ISRO on Monday launched the GSLV-F12/NVS-01 mission from Sriharikota. It deployed the next-generation NVS-01 navigation satellite, weighing about 2232 kg, into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit. The NVS-01 is the first of the second-generation satellites envisaged for the Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC) services. An indigenous atomic clock is being flown in NVS-01 for the first time. readmore...

China has sent three astronauts to its now fully operational space station as part of crew rotation in the fifth manned mission to the station since 2021. The spacecraft, Shenzhou-16, or Divine Vessel, lifted off atop a Long March-2F rocket in the Gobi Desert on Tuesday. The Chinese Space Station was completed in 2022-end after 11 crewed and uncrewed missions. readmore...

A bright 'halo' around the Sun was spotted in the skies today across Delhi. Pictures of the phenomenon, which is also known as the 22-degree circular halo, were shared by locals on social media. The optical phenomenon, which looks like a rainbow-coloured ring, occurs when the Sun's rays get deflected/refracted through the hexagonal ice crystals present in cirrus clouds. readmore...

A 'Foucault pendulum' has been installed in the new Parliament building. Named after the 19th century French physicist Léon Foucault, the device was first introduced in 1851 to demonstrate the Earth's rotation. When the pendulum is hung from a height and set to swing in to-and-fro motion, it changes the direction it's swinging as the Earth rotates on its axis. readmore...

Chinese scientists have begun drilling a 10,000-metre hole into the Earth's crust. Drilling for the borehole, which is set to be China's deepest-ever, started in the country's oil-rich Xinjiang region on Tuesday, according to China's official Xinhua News Agency. The narrow shaft into the ground will penetrate more than 10 continental strata or layers of rock. readmore...

NASA has released a picture captured by its New Horizons spacecraft, showing a heart-shaped glacier on Pluto's surface. It also features mountains, cliffs, valleys, craters and plains, thought to be made of methane and nitrogen ice, NASA stated. "Pluto's surface is marked with cracks and craters in shades of brown," the space agency wrote about the image. readmore...

Scientists in Norway have discovered the second-ever mud volcano found within Norwegian waters. Discovered in the Barents Sea, a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, it rests inside a crater 300 metres wide and 25 metres deep. It's most likely the result of a natural blowout that abruptly released massive methane just after the last glaciation period, 18,000 years ago. readmore...

ISRO on Monday said that the GSLV-F12/NVS-01 mission, launched from Sriharikota earlier today, has been accomplished. "After a flight of about 19 minutes, the NVS-01 satellite was injected precisely into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit," ISRO said. The NVS-01 is the first of the second-generation satellites envisaged for the Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC) services. readmore...

The four-member crew of Axiom Mission 2, the second all-private astronaut mission to International Space Station (ISS), is heading back to Earth in SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft. The spacecraft has undocked from ISS and is expected to splash down off the coast of Florida on Wednesday at around 8:30 am IST. The mission carried the first Saudi Arabian woman to space. readmore...

Japan's Osaka University's researchers have developed a centipede-like robot that they say could be used in search and rescue operations and even space exploration in the future. The robot has six segments and flexible joints. Each segment has two legs connected to it. The robot is 135 centimetres in length and weighs 9.1 kilogrammes. readmore...

An all-private astronaut crew of two Americans and two Saudi nationals, including the first Arab woman sent into orbit, returned safely from International Space Station on Tuesday. The SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule carrying them parachuted into the Gulf of Mexico off the Florida coast after a 12-hour return flight. The crew was led by 63-year-old retired NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson. readmore...

Spanish startup PLD Space called off the test launch of its first suborbital reusable rocket scheduled for Wednesday citing strong high-altitude winds. The company said it intended to try again in the coming days. The launch from a military aerospace research centre in Huelva, southern Spain, would have been the first in Western Europe by a private company. readmore...

Brigadier General Jesse Morehouse, deputy director at US Space Command, said due to Russia's aggression and China's ambition of becoming the dominant space power by mid-century, the US is left with "no choice" but to prepare itself for potential conflict with them in outer space. "If someone was to threaten [us]...we are ready to fight tonight in space," Morehouse added. readmore...

A Japanese public-private partnership plans to launch solar panels into orbit at 36,000 km altitude and generate power to be converted into microwave radiation. The electricity thus generated will be transmitted to ground-based receiving stations. The project, initiated in 1980s, involves a Japanese research group that achieved world's first successful power transmission in space via microwaves. readmore...

During an excavation at the Pompeii archaeological site, three skeletons, believed to be of two adult women and a child, were discovered. A video showing the skeletons was shared by The Independent. Pompeii was devastated after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. The volcanic ash, however, made Pompeii one of the most well-preserved sites of the Roman era. readmore...

A study found that laughing gas can lead to nerve damage in young adults and teenagers. The research examined 119 hospitalised individuals who experienced neurological problems due to nitrous oxide. The most prevalent symptom was pins and needles in the extremities caused by damage to the spinal cord. Other symptoms included bladder and bowel issues, erectile dysfunction, and impaired balance. readmore...

Ancient mummification workshops and tombs have been discovered near Cairo, Egypt. The workshops, dating back 2,400 years, were used for mummifying humans and sacred animals. Archaeologists found various objects like clay pots, ritual vessels, stone beds, black resin, bronze tools and other items at the site that seem to have been used in mummification. readmore...

The UAE has announced its plans to explore the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The nation's MBR Explorer will visit its first asteroid in 2030 and after passing six asteroids, the mission aims to touch down upon Justitia in 2034 with a small lander that will deploy from MBR Explorer. UAE plans to launch the mission in 2028. readmore...

Scientists have discovered the oldest evidence of the plague in Britain. They found 4,000-year-old DNA of Yersinia pestis, the bacteria that causes the plague, in human remains from two burial sites in Somerset and Cumbria. While the plague had been present in Eurasia during Late Neolithic and Bronze Age, this finding suggests its first occurrence in Britain during that period. readmore...

The risk of flash droughts would increase globally due to climate change, research stated. Flash droughts are characterized by sudden and unexpected onset. A study published in Nature Communications highlighted that scenarios involving higher fossil fuel usage and radiative forcing show the highest risk of flash drought. Flash drought hotspots exist over India, Brazil and Sahel, among others. readmore...

NASA has unveiled four images by adding the data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the James Webb Space Telescope. These images were formed by combining infrared data from the Webb telescope with X-ray data from Chandra. The released images showcase the Eagle Nebula, Messier 74 spiral galaxy, NGC 346 star cluster, and NGC 1672 spiral galaxy. readmore...

Researchers have detected a water vapour plume jetting from Saturn's moon Enceladus using NASA's Webb telescope. "It was...so shocking to detect a water plume more than 20 times the size of the moon," NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center's Geronimo Villanueva said. The rate at which the vapour is gushing out is enough to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool in hours. readmore...

North Korea's attempt to put its first spy satellite in space on Wednesday ended in failure. Earlier, South Korea and Japan briefly urged residents to take shelter after the launch. The newly developed Chollima-1 rocket, which was carrying the Malligyong-1 spy satellite, fell into the sea after losing thrust due to the abnormal starting of the second-stage engine. readmore...

China plans to send astronauts to the moon by 2030. Lin Xiqiang, the deputy director of the China Manned Space Agency, stated that China plans for a short lunar surface mission and collaborative human-robotic exploration. This announcement comes after NASA administrator Bill Nelson and other officials highlighted that the US and China might be engaged in a space race. readmore...

A study using telescope data suggests that approximately one-third of the planets orbiting the most common stars in Milky Way may have liquid water and be habitable. These stars are smaller and cooler than Sun, and billions of planets orbit them. However, the study also reveals that two-thirds of these planets could be rendered uninhabitable due to extreme tidal forces. readmore...