Space

NASA's final plans for the International Space Station when it is decommissioned at the end of the decade have been revealed as it asks for proposals for a new spacecraft that will be used to guide the station to burn up in the Earth's atmosphere.

Startup Stoke Space has successfully completed a 15-second vertical launch/vertical landing test of its Hopper VTVL reusable rocket that is capable of atmospheric reentry and landing after acting as a launch vehicle second stage.

After a two-and-a-half-year astral trek and seven years since lift off, asteroid samples from NASA's Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification and Security – Regolith Explorer OS(IRIS-REx) have been brought down to Earth.

Imperial College is developing a rocket thruster called the Iridium Catalysed Electrolysis CubeSat Thruster (ICE-Cube Thruster) that is so small that it can only be fabricated using techniques originally designed for making silicon chips.

Although Saturn's moon Enceladus and Jupiter's moon Europa both have ice-covered surfaces, oceans may exist beneath that ice. The TRIPLE-nanoAUV 2 project is aimed at getting an uncrewed submersible into those oceans, to search for life.

Under a UK Space Agency contract, Bangor University in Wales is developing a new poppy-seed-sized nuclear fuel for the Rolls-Royce micro reactors that will power future crewed lunar outposts by 2030.

It was second time lucky for Japan as it successfully launched its first lunar lander on September 6 at 23:42 GMT atop a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries H-IIA rocket from the Tanegashima Space Center 25 miles (40 km) south of Kyushu.

India is furthering its bid to become a major spacefaring power. The launch of its first mission to the Sun comes just as it winds down its first successful robotic Moon landing, with the Pragyan lunar rover completing its work and going into sleep mode.

The fate of Russia's failed Luna 25 Moon landing mission has been confirmed after NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) found a new impact crater at the estimated position of the lander's crash shortly before its attempted landing.

India's Chandrayaan-3 Moon mission has hit the ground running with the Vikram lander and the Pragyan rover sending back their first images and instrument data while the rover makes a slow-motion swerve around a crater.

Solar wind – charged particles from the Sun – pervades our solar system, but the exact mechanism behind it remains murky. Now ESA’s Solar Orbiter spacecraft has observed previously unknown tiny flares on the Sun’s surface spewing plasma into space.

India's Chandrayaan-3's Vikram lander has deployed its Pragyan lunar rover as it begins its exploration of the Moon's south polar region. The robotic rover today rolled down a ramp and charged its solar batteries before beginning surface operations.

India joined one of the solar system's most exclusive clubs as it successfully landed its first probe on the Moon. On August 23 at 12:32 GMT, the robotic spacecraft touched down near the lunar south pole, making it the southernmost landing to date.

Almost three years after the event, neutron scans by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory have uncovered the cause of the platform collapse that resulted in the destruction of the 1,000-ft (300-m) Arecibo Observatory radio telescope.

Astronomers have discovered a new type of star, which could be key to solving a cosmic mystery. This massive helium star has an ultra-strong magnetic field, meaning it could be the preliminary stage of a magnetar, which so far has unknown origins.