ISRO on Monday launched the GSLV-F12/NVS-01 mission from Sriharikota. It deployed the next-generation NVS-01 navigation satellite, weighing about 2232 kg, into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit. The NVS-01 is the first of the second-generation satellites envisaged for the Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC) services. An indigenous atomic clock is being flown in NVS-01 for the first time.

China has sent three astronauts to its now fully operational space station as part of crew rotation in the fifth manned mission to the station since 2021. The spacecraft, Shenzhou-16, or Divine Vessel, lifted off atop a Long March-2F rocket in the Gobi Desert on Tuesday. The Chinese Space Station was completed in 2022-end after 11 crewed and uncrewed missions.

A bright 'halo' around the Sun was spotted in the skies today across Delhi. Pictures of the phenomenon, which is also known as the 22-degree circular halo, were shared by locals on social media. The optical phenomenon, which looks like a rainbow-coloured ring, occurs when the Sun's rays get deflected/refracted through the hexagonal ice crystals present in cirrus clouds.

A 'Foucault pendulum' has been installed in the new Parliament building. Named after the 19th century French physicist Léon Foucault, the device was first introduced in 1851 to demonstrate the Earth's rotation. When the pendulum is hung from a height and set to swing in to-and-fro motion, it changes the direction it's swinging as the Earth rotates on its axis.

NASA has released a picture captured by its New Horizons spacecraft, showing a heart-shaped glacier on Pluto's surface. It also features mountains, cliffs, valleys, craters and plains, thought to be made of methane and nitrogen ice, NASA stated. "Pluto's surface is marked with cracks and craters in shades of brown," the space agency wrote about the image.

ISRO on Monday said that the GSLV-F12/NVS-01 mission, launched from Sriharikota earlier today, has been accomplished. "After a flight of about 19 minutes, the NVS-01 satellite was injected precisely into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit," ISRO said. The NVS-01 is the first of the second-generation satellites envisaged for the Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC) services.

US-based space firm Rocket Lab has launched the final pair of satellites that are part of NASA's TROPICS mission, which aims to monitor tropical cyclones and improve weather forecasting. The launch named 'Coming to a Storm Near You' took place in New Zealand. Another pair of TROPICS satellites was launched by Rocket Lab earlier this month.

Japan's Osaka University's researchers have developed a centipede-like robot that they say could be used in search and rescue operations and even space exploration in the future. The robot has six segments and flexible joints. Each segment has two legs connected to it. The robot is 135 centimetres in length and weighs 9.1 kilogrammes.

The four-member crew of Axiom Mission 2, the second all-private astronaut mission to International Space Station (ISS), is heading back to Earth in SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft. The spacecraft has undocked from ISS and is expected to splash down off the coast of Florida on Wednesday at around 8:30 am IST. The mission carried the first Saudi Arabian woman to space.

Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic embarked toward the edge of space on Thursday carrying a crew of six, its first spaceflight test in nearly two years. The twin-fuselage VMS Eve carrier plane took off from Spaceport America site. "Touchdown, VSS Unity! Our crew and spaceship are back on Earth after landing smoothly at Spaceport America, New Mexico," Virgin Galactic tweeted.

Scientists have linked giant underwater landslides in Antarctica to past climate change. They found layers of fossilised sediments beneath the seafloor, indicating weak conditions during a time when Antarctica experienced higher temperatures, increased sea levels, and smaller ice sheets. As climate change continues, there's a potential for other such giant underwater landslides to take place.

The risk of flash droughts would increase globally due to climate change, research stated. Flash droughts are characterized by sudden and unexpected onset. A study published in Nature Communications highlighted that scenarios involving higher fossil fuel usage and radiative forcing show the highest risk of flash drought. Flash drought hotspots exist over India, Brazil and Sahel, among others.

Researchers have detected a water vapour plume jetting from Saturn's moon Enceladus using NASA's Webb telescope. "It was...so shocking to detect a water plume more than 20 times the size of the moon," NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center's Geronimo Villanueva said. The rate at which the vapour is gushing out is enough to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool in hours.

Scientists have identified a new chemical compound, named 1938, that can help nerves regenerate after injury by activating biological mechanisms that help control cell growth. The findings published in the journal Nature showed that the compound increased growth in nerve cells. It was also found to reduce heart tissue damage after major trauma in animal models.

South Korea successfully completed third launch of Nuri space rocket on Thursday. A video of the launch has been shared online. The rocket was loaded with multiple satellites, including a commercial-grade one. This test is the first to load and launch a commercial-grade satellite aboard the Nuri vehicle. The launch was delayed by a day due to a computer glitch.

Brigadier General Jesse Morehouse, deputy director at US Space Command, said due to Russia's aggression and China's ambition of becoming the dominant space power by mid-century, the US is left with "no choice" but to prepare itself for potential conflict with them in outer space. "If someone was to threaten [us]...we are ready to fight tonight in space," Morehouse added.

Ancient mummification workshops and tombs have been discovered near Cairo, Egypt. The workshops, dating back 2,400 years, were used for mummifying humans and sacred animals. Archaeologists found various objects like clay pots, ritual vessels, stone beds, black resin, bronze tools and other items at the site that seem to have been used in mummification.

Archaeologists in China have discovered an underground bunker allegedly used by Unit 731, a notorious Japanese Imperial Army unit, during World War II. The site in Anda reveals gruesome experiments conducted between 1935 and 1945, where live prisoners were dissected to study the effects of pathogens on the human body. The findings expose the brutality of their germ warfare research.

A study using telescope data suggests that approximately one-third of the planets orbiting the most common stars in Milky Way may have liquid water and be habitable. These stars are smaller and cooler than Sun, and billions of planets orbit them. However, the study also reveals that two-thirds of these planets could be rendered uninhabitable due to extreme tidal forces.

A Japanese public-private partnership plans to launch solar panels into orbit at 36,000 km altitude and generate power to be converted into microwave radiation. The electricity thus generated will be transmitted to ground-based receiving stations. The project, initiated in 1980s, involves a Japanese research group that achieved world's first successful power transmission in space via microwaves.

ISRO Chairman S Somanath said the principles of science and modern-day discoveries, inventions, theories and concepts are broadly based on Vedic knowledge. "Algebra, square roots, concepts of time, architecture, the structure of the universe, metallurgy and even aviation were first found in the Vedas," he said. He added that these principles have, however, been repackaged as Western discoveries.

Scientists have uncovered a potential explanation for changing colours of Jupiter's stripes. Previous theories attributed the variations to infrared changes beneath Jupiter's surface. However, new research suggests that the oscillations of the waves generated by its magnetic field cause the changes. Its magnetic field aligns with the periods of infrared radiation emitted by its gases, it added.

China plans to send astronauts to the moon by 2030. Lin Xiqiang, the deputy director of the China Manned Space Agency, stated that China plans for a short lunar surface mission and collaborative human-robotic exploration. This announcement comes after NASA administrator Bill Nelson and other officials highlighted that the US and China might be engaged in a space race.

The UAE has announced its plans to explore the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The nation's MBR Explorer will visit its first asteroid in 2030 and after passing six asteroids, the mission aims to touch down upon Justitia in 2034 with a small lander that will deploy from MBR Explorer. UAE plans to launch the mission in 2028.

NASA has unveiled four images by adding the data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the James Webb Space Telescope. These images were formed by combining infrared data from the Webb telescope with X-ray data from Chandra. The released images showcase the Eagle Nebula, Messier 74 spiral galaxy, NGC 346 star cluster, and NGC 1672 spiral galaxy.