Shubhanshu Shukla (PTI image) BENGALURU: India’s astronaut corps is not a one-off experiment but a permanent national capability, Indian astronaut Group Captain Prashanth Nair (Papa) said Wednesday, while Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla (Shux) said that a civilian flying to space will happen as the Gaganyaan programme matures.Speaking at the US-India Space Business Forum event in…
For decades, the Indian Ocean has been known for some of the saltiest waters on Earth. But it seems that’s changing. Experts say parts of the Southern Indian Ocean have become noticeably “fresher” over the last 60 years. Some reports suggest salinity has dropped by roughly 30 per cent. It might not sound like much,…
Europe’s space ambitions seem to be taking a bold leap forward. The Ariane 64, the most powerful version of the Ariane 6 rocket, has finally made its maiden launch. It seems like a small step, but in reality, it might be a game-changer. For years, Europe has relied on established players in space, but this…
Elon Musk (Image source: Reuters) Elon Musk, the entrepreneur behind SpaceX and the artificial intelligence company xAI, has unveiled one of his most ambitious plans yet. During an all-hands meeting with xAI staff on Tuesday, February 10, Musk announced a proposal to establish a manufacturing facility on the Moon that would build satellites equipped with…
Universe colour is cosmic latte When you look up at the night sky, it seems deep black with bright stars scattered across it. That familiar view leads many to assume that the universe itself must be black. But astronomers have asked a different question: If all the light from every star and galaxy were combined…
Elon Musk, the billionaire founder of SpaceX, has suggested that the company is now prioritising the Moon over Mars, with plans to help build a self-growing city on the lunar surface in less than ten years. The idea sounds ambitious, even bold, but experts say the shift reflects practical realities as well as growing global…
Lake Erie, one of North America’s largest lakes, has surprised everyone this week. A massive crack formed in the ice, stretching so far that it can reportedly be seen from space. People on the north shore in Canada could reportedly spot it all the way down to Cleveland, Ohio. The crack grew over Saturday, pushed…
Beneath the ocean’s rolling surface, there are mountains. Not the snowy peaks you hike, but vast, underwater volcanoes rising from the seafloor. Some tower more than a kilometre high. Some even poke above the water as tiny islands. Scientists say there might be over 100,000 of these “seamounts” scattered across the globe, but fewer than…
A familiar rivalry surfaced online this week, sparked by an image that seemed deliberately out of place. Jeff Bezos posted a picture of a large tortoise on social media, without explanation. The timing was notable. Elon Musk had been dominating headlines with fresh ideas tied to space, including orbiting data centres and long-term visions for…
New study suggests the T-Rex dinosaur grew in a very different way than previously thought New research using fossil bone analysis is overturning traditional scientific views on the growth and lifespan of Tyrannosaurus rex. Analysis of growth marks left inside leg bones at a cellular level has led researchers to determine the age and growth…
Stuck on a puzzle? Sleeping may help you solve it, study finds Humans have long believed that dreams could be a source of creativity and a means to solving problems. It is often said that many famous ideas were inspired by dreams. Nevertheless, scientists have found it difficult to demonstrate this in a clear way….
Charles Darwin (Image source: Wikipedia) Charles Darwin was an English naturalist and biologist whose work changed the way people thought about life on Earth. He wrote On the Origin of Species in 1859. This book introduced the idea of evolution through natural selection. This idea explained how species change over time by allowing individuals who…
Is AI secretly increasing the world’s carbon footprint? Know the truth AI growth is often framed in terms of speed and scale. Less often discussed is what sits underneath it all, quietly drawing power. As artificial intelligence spreads across offices, factories and digital services, researchers are beginning to trace how those gains ripple through energy…
The Curiosity rover, along the lower slopes of Mount Sharp inside Gale Crater, has reportedly uncovered the largest organic molecules ever found on the Red Planet. Decane, undecane, and dodecane are the mid-sized hydrocarbons that look a lot like fragments of fatty acids preserved in mudstone that’s 3.7 billion years old. Scientists reveal these molecules…
NASA finds Earth’s magnetic field may be the hidden reason oxygen has lasted for millions of years Scientists have debated for decades whether Earth’s magnetic field plays a role in keeping the planet habitable. The question matters because Earth stands apart from other rocky worlds. It has a long-lived magnetic field generated deep inside the…
Mars, the Red Planet, seems to have had rivers, lakes, maybe even seas. Minerals, channels, and rock formations all hint at water once flowing freely. Scientists have long wondered what happened. Recently, researchers reported a rare dust storm might have played a role not just any storm, as cited in the study published by the…
If you laid Nasa’s Artemis II moon rocket on its side, it would stretch nearly the length of a football field. That’s because the Space Launch System (SLS) stands 322 feet tall — just a few yards shy of the 360-foot length of a standard gridiron, making it one of the tallest rockets ever built.The…
Isro chief V Narayanan (PTI photo/file) BENGALURU: The Chandrayaan-4 Mission is at least two years away, but the Isro has identified a location in the South Polar region of Moon to land its lander.The union government has approved the Chandrayaan-4 mission, designed as a lunar sample-return mission and it will be India’s most complex lunar…
Humanity has been reaching for the stars for decades. Moon landings, Mars rovers, and long stays on the ISS. But there’s one question that seems to hang in the air: can humans actually have children in space? It sounds simple. But it isn’t. Space is not just empty air with combination of radiation, microgravity, stress,…
Anand Mahindra’s Monday Motivation – Dr Shubha V Iyengar Every Monday, India’s well-known industrialist Anand Mahindra shares a short post on social media that many people look forward to. He calls it Monday Motivation, and his messages range from lessons in life to stories of people doing remarkable work. On one recent Monday, he posted…
