The&nbsp;SpaceX&nbsp;Crew&nbsp;Dragon&nbsp;Endeavour&nbsp;docked with the&nbsp;International&nbsp;Space&nbsp;Station&nbsp;(ISS) early Saturday, a live stream showed.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
LIVE FROM ORBIT: NASA's <a href="https://twitter.com/SpaceX?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SpaceX</a> Crew-2 astronauts arrive at the <a href="https://twitter.com/Space_Station?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Space_Station</a>. <a href="https://t.co/2PsxR9gLoS">https://t.co/2PsxR9gLoS</a>
— NASA (@NASA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NASA/status/1385876182730686466?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 24, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Soft capture — the first phase of docking — occurred at 5:08 am Eastern time (0908 GMT), 264 miles (424 kilometers) over the south Indian Ocean.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Dragon remains on track to autonomously dock with the <a href="https://twitter.com/Space_Station?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@space_station</a> at ~5:10 a.m. EDT <a href="https://t.co/eyftZphCET">pic.twitter.com/eyftZphCET</a>
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1385875577245114370?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 24, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Hard capture, the second stage, occurred about 10 minutes later, when 12 hooks were securely attached between&nbsp;Endeavour&nbsp;and the&nbsp;ISS's forward port.

"Hard capture complete, welcome&nbsp;Crew-2," said US astronaut Shannon Walker, current commander of the&nbsp;ISS.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
The four <a href="https://twitter.com/SpaceX?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SpaceX</a> Crew-2 astronauts docked the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CrewDragon?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#CrewDragon</a> Endeavour to the station today at 5:08am ET one day after launch. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LaunchAmerica?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#LaunchAmerica</a> | <a href="https://t.co/gmlUpBr8TX">https://t.co/gmlUpBr8TX</a> <a href="https://t.co/sHaDPJJZw1">pic.twitter.com/sHaDPJJZw1</a>
— International Space Station (@Space_Station) <a href="https://twitter.com/Space_Station/status/1385886598571520000?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 24, 2021</a></blockquote>
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"Thanks Shannon, we're glad to be here, we'll see you all in a few minutes," replied&nbsp;Endeavour's commander, US astronaut Shane Kimbrough.

The vestibule between the capsule is now being pressurized so that the hatches of both&nbsp;Endeavour&nbsp;and the&nbsp;space&nbsp;station can be opened.

The hatches should be opened around 7:15 am (1115 GMT), with a welcoming ceremony to follow at 7:45 am.

The&nbsp;Crew-2 mission, which includes the first European, Thomas Pesquet of France, blasted off from pad 39A at the Kennedy&nbsp;Space&nbsp;Center in Florida before dawn on Friday.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="SpaceX to take 4 astronauts to International Space Station on Thursday">SpaceX to take 4 astronauts to International Space Station on Thursday</a>

Endeavour&nbsp;is carrying the third&nbsp;crew&nbsp;sent to the&nbsp;ISS&nbsp;by&nbsp;SpaceX, as part of the company's multibillion dollar contract with&nbsp;NASA. It's also&nbsp;Endeavour's second trip to the&nbsp;ISS.&nbsp;

It first flew there on the Demo-2 mission in May 2020, which ended almost a decade of US reliance on Russia for rides to the&nbsp;ISS&nbsp;following the end of the&nbsp;Space&nbsp;Shuttle program.

The SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour docked with the International Space Station (ISS) early Saturday, a live stream showed. LIVE FROM ORBIT: NASA's @SpaceX Crew-2 astronauts arrive at the @Space_Station.

The SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour docked with the International Space Station (ISS) early Saturday, a live stream showed. LIVE FROM ORBIT: NASA's @SpaceX Crew-2 astronauts arrive at the @Space_Station. https://t.co/2PsxR9gLoS — NASA (@NASA) April 24, 2021 Soft capture — the first phase of docking — occurred at 5:08 am Eastern time (0908 GMT), 264 miles (424 kilometers) over the south Indian Ocean. Dragon remains on track to autonomously dock with the @space_station at ~5:10 a.m. EDT pic.twitter.com/eyftZphCET — SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 24, 2021 Hard capture, the second stage, occurred about 10 minutes later, when 12 hooks were securely attached between Endeavour and the ISS's forward port. "Hard capture complete, welcome Crew-2," said US astronaut Shannon Walker, current commander of the ISS. The four @SpaceX Crew-2 astronauts docked the #CrewDragon Endeavour to the station today at 5:08am ET one day after launch. #LaunchAmerica | https://t.co/gmlUpBr8TX pic.twitter.com/sHaDPJJZw1 — International Space Station (@Space_Station) April 24, 2021 "Thanks Shannon, we're glad to be here, we'll see you all in a few minutes," replied Endeavour's commander, US astronaut Shane Kimbrough. The vestibule between the capsule is now being pressurized so that the hatches of both Endeavour and the space station can be opened. The hatches should be opened around 7:15 am (1115 GMT), with a welcoming ceremony to follow at 7:45 am. The Crew-2 mission, which includes the first European, Thomas Pesquet of France, blasted off from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida before dawn on Friday. Also read: SpaceX to take 4 astronauts to International Space Station on Thursday Endeavour is carrying the third crew sent to the ISS by SpaceX, as part of the company's multibillion dollar contract with NASA. It's also Endeavour's second trip to the ISS. It first flew there on the Demo-2 mission in May 2020, which ended almost a decade of US reliance on Russia for rides to the ISS following the end of the Space Shuttle program.

SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour docks with ISS: NASA TV

NASA and commercial rocket company SpaceX were due to launch a new four-astronaut team to the International Space Station early on Friday in what would be the first crew propelled into orbit by a rocket booster recycled from a previous spaceflight.

The company's Crew Dragon capsule, the Endeavour, was set for liftoff atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 5:49 a.m. Eastern time (0949 GMT) from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

The nearly 24-hour ride to the space station, which orbits some 250 miles (400 km) above Earth, had been set to begin on Thursday but was delayed for a day by unfavorable weather forecasts along the rocket's flight path.

For the rescheduled launch window on Friday, meteorologists predicted a 90% chance of favorable weather at the launch site, with improving conditions along the flight path.

The mission marks the second "operational" space station team to be launched by NASA aboard a Dragon Crew capsule since the United States resumed flying astronauts into space from U.S. soil last year, following a nine-year hiatus at the end of the U.S. space shuttle program in 2011.

It is also the third crewed flight launched to into orbit under NASA's fledgling public-private partnership with SpaceX, the rocket company founded and owned by billionaire high-tech entrepreneur Elon Musk. The first was an out-and-back test mission carrying just two astronauts into orbit last May.

Friday's four-member Crew 2 team consists of two NASA astronauts - mission commander Shane Kimbrough, 53, and pilot Megan McArthur, 49, - along with Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, 52, and fellow mission specialist Thomas Pesquet, 43, a French engineer of the European Space Agency.

"There's nothing like it when you look out the window and see a spaceship getting prepared and realize that you're going to be riding on it in a few days," McArthur said at a news briefing just after arriving at Kennedy Space Center last week.

LONG-DURATION MISSION

They are expected to spend about six months aboard the orbiting research platform conducting science experiments and maintenance before returning to Earth in the fall.

The four members of Crew 1, sent to the space station in November, are slated to fly home on April 28.

The Crew 2 mission also is special in that its Falcon 9 launch vehicle will fly using the same first-stage booster that lofted Crew 1 into orbit, marking the first time a flight-proven booster will be re-used in a crewed launch.

Reusable booster vehicles, designed to fly themselves back to Earth and land safely once they separate from the rest of the rocket minutes after launch, are at the heart of a re-usable rocket strategy that SpaceX helped pioneer to make spaceflight more economical.

SpaceX has to date logged more than 45 successful Falcon 9 booster return landings, and the company has refurbished and re-used most of them, some for multiple flights, according to National Geographic. But all of those flights, until Friday's mission, carried cargo only, rather than humans into space.

Crew 2's pilot, McArthur, will make a bit of history herself as the first female pilot of the Crew Dragon and the second person from her family to ride aboard a capsule. She is married to NASA astronaut Bob Behnken, who flew the SpaceX demonstration flight with fellow astronaut Doug Hurley last year. The same Crew Dragon was used for that flight as well.

Arriving at the space station if all goes according to plan on Saturday, McArthur and her three crewmates will be welcomed by the four Crew 1 astronauts - three from NASA and one from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency JAXA. Two Russian cosmonauts and a U.S. astronaut who shared a Soyuz flight to the space station also are aboard. 
&nbsp;

NASA and commercial rocket company SpaceX were due to launch a new four-astronaut team to the International Space Station early on Friday in what would be the first crew propelled into orbit by a rocket booster recycled from a previous spaceflight.

NASA and commercial rocket company SpaceX were due to launch a new four-astronaut team to the International Space Station early on Friday in what would be the first crew propelled into orbit by a rocket booster recycled from a previous spaceflight. The company's Crew Dragon capsule, the Endeavour, was set for liftoff atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 5:49 a.m. Eastern time (0949 GMT) from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The nearly 24-hour ride to the space station, which orbits some 250 miles (400 km) above Earth, had been set to begin on Thursday but was delayed for a day by unfavorable weather forecasts along the rocket's flight path. For the rescheduled launch window on Friday, meteorologists predicted a 90% chance of favorable weather at the launch site, with improving conditions along the flight path. The mission marks the second "operational" space station team to be launched by NASA aboard a Dragon Crew capsule since the United States resumed flying astronauts into space from U.S. soil last year, following a nine-year hiatus at the end of the U.S. space shuttle program in 2011. It is also the third crewed flight launched to into orbit under NASA's fledgling public-private partnership with SpaceX, the rocket company founded and owned by billionaire high-tech entrepreneur Elon Musk. The first was an out-and-back test mission carrying just two astronauts into orbit last May. Friday's four-member Crew 2 team consists of two NASA astronauts - mission commander Shane Kimbrough, 53, and pilot Megan McArthur, 49, - along with Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, 52, and fellow mission specialist Thomas Pesquet, 43, a French engineer of the European Space Agency. "There's nothing like it when you look out the window and see a spaceship getting prepared and realize that you're going to be riding on it in a few days," McArthur said at a news briefing just after arriving at Kennedy Space Center last week. LONG-DURATION MISSION They are expected to spend about six months aboard the orbiting research platform conducting science experiments and maintenance before returning to Earth in the fall. The four members of Crew 1, sent to the space station in November, are slated to fly home on April 28. The Crew 2 mission also is special in that its Falcon 9 launch vehicle will fly using the same first-stage booster that lofted Crew 1 into orbit, marking the first time a flight-proven booster will be re-used in a crewed launch. Reusable booster vehicles, designed to fly themselves back to Earth and land safely once they separate from the rest of the rocket minutes after launch, are at the heart of a re-usable rocket strategy that SpaceX helped pioneer to make spaceflight more economical. SpaceX has to date logged more than 45 successful Falcon 9 booster return landings, and the company has refurbished and re-used most of them, some for multiple flights, according to National Geographic. But all of those flights, until Friday's mission, carried cargo only, rather than humans into space. Crew 2's pilot, McArthur, will make a bit of history herself as the first female pilot of the Crew Dragon and the second person from her family to ride aboard a capsule. She is married to NASA astronaut Bob Behnken, who flew the SpaceX demonstration flight with fellow astronaut Doug Hurley last year. The same Crew Dragon was used for that flight as well. Arriving at the space station if all goes according to plan on Saturday, McArthur and her three crewmates will be welcomed by the four Crew 1 astronauts - three from NASA and one from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency JAXA. Two Russian cosmonauts and a U.S. astronaut who shared a Soyuz flight to the space station also are aboard.

NASA-SpaceX set to launch next 4-member crew to International Space Station

NASA successfully carried out a second flight on Mars on Thursday of its mini helicopter Ingenuity, a 52-second sortie that saw it climb to a height of 16 feet (five metres).

"So far, the engineering telemetry we have received and analyzed tell us that the flight met expectations," said Bob Balaram, Ingenuity's chief engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in southern California.

"We have two flights of Mars under our belts, which means that there is still a lot to learn during this month of Ingenuity," Balaram said in a statement.

The US space agency conducted the first flight of the four-pound (1.8 kilogramme) rotorcraft on Monday, the first powered flight ever on another planet.

That time Ingenuity rose to a height of 10 feet and then touched down after 39.1 seconds.

For the second flight, which lasted 51.9 seconds, Ingenuity climbed to 16 feet, hovered briefly, tilted and then accelerated sideways for seven feet.

"The helicopter came to a stop, hovered in place, and made turns to point its camera in different directions," said Havard Grip, Ingenuity's chief pilot. "Then it headed back to the center of the airfield to land.

"It sounds simple, but there are many unknowns regarding how to fly a helicopter on Mars."

Data and images from the flights are transmitted 173 million miles (278 million kilometres) back to Earth where they are received by NASA's array of ground antennas and processed.&nbsp;

Ingenuity traveled to Mars tucked under the belly of the Perseverance rover, which landed on the Red Planet on February 18 on a mission to search for signs of past microbial life.

Ingenuity's goal, by contrast, is to prove its technology works.

Ingenuity's flights are challenging because of conditions vastly different from Earth's -- foremost among them a rarefied atmosphere that has less than one percent the density of our own.

This means that Ingenuity's rotors, which span four feet, have to spin at 2,400 revolutions per minute to achieve lift -- about five times more than a helicopter on Earth.

Because of the distance from Earth, it can't be piloted by a human. While its main maneuvers are pre-programmed, Ingenuity needs to make some real time decisions using data from its sensors and camera.

It also needs to run a heater to survive nighttime temperatures that plunge to minus 130 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 90 degrees Celsius).

NASA is already preparing to send Dragonfly, a much larger rotorcraft-lander, to Saturn's icy moon Titan where it will fly multiple sorties in search of extraterrestrial life when it reaches there in 2034.

NASA successfully carried out a second flight on Mars on Thursday of its mini helicopter Ingenuity, a 52-second sortie that saw it climb to a height of 16 feet (five metres).

NASA successfully carried out a second flight on Mars on Thursday of its mini helicopter Ingenuity, a 52-second sortie that saw it climb to a height of 16 feet (five metres). "So far, the engineering telemetry we have received and analyzed tell us that the flight met expectations," said Bob Balaram, Ingenuity's chief engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in southern California. "We have two flights of Mars under our belts, which means that there is still a lot to learn during this month of Ingenuity," Balaram said in a statement. The US space agency conducted the first flight of the four-pound (1.8 kilogramme) rotorcraft on Monday, the first powered flight ever on another planet. That time Ingenuity rose to a height of 10 feet and then touched down after 39.1 seconds. For the second flight, which lasted 51.9 seconds, Ingenuity climbed to 16 feet, hovered briefly, tilted and then accelerated sideways for seven feet. "The helicopter came to a stop, hovered in place, and made turns to point its camera in different directions," said Havard Grip, Ingenuity's chief pilot. "Then it headed back to the center of the airfield to land. "It sounds simple, but there are many unknowns regarding how to fly a helicopter on Mars." Data and images from the flights are transmitted 173 million miles (278 million kilometres) back to Earth where they are received by NASA's array of ground antennas and processed. Ingenuity traveled to Mars tucked under the belly of the Perseverance rover, which landed on the Red Planet on February 18 on a mission to search for signs of past microbial life. Ingenuity's goal, by contrast, is to prove its technology works. Ingenuity's flights are challenging because of conditions vastly different from Earth's -- foremost among them a rarefied atmosphere that has less than one percent the density of our own. This means that Ingenuity's rotors, which span four feet, have to spin at 2,400 revolutions per minute to achieve lift -- about five times more than a helicopter on Earth. Because of the distance from Earth, it can't be piloted by a human. While its main maneuvers are pre-programmed, Ingenuity needs to make some real time decisions using data from its sensors and camera. It also needs to run a heater to survive nighttime temperatures that plunge to minus 130 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 90 degrees Celsius). NASA is already preparing to send Dragonfly, a much larger rotorcraft-lander, to Saturn's icy moon Titan where it will fly multiple sorties in search of extraterrestrial life when it reaches there in 2034.

NASA's Mars helicopter makes second flight

NASA and SpaceX launch a new four-astronaut team to International Space Station

NASA&nbsp;has logged another extraterrestrial first on its latest mission to Mars: converting carbon dioxide from the Martian atmosphere into pure, breathable oxygen, the US&nbsp;space agency said on Wednesday.

"This is a critical first step at converting carbon dioxide to oxygen on Mars," said Jim Reuter, associate administrator for NASA's space technology mission directorate.

The technology demonstration took place on April 20, and it's hoped future versions of the experimental instrument that was used could pave the way for future human exploration.

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Not only can the process produce oxygen for future astronauts to breathe, but it could make hauling vast amounts of oxygen over from Earth to use as rocket propellant for the return journey unnecessary.

The unprecedented extraction of oxygen, literally out of thin air on Mars, was achieved Tuesday by an experimental device aboard Perseverance, a six-wheeled science rover that landed on the Red Planet February&nbsp;18 after a seven-month journey from Earth.

In its first activation, the toaster-sized instrument dubbed MOXIE, short for Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilisation Experiment, produced about 5 grams of oxygen, equivalent to roughly 10 minutes' worth of breathing for an astronaut,&nbsp;NASA&nbsp;said.

Although the initial output was modest, the feat marked the first experimental extraction of a natural resources from the environment of another planet for direct use by humans.

"MOXIE isn't just the first instrument to produce oxygen on another world," Trudy Kortes, director of technology demonstrations within&nbsp;NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate, said in a statement. She called it the first technology of its kind to help future missions "live off the land" of another planet.

The instrument works through electrolysis, which uses extreme heat to separate oxygen atoms from molecules of carbon dioxide, which accounts for about 95 per cent&nbsp;of the atmosphere on Mars.

The remaining 5 per cent&nbsp;of Mars' atmosphere, which is only about 1 per cent&nbsp;as dense Earth's, consists primarily of molecular nitrogen and argon. Oxygen exists on Mars in negligible trace amounts.

But an abundant supply is considered critical to eventual human exploration of the Red Planet, both as a sustainable source of breathable air for astronauts and as a necessary ingredient for rocket fuel to fly them home.

The volumes required for launching rockets into space from Mars are particularly daunting.

According to&nbsp;NASA, getting four astronauts off the Martian surface would take about 15,000 pounds (7 metric tons) of rocket fuel, combined with 55,000 pounds (25 metric tons) of oxygen.

Transporting a one-ton oxygen-conversion machine to Mars is more practical than trying to haul 25 tons of oxygen in tanks from Earth, MOXIE principal investigator Michael Hecht, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said in&nbsp;NASA's news release.

Astronauts living and working on Mars would require perhaps one metric ton of oxygen between them to last an entire year, Hecht said.

MOXIE is designed to generate up to 10 grams per hour as a proof of concept, and scientists plan to run the machine at least another nine times over the next two years under different conditions and speeds,&nbsp;NASA&nbsp;said.

The first oxygen conversion run came a day after&nbsp;NASA&nbsp;achieved the historic first controlled powered flight of an aircraft on another planet with a successful takeoff and landing of a miniature robot helicopter on Mars.

Like MOXIE, the twin-rotor chopper dubbed Ingenuity hitched a ride to Mars with Perseverance, whose primary mission is to search for fossilised traces of ancient microbes that may have flourished on Mars billions of years ago.

(With inputs from agencies)

NASA has logged another extraterrestrial first on its latest mission to Mars: converting carbon dioxide from the Martian atmosphere into pure, breathable oxygen, the US space agency said on Wednesday.

NASA has logged another extraterrestrial first on its latest mission to Mars: converting carbon dioxide from the Martian atmosphere into pure, breathable oxygen, the US space agency said on Wednesday. "This is a critical first step at converting carbon dioxide to oxygen on Mars," said Jim Reuter, associate administrator for NASA's space technology mission directorate. The technology demonstration took place on April 20, and it's hoped future versions of the experimental instrument that was used could pave the way for future human exploration. Not only can the process produce oxygen for future astronauts to breathe, but it could make hauling vast amounts of oxygen over from Earth to use as rocket propellant for the return journey unnecessary. The unprecedented extraction of oxygen, literally out of thin air on Mars, was achieved Tuesday by an experimental device aboard Perseverance, a six-wheeled science rover that landed on the Red Planet February 18 after a seven-month journey from Earth. In its first activation, the toaster-sized instrument dubbed MOXIE, short for Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilisation Experiment, produced about 5 grams of oxygen, equivalent to roughly 10 minutes' worth of breathing for an astronaut, NASA said. Although the initial output was modest, the feat marked the first experimental extraction of a natural resources from the environment of another planet for direct use by humans. "MOXIE isn't just the first instrument to produce oxygen on another world," Trudy Kortes, director of technology demonstrations within NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate, said in a statement. She called it the first technology of its kind to help future missions "live off the land" of another planet. The instrument works through electrolysis, which uses extreme heat to separate oxygen atoms from molecules of carbon dioxide, which accounts for about 95 per cent of the atmosphere on Mars. The remaining 5 per cent of Mars' atmosphere, which is only about 1 per cent as dense Earth's, consists primarily of molecular nitrogen and argon. Oxygen exists on Mars in negligible trace amounts. But an abundant supply is considered critical to eventual human exploration of the Red Planet, both as a sustainable source of breathable air for astronauts and as a necessary ingredient for rocket fuel to fly them home. The volumes required for launching rockets into space from Mars are particularly daunting. According to NASA, getting four astronauts off the Martian surface would take about 15,000 pounds (7 metric tons) of rocket fuel, combined with 55,000 pounds (25 metric tons) of oxygen. Transporting a one-ton oxygen-conversion machine to Mars is more practical than trying to haul 25 tons of oxygen in tanks from Earth, MOXIE principal investigator Michael Hecht, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said in NASA's news release. Astronauts living and working on Mars would require perhaps one metric ton of oxygen between them to last an entire year, Hecht said. MOXIE is designed to generate up to 10 grams per hour as a proof of concept, and scientists plan to run the machine at least another nine times over the next two years under different conditions and speeds, NASA said. The first oxygen conversion run came a day after NASA achieved the historic first controlled powered flight of an aircraft on another planet with a successful takeoff and landing of a miniature robot helicopter on Mars. Like MOXIE, the twin-rotor chopper dubbed Ingenuity hitched a ride to Mars with Perseverance, whose primary mission is to search for fossilised traces of ancient microbes that may have flourished on Mars billions of years ago. (With inputs from agencies)

In a first, Perseverance Mars rover makes oxygen on another planet

NASA was successful in flying Ingenuity helicopter on the surface of Mars on Monday, as per images sent back to Earth. It is a historic moment as this is a first powered flight on the Martian surface.

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"Wow!" 
 
The <a href="https://twitter.com/NASAJPL?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NASAJPL</a> team is all cheers as they receive video data from the <a href="https://twitter.com/NASAPersevere?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NASAPersevere</a> rover of the Ingenuity <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MarsHelicopter?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MarsHelicopter</a> flight: <a href="https://t.co/8eH4H6jGKs">pic.twitter.com/8eH4H6jGKs</a>
— NASA (@NASA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NASA/status/1384099167832735748?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 19, 2021</a></blockquote>
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"Altimeter data confirms that Ingenuity has performed its first flight -- the first flight of a powered aircraft on another planet," announced an engineer in the Jet Propulsion Laboratory as the control room cheered.&nbsp;

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A short clip sent back by Perseverance rover showed the helicopter grounded at first, howering three meters above the surface and then touching back down.

Ingenuity itself sent back a still black-and-white image from its downward pointing camera, showing its own shadow cast on the surface.

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It happened. Today our <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MarsHelicopter?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MarsHelicopter</a> proved that powered, controlled flight from the surface of another planet is possible. It takes a little ingenuity, perseverance, and spirit to make that opportunity a reality: <a href="https://t.co/oT3rrBm6wj">https://t.co/oT3rrBm6wj</a> <a href="https://t.co/u63GKshp0G">pic.twitter.com/u63GKshp0G</a>
— NASA (@NASA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NASA/status/1384108519390027779?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 19, 2021</a></blockquote>
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&nbsp;

"We can now say that human beings have flown a rotorcraft on another planet!" said lead engineer MiMi Aung to her team.

"We've been talking so long about our Wright brothers' moment on Mars, and here it is," she added. 
The first powered flight on Earth was achieved by Orville and Wilbur Wright in 1903 in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.&nbsp;

A piece of fabric from that plane has been tucked inside Ingenuity in honor of that feat.

(With inputs from agencies)

NASA was successful in flying Ingenuity helicopter on the surface of Mars on Monday, as per images sent back to Earth. It is a historic moment as this is a first powered flight on the Martian surface.

NASA was successful in flying Ingenuity helicopter on the surface of Mars on Monday, as per images sent back to Earth. It is a historic moment as this is a first powered flight on the Martian surface. "Wow!" The @NASAJPL team is all cheers as they receive video data from the @NASAPersevere rover of the Ingenuity #MarsHelicopter flight: pic.twitter.com/8eH4H6jGKs — NASA (@NASA) April 19, 2021 × "Altimeter data confirms that Ingenuity has performed its first flight -- the first flight of a powered aircraft on another planet," announced an engineer in the Jet Propulsion Laboratory as the control room cheered. A short clip sent back by Perseverance rover showed the helicopter grounded at first, howering three meters above the surface and then touching back down. Ingenuity itself sent back a still black-and-white image from its downward pointing camera, showing its own shadow cast on the surface. It happened. Today our #MarsHelicopter proved that powered, controlled flight from the surface of another planet is possible. It takes a little ingenuity, perseverance, and spirit to make that opportunity a reality: https://t.co/oT3rrBm6wj pic.twitter.com/u63GKshp0G — NASA (@NASA) April 19, 2021 × "We can now say that human beings have flown a rotorcraft on another planet!" said lead engineer MiMi Aung to her team. "We've been talking so long about our Wright brothers' moment on Mars, and here it is," she added. The first powered flight on Earth was achieved by Orville and Wilbur Wright in 1903 in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. A piece of fabric from that plane has been tucked inside Ingenuity in honor of that feat. (With inputs from agencies)

Giant flight for mankind: NASA's Ingenuity helicopter flies successfully over Mars

Space exploration is all about the marvel of human capability. This was reflected in NASA's successful helicopter flight on Mars and India's Aryabhata satellite - launched 46 years ago on the same day. WION's Palki Sharma tells you more.

Gravitas: NASA flies a helicopter on Mars

Google&nbsp;Earth on Thursday added a timelapse feature to the popular platform, providing a glimpse into how climate change, urbanisation and deforestation have altered the planet over the last four decades.

Created with 24 million satellite images, along with 800 curated videos and interactive guides, the feature allows users to see a timelapse of any place on the planet, using inputs from the NASA, US&nbsp;Geological Survey's Landsat program, and the European Union's Copernicus program.

Climate change is causing more frequent and severe flooding, droughts, storms and heatwaves as average global temperatures rise to new records.

Google&nbsp;Earth's timelapse tool shows the change in coastlines, sprawling expansion of cityscapes and agricultural lands, as well as simultaneous recession of glaciers, forests and rivers.

One video shows rapid transition of forests near Bolivia into villages and farms, a major cause for deforestation in the Amazon rainforest; while another shows the recession of the Columbia Glacier in Alaska by 20 kilometers due to global warming.

Scientists have warned that a rise in global emissions of greenhouse gases may lead to extreme weather conditions and higher risks from natural disasters.

(With input from agencies)

Google Earth on Thursday added a timelapse feature to the popular platform, providing a glimpse into how climate change, urbanisation and deforestation have altered the planet over the last four decades.

Google Earth on Thursday added a timelapse feature to the popular platform, providing a glimpse into how climate change, urbanisation and deforestation have altered the planet over the last four decades. Created with 24 million satellite images, along with 800 curated videos and interactive guides, the feature allows users to see a timelapse of any place on the planet, using inputs from the NASA, US Geological Survey's Landsat program, and the European Union's Copernicus program. Climate change is causing more frequent and severe flooding, droughts, storms and heatwaves as average global temperatures rise to new records. Google Earth's timelapse tool shows the change in coastlines, sprawling expansion of cityscapes and agricultural lands, as well as simultaneous recession of glaciers, forests and rivers. One video shows rapid transition of forests near Bolivia into villages and farms, a major cause for deforestation in the Amazon rainforest; while another shows the recession of the Columbia Glacier in Alaska by 20 kilometers due to global warming. Scientists have warned that a rise in global emissions of greenhouse gases may lead to extreme weather conditions and higher risks from natural disasters. (With input from agencies)

Google Earth adds time-lapse feature for satellite imagery to show impacts of climate change

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California is providing the instrument that will enable a nonprofit organisation called Carbon Mapper to pinpoint and measure methane and carbon dioxide (CO2) point-sources from space.

The data collected by the instrument will help to find super-emitters, the small percentage of individual sources that are responsible for a significant fraction of global emissions of methane and carbon dioxide.

“JPL is excited to be pioneering this research effort, which will provide critical information about greenhouse gases and the future of Earth’s climate,” said James Graf, director for the Earth Science and Technology Directorate at JPL.

“This effort is the first time we have partnered on a space mission with a consortium of nonprofit organizations, universities, and the State of California.”

The first Carbon Mapper satellite is targeting a 2023 launch. JPL will provide a state-of-the-art imaging spectrometer, a type of instrument used widely in scientific research. Where a digital photograph breaks down visible light into just three colors,&nbsp;red, green, and blue, an imaging spectrometer breaks down light into hundreds of colors to reveal the unique spectral signatures of molecules such as methane and carbon dioxide in the air.

JPL has been developing imaging spectrometers since the 1980s for NASA, and its instruments have unmatched performance. In the last few years, the laboratory has used these imagers deployed on airplanes to measure atmospheric gases, including methane in California and the Four Corners region of the US&nbsp;JPL imaging spectrometers will also be aboard upcoming missions to the Moon and Jupiter’s moon Europa.

The Carbon Mapper’s Earth-orbiting imaging spectrometer will have a pixel size of about 30 meters (98 feet) square. Other imaging spectrometers currently in orbit have larger pixel sizes, making it hard to pinpoint the locations of sources that may not be visible on the ground, such as cracks in natural gas pipelines.

“With such high-resolution images, there is no question where greenhouse gas plumes originate. This technology enables researchers to identify, study, and quantify the strong gas emission sources,” said JPL scientist Charles Miller, who has spent decades studying methane around the world.

JPL’s research in methane quantification from spectroscopy, funded by NASA’s Earth science division, is also helping Carbon Mapper to address a second challenge: making its data on emissions accessible to all interested users in industry, government, and the private sector.

Carbon Mapper will have an open data portal making its findings available quickly and continuously, speeding disaster responses and the repair of faulty industrial equipment.

“This decade represents an all-hands-on-deck moment for humanity to make critical progress in addressing climate change,” said Riley Duren, Carbon Mapper’s chief executive officer and a research scientist at the University of Arizona in Tucson.

“Our mission is to help fill gaps in the emerging global ecosystem of methane and CO2 monitoring systems by delivering data that are timely, actionable, and accessible for science-based decision making.”

NASA’s Earth science division pioneers technological innovations that propel observations and scientific understanding of the changing Earth system.

Besides JPL, other Carbon Mapper partners are the State of California, Planet, the University of Arizona, Arizona State University, High Tide Foundation, and RMI.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California is providing the instrument that will enable a nonprofit organisation called Carbon Mapper to pinpoint and measure methane and carbon dioxide (CO2) point-sources from space.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California is providing the instrument that will enable a nonprofit organisation called Carbon Mapper to pinpoint and measure methane and carbon dioxide (CO2) point-sources from space. The data collected by the instrument will help to find super-emitters, the small percentage of individual sources that are responsible for a significant fraction of global emissions of methane and carbon dioxide. “JPL is excited to be pioneering this research effort, which will provide critical information about greenhouse gases and the future of Earth’s climate,” said James Graf, director for the Earth Science and Technology Directorate at JPL. “This effort is the first time we have partnered on a space mission with a consortium of nonprofit organizations, universities, and the State of California.” The first Carbon Mapper satellite is targeting a 2023 launch. JPL will provide a state-of-the-art imaging spectrometer, a type of instrument used widely in scientific research. Where a digital photograph breaks down visible light into just three colors, red, green, and blue, an imaging spectrometer breaks down light into hundreds of colors to reveal the unique spectral signatures of molecules such as methane and carbon dioxide in the air. JPL has been developing imaging spectrometers since the 1980s for NASA, and its instruments have unmatched performance. In the last few years, the laboratory has used these imagers deployed on airplanes to measure atmospheric gases, including methane in California and the Four Corners region of the US JPL imaging spectrometers will also be aboard upcoming missions to the Moon and Jupiter’s moon Europa. The Carbon Mapper’s Earth-orbiting imaging spectrometer will have a pixel size of about 30 meters (98 feet) square. Other imaging spectrometers currently in orbit have larger pixel sizes, making it hard to pinpoint the locations of sources that may not be visible on the ground, such as cracks in natural gas pipelines. “With such high-resolution images, there is no question where greenhouse gas plumes originate. This technology enables researchers to identify, study, and quantify the strong gas emission sources,” said JPL scientist Charles Miller, who has spent decades studying methane around the world. JPL’s research in methane quantification from spectroscopy, funded by NASA’s Earth science division, is also helping Carbon Mapper to address a second challenge: making its data on emissions accessible to all interested users in industry, government, and the private sector. Carbon Mapper will have an open data portal making its findings available quickly and continuously, speeding disaster responses and the repair of faulty industrial equipment. “This decade represents an all-hands-on-deck moment for humanity to make critical progress in addressing climate change,” said Riley Duren, Carbon Mapper’s chief executive officer and a research scientist at the University of Arizona in Tucson. “Our mission is to help fill gaps in the emerging global ecosystem of methane and CO2 monitoring systems by delivering data that are timely, actionable, and accessible for science-based decision making.” NASA’s Earth science division pioneers technological innovations that propel observations and scientific understanding of the changing Earth system. Besides JPL, other Carbon Mapper partners are the State of California, Planet, the University of Arizona, Arizona State University, High Tide Foundation, and RMI.

NASA-built instrument will help to spot greenhouse gas super-emitters

We just have one planet. We may advance our know-how and dream of moving en-masse to other planets but no planet in the universe will nurture us like Mother Earth. And it is because of this, images of Earth taken from space have a special place. Sure, we'll have plenty of stars, planets and galaxies to click. But images of our blue planet will always be cherished. NASA has posted new images of Earth.

These new images have been captured from International Space Station (ISS). NASA has posted these images from their Instagram account.

The new images are in celebration of Earth Day, which is fast approaching (April 22).

"...Leading up to Earth Day, we invite you to celebrate our blue marble!..." says NASA in its Instagram post. The 'blue marble' is of course our Earth.

"In these stunning images, the natural systems – land, water, air, ice – connect to each other to bring life. No matter whether we are on land or in space, we are unified by this tiny blue planet – and that’s something to celebrate..." NASA said

It has posted four photos in total. Check them out below. Click on the arrows to see the next image in the frame below.

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In this universe, our gaze may be deep and wide. We may have the capacity to uncover deepest mysteries of the universe. But sometimes, once in a while, it doesn't hurt to look back and appreciate the planet that has let our roots grow strong.

We just have one planet. We may advance our know-how and dream of moving en-masse to other planets but no planet in the universe will nurture us like Mother Earth.

We just have one planet. We may advance our know-how and dream of moving en-masse to other planets but no planet in the universe will nurture us like Mother Earth. And it is because of this, images of Earth taken from space have a special place. Sure, we'll have plenty of stars, planets and galaxies to click. But images of our blue planet will always be cherished. NASA has posted new images of Earth. These new images have been captured from International Space Station (ISS). NASA has posted these images from their Instagram account. The new images are in celebration of Earth Day, which is fast approaching (April 22). "...Leading up to Earth Day, we invite you to celebrate our blue marble!..." says NASA in its Instagram post. The 'blue marble' is of course our Earth. "In these stunning images, the natural systems – land, water, air, ice – connect to each other to bring life. No matter whether we are on land or in space, we are unified by this tiny blue planet – and that’s something to celebrate..." NASA said It has posted four photos in total. Check them out below. Click on the arrows to see the next image in the frame below. View this post on Instagram A post shared by NASA (@nasa) × In this universe, our gaze may be deep and wide. We may have the capacity to uncover deepest mysteries of the universe. But sometimes, once in a while, it doesn't hurt to look back and appreciate the planet that has let our roots grow strong.

NASA posts stunning new photos of Earth captured from International Space Station

NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter could make its first flight over the Red Planet as soon as Monday, the US space agency reported, following a delay of more than a week due to a possible technical issue.&nbsp;

The mini-helicopter's trip will mark the first-ever powered, controlled flight on another planet, and will help NASA reap invaluable data about the conditions on Mars. &nbsp;

"NASA is targeting no earlier than Monday, April 19, for the first flight of its Ingenuity Mars Helicopter," the space agency reported on Saturday.&nbsp;

Data will return to Earth "a few hours following the autonomous flight," which would take off at approximately 3:30 am (0730 GMT), NASA said.&nbsp;

Ingenuity's first trip was initially set for last Sunday, but was delayed after a potential issue emerged during a high-speed test of the four-pound (1.8 kilogram) helicopter's rotors.&nbsp;

NASA calls the unprecedented helicopter operation highly risky: The flight is a challenge because the air on Mars is so thin -- less than one per cent of the pressure of Earth's atmosphere. &nbsp;

The helicopter arrived on Mars attached to the underside of the Perseverance rover, which touched down on February 18.&nbsp;

After the helicopter's flight, Ingenuity will send Perseverance technical data on what it has done, and that information will be transmitted back to Earth. &nbsp;

The helicopter mission is be the equivalent on Mars of the first powered flight on Earth by the Wright brothers in 1903 in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. A piece of fabric from that plane has been tucked inside Ingenuity in honor of that feat.&nbsp;

NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter could make its first flight over the Red Planet as soon as Monday, the US space agency reported, following a delay of more than a week due to a possible technical issue.

NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter could make its first flight over the Red Planet as soon as Monday, the US space agency reported, following a delay of more than a week due to a possible technical issue. The mini-helicopter's trip will mark the first-ever powered, controlled flight on another planet, and will help NASA reap invaluable data about the conditions on Mars. "NASA is targeting no earlier than Monday, April 19, for the first flight of its Ingenuity Mars Helicopter," the space agency reported on Saturday. Data will return to Earth "a few hours following the autonomous flight," which would take off at approximately 3:30 am (0730 GMT), NASA said. Ingenuity's first trip was initially set for last Sunday, but was delayed after a potential issue emerged during a high-speed test of the four-pound (1.8 kilogram) helicopter's rotors. NASA calls the unprecedented helicopter operation highly risky: The flight is a challenge because the air on Mars is so thin -- less than one per cent of the pressure of Earth's atmosphere. The helicopter arrived on Mars attached to the underside of the Perseverance rover, which touched down on February 18. After the helicopter's flight, Ingenuity will send Perseverance technical data on what it has done, and that information will be transmitted back to Earth. The helicopter mission is be the equivalent on Mars of the first powered flight on Earth by the Wright brothers in 1903 in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. A piece of fabric from that plane has been tucked inside Ingenuity in honor of that feat.

NASA's Mars copter flight could happen as soon as Monday 

NASA on Friday awarded a $2.9 billion contract to build a spacecraft to SpaceX. The goal is to put humans on the moon again, as early as 2024. Elon Musk’s SpaceX was picked by NASA over Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and Dynetics Inc, a defence contractor.

The world’s first and third richest people respectively, Bezos and Musk have been competing to be at the helm of man’s return to moon for the first time since 1972.

While Musk’s SpaceX made its bid alone, Bezos’ Blue Origin had partnered with Lockheed Martin Corp, Northrop Grumman Corp and Draper. Soon after the announcement, Elon Musk took to Twitter, announcing “NASA Rules!!”.

The contract will see NASA’s first commercial human lander, constituent of its Artemis programme. The agency added that the lander will carry in it two American astronauts to the moon’s surface.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/world/nasa-spacex-crew-2-set-for-launch-on-april-22-377917" hreflang="en">NASA SpaceX Crew-2 set for launch on April 22</a>

"We should accomplish the next landing as soon as possible… If they hit their milestones, we have a shot at 2024," Steve Jurczyk, NASA's acting administrator said during the announcement made virtually.

According to NASA, SpaceX’s Starship system included a cabin and two airlocks to facilitate moonwalks. In addition, the architecture of the system allows it to to eventually used for reusable launch and landing.&nbsp;

"We are humbled to help @NASAArtemis usher in a new era of human space exploration”, SpaceX wrote on Twitter.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/science/spacex-names-two-citizen-astronauts-for-first-all-civilian-spaceflight-374511" hreflang="en">SpaceX names two citizen astronauts for first all-civilian spaceflight</a>

Apollo landings from 1969-1972 mark the only human visits to the moon’s surface. Now, NASA is relying on private companies to send astronauts to the moon to complete its space ambition projects.

But before humans make the journey, SpaceX will be required to conduct a test flight of the lander to the moon. On Thursday, NASA had announced plans to send its crew to the International Space Station on a SpaceX rocket on April 22.

(With inputs from agencies)

NASA on Friday awarded a $2.9 billion contract to build a spacecraft to SpaceX. The goal is to put humans on the moon again, as early as 2024. Elon Musk’s SpaceX was picked by NASA over Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and Dynetics Inc, a defence contractor.

NASA on Friday awarded a $2.9 billion contract to build a spacecraft to SpaceX. The goal is to put humans on the moon again, as early as 2024. Elon Musk’s SpaceX was picked by NASA over Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and Dynetics Inc, a defence contractor. The world’s first and third richest people respectively, Bezos and Musk have been competing to be at the helm of man’s return to moon for the first time since 1972. While Musk’s SpaceX made its bid alone, Bezos’ Blue Origin had partnered with Lockheed Martin Corp, Northrop Grumman Corp and Draper. Soon after the announcement, Elon Musk took to Twitter, announcing “NASA Rules!!”. The contract will see NASA’s first commercial human lander, constituent of its Artemis programme. The agency added that the lander will carry in it two American astronauts to the moon’s surface. Also read: NASA SpaceX Crew-2 set for launch on April 22 "We should accomplish the next landing as soon as possible… If they hit their milestones, we have a shot at 2024," Steve Jurczyk, NASA's acting administrator said during the announcement made virtually. According to NASA, SpaceX’s Starship system included a cabin and two airlocks to facilitate moonwalks. In addition, the architecture of the system allows it to to eventually used for reusable launch and landing. "We are humbled to help @NASAArtemis usher in a new era of human space exploration”, SpaceX wrote on Twitter. Also read: SpaceX names two citizen astronauts for first all-civilian spaceflight Apollo landings from 1969-1972 mark the only human visits to the moon’s surface. Now, NASA is relying on private companies to send astronauts to the moon to complete its space ambition projects. But before humans make the journey, SpaceX will be required to conduct a test flight of the lander to the moon. On Thursday, NASA had announced plans to send its crew to the International Space Station on a SpaceX rocket on April 22. (With inputs from agencies)

Elon Musk's SpaceX wins NASA's $2.9 billion moon lander contract over Bezos' Blue Origin

US space agency NASA is set to launch SpaceX Crew Dragon second flight to the International Space Station on April 22. 
 
The Crew-2 with four astronauts on board will lift off at 6:11 a.m. EDT on April 22, from Launch Complex 39A at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. 
 
The Crew-2 flight will carry NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, who will serve as the mission's spacecraft commander and pilot, respectively along with JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Akihikoa Hoshidea and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Thomasa-Pesquet, who will serve as mission specialists to the space station, the space agency said in a statement. 
 
The mission is the second of the six certified, crew missions NASA, and SpaceX will fly as a part of the agency's Commercial Crew Programme. Crew-1 successfully docked into the ISS in November, last year. 
 
The Crew-2 astronauts will remain aboard the space station for approximately six months as expedition crew members, along with three crewmates who will launch via a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. 
 
The increase of the full space station crew complement to seven members, over the previous six,&nbsp;&nbsp;will allow NASA to effectively double the amount of science that can be conducted in space, NASA said.

Kathy Lueders, head of NASA’s human exploration office, said it was “moving” to be on the verge of flying three SpaceX crew flights in 11 months.

“Looking back, it’s really, really amazing what both the SpaceX and NASA teams have accomplished,” she said.

SpaceX said it must resolve one issue before conducting a test firing at the launch pad this weekend. It appears the company has been loading more liquid oxygen into its first-stage boosters than anticipated, and engineers want to make “extra certain” that poses no safety risks, said Bill Gerstenmaier, a new SpaceX vice president who used to work for NASA.

For nearly a decade, the only route to the space station for astronauts was on Russian rockets. NASA turned to private companies for taxi service after the space shuttles retired in 2011. SpaceX has been shipping cargo to the space station since 2012, using the same kind of rocket and similar capsules, and recycling those parts as well.

(With input from agencies)

US space agency NASA is set to launch SpaceX Crew Dragon second flight to the International Space Station on April 22. The Crew-2 with four astronauts on board will lift off at 6:11 a.

US space agency NASA is set to launch SpaceX Crew Dragon second flight to the International Space Station on April 22. The Crew-2 with four astronauts on board will lift off at 6:11 a.m. EDT on April 22, from Launch Complex 39A at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Crew-2 flight will carry NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, who will serve as the mission's spacecraft commander and pilot, respectively along with JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Akihikoa Hoshidea and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Thomasa-Pesquet, who will serve as mission specialists to the space station, the space agency said in a statement. The mission is the second of the six certified, crew missions NASA, and SpaceX will fly as a part of the agency's Commercial Crew Programme. Crew-1 successfully docked into the ISS in November, last year. The Crew-2 astronauts will remain aboard the space station for approximately six months as expedition crew members, along with three crewmates who will launch via a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. The increase of the full space station crew complement to seven members, over the previous six, will allow NASA to effectively double the amount of science that can be conducted in space, NASA said. Kathy Lueders, head of NASA’s human exploration office, said it was “moving” to be on the verge of flying three SpaceX crew flights in 11 months. “Looking back, it’s really, really amazing what both the SpaceX and NASA teams have accomplished,” she said. SpaceX said it must resolve one issue before conducting a test firing at the launch pad this weekend. It appears the company has been loading more liquid oxygen into its first-stage boosters than anticipated, and engineers want to make “extra certain” that poses no safety risks, said Bill Gerstenmaier, a new SpaceX vice president who used to work for NASA. For nearly a decade, the only route to the space station for astronauts was on Russian rockets. NASA turned to private companies for taxi service after the space shuttles retired in 2011. SpaceX has been shipping cargo to the space station since 2012, using the same kind of rocket and similar capsules, and recycling those parts as well. (With input from agencies)

NASA SpaceX Crew-2 set for launch on April 22

A NASA spacecraft left a mess at an asteroid when it grabbed a load of rubble last year for return to Earth, new pictures revealed Thursday.

The Osiris-Rex spacecraft made one final flyby of asteroid Bennu on April 7 to take photos of the disturbance left by October's sample collection.

A depression is visible where Osiris-Rex penetrated the asteroid's surface. Boulders were hurled by the pressurised nitrogen gas that was fired at the ground to churn up material for vacuuming, and by the spacecraft's getaway thruster.

One 1-ton boulder was flung an estimated 40 feet (12 meters).

The Osiris-Rex team meticulously plotted the final flyover to ensure the best shots.

The pictures were taken around noontime to avoid shadows and better see the changes on Bennu's rocky surface.

''These observations were not in the original mission plan, so we were excited to go back and document what we did,''&nbsp;the University of Arizona's Dathon Golish said in a statement.

Osiris-Rex will depart Bennu's vicinity next month and head back toward Earth with its precious 2-pound (1-kig) sample load. It's due to arrive in 2023.

The solar-orbiting, carbon-rich asteroid is 182 million miles (293 million kilometers) from Earth.

By studying pieces of it, scientists hope to better understand how our solar system's planets formed and how people should react if an asteroid endangers Earth.&nbsp;

(With inputs from agencies)

A NASA spacecraft left a mess at an asteroid when it grabbed a load of rubble last year for return to Earth, new pictures revealed Thursday. The Osiris-Rex spacecraft made one final flyby of asteroid Bennu on April 7 to take photos of the disturbance left by October's sample collection.

A NASA spacecraft left a mess at an asteroid when it grabbed a load of rubble last year for return to Earth, new pictures revealed Thursday. The Osiris-Rex spacecraft made one final flyby of asteroid Bennu on April 7 to take photos of the disturbance left by October's sample collection. A depression is visible where Osiris-Rex penetrated the asteroid's surface. Boulders were hurled by the pressurised nitrogen gas that was fired at the ground to churn up material for vacuuming, and by the spacecraft's getaway thruster. One 1-ton boulder was flung an estimated 40 feet (12 meters). The Osiris-Rex team meticulously plotted the final flyover to ensure the best shots. The pictures were taken around noontime to avoid shadows and better see the changes on Bennu's rocky surface. ''These observations were not in the original mission plan, so we were excited to go back and document what we did,'' the University of Arizona's Dathon Golish said in a statement. Osiris-Rex will depart Bennu's vicinity next month and head back toward Earth with its precious 2-pound (1-kig) sample load. It's due to arrive in 2023. The solar-orbiting, carbon-rich asteroid is 182 million miles (293 million kilometers) from Earth. By studying pieces of it, scientists hope to better understand how our solar system's planets formed and how people should react if an asteroid endangers Earth. (With inputs from agencies)

NASA spacecraft leaves a mess after grabbing asteroid samples

Black holes are a thing of wonder for an astrophysicist as they are for common people. A celestial body with gravity capable of trapping even light is certain to cause amazement. NASA has posted a video that shows what happens when two black holes pass each other. It sure is a terrifying idea to imagine such a clash considering a single black hole is capable of tearing apart a star that passes by it in space

Black holes cannot be 'seen' as light is unable to escape from them. We have to detect their presence through the effects they cause.

When a black hole tears a nearby star apart, there are ways to detect this celestial event. But what happens when two black holes (two celestial bodies that can't be seen) cross paths?

The idea is mind-boggling but NASA has come to our help

"What happens when two black holes pass by each other? For #BlackHoleWeek, explore how the extreme gravity of two orbiting supermassive black holes distorts our view," NASA has tweeted with a video. The video has got thousands of likes in just a few hours.

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What happens when two black holes pass by each other? 
 
For <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlackHoleWeek?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BlackHoleWeek</a>, explore how the extreme gravity of two orbiting supermassive black holes distorts our view: <a href="https://t.co/Vj9xDIQSer">https://t.co/Vj9xDIQSer</a> <a href="https://t.co/PPhFUBFalI">pic.twitter.com/PPhFUBFalI</a>
— NASA (@NASA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NASA/status/1382806746650005506?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 15, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Watching the dance of the two massively powerful astronomical bodies is both, interesting and humbling. 
&nbsp;

Black holes are a thing of wonder for an astrophysicist as they are for common people. A celestial body with gravity capable of trapping even light is certain to cause amazement.

Black holes are a thing of wonder for an astrophysicist as they are for common people. A celestial body with gravity capable of trapping even light is certain to cause amazement. NASA has posted a video that shows what happens when two black holes pass each other. It sure is a terrifying idea to imagine such a clash considering a single black hole is capable of tearing apart a star that passes by it in space Black holes cannot be 'seen' as light is unable to escape from them. We have to detect their presence through the effects they cause. When a black hole tears a nearby star apart, there are ways to detect this celestial event. But what happens when two black holes (two celestial bodies that can't be seen) cross paths? The idea is mind-boggling but NASA has come to our help "What happens when two black holes pass by each other? For #BlackHoleWeek, explore how the extreme gravity of two orbiting supermassive black holes distorts our view," NASA has tweeted with a video. The video has got thousands of likes in just a few hours. What happens when two black holes pass by each other? For #BlackHoleWeek, explore how the extreme gravity of two orbiting supermassive black holes distorts our view: https://t.co/Vj9xDIQSer pic.twitter.com/PPhFUBFalI — NASA (@NASA) April 15, 2021 × Watching the dance of the two massively powerful astronomical bodies is both, interesting and humbling.

NASA posts video on what happens when two black holes cross paths in space

An asteroid named 2021 GW4 about the size of a small truck flew harmlessly past Earth on April 12.

This recently detected space rock was travelling at 18,706 miles per hour (30,104 km/h) or 8.36 kilometres per second, relative to Earth.

According to reports, the rock was well inside the ring where many artificial satellites orbit around the Earth at an altitude of 35,786 km.

The asteroid was about 26,200 km away from Earth — less than one-tenth the distance between the Earth and the moon, and quite close as far as asteroid approaches go. The average distance between the Earth and the moon is about 384,400 km.

Asteroid 2021 GW4 was discovered on April 8, 2021, using the 59 inches (1.5 metres) telescope of the Catalina Sky Survey at Mt. Lemmon, Arizona.

According to NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies, more than 500 asteroids have been already identified this year.

(With inputs from agencies)

An asteroid named 2021 GW4 about the size of a small truck flew harmlessly past Earth on April 12. This recently detected space rock was travelling at 18,706 miles per hour (30,104 km/h) or 8.

An asteroid named 2021 GW4 about the size of a small truck flew harmlessly past Earth on April 12. This recently detected space rock was travelling at 18,706 miles per hour (30,104 km/h) or 8.36 kilometres per second, relative to Earth. According to reports, the rock was well inside the ring where many artificial satellites orbit around the Earth at an altitude of 35,786 km. The asteroid was about 26,200 km away from Earth — less than one-tenth the distance between the Earth and the moon, and quite close as far as asteroid approaches go. The average distance between the Earth and the moon is about 384,400 km. Asteroid 2021 GW4 was discovered on April 8, 2021, using the 59 inches (1.5 metres) telescope of the Catalina Sky Survey at Mt. Lemmon, Arizona. According to NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies, more than 500 asteroids have been already identified this year. (With inputs from agencies)

A mini truck-sized asteroid just gave Earth a close shave

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory of NASA has released an image of a sea&nbsp;of dark dunes, sculpted by the wind into long lines, surrounds Mars' northern polar cap and covers an area as big as Texas.

In this false-color image, areas with cooler temperatures are recorded in bluer tints, while warmer features are depicted in yellows and oranges. Thus, the dark, sun-warmed dunes glow with a golden color. This image covers an area 19 miles (30 kilometres) wide.&nbsp;

Also Read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/nasas-hubble-telescope-clicks-haunting-image-of-a-dying-galaxy-377173">NASA's Hubble telescope clicks haunting image of a dying galaxy</a>

This scene combines images taken during the period from December 2002 to November 2004 by the Thermal Emission Imaging System instrument on the Mars Odyssey orbiter. It is part of a special set of images marking the 20th anniversary of Odyssey, the longest-working Mars spacecraft in history. The pictured location on Mars is 80.3 degrees north latitude, 172.1 degrees east longitude.

For two decades, the longest-lived spacecraft at the Red Planet has helped locate water ice, assess landing sites, and study the planet’s mysterious moons.

NASA’s 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft launched 20 years ago on April 7, making it the oldest spacecraft still working at the Red Planet. The orbiter, which takes its name from Arthur C. Clarke’s classic sci-fi novel “2001: A Space Odyssey” (Clarke blessed its use before launch), was sent to map the composition of the Martian surface, providing a window to the past so scientists could piece together how the planet evolved.

But it’s done far more than that, uncovering troves of water ice, serving as a crucial communications link for other spacecraft, and helping to pave the way not just for safer landings but also future astronauts.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory of NASA has released an image of a sea of dark dunes, sculpted by the wind into long lines, surrounds Mars' northern polar cap and covers an area as big as Texas.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory of NASA has released an image of a sea of dark dunes, sculpted by the wind into long lines, surrounds Mars' northern polar cap and covers an area as big as Texas. In this false-color image, areas with cooler temperatures are recorded in bluer tints, while warmer features are depicted in yellows and oranges. Thus, the dark, sun-warmed dunes glow with a golden color. This image covers an area 19 miles (30 kilometres) wide. Also Read | NASA's Hubble telescope clicks haunting image of a dying galaxy This scene combines images taken during the period from December 2002 to November 2004 by the Thermal Emission Imaging System instrument on the Mars Odyssey orbiter. It is part of a special set of images marking the 20th anniversary of Odyssey, the longest-working Mars spacecraft in history. The pictured location on Mars is 80.3 degrees north latitude, 172.1 degrees east longitude. For two decades, the longest-lived spacecraft at the Red Planet has helped locate water ice, assess landing sites, and study the planet’s mysterious moons. NASA’s 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft launched 20 years ago on April 7, making it the oldest spacecraft still working at the Red Planet. The orbiter, which takes its name from Arthur C. Clarke’s classic sci-fi novel “2001: A Space Odyssey” (Clarke blessed its use before launch), was sent to map the composition of the Martian surface, providing a window to the past so scientists could piece together how the planet evolved. But it’s done far more than that, uncovering troves of water ice, serving as a crucial communications link for other spacecraft, and helping to pave the way not just for safer landings but also future astronauts.

NASA releases stunning image of magical 'sea of dunes' on Mars

Death is a thing that can't be defeated. It comes for us and also for astronomical bodies. An image of a galaxy captured by NASA's Hubble space telescope looks so solemn that it is sure to make anyone looking at it just a little contemplative.

The galaxy is dying!

One look at the image and it seems as if the life force is dissipating away from this celestial structure. The galaxy, named NGC 1947 is 45.7 million light-years away from us. The galaxy is slowly on the decline. The contrast between the dying galaxy and other specs of lively lights is very clear in the picture. While the universe around the galaxy is still rife with activity, the galaxy appears distant from it.

It is a rare type of galaxy called lenticular galaxy. Such galaxies are similar in structure to the Milky Way galaxy but they lack spiral arms.&nbsp;

The 'star-stuff' in this galaxy is spent and hence, no new stars are being formed. The present stellar material is fading.

As they travel through space, galaxies usually absorb new material. However, in the case of NGC 1947 such infusion of new material looks difficult at least for now.

And in the absence of new star-stuff, the galaxy is destined to slowly fade away in our universe teeming with stellar activity and life.

 
&nbsp;

Death is a thing that can't be defeated. It comes for us and also for astronomical bodies. An image of a galaxy captured by NASA's Hubble space telescope looks so solemn that it is sure to make anyone looking at it just a little contemplative.

Death is a thing that can't be defeated. It comes for us and also for astronomical bodies. An image of a galaxy captured by NASA's Hubble space telescope looks so solemn that it is sure to make anyone looking at it just a little contemplative. The galaxy is dying! One look at the image and it seems as if the life force is dissipating away from this celestial structure. The galaxy, named NGC 1947 is 45.7 million light-years away from us. The galaxy is slowly on the decline. The contrast between the dying galaxy and other specs of lively lights is very clear in the picture. While the universe around the galaxy is still rife with activity, the galaxy appears distant from it. It is a rare type of galaxy called lenticular galaxy. Such galaxies are similar in structure to the Milky Way galaxy but they lack spiral arms. The 'star-stuff' in this galaxy is spent and hence, no new stars are being formed. The present stellar material is fading. As they travel through space, galaxies usually absorb new material. However, in the case of NGC 1947 such infusion of new material looks difficult at least for now. And in the absence of new star-stuff, the galaxy is destined to slowly fade away in our universe teeming with stellar activity and life.

NASA's Hubble telescope clicks haunting image of a dying galaxy

Emirati national Nora al-Matrooshi, a 27-year-old mechanical engineering graduate currently working at Abu Dhabi’s National Petroleum Construction Company

UAE selects first Arab woman for astronaut training

In a first, the UAE leader has named its first female astronaut for a space programme.

Noura al-Matroushi has been named as the first-ever female astronaut of the country, who has been selected out of 4,000 other applicants in the UAE.

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Space was her passion since childhood... Nora AlMatrooshi, the new member of the UAE Astronaut Programme.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UAEAstronauts?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#UAEAstronauts</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UAEAstronautProgramme?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#UAEAstronautProgramme</a><a href="https://twitter.com/Astronaut_Nora?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Astronaut_Nora</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/TheUAETRA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TheUAETRA</a> <a href="https://t.co/TEW5uip0EK">pic.twitter.com/TEW5uip0EK</a>
— MBR Space Centre (@MBRSpaceCentre) <a href="https://twitter.com/MBRSpaceCentre/status/1380820144675508224?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 10, 2021</a></blockquote>
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The announcement was made by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, through a Twitter post.

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We announce the first Arab female astronaut, among two new astronauts, selected from over 4,000 candidates to be trained with NASA for future space exploration missions. Congratulations Noura Al Matrooshi and Mohammed Al Mulla. <a href="https://t.co/bfyquyzqAJ">pic.twitter.com/bfyquyzqAJ</a>
— HH Sheikh Mohammed (@HHShkMohd) <a href="https://twitter.com/HHShkMohd/status/1380821550304223234?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 10, 2021</a></blockquote>
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"We announce the first Arab female astronaut, among two new astronauts, selected from over 4,000 candidates to be trained with NASA for future space exploration missions. Congratulations Noura Al Matrooshi and Mohammed Al Mulla,"&nbsp;he tweeted.

Noura al-Matroushi will be accompanied by Mohammed al-Mulla. Both of the chosen astronauts will undergo training at NASA’s&nbsp;Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

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Space was her passion since childhood... Nora AlMatrooshi, the new member of the UAE Astronaut Programme.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UAEAstronauts?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#UAEAstronauts</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UAEAstronautProgramme?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#UAEAstronautProgramme</a><a href="https://twitter.com/Astronaut_Nora?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Astronaut_Nora</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/TheUAETRA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TheUAETRA</a> <a href="https://t.co/TEW5uip0EK">pic.twitter.com/TEW5uip0EK</a>
— MBR Space Centre (@MBRSpaceCentre) <a href="https://twitter.com/MBRSpaceCentre/status/1380820144675508224?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 10, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Born in 1993,&nbsp;Noura al-Matroushi holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the United Arab Emirates University&nbsp;and worked as&nbsp;an engineer at the Abu Dhabi-based National Petroleum Construction Co., according to a promotional video posted.

She has also headed several committees and has an excellent record of volunteer work, along with other achievements such as Mathematics Olympiad and more.

In a first, the UAE leader has named its first female astronaut for a space programme. Noura al-Matroushi has been named as the first-ever female astronaut of the country, who has been selected out of 4,000 other applicants in the UAE.

In a first, the UAE leader has named its first female astronaut for a space programme. Noura al-Matroushi has been named as the first-ever female astronaut of the country, who has been selected out of 4,000 other applicants in the UAE. Space was her passion since childhood... Nora AlMatrooshi, the new member of the UAE Astronaut Programme.#UAEAstronauts #UAEAstronautProgramme@Astronaut_Nora @TheUAETRA pic.twitter.com/TEW5uip0EK — MBR Space Centre (@MBRSpaceCentre) April 10, 2021 × The announcement was made by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, through a Twitter post. We announce the first Arab female astronaut, among two new astronauts, selected from over 4,000 candidates to be trained with NASA for future space exploration missions. Congratulations Noura Al Matrooshi and Mohammed Al Mulla. pic.twitter.com/bfyquyzqAJ — HH Sheikh Mohammed (@HHShkMohd) April 10, 2021 × "We announce the first Arab female astronaut, among two new astronauts, selected from over 4,000 candidates to be trained with NASA for future space exploration missions. Congratulations Noura Al Matrooshi and Mohammed Al Mulla," he tweeted. Noura al-Matroushi will be accompanied by Mohammed al-Mulla. Both of the chosen astronauts will undergo training at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Space was her passion since childhood... Nora AlMatrooshi, the new member of the UAE Astronaut Programme.#UAEAstronauts #UAEAstronautProgramme@Astronaut_Nora @TheUAETRA pic.twitter.com/TEW5uip0EK — MBR Space Centre (@MBRSpaceCentre) April 10, 2021 × Born in 1993, Noura al-Matroushi holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the United Arab Emirates University and worked as an engineer at the Abu Dhabi-based National Petroleum Construction Co., according to a promotional video posted. She has also headed several committees and has an excellent record of volunteer work, along with other achievements such as Mathematics Olympiad and more.

UAE names Noura al-Matroushi as its first female astronaut

NASA has delayed by at least several days the first flight of its mini-helicopter on Mars after a possible tech issue emerged while testing its rotors, the US space agency said Saturday.

Ingenuity's trip, which is to be the first-ever powered, controlled flight on another planet, was set for Sunday but is now on hold until at least April 14.&nbsp;

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/nasas-insight-lander-detects-two-new-quakes-on-mars-376532">NASA's InSight lander detects two new quakes on Mars</a>

A high-speed test of the four-pound (1.8 kilogram) helicopter's rotors on Friday ended earlier than expected due to an alert of a potential issue.

"The helicopter team is reviewing telemetry to diagnose and understand the issue," NASA said in a statement. "Following that, they will reschedule the full-speed test."

NASA noted the copter is "safe and healthy" and had sent information back to Earth.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/russias-soyuz-rocket-placed-into-orbit-with-3-astronauts-on-board-376735">Russia's Soyuz rocket placed into orbit with 3 astronauts on board</a>

Initially, the plan for Sunday was to have Ingenuity fly for 30 seconds to take a picture of the Perseverance rover, which touched down on Mars on February 18 with the helicopter attached to its underside.

NASA calls the unprecedented helicopter operation highly risky but says it could reap invaluable data about the conditions on Mars. &nbsp;

The flight is a true challenge because the air on Mars is so thin — less than one per cent of the pressure of Earth's atmosphere.&nbsp;

This means Ingenuity must spin its rotor blades much faster than a helicopter needs to do on Earth in order to fly.

After the flight, Ingenuity will send Perseverance technical data on what it has done, and that information will be transmitted back to Earth.&nbsp;

This will include a black and white photo of the Martian surface that Ingenuity is programmed to snap while flying.

A day later, once its batteries have charged up again, Ingenuity is to transmit another photo — in colour, of the Martian horizon, taken with a different camera.

If the flight is a success, NASA plans another no more than four days later. It plans as many as five altogether, each successively more difficult, over the course of a month.

NASA hopes to make the helicopter rise five meters (16 feet) and then move laterally.

The mission is be the equivalent on Mars of the first powered flight on Earth — by the Wright brothers in 1903 in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. A piece of fabric from that plane has been tucked inside Ingenuity in honour of that feat.

NASA has delayed by at least several days the first flight of its mini-helicopter on Mars after a possible tech issue emerged while testing its rotors, the US space agency said Saturday.

NASA has delayed by at least several days the first flight of its mini-helicopter on Mars after a possible tech issue emerged while testing its rotors, the US space agency said Saturday. Ingenuity's trip, which is to be the first-ever powered, controlled flight on another planet, was set for Sunday but is now on hold until at least April 14. Also read | NASA's InSight lander detects two new quakes on Mars A high-speed test of the four-pound (1.8 kilogram) helicopter's rotors on Friday ended earlier than expected due to an alert of a potential issue. "The helicopter team is reviewing telemetry to diagnose and understand the issue," NASA said in a statement. "Following that, they will reschedule the full-speed test." NASA noted the copter is "safe and healthy" and had sent information back to Earth. Also read | Russia's Soyuz rocket placed into orbit with 3 astronauts on board Initially, the plan for Sunday was to have Ingenuity fly for 30 seconds to take a picture of the Perseverance rover, which touched down on Mars on February 18 with the helicopter attached to its underside. NASA calls the unprecedented helicopter operation highly risky but says it could reap invaluable data about the conditions on Mars. The flight is a true challenge because the air on Mars is so thin — less than one per cent of the pressure of Earth's atmosphere. This means Ingenuity must spin its rotor blades much faster than a helicopter needs to do on Earth in order to fly. After the flight, Ingenuity will send Perseverance technical data on what it has done, and that information will be transmitted back to Earth. This will include a black and white photo of the Martian surface that Ingenuity is programmed to snap while flying. A day later, once its batteries have charged up again, Ingenuity is to transmit another photo — in colour, of the Martian horizon, taken with a different camera. If the flight is a success, NASA plans another no more than four days later. It plans as many as five altogether, each successively more difficult, over the course of a month. NASA hopes to make the helicopter rise five meters (16 feet) and then move laterally. The mission is be the equivalent on Mars of the first powered flight on Earth — by the Wright brothers in 1903 in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. A piece of fabric from that plane has been tucked inside Ingenuity in honour of that feat.

NASA delays Mars copter flight for tech check

NASA’s InSight spacecraft, the first robotic lander designed to study the deep interior of a distant world,&nbsp;has detected two sizable quakes on Mars.

NASA is investigating the ''Marsquakes'' of 3.3 and 3.1 temblors in a region called Cerebrus Fossae on the red planet, further supporting this notion that this location is seismically active.

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In the last several weeks, listening for the heartbeat of Mars has revealed two strong, clear quakes from a region where I've felt them before: Cerberus Fossae. These two were magnitude 3.3 and 3.1. So far, I’ve recorded more than 500 marsquakes. 
 
Read: <a href="https://t.co/WKGCVQ1Ro9">https://t.co/WKGCVQ1Ro9</a> <a href="https://t.co/K0FC7r3ATz">pic.twitter.com/K0FC7r3ATz</a>
— NASA InSight (@NASAInSight) <a href="https://twitter.com/NASAInSight/status/1377648175918444552?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 1, 2021</a></blockquote>
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InSight has recorded over 500 earthquakes to date, but because of their clear signals, these are the four best quake records for probing the interior of the planet. 
 
Watch: NASA detects two strong quakes on Mars

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''Over the course of the mission, we’ve seen two different types of marsquakes: one that is more ‘Moon-like’ and the other, more ‘Earth-like,'' said&nbsp;Taichi Kawamura of France Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris which helped provide InSight's seismometer. All of the above quakes fell into the prior category.

“The reason why we’re digging into Mars is to better understand not just Mars, but the Earth itself,” said JPL’s Bruce Banerdt, InSight’s principal investigator.

A central question is why Mars, once a relatively warm, wet planet, evolved so differently from Earth into a mostly dry, desolate and cold world, devoid of life.

The answers are believed to have something to do with the as-yet unexplained absence, since Mars’ ancient past, of either a magnetic field or tectonic activity, said NASA’s chief scientist James Green.

While Earth’s tectonics and other forces have erased most evidence of its early history, much of Mars - about one-third the size of Earth - has seemingly remained largely static, creating a geologic time machine for scientists, Green said.

Daredevil landing

InSight’s primary instrument is a French-built seismometer, designed to record the slightest vibrations from “marsquakes” and meteor impacts around the planet. The device, to be placed on the surface by the lander’s robot arm, is so sensitive it can measure a seismic wave just one-half the radius of a hydrogen atom.

John Clinton, a&nbsp;seismologist who InSights Marsquake Service at ETH Zurich said, “It’s wonderful to once again observe marsquakes after a long period of recording wind noise.”

InSight was the eighth spacecraft to have landed successfully on Mars, all of them operated by NASA.

The three-legged lander streaked into the thin Martian atmosphere at 12,300 miles (19,795 km) per hour and plunged 77 miles to the surface within seven minutes, slowed to a gentle touchdown by atmospheric friction, a giant parachute and retro rockets.

The stationary probe was programmed to pause for 16 minutes for the dust to settle, literally, around its landing site, before two disc-shaped solar panels were to be unfurled like wings to provide power to the spacecraft. But scientists did not expect to verify successful deployment of the solar arrays for at least several hours.

The 880-pound (360 kg) InSight - its name is short for Interior Exploration Using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport,&nbsp;marks the 21st US-launched Mars mission, dating back to the Mariner fly-bys of the 1960s.

Nearly two dozen other Mars missions have been sent from other nations.

NASA’s InSight spacecraft, the first robotic lander designed to study the deep interior of a distant world, has detected two sizable quakes on Mars. NASA is investigating the ''Marsquakes'' of 3.

NASA’s InSight spacecraft, the first robotic lander designed to study the deep interior of a distant world, has detected two sizable quakes on Mars. NASA is investigating the ''Marsquakes'' of 3.3 and 3.1 temblors in a region called Cerebrus Fossae on the red planet, further supporting this notion that this location is seismically active. In the last several weeks, listening for the heartbeat of Mars has revealed two strong, clear quakes from a region where I've felt them before: Cerberus Fossae. These two were magnitude 3.3 and 3.1. So far, I’ve recorded more than 500 marsquakes. Read: https://t.co/WKGCVQ1Ro9 pic.twitter.com/K0FC7r3ATz — NASA InSight (@NASAInSight) April 1, 2021 × InSight has recorded over 500 earthquakes to date, but because of their clear signals, these are the four best quake records for probing the interior of the planet. Watch: NASA detects two strong quakes on Mars ''Over the course of the mission, we’ve seen two different types of marsquakes: one that is more ‘Moon-like’ and the other, more ‘Earth-like,'' said Taichi Kawamura of France Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris which helped provide InSight's seismometer. All of the above quakes fell into the prior category. “The reason why we’re digging into Mars is to better understand not just Mars, but the Earth itself,” said JPL’s Bruce Banerdt, InSight’s principal investigator. A central question is why Mars, once a relatively warm, wet planet, evolved so differently from Earth into a mostly dry, desolate and cold world, devoid of life. The answers are believed to have something to do with the as-yet unexplained absence, since Mars’ ancient past, of either a magnetic field or tectonic activity, said NASA’s chief scientist James Green. While Earth’s tectonics and other forces have erased most evidence of its early history, much of Mars - about one-third the size of Earth - has seemingly remained largely static, creating a geologic time machine for scientists, Green said. Daredevil landing InSight’s primary instrument is a French-built seismometer, designed to record the slightest vibrations from “marsquakes” and meteor impacts around the planet. The device, to be placed on the surface by the lander’s robot arm, is so sensitive it can measure a seismic wave just one-half the radius of a hydrogen atom. John Clinton, a seismologist who InSights Marsquake Service at ETH Zurich said, “It’s wonderful to once again observe marsquakes after a long period of recording wind noise.” InSight was the eighth spacecraft to have landed successfully on Mars, all of them operated by NASA. The three-legged lander streaked into the thin Martian atmosphere at 12,300 miles (19,795 km) per hour and plunged 77 miles to the surface within seven minutes, slowed to a gentle touchdown by atmospheric friction, a giant parachute and retro rockets. The stationary probe was programmed to pause for 16 minutes for the dust to settle, literally, around its landing site, before two disc-shaped solar panels were to be unfurled like wings to provide power to the spacecraft. But scientists did not expect to verify successful deployment of the solar arrays for at least several hours. The 880-pound (360 kg) InSight - its name is short for Interior Exploration Using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, marks the 21st US-launched Mars mission, dating back to the Mariner fly-bys of the 1960s. Nearly two dozen other Mars missions have been sent from other nations.

NASA's InSight lander detects two new quakes on Mars

A three-man crew docked at the International Space Station Friday after a flight honouring the 60th anniversary of Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becoming the first person in space.

NASA's Mark Vande Hei and Russia's Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov will spend six months in the ISS working on biology, biotechnology, and Earth science experiments.

"There is contact!" Russia's space agency Roscosmos wrote on Twitter.&nbsp;

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Утро 9 апреля на космодроме Байконур, полная фотогалерея: <a href="https://t.co/qvfxW5auup">https://t.co/qvfxW5auup</a> 📸🚀 
 
Открытие переходных люков между кораблем <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/%D0%A1%D0%BE%D1%8E%D0%B7%D0%9C%D0%A118?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#СоюзМС18</a> и Международной космической станцией ожидается в 16:00 мск <a href="https://t.co/JOFeBKbjyT">pic.twitter.com/JOFeBKbjyT</a>
— РОСКОСМОС (@roscosmos) <a href="https://twitter.com/roscosmos/status/1380486998415265794?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 9, 2021</a></blockquote>
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"Hey, Expedition 64 –- set the dinner table... Can't wait to join you on&nbsp;@Space_Station&nbsp;in a few hours!" Vande Hei tweeted to the crew on board the ISS hours before blast-off.

The launch came just ahead of Monday's anniversary of Gagarin's historic flight on April 12, 1961.&nbsp;

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Reminders of his achievement were everywhere at the Russia-operated Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan as Novitsky, Dubrov and Vande Hei prepared for their half-year mission aboard the orbital lab.

The&nbsp;Soyuz&nbsp;MS-18 spacecraft that the trio took off in has been named&nbsp;after the legendary cosmonaut and Gagarin's portrait has been added to its exterior.

Gagarin also came up more than once in the traditional pre-flight press conference on Thursday, where the crew was asked how they planned to mark the anniversary once in space.

"We'll celebrate it together," said 43-year-old Dubrov, who is flying to space for the first time. "And we'll work hard!"&nbsp;

Friday's blast-off was from a different launchpad than the one used for Gagarin's one and only mission, which saw him spend 108 minutes in orbit.

Last used in 2019, the Gagarin launchpad is undergoing upgrades in preparation for a new generation of&nbsp;Soyuz&nbsp;rockets and expected to return to action in 2023.

Gagarin's mission was a propaganda coup for the Soviet Union and a huge win in the space race with the West, which became one of the Cold War's most exciting subplots.

But the anniversary comes at a difficult time for Russia's space industry, which has suffered a number of setbacks recently, from industry corruption scandals to an aborted take-off scuppering a manned mission in 2018.

Perhaps most importantly, Roscosmos and Baikonur last year lost their monopoly over manned ISS launches, as reusable rockets from Elon Musk's Space X delivered NASA astronauts to the station from American soil.&nbsp;

The emergence of commercial competitors has left Roscosmos with a financial headache, NASA has paid the company tens of millions of dollars per seat for astronauts sent to the ISS.

Russian space officials still talk up new ventures, including bringing back samples from Venus and creating a rocket capable of making 100 round trips to space.

Yet the space budget has fallen year by year as President Vladimir Putin prioritises increased military spending.

A three-man crew docked at the International Space Station Friday after a flight honouring the 60th anniversary of Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becoming the first person in space.

A three-man crew docked at the International Space Station Friday after a flight honouring the 60th anniversary of Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becoming the first person in space. NASA's Mark Vande Hei and Russia's Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov will spend six months in the ISS working on biology, biotechnology, and Earth science experiments. "There is contact!" Russia's space agency Roscosmos wrote on Twitter. Утро 9 апреля на космодроме Байконур, полная фотогалерея: https://t.co/qvfxW5auup 📸🚀 Открытие переходных люков между кораблем #СоюзМС18 и Международной космической станцией ожидается в 16:00 мск pic.twitter.com/JOFeBKbjyT — РОСКОСМОС (@roscosmos) April 9, 2021 × "Hey, Expedition 64 –- set the dinner table... Can't wait to join you on @Space_Station in a few hours!" Vande Hei tweeted to the crew on board the ISS hours before blast-off. The launch came just ahead of Monday's anniversary of Gagarin's historic flight on April 12, 1961. Reminders of his achievement were everywhere at the Russia-operated Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan as Novitsky, Dubrov and Vande Hei prepared for their half-year mission aboard the orbital lab. The Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft that the trio took off in has been named after the legendary cosmonaut and Gagarin's portrait has been added to its exterior. Gagarin also came up more than once in the traditional pre-flight press conference on Thursday, where the crew was asked how they planned to mark the anniversary once in space. "We'll celebrate it together," said 43-year-old Dubrov, who is flying to space for the first time. "And we'll work hard!" Friday's blast-off was from a different launchpad than the one used for Gagarin's one and only mission, which saw him spend 108 minutes in orbit. Last used in 2019, the Gagarin launchpad is undergoing upgrades in preparation for a new generation of Soyuz rockets and expected to return to action in 2023. Gagarin's mission was a propaganda coup for the Soviet Union and a huge win in the space race with the West, which became one of the Cold War's most exciting subplots. But the anniversary comes at a difficult time for Russia's space industry, which has suffered a number of setbacks recently, from industry corruption scandals to an aborted take-off scuppering a manned mission in 2018. Perhaps most importantly, Roscosmos and Baikonur last year lost their monopoly over manned ISS launches, as reusable rockets from Elon Musk's Space X delivered NASA astronauts to the station from American soil. The emergence of commercial competitors has left Roscosmos with a financial headache, NASA has paid the company tens of millions of dollars per seat for astronauts sent to the ISS. Russian space officials still talk up new ventures, including bringing back samples from Venus and creating a rocket capable of making 100 round trips to space. Yet the space budget has fallen year by year as President Vladimir Putin prioritises increased military spending.

NASA's crew in Soyuz MS-18 docks at ISS after flight honouring Gagarin

Rainbows are pretty common on Earth, but our celestial neighbour Mars recently witnessed a “rainbow” of its own, unlike anything we have ever seen.&nbsp;

A prerequisite for rainbows is naturally rain and sunlight on Earth. Mars, on the other hand, has a much drier atmosphere.

<h6><img alt="rainbow" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="2fe53a2e-094e-48f6-855f-e4f0228f8788" src="//cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/oof%20%281%29_0.jpg" /> 
Image courtesy:&nbsp;NASA/JPL-Caltech</h6>

NASA’s Perseverance rover continues to offer riveting insight into life on the Red Planet, and its Hazard Avoidance Camera has now clicked an image of what appears to be a “rainbow”.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/an-astronomer-has-created-video-on-saturns-spinning-rings-375558" hreflang="en">An astronomer has created video on Saturn's spinning rings</a>

But Mars does not get enough rain to sustain rainbows, so it qualifies more as a “dustbow”. Scientists across the world prefer the term, as&nbsp;the "dustbow" was caused by dust instead of water droplets.

But it is entirely possible that there was no “bow” at all, that it showed up on the camera as a result of a lens flare, whereby rays of light enter the camera and scatter light across the lens.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/an-exploding-star-may-have-killed-life-on-earth-millions-of-years-ago-375348" hreflang="en">An exploding star may have killed life on Earth millions of years ago</a>

Even though “dustbows” may be new for all of us, Mars is no stranger to “icebows”, as put forward by NASA during an ask-me-anything session in 2015.

“Icebows” on Mars were first observed in 1990s during the Pathfinder mission. The aircraft photographed clouds above the Martian sky, which they thought was caused by ice particles.

Rainbows are pretty common on Earth, but our celestial neighbour Mars recently witnessed a “rainbow” of its own, unlike anything we have ever seen. A prerequisite for rainbows is naturally rain and sunlight on Earth.

Rainbows are pretty common on Earth, but our celestial neighbour Mars recently witnessed a “rainbow” of its own, unlike anything we have ever seen. A prerequisite for rainbows is naturally rain and sunlight on Earth. Mars, on the other hand, has a much drier atmosphere. Image courtesy: NASA/JPL-Caltech NASA’s Perseverance rover continues to offer riveting insight into life on the Red Planet, and its Hazard Avoidance Camera has now clicked an image of what appears to be a “rainbow”. Also read: An astronomer has created video on Saturn's spinning rings But Mars does not get enough rain to sustain rainbows, so it qualifies more as a “dustbow”. Scientists across the world prefer the term, as the "dustbow" was caused by dust instead of water droplets. But it is entirely possible that there was no “bow” at all, that it showed up on the camera as a result of a lens flare, whereby rays of light enter the camera and scatter light across the lens. Also read: An exploding star may have killed life on Earth millions of years ago Even though “dustbows” may be new for all of us, Mars is no stranger to “icebows”, as put forward by NASA during an ask-me-anything session in 2015. “Icebows” on Mars were first observed in 1990s during the Pathfinder mission. The aircraft photographed clouds above the Martian sky, which they thought was caused by ice particles.

Did NASA's Perseverance rover just capture a 'rainbow' on Mars? Image inside!

The team of scientists and engineers behind NASA’s Curiosity rover has named a hill along the rover’s path on Mars in honour of recently deceased mission scientist Rafael Navarro-Gonzalez.

A craggy hump that stretches 120 meters tall, ‘Rafael Navarro Mountain’ is located on Mount Sharp in northwest Gale Crater, NASA said on Monday.

Navarro-Gonzalez died on January 28 from complications related to Covid-19.&nbsp;

A leading astrobiologist in Mexico, he was a co-investigator on the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM), a portable chemistry lab aboard Curiosity that has been sniffing out the chemical makeup of Martian soil, rocks, and air.&nbsp;

As such, he helped lead the team that identified ancient organic compounds on Mars; his many accomplishments also included identifying the role of volcanic lightning in the origin of life on Earth.&nbsp;

Navarro-Gonzalez was a researcher at Nuclear Sciences Institute at the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City.

"We are truly honoured to have a prominent hill named after our dad; it’s his and our dream come true to see this happen," wrote Navarro-Gonzalez’s children, Rafael and Karina Navarro Aceves, in a statement to NASA.&nbsp;

Rafael Navarro Mountain sits at a major geological transition in Gale Crater from a clay-rich region to one that is rich in sulfate minerals.&nbsp;

Analysing sulfate minerals may help scientists better understand the major shift in the Martian climate from wetter to drier conditions, according to Ashwin Vasavada, Curiosity’s project scientist based at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.

(With inputs from agencies) 
&nbsp;

The team of scientists and engineers behind NASA’s Curiosity rover has named a hill along the rover’s path on Mars in honour of recently deceased mission scientist Rafael Navarro-Gonzalez.

The team of scientists and engineers behind NASA’s Curiosity rover has named a hill along the rover’s path on Mars in honour of recently deceased mission scientist Rafael Navarro-Gonzalez. A craggy hump that stretches 120 meters tall, ‘Rafael Navarro Mountain’ is located on Mount Sharp in northwest Gale Crater, NASA said on Monday. Navarro-Gonzalez died on January 28 from complications related to Covid-19. A leading astrobiologist in Mexico, he was a co-investigator on the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM), a portable chemistry lab aboard Curiosity that has been sniffing out the chemical makeup of Martian soil, rocks, and air. As such, he helped lead the team that identified ancient organic compounds on Mars; his many accomplishments also included identifying the role of volcanic lightning in the origin of life on Earth. Navarro-Gonzalez was a researcher at Nuclear Sciences Institute at the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City. "We are truly honoured to have a prominent hill named after our dad; it’s his and our dream come true to see this happen," wrote Navarro-Gonzalez’s children, Rafael and Karina Navarro Aceves, in a statement to NASA. Rafael Navarro Mountain sits at a major geological transition in Gale Crater from a clay-rich region to one that is rich in sulfate minerals. Analysing sulfate minerals may help scientists better understand the major shift in the Martian climate from wetter to drier conditions, according to Ashwin Vasavada, Curiosity’s project scientist based at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. (With inputs from agencies)

NASA’s Curiosity rover team names Martian hill after deceased scientist

NASA’s Mars helicopter Ingenuity has been dropped on the surface of the Red Planet ahead of its historic first flight scheduled for April 11.

Ingenuity flew to Mars while being attached to the belly of NASA’s Perseverance rover, which made a February 18 touch down on the Red Planet.

"#MarsHelicopter touchdown confirmed! Its 293 million mile (471 million km) journey aboard @NASAPersevere ended with the final drop of 4 inches (10 cm) from the rover’s belly to the surface of Mars today," NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, tweeted late on Saturday.

"Next milestone? Survive the night."

The US space agency last week announced the decision to push back the date of the first attempt to fly the helicopter on Mars from April 8 to 11.

Flying in a controlled manner on Mars is far more difficult than flying on Earth.

The Red Planet has significant gravity (about one-third that of Earth’s), but its atmosphere is just 1 per cent as dense as Earth’s at the surface.

During Martian daytime, the planet’s surface receives only about half the amount of solar energy that reaches Earth during its daytime, and nighttime temperatures can drop as low as minus 90 degrees Celsius, which can freeze and crack unprotected electrical components.

To fit within the available accommodations provided by the Perseverance rover, the Ingenuity helicopter must be small.

To fly in the Mars environment, it must be lightweight. To survive the frigid Martian nights, it must have enough energy to power internal heaters.

The system, from the performance of its rotors in rarified air to its solar panels, electrical heaters, and other components, has been tested and retested in the vacuum chambers and test labs of NASA’s JPL in Southern California.

(With inputs from agencies)

NASA’s Mars helicopter Ingenuity has been dropped on the surface of the Red Planet ahead of its historic first flight scheduled for April 11. Ingenuity flew to Mars while being attached to the belly of NASA’s Perseverance rover, which made a February 18 touch down on the Red Planet.

NASA’s Mars helicopter Ingenuity has been dropped on the surface of the Red Planet ahead of its historic first flight scheduled for April 11. Ingenuity flew to Mars while being attached to the belly of NASA’s Perseverance rover, which made a February 18 touch down on the Red Planet. "#MarsHelicopter touchdown confirmed! Its 293 million mile (471 million km) journey aboard @NASAPersevere ended with the final drop of 4 inches (10 cm) from the rover’s belly to the surface of Mars today," NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, tweeted late on Saturday. "Next milestone? Survive the night." The US space agency last week announced the decision to push back the date of the first attempt to fly the helicopter on Mars from April 8 to 11. Flying in a controlled manner on Mars is far more difficult than flying on Earth. The Red Planet has significant gravity (about one-third that of Earth’s), but its atmosphere is just 1 per cent as dense as Earth’s at the surface. During Martian daytime, the planet’s surface receives only about half the amount of solar energy that reaches Earth during its daytime, and nighttime temperatures can drop as low as minus 90 degrees Celsius, which can freeze and crack unprotected electrical components. To fit within the available accommodations provided by the Perseverance rover, the Ingenuity helicopter must be small. To fly in the Mars environment, it must be lightweight. To survive the frigid Martian nights, it must have enough energy to power internal heaters. The system, from the performance of its rotors in rarified air to its solar panels, electrical heaters, and other components, has been tested and retested in the vacuum chambers and test labs of NASA’s JPL in Southern California. (With inputs from agencies)

NASA's Ingenuity helicopter touches down on Mars’ surface

In a first, astronomers&nbsp;have&nbsp;detected X-Rays from Uranus&nbsp;using Chandra X-ray Observatory. This result may help scientists learn more about this enigmatic ice giant planet in our solar system.

Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun and has two sets of rings around its equator. The planet, which has four times the diameter of Earth, rotates on its side, making it different from all other planets in the solar system.

Since Voyager 2 was the only spacecraft to ever fly by Uranus, astronomers currently rely on telescopes much closer to Earth, like Chandra and the Hubble Space Telescope, to learn about this distant and cold planet that is made up almost entirely of hydrogen and helium.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/uranus-wasnt-always-tilted-find-out-what-actually-happened-291104">Uranus wasn't always tilted: Find out what actually happened!</a>

In the new study, researchers used Chandra observations taken in Uranus in 2002 and then again in 2017. They saw a clear detection of X-rays from the first observation, just analysed recently, and a possible flare of X-rays in those obtained fifteen years later.

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The main graphic shows a Chandra X-ray image of Uranus from 2002 (in pink) superimposed on an optical image from the Keck-I Telescope obtained in a separate study in 2004. The latter shows the planet at approximately the same orientation as it was during the 2002 Chandra observations.

What could cause Uranus to emit X-rays? The answer: mainly the Sun. Astronomers have observed that both Jupiter and Saturn scatter X-ray light given off by the Sun, similar to how Earth's atmosphere scatters the Sun's light.

While the authors of the new Uranus study initially expected that most of the X-rays detected would also be from scattering, there are tantalising hints that at least one other source of X-rays is present. If further observations confirm this, it could have intriguing implications for understanding Uranus.

One possibility is that the rings of Uranus are producing X-rays themselves, which is the case for Saturn's rings. Uranus is surrounded by charged particles such as electrons and protons in its nearby space environment.

If these energetic particles collide with the rings, they could cause the rings to glow in X-rays. Another possibility is that at least some of the X-rays come from auroras on Uranus, a phenomenon that has previously been observed on this planet at other wavelengths.

On Earth, we can see colorful light shows in the sky called auroras, which happen when high-energy particles interact with the atmosphere. X-rays are emitted in Earth's auroras, produced by energetic electrons after they travel down the planet's magnetic field lines to its poles and are slowed down by the atmosphere. Jupiter has auroras, too.

The X-rays from auroras on Jupiter come from two sources: electrons traveling down magnetic field lines, as on Earth, and positively charged atoms and molecules raining down at Jupiter's polar regions. However, scientists are less certain about what causes auroras on Uranus. Chandra's observations may help figure out this mystery.

Uranus is an especially interesting target for X-ray observations because of the unusual orientations of its spin axis and its magnetic field. While the rotation and magnetic field axes of the other planets of the solar system are almost perpendicular to the plane of their orbit, the rotation axis of Uranus is nearly parallel to its path around the Sun. Furthermore, while Uranus is tilted on its side, its magnetic field is tilted by a different amount, and offset from the planet's center. This may cause its auroras to be unusually complex and variable. Determining the sources of the X-rays from Uranus could help astronomers better understand how more exotic objects in space, such as growing black holes and neutron stars, emit X-rays.

A paper describing these results appears in the most recent issue of the Journal of Geophysical Research and is available online. The authors are William Dunn (University College London, United Kingdom), Jan-Uwe Ness (University of Marseille, France), Laurent Lamy (Paris Observatory, France), Grant Tremblay (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard &amp; Smithsonian), Graziella Branduardi-Raymont (University College London), Bradford Snios (CfA), Ralph Kraft (CfA), Z. Yao (Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing), Affelia Wibisono (University College London).

NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center manages the Chandra program. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory's Chandra X-ray Center controls science from Cambridge Massachusetts and flight operations from Burlington, Massachusetts.

In a first, astronomers have detected X-Rays from Uranus using Chandra X-ray Observatory. This result may help scientists learn more about this enigmatic ice giant planet in our solar system.

In a first, astronomers have detected X-Rays from Uranus using Chandra X-ray Observatory. This result may help scientists learn more about this enigmatic ice giant planet in our solar system. Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun and has two sets of rings around its equator. The planet, which has four times the diameter of Earth, rotates on its side, making it different from all other planets in the solar system. Since Voyager 2 was the only spacecraft to ever fly by Uranus, astronomers currently rely on telescopes much closer to Earth, like Chandra and the Hubble Space Telescope, to learn about this distant and cold planet that is made up almost entirely of hydrogen and helium. Also read| Uranus wasn't always tilted: Find out what actually happened! In the new study, researchers used Chandra observations taken in Uranus in 2002 and then again in 2017. They saw a clear detection of X-rays from the first observation, just analysed recently, and a possible flare of X-rays in those obtained fifteen years later. The main graphic shows a Chandra X-ray image of Uranus from 2002 (in pink) superimposed on an optical image from the Keck-I Telescope obtained in a separate study in 2004. The latter shows the planet at approximately the same orientation as it was during the 2002 Chandra observations. What could cause Uranus to emit X-rays? The answer: mainly the Sun. Astronomers have observed that both Jupiter and Saturn scatter X-ray light given off by the Sun, similar to how Earth's atmosphere scatters the Sun's light. While the authors of the new Uranus study initially expected that most of the X-rays detected would also be from scattering, there are tantalising hints that at least one other source of X-rays is present. If further observations confirm this, it could have intriguing implications for understanding Uranus. One possibility is that the rings of Uranus are producing X-rays themselves, which is the case for Saturn's rings. Uranus is surrounded by charged particles such as electrons and protons in its nearby space environment. If these energetic particles collide with the rings, they could cause the rings to glow in X-rays. Another possibility is that at least some of the X-rays come from auroras on Uranus, a phenomenon that has previously been observed on this planet at other wavelengths. On Earth, we can see colorful light shows in the sky called auroras, which happen when high-energy particles interact with the atmosphere. X-rays are emitted in Earth's auroras, produced by energetic electrons after they travel down the planet's magnetic field lines to its poles and are slowed down by the atmosphere. Jupiter has auroras, too. The X-rays from auroras on Jupiter come from two sources: electrons traveling down magnetic field lines, as on Earth, and positively charged atoms and molecules raining down at Jupiter's polar regions. However, scientists are less certain about what causes auroras on Uranus. Chandra's observations may help figure out this mystery. Uranus is an especially interesting target for X-ray observations because of the unusual orientations of its spin axis and its magnetic field. While the rotation and magnetic field axes of the other planets of the solar system are almost perpendicular to the plane of their orbit, the rotation axis of Uranus is nearly parallel to its path around the Sun. Furthermore, while Uranus is tilted on its side, its magnetic field is tilted by a different amount, and offset from the planet's center. This may cause its auroras to be unusually complex and variable. Determining the sources of the X-rays from Uranus could help astronomers better understand how more exotic objects in space, such as growing black holes and neutron stars, emit X-rays. A paper describing these results appears in the most recent issue of the Journal of Geophysical Research and is available online. The authors are William Dunn (University College London, United Kingdom), Jan-Uwe Ness (University of Marseille, France), Laurent Lamy (Paris Observatory, France), Grant Tremblay (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian), Graziella Branduardi-Raymont (University College London), Bradford Snios (CfA), Ralph Kraft (CfA), Z. Yao (Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing), Affelia Wibisono (University College London). NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center manages the Chandra program. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory's Chandra X-ray Center controls science from Cambridge Massachusetts and flight operations from Burlington, Massachusetts.

Scientists discover X-rays coming from Uranus for the first time

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Hubble Telescope has released a stunning image of the Veil Nebula&nbsp;bringing out fine details of the it’s delicate threads and filaments of ionised gas.

To create this colourful image, observations taken by Hubble's&nbsp;Wide Field Camera 3&nbsp;instrument through 5 different filters were used. The new post-processing methods have further enhanced details of emissions from doubly ionised oxygen (seen here in blues), ionised hydrogen and ionised nitrogen (seen here in reds).

The Veil Nebula lies around 2100 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Cygnus (The Swan), making it a relatively close neighbour in astronomical terms. Only a small portion of the nebula was captured in this image.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/nasa-resolves-the-mystery-of-blue-ring-nebula-reveal-stellar-missing-link-344087">NASA resolves the mystery of Blue Ring Nebula, reveal stellar missing link</a>

The Veil Nebula is the visible portion of the nearby Cygnus Loop, a supernova remnant formed roughly 10,000 years ago by the death of a massive star. The Veil Nebula’s progenitor star, which was 20 times the mass of the Sun, lived fast and died young, ending its life in a cataclysmic release of energy. Despite this stellar violence, the shockwaves and debris from the supernova sculpted the Veil Nebula’s delicate tracery of ionised gas,&nbsp;creating a scene of surprising astronomical beauty.

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Astronomers suspect that before the Veil Nebula’s source star exploded it expelled a strong stellar wind. This wind blew a large cavity into the surrounding interstellar gas. As the shock wave from the supernova expands outwards, it encounters the walls of this cavity — and forms the nebula’s distinctive structures. Bright filaments are produced as the shock wave interacts with a relatively dense cavity wall, whilst fainter structures are generated by regions nearly devoid of material. The Veil Nebula’s colourful appearance is generated by variations in the temperatures and densities of the chemical elements present.

The blue coloured features, outlining the cavity wall, appear smooth and curved in comparison to the fluffy green and red coloured ones. This is because the gas traced by the blue filter has more recently encountered the nebula’s shock wave, thus still maintain the original shape of the shock front. These features also contain hotter gas than the red and green coloured ones.&nbsp;The latter excited longer ago and have subsequently diffused into more chaotic structures.

Hidden amongst these bright, chaotic structures lie a few thin, sharply edged, red coloured filaments. These faint hydrogen emission features are created through a totally different mechanism than that which generates their fluffy red companions, and they provide scientists with a snapshot of the shock front. The red colour arises after gas is swept into the shock wave,&nbsp;which is moving at almost 1.5 million kilometres per hour, and the hydrogen within the gas is excited by particle collisions right at the shock front itself.

Despite utilising six full Hubble fields of view, these new WFC3 images cover just a tiny fraction of the nebula’s outer limb. Located on the west side of the supernova remnant, this section of the outer shell is in a region known as&nbsp;NGC 6960&nbsp;or&nbsp;more colloquially the Witch’s Broom Nebula.

&nbsp;

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Hubble Telescope has released a stunning image of the Veil Nebula bringing out fine details of the it’s delicate threads and filaments of ionised gas.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Hubble Telescope has released a stunning image of the Veil Nebula bringing out fine details of the it’s delicate threads and filaments of ionised gas. To create this colourful image, observations taken by Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 instrument through 5 different filters were used. The new post-processing methods have further enhanced details of emissions from doubly ionised oxygen (seen here in blues), ionised hydrogen and ionised nitrogen (seen here in reds). The Veil Nebula lies around 2100 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Cygnus (The Swan), making it a relatively close neighbour in astronomical terms. Only a small portion of the nebula was captured in this image. Also read| NASA resolves the mystery of Blue Ring Nebula, reveal stellar missing link The Veil Nebula is the visible portion of the nearby Cygnus Loop, a supernova remnant formed roughly 10,000 years ago by the death of a massive star. The Veil Nebula’s progenitor star, which was 20 times the mass of the Sun, lived fast and died young, ending its life in a cataclysmic release of energy. Despite this stellar violence, the shockwaves and debris from the supernova sculpted the Veil Nebula’s delicate tracery of ionised gas, creating a scene of surprising astronomical beauty. Astronomers suspect that before the Veil Nebula’s source star exploded it expelled a strong stellar wind. This wind blew a large cavity into the surrounding interstellar gas. As the shock wave from the supernova expands outwards, it encounters the walls of this cavity — and forms the nebula’s distinctive structures. Bright filaments are produced as the shock wave interacts with a relatively dense cavity wall, whilst fainter structures are generated by regions nearly devoid of material. The Veil Nebula’s colourful appearance is generated by variations in the temperatures and densities of the chemical elements present. The blue coloured features, outlining the cavity wall, appear smooth and curved in comparison to the fluffy green and red coloured ones. This is because the gas traced by the blue filter has more recently encountered the nebula’s shock wave, thus still maintain the original shape of the shock front. These features also contain hotter gas than the red and green coloured ones. The latter excited longer ago and have subsequently diffused into more chaotic structures. Hidden amongst these bright, chaotic structures lie a few thin, sharply edged, red coloured filaments. These faint hydrogen emission features are created through a totally different mechanism than that which generates their fluffy red companions, and they provide scientists with a snapshot of the shock front. The red colour arises after gas is swept into the shock wave, which is moving at almost 1.5 million kilometres per hour, and the hydrogen within the gas is excited by particle collisions right at the shock front itself. Despite utilising six full Hubble fields of view, these new WFC3 images cover just a tiny fraction of the nebula’s outer limb. Located on the west side of the supernova remnant, this section of the outer shell is in a region known as NGC 6960 or more colloquially the Witch’s Broom Nebula.

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captures stunning image of Veil Nebula

Astronomers have discovered a previously&nbsp;unknown ancient crater lake on Mars, in a recent study.

In a study published in Planetary Science Journal, a team led by researchers from Brown University in the US describe an as-yet to be unnamed crater with some puzzling characteristics. 
 
The crater's floor has unmistakable geologic evidence of ancient stream beds and ponds, yet there's no evidence of inlet channels where water could have entered the crater from outside, and no evidence of groundwater activity where it could have bubbled up from below.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/mars-glaciers-give-insights-on-the-planets-many-ice-ages-358330">Mars' glaciers give insights on the planet's many ice ages</a>

The researchers conclude that the system was likely fed by runoff from a long-lost Martian glacier. 
 
Water flowed into the crater atop the glacier, which meant it did not leave behind a valley as it would have had it flowed directly on the ground. 
 
The water eventually emptied into the low-lying crater floor, where it left its geological mark on the bare Martian soil. 
 
The type of lake described in this study differs starkly from other Martian crater lakes, like those at Gale and Jezero craters where NASA rovers are currently exploring. 
 
"This is a previously unrecognized type of hydrological system on Mars," said Ben Boatwright, PhD student at Brown University. 
 
"In lake systems characterised so far, we see evidence of drainage coming from outside the crater, breaching the crater wall and in some cases flowing out the other side. But that`s not what is happening here. Everything is happening inside the crater, and that`s very different than what`s been characterised before." 
 
Importantly, Boatwright said, the crater provides key clues about the early climate of Mars. There`s little doubt that the Martian climate was once warmer and wetter than the frozen desert the planet is today. 
 
What`s less clear, however, is whether Mars had an Earthlike climate with continually flowing water for millennia, or whether it was mostly cold and icy with fleeting periods of warmth and melting. 
 
Climate simulations for early Mars suggest temperatures rarely peaking above freezing, but geological evidence for cold and icy conditions has been sparse, Boatwright said. This new evidence of ancient glaciation could change that. 
 
"The cold and icy scenario has been largely theoretical -- something that arises from climate models," Boatwright said. 
 
"But the evidence for glaciation we see here helps to bridge the gap between theory and observation. I think that's really the big takeaway here." 
 
Boatwright was able to map out the details of the crater`s lake system using high-resolution images taken by NASA`s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Astronomers have discovered a previously unknown ancient crater lake on Mars, in a recent study. In a study published in Planetary Science Journal, a team led by researchers from Brown University in the US describe an as-yet to be unnamed crater with some puzzling characteristics.

Astronomers have discovered a previously unknown ancient crater lake on Mars, in a recent study. In a study published in Planetary Science Journal, a team led by researchers from Brown University in the US describe an as-yet to be unnamed crater with some puzzling characteristics. The crater's floor has unmistakable geologic evidence of ancient stream beds and ponds, yet there's no evidence of inlet channels where water could have entered the crater from outside, and no evidence of groundwater activity where it could have bubbled up from below. Also read| Mars' glaciers give insights on the planet's many ice ages The researchers conclude that the system was likely fed by runoff from a long-lost Martian glacier. Water flowed into the crater atop the glacier, which meant it did not leave behind a valley as it would have had it flowed directly on the ground. The water eventually emptied into the low-lying crater floor, where it left its geological mark on the bare Martian soil. The type of lake described in this study differs starkly from other Martian crater lakes, like those at Gale and Jezero craters where NASA rovers are currently exploring. "This is a previously unrecognized type of hydrological system on Mars," said Ben Boatwright, PhD student at Brown University. "In lake systems characterised so far, we see evidence of drainage coming from outside the crater, breaching the crater wall and in some cases flowing out the other side. But that`s not what is happening here. Everything is happening inside the crater, and that`s very different than what`s been characterised before." Importantly, Boatwright said, the crater provides key clues about the early climate of Mars. There`s little doubt that the Martian climate was once warmer and wetter than the frozen desert the planet is today. What`s less clear, however, is whether Mars had an Earthlike climate with continually flowing water for millennia, or whether it was mostly cold and icy with fleeting periods of warmth and melting. Climate simulations for early Mars suggest temperatures rarely peaking above freezing, but geological evidence for cold and icy conditions has been sparse, Boatwright said. This new evidence of ancient glaciation could change that. "The cold and icy scenario has been largely theoretical -- something that arises from climate models," Boatwright said. "But the evidence for glaciation we see here helps to bridge the gap between theory and observation. I think that's really the big takeaway here." Boatwright was able to map out the details of the crater`s lake system using high-resolution images taken by NASA`s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Astronomers discover previously unknown ancient crater lake on Mars

Suez Canal was blocked for days as a giant vessel, Ever Given, blocked one of the busiest sea routes of the world.

Now, that the vessel has refloated, the US space agency NASA has shared nighttime images of the traffic jam.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/after-suez-canal-reopens-cargo-ship-elise-blocks-river-arun-in-sussex-374670">After Suez Canal reopens, cargo ship Elise blocks River Arun in Sussex</a>

The images were captured by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8&nbsp;and showed several ships waiting in the Gulf of Suez, the northwestern arm of the Red Sea.

These images were shared by NASA Earth's Twitter account. "Hundreds of ships were left idling around the Suez Canal as engineers worked to dislodge a grounded vessel blocking the key shipping route in Egypt," the tweet read.

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Hundreds of ships were left idling around the Suez Canal as engineers worked to dislodge a grounded vessel blocking the key shipping route in Egypt. The Landsat 8 satellite captured this image of the queue of ships on March 27, 2021. <a href="https://t.co/vOYCt8g7qS">https://t.co/vOYCt8g7qS</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/suezcanal?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#suezcanal</a> <a href="https://t.co/THVN30kf0f">pic.twitter.com/THVN30kf0f</a>
— NASA Earth (@NASAEarth) <a href="https://twitter.com/NASAEarth/status/1376652996696801284?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 29, 2021</a></blockquote>
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"The line of ships waiting to get through the #SuezCanal was also visible to a sensor on the NOAA-NASA Suomi NPP satellite. The sensor can detect even faint nighttime light signals," another tweet showed the difference in traffic over a period of days.

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The line of ships waiting to get through the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SuezCanal?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SuezCanal</a> was also visible to a sensor on the NOAA-NASA Suomi NPP satellite. The sensor can detect even faint nighttime light signals. <a href="https://t.co/uTKWcofDk1">https://t.co/uTKWcofDk1</a> <a href="https://t.co/u441B8zZPh">pic.twitter.com/u441B8zZPh</a>
— NASA Earth (@NASAEarth) <a href="https://twitter.com/NASAEarth/status/1376957274682486785?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 30, 2021</a></blockquote>
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These images have been captured through the&nbsp;Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi NPP satellite.

Experts believe that while the traffic began moving on March 29, it will still take some more time for the traffic to completely simmer down to normal. Earlier, on March 28, 367 ships were waiting, as per&nbsp;the canal service company Leth Agencies. It also added that&nbsp;154 were waiting to the north near Port Said; 42 were in Great Bitter Lake; and 171 were south of stranded ship in the Red Sea

Suez Canal was blocked for days as a giant vessel, Ever Given, blocked one of the busiest sea routes of the world. Now, that the vessel has refloated, the US space agency NASA has shared nighttime images of the traffic jam.

Suez Canal was blocked for days as a giant vessel, Ever Given, blocked one of the busiest sea routes of the world. Now, that the vessel has refloated, the US space agency NASA has shared nighttime images of the traffic jam. Also read | After Suez Canal reopens, cargo ship Elise blocks River Arun in Sussex The images were captured by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 and showed several ships waiting in the Gulf of Suez, the northwestern arm of the Red Sea. These images were shared by NASA Earth's Twitter account. "Hundreds of ships were left idling around the Suez Canal as engineers worked to dislodge a grounded vessel blocking the key shipping route in Egypt," the tweet read. Hundreds of ships were left idling around the Suez Canal as engineers worked to dislodge a grounded vessel blocking the key shipping route in Egypt. The Landsat 8 satellite captured this image of the queue of ships on March 27, 2021. https://t.co/vOYCt8g7qS #suezcanal pic.twitter.com/THVN30kf0f — NASA Earth (@NASAEarth) March 29, 2021 × "The line of ships waiting to get through the #SuezCanal was also visible to a sensor on the NOAA-NASA Suomi NPP satellite. The sensor can detect even faint nighttime light signals," another tweet showed the difference in traffic over a period of days. The line of ships waiting to get through the #SuezCanal was also visible to a sensor on the NOAA-NASA Suomi NPP satellite. The sensor can detect even faint nighttime light signals. https://t.co/uTKWcofDk1 pic.twitter.com/u441B8zZPh — NASA Earth (@NASAEarth) March 30, 2021 × These images have been captured through the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi NPP satellite. Experts believe that while the traffic began moving on March 29, it will still take some more time for the traffic to completely simmer down to normal. Earlier, on March 28, 367 ships were waiting, as per the canal service company Leth Agencies. It also added that 154 were waiting to the north near Port Said; 42 were in Great Bitter Lake; and 171 were south of stranded ship in the Red Sea

NASA shares nighttime satellite images of traffic jam at Suez Canal

Elon Musk's SpaceX on Wednesday named&nbsp;two citizen astronauts, including a&nbsp;college science professor and an aerospace data analyst&nbsp;for its first all-civilian spaceflight&nbsp;in history.

The two latest citizen astronauts were introduced at a news briefing livestreamed from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida by SpaceX human spaceflight chief Benji Reed and billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, who conceived the mission in part as a charity drive.

Isaacman, founder and CEO of e-commerce firm Shift4 Payments, is forking over an unspecified but presumably exorbitant sum to fellow billionaire and SpaceX owner Elon Musk to fly himself and three others into orbit aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/bone-cancer-survivor-hayley-arceneaux-to-join-billionaire-jared-isaacman-on-spacex-all-civilian-trip-365462">Bone cancer survivor Hayley Arceneaux to join billionaire Jared Isaacman on SpaceX 'all-civilian' trip</a>

The flight, scheduled for no earlier than September&nbsp;15, is expected to last three to four days from launch to splashdown.

"When this mission is complete, people are going to look at it and say this was the first time that everyday people could go to space," Isaacman, 38, told reporters.

Dubbed Inspiration4, the mission is designed primarily to raise awareness and support for one of Isaacman's favorite causes, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, a leading pediatric cancer center. He has pledged $100 million personally to the institute.

Assuming the role of mission "commander," Isaacman in February designated St. Jude physician's assistant Haley Arceneaux, 29, a bone cancer survivor and onetime patient at the Tennessee-based hospital, as his first crewmate.

Announced on Tuesday, Chris Sembroski, 41, a Seattle-area aerospace industry employee and US&nbsp;Air Force veteran, was selected through a sweepstakes that drew 72,000 applicants and has raised $113 million in St. Jude donations.

Sian Proctor, 51, a geoscience professor at South Mountain Community College in Phoenix, Arizona, and entrepreneur who was once a NASA astronaut candidate, was chosen separately through an online business contest run by Shift4 Payments.

All four will undergo extensive training modeled after the curriculum NASA astronauts use to prepare for SpaceX missions.

The Inspiration4 mission may mark a new era in spaceflight, but it is not the only all-civilian crewed rocket launch in the works.

British billionaire Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic enterprise is developing a spaceplane to carry paying customers on suborbital excursions.

SpaceX plans a separate launch, possibly next year, of a retired NASA astronaut, a former Israeli fighter pilot and two other people in conjunction with Houston-based private spaceflight company Axiom Space.

Musk also intends to fly Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa around the moon in 2023. Fees charged for those flights will help finance the development of Musk's new, heavy-lift Starship rocket for missions to the moon and Mars.

Inspiration4 is about more than a billionaire's joyride through space, organizers say, promising the crew will conduct a number of as-yet undetermined science experiments during its brief voyage.

Elon Musk's SpaceX on Wednesday named two citizen astronauts, including a college science professor and an aerospace data analyst for its first all-civilian spaceflight in history.

Elon Musk's SpaceX on Wednesday named two citizen astronauts, including a college science professor and an aerospace data analyst for its first all-civilian spaceflight in history. The two latest citizen astronauts were introduced at a news briefing livestreamed from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida by SpaceX human spaceflight chief Benji Reed and billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, who conceived the mission in part as a charity drive. Isaacman, founder and CEO of e-commerce firm Shift4 Payments, is forking over an unspecified but presumably exorbitant sum to fellow billionaire and SpaceX owner Elon Musk to fly himself and three others into orbit aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule. Also read| Bone cancer survivor Hayley Arceneaux to join billionaire Jared Isaacman on SpaceX 'all-civilian' trip The flight, scheduled for no earlier than September 15, is expected to last three to four days from launch to splashdown. "When this mission is complete, people are going to look at it and say this was the first time that everyday people could go to space," Isaacman, 38, told reporters. Dubbed Inspiration4, the mission is designed primarily to raise awareness and support for one of Isaacman's favorite causes, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, a leading pediatric cancer center. He has pledged $100 million personally to the institute. Assuming the role of mission "commander," Isaacman in February designated St. Jude physician's assistant Haley Arceneaux, 29, a bone cancer survivor and onetime patient at the Tennessee-based hospital, as his first crewmate. Announced on Tuesday, Chris Sembroski, 41, a Seattle-area aerospace industry employee and US Air Force veteran, was selected through a sweepstakes that drew 72,000 applicants and has raised $113 million in St. Jude donations. Sian Proctor, 51, a geoscience professor at South Mountain Community College in Phoenix, Arizona, and entrepreneur who was once a NASA astronaut candidate, was chosen separately through an online business contest run by Shift4 Payments. All four will undergo extensive training modeled after the curriculum NASA astronauts use to prepare for SpaceX missions. The Inspiration4 mission may mark a new era in spaceflight, but it is not the only all-civilian crewed rocket launch in the works. British billionaire Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic enterprise is developing a spaceplane to carry paying customers on suborbital excursions. SpaceX plans a separate launch, possibly next year, of a retired NASA astronaut, a former Israeli fighter pilot and two other people in conjunction with Houston-based private spaceflight company Axiom Space. Musk also intends to fly Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa around the moon in 2023. Fees charged for those flights will help finance the development of Musk's new, heavy-lift Starship rocket for missions to the moon and Mars. Inspiration4 is about more than a billionaire's joyride through space, organizers say, promising the crew will conduct a number of as-yet undetermined science experiments during its brief voyage.

SpaceX names two citizen astronauts for first all-civilian spaceflight

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