Astronomy

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On 15 July 2025, with the splashdown of the Dragon capsule off the coast of California, the Ignis mission ended after a 20-day space journey. ESA project astronaut Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski from Poland, during nearly 230 orbits around Earth, completed about 120 hours of telework on the International Space Station and contributed to more than 20 experiments from his orbital office.

Following medical checks on the recovery vessel, Sławosz flew to shore by helicopter and then travelled from the United States to Germany in order to undergo a week of recovery at the European Astronaut Centre. Dozens of people gathered to give him a warm welcome at the Cologne Bonn airport.

Access the realted broadcast quality footage: Launch / ISS / Return to Earth

With launch slated for August, the first MetOp Second Generation satellite, MetOp-SG-A1, which also carries the Copernicus Sentinel-5 mission, is currently undergoing final preparations for liftoff aboard an Ariane 6 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.

A pre-launch press briefing will be held on Monday, 28 July at 14:00 CEST, and will be streamed live on ESA Web TV One – tune in to hear more about these two exciting new missions!

Astronomers found evolutionary links that connect three well-known star clusters. The Orion Nebular Cluster, the Pleiades, and the Hyades are located roughly in the same region in space, but have different ages. New research shows that they're connected and have similar origins.

Lunar regolith is the crushed up volcanic rock that buries the surface of the Moon. Remote observations and sample analysis have shown there are trace amounts of water ice mixed in with the regolith, which can be extracted. By mixing this water with CO2 exhaled by astronauts, scientists have demonstrated this can be turned into hydrogen gas and carbon monoxide. This can then be turned into fuels and oxygen to support the astronauts. Everything we need is there on the Moon. We just need to learn how to use it.

A Chinese team presents a new model for accurately predicting the performance of Sterling engines, which are being investigated as a possible means of powering

A 13-million-year-old leg bone from an enormous flightless bird carries crocodilian tooth marks, showing South America was once a predator-eat-predator world

A 13-million-year-old leg bone from an enormous flightless bird carries crocodilian tooth marks, showing South America was once a predator-eat-predator world

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A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched two of SES's O3b mPOWER communications satellites toward medium-Earth orbit today (July 22), then aced its landing on a ship at sea.

Ozzy Osbourne, lead singer of Black Sabbath, has died at age 76. He said he had been previously diagnosed with a form of Parkinson’s disease linked to the gene PRKN

Astronomers have discovered a 200-light-year-wide Giant Molecular Cloud dubbed the Midpoint cloud that seems to be feeding star-building material to the heart of the Milky Way.

Reducing air pollution is critical for improving public health, but it has brought big climate trade-offs

Reducing air pollution is critical for improving public health, but it has brought big climate trade-offs

The thin crescent moon and Jupiter will be visible to the naked eye for early risers on July 23.

'A malfunctioning program who wants to live. Why is that?'

Two AI models have achieved gold medal standard for the first time in a prestigious competition for young mathematicians – and their developers claim these AIs could soon crack tough scientific problems

Two AI models have achieved gold medal standard for the first time in a prestigious competition for young mathematicians – and their developers claim these AIs could soon crack tough scientific problems

Miguel Claro took one last look at Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-Atlas as it bid farewell to Earth for the next 80,000 years.

Solar expert Dr. Ryan French explains how to safely photograph the sun and all of its wondrous features!