Sydney, Australia (SPX) Mar 25, 2025
Scientists have precisely determined the age of the Moon's largest and most ancient impact crater, the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) basin, using rock samples retrieved by China's Chang'e-6 lunar mission. A research team led by Prof. CHEN YI at the Institute of Geology and Geophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences analyzed the first samples ever collected from the SPA region and established that t

Greenbelt MD (SPX) Mar 25, 2025
Researchers analyzing pulverized rock onboard NASA's Curiosity rover have found the largest organic compounds on the Red Planet to date. The finding, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests prebiotic chemistry may have advanced further on Mars than previously observed. Scientists probed an existing rock sample inside Curiosity's Sample Analysis at

Oslo (AFP) Mar 24, 2025
A German start-up on Monday postponed a test flight of its Spectrum rocket from Norway's Andoya Spaceport in the Arctic, seen as a key step in Europe's new space economy. The Munich-based company Isar Aerospace said in a statement it had cancelled Monday's flight "due to unfavourable winds" and that it was working to find a new launch date. A re-scheduled launch would be the first flight

Berlin, Germany (SPX) Mar 25, 2025
Researchers from Delft University of Technology and Brown University have introduced a breakthrough in nanotechnology with the development of large-scale, ultrathin lightsails, poised to accelerate advances in both space travel and experimental physics. Published in Nature Communications, their work outlines novel materials and techniques that yield the thinnest extensive reflectors ever fabrica

Image: ESA's Atomic Clock Ensemble in Space at NASA's Kennedy Space Center

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Mar 24, 2025
Botswana has entered the space age with the successful launch of BOTSAT-1, the nation's first satellite, developed through a collaboration between Botswana International University of Science and Technology (BIUST) and Dragonfly Aerospace. Carried into orbit aboard SpaceX's Falcon 9 during the Transporter-13 rideshare on March 15, 2025, BOTSAT-1 marks a significant step forward in Botswana's amb

Sydney, Australia (SPX) Mar 24, 2025
China has reached a pivotal achievement in space science with the official completion and national acceptance of Phase II of the Chinese Meridian Project (CMP) on March 21. This endeavor marks the establishment of the world's first integrated ground-based system capable of monitoring the entire Sun-Earth space environment, from the solar atmosphere through to near-Earth regions. Initiated

Urbana, IL (SPX) Mar 24, 2025
Interstellar objects are among the last unexplored classes of solar system objects, holding tantalizing information about primitive materials from exoplanetary star systems. They pass through our solar system only once in their lifetime at speeds of tens of kilometers per second, making them elusive. Hiroyasu Tsukamoto, a faculty member in the Department of Aerospace Engineering in The Grainger

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Mar 24, 2025
Data from the European Space Agency's Euclid satellite is already delivering significant scientific insights, even though the survey has only just begun. Launched in July 2023, Euclid is embarking on a six-year mission to chart over one billion galaxies, offering fresh perspectives on dark matter and dark energy. The newly released dataset, which represents less than 0.5 percent of Euclid'

Fairbanks AK (SPX) Mar 24, 2025
Three NASA-funded rockets are set to launch from Poker Flat Research Range in Fairbanks, Alaska, in an experiment that seeks to reveal how auroral substorms affect the behavior and composition of Earth's far upper atmosphere. The experiment's outcome could upend a long-held theory about the aurora's interaction with the thermosphere. It may also improve space weather forecasting, critical