Copernical Team
A Chinese spacecraft lands on the moon's far side to collect rocks in growing space rivalry with US
Japan billionaire Maezawa cancels moon trip due to uncertainty over SpaceX rocket development
China probe successfully lands on far side of Moon
China's Chang'e-6 lunar probe successfully landed Sunday on the far side of the Moon to collect samples, state media reported - the latest leap for Beijing's decades-old space programme. The Chang'e-6 set down in the immense South Pole-Aitken Basin, one of the largest known impact craters in the solar system, state news agency Xinhua said, citing the China National Space Administration.
Roscosmos Progress 88 cargo spacecraft docked at the International Space Station
NASA's unmanned Progress 88 cargo spacecraft docked successfully at the International Space Station on Saturday morning. Progress 88 linked up with the ISS at 7:47 a.m. EDT after traveling about two days from its launch point in Kazakhstan to the ISS. The Progress 88 spacecraft launched atop a Soyuz rocket at 5:43 a.m. EDT Thursday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
NASA to decide when to reschedule Starliner crewed launch
NASA officials won't know until late Saturday night if they can try to launch the Boeing Starliner on Sunday or wait until Wednesday or Thursday. "We got really close today, and the team did a phenomenal job," said Steve Stich, NASA manager for the commercial crew program, told reporters during a post-launch attempt news conference. "This is kind of the way that spaceflight is,"
Boeing Starliner's crewed launch abruptly halted, again
Boeing's second attempt at launching a crew aboard its troubled Starliner spaceship was dramatically aborted Saturday with just minutes left on the countdown clock, yet another setback for a program that has faced years of delays. With the astronauts strapped in and ready for liftoff, the test mission to the International Space Station was unexpectedly halted due to reasons that aren't yet c
Japanese billionaire cancels lunar SpaceX voyage
Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa said on Saturday he has cancelled his journey around the Moon on a SpaceX rocket, a voyage that had boasted an artist-filled crew, because of development delays. Maezawa announced in 2018 the "dearMoon" lunar orbital mission, travelling on SpaceX's Starship rocket, which was scheduled to take place by the end of 2023. However, the dearMoon's websit
Apple versus donut: How the shape of a tokamak impacts the limits of the edge of the plasma
Harnessing energy from plasma requires a precise understanding of its behavior during fusion to keep it hot, dense and stable. A new theoretical model about a plasma's edge, which can become unstable and bulge, brings the prospect of commercial fusion power closer to reality. "The model refines the thinking on stabilizing the edge of the plasma for different tokamak shapes," said Jason Par
Martian meteorites offer insights into Red Planet's structure
Mars has a distinct structure in its mantle and crust, with identifiable reservoirs, as revealed by meteorites analyzed by scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego and their colleagues. Meteorites formed around 1.3 billion years ago and ejected from Mars have been collected by scientists from Antarctica and Africa over recent decades. Scripps Oceanography geologist
China launches multi-functional communication satellite for Pakistan
China launched a communication satellite for Pakistan on Thursday night from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province, reported China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp (CASC). Carrying the Pakistani satellite called PakSat MM1, a Long March 3B rocket lifted off at 8:12 pm at the launch complex and soon placed the satellite into a geosynchronous orbit, the State-owned con