Science

A massive radio telescope at Puerto Rico’s Arecibo Observatory, one of the world’s largest, collapsed on Tuesday after sustaining severe damage since August, officials said, following 57 years of astronomical discoveries. The deteriorating telescope’s 900-ton instrument platform, suspended by cables 450 feet (137 metres) above a 1,000-foot-wide (305 metres) bowl-shaped reflector dish, fell on Tuesday morning, the

For decades scientists have been trying to figure out how to swiftly predict the twisting, tangled shape of proteins, and from there unravel a greater understanding of the machinery of life itself.       This week an Artificial Intelligence programme created by Google sister firm DeepMind was shown to have virtually cracked the challenge, forecasting the way in

A Chinese spacecraft landed on the moon to bring back lunar rocks to Earth for the first time since the 1970s, the government announced. The China National Space Administration said Chang’e 5 “successfully landed” at its designated site shortly after 11pm (8:30pm Tuesday IST) Tuesday after making a powered descent from its orbiter. It published images

Lunar eclipse or Chandra Grahan is appearing in the skies today. It will be the fourth and the last eclipse of 2020. The latest lunar eclipse is not likely to be visible in India. However, it will be seen in many parts of Europe as well as Australia, North America, South America, Pacific, Atlantic, and

A material that mimics human skin in strength, stretchability, and sensitivity could be used to collect biological data in real-time. Electronic skin, or e-skin, may play an important role in next-generation prosthetics, personalized medicine, soft robotics, and artificial intelligence. “The ideal e-skin will mimic the many natural functions of human skin, such as sensing temperature

SpaceX will continue beta testing its satellite-based broadband service Starlink into next year, the company said late Tuesday, indicating commercial service would not likely be offered in 2020 as previously planned. Hawthorne, California-based SpaceX, Elon Musk’s private space exploration company, has launched nearly 900 Starlink satellites to orbit since 2019 with the goal of offering

Sweden is getting on board India’s Venus orbiter mission ”Shukrayaan” with a scientific instrument to explore the planet. Ambassador of Sweden to India, Klas Molin said Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF) is engaged in the venture, its second collaborative project with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). “IRF’s satellite instrument Venusian Neutrals Analyzer (VNA)

The Expand will end its run with a sixth and final season on Amazon Prime Video. Amazon Studios has renewed The Expanse — the sci-fi series based on James S.A. Corey’s novel series of the same name — for season 6, three weeks before The Expanse season 5 releases on Prime Video globally. But The

China on Tuesday launched an unmanned spacecraft to bring back lunar rocks, the first attempt by any nation to retrieve samples from the Moon in four decades. A Long March 5 rocket carrying the Chang’e-5 probe, named after the mythical Chinese moon goddess, blasted off from the Wenchang Space Center on the southern island province of

Giant flash floods once washed through Gale Crater on Mars’ equator around four billion years ago, according to a study which hints at the possibility that life may have existed on the Red Planet. The research, published recently in the journal Scientific Reports, assessed data collected by NASA’s Curiosity rover, launched in November 2011, and found

China plans to launch an unmanned spacecraft to the moon this week to bring back lunar rocks in the first attempt by any nation to retrieve samples from Earth’s natural satellite since the 1970s. The Chang’e-5 probe, named after the ancient Chinese goddess of the moon, will seek to collect material that can help scientists

The renowned Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico will be dismantled after 57 years of service due to the rupture of cables that have led to the threat of collapse, the US National Science Foundation announced Thursday. Two cables supporting the 900-ton instruments for the telescope above a radio dish 1,000 feet (305 metres) in diameter

NASA’s inspector general and the US justice department have launched investigations into allegations that Boeing may have benefited from internal information provided by the space agency during a contract bidding process, the Washington Post reported Tuesday. The affair led to the abrupt resignation of Doug Loverro, then the head of NASA’s human exploration directorate, in

SpaceX, an American aerospace company owned by entrepreneur Elon Musk, has urged the Indian government to kick off approvals for satellite broadband technologies. The move is aimed at expanding SpaceX’s satellite Internet constellation Starlink to the country. SpaceX has expressed its interest in launching Starlink in India in a filing submitted with the Telecom Regulatory

Four astronauts riding a newly designed spacecraft from Elon Musk’s SpaceX docked with the International Space Station Monday night, in the first crewed mission on a privately built space capsule purchased by NASA. SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule, dubbed Resilience by its crew of three Americans and one Japanese astronaut, docked at 11:01pm EST (9:31am Tuesday IST), 27 hours

Four astronauts were successfully launched on the SpaceX Crew Dragon Resilience to the International Space Station on Sunday, the first of what the US hopes will be many routine missions following a successful test flight in late spring. Three Americans, Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover and Shannon Walker, and Japan’s Soichi Noguchi blasted off at 7:27pm