Wonders of Space – Discovery Diaries

Fly over ExoMars landing site

In preparation for the ExoMars rover Mars landing, scientists are creating 3D models (called Digital Terrain Models, or DTM) of the terrain in Oxia Planum.

Tim Peake: The Principia Mission

On Tuesday, 15 December 2015, ESA Astronaut Tim Peake launched into space.

Celestial Dates 2019

With everything from eclipses to rare sighting of Mercury, 2019 is a great year for casting your eyes upwards and into the night sky!

It’s a super blue blood moon!

For the first time since 1866, on January 31st 2018 there is a pretty special lunar treat in store for us – a super blue blood moon! Let’s find out what that is.

Christmas on the ISS

How do astronauts celebrate Christmas on the ISS?

Is the soil on Mars really red?

For World Soil Day we wanted to find out if the soil on Mars was really red and what makes it look that way.

What is a supermoon?

December 3rd, 2017 marks the first in a trilogy of super moons about to occur, but what is a super moon?

How do astronauts use the toilet in space?

Everybody wonders it, so we thought we’d answer it … just how exactly do astronauts use the toilet in space?

Helen Sharman: Britain’s first astronaut

Find out more about Britain’s first astronaut, Dr. Helen Sharman.

Meteorite or supervolcano?

A huge crater named Ismenia Patera exists on the Red Planet. But where did it come from?

Mars’s thin atmosphere

Mars’s atmosphere is about 100 times thinner than our home planet’s. Find out one theory about why it’s so thin.

Celestial dates for 2018

Ready for some sky-gazing? With eclipses and meteor showers to spare, it’s going to be an exciting year!

Mars’s missing oceans

Why did Mars change from blue to red? This video by a National Geographic explorer explains what happened.

What is the ExoMars rover?

Find out all about ESA’s ExoMars rover, which will travel to Mars in July 2020 to look for signs of life.

Is Mars’s soil really red?

For World Soil Day we wanted to find out if the soil on Mars was really red and what makes it look that way.

Meet our closest neighbour

Mars might be about 225 million kilometres away from Earth but it’s still our closest neighbouring planet.

Watch Astronaut Tim Peake Return to Earth

Saturday 18th June is the big day when Tim Peake returns to Earth after six months on the International Space Station. Tim will return in a Soyuz capsule, along with crewmates Yuri Malenchenko and Tim Kopra. He’s due to land in Kazakhstan at 10.15am BST.

Veg in Space! Learn about Space Gardening

Growing plants in space is an important area of research – especially as we need to explore how we might be able to grow food on planets such as Mars.

Exploring our solar system

This month, our Principia Mission Space Diary investigates some of the things astronaut Tim Peake might see in space, like the planets in our solar system.