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Sara Sabry is the founder and executive director of the Deep Space Initiative (DSI), a non-profit organisation dedicated to increasing accessibility and opportunity in the space field. Photo supplied

Sara Sabry beat doubters to become Africa’s first female astronaut and space pioneer

Sabry was told that engineering would be too difficult for her to study. She is now a PhD student in aerospace sciences and is conducting research at the Nasa-funded Human…

The rocket decanter collection by Jonathan Adler will blast you into high spirits.

Objects of Desire that are out of this world

30 June is International Asteroid Day. We have sprinted across the solar system to bring you the best in star-showered pieces

The new space race: An image from the launch of the Audible book Artemis: Journey to the Moon. Photo: Ilya S Savenok/Getty Images/Audible

Nokia and Nasa to install 4G on the Moon

Installing a wireless network on the Moon is just one step toward establishing a long-term human presence there

(Mike Blake/ Reuters)

Earth’s toughest creatures may be living on the moon

It is unlikely that they will be rescued in time. Even if they survived, they are doomed,”

The serendipitous arrival of a Cthulhic Elder God from the deep abyss of darkspace would be evidence

Hunt for the octopus from space

Let us entertain the notion — if only for a moment — that cephalopods may be from space. How would we go about testing the hypothesis?

Heigh ho, heigh ho, it’s off to Mars we go

Even if we develop the technology to build pressurised hamster balls, it needs to be recreated on Mars.

How ‘planety’ is Planet Nine?

Evidence of a distant giant planet lurking secretly in our solar system is compelling, according to researchers.

On the far side of the path that Mars traces around the sun, but before the orbit of the gas giant Jupiter, we find our next goose: the asteroid belt. (German Aerospace Centre)

Comet-chaser fires up its Philae minion

Scientists hope the Philae lander robot can get enough of a power boost through a battery recharge to carry out more research tasks.

Nanosatellites are relatively small

Small is big in the realm of satellites

Nanotechnology has made it possible for even poorer countries to stake a claim in space.

When the sun ‘coughs’ it can wreak havoc with the world’s communication systems.

Hermanus, the eye of the sunstorm

Scientists in the Western Cape town watch more than whales – they have a flair for space weather too.

The Spider balloon sailed about 35km above Antarctica for 16 days to collect data that will help scientists determine what happened immediately after the Big Bang.

Spider flies to catch an elusive wave

A South African astrophysicist is part of a team seeking to drag ancient cosmic secrets out of the polar skies.

An artist’s rendition of Nasa’s planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft.

Habitable planets: The ideal home in the Goldilocks Zone

Astronomers are discovering more and more exoplanets that could support life as we know it, but distance from a sun is only one critical requirement.

More than 200 astronomers from 18 countries were involved in the study, which used radio astronomy to look at a segment of sky over the northern hemisphere. (Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters)

Celestial newborns destroy stars

Researchers believe a newly discovered galaxy is the solution to the mystery of missing stars.

Andrea Accomazzo

Robot lab makes historic landing on comet

Scientists in Europe announced the landing of a robot lab Philae on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, enabling it to send back scientific information.

Giant dinosaurs and super galaxies

Scientists turned to digital modelling to study the Dreadnoughtus dinosaur and have finally defined where our galaxy is in the universe.

Interstellar dust scooped from vacuum

Nasa’s Stardust probe collected exotic particles in its cosmic flypaper after a manic comet chase.

An artist’s rendering of the Mars One site.

The ultimate Big Brother challenge: Living on Mars

The countdown for a one-way trip to the Red Planet has begun and several South Africans want to go.

Underground ocean discovered on Saturn moon

Gravity measurements taken by a Nasa spacecraft indicate that a small moon orbiting Saturn contains an underground ocean in its southern hemisphere.

Bicep2 reveals more about the universe’s beginnings

The latest big thing in science will also permit analysis of how much dark energy drove the inflation of the universe.

South pole telescope detects echoes of Big Bang

In a major discovery for understanding the origins of the universe, US scientists say they have detected echoes of the Big Bang 14-billion years ago.