Latest science news in Astronomy & Space
Former shuttle pilot nominated as NASA head
Charles Bolden lined up to take over space agency.
Homeowner builds 20,000 gallon rain system
MOUNT SERANO, Calif., May 22 (UPI) -- A Mount Serano, Calif., man says his 20,000-gallon rooftop rain-harvesting system prepares him for a number of emergencies, including earthquakes.
NASA Details Plans for Lunar Exploration Robotic Missions
(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's return to the moon will get a boost in June with the launch of two satellites that will return a wealth of data about Earth's nearest neighbor....
Russia 'to save its ISS modules'
Russia is making plans to detach and fly away its parts of the International Space Station when the time comes to de-orbit the rest of the outpost.
ESA map reveals European shipping routes like never before
A synoptic view of European shipping routes can be seen for the first time thanks to a new map created using seven years of radar data from ESA's Envisat satellite.
'Missing link': Revealing fast-spinning pulsar mysteries
Astronomers have discovered a unique double-star system that represents a 'missing link' stage in what they believe is the birth process of the most rapidly-spinning stars in the Universe -...
Giant balloon flying high over Atlantic to catch cosmic rays
University of Delaware researchers in Sweden have launched a giant balloon taller than a football field that is now flying at the edge of space to collect data on cosmic...
Mars may have been both cold and wet
LONDON (Reuters) - Mars may have once been both cold and wet, researchers said Wednesday, suggesting a freezing Martian landscape could still have produced water needed to sustain life.
Study turns back clock on origins of life on Earth
CHICAGO (Reuters) - A heavy bombardment by asteroids the size of Ireland was not enough to wipe out life on Earth 3.9 billion years ago, researchers said on Wednesday in...
Spacemen say cheers with recycled wee
Astronauts toast Nasa after switching on space station's new urine and sweat-based water supply
NASA records Martian environmental history
PASADENA, Calif., May 21 (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency says its Mars rover Opportunity has recorded environmental changes that occurred during billions of years at a Martian...
Herschel and Planck: On speed, on course
PARIS, May 21 (UPI) -- The European Space Agency says the commissioning of scientific instruments and subsystems aboard its Herschel and Planck spacecraft has started.
8 present-day robots that terrify us
Run for the hills! From robo-penquins to android babies, we take a look at some of today’s automatons that make us fear for tomorrow. Yes, these remarkable robots are leading...
Virginia Tech One of Two U.S. Universities to Compete in Solar Decathlon Europe
Virginia Tech is one of only two U.S. universities invited to compete in the first Solar Decathlon Europe, which will take place in Madrid in June 2010. Universities compete to...
Earth Speaks: New Project Collects Messages to the Cosmos
SETI is collecting global messages for a possible reply to extraterrestrial signals.
Research demonstrates potential for liquid water on present-day Mars
Researchers at the University of Arkansas have shown that salts formed from perchlorates discovered at the Phoenix landing site have the potential to be found in liquid solution under the...
Rotating Space Elevator Propels its Own Load
(PhysOrg.com) -- The idea of the space elevator just got a little crazier. While the `traditional` concept involved using rocket propulsion or laser light pressure to propel loads up a...
Cosmic Log: Time travelogue
Science editor Alan Boyle's Weblog: In the "Terminator" movies, heroes and robots travel back in time in a flash. If only real-life experiments to study time and causality were that...
Earth's Hellish Era Not So Bad for Life
Massive impacts didn't sterilize our planet, according to new simulation
Star-Forming Backbone of a Massive Structure in the Early Universe Photographed
(PhysOrg.com) -- Using a special camera known as AzTEC developed by a research team led by Grant Wilson, astronomy professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, an international research group...
Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer Coming Together
(PhysOrg.com) -- The science instrument for NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer has been shipped to Boulder, Colo., for a planned launch in November.
Origin of life: Nascence man
Like an alchemist of yore, Mike Russell is taking basic elements and trying to transform them #20; not into gold, but into the stirrings of life, John Whitfield reports.
The planetary police
Planetary scientists are looking for new ways to sterilize their spacecraft, so that they won't be excluded from exploring interesting places. Eric Hand reports.
Analog TV signals to be interrupted in 'soft test'
(AP) -- TV stations around the country will replace their analog broadcasts for a few minutes Thursday with reminders that those broadcasts will disappear completely in three weeks.
Why 'Terminator' is so creepy
Robots of earlier "Terminator" movies, such as the famous model played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, walked with the easy confidence of programmed beings. The new movie "Terminator Salvation" suggests that one...
Giant galaxy Messier 87 finally sized up
Using ESO's Very Large Telescope, astronomers have succeeded in measuring the size of giant galaxy Messier 87 and were surprised to find that its outer parts have been stripped away...
NASA Flight Facility Successfully Launches Nanosatellite
NASA's PharmaSat nanosatellite successfully launched Tuesday (May 19) from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport. PharmaSat will investigate the effects of antifungal agents on the growth of...
Listening to biscuits? A strange history of measurement science
The National Physical Laboratory undertakes some odd missions in its quest to define, standardise, and oversee the science of measurement.