Prince William tours country by train amid pandemic

LONDON: Prince William and his wife Kate begin a tour of Britain by train on Sunday, meeting frontline workers, care home staff and teachers to thank them for their efforts during the pandemic. William, Queen Elizabeth’s grandson and second-in-line to the throne, and Kate will ride the Royal Train, travelling 1,250 miles across England, Scotland and Wales. “The Duke and Duchess are looking forward to shining a spotlight on the incredible work that has been done across the country throughout this difficult year,” Kensington Palace said. Reuters

Japanese space officials eager to analyse asteroid samples

Tokyo: Japanese space officials said they are excited about the return of a capsule that safely landed in Australian Outback on Sunday while carrying soil samples from a distant asteroid so they can start analysing what they say are treasures inside. The capsule’s delivery by the Hayabusa2 spacecraft completes its six-year sample-return mission and opens the door for research into finding clues to the origin of the solar system and life on Earth. “We were able to land the treasure box” onto the sparsely populated Australian desert of Woomera as planned, said Yuichi Tsuda, Hayabusa2 project manager at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. AP

China launches new Earth observation satellite

Beijing: China on Sunday successfully launched a new Earth observation satellite which can take high-resolution pictures of ground objects across the globe. The satellite was launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in southwest China’s Sichuan province, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. The satellite, Gaofen-14, was sent into orbit by a Long March-3B carrier rocket. Geofen-14 is an optical stereo mapping satellite. It can efficiently obtain high precision stereo images globally, draw large scale digital topographic map and digital orthophoto images, and provide basic geographic information, the report said. PTI