Category: Space
Airbus tests harpoon designed to capture debris orbiting Earth
A harpoon designed to spear through space junk and capture it has been tested in space for the first time. With between 16,000 and 20,000 pieces being tracked orbiting Eart, the RemoveDebris mission is hoping to address the issue of debris in space left over by past rockets and other deployments. Airbus carried out the…
NASA declares Mars rover Opportunity dead after 15 years on red planet
NASA’s longest-running rover on Mars, Opportunity, has been pronounced dead – 15 years after it landed on the red planet. The six-wheeled vehicle was built to operate for just three months. After 800+ attempts to contact @MarsRovers Opportunity, today we’re announcing the end of a successful Martian mission. Intended to explore the Red Planet for…
Spaceflight company Orbex shows off Prime rocket with 3D printed engine
A spaceflight company has unveiled a new rocket as it opened its headquarters and rocket design facility in the Highlands. Orbex, which is involved in plans to create a spaceport in Sutherland, said its new base in Forres, Moray, will bring more than 130 jobs to the region. At the opening on Thursday the company…
Black Arrow rocket returns to UK after 50 years in Australian Outback
The Black Arrow programme from 1969-71 saw the first and only successful UK-led orbital launch... An engineer who worked on the only British rocket to launch a satellite into orbit described seeing it again as meeting “an old friend”, as it went on display after almost 50 years languishing in the Australian Outback. The Black…
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin launches NASA experiments in test flight
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s rocket company Blue Origin has launched NASA experiments into space on a brief test flight. The New Shepard rocket blasted off from west Texas, hoisting a capsule containing the experiments. The eight experiments were exposed to a few minutes of weightlessness before the capsule parachuted down. The New Shepard capsule lands…
In Pictures: Lunar eclipse and the rare super blood wolf moon
The rare appearance of a 'super blood wolf moon' has given early risers a spectacular start to Monday. Caused in part by a lunar eclipse, the phenomenon makes the surface of the moon appear a reddish hue while seeming brighter and closer to earth than normal. While heavy cloud stopped some parts of the UK…
How to view the Blood Moon. Everything you need to know about the celestial event
Astronomers and skygazers will be on the look out for a lunar spectacle on Monday morning as a total lunar eclipse takes place... Commonly known as a blood moon, the celestial event will see the moon temporarily change to a reddish colour which should be visible to most of the UK – as long as…
Blood Moon set to bring lunar spectacle on Monday January 21st
A total lunar eclipse is set to take place in the early hours of Monday morning, garnishing a reddish colour to the lunar surface. Astronomers and skygazers are particularly interested in this year’s blood moon, as it is the last of its kind for two years. “We’re going into this unusual lull in total lunar…
SpaceX founder Elon Musk reveals assembled Starship test rocket
Space X and Tesla Founder Elon Musk has revealed images of his assembled Starship hopper test rocket, as the entrepreneur continues to explore ways of one day sending people to places as far as Mars. The SpaceX founder shared the first real images of the prototype from its Texas launch site, telling Twitter followers it…
China broadcasts ‘thrilling’ pictures from rover on ‘dark’ side of moon
China has broadcast pictures taken by its rover and lander on the far side of the moon, in what its space programme hailed as another triumph for the groundbreaking mission to the less-known part of the lunar surface. The pictures on state broadcaster CCTV showed the Jade Rabbit 2 rover and the Chang’e 4 spacecraft…
