Bengaluru, India (AFP) July 12, 2023
India on Friday launches its latest attempt at an unmanned moon landing, the next frontier of a burgeoning, cut-price aerospace programme rapidly closing in on the milestones set by global superpowers. If successful, the mission would make the world's most populous nation only the fourth country after Russia, the United States and China to achieve a controlled landing on the lunar surface.

Video: 00:03:03

Webb is celebrating the completion of its first year of science operations. Let’s look back on the observatory’s first year in images!

From our cosmic backyard in the Solar System to distant galaxies near the dawn of time, the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has delivered on its promise of revealing the Universe like never before in its first year of science operations. To celebrate the completion of a successful first year, a new Webb image has been released of a small star-forming region in the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex. While the region is relatively quiet, its proximity at 390 light-years makes for a highly detailed close-up, with no foreground stars in the intervening space.

Baltimore MD (SPX) Jul 12, 2023
This video, a scientific visualization of the galaxies captured as a part of the CEERS (Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science) Survey, showcases a large undertaking by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope. It flies by thousands of galaxies, starting with those nearby and ending with less-developed galaxies in the very distant universe, including one never seen before Webb. The area highlight

Beijing, China (SPX) Jul 12, 2023
The mystery of the first galaxies of the universe is an indomitable urge of human beings. The formation of them is mastered by the nature of dark matter which is also one of the most important problems faced by fundamental physics. However, understanding the nature of dark matter-for example, whether it is cold or warm-and its subsequent effect on the first galaxy formation is a huge challenge.

Ottawa, Canada (SPX) Jul 12, 2023
Our universe could be twice as old as current estimates, according to a new study that challenges the dominant cosmological model and sheds new light on the so-called "impossible early galaxy problem." "Our newly-devised model stretches the galaxy formation time by a several billion years, making the universe 26.7 billion years old, and not 13.7 as previously estimated," says author Rajend

Pasadena CA (JPL) Jul 12, 2023
Earth Planning Date: Friday, July 7, 2023. Happy Friday, Earthlings! Few things are better than planning an action-packed weekend on Mars. It's even better when the last plan executed like a charm; our drive from Wednesday's plan made it over 44 meters and put us in veiny, layered bedrock heaven! We're still headed towards a local cluster of craters ~150 meters to the east, and my Mastcam brain

Pasadena CA (JPL) Jul 12, 2023
Earth planning: Monday, July 10, 2023 This weekend, Curiosity went into runout and was unable to execute the Sols 3882-3884 plan that is detailed in last blog post. Nothing is actually wrong; runout refers to when the rover doesn't have anything to do as it hasn't received any new instructions. Runout is normally caused by an error in the uplink process - in this case, the transmitter at our DSN

Oslo, Norway (SPX) Jul 12, 2023
Scientists have 'reset the clock' for craters on the Moon, meaning that parts of its surface - which characterise the children's story of the Man in the Moon - are around 200 million years older than had been thought. Researchers from Norway and France have found a way of coordinating and recalibrating two conflicting systems of dating the surface of the Moon. This new evaluation shows tha