Nasa

Nasa pushes back Sunita Williams' return, mission now set for Spring 2025

The US space agency has delayed the return of astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore from the ISS again. Due to spacecraft issues, their stay has been extended until Spring 2025

US set to revise MTCR export policies to boost space cooperation with India

The outgoing Biden administration is in the process of finalising a national security memorandum that will update America's export control policies under the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), a move that is likely to facilitate more cooperation between India and US companies in the space sector, the White House said Tuesday. The goal of updating export control policies under the MTCR is to be able to advance commercial space cooperation even further with close partners like India, Principal Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer told reporters during a conference call here. We are continuing to take steps to further knock down barriers to private sector cooperation, and importantly, we are in the process of finalising national security memorandum that will update our own export control policies under the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), Finer said. Finer, Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and Indian Ambassador to the US Vinay Kwatra visited Houston on ...

NASA astronaut shares SpaceX Dragon Undocking video from space station

SpaceX's Dragon cargo capsule undocked from the ISS on December 16, 2024, and headed to earth with 2700 kg of waste

Two airplane-size asteroids closely pass Earth today; no threat to planet

Two asteroids pass Earth by close distance and that is why they are termed 'near misses'. Scientists decline any potential risk to the planet

Amazon donates $1 mn to Donald Trump's inaugural fund as Bezos plans visit

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is also meeting with Trump next week, the president-elect said Thursday, highlighting his contacts with tech titans

Webb telescope discovers galaxy that may offer clues into Milky Way's birth

Named 'Firefly Sparkle,' this galaxy is distinguished by its low mass, offering a rare glimpse into early galaxy formation

NASA finds seven new dark comets that might have brought life to Earth

Astronomers unveiled the discovery of seven new 'dark comets' that they believe could be the mechanism by which water enters the inner solar system

Sunita Williams completes 6 months in space, to remain on ISS till February

Astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore just completed six months on the International Space Station, on a mission which was initially scheduled for just one week

Nasa delays moon mission again, over 50 years after Apollo landings

NASA announced more delays Thursday in sending astronauts back to the moon more than 50 years after Apollo. Administrator Bill Nelson said the next mission in the Artemis program -- flying four astronauts around the moon and back is now targeted for April 2026. It had been on the books for September 2025, after slipping from this year. The investigation into heat shield damage from the capsule's initial test flight two years ago took time, officials said, and other spacecraft improvements are still needed. This bumps the third Artemis mission a moon landing by two other astronauts to at least 2027. NASA had been aiming for 2026. NASA's Artemis program, a follow-up to the Apollo moonshots of the late 1960s and early 1970s, has completed only one mission. An empty Orion capsule circled the moon in 2022 after blasting off on NASA's new Space Launch System rocket. Although the launch and lunar laps went well, the capsule returned with an excessively charred and eroded bottom heat .

Billionaire who performed 1st pvt spacewalk is Trump's pick to lead NASA

Isaacman said he was honoured to be nominated and would be "grateful to serve"

New research reveals Earth's 'evil twin' Venus was never really habitable

Earth-like planet, Venus, has never been habitable, the latest research reveals. The new discovery challenges theories that it once had liquid water

Trump may cancel Nasa's moon rocket: What it means for Musk & space travel

No official announcements have been made. However, such a move could be in line with previous speculation that the Trump administration could gut Nasa

Indian astronauts selected for Isro-Nasa mission complete initial training

Two Indian astronauts chosen for the upcoming Axiom-4 mission to the International Space Station (ISS) have completed the initial phase of training, the ISRO has said. Accorsing to ISRO, towards the goal of accomplishing a joint ISRO-NASA effort to the International Space Station, the two Gaganyatris (Prime-Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla and Backup-Group Captain Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair) assigned for Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) commenced their training in the USA from first week of August,2024. The initial phase of training has been completed successfully by the Gaganyatris. During this phase of training, the Gaganyatris have completed initial orientations for mission-related ground facility tours, initial overview of mission launch phases, SpaceX suit fit checks, and selected space food options, it said. Furthermore, the training also included familiarization sessions with the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and various onboard systems of the International Space Station, including photogra

Abrupt, 'irreversible' drop in global freshwater levels, Nasa study claims

Recent data from Nasa satellites have revealed that Earth's surface has lost freshwater abruptly since 2015. This major drop coincides with a 2014 to 2016 period of El Niño warming

India, US tech industry bodies launch webinar series on regulatory issues

Satcom Industry Association-India (SIA-India) and IndUS Tech Council have launched a partnership to unravel the regulatory challenges in emerging technologies such as AI, space systems, and dual use innovations. The two industry bodies have launched Perspectives on Regulatory Issues in Strategic Markets (PRISM) 2024 webinar series that seek to offer a platform for industry to navigate evolving regulations and explore new avenues for innovation and collaboration. "The first webinar 1.0 comes at a crucial time ahead of critical reforms like ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations), MTCR (Missile Technology Control Regime) liberalisation," Nikita Vardiparti, Vice President, IndUS Tech Council was quoted in a statement issued by SIA-India. She said following recent amendments by the US Department of Commerce aimed at easing restrictions on space-related items, which reclassifies many space-related products, including commercial satellites, from the US Munitions List to the ...

Unravelling mysteries of the sun: Where's Nasa's Parker Solar Probe now?

The Parker Solar Probe mission aims to investigate the mysteries of the sun's corona, its outer atmosphere. Here's all you need to know

SC asks govt to procure data on farm fires from geo-stationary satellites

The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Centre and the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) to procure data from geostationary satellites on farm fire instances instead of from NASA polar-orbiting satellites. The data of farm fires throughout the day can thus be made available to the state to enable them to take immediate action, it directed. A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih noted that ISRO is taking data from NASA satellites which pass over the NCR region around 10.30 am to 1.30 pm daily and the instances of farm fires which are captured by satellite are only for this limited period. The bench said senior advocate Aprajita Singh, who has been appointed as amicus curiae, pointed out that a Korean satellite, which is a stationary one, has captured data of farm fires at 4.20 pm. It said that the amicus has pointed out that there may be a difference between the data of farm fires which may be collected through stationary satellites and the one which

Nasa's Viking landers accidentally killed life on Mars, says astrobiologist

Astrobiologist Dirk Schulze-Makuch believes Nasa's Viking missions have inadvertently 'eliminated' Martian life. He also mentioned that Martian life may have adapted to the planet's dry environment

Tech wrap Nov 15: WhatsApp Draft, Gemini iOS app, Xiaomi HyperOS 2, more

WhatsApp Draft indicator. Google Gemini app on iOS. Xiaomi HyperOS 2 update. Nasa Earth Copilot. Samsung Galaxy S25 series launch. Nuclear Clock

Earth Copilot: Nasa, Microsoft team up to make Earth Science data available

Microsoft said the Earth Copilot AI chatbot enables users to interact with Nasa's data repository through plain language queries