SpaceX has announced that it is to take human space travellers around the Moon in 2023. The original plan was to send two passengers on a Falcon 9 Heavy-launched dragon spacecraft, but this was dropped after SpaceX decided to concentrate on the BFR (now more politely...
While the original space race between superpowers – the USA and Soviet Union during the 1960s – was effectively ended with NASA’s successful Apollo Moon landings (1969-1972), a new “Great Space Race” has begun again, and this time more nations are...
While the old politically incorrect joke about a stupid country (insert a preferred nation) attempting a space mission to land on the Sun (they were going to go at night) might be intentionally ridiculous, NASA is attempting to do something close. After a one-day...
Radar data collected by ESA’s 15-year-old Mars Express spacecraft’s MARSIS instrument has revealed a 20km-wide lake of salty water under 1.5km of ice at the South Pole of Mars. The lake is said to be similar to Lake Vostok, which lies 4km under the South Pole. While...
July saw more than its fair share of space announcements, including official acceptance of a “vertical” spaceport in Sutherland, North Scotland, and a “horizonal” one getting the nod from Virgin Galactic/Virgin Orbit at Newquay, Cornwall, England. But Cornwall has...
A large dust storm on Mars which began on 30 May, started to diminish power generation on the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity as the sun was blocked out from its solar arrays. This became serious from 8 June when science operations were ordered to be ended. On 10...
