 b may be a water-rich ocean planet: 'This has certainly increased the chances of habitability'