Page 8 - Space

Donald Trump asks Elon Musk to help bring 'stranded' Sunita Williams home

US astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, who have been aboard the ISS since June 2024, had been left 'stranded' after the mission's originally planned duration

Donald Trump, Elon Musk put out confusing statements on stuck US astronauts

It's unclear exactly what Trump and Musk mean considering the capsule that NASA has tasked with returning the astronauts is already up in space

Inkathazo galaxy discovered; it's 32 times larger than the Milky Way

The plasma jets of this cosmic giant span 3.3 million light-years from end to end - over 32 times the size of the Milky Way

Aequs to set up MRO facility this year, plans to hire 1,000 more people

Bullish on growth opportunities, contract manufacturer Aequs is set to strengthen its aerospace manufacturing capabilities, expand consumer segment footprint as well as set up an MRO this year. The company will also ramp up manpower by around 1,000 people in the financial year ending March 2026, according to its Chairman and CEO Aravind Melligeri. Aequs -- which provides vertically integrated product solutions for the aerospace and consumer goods industries, including high precision electronics components -- currently has around USD 120 million annual revenues. Airbus, Boeing, Collins and Safran are among the aerospace customers of Aequs, which also has facilities in France and the US. Elaborating on the future plans, Melligeri mentioned about expanding into the precision consumer electronics space and setting up the Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) jointly with Canada's Magellan Aerospace Corporation in 2025. Initially, the facility will start with works for turboprop ...

Was asteroid 2024 PT5 ejected from moon? Here's what scientists have to say

Asteroid 2024 PT5 was discovered by Nasa's Asteroid Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert System (ATLAS). Scientists believe that the asteroid possibly ejected from the Moon after a large impact

Meet Janet Petro, the first woman to lead NASA as acting administrator

Janet Petro will become the first female to lead NASA. She will replace the 14th NASA administrator, Bill Nelson. Here's all you need to know about her

ExTeM researchers working on long-term human settlement in Mars and Moon

Researchers at ExTeM, which was established in 2021 under the Institute of Eminence (IoE) scheme at IIT Madras, are advancing technologies for manufacturing activities in space

Planetary Parade 2025: Will it be visible from India? Know date, time, more

In a rare celestial event known as a planetary parade, six planets will align in January and seven in March. The best time to observe these phenomena is after sunset

Budget 2025: Space sector seeks PLI scheme, more use of satellite data

India's space sector wants the government to spend more on space-based services, slash taxes to spur growth of start-ups and introduce a production-linked incentive scheme for them in the Union Budget. The sector has put forward its demand ahead of the Union Budget for 2025-26 on February 1. The Indian space economy is valued at 8.4 billion dollars and the private sector has just about started making a mark by building satellites and launch systems eyeing a manifold increase over the next decade. "Probably something like a production-linked incentive scheme for the space sector would be helpful from a budget standpoint. A lot of infrastructure development needs to be done for space as well. So, if it can be incentivised for companies to set local manufacturing, that would be great," Pixxel Space co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Awais Ahmed told PTI. The Indian Space Association (ISpA) Director General Lt Gen A K Bhatt (retd) demanded import exemptions, lower GST, and tax ...

Starship Super Heavy Booster returns to launch mount, says Elon Musk

In November 2024, SpaceX's Starship, owned by Musk was launched amid much anticipation and fanfare as the rocket embarked on its sixth test flight

China successfully launches Pakistani satellite 'PRSC-EO1' into space

China successfully launched a Pakistani satellite into space from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on Friday. The satellite, named PRSC-EO1, was launched at 12:07 p.m. (Beijing Time) by a Long March-2D carrier rocket and entered its planned orbit successfully, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. The rocket also carried two other satellites - Tianlu-1 and Lantan-1. This launch marked the 556th flight mission involving the Long March carrier rocket series. China has been launching satellites for Pakistan in the last few years broadening their all-weather alliance into the space arena. Last year, China launched a multi-mission communication satellite for Pakistan. In 2018, China sent two Pakistan satellites into orbit. The PRSS-1, Pakistan's first optical remote sensing satellite, and the PakTES-1A, a smaller observation craft.

India joins elite club of nations; becomes fourth to achieve space docking

India became fourth nation after Russia, China and the United States to successfully achieve 'Space Docking' which is needed for spacecraft rendezvous, docking and undocking

Pixxel, Digantara launch satellites to monitor earth, space objects

Two Indian space start-ups -- Pixxel and Digantara -- on Wednesday announced the launch of their satellites onboard a SpaceX rocket to closely monitor the earth and objects orbiting around it, marking a new era for the private firms in the space sector. Pixxel became the first private company in India to have its own constellation of satellites using the cutting-edge hyper-spectral frequency that allows observation of the earth in over 150 bands, a technology that is useful in sectors as diverse as agriculture and defence. Digantara Aerospace announced the launch of the world's first commercial satellite - Space Camera for Object Tracking (SCOT) - for surveillance of objects as small as 5 cm orbiting the earth to ensure safer space operations. Surveillance of outer space or situational space awareness (SSA) is important to ensure the safety of spacecraft as orbits around the earth become crowded with artificial satellites as well as space debris. Pixxel's three Fireflies, currently

Isro to review strategy as space docking trial postponed; check details

Isro aborted the SpaDeX mission due to sensor problems when the two satellites were just 3 metres away from successfully completing the docking

Space industry has room for 'multiple winners': Bezos on competition

There is going to be new uses for space that's going to drive demand for large capacity up, Bezos said on the eve of his company's first orbital rocket launch attempt

Blue Origin flagship rocket set to debut in crucial SpaceX challenge

New Glenn, originally intended to launch as early as 2020, is set to lift off as soon as Monday out of Cape Canaveral, Florida, during a three-hour launch window that begins at 1 a.m. local time

Space science is complex, time consuming: Isro chairman S Somanath

ISRO chairman S Somanath on Thursday said space science is not just about the excitement of becoming astronomers, but it also involves complex and time-consuming science, an expertise that can only be built persistently over the years. Somanath, who is also Secretary, Department of Space, was delivering a keynote speech at the virtual launch of the third edition of ISRO's Space Science and Technology Awareness Training (START 2025) programme. This year, 20,000 students from over 560 institutions have registered for the START programme that will be held from January 9 to 29, added Somanath. Although the mysteries of the universe quite naturally become the primary focus of attention, Somanath said space science is more about crunching numbers and cracking heads over formulae, to, say, optimally design sensors or build satellites and rockets. So, in the START programme, we will be talking about all of these. We will be talking about our exciting space missions. But we'll also tell you

Isro to carry out ambitious space docking experiment on Thursday morning

ISRO will carryout its ambitious space docking experiment using two satellites on orbit, on January 9. The event was scheduled on January 7 but postponed to Thursday morning. If the ISRO succeeds in its mission, India will become the fourth country in the world to have space docking technology. ISRO had launched the two satellites -- SDX01 (Chaser) and SDX02 (Target) -- as part of the mission on December 30 with the help of PSLV C60 rocket from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. The two small spacecraft weighing about 220 kg each were injected into a 475-km circular orbit as intended. According to ISRO, SpaDeX mission is a cost-effective technology demonstrator mission for the demonstration of in-space docking using these two small spacecraft. This technology is essential for India's space ambitions such as Indian on Moon, sample return from the Moon, the building and operation of Bharatiya Antariksh Station (BAS), etc. The Space Docking Experiment (SPADEX) is a pivotal .

Isro has major missions ahead, says newly appointed chairman Narayanan

Eminent rocket scientist and the newly appointed chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) V Narayanan on Wednesday said that the space agency is going through a successful phase and Chandrayaan-4 and Gaganyaan are among the prominent missions ahead. Expressing happiness about his new stint as the Secretary, Department of Space and as the chairman of the ISRO, Narayanan said he considers it as a great luck to be part of such a great organisation led by great leaders. "It is such a great organisation. Several great leaders have led it (in the past). I consider it as a great luck to be part of it," he told reporters here. While replying to a question, Narayanan said the information about his new appointment was first passed on to him by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO). "The PM is deciding everything. The PMO has contacted. The current chairman S Somanath sir also called and said about the new appointment," he said. When asked about the upcoming projects of ISRO, th

V Narayanan is new Isro chairman, space secy; to take charge on Jan 14

Narayanan, a Distinguished Scientist (APEX Grade), is an expert in rocket and spacecraft propulsion systems