Solar Orbiter makes Venus flyby as it heads towards the Sun

The UK-built Solar Orbiter spacecraft is making a flyby of Venus, using the planet’s gravitational field to slingshot itself closer to the Sun.  The spacecraft, which launched in February, will make its closest approach to the planet just after midday on 27 December. It will fly some 7,500 km from the Venus cloud tops while … Read more

Moon rocks turned into oxygen and construction metals for future base

A British firm has won a European Space Agency (ESA) contract to develop methods to process Moon dust into its constituent elements of oxygen and metal alloys.  With plans afoot to build a base on the Moon (possibly powered by nuclear fission) as a jumping-off point for a mission to Mars, work is being undertaken to … Read more