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A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches from launch pad 30A at the Kennedy Space Center, carrying the Intuitive Machines Moon Lander Athena. As part of the NASA CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services), Athena carries scientific experiments to search for water

Japanese startup to attempt Moon landing

A Japanese startup will attempt a tricky lunar touchdown tomorrow with an unmanned lander named Resilience, two years after its first try which crashed onto the Moon's surface.

News Lens • 05 Jun

The two gases involved in Webb's observations of the planet are generated on Earth by living organisms

Scientists find 'strongest evidence yet' of alien life

Scientists using the James Webb Space Telescope have obtained what they call the strongest signs yet of possible life beyond our solar system.

Science and Technology • 17 Apr

Mission Operations Engineer Jaxon Liebeck showcases the Blue Ghost moon lander at Firefly Aerospace headquarters last December

Private US spaceship successfully lands on Moon

A US company has successfully landed its spacecraft on the Moon, making it only the second private lander to achieve this milestone.

World • 02 Mar

Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn will be visible to the naked eye while Neptune and Uranus can be seen through a telescope

Rare 'planet parade' to be visible over Ireland

A rare planetary alignment, which will see six planets line up in a row across the night sky, is due to take place from tonight for the first time since 2018.

Ireland • 21 Jan

Boeing's Starliner has been hindered with development delays and technical problems

Boeing considering selling space business - report

Boeing is exploring the sale of its space business, the Wall Street Journal has reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Business • 25 Oct 24

Réaltra designed and built technologies used in Europe's Ariane 6 rocket

109 Irish companies secure European Space Agency support

Over 100 Irish companies secured European Space Agency support last year in what was a significant year for the Irish space industry.

Business • 15 Oct 24

Scientists took aim at a mock asteroid just 12 millimetres wide to test how x-rays can impact the path of an asteroid (stock image)

Nuking a huge asteroid could save Earth, study suggests

Humanity could use a nuclear bomb to deflect a massive, life-threatening asteroid hurtling towards Earth in the future, according to scientists who tested the theory in the laboratory by blasting x-rays at a marble-sized "mock asteroid".

News Lens • 25 Sep 24

Boeing's Starliner spacecraft pictured launching from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida earlier this year

Boeing's troubled spaceship to return home without crew

Boeing's problem-plagued Starliner is set to finally depart the International Space Station, returning to Earth without astronauts after NASA deemed the risk too great.

World • 06 Sep 24

The plans for the centre include a space themed educational and recreational facility in an existing warehouse (stock image)

Midlands space exploration centre gets go-ahead

Planning permission has been approved for a new visitor attraction focusing on space education and exploration in the midlands.

Connacht • 17 Jul 24

Between 1969 and 1972, the US Apollo programme saw 12 Americans walk on the Moon

Japanese astronaut to be first non-American on the moon

A Japanese astronaut will become the first non-American to set foot on the Moon during one of NASA's upcoming Artemis missions, US President Joe Biden has announced.

World • 11 Apr 24

West of Ireland gets view of rare partial solar eclipse

A partial solar eclipse took place across the west coast of Ireland around 8pm tonight with visibility poor in some areas due to cloud cover.

Science and Technology • 08 Apr 24

The spaceport would be used to send small satellites into space

Irish firm SUAS seeks €5m to develop Irish spaceport

An Irish company is aiming to raise €5m to develop a spaceport to enable orbital and suborbital rocket launches for carrying small satellites to polar orbits.

Business • 07 Mar 24

A failure in the lander's navigation system had complicated the lunar lander's final descent on the moon

As mission ends, US lunar lander could still 'wake'

The US spacecraft that touched down on the Moon last week and is currently running on solar power will soon be "put to sleep" once lunar night kicks in, mission officials said.

World • 29 Feb 24

Researcher at JAXA's Space Exploration Innovation Hub Center, explain an image of the lunar surface taken by the smart lander

Japan craft made 'pin-point' landing - space agency

Japan's "Moon Sniper" craft landed around 55 metres from its target, much more precise than the usual landing zone of several kilometres, the country's space agency has said.

World • 26 Jan 24

Footage released by NASA showed the capsule on the ground in the Utah desert

Largest asteroid sample ever collected lands on Earth

A NASA capsule has landed in the Utah desert after a seven-year voyage, carrying to Earth the largest asteroid samples ever collected.

World • 24 Sep 23

The lander is expected to touch down on the moon on 21 August

Russia launches space race bid to find water on Moon

Russia has launched its first moon-landing spacecraft in 47 years in a bid to be the first nation to make a soft landing on the lunar south pole, a region believed to hold coveted pockets of water ice.

World • 11 Aug 23

Artwork of Jupiter and its largest four (Galilean) moons. From left to right: Io, Callisto, Jupiter (with the shadow of Io cast upon it), Ganymede and Europa.

Search for alien life extends to Jupiter's icy moons

Could vast, long-hidden oceans be teeming with alien life in our very own Solar System?

News Lens • 12 Apr 23

An artist's impression of the runaway supermassive black hole. Credit: NASA, ESA, Leah Hustak (STScI)

Runaway black hole creating trail of new stars

A huge black hole is tearing through space, leaving behind a 200,000-light-year-long trail of newborn stars, space scientists say.

News Lens • 07 Apr 23

The SpaceX Crew Dragon launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Cener in Cape Canaveral

SpaceX capsule delivers four-person crew to ISS

A SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule has arrived safely at the International Space Station (ISS) after a brief delay, carrying two US astronauts, a Russian cosmonaut and a United Arab Emirates astronaut on a six-month science mission.

World • 03 Mar 23

Nasa TV captured images of white snowflake-like particles streaming out of the capsule

Russia may send empty spacecraft to take ISS crew home

Russia's space agency said it is considering a "rescue" plan to send an empty spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) to bring home three crew members ahead of schedule, after their Soyuz capsule sprang a coolant leak while docked to the orbiting outpost.

World • 23 Dec 22

The order will task the US Department of Commerce with creating an online tool to help guide companies through various agencies' licensing processes for space-related activities

Setting rules for the 'lawless place' that is Space

US President Joe Biden's administration is drafting an executive order intended to streamline approval for private rocket launches amid a broader effort to bring legal and regulatory clarity for American companies on everything from space travel to private space stations.

Business • 09 Dec 22

The samples are set to launch to the moon aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket this week from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida

'Sticky problem': DCU samples to be sent to moon

Polymer and metal samples developed in a lab at Dublin City University (DCU) will be launched to the moon tomorrow aboard a new lunar rover to study the way moon dust sticks to different surfaces.

Ireland • 30 Nov 22

The Artemis I unmanned lunar rocket sits on launch pad 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida (file pic)

NASA moon rocket launch delayed once again

NASA has again rescheduled its long-delayed uncrewed mission to the moon as Tropical Storm Nicole churned toward the east coast of Florida, officials said.

US • 09 Nov 22

EIRSAT-1 was designed, developed, built and tested at University College Dublin

Launch of Ireland's first satellite moves step closer

The launch of the country's first-ever satellite has moved a step closer following discussions at Cabinet today.

Ireland • 04 Oct 22

The US Federal Communications Commission voted to require post-mission disposal of low-Earth orbit satellites within five years

US agency adopts new space junk rules

The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) have voted 4-0 to adopt new rules to address growing risks of orbital debris to space exploration by shrinking the time to remove defunct satellites.

World • 29 Sep 22