Science

A SpaceX rocket carried 52 Starlink internet satellites into orbit from California early Saturday. The two-stage Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from coastal Vandenberg Space Force Base at 4:41am (6:11pm IST) and arced over the Pacific. The Falcon’s first stage returned and landed on a SpaceX droneship in the ocean. It was the 11th launch

Arrival of winters is indeed a pleasant emotion for everyone and a bit more for birders, since with fall migration arrives the mesmerising flocks of migratory birds. And every birder emphasises on making the most of it, but for a new birder arises the question, “Do I need a spotting scope?” specifically for waterfowl and

US space agency NASA is now carrying out tests on the crucial hardware that will bring rock and sediment samples from Mars to Earth for closer study. NASA is already collecting those samples using its Perseverance rover and taking images with a tiny helicopter named Ingenuity. Both these machines were launched on the Red Planet

The power sector is undergoing a rapid change globally as the world shifts to renewable energy and cuts down on using fossil fuels. However, a big roadblock to generating electricity from wind and solar energy is their intermittent nature due to unfavourable environmental conditions. To address this problem, storage was found in hydrogen batteries. But

NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover has been feeding us with several discoveries from the Red Planet ever since it landed on it in February this year. After nearly 10 months of driving around the Jezero Crater, researchers are beginning to understand that the region had been formed from red-hot magma, possibly from a long-dormant Martian volcano.

An analysis of three-toed, meat-eating dinosaurs has revealed that they may have sprinted faster than a car being driven on the city roads. The footprints, left behind by these theropods over lakebed mud tens of millions of years ago, were studied by scientists. The researchers discovered two sets of fossilised footprints in Spain’s La Rioja

James Webb Space Telescope, the largest space telescope ever and the most noteworthy after Hubble, has been placed atop the Ariane 5, the rocket which will launch it to space from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. The James Webb Space Telescope has been designed to find answers to outstanding questions about the universe and for

Astronauts who travel into orbit and put up with extended stays at the International Space Station (ISS) often face vision problems. This has been linked to the micro gravitational environment in spacecraft, which leads to swelling in the brain and optic nerves. The condition, known as spaceflight-associated Neuro-Ocular Syndrome,or SANS, may have a solution now.

Mars’ huge canyon system, Valles Marineris, may hold hidden water beneath the surface, according to a new study. The European Space Agency (ESA) and Roscosmos’ collbaorative ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) discovered large volumes of water in the canyon’s heart. By monitoring the hydrogen concentration in the uppermost metre of the Red Planet’s soil, TGO’s

Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa is stationed aboard the International Space Station (ISS) this week. The 46-year-old is the first self-paying tourist to visit the ISS since 2009, and it appears his vacation is worth the money spent. The views he captured from the ISS could make anyone envious. Maezawa captured the Earth in a time-lapse

Images of outer space captured by the Hubble Space Telescope often leave us baffled. The vibrancy of colours and the detail of visual information packed into one photo is more than enough to keep us hooked to these stellar images. The European Space Agency (ESA) recently shared yet another astonishing photo on their Instagram. Sharing

The Parker Solar Probe, one of the most ambitious missions launched by NASA, has become the first spacecraft ever to pass through the Sun’s atmosphere, venturing briefly into a region known as the corona. The historic feat was achieved in April but analysis of the data has confirmed the achievement only now. During its journey

NASA has announced a collaboration with aerospace company Axiom Space for its second private astronaut mission to the International Space Station (ISS). The space agency said it will now negotiate with Axiom on a mission order agreement for the Axiom Mission 2 (Ax-2). The mission, which will see a spacecraft docked to the ISS for

The United States is testing satellite resiliency to threats from China and Russia miles above the earth’s surface, just weeks after Russia shot down an aging communications satellite The computer-aided simulations included potential shooting down of the US missile-tracking satellites, satellite jamming, and other electronic warfare “effects” that are possible tactics in space warfare. Actual

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on Monday for new rules covering the use of autonomous weapons as a key meeting on the issue opened in Geneva. Negotiators at the UN talks have for eight years been discussing limits on lethal autonomous weapons, or LAWS, which are fully machine-controlled and rely on new technology such

A video reportedly recorded by an American military pilot over the South China Sea shows a dozen unidentified flying objects (UFOs) near Hong Kong, before suddenly disappearing into the clouds. The video shows three sets of four mysterious light formations flying in the distance above the clouds. It was filmed on November 24 and has

The extinction of dinosaurs took place about 66 million years ago but we are yet to know the full impact of the asteroid that wiped out this species. Scientists are still studying the disaster and continuously unearthing new aspects of the devastating impact. Now, researchers say that if the asteroid’s trajectory had been slightly different,

Space mining is an idea that began taking hold at the turn of the century, and 10 years ago, it was passionately discussed. Many argued that space mining could revolutionise the commercial space economy by employing robots and private astronauts to explore and mine near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) for precious metals and even rare earth metals.

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin company blasted its third private crew into space on Saturday and brought it back safely, this time including the daughter of the first American astronaut. The stubby white spacecraft with a round tip blasted off into clear blue skies over West Texas for a roughly 11-minute trip to just beyond the internationally

A star younger than our Sun but similar in size has got scientists worried and they say everyone should be worried too. The star, called EK Draconis, is located dozens of lights years away from us and has been spewing out massive fireworks. Scientists recently watched it having an energy blast and ejecting charged particles