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The United Arab Emirates has purchased a seat on a SpaceX rocket for an Emirati astronaut to journey to the International Space Station for a six-month stay, officials said Friday, the oil-rich federation's first long-term mission as it advances its ambitions in space.The UAE purchased the seat on the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket through a private Houston-based company, Axiom Space, a space tour operator that has been leading efforts to commercialise the industry. The mission is scheduled for launch next year from the Kennedy…

Amazon's satellite venture, SpaceX's Starlink network and other satellite firms on Wednesday won a combined $278.5 million (roughly Rs. 2120 crore) in contracts from NASA to demonstrate communications in space as the US space agency moves to replace its current satellite network in orbit with privately-built systems.NASA is increasingly looking to rely on private space companies for its operations and wants to stimulate more commercial activity in areas from space communications to sending humans to orbit.Amazon's Project…

NASA is celebrating the 32nd anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope (aka HST or Hubble) by sharing a stunning view of five galaxies in deep space depicted in a single image. To recall, the Hubble Space Telescope was launched on April 24, 1990, and deployed the next day. Thus, this week serves as the telescope's 32nd anniversary or birthday. It entered service on May 20, 1990.As for the image shared by NASA, it is of a group of galaxies called the Hickson Compact Group 40. This closely knit group includes a giant…

If you ever imagined how a solar eclipse would appear from the surface of Mars, you are in for a treat. NASA has shared a “sped-up” video that showed one of Mars' two moons shadowing the Sun as seen from the Martian surface. The interesting video was shot by the space agency's Perseverance rover when Phobos, a small, potato-shaped moon of the Red Planet, moved between Mars and the Sun. “You're just too good to be true. Can't take my eyes off of you,” NASA said, sharing the video on its Instagram account.These observations…

The Large Hadron Collider restarted Friday after a three-year break for upgrades that will allow it to smash protons together at even greater speeds, in the hope of making new ground-breaking discoveries.It will further study the Higgs boson, the existence of which it proved in 2012, and put the Standard Model of particle physics to the test after recent anomalies sparked theories about a mysterious fifth force of nature."Two beams of protons circulated in opposite directions around the Large Hadron Collider's…

Since Pluto - the dwarf planet - was discovered in 1930, it has generated considerable interest among astronomers, primarily over its highly eccentric and inclined orbit. New research claims that it is also subject to chaotic perturbance and changes over shorter timescales. At larger timescales, the orbit appears relatively stable. What it really means is that Pluto's orbit is radically different from that of other planets. Most planets follow nearly circular orbits around the Sun close to its equator. However, Pluto…

A seismometer placed by NASA's InSight lander on Mars has detected the two biggest marsquakes to date. According to a new study, the seismic events were of magnitude 4.2 and magnitude 4.1. Both these quakes were five times stronger than the previous largest seismic event recorded. Researchers now hope to learn more about the interior layers of Mars after studying the seismic data of these two events. Mars has been of vital interest as scientists plan to colonise the planet. And these events could give insights into…

The first all-private astronaut team ever to fly aboard the International Space Station (ISS) departed the orbiting outpost on Sunday to begin a descent back to Earth, capping a two-week science mission hailed as a milestone in commercial spaceflight.A SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule carrying the four-man team from the Houston-based startup company Axiom Space undocked from the ISS at about 9:10pm EDT (6:40am IST) to embark on a 16-hour return flight, a live NASA webcast showed.The Axiom astronauts, garbed in their helmeted…

Elon Musk's Starlink will provide in-flight wireless internet on Hawaiian Airlines's trans-Pacific fleet, the airline said on Monday.Under the deal, the companies are in the initial stages of implementation and the wireless internet is expected to be installed on select aircraft next year, Hawaiian said.Starlink, a unit of SpaceX, has been in talks with various airlines for months to provide the in-flight internet service as it seeks to expand its reach beyond consumers and households in rural areas of the globe with…

Humans will require spaces to live in if they are to be sent to planets like Mars. So, the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru has collaborated with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to develop a prototype for Martian and lunar soil bricks to be used in the construction of habitats for human settlements on the Red Planet. The team demonstrates how “space bricks” for constructing a habitat on Mars could be manufactured using a combination of indigenous Martian soil, bacteria, and urea, a waste…