Space

Director General of the European Space Agency (ESA), Josef Aschbacher, has heaped praise on the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for its recent successful launches and said that India's accomplishments in space and especially in lunar exploration is 'astonishing'. Aschbacher posted an appreciation post on X, after ESA hosted its 323rd Council meeting in Paris which was attended by the ISRO Chairman, S Somanath.

The colossal black hole named Sagittarius A* resides at the heart of the Milky Way, approximately 27,000 light-years away from our planet. For the first time now, Sgr A* has been observed in polarised light, offering a fresh glimpse into its magnetic environment. The latest portrayal showcases a strong, twisted and systematically organised magnetic field enveloping the black hole.

Dubbed the ‘49ers’ in homage to the California gold rush miners of 1849, these newfound galaxies have been likened to precious nuggets scattered across our night sky. Many of them have clustered together to form galaxy groups, with some intricately interconnected by their gas content. Among these galaxies, three even stand out for their intriguing dynamics.

INSAT-3DS, the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) meteorological satellite pivotal for weather forecasting, climate monitoring and understanding atmospheric processes, has unveiled the first batch of images captured by its meteorological Imager and Sounder payloads. These images are from the first imaging session for the Meteorological Payload IOT, which took place on March 7, 2024.

The government on Wednesday eased Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) norms in the space sector by allowing 100 per cent overseas investment in making components for satellites, as part of efforts to attract overseas players and private companies into the segment. The decision was taken at the Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh)India on Monday ushered in the New Year in a grand manner by orbiting its X-ray Polarimeter Satellite (XPoSat). At about 9.10 a.m. on the first day of the calendar year 2024, India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-C58 (PSLV-C58) standing 44.4-metre tall, with a lift off mass of 260 ton blasted off from the first launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, here.

In 2024, four eclipses in total will occur – two solar and two lunar eclipses. The first one of the year will happen on 25 March 2024 and it will be a penumbral lunar eclipse. The second one will be a total solar eclipse, which will occur on 8 April 2024. The third eclipse of the year described as a partial lunar eclipse will happen on 18 September 2024.

The Propulsion Module (PM) of Chandrayaan-3 has been moved from an orbit around the Moon to an orbit around Earth, ISRO has said, terming the operation a unique experiment. The primary objective of the Chandrayaan-3 mission was to demonstrate a soft landing near the lunar south polar region and perform experiments using the instruments on the 'Vikram' lander and the 'Pragyan' rover.

A Chinese company plans to launch the first in a network of 300 very-low-earth-orbit satellites in December.

Elon Musk said the satellite internet operator, which is part of SpaceX, now accounts for a "majority" of active satellites.

Venus, known as a scorching wasteland of a planet, may have once had tectonic plate movements similar to those believed to have occurred on early Earth, found a study indicating the possibility of hosting life. Using atmospheric data from Venus and computer modelling, a team of scientists from Brown University showed that Venus must have had plate tectonics sometime after the planet formed, about 4.5 billion to 3.5 billion years ago.

Every eclipse is unique in terms of the spectacle it provides the sky gazers. The second and the last eclipse of 2023 occurr...

Lunar eclipse happens when the sun, earth and the moon align in a straight line. Sky watchers are getting excited about one more lunar eclipse that will occur in the night sky on October 28-29, 2023. Earlier on October 14, 2023, the world witnessed a solar eclipse, which was not visible in India, but was seen from some parts of the western United States and the Pacific Ocean

Russia moved one of its satellites uncomfortably close to France's Eutelsat 3B satellite, possibly to listen in on communications, according to reports.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully executed the Test Flight Abort Mission, for the Gaganyaan mission on Saturday after the first test flight was aborted at 8:45 am due to a problem in the engine ignition. Earlier today, ISRO briefly aborted the launch of the first uncrewed test flight (TV-D1 Flight Test) in the Gaganyaan Mission. The space agency then said that the errors have been identified and corrected and the second launch was scheduled for 10:00 Hrs today.

ISRO has lined up a series of exploration missions including to Mars, Venus and to the Moon again, apart from the maiden human spaceflight programme, Chairman S Somanath said. The space agency also has drawn up plans to launch missions for studying climate and weather conditions of the Earth, the space agency chief said, speaking to reporters on Sunday.

Eclipses are interesting astronomy events and become curious topics for discussion. An eclipse occurs when a celestial body hides another in the sky while moving in its transit path. Without the deep knowledge of astronomy and the aid of advanced gadgets, we may not be able to identify all the different kinds of eclipses that occur in the sky

The solar eclipse on 14 October 2023 can be seen from North America, Central America and the majority of South America. When the eclipse reaches its maximum phase, the sun will look like a ‘ring of fire’. This spectacle will last for around 5 minutes and 17 seconds visible from off the coast of Nicaragua and Costa Rica.

An eclipse (solar or lunar) involves three celestial bodies namely, the sun, moon and the earth. Solar and lunar eclipses are natural events when the sun and moon’s lights are partially or fully hidden from the view for a brief period of time. A solar eclipse results when the moon passes in between the earth and the sun hiding the sun fully or partly for some time. A lunar eclipse occurs when the earth passes in between the moon and the sun casting its shadow on the moon and thus hiding it fully or partly for some time.

The satellites were prototypes for Project Kuiper, Amazon's $10 billion plan to create a constellation of more than 3,200 internet satellites.

An Indian-origin scientist at NASA is helming a mission that aims to launch three rockets during the 2023 annular eclipse on October 14. On October 14, people viewing the annular solar eclipse will experience the sun dimming to 10 per cent its normal brightness, leaving only a bright "ring of fire" of sunlight as the moon eclipses the sun.

Navigation with Indian Constellation, also known as NavIC, is a stand-alone satellite navigation system, which is similar to GPS. The Indian government is now considering making it mandatory for smartphones launched in the country. This comes soon after the recently launched iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max were integrated with NavIC, thanks to the new Apple A17 Pro chipset. This is the first time the iPhone maker has extended support for NavIC to its iPhone models.