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We Could Find Aliens Any Day Now, SETI Scientists Say

ET phone Earth! We could be on the verge of answering one of the essential questions of humanity...

New Mars Colony Mission Crowdfunds its Way to the Red Planet

MarsPolar, a newly created international venture has started raising funds for their...

Paving Way for Mars Colonization

In order to send first human to Mars, plenty of pioneering activities must be taken. It’s a journey...

New Mars Colony Mission To Be Crowdfunded

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Tomasz Nowakowski RSS Feed of this column.

Tomasz Nowakowski is a freelancer who writes about astronomy, spaceflight and space exploration. He is the founder and editor-in-chief of astrowatch... Read More »

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ESA’s CHEOPS Satellite: The Pharaoh of Exoplanet Hunting

ESA’s CHEOPS Satellite: The Pharaoh of Exoplanet Hunting

Mar 19 2015 | comment(s)


Just like the Pharaoh Cheops, who ruled the ancient Old Kingdom of Egypt, ESA’s CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite (CHEOPS) could be someday ruling in the field of exoplanet hunting.
ISRO Successfully Tests Its GSLV Mk III Cryogenic Engine

ISRO Successfully Tests Its GSLV Mk III Cryogenic Engine

Mar 16 2015 | comment(s)

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has successfully conducted a test on Saturday Mar. 14th to check the GSLV Mk III launch vehicle’s indigenous cryogenic CE-20 engine at ISRO Propulsion Complex (IPRC) in Mahendragiri, Tirunelveli district.

“It is yet another milestone achievement on the road map of developing a bigger and more powerful indigenously built high thrust cryogenic upper stage for GSLV Mk III rocket for the Indian Space Program,” said IPRC Director D. Karthikesan. IPRC is called the "Jet Propulsion Laboratory of India" as all stage and engine related tests of ISRO's launch vehicles and satellites are carried out there.
IXV Spaceplane's Successful Test Makes European Aerospace Company Proud

IXV Spaceplane's Successful Test Makes European Aerospace Company Proud

Feb 22 2015 | comment(s)


On Feb. 11, ESA’s Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV), atmospheric reentry demonstrator, successfully completed its first test flight, ending with a splashdown into the Pacific Ocean and one aerospace company is bursting with pride over the flawless test.
Let’s Send a Private Mission to Europa, Expert Says

Let’s Send a Private Mission to Europa, Expert Says

Feb 15 2015 | comment(s)


Jupiter’s icy moon Europa puzzles astrobiologists and sparks the imagination of extraterrestrial life seekers.

It is believed that the moon has a subsurface ocean of liquid water, where life could possibly be similar to microbial life forms on Earth.

The likely presence of liquid water has ignited persisting calls to send a probe there. Currently NASA and ESA plan their own missions to the potentially habitable moon. Europa Clipper mission has just got approved for $30 million in the 2016 NASA budget and ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer (JUICE) is scheduled for launch in 2022.
R.I.P. Venus Express: Remembering Eight Years on the Brink of Hell

R.I.P. Venus Express: Remembering Eight Years on the Brink of Hell

Feb 08 2015 | comment(s)


It was a hell of a ride to our hellish sister planet.

Eight long years of studying Venus is way more than ESA scientists were expected from its mission.

Venus Express spacecraft that launched on Nov. 9, 2005 and entered the orbit of its target planet on Apr. 11, 2006, was originally planned to last for 500 days. The mission was successfully extended three times and ended in slow death while entering Venusian hostile atmosphere this January.
On the Edge of The Unknown

On the Edge of The Unknown

Feb 01 2015 | comment(s)


The mysterious, distant and yet unexplored by any probe world of Pluto and its moons, located on the edge of our solar system, is about to get visited.

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft on July 14 will perform the first ever close-up flyby of the fallen planet. Downgraded in 2006 to dwarf planet by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), Pluto holds key clues to our understanding of the formation of our solar system.