Space made in Bern

Since its participation in the first moon landing in 1969, the University of Bern has participated in space missions with instruments and experiments. Space instruments from Bern such as the CHEOPS space telescope, the ORIGIN mass spectrometer and three instruments for the Jupiter mission JUICE also caused a stir in 2020.

Space telescope keeps its promise

CHEOPS is a joint mission between the European Space Agency (ESA) and Switzerland under the leadership of the University of Bern in cooperation with the University of Geneva. The CHEOPS space telescope had been developed and built under the leadership of Willy Benz at the University of Bern over a period of five years and started its journey into space at the end of 2019. Since then, CHEOPS has been measuring the changes in brightness of a star when an exoplanet passes in front of it. This data is used to derive the size of the planet and, together with existing data from earlier observation projects, determine its density. In this way important information can be found out about these planets – indicating for example if they are predominantly rocky or gassy, or perhaps harbor significant oceans. This in turn is an important step toward determining whether the conditions on a particular planet can sustain life.

The first study with CHEOPS data, published in September 2020, describes one of the most extreme planets in the universe: WASP-189b, an ‘ultra-hot Jupiter’, with a temperature of 3,200 degrees Celsius and which orbits its star within only three days. At the end of 2020, CHEOPS then discovered six planets orbiting the star TOI-178. Five of the planets orbit the star in a harmonic rhythm despite very different compositions. It is the first time that a planetary system with such properties could be observed.

Did you know?

"When Buzz Aldrin became the second man to step out of the lunar module on July 21, 1969, the first thing he did was to unfurl the University of Bern’s solar wind sail and plant it into the ground on the moon, even before doing the same with the American flag. This Solarwind Composition Experiment (SWC), which was planned, built and evaluated by Prof. Dr. Johannes Geiss and his team at the Physics Institute of the University of Bern, was a first major highlight in the history of Bernese space exploration."

Unprecedented measurement sensitivity for the detection of life in space

The mass spectrometer ORIGIN from Bern also made headlines in 2020. It was developed under the direction of Andreas Riedo and Niels Ligterink from the University of Bern. It can detect minute amounts of traces of life. Space agencies such as NASA have already expressed an interest in testing ORIGIN for future missions. The instrument could be used on missions to the icy moons of Europa (Jupiter) and Enceladus (Saturn), for example. Current knowledge would suggest that the oceans, which are beneath kilometers of ice layers on the icy moons, have all the properties needed for the occurrence of life and also provide environments in which life can exist in the long term.

Contemporaneous proof of certain amino acids on extraterrestrial surfaces, such as those of Europa and Enceladus, allow conclusions to be drawn about possible life. The measurement principle developed by the Bern-based researchers is simple: Laser pulses are directed at the surface to be examined. This results in small amounts of material becoming detached, the chemical composition of which is analyzed by ORIGIN in a second step. No complicated sample preparation techniques, which could potentially affect the result, are required. ORIGIN is up to a thousand times more sensitive than comparable instruments currently in use.

Journey to Jupiter with Bern on board

The European Space Agency’s JUICE mission, which is expected to begin its journey toward Jupiter in the summer of 2022, will also be searching for signs of life. After a seven-year journey, Jupiter and three of its 79 moons – the icy moons Ganymede, Callisto and Europa – are scheduled to be investigated from 2029 onward. The Institute of Applied Physics and the Physics Institute in Bern are involved in three instruments being used on this mission.

The Institute of Applied Physics developed the optics and the calibration unit for the Submillimeter Wave Instrument (SWI) under the leadership of Axel Murk. The optics for the SWI were integrated and tested at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in the fall of 2020. The SWI will measure Jupiter’s stratosphere as well as the atmospheres and surfaces of Jupiter’s icy moons. Instead of visible light, the instrument will measure thermal radiation from Jupiter's stratosphere in submillimeter wavelengths to determine temperature distribution, composition and winds in the atmosphere. In addition, the atmospheres as well as the surface characteristics of the moons will be investigated.

Also on board JUICE will be the laser altimeter GALA, for which the ‘Range Finder Module’ was developed at the Physics Institute under the leadership of Nicolas Thomas. GALA will investigate the topography of Ganymede.

The third JUICE instrument, that was completed in 2020 under the leadership of Peter Wurz at the University of Bern, is the Neutral and Ion Mass Spectrometer (NIM) of the Physics Institute. This is part of the “Particle Environment Package” (PEP), which consists of six different spectrometers. The NIM mass spectrometer will study the chemical and isotopic composition of particles in the atmospheres of Jupiter’s icy moons, their distribution, and the physical parameters of these atmospheres.

The instruments are now being integrated on the satellite platform and the spacecraft JUICE is undergoing extensive testing.

Bernese space exploration: With the world’s elite since the first moon landing

When the second man, "Buzz" Aldrin, stepped out of the lunar module on July 21, 1969, the first task he did was to set up the Bernese Solar Wind Composition experiment (SWC) also known as the “solar wind sail” by planting it in the ground of the moon, even before the American flag. This experiment, which was planned and the results analyzed by Prof. Dr. Johannes Geiss and his team from the Physics Institute of the University of Bern, was the first great highlight in the history of Bernese space exploration.

Ever since Bernese space exploration has been among the world’s elite. The numbers are impressive: 25 times were instruments flown into the upper atmosphere and ionosphere using rockets (1967-1993), 9 times into the stratosphere with balloon flights (1991-2008), over 30 instruments were flown on space probes, and with CHEOPS the University of Bern shares responsibility with ESA for a whole mission.