A key milestone has been reached in the preparations for the joint European and Russian mission to Mars, scheduled for launch from Earth in 2022.
The Rosalind Franklin rover, which will search for life, has been mated to the Kazachok platform that will land it on the surface of the Red Planet.
It's the first time the two have been joined together.
The fit-check was conducted by engineers at the Cannes, France, factory of Thales Alenia Space.
The UK-assembled robot is seen sitting atop the lander in a folded configuration - as it will be for the journey to, and the touchdown on, Mars.
Dec 07, 2020
Chinese Scientists Make World's First Light-based Quantum Computer
Chinese scientists claim to have created the world's first light-based quantum computer which can solve problems far faster than a classical supercomputer, an advance hailed by experts as a major achievement that provides a fundamentally different approach to designing such powerful machines.
Jiuzhang, the quantum computer, can reliably demonstrate quantum computational advantage, a milestone in computing.
Jiuzhang takes its name from an ancient Chinese mathematical text. It can perform an extremely esoteric calculation, called Gaussian boson sampling, in 200 seconds. The same task would take the world's fastest classical supercomputer Fugaku around 600 million years.
It is the second such milestone after Google declared its 53-qubit quantum computer had achieved such a breakthrough last year.
China Successfully Launches New Earth Observation Satellite
China successfully launched a new Earth observation satellite which can take high-resolution pictures of ground objects across the globe.
The satellite was launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in southwest China's Sichuan province.
The satellite, Gaofen-14, was sent into orbit by a Long March-3B carrier rocket.
Geofen-14 is an optical stereo mapping satellite.
It can efficiently obtain high precision stereo images globally, draw large scale digital topographic map, produce digital elevation models, digital surface models and digital orthophoto images, and provide basic geographic information.
Dec 05, 2020
China Becomes Second Nation to Plant Flag on the Moon
China has planted its flag on the moon, more than 50 years after the US first planted the Stars and Stripes there.
The pictures from China's National Space Administration show the five-starred Red Flag holding still on the windless lunar surface.
They were taken by a camera on the Chang'e-5 space probe before it left the moon with rock samples.
Two previous Chinese lunar missions had flags on the crafts' coatings - so neither could be affixed to the moon.
Dec 04, 2020
India's Space Department Joins Hands with Indian Startup
India's Department of Space (DoS), under which the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and related organisations work, entered into a first-of-its-kind Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) with an Indian startup to build a private satellite launch vehicle.
This agreement comes months after DoS established IN-SPACe, an authorisation and regulatory body for enabling private players to undertake space activities in India. Under the NDA, the company will be enabled for accessing the facilities and technical expertise available in ISRO centers to proceed with its launch vehicle development program.
Dec 03, 2020
SpaceX Plans Uncrewed Mars Flight Launch in 2 Years
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said that the company is working towards launch of an uncrewed Mars flight in about two years.
Starship is SpaceX's ambitious spacecraft to take humans to the Red Planet. The company has been working on prototypes to find the right design that will work for the transport.
Musk revealed SpaceX's Mars mission plans during an award presentation ceremony in Berlin.
He pointed out that Earth and Mars synchronisation of orbits around the Sun happens approximately every 26 months and the next synchronisation is due in two years.