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BEIJING - An uncrewed Chinese spacecraft has acquired imagery data covering all of Mars, including visuals of its South Pole, after circling the planet more than 1,300 times since early last year, state media reported on Wednesday. Source

A tiny spacecraft with big implications for lunar exploration has launched. The miniscule satellite, called a CubeSat, is about the size of a microwave oven and weighs just 55 pounds (25 kilograms), but it will be the first to test out a unique, elliptical lunar orbit. Source

NASA wants to experiment with a new orbit around the moon that it hopes to use in the coming years to once again land astronauts on the lunar surface. So it is sending up a test satellite from New Zealand. Source

BERLIN - German officials said Monday that numerous priceless artifacts taken from African nations during colonial times will be permanently returned. Among the artifacts is a shell-studded statue of the mother goddess Ngonnso', which holds great spiritual significance for the Nso' people of northwest Cameroon, the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation said. Source

Fossils of early human ancestors from a South African cave are 3.4 million to 3.6 million years old -- making them a million years older than previously suspected and shaking up the way researchers understand human origins and evolution. Source

A new study into British Columbia's iconic but endangered southern resident orcas found that the animals have for years faced diet deficiencies — getting 17 per cent less food than what they need. The killer whales' ongoing malnourishment could help shine light on why they haven't been able to rebuild their population, according to the study's lead author, Fanny Couture, with UBC's Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries. Source

The moon has a new double crater after a rocket body collided with its surface on March 4. New images shared by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has been circling the moon since 2009, have revealed the location of the unusual crater. Source

NASA has successfully launched a rocket from Australia's remote Northern Territory, making history as the agency's first commercial spaceport launch outside the United States. The rocket blasted off at just past midnight local time Monday from the Arnhem Space Centre on the Dhupuma Plateau, near the township of Nhulunbuy, according to Equatorial Launch Australia (ELA), the developer, owner and operator of the centre. Source

A Dalhousie University team of scientists — in a joint venture with a company called Planetary Technologies — is now in the next phase of their research to use the power of the ocean to one day reduce the world’s carbon levels. Source

MANILA, Philippines - A U.S. Navy destroyer that engaged a superior Japanese fleet in the largest sea battle of the Second World War in the Philippines has become the deepest wreck to be discovered, according to explorers. Source