James Webb Space Telescope finds 'puffball' exoplanet is uniquely lopsided

Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers have discovered that a "puffy" planet is asymmetric, meaning there is a significant difference between one side of the atmosphere and the other. The extrasolar planet or "exoplanet" in question is WASP-107 b, which orbits an orange star smaller than the sun located around 210 light-years away. Discovered in 2017, WASP-107 b is 94% the size of Jupiter but only has 10% of the mass of the solar system gas giant. This means it is one of the least dense exoplanets ever discovered, far "puffier" than expected. Earlier this year, scientists determined this is likely the result of the interior of WASP-107 b being much hotter than predicted, and the planet is also thought to possess a rocky core that is larger than what was previously modeled. These strange characteristics were explained by a scarcity of methane in its atmosphere. Now, scientists have another WASP-107 b mystery to solve. The curious asymmetry of WASP-107 b presents astronomers with a conundrum. "This is the first time the east-west asymmetry of any exoplanet has ever been observed from space as it transits its star," Matthew Murphy, a graduate student at the University of Arizona's Steward Observatory, said in a statement. Murphy and colleagues studied WASP-107 by recording light from its host star as it passed through the atmosphere of the planet as it crossed or "transited" the face of its star. "A transit is when a planet passes in front of its star — like the moon does during a solar eclipse," Murphy said, adding that "observations made from space have a lot of different advantages versus observations that are made from the ground."

An illustration of the inflated exoplanet WASP-107 b orbiting its star. (Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI))

WASP-107 b is unbalanced

WASP-107 b orbits its star at a distance of around 5 million miles, or about 6% of the distance between Earth and the sun. This means that the planet completes an orbit in around five Earth days. In addition, the exoplanet is tidally locked to its star. This results in one side, the "dayside," permanently facing the star, while the other, the "nightside," faces out to space in perpetuity.

The exoplanet isn't as hot as many worlds so close to their stars. Its temperature is 890 degrees Fahrenheit (477 degrees Celsius), which puts it between the hottest exoplanets and the relatively chilly planets of the solar system. WASP-107 b is uniquely light in terms of density, which gives rise to weak gravity and results in a highly inflated atmosphere.

"We don't have anything like it in our own solar system. It is unique, even among the exoplanet population," Murphy said.

Because elements absorb and emit light at characteristic wavelengths, the spectrum of light passing through an atmosphere can reveal what that atmosphere is made of via a technique called transmission spectroscopy. Because the JWST was able to observe WASP-107 b as it passed in front of its star, scientists were able to determine the composition of its atmosphere.

The transmission spectrum of WASP-107 b showing the composition of its atmosphere. (Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI) Science: L. Welbanks (ASU) and the JWST MANATEE team)

The JWST's high precision also allowed the team to get "snapshots" of the exoplanet and separate signals emerging from its east and west sides. This allowed them to better understand the processes happening in the atmosphere of WASP-107 b.

"These snapshots tell us a lot about the gases in the exoplanet's atmosphere, the clouds, the structure of the atmosphere, the chemistry, and how everything changes when receiving different amounts of sunlight," Murphy continued. "Traditionally, our observing techniques don't work as well for these intermediate planets, so there's been a lot of exciting open questions that we can finally start to answer.

"For example, some of our models told us that a planet like WASP-107b shouldn't have this asymmetry at all — so we're already learning something new."

The team now plans to examine the data they collected with the JWST more closely to build a better picture of WASP-107 b and pinpoint what is causing the asymmetry in its atmosphere.

"For almost all exoplanets, we can't even look at them directly, let alone be able to know what's going on one side versus the other," Murphy concluded. "For the first time, we're able to take a much more localized view of what's going on in an exoplanet's atmosphere."

Samara Aerospace claims SpaceWERX contract

Startup Samara Aerospace won a SpaceWERX contract to develop a unique approach to satellite pointing. Under a $1.25 million direct-to-phase two contract awarded in late August, Samara Aerospace will work with an Earth-imaging company to improve pointing accuracy for a 200- to 500-kilogram spacecraft. “This is a huge win for us,” said Patrick Haddox, Samara Aerospace co-founder and CEO. The innovation that prompted aerospace engineers Haddox and Vedant to found Samara Aerospace is called Multifunctional Structures for Attitude Control (MSAC). Vedant patented MSAC with James T. Allison, director of the Engineering System Design Laboratory at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory supported the technology development, said Vedant, who holds a PhD in aerospace engineering from the University of Illinois. “MSAC allows us to put small piezoelectric actuators in the hinges of deployable solar panels,” Haddox told SpaceNews. “By actuating those very precisely and in rapid succession, we can induce little circular vibrations into the panels. When you vibrate a mass in a circle, you get the same effect as spinning a wheel in a circle.” In fact, rather than inducing jitter, MSAC promises active noise cancellation, Haddox said.

Samara Aerospace is focused on Multifunctional Structures for Attitude Control, technology that includes small piezoelectric actuators in the hinges of deployable solar panels to improve satellite pointing accuracy. Credit: Samara Aerospace

“For any jitter detected at a sensitive payload, we do equal and opposite vibration with the solar panels to make the platform as steady as possible,” Haddox said. As a result, MSAC could improve pointing accuracy for Earth-observation and optical-communications satellites, he added.

“Traditionally, there’s been a fight between guidance, navigation and control engineers, who want satellite maneuverability, and power system engineers, who want large solar panels,” Vedant said. “We literally flip the trade. A larger solar panel comes with its own agility.”
Rapid Scaling

Samara Aerospace, established in 2022, completed the TechStars Los Angeles accelerator earlier this year. And in January, the National Science Foundation announced a $275,000 Small Business Technology Transfer award to Samara Aerospace and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to produce a “flight capable” MSAC demonstrator.

“The result of this Phase 1 award will be a more reliable, efficient, and industry-ready MSAC system, as well as the opportunity for a $1.5M Phase 2 grant from NSF,” Samara Aerospace posted on LinkedIn. “This would allow Samara to launch our spacecraft into orbit, providing critical data and flight heritage.”

Samara Aerospace recently opened an office in San Francisco for its staff, which is expected to double from five to 10 employees by the end of the year.

“We’re scaling rapidly and getting started on creating our first hummingbird technology demonstrator,” Haddox said.

Hummingbird is the name of Samara’s thin spacecraft bus. Thanks to MSAC, “we’re able to build our satellites flat, basically on a plate,” Haddox said.

Canopy wins Air Force contracts to develop thermal protection systems

The U.S. Air Force awarded Canopy Aerospace two contracts with a combined value of $2.8 million to develop thermal protection systems (TPS). One contract focuses on Canopy’s transpiration-cooled TBS. Under a second contract, Canopy will embed high-temperature sensors in the TPS material. Denver-based Canopy was founded in 2021 to develop manufacturing processes that rely on software, automation and 3D-printing to supply heat shields for spacecraft and hypersonic vehicles. “We’ve since expanded our vision significantly to solve thermal management across all industries including space, defense, power generation, power electronics and computer systems,” Matt Shieh, Canopy co-founder and CEO, told SpaceNews. Canopy’s latest contracts were awarded in August through AFWERX in partnership with the Air Force Research Laboratory Space Vehicles Directorate’s Atomic Long-Range Systems Branch. The Air Force Materiel Command’s Arnold Engineering Development Complex is supporting the work. The Air Force contracts “help inform and influence our work with commercial partners,” Shieh said. “We see the government as validating the technology that needs to be developed and the problems that need to be solved in this industry.”

Canopy's high-heat flux testing of thermal protection system materials. Credit: Canopy Aerospace

Transpiration Cooling

Canopy is additively manufacturing ceramic materials for transpiration-cooled TPS under one of the contracts. Hypersonic vehicles can cool themselves by expelling pressurized fluid from the leading edge. The evaporating fluid forms an insulation layer, protecting the vehicle from extreme heating during atmospheric reentry.

Under a second award, Canopy is embedding sensors in the TPS to monitor the environment. The goal is to “extend the design envelope for future systems development and reduce downtime needed for maintenance and inspection of strategic nuclear reentry systems,” according to the Sept. 5 news release.

While the research campaigns are distinct, the technologies – transpiration-cooling and embedded sensors – could be combined in future TPS designs, Will Dickson, Canopy chief commercial officer, said by email.

Canopy is holding a ribbon-cutting ceremony Sept. 5 for its new facility south of Denver. The 6,096-square-meter facility is designed for the company’s manufacturing and materials development activities.

To date, Canopy has won $7.5 million in government contracts and raised $4 million in venture capital.