Mystery Air Force Space Plane About To Set Endurance Record
A secretive robotic space place, a project of the U.S. Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office, is about to set its own space-endurance record. The project was planned for a 9- month-plus mission, and officials said they are close to that now.
New Earth-Sized Exoplanet Discovered
The NASA Kepler Mission has discovered a new exoplanet similar in size to Earth but with a temperature nowhere near the habitable zone.
ESA’s ‘Star Wars’ Experiment Gives new Insight Into Earth’s Atmosphere
The European Space Agency (ESA) has conducted a new experiment involving the firing of laser pulses between satellites to track greenhouse gases as part of the agency’s need to understand global change, one of today’s most pressing scientific challenges.
NASA's NanoSail-D Completes Mission After ‘Sailing’ for 240 days
NASA’s nanosatellite that deployed the agency’s first-ever solar sail in low-Earth orbit has successfully completed its Earth Orbiting Mission.
NASA Rocket Engine For Sale On the Internet Confiscated
Beware of buying things from the internet. You could be buying something that should not be sold in the first place, like the RL-10 rocket engine that is owned by NASA.
Pluto’s Moons Pose A Threat to NASA’s New Horizon’s Flyby in 2015
Pluto’s small moons may pose a serious threat to NASA’s New Horizon spacecraft once it reaches the planet in 2015.
WMO: 2011 Is 10th Warmest Year On Record, Warming Will Continue to Rise
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO), in its annual briefing to the UN climate summit, said that the Earth’s surface continues to get warmer, and the warming is due to human activities.
Greenhouse Effect Can Make Alien Solar System Habitable: Study
Planets with hydrogen-rich atmospheres, even if they are far from their parent star, can generate enough heat to keep liquid water on their surfaces making it habitable.
Phobos-Grunt: ESA’s Latest Orbit Raising Maneuvers Fail, Re-entry Expected in January
The European Space Agency’s latest attempts to send commands to the Phobos-Grunt have not been successful as the spacecraft did not raise its orbit and remained on track for its re-entry to Earth’s atmosphere.
Oldest Fossil of Two Single-Celled Creatures Found
Researchers have found what could be the oldest known fossils for two single-celled microbes, the tube-shelled foraminifera and the hairy ciliates.
New Study Finds DNA That Can Lead to Safer Stem Cell Therapy
A new study has uncovered a region of DNA that can boost the growth of stem cells and lead to safe cell therapies.
Study: Global Warming and Predation Could Result to Widespread Marine Biodiversity Loss
A new study shows that the combined effects of warming and predation could lead to more widespread marine biodiversity loss than are currently predicted, as animals or plants are unable to shift their habitat ranges.
Wood-Based Biofuel More Sustainable but Needs Government Subsidy
A new study said wood-based biofuel, which creates fewer greenhouse gas emissions and requires less water to produce, could become a competitive alternative to fuel made from corn by 2020 but commercial production requires government support to be economically viable.
Russian Space Officials Threatened with Prosecution for Phobos-Grunt Fiasco
Russian space officials face threats of fine and/or criminal prosecution due to the failure of several projects, particularly the Phobos-Grunt mission, the most ambitious Mars mission so far.
Obama Signature Aboard Curiosity Rover Part of A 40-Year Tradition
A 40-year-old NASA tradition of sending presidential plaques on planetary missions continues with the inscription of the signatures of President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and other administration and NASA officials on a metal plate on board Curiosity.
UN: World Needs to Produce 70% More Food to Feed Estimated 9 Billion Population in 2050
The United Nation Food and Agriculture Organization said that farmers need to produce 70 percent more food to feed an expected 9 billion world population in 2050.
New Study Discovers Role of Gene In Weight Maintenance
A new study has discovered a specific gene that plays an important role in keeping a balance between food intake and energy use that could have an impact on the weight problems of many Americans.
New Study Lowers Prediction of Carbon Dioxide Global Warming
Unlike previous global warming models, a new study suggests that high carbon dioxide levels may have less impact on the rate of global warming.
Australia Plans World’s Largest Marine Reserve in Coral Sea
The world's largest marine reserve will soon be established by the Australia government in the Coral Sea. If approved, it will cover 989,842 sq km.
ESA Again Lost Contact With Phobos-Grunt Mission, Spacecraft Estimated to Re-enter Earth in February
Efforts to communicate with the Russian Phobos-Grunt spacecraft suffered a setback after the European Space Agency tracking antenna in Australia failed to pick up any signals after Nov. 24. Attemtps to communicate with the spacecraft on November 25/26 (UTC) have not been successful.
NASA: Operation IceBridge Flight Over the Antartica Successful
NASA’s DC-8 airborne science laboratory has successful completed its 2011 Operation IceBridge science flights over the Antartica, collecting data over glaciers, including the discovery of a large crack that had began across the Pine Island Glacier ice shelf.
Study: Erratic Weather On The Rise
A new study has found that daily weather in many parts of the planet have become more erratic.
The study, which is the first global climate study to focus on the variation in day-to-day weather, has found that in certain places, daily weather is increasingly changing between sunny and cloudy, and wet and dry days.
NASA: Mars Rover Sends Signal, Ready for Landing On Mar’s Surface
NASA has received a signal from its Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft, which is now headed for Mars, shortly after the spacecraft separated from the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.
Study: Explosive Diversity of Life Forms Happened in Pre-Historic ‘Snowball Earth’
Researchers have found evidence that the planet may have been a "Snowball Earth" at some points in pre-historic time, and the deep freeze could have spurred the explosive diversity of life forms.
CERN Physicists: Higgs Boson Might Not Even Exist
European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) physicists have raised the possibility that the Higgs boson, the particle that some believe gave the universe its form after the big bang 13.7 billion years ago, is a figment of the imagination.
Data From Phobos-Grunt Spacecraft Deciphered But Whether It’s Functional Remains to be Seen
Russian space officials said it has deciphered the telemetry data received from the Phobos-Grunt spacecraft but they have yet to find out how functional the data will be.
Physicists Set Dark Matter Mass at 40-Giga-Electron Volts
Physicists have determined that dark matter, the mysterious particles believed to make up almost a fourth of the universe, must have a mass greater than 40-giga-electron volts or it is not a dark matter.
Plutonium-238 Scarcity Could Derail Future NASA Space Missions
NASA's future space missions may be delayed or cancelled to the scarcity of plutonium-238, which has been used by the space agency to fuel its manned spacecrafts for the past 50 years.
ESA Pursuing Strategies to Maintain Contact with Russian Mars Mission Phobos-Grunt
The European Space Agency (ESA), which was able to established a two-way communication with Russia’s Phobos-Grunt mission after its successful contact on Tuesday, said it is pursuing strategies to consolidate contact with the mission.
Space Debris Not A Threat to Space Station Expedition 30 Crew
NASA’s Expedition 30 crew need not take shelter in their Soyuz spacecraft after flight controllers determined that the Fengyun 1C satellite debris poses no threat of the International Space Station crew.