Germline gene editing (GGE) is a controversial procedure, prohibited by most intergovernmental and scientific bodies and is not currently medically utilized. However, given circumstances where GGE would be essential for human survival, it is possible that GGE could be ideal, ethical and even necessary. One such possible instance of this circumstance could be long-term presence of humans on other planets. In our paper, we point out that there is a strong case for genetically modifying humans, including through GGE, for a future settlement in space directed at preserving human (and other) species. To avoid unnecessarily suffering and death from such difficult missions and environments, GGE enhancements should be considered, although only if shown to be safe, well-regulated and efficacious. We also examine and detail how major ethical frameworks can be shown to support, rather than prohibit, such procedures.

Space Infrared Telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics (SPICA), the cryogenic infrared space telescope recently pre-selected for a ‘Phase A’ concept study as one of the three remaining candidates for European Space Agency (ESA's) fifth medium class (M5) mission, is foreseen to include a far-infrared polarimetric imager [SPICA-POL, now called B-fields with BOlometers and Polarizers (B-BOP)], which would offer a unique opportunity to resolve major issues in our understanding of the nearby, cold magnetised Universe. This paper presents an overview of the main science drivers for B-BOP, including high dynamic range polarimetric imaging of the cold interstellar medium (ISM) in both our Milky Way and nearby galaxies. Thanks to a cooled telescope, B-BOP will deliver wide-field 100–350 $\mu$m images of linearly polarised dust emission in Stokes Q and U with a resolution, signal-to-noise ratio, and both intensity and spatial dynamic ranges comparable to those achieved by Herschel images of the cold ISM in total intensity (Stokes I). The B-BOP 200 $\mu$m images will also have a factor $\sim $30 higher resolution than Planck polarisation data. This will make B-BOP a unique tool for characterising the statistical properties of the magnetised ISM and probing the role of magnetic fields in the formation and evolution of the interstellar web of dusty molecular filaments giving birth to most stars in our Galaxy. B-BOP will also be a powerful instrument for studying the magnetism of nearby galaxies and testing Galactic dynamo models, constraining the physics of dust grain alignment, informing the problem of the interaction of cosmic rays with molecular clouds, tracing magnetic fields in the inner layers of protoplanetary disks, and monitoring accretion bursts in embedded protostars.

This paper provides an overview of the ESA Planck mission and its scientific promises. Planck is equipped with a 1.5–m effective aperture telescope with two actively-cooled instruments observing the sky in nine frequency channels from 30 GHz to 857 GHz: the Low Frequency Instrument (LFI) operating at 20 K with pseudo-correlation radiometers, and the High Frequency Instrument (HFI) with bolometers operating at 100 mK. After the successful launch in May 2009, Planck has already mapped the sky twice (at the time of writing this review) with the expected behavior and it is planned to complete at least two further all-sky surveys. The first scientific results, consisting of an Early Release Compact Source Catalog (ERCSC) and in about twenty papers on instrument performance in flight, data analysis pipeline, and main astrophysical results, will be released on January 2011. The first publications of the main cosmological implications are expected in 2012.

We develop a family of transfer orbits suitable for the peculiarity of NEAs orbits. They involve one or more carefully planned deep-space maneuvers and one or more close encounters with the Earth. Basically, it is a gravity assist technique, but only Earth is used as the driving planet. In this manner, the orbit of the spacecraft stays near the Earth, as the orbits of NEAs. The idea is to obtain a large relative velocity in respect to the Earth, using these impulsive maneuvers. Next, successive rotations of this relative velocity vector due to resonant encounters with the Earth will, finally, shape the orbit of the spacecraft, in order to match the inclination and the orientation of apsidal line of the asteroid's orbit.

With a velocity budget less than 9 km/s most of NEAs orbits are reachable, even highly inclined ones, or orbits with relatively large nodal distances. An example is given: a rendezvous mission to asteroid (1036) Ganymed.

The main-belt asteroids are generally considered as the principal source for the near-Earth asteroids (NEAs). The ESA astrometric mission Gaia, due for launch in late 2011, will observe a very large number of asteroids (∼300,000 brighter than V = 20), the majority lying in the main-belt and with an unprecedented positional precision (at the sub-milliarcsecond level). Such high precision astrometry will enable to derive direct measures of the masses of the largest asteroids of which their precise determination will be of utmost significance for the knowledge of physical properties of asteroids. The method for computing the masses is based on the analysis of orbital perturbations during close encounters between massive asteroids (perturbers) and several smaller minor planets (targets). From given criteria of close approaches selection, we give the list of asteroids for which the mass can be determined, and the expected precision of these masses at mission completion.

The spacecraft Hayabusa, which was launched in 2003, arrived at its destination, asteroid (25143) Itokawa in September 2005. The appearance of Itokawa, a small S-type near Earth asteroids, was totally unexpected. The surface is covered with a lot of boulders and there are only a few craters on it. It looks like a contact binary asteroid. The surface composition is quite similar to LL-chondrite. The estimated density is 1.9 ± 0.13 (g/cm3), so the macro-porosity is about 40%. This means that Itokawa is a rubble pile object. In Itokawa, we may see such things that are very close to building blocks of asteroids. In this paper, we review the mission and the first scientific results.

In the next decade, numerous space missions will attempt to detect organic matter on planets and other objects in the Solar System. Recognizing carbon-based life or its remains will be a fundamental goal of future missions. In preparation, studies of organic matter in meteorites are enabling scientists how to discriminate between biogenic and abiogenic materials.