[ad_1] Maddie MolloyClimate & science reporterGetty ImagesThe Soviet Union launched a number of missions to explore Venus – this probe was from an earlier flightPart of a Soviet-era spacecraft is likely to have re-entered the Earth's atmosphere after being stuck in orbit for more than half a century, the European Space Agency said. Kosmos 482, which launched in 1972 on a mission to Venus, never made it out of Earth's
[ad_1] Pallab GhoshScience correspondentBBCListen to this article on BBC SoundsThere are some scientific discoveries that do much more than advance our knowledge: they create a shift in our psyche as they show us the scale of the Universe and our place in it. One such moment was when space craft sent back images of the Earth for the first time. Another is the discovery of life on another world, a
[ad_1] Rebecca Morelle, Alison Francis and Greg BrosnanBBC ScienceWatch: Astronauts return to Earth after extended stay in SpaceAfter nine months in space, Nasa astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have finally arrived back on Earth.Their SpaceX capsule made a fast and fiery re-entry through the Earth's atmosphere, before four parachutes opened to take them to a gentle splashdown off the coast of Florida. A pod of dolphins circled the craft.After
[ad_1] Pallab GhoshScience CorrespondentBBCAs a Ryanair flight from London approached Vilnius, Lithuania, on 17 January, its descent was suddenly aborted. Just minutes from touching down, the aircraft's essential Global Positioning System (GPS) suffered an unexplained interference, triggering an emergency diversion.The Boeing 737 MAX 8-200 had already descended to around 850ft (259m) when the disruption occurred. Instead of landing, the plane was forced to climb back into the sky and divert
[ad_1] Victoria GillScience correspondent, BBC NewsWWFKrill are just a few centimetres long fully grown, but are one of the most abundant animals on EarthScientists say subtle differences in the colour of seawater will enable them to count tiny - but critically important - Antarctic marine creatures, from Space.The target of the new research effort is Antarctic krill, which are just a couple of inches long and one of the most
[ad_1] Rebecca MorelleScience Editor andAlison FrancisSenior Science Journalist NASA/Goddard/University of ArizonaAsteroid Bennu is a 500m-wide pile of boulders, rocks and rubbleThe chemical building blocks of life have been found in the grainy dust of an asteroid called Bennu, an analysis reveals.Samples of the space rock, which were scooped up by a Nasa spacecraft and brought to Earth, contain a rich array of minerals and thousands of organic compounds.These include amino
[ad_1] Watch: SpaceX loses Starship spacecraft but catches booster on seventh test flightThe latest test of Space X's giant Starship rocket has failed, minutes after launch. Officials at Elon Musk's company said the upper stage was lost after problems developed after lift-off from Texas on Thursday.But the Super Heavy booster managed to return to its launchpad as planned, prompting an eruption of applause from ground control teams.The mission came hours
[ad_1] Georgina RannardClimate and science reporterWatch: Lift-off for Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin as rocket New Glenn launches into orbitAmazon founder Jeff Bezos's space company has blasted its first rocket into orbit in a bid to challenge the dominance of Elon Musk's SpaceX.The New Glenn rocket launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 02:02 local time (07:02 GMT).It firmly pits the world's two richest men against each other
[ad_1] Jonathan O’CallaghanBBCOn Christmas Eve, an autonomous spacecraft flew past the Sun, closer than any human-made object before it. Swooping through the atmosphere, Nasa's Parker Solar Probe was on a mission to discover more about the Sun, including how it affects space weather on Earth.This was a landmark moment for humanity – but one without any human directly involved, as the spacecraft carried out its pre-programmed tasks by itself as
[ad_1] Pallab GhoshScience CorrespondentSPLArtwork: Uranus and its five largest moons had been thought to be inactive and sterile. The planet Uranus and its five biggest moons may not be the dead sterile worlds that scientists have long thought.Instead, they may have oceans, and the moons may even be capable of supporting life, scientists say.Much of what we know about them was gathered by Nasa’s Voyager 2 spacecraft which visited nearly
