Science

LONDON (Reuters) – Scientists for the first time have detected water in the atmosphere of an Earth-like planet orbiting a distant star, evidence that a key ingredient for life exists beyond our solar system, according to a study published on Wednesday. An artist’s impression released by NASA on September 11, 2019 shows the planet K2-18b,

FILE PHOTO: Student walk past a screen during a live streaming of Chandrayaan-2 landing at an educational institute in Mumbai, India, September 7, 2019. REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas/File Photo BENGALURU (Reuters) – India has located the spacecraft it was trying to land on the moon but has not been able to establish communication with it yet, the

BENGALURU (Reuters) – India lost contact with a spacecraft it was attempting to land on the moon on Saturday, the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said, in a setback to the nation’s ambitious plans to become the first country to probe the unexplored lunar south pole. FILE PHOTO: Indian Space Research Organization

LONDON (Reuters) – A large scientific study into the biological basis of sexual behavior has confirmed there is no single “gay gene” but that a complex mix of genetics and environment affects whether a person has same-sex sexual partners. FILE PHOTO: People dance during the Youth Pride event as part of World Pride and Stonewall

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – As Hurricane Dorian advances on a course likely to slam the Florida peninsula within days, U.S. space agencies and aerospace companies are sheltering millions of dollars in hardware and assets along the Space Coast. FILE PHOTO: A member of the Emergency Operations Committee (COE) monitors the trajectory of Storm Dorian in Santo

(Reuters) – An Iranian rocket exploded on its launch pad at Imam Khomeini Space Center in northern Iran before its scheduled launch on Thursday, an Iranian official said. A satellite image shows what U.S. officials say is the failed Iranian rocket launch at the Imam Khomeini Space Center in northern Iran August 29, 2019. Mandatory

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Artifacts including stone tools and animal bone fragments found in Idaho dating back about 16,600 years represent what may be the oldest evidence of humans in the Americas and offer insight into the routes people took as they spread into the New World. Excavation work by scientists at the Cooper’s Ferry archaeological

(Reuters) – SpaceX test-launched an early prototype of the company’s Mars rocket on Tuesday, unnerving residents near the Texas site and clearing another key hurdle in billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk’s interplanetary ambitions. SpaceX’s Mars Starship prototype “Starhopper” hovers over its launchpad during a test flight in Boca Chica, Texas, U.S. August 27, 2019. REUTERS/Trevor Mahlmann

(Reuters) – SpaceX test-launched an early prototype of the company’s Mars rocket on Tuesday, rattling the nerves of people living near the Texas site and clearing another key hurdle in billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk’s interplanetary ambitions. SpaceX’s Mars Starship prototype “Starhopper” hovers over its launchpad during a test flight in Boca Chica, Texas, U.S. August

A still image, taken from a video footage and released by Russian space agency Roscosmos, shows robot Skybot F-850, also known as FEDOR, inside the Russian Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft carried by Soyuz-2.1a booster after the launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan August 22, 2019. Russian space agency Roscosmos/Handout via REUTERS MOSCOW (Reuters) – A Russian

FILE PHOTO: A white rhino walks at the Nairobi National Park, near Nairobi, Kenya, December 3, 2018. REUTERS/Amir Cohen/File Photo NAIROBI (Reuters) – Seven eggs from the world’s last two remaining northern white rhinos have been successfully fertilized artificially, reviving hopes of saving the endangered animals, scientists said on Monday. The world’s last male northern

A still image, taken from a video footage and released by Russian space agency Roscosmos, shows robot Skybot F-850, also known as FEDOR, inside the Russian Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft carried by Soyuz-2.1a booster after the launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan August 22, 2019. Russian space agency Roscosmos/Handout via REUTERS MOSCOW (Reuters) – A Russian

HOUSTON (Reuters) – A crew of veteran U.S. astronauts and aviators are training in Houston for a manned mission to the International Space Station aboard Boeing’s new Starliner spacecraft, which could also be used to take tourists into space on future missions. NASA Commercial Crew astronaut Sunita Williams is lowered into the water at NASA’s Neutral

A still image, taken from a video footage and released by Russian space agency Roscosmos, shows robot Skybot F-850, also known as FEDOR, inside the Russian Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft carried by Soyuz-2.1a booster after the launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan August 22, 2019. Russian space agency Roscosmos/Handout via REUTERS MOSCOW (Reuters) – A Russian

(Reuters) – Direct observations from a NASA space telescope have for the first time revealed the atmospheric void of a rocky, Earth-sized world beyond our own solar system orbiting the most common type of star in the galaxy, according to a study released on Monday. An artist’s conception shows NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope as it

SEATTLE (Reuters) – The first American spacecraft expected to land on the moon in nearly 50 years will be a robotic moon lander built by closely held Astrobotic Technology Inc and launched in two years by United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket, the companies told Reuters on Monday. FILE PHOTO: A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine speaks to media during a visit to NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility where engineers are preparing to add the final section to the core stage of the rocket that will power NASA’s Artemis 1 lunar mission, in New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S., August 15, 2019. REUTERS/Jonathan Bachman WASHINGTON (Reuters) – NASA Administrator Jim

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Jupiter, the solar system’s largest planet, may have been smacked head-on by an embryonic planet 10 times Earth’s mass not long after being formed, a monumental crash with apparent lasting effects on the Jovian core, scientists said on Thursday. The collision between a young Jupiter and a massive still-forming protoplanet in the

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Genetic research that reconstructed the past population dynamics of the cave bear, a prominent prehistoric denizen of Europe, implicates Homo sapiens rather than climate cooling in the Ice Age extinction of these brawny plant-loving beasts. The skull of an extinct cave bear from the Natural History Museum in Belgrade, Serbia, is seen

BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese startup LinkSpace on Saturday completed its third test of a reusable rocket in five months, stepping up the pace in China’s race to develop a technology key to cheap space launches in an expected global boom in satellite deployment. FILE PHOTO: Linkspace’s engineers pack the reusable rocket RLV-T5, also known as

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s seaside towns are at war with their seagulls, urging visitors not to feed the birds in an effort to stop them snatching titbits like potato chips from tourists’ hands. Warning signs deck promenade railings from Scarborough to Broadstairs and beyond but now research from the University of Exeter has suggested an

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Space Communication said on Wednesday its Amos-17 communications satellite was launched into space and was enroute to its orbital position after separating from its SpaceX rocket. The Israeli satellite operator is counting on Amos-17, which was manufactured by Boeing and will provide communication services to Africa, to help it rebound from some

ORLANDO, Fla. (Reuters) – Elon Musk’s SpaceX is expanding its facilities in Florida to make room for the space company’s forthcoming super heavy-lift launch vehicle dubbed Starship, according to a draft of the plans seen by Reuters on Friday. FILE PHOTO: Starship prototype as seen on the day that SpaceX performs an untethered test of

FILE PHOTO: The Milky Way is seen during the Perseid shower above the Los Padres National Forest in Frazier Park, California, August 12, 2009. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni/File Photo WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Astronomers have created the most precise map to date of the Milky Way by tracking thousands of big pulsating stars spread throughout the galaxy, demonstrating

BEIJING (Reuters) – Beijing-based startup iSpace is planning up to eight commercial rocket launches next year, after last week becoming China’s first privately funded firm to put a satellite into orbit, its executives told Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The Hyperbola-1 rocket of Chinese space company iSpace is seen before its successful launch from the Jiuquan Satellite

A complete fossil unearthed in Kootenay National Park in the Canadian Rockies of the marine creature Cambroraster falcatus, which lived 506 million years ago, showing the eyes and the body with paired swimming flaps below the large head carapace is seen in this image released by the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, July

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Scientists have mapped the genome of the Komodo dragon, the world’s largest lizard, discovering intriguing secrets behind the impressive speed and endurance these cold-blooded predators muster by ratcheting up their metabolism to mammal-like levels. FILE PHOTO: Komodo dragons walk at the Komodo National Park in Indonesia’s Komodo island October 4, 2011. REUTERS/Beawiharta/File

TEL AVIV (Reuters) – Israel’s Space Communication Ltd plans a satellite launch next weekend which it hopes will mark a rebound from a couple of major setbacks in recent years. David Pollack, CEO of Israel’s Space Communication Ltd gestures next to a model of Amos-17 satellite at the company offices in Ramat Gan, Israel July

PARIS (Reuters) – The thigh bone of a giant dinosaur was found this week by French paleontologists at an excavation site in southwestern France where remains of some of the largest animals that ever lived on land have been dug up since 2010. The two-meter long femur at the Angeac-Charente site is thought to have

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Observations of light coming from a star zipping in orbit around the humongous black hole at the center of our galaxy have provided fresh evidence backing Albert Einstein’s 1915 theory of general relativity, astronomers said on Thursday. A star known as S0-2, the blue and green object in this artist’s rendering, that