China’s Tianzhou-1: Its Mission, Experiments and Significance
On 20 April 2017, China’s first cargo spacecraft Tianzhou-1 was launched and made its way to China’s spacelab, Tiangong-2. Two days later, on 22 April, at about 4.00 UTC, Tianzhou-1 docked...
TeamIndus Selects Lab2Moon Challenge Winners to Develop Payloads for its Rover
TeamIndus, India’s entry for the Google Lunar XPrize, has selected two youth teams to develop payloads for its lunar rover currently being developed.
The youth teams chosen are the winning entry Team...
Heads of JAXA and ESA Announce Strengthening of Ties
During European Space Agency (ESA) Director General Jan Woerner’s first visit to Japan on 15-16 May 2017, he met with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) President Dr Naoki Okumura to discuss...
China’s lunar rover Chang’e 4 will carry payloads from four countries
At the 2017 Global Space Exploration (GLEX) conference, it was announced that the Chang’E 4 will be equipped with payloads from the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden and Saudi Arabia.
During the conference,...
Mysterious suprathermal protons around the moon discovered by ISRO’s Chandrayaan-1
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has recently announced that its first lunar probe, Chandrayaan-1, discovered populations of suprathermal protons around the moon. These particles, which are hydrogen (H) in the...
What’s happening on Asteroid Day 2017
30 June is Asteroid Day, which seeks to raise awareness "of the Earth’s vulnerability and the realization that asteroids hit Earth all the time", and is held each year on the...
Second docking exercise of Tianzhou-1 and Tiangong-2 successfully completed
At 1455 on June 19, the second docking exercise of Tianzhou-1 cargo spacecraft and Tiangong-2 space station was successfully completed.
Tianzhou-1 was first tested at 0937 on the same day for orbital...
The life of Qian Xuesen, father of China’s space programme
Undoubtedly the most important figure in China's space programme, Qian Xuesen (also spelt Tsien Hsue-shen) was responsible for directing the development of China's missiles and launch vehicles from 1956 to 1991.
Born...
Google Lunar XPRIZE extends deadline, offers $4.75 million in additional rewards
Google Lunar XPRIZE, in which five international teams are currently competing to land a spacecraft on the moon, has extended its deadline from end-2017 to 31 March 2018.
Also, in addition to...
ISRO’s Astrosat, NASA’s Chandra and Hubble detect dangerous flares on Proxima Centauri
Three space observatories - the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) Astrosat, NASA’s Chandra observatory and the Hubble telescope - have detected dangerous flares on Proxima Centauri, the nearest known star to...