Science News Roundup: Solar probe reveals sun's tiny 'campfires' in closest-ever photos; Scientists unravel secrets of ultra-black fish and more

SpaceX capsule carrying NASA astronauts slated for August 2 return The NASA astronauts who traveled to the International Space Station in SpaceX's first crewed flight in May are expected to return to Earth on Aug. 2 after spending two months in orbit, a NASA spokesman said on Friday.

Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

Solar probe reveals sun's tiny 'campfires' in closest-ever photos

A solar probe built by the European Space Agency and NASA has delivered the closest photos ever taken of the sun's surface, revealing a landscape rife with thousands of tiny solar flares that scientists dubbed "campfires" and offering clues about the extreme heat of the outermost part of its atmosphere. "When the first images came in, my first thought was, 'This is not possible - it can't be that good,'" David Berghmans, principal investigator for the Solar Orbiter spacecraft's ultraviolet imager at the Royal Observatory of Belgium, told reporters on Thursday.

Scientists unravel secrets of ultra-black fish swimming the deepest depths

For fish inhabiting the immense darkness of the deep sea, being ultra-black offers great camouflage in a fish-eat-fish world. Scientists studying some of these exotic creatures now have unraveled the secret behind their extreme color. These fish - like the fangtooth, the Pacific black dragon, the anglerfish and the black swallower - have modified the shape, size, and packing of the pigment in their skin to the point that it reflects less than 0.5% of light that hits it, researchers said on Thursday.

SpaceX capsule carrying NASA astronauts slated for August 2 return

The NASA astronauts who traveled to the International Space Station in SpaceX's first crewed flight in May are expected to return to Earth on Aug. 2 after spending two months in orbit, a NASA spokesman said on Friday. U.S. astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley will gear up for the final benchmark test of SpaceX's so-called Demo-2 mission: a coordinated splashdown somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean that will cap NASA's first crewed mission from U.S. soil in nearly a decade.

UAE aims to launch Mars mission on July 20: Dubai Media Office

The United Arab Emirates said on Friday it would launch its mission to Mars on July 20, depending on weather conditions at the launch site in Japan, Dubai's media office said on Twitter. The launch of the UAE's Hope Probe from Japan's Tanegashima Space Center has been delayed twice due to unsettled weather. The probe is set to make a seven-month journey to the red planet before orbiting it and sending back data about the atmosphere.