A new multimillion-rand telescope in the Karoo will offer astronomers an unprecedented view of the stars. The MeerLICHT instrument in Sutherland will be specifically linked to the MeerKAT radio telescope array near Carnarvon in the Northern Cape. Unlike its bigger brother SALT (Southern African Large Telescope), the MeerLICHT is meant …
The design for NASA’s newest behemoth of a rocket harkens back to the giant workhorse liquid rockets that propelled men to the moon. But this time the destinations will be much farther and the rocket even more powerful. The Obama administration today unveiled its much-delayed general plans for its rocket …
The Milky Way abounds with low-mass planets, including small, rocky ones such as Earth. That's the main conclusion of a team of European astronomers, based on their latest haul of extrasolar planets. The new discoveries—55 new planets, including 19 "super-Earths"—were presented here today at the Extreme Solar Systems II conference …
Planet At Right Distance From Its Star For Water To Exist European astronomers said on Monday that they had found what might be the best candidate for a Goldilocks planet yet: a lump of something about 3.6 times as massive as the Earth, circling its star at the right distance …
Washington: A spacecraft circling the moon has snapped the sharpest photos ever of the tracks and trash left behind by Apollo astronauts in their visits from 1969 to 1972. Images taken by Nasa’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter from 13 to 15 miles up show the astronauts’ paths when they walked on …
Capa Canaveral: Four decades after landing men on the moon, Nasa is returning to Earth’s orbiting companion, this time with a set of robotic twins that will measure lunar gravity while chasing one another in circles. By creating the most precise lunar gravity map ever, scientists hope to figure out …
New Delhi: Five asteroids, including a rare Trojan asteroid, have been discovered by ten Indian students during an international astronomy project. Of the ten students, two are from Delhi, who discovered a main belt asteroid (2011 QM14) in August as part of the All India Asteroid Search Campaign (AIASC). Vaibhav …
Collision Risk Up For Satellites, Astronauts. Cape Canaveral: The amount of debris orbiting the Earth has reached “a tipping point” for collisions, which would in turn generate more of the debris that threatens astronauts and satellites, according to a US study released on Thursday. Nasa needs a new strategic plan …
Anew site being explored by the Mars rover Opportunity has yielded soil samples unlike any examined before on the red planet and that appear more favourable for life, scientists said. Opportunity, the indefatigable robot that has been exploring Mars for seven and a half years, arrived three weeks ago at …
Two Delhi students have made history by discovering an asteroid as part of a unique astronomy project connected to US space agency NASA. The duo will also get an opportunity to name the asteroid. Vaibhav Sapra and Sharanjeet Singh, class XII students of Bal Bharati Public School in Pitampura, discovered …
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) plans to build a new class of powerful communication satellites that packs more capacity and new technologies, its Chairman K Radhakrishnan said here today. This kind of spacecraft would handle larger amount of power and accommodate more number of transponders in the same satellite, he …
Washington: Astronauts on the first manned mission to Mars are considering to grow their own food in a hi-tech “kitchen garden” onboard their spaceship, according to Nasa. Supplying enough food for a round trip to the Red Planet is one of the greatest challenges facing mission planners. Now the US …
Astronomers have spotted an exotic planet that seems to be made of diamond racing around a tiny star in our galactic backyard. The new planet is far denser than any other known so far and consists largely of carbon. Because it is so dense, scientists calculate the carbon must be …
Scientists have found evidence of flowing salt water on steep Martian slopes, which if confirmed would be the first discovery of active liquid water on the red planet, NASA said Thursday. The data gathered by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has given new focus to the hunt for life forms and …
Observations from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have revealed possible flowing water during the warmest months on Mars, the space agency announced Thursday. “NASA’s Mars Exploration Program keeps bringing us closer to determining if the Red Planet could harbour life in some form,” NASA Administrator Charles Bolden was quoted by the …
‘Moon’s Smaller Companion Perished In A Collision With Big Sister’ London: Earth may once have had two moons — the one which shines at night now and a smaller companion which perished in a slow motion collision with its big sister, a new research has suggested. Astronomers said the collision …
Florida: Nasa heads for Jupiter this week. And its mission can’t get much greener. A solar-powered, windmillshaped spacecraft named Juno is set to become the most distant probe ever powered by the sun. The robotic explorer is equipped with three tractor-trailersize solar panels. A rocket is set to launch the …
Ranchi, July 31: Children of Nagri-based Rajkiyakrit Government Middle School have not let the dreams of a woman’s quest for the unknown crash into nothing. A garden, situated around 18km from the state capital, is Jharkhand’s link to Indian-American astronaut Kalpana Chawla, one of the seven crew members killed in …
London: Planetary scientists claim they have finally solved a 14-year mystery by discovering the source of the water in Saturn’s upper atmosphere. A team, led by Paul Hartogh of Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Germany, says that the Herschel space observatory has found giant jets of vapour …
End Of 30-Yr Shuttle Era: Atlantis Returns Home After Last Space Odyssey Cape Canaveral: The space shuttle Atlantis glided home through a clear moonlit sky on Thursday to complete a 13-day cargo run to the International Space Station and a 30-year odyssey for Nasa
This year, a rocket will carry a boxcar-sized module into orbit, the first building block for a Chinese space station. Around 2013, China plans to launch a lunar probe that will set a rover loose on the moon. It wants to put a man on the moon, sometime after 2020. …
