space

As planned, the DART (Double Asteroid Redirect Test) mission has hit the asteroid Dimorphos, which orbits a larger asteroid, Didymos. Neither is a threat to Earth. This is the first planetary defence test mission designed to change the orbit of an asteroid, launched by NASA and the Johns Hopkins APL laboratory, with Spanish participation. Scientific teams will study with ground-based telescopes how much the orbit of Dimorphos will change around Didymos after the collision.

Romano Corradi, director of the Gran Telescopio de Canarias, assesses the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe taken by the James Webb Space Telescope, an international collaboration of the space agencies of the United States (NASA), Europe (ESA) and Canada (CSA).

An analysis published in Nature Astronomy quantifies the risk to human life posed by impacts of space rocket fragments on Earth, which are more likely to occur in the southern part of the planet.

Today the International Space Station (ISS) is completely dependent on Russia to keep it in orbit. Space X spacecraft, which NASA contracts, carry astronauts but cannot propel the ISS to maintain its altitude. A new American spacecraft, Cygnus, which has already conducted a successful propulsion test, is expected to be able to do so.