A decade-long quest to build an ecosystem in a room

Yesterday the MELiSSA pilot plant at the University of Barcelona celebrated 10 years spent demonstrating the ideal technologies to recycle waste from space missions into air, water and food.

Can organisms survive on Mars, and can we identify them?

Earth is a very special planet. It is the only celestial body in the solar system on which we know life exists. Could there be life on other planets or moons? Mars is always the first mentioned in this context; it has many ...

The science circling above us on the Space Station

The International Space Station orbits Earth, 400 km above our heads, running scientific experiments that cannot be done anywhere else. Read on for our bi-weekly update on European science in space.

Space behaviour

Europe's Columbus laboratory enters its eleventh year in space with steady operations, a few upgrades and several experiments in full swing.

Image: Modular experiment platform on the ISS

Getting a science experiment on the world's only floating outpost in Earth orbit is a costly and time-consuming endeavour. ICE Cubes is ESA's faster, lower cost answer to making science happen in space.

Scientists learn how to predict space radiation levels

Experts from the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI (Russia), the University of Oulu (Finland), and the St. Petersburg-based Ioffe Physical-Technical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Russia) have compared ...

Experiment sends engineered plants to ISS

If humanity is going to push the boundaries of space exploration, we're going to need plants to come along for the ride. Not just spinach or potatoes, though—plants can do so much more than just feed us.

SpaceX launches cargo, but fails to land rocket

SpaceX on Wednesday blasted off its unmanned Dragon cargo ship, loaded with supplies, science experiments and food for the astronauts living at the International Space Station but failed to successfully land its booster afterwards.

Moldy mouse food postpones SpaceX launch

SpaceX has postponed its cargo launch to the International Space Station until Wednesday after mold was found on food bars for a mouse experiment bound for the orbiting outpost, NASA said.

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