The 10 biggest science stories of 2023

Iindia has become the fourth country to successfully land on the moon as the Chandrayaan-3's lander module, with the rover in its belly, successfully made a soft landing on the lunar surface The success of Chandrayaan-3, launched in July 2023, showed the world that not only is India a major player in space, but that a moon lander can be launched successfully for $75m (£60m).

1. India's lunar lander reaches the dark side of the moon

This cost is not to be sniffed at but it is much cheaper than most other countries' budgets for a moon mission. July 2023 was an extremely busy month for space firsts. It kicked off with the launch of the Euclid satellite, designed to explore dark matter and dark energy in unprecedented detail.

 2. Therapy for sickle cell disease

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved two milestone treatments, Casgevy and Lyfgenia, representing the first cell-based gene therapies for the treatment of sickle cell disease (SCD) in patients 12 years and older. Additionally, one of these therapies, Casgevy, is the first FDA-approved treatment to utilize a type of novel genome editing technology, signaling an innovative advancement in the field of gene therapy.