Tag: Space
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…
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…
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…
Winter Wonderland! Giant ice-filled crater on Mars photographed by ESA
An 82 kilometre-wide crater on Mars that is topped with snow has been photographed by the ESA’s (European Space Agency) Mars Express. The stunning untrodden snow scene comes as the mission prepares to celebrate 15-years since it entered the Red Planet’s orbit on Christmas Day. Korolev, as the crater is known, is thought to be…
Virgin Galactic rocket plane could reach ‘space altitudes’ during next test
An artist’s impression of the Virgin SpaceShipTwo (Virgin Galactic/PA) Virgin Galactic said its space tourism rocket plane could reach “space altitudes” for the first time as early as Thursday. The company said its SpaceShipTwo, VSS Unity, has entered the next stage of testing which will “expand the envelope for altitude,…
SpaceX Christmas delivery arrives at International Space Station
The SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft approaches the robotic arm (Nasa TV/AP) A SpaceX delivery full of Christmas goodies has arrived at the International Space Station – after a slight delay caused by a communication drop-out. The Dragon capsule pulled up at the orbiting lab three days after launching from Cape…
Astronauts arrive safely on International Space Station
Soyuz took off from Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan just after 11.31am GMT (NASA/PA) The latest batch of astronauts to take up residence on board the International Space Station (ISS) have arrived safely following a six-hour flight. Astronauts Anne McClain from American space agency NASA, David Saint-Jacques from the Canadian Space…
Tesla’s Elon Musk says there’s a ‘70% chance’ he will go to Mars
Tesla and SpaceX boss Elon Musk has reiterated his hopes of personally travelling to Mars, claiming there is a “70% chance” he will go to the red planet. In a new interview for the Axios on HBO documentary series, he said a “recent number of breakthroughs” had been made that excited him, and which he…
Russia space agency chief aims to verify US moon landings
The head of Russia’s Roscosmos space agency has said that a proposed mission to the moon will be tasked with verifying that the American moon landings were real. “We have set this objective to fly and verify whether they’ve been there or not,” said Dmitry Rogozin in a video posted on Twitter. Mr Rogozin was…
