Mail & Guardian
Mail & Guardian

Nasa Goddard Institute For Space Studies

latest news & developments
Illustration of Nasa’s New Horizons spacecraft encountering 2014 MU69 – nicknamed “Ultima Thule” – a Kuiper Belt object that orbits one billion miles beyond Pluto. (Nasa/JHUAPL/SwRI)
HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE

Nasa spacecraft hurtles toward historic New Year’s flyby

Scientists figured out in 2017 that Ultima Thule is not spherical but possibly elongated in shape. It may even be two objects

  • Kerry Sheridan
4 min read
The unmanned spacecraft launched nearly seven months ago, and is NASA’s first to attempt to touch down on Earth’s neighbouring planet since the Curiosity rover arrived in 2012.
MARS
Video

Mars InSight spacecraft lands on Red Planet

Mars Insight’s goal is to listen for quakes and tremors as a way to unveil the Red Planet’s inner mysteries

  • Laurent Banguet
  • Kerry Sheridan
4 min read
Final frontier: Tiny satellites weighing no more than 1.3kg are gaining global traction as a relatively cheap way to get a foot in the space race door.
ANGOLA

Russia loses contact with Angolan satellite

The incident involving the Russian-made Angosat-1 followed a similar one in November when Russia lost contact with a weather satellite

  • Anna Smolchenko
  • Olga Rotenberg
3 min read
BUSH ADMINISTRATION

Climate target not radical enough, study shows

One of the world’s leading climate scientists warns on Monday that the European Union and its international partners must urgently rethink targets for cutting carbon dioxide in…

  • Ed Pilkington
4 min read