Earth

A team of researchers led by Stanford University geologist Mathieu Lapotre has revealed the presence of landscapes on the surface of this Moon formed due to a global sand cycle driven by seasons. Titan is the largest moon on the Saturn system. It has rivers, lakes, and seas filled by rain coming through a thick atmosphere. However, these lakes are filled with different materials than one on Earth. Liquid methane streams streak Titan’s icy surface and nitrogen winds build…

As a one-stop-shop destination for all things electric mobility, Simply EV is celebrating Earth Day the best way it knows how – by offering customers the biggest sale ever on its website and retail stores, now through May 1. Below are some of the deals you can already take advantage of. Simply EV: The name says it all Simply EV is an online and retail store that provides a customer-centric curation of quality electric mobility options. With so many brands offering vague specs and often times faulty advertising…

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has shared an astounding picture of the planet Earth and its Moon against the dark backdrop of space captured from a Martian orbit, and its everything to make you feel amazed. The picture that NASA shared was captured by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) when the Earth was 142 million kilometres from Mars. “Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter caught this glimpse of Earth and the Moon. Each of our seven robots now working at…

A giant asteroid, estimated to be up to 1.3km in diameter, is heading towards us and will make a close pass by next month. The potentially hazardous asteroid, called 138971 (2001 CB21), will come as close as 4.5 million km. But scientists say there is no need to worry as the asteroid will be about 13 times the average lunar distance at its closest. However, the celestial object will be travelling at a stunning speed of over 26,800 miles per hour. The close encounter will happen on March 4 at about 3:00am ET (1:30pm…

Lockheed Martin's space division has won a NASA contract to build the rocket that will return the first Mars rock samples to Earth in the 2030s, the US space agency said Monday.The "small, lightweight rocket" will be the first to take off from another planet, bringing back "rock, sediment and atmospheric samples from the surface of the Red Planet," NASA said in a statement.NASA's Perseverance Rover has been collecting samples from various Martian areas since landing on Earth's neighbor a year ago.The goal of the mission…

Elon Musk said on Thursday he was "highly confident" his new SpaceX Starship, designed for voyages to the moon and Mars, will reach Earth orbit for the first time this year, despite a host of technical and regulatory hurdles yet to be overcome.The billionaire SpaceX founder and CEO addressed a throng of news media and supporters at his company's Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas, for a presentation that combined a high-tech pep rally with big-screen videos and a question-and-answer session.It came nine months after…

ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle PSLV-C52 blasted off from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota at 5:59am on February 14. After the end of a 25-hour countdown, the launch vehicle carrying the Earth observation satellite EOS-04 and two co-passenger payloads — INSPIREsat-1 and INS-2TD — blasted off from the spaceport, marking the Indian space agency's first mission launch in 2022.This marked the 80th launch vehicle mission from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, the 54th flight of PSLV, and the 23rd flight of PSLV in XL…

The race for space exploration is unfolding at an unprecedented speed. Private companies have forayed into this sector with commercial ventures, and the US and China have set their eyes on landing humans on Mars by the next decade. While this ambition is laudable, it presents significant technological and logistical challenges. For instance, a mission to the Red Planet can only be launched once every 26 months, when Earth and Mars are at their closest point. Even then, it would take up to nine months to reach Mars from…

Hubble Space Telescope, a joint project by NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA), has been witnessing mysterious events in the Universe for over three decades. It recently captured a stunning image of a triple galaxy merger in progress some 681 million light-years away from Earth, in the Cancer constellation. The image also shows a tumultuous mixture of star formation and tidal distortions caused by the gravitational interactions of the galactic trio. At the centre, the image is obscured by a thick cloud of dust, but…

Elon Musk's SpaceX achieved yet another milestone on February 21. It has successfully landed a Falcon 9 rocket back on Earth for the 100th time after deploying its payload into orbit. The rocket was launched from Florida, US, at 8:14pm IST, carrying 46 Starlink satellites. About nine minutes later, the rocket's first stage (booster) returned to Earth for a vertical touchdown on a SpaceX drone ship, A Shortfall of Gravitas (ASOG), stationed a few hundred kilometres off the Florida coast. The successful return marked the…