While the planet has been on lockdown the last two months, a new space telescope called CHEOPS opened its eyes, took its first pictures of the heavens and is now open for business.

We’ve all been there. We queue up to board our plane at the gate, wait for a few people to be turned back because their row number hasn’t been called and queue again getting onto the plane itself, waiting for passengers to have their ticket checked and then wrestle with their bags getting them into the overhead lockers.

The coronavirus pandemic is going to change every aspect of our lives. It’ll be a long time before anyone feels comfortable crowding into a airliner for a long-haul flight, but sooner or later the package holiday companies will start up again.

You have to feel for the little fella. Pluto doesn’t have the bling of Saturn’s rings. It lacks the famed little green men of Mars. It certainly isn’t as much fun to say as Uranus.

Jason Steffen, professor at the University of Nevada Las Vegas joins The Matt Bubala Show to discuss all things airplanes, updates on the Kepler Mission and future projects. Tune in to the full conversation here.

No one enjoys boarding an airplane. It’s slow, it’s inefficient, and often undignified. And that’s without even getting into the ethical quandary of so-called gate lice, the anxious passengers who cluster at the gate before their group is called. But at least one part of the process doesn’t need to be disrupted. When it comes to shunting slow-moving passengers to the front of the queue, such as those requiring assistance or with small children, the airlines have it exactly right.

A team of researchers led from Norway used space-time geometry techniques to explore the factors that lead to a speedy take-off or an agonising delay on the tarmac.

Commercial airlines often prioritize boarding for passengers traveling with small children, or for those who need extra assistance—in other words, those likely to be slower to stow their bags and take their seats—before starting to board the faster passengers. It's counter-intuitive, but it turns out that letting slower passengers board first actually results in a more efficient process and less time before takeoff, according to a new paper in Physical Review E.