Science
China prepares for launch of Chang'e 5 mission to Moon, which would make it third nation to return lunar sample
If all goes as planned
23 Nov 17:30 | 7
Science
Science
We see what you did there: First-stage booster from Rocket Lab's Return to Sender mission floats back to Earth
Electron celebrates a parachute party and is successfully recovered
20 Nov 14:01 | 22
Science
Adiós Arecibo Observatory: America's largest radio telescope faces explosive end after over 50 years of service
The aging structure is too hazardous to repair, engineers say
19 Nov 22:03 | 127
In Brief
UK's Space Command to be 'capable of launching our first rocket in 2022'
Also: Skyrora aims for 2023 for its XL, ISS gets ready for Nauka, and HALO moves forward
19 Nov 18:02 | 45
Science
ESA's Vega rocket crashes and burns after fourth-stage nozzle failure sinks two satellites
Second failure in last three missions doesn't inspire confidence
19 Nov 07:02 | 20
Science
Behold, the Ultimately Large Telescope: A revived proposal for a 100-metre liquid-mirror star scanner on the Moon
'We are putting this idea out to the scientific community,' lead scientist tells El Reg
18 Nov 11:02 | 63
Science
America's largest radio telescope close to collapse as engineers race to fix fraying cables
900-ton receiver platform threatens to plummet into dish below
17 Nov 15:37 | 80
Science
Baby Yoda stowed away on Crew Dragon, boards International Space Station
Japanese Astronaut Soichi Noguchi bringing soft toy into space was only surprise as Crew-1 docked
17 Nov 08:31 | 33
Science
They’ve only gone and bloody done it – yawn – again! NASA, SpaceX send four to ISS
First certified commercial crewed spaceflight flies, but fuel heaters are acting up
16 Nov 05:15 | 48
In Brief
UK-led telescope to gaze at exoplanets, plus Jupiter 's 'glow-in-the-dark' moon
Also: Space photos from an analogue age up for sale, more Cygnus
13 Nov 23:00 | 5
Science
Shock news: NASA lunar ambitions might be a bit too... ambitious
'We believe the Agency will be hard-pressed to land astronauts on the Moon by the end of 2024'
13 Nov 18:30 | 34
Science
When sci-fact beats sci-fi: Echoes of exploding stars' final cries may be trapped in the rings of trees on Earth
Geo-boffin urges fellow scientists to consider again link between supernova and radiocarbon levels
12 Nov 06:27 | 24
Science
US-EU project to bring Mars samples back to Earth needs two more years, extra $4bn, watchdog warns
First stage already on its way to the Red Planet, full steam ahead
11 Nov 06:03 | 14
Science
Soyuz later! SpaceX gets NASA green light to lob astronauts to the International Space Station full time
Russian rockets are Putin on the back burner, except for emergencies
11 Nov 02:48 | 23
Science
Curse of Arecibo strikes again: Now another cable breaks, smashes into America's largest radio telescope
*Hums the GoldenEye theme*
10 Nov 00:47 | 23
In Brief
Never mind the White House. At least we know who's going to Spaceport America. Virgin Galactic to fling ship into space again
Also: Another delay for SpaceX, Artemis I gets its fairings and Kelly twin prepares for a lengthy mission in politics
06 Nov 20:04 | 3
Science
America's democracy on the brink, Brexit looming, climate crashing... when better to get the first fast radio burst from our own galaxy?
'u ok m8?'
06 Nov 06:32 | 34
Science
Rocket Lab to equip 'Return to Sender' with parachutes amid plans to catch an Electron booster with a helicopter
Successful recovery would make it the first and only reusable orbital-class small launch system
05 Nov 19:00 | 7
Science
Whoa, humans have been hanging out and doing science stuff in freaking space aboard the ISS for 20 years
Orbital lab emerges from teens to an uncertain future. How very 2020
04 Nov 12:23 | 14
Science
How's this for the ultimate gaming achievement? Half-Life 2's Gnome Chompski is going to space – in real life
Drag racing in orbit with Rocket Lab
03 Nov 16:28 | 3
Popular
Software
Linus Torvalds worried Linux kernel might get messy around Christmas
LTS release 5.10 is currently unruly and looks like colliding with the holiday season
Software
The GIMP turns 25 and promises to carry on being the FOSS not-Photoshop
Image Manipulation Program spawned GTK, which begat GNOME
Who, Me?
It's always DNS, especially when a sysadmin makes a hash of their semicolons
Remember the days when 'we made it up as we went along'?
Bootnotes
'Unmute' named one of Oxford Dictionary's words of the year
Stop doomscrolling through Blursday and take a Workation
In Brief
US Air Force deploys robot security dogs to guard base
Do they byte?
Updated
Millions wiped off value of Capita outsourcing deal with English councils amid 'further contract variation agreement'
Procurement services? Not any more. Exchequer services? No thanks. IT Services? Reduced
Software
China offers world its COVID QR Code movement passport at G20 Leaders' Meeting
Declaration puts a handbrake on global digital currencies, includes usual 'let's use the internet and AI to make the world a better place' stuff
Cloud
Redis becomes the most popular database on AWS as complex cloud application deployments surge
No diggity, NoSQL
Cloud
European recommendations following Schrems II Privacy Shield ruling cast doubt on cloud encryption practices
Bring-your-own-key may no longer be enough for EU data protection body
Personal Tech
Why did Apple hamstring camera repairs on standard iPhone 12 but leave Pro Max module swappable? asks engineering group
Bug? iFixit muses in teardown of Cupertino's top-tier mobe
STORIES
Science
H2? Oh! New water-splitting technique pushes progress of green hydrogen
It's really dope. Yep it's an energy-efficient process kicked off by gadolinium-doped cerium dioxide
03 Nov 13:01 | 145
Science
Voyager 2 is back online after eight months of radio silence
Australian antenna upgrade appears to have worked, should be ready to help with imminent Mars landings
03 Nov 04:58 | 64
Science
No need for more asteroid-blasting attempts, NASA's OSIRIS-REx has more than enough space dirt
There may be carbon, water, clay, perhaps even platinum, gold in them hills
30 Oct 23:12 | 24
In brief
Remember, remember, the 14th of November (if you're an astronaut): NASA names the date for Crew-1 mission to ISS
Also: ESA looks to the Moon, RocketLab launches another 10 sats, and SpaceX probably thinks that's cute
30 Oct 10:45 | 7
Science
Trouble at Skull-Top Ridge: ESA boffins use data wizardry to figure out Philae probe's second touchdown site
Comets: Crunchy on the outside... frothy on the inside?
28 Oct 18:25 | 11
Science
Did Arthur C. Clarke call it right? Water spotted in Moon's sunlit Clavius crater by NASA telescope
Fly me to the Moon, let me swim among the stars
26 Oct 21:32 | 70
Science
NASA trying to stuff excess baggage into OSIRIS-REx after too-successful asteroid scoop
Collector is leaking regolith, sparking swift stash plan
26 Oct 06:45 | 24
In Brief
ISS air leakage fixed in time for crew handover, thanks to floating teabag
Also: Starlinks soar but GPS stays grounded, NASA names first Virgin Galactic flier
22 Oct 10:55 | 61
Video
We know there are a lot of, er, distractions right now but NASA's got some sweet video of its asteroid rubble raiser
Incredible scoop, read all about it , read all about it
22 Oct 07:48 | 50
Science
FYI: NASA appears to have scooped dirt from an asteroid 200 million miles away and plans to bring it back home
Would be nice if civilization could hold out for 2023 to see its return
21 Oct 01:10 | 62
Science
Everybody's going to the Moon (and Mars): The Reg chats to ESA about 10-year plans and sending Tim back to space
Agency's 'nauts to ride in US commercial crew capsules 'going forward'
20 Oct 08:30 | 14
Science
If you're feeling down, know that we've just buried a heat sensor in an alien planet. If NASA can get through Mars soil, we can get through 2020
US space agency has a mole – and that's a good thing, finally
18 Oct 22:48 | 25
Video
Good news: Boffins have finally built room-temperature superconductors. Bad news: You'll need a laser, a diamond anvil, and a lot of pressure
Lead scientist explains all to El Reg: 'Pressure is the most versatile parameter to create such conditions'
15 Oct 05:35 | 61
Science
Elizabeth Holmes' plan to avoid her Theranos fraud trial worked out about as well as her useless blood-testing machines
What she in lacks in ethics, she more than makes up for in persistence
14 Oct 21:33 | 145
Science
Years after we detected two neutron stars crashing into each other, we're still picking up X-rays. We don't know why
'Discovering a new type of celestial source is very exciting' lead astroboffin tells us
14 Oct 06:54 | 42
Science
Supermassive black hole turns unlucky star into spaghetti
Pasta la vista, baby
13 Oct 05:05 | 27
Science
Boeing Starliner commander Christopher Ferguson bows out of first crewed mission due to family commitments
Not going anywhere, just not going to space. A bit like the calamity capsule
09 Oct 13:49 | 47
Science
EFF off: Privacy Badger disables by default anti-tracking safeguard that can be abused to track you online
Google has a word with digital rights warriors
09 Oct 07:56 | 17
Science
A 73bn-kg, skyscraper-size chocolate creme egg spinning fast enough to eventually explode – it's asteroid Bennu
And we're about to extract a sample from it
09 Oct 05:02 | 36
