The distance between Professor Scott McLennan’s desk at Oxford University and Mars is about 140 million miles, but it doesn’t stop him using his computer to direct Nasa’s latest spacecraft on the Red Planet’s surface. He is a member of a team that controls the car-sized vehicle, named Curiosity, as they try to discover if … Read more
NASA astronauts have started growing human cells aboard the International Space Station to help understand the production of human tissue in low gravity. 250 test tubes containing adult human stem cells were sent aboard the SpaceX CRS-20 resupply mission that arrived at the ISS this week. Scientists say that due to the weightlessness on board … Read more
It has been 18 years in the making, but SpaceX may finally send its first manned mission into space. The firm’s president and COO Gwynne Shotwell revealed the California company is ‘gunning for May’ to fly astronauts aboard its Crew Dragon to the International Space Station. Shotwell noted that NASA astronauts set to take the … Read more
A NASA astronaut aboard the International Space Station shared stunning images of a few major cities as the ship traveled across US east coast. Jessica Meir posted photos on Twitter and Instagram of Boston, New York City and Philadelphia as she and the rest of the crew passed over them more than 250 miles above … Read more
NASA’s uncertainty over Starliner astronaut capsule made clear as Boeing is told to take 61 ‘corrective actions’ after failed mission sent craft into wrong the wrong orbit Boeing will have to address 61 corrective actions outlined by NASA The mandate comes after a botched mission from Starliner late last year NASA has yet to say … Read more
Astronauts discovered that lettuces grown on board the International Space Station hold more nutritional value than ones grown on Earth. This is a major breakthrough for future deep space missions according to microbiologists at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida who lead the experiment. The successful cultivation of the edible plant brings the colonisation of Mars … Read more
A group of university researchers have partnered with NASA to build the technology for a self-sustaining, zero-waste human settlement on Mars. Called the Center for the Utilization of Biological Engineering in Space, or CUBES, the team is made up of scientists, researchers, and students from UC Berkeley, UC Davis, Utah State and the Planetary Science … Read more
NASA has equipped its Mars 2020 rover with everything it needs to explore the Red planet, except for a name – until now. Called Perseverance, the rover’s title was picked from a ‘Name the Rover’ essay contest that received 28,000 entries from children ranging from kindergartners to high school. The name was revealed on Thursday … Read more
The search for life on other planets has captivated mankind for decades. But the reality could be a little less like the Hollywood blockbusters, scientists have revealed. They say if there was life on the red planet, it probably will present itself as fossilized bacteria – and have proposed a new way to look for … Read more
NASA’s Curiosity rover has shared a stunning panorama of its home. Composed of more than 1,000 images of Mars’ landscape taken during the 2019 Thanksgiving holiday, the contains 1.8 billion pixels – deeming it the highest-resolution picture of the Martian planet yet. The rover used its Mast Camera to capture the photos of the Red … Read more