Washington DC (UPI) Jan 28, 2024
Iran has launched three satellites into space with a rocket that had failed multiple times before, Iranian officials announced Sunday. Western authorities have said the move improves Tehran's ballistic missile capabilities. Iran has claimed the launch is part its peaceful civilian space program, but U.S. officials said in a 2023 worldwide threat assessment said launches like this one an

Tokyo (AFP) Jan 29, 2024
Japan's Moon lander has come back to life, the space agency said Monday, enabling the craft to proceed with its mission of investigating the lunar surface despite its rocky start. The surprise announcement was a boost to Japan's space programme, nine days after the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) touched down at a wonky angle that left its solar panels facing the wrong way.

The first commercial flights of a programme that uses Iris satellite technology to help modernise air traffic management and reduce carbon emissions have taken place.

Galileo, already the world’s most precise satellite navigation system, now meets international standards to guide civil aviation from take-off to landing, complementing Europe’s EGNOS for the most critical operations. Galileo was not designed to comply with these strict safety requirements, so how did engineers at ESA achieve this feat? This is a tale of engineering excellence.

A new treasure trove of images from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope showcases near- and mid-infrared portraits of 19 face-on spiral galaxies. This new set of exquisite images show stars, gas, and dust on the smallest scales ever observed beyond our own galaxy.

Teams of researchers are studying these images to uncover the origins of these intricate structures. The research community’s collective analysis will ultimately inform theorists’ simulations, and advance our understanding of star formation and the evolution of spiral galaxies.

Sydney, Australia (SPX) Jan 29, 2024
The Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT) reports its latest research project in now onboard the Chinese space station in the Mengtian experimental module. Launched aboard the Tianzhou-7 cargo spacecraft from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan province on January 17, this project represents a collaboration between BIT and Jiangsu Normal University. This space microbiology project

Paris (ESA) Jan 29, 2024
Launched in 2000, Cluster is a unique constellation of four identical spacecraft investigating the interaction between the Sun and Earth's magnetosphere - our shield against the charged gas, energetic particles and magnetic field coming from our star. Despite a planned lifetime of two years, the Cluster mission has now spent almost 24 years in orbit. Over the past two and a half deca

Boston MA (SPX) Jan 29, 2024
By clocking the speed of stars throughout the Milky Way galaxy, MIT physicists have found that stars further out in the galactic disk are traveling more slowly than expected compared to stars that are closer to the galaxy's center. The findings raise a surprising possibility: The Milky Way's gravitational core may be lighter in mass, and contain less dark matter, than previously thought. T

Washington DC (SPX) Jan 29, 2024
By studying the formation and evolution of galaxies in the early universe, researchers seek to test the predictions of our leading theory of cosmology. New research suggests that the ultraviolet luminosity of low-mass galaxies just a few hundred million years after the Big Bang may provide a way to differentiate between cosmological models. The leading theory of cosmology, called CDM, desc

Irvine CA (SPX) Jan 29, 2024
A recently discovered solar system with six confirmed exoplanets and a possible seventh is boosting astronomers' knowledge of planet formation and evolution. Relying on a globe-spanning arsenal of observatories and instruments, a team led by researchers at the University of California, Irvine has compiled the most precise measurements yet of the exoplanets' masses, orbital properties and atmosph