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NASA’s IXPE Challenges Theories on Black Hole Corona and Polarised X-Ray Emissions
NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) has made surprising observations in a black hole binary system, detecting a high degree of X-ray polarisation that challenges current models of corona structure and accretion discs. In X-ray binaries, black holes pull matter from nearby stars, forming hot accretion discs and coronas.
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NASA Explores Industry Collaboration to Boost Swift Observatory’s Orbit and Extend Its Mission
NASA is partnering with U.S. firms to study boosting the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory’s orbit, aiming to extend its scientific life and advance orbital servicing technologies. Funded through Phase III SBIR awards, the project explores cost-effective solutions while preserving Swift’s astrophysics role. Collaboration with Starfish Space may al...
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NASA Artemis II Orion Spacecraft Prepares for Historic Crewed Moon Mission with Safety Systems Installed
NASA’s Artemis II Orion spacecraft has taken another major step toward launch. After being fueled, it was moved to the Launch Abort System Facility at Kennedy Space Centre, where engineers are integrating a 44-foot-tall escape system to protect astronauts during liftoff. The mission will see four astronauts, including one from Canada, fly around ...
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ESA’s Mars Express Discovers Deep Valleys and Frozen Features Hinting at Mars’ Icy Past
In July 2025, the European Space Agency’s Mars Express orbiter captured a high-resolution image of Acheron Fossae, a region marked by deep chasms and ridges on Mars’s surface. These features, created by ancient crustal stretching, split the terrain into raised horsts and sunken grabens. Valley floors reveal smooth surfaces carved by slow-moving...
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Habitable Zone Explained: The ‘Goldilocks Zone’ Where Life-Friendly Planets May Exist
The habitable zone, or “Goldilocks zone”, is the region around a star where conditions allow liquid water to exist. Varying with star type, this zone is key in the search for life. Earth’s location in the Sun’s habitable zone has made life possible, and astronomers seek similar rocky exoplanets in other systems to explore the possibility of...
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Apollo 13 Commander Jim Lovell, Hero of Space Crisis, Dies at 97
Jim Lovell, legendary NASA astronaut and commander of Apollo 13, has died at 97. Renowned for turning a life-threatening lunar mission into a historic survival story, Lovell flew four pioneering spaceflights, including Apollo 8. His steady leadership during crisis inspired generations and cemented his place as one of space exploration’s most resp...
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SpaceX to Fly Italian Science Experiments to Mars on Starship in 2026
SpaceX has signed a landmark agreement with the Italian Space Agency (ASI) to deliver Italian science experiments to Mars aboard its Starship rocket. Announced on August 7, 2025, the mission will carry a plant-growth module, a meteorological station, and a radiation detector to collect crucial data during the six-month journey and on the Martian su...
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NASA Aims to Deploy Nuclear Reactor on Moon by 2030 for Strategic Power
NASA is accelerating plans to deploy a 100-kilowatt nuclear reactor on the Moon by 2030, according to interim head Sean Duffy. The reactor would ensure steady power through long lunar nights and help secure water-ice resources at the Moon’s south pole. China and Russia also aim for lunar reactors by the mid-2030s, sparking a geopolitical “moon ...
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NASA Awards Firefly $177M for 2029 Mission to Deliver Rovers to Moon’s South Pole
NASA has awarded Firefly Aerospace a $176.7 million contract for a groundbreaking 2029 mission to the moon’s south pole. The CLPS mission will deploy multiple rovers and scientific instruments to explore permanently shadowed regions, analyze lunar regolith, and search for water ice—key steps toward supporting Artemis program goals and enabling ...
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Scientists Explore Role of Space Radiation in Powering Alien Microbial Life
A new study proposes that life may exist far from sunlight in a “radiolytic habitable zone” deep beneath the icy surfaces of Mars, Europa, and Enceladus. Cosmic rays, which can penetrate rock and ice, break water molecules apart to release hydrogen, oxygen, and energy-rich electrons. These can fuel microbes in subsurface water, much like bacter...
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ESA JUICE Mission Scans Jupiter's Lunar Crater in Test Run for Alien Life
ESA’s JUICE spacecraft scanned the famous Earthrise crater on the Moon to test radar for future exploration of Jupiter’s icy moons. The data confirmed JUICE’s radar accuracy, setting the stage for a search for life beneath Europa and Ganymede. The crater, immortalised in a 1968 Apollo 8 photo, now plays a role in extraterrestrial science.
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NASA Data Shows Pluto’s Equator Is Lined with Towering Methane Ice Spires
New research based on New Horizons’ decade-old data has uncovered extensive bladed terrain made of methane ice on Pluto. These towering spires, arranged in spaced-out, parallel rows, are likely shaped by seasonal condensation and sublimation cycles. While the terrain spans over half the planet’s midsection, five times the width of continental U...
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'HOPE' In Ladakh To Simulate Life On Mars, A "Rehearsal" For Future
Located at an altitude of 4.3 kilometres above sea level, Himalayan Outpost for Planetary Exploration (HOPE) is designed to simulate Mars-like conditions and will serve as a testbed for future crewed missions to the Moon and beyond.
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Earth Imaging Satellite NISAR Exposes NASA's Weaknesses, ISRO's Strengths
Wendy Edelstein, NISAR's Deputy Project Manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), asserted, "NISAR is a 50-50 partnership between NASA and ISRO".
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ISRO-NASA's $1.3 Billion Revolutionary Earth Imaging Satellite NISAR Set For Launch
In a historic collaboration between the United States and India, the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar satellite, also known as NISAR, is poised to revolutionise how we observe and understand our planet.
-
NASA’s IXPE Challenges Theories on Black Hole Corona and Polarised X-Ray Emissions
NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) has made surprising observations in a black hole binary system, detecting a high degree of X-ray polarisation that challenges current models of corona structure and accretion discs. In X-ray binaries, black holes pull matter from nearby stars, forming hot accretion discs and coronas.
-
NASA Explores Industry Collaboration to Boost Swift Observatory’s Orbit and Extend Its Mission
NASA is partnering with U.S. firms to study boosting the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory’s orbit, aiming to extend its scientific life and advance orbital servicing technologies. Funded through Phase III SBIR awards, the project explores cost-effective solutions while preserving Swift’s astrophysics role. Collaboration with Starfish Space may al...
-
NASA Artemis II Orion Spacecraft Prepares for Historic Crewed Moon Mission with Safety Systems Installed
NASA’s Artemis II Orion spacecraft has taken another major step toward launch. After being fueled, it was moved to the Launch Abort System Facility at Kennedy Space Centre, where engineers are integrating a 44-foot-tall escape system to protect astronauts during liftoff. The mission will see four astronauts, including one from Canada, fly around ...
-
ESA’s Mars Express Discovers Deep Valleys and Frozen Features Hinting at Mars’ Icy Past
In July 2025, the European Space Agency’s Mars Express orbiter captured a high-resolution image of Acheron Fossae, a region marked by deep chasms and ridges on Mars’s surface. These features, created by ancient crustal stretching, split the terrain into raised horsts and sunken grabens. Valley floors reveal smooth surfaces carved by slow-moving...
-
Habitable Zone Explained: The ‘Goldilocks Zone’ Where Life-Friendly Planets May Exist
The habitable zone, or “Goldilocks zone”, is the region around a star where conditions allow liquid water to exist. Varying with star type, this zone is key in the search for life. Earth’s location in the Sun’s habitable zone has made life possible, and astronomers seek similar rocky exoplanets in other systems to explore the possibility of...
-
Apollo 13 Commander Jim Lovell, Hero of Space Crisis, Dies at 97
Jim Lovell, legendary NASA astronaut and commander of Apollo 13, has died at 97. Renowned for turning a life-threatening lunar mission into a historic survival story, Lovell flew four pioneering spaceflights, including Apollo 8. His steady leadership during crisis inspired generations and cemented his place as one of space exploration’s most resp...
-
SpaceX to Fly Italian Science Experiments to Mars on Starship in 2026
SpaceX has signed a landmark agreement with the Italian Space Agency (ASI) to deliver Italian science experiments to Mars aboard its Starship rocket. Announced on August 7, 2025, the mission will carry a plant-growth module, a meteorological station, and a radiation detector to collect crucial data during the six-month journey and on the Martian su...
-
NASA Aims to Deploy Nuclear Reactor on Moon by 2030 for Strategic Power
NASA is accelerating plans to deploy a 100-kilowatt nuclear reactor on the Moon by 2030, according to interim head Sean Duffy. The reactor would ensure steady power through long lunar nights and help secure water-ice resources at the Moon’s south pole. China and Russia also aim for lunar reactors by the mid-2030s, sparking a geopolitical “moon ...
-
NASA Awards Firefly $177M for 2029 Mission to Deliver Rovers to Moon’s South Pole
NASA has awarded Firefly Aerospace a $176.7 million contract for a groundbreaking 2029 mission to the moon’s south pole. The CLPS mission will deploy multiple rovers and scientific instruments to explore permanently shadowed regions, analyze lunar regolith, and search for water ice—key steps toward supporting Artemis program goals and enabling ...
-
Scientists Explore Role of Space Radiation in Powering Alien Microbial Life
A new study proposes that life may exist far from sunlight in a “radiolytic habitable zone” deep beneath the icy surfaces of Mars, Europa, and Enceladus. Cosmic rays, which can penetrate rock and ice, break water molecules apart to release hydrogen, oxygen, and energy-rich electrons. These can fuel microbes in subsurface water, much like bacter...
-
ESA JUICE Mission Scans Jupiter's Lunar Crater in Test Run for Alien Life
ESA’s JUICE spacecraft scanned the famous Earthrise crater on the Moon to test radar for future exploration of Jupiter’s icy moons. The data confirmed JUICE’s radar accuracy, setting the stage for a search for life beneath Europa and Ganymede. The crater, immortalised in a 1968 Apollo 8 photo, now plays a role in extraterrestrial science.
-
NASA Data Shows Pluto’s Equator Is Lined with Towering Methane Ice Spires
New research based on New Horizons’ decade-old data has uncovered extensive bladed terrain made of methane ice on Pluto. These towering spires, arranged in spaced-out, parallel rows, are likely shaped by seasonal condensation and sublimation cycles. While the terrain spans over half the planet’s midsection, five times the width of continental U...
-
'HOPE' In Ladakh To Simulate Life On Mars, A "Rehearsal" For Future
Located at an altitude of 4.3 kilometres above sea level, Himalayan Outpost for Planetary Exploration (HOPE) is designed to simulate Mars-like conditions and will serve as a testbed for future crewed missions to the Moon and beyond.
-
Earth Imaging Satellite NISAR Exposes NASA's Weaknesses, ISRO's Strengths
Wendy Edelstein, NISAR's Deputy Project Manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), asserted, "NISAR is a 50-50 partnership between NASA and ISRO".
-
ISRO-NASA's $1.3 Billion Revolutionary Earth Imaging Satellite NISAR Set For Launch
In a historic collaboration between the United States and India, the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar satellite, also known as NISAR, is poised to revolutionise how we observe and understand our planet.
