Space

A Blue Origin rocket exploded during a test at the launch pad on Thursday night, shaking nearby homes and briefly painting the sky orange. Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin said its New Glenn rocket exploded during an engine-firing test. All personnel have been accounted for, the company said via X. Emergency officials said there is no threat due to fumes or other potential hazards. The massive New Glenn was grounded in April after it left a satellite in the wrong orbit because of engine failure. It was only the third flight of the rocket that Blue Origin intends to use to launch landers to the moon for NASA. Homes shook in nearby Cape Canaveral and Cocoa Beach around 9 pm, with residents turning to social media to wonder what happened. Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's Launch Complex 36 is visible from the beach, and the internet quickly filled with photos of an orange fireball. "We experienced an anomaly during today's hotfire test," Blue Origin said in a brief statement. "We will prov

The US has pressed Argentina and Chile to review two Chinese telescope projects in the Andean deserts; astronomers are worried about setbacks to research

US pressure has stalled Chinese telescope projects in Argentina and Chile as South America becomes a new front in the US-China space rivalry

Skyroot Aerospace has raised nearly $60 million at a $1.1 billion valuation as the private space company prepares for the maiden launch of its Vikram-1 orbital rocket

Bezos's efforts to make staff incentives more competitive come on the back of an intensifying rivalry between Blue Origin and Elon Musk's SpaceX

Mission Drishti, launched by GalaxEye, introduces OptoSAR technology, combining optical and radar imaging to deliver clearer and more consistent satellite data across weather and lighting conditions

The partnership will see Pixxel build and operate the Pathfinder satellite, while Sarvam provides the AI backbone, enabling real-time data processing in orbit using hyperspectral imaging and GPUs

Mission Drishti to capture imagery in all weather conditions, day and night

India explores 'bodyguard satellites' to shield space assets after close orbital encounters, partnering startups to boost surveillance and defence in low-Earth orbit

Lunar love knows no bounds. Now hurtling home from the moon, the Artemis II astronauts took a poignant page from Apollo 8 earlier this week, proposing deeply personal names for a pair of lunar craters. Commander Reid Wiseman and his crew asked permission to name one small, fresh crater after their capsule called Integrity and another after his late wife, Carroll. Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen made the request right before Monday's lunar fly-around. Wiseman was too emotional to talk. Carroll Wiseman, a neonatal nurse, died of cancer in 2020. "Just for me personally, that was kind of the pinnacle moment of the mission for me," Wiseman said from space Wednesday night. During Apollo 8 in 1968, astronaut Jim Lovell bestowed his wife's name upon a prominent lunar peak: Mount Marilyn. It was humanity's first trip to the moon and she anxiously awaited his return back home in Houston. The three Americans and one Canadian of Artemis II are the first lunar visitors since Apollo 17 closed

At their nearest distance to the moon, the Artemis II's Lockheed Martin Corp.-built Orion capsule came within an estimated 4,067 miles of the lunar surface, according to calculations by Nasa

Though not directly part of Artemis II, India features via global suppliers with strong local presence, underlining its rising role as a sourcing and manufacturing hub in aerospace

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced on Thursday that it is inviting proposals from the Indian solar physics community to access data from the Aditya-L1 mission, the first space-based Indian mission to study the Sun. This is the second such formal call from ISRO for Indian scientists to access the Aditya-L1 mission data; the first call was made in January. "At present, there are over 27 TB of data in the public domain, and several important scientific results have been published in international peer-reviewed journals. To further maximise the scientific return from this unique mission, the ISRO has released the second Announcement of Opportunity (AO) inviting proposals from the Indian solar physics community for Aditya-L1 observation time," the ISRO said in a statement. Proposals can be submitted by Indian scientists and researchers based at institutes, universities, or colleges in India. The applicants should be involved in research in the area of solar science a

Named after Apollo's twin, Artemis aims for a sustained human presence on the Moon; Nasa plans a $30-billion, decade-long effort to build a lunar base for astronauts to live and work

Discussions between government bodies and startups are in advanced stages and the private companies are aiming to launch their first test satellite in the first half of this year

An excursion to the White Continent or a secret ski party, travel diaries now seek the exotic

As part of the lunar push, Blue Origin is shifting employees from its New Shepard space tourism programmes to focus on efforts to head back to the moon

Avantel Ltd secures a ₹122.58 crore order from NewSpace India Limited for supply, installation and commissioning of S/X-band antennas, to be completed by August 2027

Blue Origin holds a $3.4 billion contract with Nasa to develop its Blue Moon lander, designed to shuttle astronauts to and from the moon, with a landing originally targeted for 2029