Science

The European Space Agency (ESA) said on Monday it has held talks with Russia’s Roscosmos space agency over the ExoMars rover mission to search for signs of life on the surface of Mars. The ESA’s press office confirmed the talks in an emailed statement, but gave no indication of the outcome. An update could follow

Scientists at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore (NTU Singapore) have discovered a way to make biocement from trash, making it a greener and more sustainable alternative to ordinary cement. Biocement is a type of renewable cement that binds soil into a solid block by using bacteria to induce a hardening reaction. Biocement has now been

Rocket firm Astra Space’s mission to send tiny storm-monitoring NASA satellites to orbit on Sunday failed after a second-stage booster engine shut down early in space. The failure occurred roughly 10 minutes after a successful liftoff of Astra’s Rocket 3.3 at 1:43 p.m. ET (1743 GMT, or 11.30pm IST) from a launchpad at the Cape

In the latest and fascinating find, astronomers have detected a rare kind of cosmic object in the Milky Way galaxy. The object named MAXI J1816-195 is found to be emanating X-ray light that was first detected on June 7. It was captured using the Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image (MAXI) of the Japanese Space Agency.

Scientists have good news with regards to Antarctica. A secret ecosystem has been thriving under the icy surface and the discovery was recently made. Researchers have found this “hidden world” beneath the Larsen Ice Shelf. Footage reveals a dark cavern-like space filled with swarms of tiny, shrimp-like creatures. The Larsen Ice Shelf is a massive

Contradicting a previously accepted theory, scientists have concluded that the inner core of the Earth oscillates and results in variations in the length of the day. With the Earth’s structure divided into layers, the inner core is found at the centre followed by the outer core, lower mantle, upper mantle crust, and then atmosphere. It

In what could mark a major step toward solving the problem of freshwater scarcity, scientists have developed a device that filters saltwater a thousand times faster than conventionally used devices. On the industrial scale, seawater is made fit for drinking through the desalination process. It includes removing salt to produce fresh water that is further

The Sun is riddled with mystery. People on Earth are about 150 million kilometres away from the Sun and only have a limited view of the star. Add to that the fact that the Sun’s surface is scorching hot, and it’s constantly ejecting particles at a speed of around 1 million miles per hour. So,

NASA said on Thursday it plans to assemble a team of scientists to examine “unidentified aerial phenomena” — commonly termed UFOs — in the latest sign of the seriousness with which the US government is taking the issue. The US space agency said the focus will be on identifying available data, the best ways to

The detection of a new and strange fast radio burst originating from a galaxy located 3 billion light-years away has left astronomers puzzled. Fast Radio Burst or FRB are bursts of radio waves in space that are milliseconds long. Usually, these radio bursts occur and don’t repeat. However, in the latest observation, the radio burst

A tiny meteoroid struck the newly deployed James Webb Space Telescope in May, knocking one of its gold-plated mirrors out of alignment but not changing the orbiting observatory’s schedule to become fully operational shortly, NASA said on Wednesday. The little space rock hit the $10 billion (roughly Rs. 780 crore) telescope sometime in late May and

According to a study, devices made of commonly available oxide and carbon-based materials can manufacture pure hydrogen from water for weeks. The discovery could aid in overcoming one of the major challenges in solar fuel production: present earth-abundant light-absorbing materials are limited in terms of performance or stability. The move to full decarbonisation and the

The government on Tuesday said it has notified the Green Open Access Rules 2022 to further accelerate India’s renewable energy programmes. These rules are notified for promoting generation, purchase and consumption of green energy including through waste-to-energy plants. It enables a simplified procedure for the open access to green power, the power ministry said in

A 190-feet wide asteroid is going to approach Earth soon and NASA has already announced its approach. To give you some perspective, the asteroid is larger than the Colosseum (157 feet) situated in Rome. According to the space agency, the asteroid will make its closest approach to our planet on Wednesday, June 8. It isn’t

A new study based on asteroids that collided with Earth has given some of the turmoil a chronological frame. Astronomers believe asteroids have remained virtually unchanged since their genesis billions of years ago in the early solar system. However, not all asteroids stayed intact. Repeated collisions gradually robbed the insulating mantles of their iron cores,

Postnatal gene therapy may be able to prevent or repair many of the harmful effects of Pitt-Hopkins syndrome, a rare genetic condition, according to researchers at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. This autism spectrum illness is characterised by severe developmental delays, intellectual incapacity, respiratory and movement abnormalities, anxiety, epilepsy, and moderate but

China on Sunday launched a new three-person mission to complete assembly work on its permanent orbiting space station. The Shenzhou 14 crew will spend six months on the Tiangong station, during which they will oversee the addition of two laboratory modules to join the main Tianhe living space that was launched in April 2021. Their

With an upgraded supercomputer and strategic modelling program, a team of geologists have successfully forecasted a volcanic eruption in the Sierra Negra volcano five months before it took place. The volcano forecasting modelling program was set up in 2017 by geology professor Patricia Gregg and her team. They installed the program on the Blue Water

In a step that may help achieve better network connectivity in the near future, scientists have developed a beam-steering antenna that enhances data transmission beyond 5G standards. This will give access to a range of frequencies for mobile communications that were earlier out of reach. With the size of an iPhone, the beam-steering antenna has

NASA is set to launch a probe to the International Space Station (ISS) on June 10 that will monitor climate change on Earth. Named Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT), this probe will study the composition of mineral dust from Earth’s arid regions and how the desert dust carried through the atmosphere affects the