Blog - Philip Ferreira

The forward view shows the landscape ahead of the robot as it sits on its landing platform; the rear-looking image reveals Zhurong's solar panels.The rover touched down on the Red Planet early on Sunday, Beijing time.In doing so, it made China only the second nation - after America - to successfully put a probe on the surface of Mars and operate it for a significant length of time.Chinese...

The Tianhe module - which contains living quarters for crew members - was launched from the Wenchang Space Launch Centre on a Long March-5B rocket.China hopes to have the new station operational by 2022.The only space station currently in orbit is the International Space Station, from which China is excluded.China has been a late starter when it comes to space exploration. It was only in 2003...

The asteroid impact that killed off the dinosaurs gave birth to our planet's tropical rainforests, a study suggests.Researchers used fossil pollen and leaves from Colombia to investigate how the impact changed South American tropical forests.After the 12km-wide space rock struck Earth 66 million years ago, the type of vegetation that made up these forests changed drastically.The team has...

Our universe may be filled with unseen giants. Astronomers have discovered two giant radio galaxies, which are some of the largest-known objects in the universe. This revelation suggests that the enormous galaxies may be more common than previously believed. The study published Monday in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Astronomers found the two galaxies in new...

  The Chang'e-5 robotic mission landed a few hours ago on lunar soil and aims to collect samples of rock and dust to bring them back to Earth. The venture targets a site called Mons Rümker, a volcanic complex in a nearby region known as Oceanus Procellarum.The spacecraft's landing module should spend the next few days examining its surroundings and gathering materials from the lunar...