Latest science news in Astronomy & Space
Cosmic Log: Readings in evolution
Science editor Alan Boyle's Weblog: Charles Darwin's 200th birthday may be history, but evolution is still a hot topic in the halls of science — and hundreds of churches as...
SMOS water mission on track for launch
Following word from Eurockot that launch of the Earth Explorer SMOS satellite can take place between July and October this year, ESA, CNES and the prime contractor Thales Alenia Space...
Economic Stimulus Package Contains $1 Billion for NASA
NASA stands to receive $1 billion of a $789 billion economic stimulus package under discussion.
Star Emits Intense Celestial Fireworks
Swift and Fermi detect high-energy pulses from remnants of exploded star.
Fountain of Mysterious Space Dust Found
The universe is not empty. The space between stars and between galaxies is permeated by gas and dust.
U.S.-based Sirius XM said close to bankruptcy filing
Satellite radio giant Sirius XM is close to filing for bankruptcy protection in the U.S.. according to a report in the New York Times.
Iran Launches First Homegrown Satellite
Iran has successfully sent its first domestically made satellite into orbit, the country's president announced, claiming a significant step in an ambitious space program that has worried many international observers.
Physicists show how stellar jets develop
ROCHESTER, N.Y., Feb. 11 (UPI) -- U.S. and British astrophysicists say they have conducted the first laboratory experiment that accurately models stellar jets and explains how they form.
Cosmologists 'See' The Cosmic Dawn
Scientists have used a computer simulation to predict what the very early universe would have appeared like 500 million years after the "Big Bang."
ESA extends missions studying Mars, Venus and Earth's magnetosphere
ESA's Science Programme Committee has extended the operations of ESA's Mars Express, Venus Express and Cluster missions until 31 December 2009. The decision to extend the three successful missions was...
NASA mission meets the carbon dioxide measurement challenge
The challenge: very precisely measure carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere all over the world, especially near Earth's surface. For Orbiting Carbon Observatory Principal Investigator David Crisp of NASA's Jet Propulsion...
NASA's great observatories celebrate International Year of Astronomy
Galileo first turned his telescope to the heavens in 1609, marking the dawn of modern astronomy. To commemorate 400 years of exploring the Universe, 2009 has been designated the International...
Unexpected discovery could impact on future climate models
The astronomers were making observations of the stars in search of new planets after mounting the 'PlanetPol' (polarimeter they designed and constructed to take extremely sensitive readings) on the William...
New Jersey Utility Plans Major Solar Project
Public Service Electric and Gas said it would unveil a five-year plan on Tuesday to install solar panels on 200,000 utility poles in its service territory.
Alien Census: Can We Estimate How Much Life Is Out There?
One day in 1950, nuclear physicist Enrico Fermi posed a question to a few colleagues he was lunching with at Los Alamos National Laboratory that would become known as the...
NASA Receives Shorty Twitter Award
NASA's activities in social networking media will be recognized Wednesday in New York, when the agency receives an award for its presence on the popular Web site Twitter.
NASA awards launch services contract
WASHINGTON, Feb. 10 (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency has selected the Orbital Sciences Corp. to launch the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, high energy X-ray telescope.
Researchers Learn Why Robots Get Stuck In The Sand -- And How To Keep Them Going
Today's advanced mobile robots explore complex terrains across the globe and even on Mars, but have difficulty traversing sand. A new study takes what may be the first detailed look...
Antarctic Expedition Prepared Researchers For Mars Project
About half a year before the robotic arm on NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander began digging into soil and subsurface ice of an arctic plain of Mars, six scientists traveled to...
'Arctic unicorns' in icy display
Spectacular footage of elusive narwhal is captured by a BBC team.
Flu Mystery Solved: Why It Flourishes in Winter
Why the flu is worse in winter than summer has long baffled scientists. A new finding suggests that the virus multiplies when it's cold because the humidity of the air...
Scientists unravelling mysteries of Saskatchewan meterorite
Researchers who found chunks of a meteorite in Saskatchewan last November believe they're getting close to answering a key question: where in space did it come from?
Astronomer to study stars with data from NASA's Kepler Mission
NASA's Kepler Mission will be the first attempt to look for earth-like planets in our part of the Milky Way. It will also be the first chance for astronomers such...
Herschel and Planck ready to move to launch site
ESA's Herschel and Planck missions that will study the formation of stars and galaxies and the relic radiation from the Big Bang, respectively, have successfully completed their test campaigns in...
ESA's next long-term ISS mission has a name: OasISS
In May 2009, Frank De Winne, of Belgian nationality and a member of the European Astronaut Corps, will fly to the International Space Station at the start of his six-month...
Cosmic Log: Collider’s restart delayed
Science editor Alan Boyle's Weblog: The restart of the world's biggest particle-smasher is being delayed until late September at the earliest, to allow for the installation of extra safety valves.
Astronaut's Video Takes Shot at NASA Bureaucracy
Astronaut Andrew Thomas's homemade film puts NASA's bureaucracy under the microscope.
Webb telescope's 'spine' now being built
GREENBELT, Md., Feb. 9 (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency says one of the major parts of the James Webb Space Telescope -- the backplane, or spine --...