South Korea plans Mars landing in 2045 as it launches first space agency
By Jack Kim SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea plans to make a Mars landing by 2045 and spend 100 trillion won ($72.6 billion) until then on space exploration, President Yoon Suk Yeol said on Thursday at the launch of the country's first space agency. T...
May 30, 2024
Indian space startup Agnikul launches country's second privately built rocket
BENGALURU (Reuters) - India's Agnikul Cosmos launched its Agnibaan rocket for the first time on Thursday, powered by the only Indian rocket engine to use both gas and liquid fuel in the country's second flight of a privately built rocket. The Agnib...
May 30, 2024
NASA's Lucy spacecraft unlocks asteroid Dinkinesh's dynamic history
By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A little asteroid called Dinkinesh - visited last November by NASA's Lucy spacecraft - has a surprisingly dynamic history, according to scientists, along with its moonlet Selam that is comprised of two bodies t...
May 29, 2024
China's Galactic Energy launches rocket carrying satellites, state media reports
BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese company Galactic Energy successfully launched its Ceres-1 rocket carrying satellites into orbit on Wednesday, state media reported, in the latest sign of the growing strength of China's commercial space sector. The Beiji...
May 29, 2024
Italy's Vega-C rocket a step closer to returning to flight after successful engine test
ROME (Reuters) - Italy's Vega-C rocket is closer to flying again after a successful test of its engines carried out at the end of May, its manufacturer Avio said on Tuesday. Vega-C launchers are expected to return to flight in late 2024 after imple...
May 28, 2024
India's space startup calls off maiden rocket launch for a fourth time
BENGALURU (Reuters) - India's Agnikul Cosmos called off a test flight of its first rocket on Tuesday seconds before it was due to launch - the fourth such cancellation in the last three months. Launches of India's second privately built rocket, and...
May 28, 2024
South Korea says video shows North Korea's failed satellite launch
SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea released video footage on Tuesday that its military said showed the moment North Korea's latest attempt at launching a satellite ended in failure. The one-minute black-and-white video provided by the South's Joint Chie...
May 28, 2024
Amazon to deorbit pair of prototype satellites, calling tests successful
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Amazon on Thursday said it would begin a process to deorbit two prototype satellites it launched in 2023 as an early test of its Kuiper broadband internet constellation, a planned network of over 3,000 satellites that will co...
May 23, 2024
Australian trial of gene-edited wheat aims for 10% bigger yields
By Peter Hobson CANBERRA (Reuters) - The groundwork for a major trial of gene-edited wheat has begun in Australia, where a state company is growing hundreds of varieties it says could be up to 10% more productive and make farming more sustainable. ...
May 23, 2024
NASA, Boeing targeting June 1 for Starliner's debut crewed flight
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - NASA and Boeing are targeting June 1 for the company's first crewed launch of its Starliner spacecraft as engineers investigate the cause of a helium leak, the agency said Wednesday. (Reporting by Joey Roulette; Editing by S...
May 23, 2024
SpaceX launches first satellites for new US spy constellation
By Joey Roulette WASHINGTON (Reuters) - SpaceX on Wednesday launched an inaugural batch of operational spy satellites it built as part of a new U.S. intelligence network designed to significantly upgrade the country's space-based surveillance power...
May 22, 2024
Sun's magnetic field may originate closer to the solar surface
By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The sun's magnetic field, which causes solar storms like the one that hit Earth this month and produced beautiful auroras, may originate at shallower depths in the star's interior than previously thought, accor...
May 22, 2024
Cubans put Asian silkworms to work for artisans in experimental project
By Alien Fernandez INDIO HATUEY, Cuba (Reuters) - Cuban biochemist Dayron Martin, dressed in a white lab coat and jeans, looks over a table swarming with silkworms with the admiration of a proud father. Hundreds of the cream-colored caterpillars sq...
May 22, 2024
US assesses Russia launched space weapon near American satellite last week
By Joey Roulette WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Russia last week launched a satellite that U.S. intelligence officials believe to be a weapon capable of inspecting and attacking other satellites, the U.S. Space Command said Tuesday as the Russian spacecraf...
May 21, 2024
Chinese fossil reveals evolution of skin in feathered dinosaurs
By Will Dunham (Reuters) - A new fossil of the Cretaceous Period dinosaur Psittacosaurus, a dog-sized herbivore with a parrot-like beak, that was donated to a Chinese university came with a surprise - one revealed only after scientists viewed it un...
May 21, 2024
US FDA clears Neuralink's brain chip implant in second patient, WSJ reports
(Reuters) -The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has allowed billionaire Elon Musk's Neuralink to implant its brain chip in a second person after the company offered fixes to a problem that occurred in the first patient, the Wall Street Journal reporte...
May 20, 2024
Bezos' Blue Origin to launch first crew to edge of space since 2022 grounding
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Jeff Bezos' space firm Blue Origin is scheduled on Sunday to launch its first crew of humans to the edge of space since the company's suborbital New Shepard rocket was grounded in 2022, resuming its space tourism business. Si...
May 19, 2024
Comet fragment lights up sky over Spain and Portugal 'like a movie'
By Catarina Demony and Ana Cantero LISBON (Reuters) - A bright comet fragment lit up the skies over parts of Spain and Portugal late on Saturday, according to the European Space Agency (ESA), with one Lisbon resident saying the dazzling display "f...
May 19, 2024
Boeing Starliner's debut crewed flight delayed again to check helium leak
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - NASA and Boeing delayed the launch of Boeing's Starliner crew capsule again on Friday, giving them four more days to assess a helium leak before attempting to launch the spacecraft's first two astronauts into space, the spac...
May 18, 2024
A fox on stilts? Argentine long-legged maned wolf returned to the wild
By Lucila Sigal BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentine conservationists have returned a rare and unusual-looking animal, a maned wolf, to the wild around Buenos Aires, with its long black legs and red-fur making the creature look like a fox on stilts o...
May 17, 2024
Sea otters get more prey and reduce tooth damage using tools
By Will Dunham (Reuters) - Humans are not alone in the use of tools. Chimpanzees, for instance, crack nuts with stones and use sticks to get at tasty termites. Dolphins are known to employ sponges to protect their beaks while foraging. And a Galapa...
May 16, 2024
Study reveals history and oceanic voyages of remarkable baobab tree
By Will Dunham (Reuters) - The baobab tree is a distinctive sight on the landscape. When its contorted branches are leafless during the dry season, they resemble jumbled roots emanating from a thick trunk, making it appear as if someone had yanked ...
May 15, 2024
Blue Origin to resume space tourist flights after near 2-year pause
(Reuters) - Jeff Bezos-backed Blue Origin will resume flights to space on Sunday, ending a near two-year pause of crewed operations following a 2022 mission failure. The NS-25 mission will lift off from Launch Site One in West Texas, with the launc...
May 14, 2024
Boeing Starliner's crew debut delayed again over spacecraft issue
By Joey Roulette WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Boeing's first Starliner mission carrying humans to space was delayed to May 21 over issues with the spacecraft's propulsion system, Boeing said on Tuesday. Starliner's mission carrying two NASA astronauts to...
May 14, 2024
For elephants, like people, greetings are a complicated affair
By Will Dunham (Reuters) - People greet each other in a variety of ways. They might say "hello," "guten tag," "hola," "konnichiwa" or "g'day." They might shake hands, bump fists, make a fist-and-palm gesture or press their hands together with a gen...
May 13, 2024