Space

India is furthering its bid to become a major spacefaring power. The launch of its first mission to the Sun comes just as it winds down its first successful robotic Moon landing, with the Pragyan lunar rover completing its work and going into sleep mode.

The fate of Russia's failed Luna 25 Moon landing mission has been confirmed after NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) found a new impact crater at the estimated position of the lander's crash shortly before its attempted landing.

India's Chandrayaan-3 Moon mission has hit the ground running with the Vikram lander and the Pragyan rover sending back their first images and instrument data while the rover makes a slow-motion swerve around a crater.

Solar wind – charged particles from the Sun – pervades our solar system, but the exact mechanism behind it remains murky. Now ESA’s Solar Orbiter spacecraft has observed previously unknown tiny flares on the Sun’s surface spewing plasma into space.

India's Chandrayaan-3's Vikram lander has deployed its Pragyan lunar rover as it begins its exploration of the Moon's south polar region. The robotic rover today rolled down a ramp and charged its solar batteries before beginning surface operations.

India joined one of the solar system's most exclusive clubs as it successfully landed its first probe on the Moon. On August 23 at 12:32 GMT, the robotic spacecraft touched down near the lunar south pole, making it the southernmost landing to date.

Almost three years after the event, neutron scans by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory have uncovered the cause of the platform collapse that resulted in the destruction of the 1,000-ft (300-m) Arecibo Observatory radio telescope.

Astronomers have discovered a new type of star, which could be key to solving a cosmic mystery. This massive helium star has an ultra-strong magnetic field, meaning it could be the preliminary stage of a magnetar, which so far has unknown origins.

Russia's ambitions for its first Moon landing mission in 47 years have come to an abrupt end after the Luna 25 lander crashed into the lunar surface. According to Roscosmos, the robotic probe impacted on August 19 at 2:57 pm Moscow time after a malfunction.

When NASA's Psyche probe launches in October on its mission to a metal asteroid as much as 309 million miles (497 million km) from Earth, it will be carrying a new laser communications system that promises to revolutionize deep space missions.

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has snapped the most detailed color portrait of the most distant star ever detected. Named Earendel, the massive B-type star located in the constellation of Cetus is 12.9 billion light years from Earth.

Russia has reentered the 21st century race for the Moon with the launch of its first lunar mission in 47 years. Luna 25 lifted off from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia's far eastern Amur Region atop a Soyuz-2.1b rocket on August 10, 2023, 23:10 GMT.

The cosmos is full of surprises. Now astronomers have discovered a “heartbreak” star system where tidal waves, three times taller than the Sun, rise and crash on the surface of a giant star thanks to the motions of a smaller companion star.

After many years of delays, Virgin Galactic has carried its first tourist passengers to the edge of space, including British former Olympiad Jon Goodwin, and Keisha Schahaff and Anastatia Mayers, a mother and daughter from Antigua and Barbuda.

Six years after its initial launch date, the first crewed flight of Boeing's ill-fated Starliner spacecraft has been postponed once again until at least March 2024 due to ongoing issues with the capsule's reentry parachutes and related safety issues.