Science

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Wednesday successfully carried out the final orbit reduction manoeuvre of the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft, a week ahead of its scheduled landing on the Moon. “Today’s successful firing, needed for a short duration, has put Chandrayaan-3 into an orbit of 153 km x 163 km, as intended. With this, the lunar

India’s ambitious third Moon mission’s spacecraft Chandrayaan-3 on Monday underwent another manoeuvre, bringing it even closer to the Lunar surface, ISRO said. The national space agency headquartered here said the spacecraft has now achieved a “near-circular orbit” around the moon. Post its launch on July 14, Chandrayaan-3 entered into the lunar orbit on August 5,

Aditya-L1, the first space-based Indian observatory to study the Sun, is getting ready for its launch soon, ISRO said on Monday. The satellite realised at U R Rao Satellite Centre here, has arrived at the ISRO’s spaceport in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, the Bengaluru-headquartered national space agency said in an update on the mission. “Mostly

Russia launched its first lunar mission in the last 47 years, Luna-25, on August 11 aboard a Soyuz 2.1v rocket. The primary goal of this lunar mission is to make a soft landing on the South Pole of the Moon‘s surface. With this, Russia attempts to become the first nation to land on the lunar

Amazon.com plans to launch its first pair of prototype internet satellites late next month on a different rocket than previously planned, a spokesman said on Monday, again switching rides for the spacecraft to avoid mounting rocket delays. The company will launch the first two satellites for Amazon’s Kuiper program, which aims to offer internet globally from

Satellite operator Telesat has given space tech firm MDA a CAD 2.1 billion (nearly Rs. 12,950 crore) contract to build 198 satellites for its low-earth orbit program. The deal announced on Friday sparked a more than 45 percent surge in both Telesat’s Canadian and US shares, putting them on track for their best day ever.

Russia on Friday launched Luna 25, the country’s first lunar mission in 47 years. Luna-25 took off from the Vostochny launch facility in Russia’s Far East, the Russia-based TASS news agency reported. Launched aboard a Soyuz-2 Fregat rocket, Luna 25 took flight at 8:10 am (local time) on Friday, CNN reported. The Fregat booster separated

Mars may have seen dry and wet season cycles and thus, may have been habitable at some point in its past, according to scientists. Analysis of mud crack patterns on the early Martian surface, observed by NASA’s Curiosity Rover, suggest an irregular or episodic presence of water, meaning water could have been present for a

Russia made its final preparations on Thursday for the launch of its first lunar landing spacecraft in 47 years as it races to be the first power to make a soft landing on the south pole of the moon which may hold significant deposits of water ice. For centuries, astronomers have wondered about water on

Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft moved closer to the Moon’s surface on Wednesday after it underwent another orbit reduction manoeuvre, ISRO said. India’s ambitious third Moon mission’s spacecraft Chandrayaan-3 after the launch on July 14, had entered into lunar orbit or the Moon’s orbit on August 5. “Even closer to the moon’s surface. Chandrayaan-3’s orbit is reduced to

The Indian Space Research Organisation on Sunday said it has successfully carried out the orbit reduction manoeuvre of India’s third moon mission Chandrayaan-3, a day after inserting it into the lunar orbit. The space agency said it will carry out the next such operation on August 9. “The spacecraft successfully underwent a planned orbit reduction

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Sunday put out the first images of the moon as captured by Chandrayaan-3, India’s third lunar mission. Chandrayan-3 captured the stunning images of the lunar surface after entering the Moon’s orbit on Saturday. “The Moon, as viewed by #Chandrayaan3 spacecraft during Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI) on August 5,

The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft, which was launched on GSLV Mark 3 (LVM 3) heavy-lift launch vehicle successfully from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota on July 14, has covered about two-thirds of the distance to the Moon.  “The spacecraft has covered about two-thirds of the distance to the moon. Lunar Orbit Injection (LOI)

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Tuesday successfully performed the third orbit-raising manoeuvre (Earth-bound perigee firing) of the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft.The next firing is planned for July 20 between 2 pm and 3 pm, the national space agency headquartered here said. “The third orbit-raising manoeuvre (Earth-bound perigee firing) is performed successfully from ISTRAC (ISRO Telemetry,

After the successful launch of Chandrayaan-3 on GSLV Mark 3 (LVM 3) heavy-lift launch vehicle on Friday, Director of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) S Somanath said that landing is one important step for further exploration.  “Chandrayaan-3 is a very important step…Landing this time is very important. Unless you land, you cannot take samples, you

French space sector firm Promethee on Friday said it was exploring the possibility of placing its nanosatellites in orbit using the Vikram-series of launch vehicles being developed by Indian start-up Skyroot Aerospace.  Skyroot co-founder Pawan Kumar Chandana held discussions with Promethee President Olivier Piepsz on the sidelines of the official visit of Prime Minister Narendra

Amazon is building a $120 million (nearly Rs. 980 crore) processing facility at NASA‘s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for its thousands of planned Kuiper internet satellites, the company and state officials said Friday. The 1,00,000 square-foot building is part of the roughly $10 billion (nearly Rs. 82,000 crore) that Amazon has vowed to invest

The head of the US agency responsible for animal welfare has told lawmakers that it did not find any violations of animal research rules at Elon Musk’s Neuralink beyond a 2019 incident the brain implant company had already reported. Officials with the Department of Agriculture (USDA) conducted a “focused” inspection in response to a complaint