Nasa Perseverance rover to land on Mars in search of life

Spacecraft will descend on red planet carrying helicopter and instruments to look for biosignatures
Spacecraft will descend on red planet carrying helicopter and instruments to look for biosignatures
Three scientists have won the 2020 Nobel prize in physics for their work on black hole formation and the discovery of a supermassive black hole at the centre of our galaxy.
Several missions this year are seeking out life on the red planet. But would we recognize extraterrestrials if we found them?
Tiny piece of meteorite from London’s Natural History Museum will be used by rover exploring red planet
Discovery has major implications for hunt for alien life on the red planet as it means any evidence is likely to be buried deep underground
When black holes collide, the ensuing cosmic drama was assumed to play out under the cloak of darkness, given that both objects are invisible. But now astronomers believe they have made the first optical observations of such a merger, marked by a blaze of light a trillion times brighter than the sun.
Object found in HR 6819 system is the closest to Earth yet known – and is unusually dark
Wednesday will see the launch of the first crewed space flight from the US into orbit in almost a decade
In high-energy particle collisions we study the smallest known constituents of matter. According to our best knowledge of physics, these constituents have mass only because of the way they interact with a unique quantity which permeates all of space. This quantity, like practically everything else in the strange world of the very small, is a quantum field.
NASA has shortlisted four proposals for its next astrophysics missions, due for launch in 2025. The agency has funding to fly two of them, and the four will now each receive funds for a nine-month period of technical study. The two missions will be chosen next year.