Peserico Serendipity QQ 06

Esa's triennial councils at ministerial level always start with some kind of drama, or argument, and this time it's been the UK's turn to be at the centre of it.

The country has been saying for some months that it intended to spend more money in Esa. "If Esa didn't exist, someone would have to invent it," Science Minister Chris Skidmore told this year's UK space conference.

But it's understood the Prime Minister's office raised a number of questions last week about the appropriateness of an increased subscription, especially in an election period, and how the subscription would fit with a proposed national space programme.

Returning rock and dust materials to Earth laboratories will be the best way to confirm if life exists on Mars.

It is, though, going to take more than a decade to achieve.

Europe's research ministers agree new space budget
What chance of finding life on Mars?
Agencies aim to bring back rocks from Mars

Europe's audacious Solar Orbiter probe has lifted off on its quest to study the Sun from close quarters.

The €1.5bn (£1.3bn) mission is packed with cameras and sensors that should reveal remarkable new insights on the workings of our star.

Scientists want to better understand what drives its dynamic behaviour.

The spacecraft launched aboard an Atlas rocket, which lifted off from Cape Canaveral in Florida at 04:03 GMT (23:03 local time Sunday).

The Sun will occasionally eject billions of tonnes of matter and entangled magnetic fields that can disrupt activity at Earth.

The worst of these storms will trip the electronics on satellites, interfere with radio communications and even knock over power grids.

The set-back - the latest in a long series for this project - has been signposted for some weeks.

All the hardware is built, but there remains an intimidating list of outstanding checks that must be completed before the mission can be declared flight-ready.

Chief among the obstacles in the timeline are some underperforming electronics boxes in the Russian descent and lander mechanisms that would put the rover safely on the ground; and also the overall flight software from Europe.

Full testing required to achieve confidence in these items necessarily pushes the project beyond July/August.

SpaceX is an American company that provides commercial and government launch services on its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets. Entrepreneur Elon Musk founded the company in 2002, with the goal of reducing space transportation costs, enabling the colonisation of Mars.

SpaceX was the first private company to routinely return rocket stages to Earth under propulsive power so they could be re-flown rather than being discarded. It has been conducting regular flights of cargo to the ISS, and will now aim to begin launching astronauts. Musk's company is also developing a bigger spacecraft to carry humans - called Starship - which could begin the process of settling Mars.

Earth has taught us that life requires four essential inputs: liquid water, nutrients of some kind, an energy source, and time - an extended period of stability during which biology can get a foothold and establish itself.

We've long considered Mars to be the most likely candidate to host extra-terrestrial life, if not today then sometime in its distant past.

But for astrobiologists - scientists who study the possibility of life elsewhere in the Universe - the ice-covered moons of Jupiter and also Saturn are really starting to pique their interest.

China's Chang'e-5 mission has sent back its first colour photos from the surface of the Moon.

Its lander captured a panoramic view that stretches from the lunar "soil" directly under its legs all the way out to the horizon.

The mission touched down on Tuesday and immediately began gathering samples of rock and dust to send back to Earth.

These will be despatched up to an orbiting spacecraft which will shepherd them home.

This could happen as early as Thursday.

Nasa's new 'megarocket' set for critical tests
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Artemis: To the Moon and Beyond

Then, at the top of the climb, the Starship tipped over into the horizontal to begin the return to the ground.

This belly-flop descent, controlled by large flaps at either end of the vehicle, is intended to simulate how future, operational Starships will re-enter the Earth's atmosphere from orbit, presenting a large surface area to the direction of travel to scrub off speed.

The vehicle is supposed to transition back to a tail-down configuration just before reaching the surface, re-igniting two Raptor engines to slow the fall to a walking pace at landing. But it appeared that SN9 only managed to light one engine properly. The vehicle was engulfed in flames as it impacted the concrete pad.

China's remote-controlled rover, which landed on Mars a week ago, has driven down from its landing platform to the surface of the planet.

This makes China the second country after the US to operate a rover there.

The Zhurong robot is due to study the planet's surface rocks and atmosphere. It will also look for signs of life, including any subsurface water or ice.

China's Tianwen-1 mission, consisting of an orbiter, lander and rover, was launched in July last year.

A planetarium is among proposals designed to boost tourism in Powys.

Welsh Water is hoping to develop the theatre for learning about astronomy and the night sky at its Elan Valley Visitor Centre near Rhayader.

The company revealed its plans as it officially reopened the Devil's Gulch path in the Elan Valley, which was closed by a rockfall five years ago.

It is bidding for funding via the Mid Wales Growth Deal.

Launched in 2013, the telescope still has four years of work ahead of it.

But even now, this "discovery machine" is pumping out new insights on the cosmos at an incredible rate. Every day, something like three scholarly papers are published based on its data.

Nothing matches it for productivity, not even the mighty Hubble observatory.

"Gaia data is like a tsunami rolling through astrophysics," said Prof Martin Barstow from the University of Leicester, UK.

But even that, in time, could be retrieved, believes Mr Musk. And his team is already working on a strategy to bring back the fairing that protects the satellite on the early part of an ascent.

Jettisoned about three minutes into the flight, this clam-shell-shaped structure would be brought back down on parafoils to a ship equipped with a big net. A clean catch has not yet been achieved.