News

4 July 2008:  The European Space Agency is giving graduate students the opportunity to take their experiments to new heights. Under the programme 'Fly Your Thesis! - An Astronaut Experience', Master's or PhD thesis students will fly their experiments in microgravity.  The ESA's Education Office says interested parties have until 31 August 2008 to submit their proposals.  Read more

1 July 2008:  The practice of radioastronomy is finally being brought up to speed with current technologies. Radio telescopes across the globe are being linked together in a network to deliver new standards of quality of data. Plans for the most powerful radio telescope on Earth are also in development.  Read more

1 July 2008:  A new earth observing satellite being launched in California today will help guide future Australian ocean and climate science.  Read more

30 June 2008: Weak solar cycle may keep more space junk in orbit. Read more

30 July 2008: NASA Goddard mission approved to probe matter in extreme environments. Read more

30 June 2008: Orbiting robots could repair satellites on the fly. Read more

30 June 2008: Aldrin warns US risks falling behind in space race. Read more

30 June 2008: As food shortage weighs heavily on the minds of many, several countries recognise the key role irrigation can play in this issue. A team of EU-funded researchers teamed up to assess how the latest satellite imagery can be applied not only to make water use more efficient, but also boost farming output in the process.  Read more

27 June 2008: Some Martian dirt has the same basic chemistry as garden soil, a new analysis from the Phoenix lander suggests. Read more

27 June 2008: Ancient impact may have created deep niche for life. Read more

27 June 2008: NASA Spacecraft Reveal Largest Crater in Solar System. Read more

27 June 2008: World's first space telescope to discover near-Earth objects. Read more

26 June 2008: EVERY scar tells a story, yet a huge gash on Mars has long proven very hard to read. Now a peek beneath the planet's surface reveals that the scar is the largest known impact structure in the solar system - gouged out by a collision that reshaped the Red Planet. Read more

26 June 2008: Galaxy map hints at fractal universe. Read more

26 June 2008: Moon-Bound NASA Spacecraft Passes Major Preflight Tests. Read more

25 June 2008: 'Frozen' stars could shed light on dark matter. Read more

25 June 2008: Astronomical clues found in Homer's "The Odyssey" could help confirm a total solar eclipse when Odysseus returned home, providing a potentially accurate timeline for the fall of Troy, two scientists reported Monday. Read more

24 June 2008: In a European first, the European Space Agency's (ESA) automated transfer vehicle (ATV), Jules Verne was used to refuel the International Space Station orbiting the Earth at 28,000 km. Read more

24 June 2008: Radio Telescopes Reveal Unseen Galactic Cannibalism. Read more

23 June 2008: Glass's dual personality explained at last. Read more

23 June 2008: Bolstered by images showing water ice in the Martian soil, Phoenix team members are cracking on with plans to analyse the soil in-depth. Read more

23 June 2008: NASA Launches Ocean Satellite To Keep A Weather, Climate Eye Open. Read more

20 June 2008: Air travelers, astronomers stand to benefit from research on atmospheric turbulence. Read more

20 June 2008: Most asteroids are too small to reflect back enough sunlight to be seen by our telescopes. But as cosmic rays travel through our solar system, they may strike a glancing blow off the surface of  asteroid, producing gamma rays (short wavelength light waves). Read more   

20 June 2008: Flexible design in airports essential for courting low-cost airlines. Read more

20 June 2008: Chemical clues point to dusty origin for Earth-like planets. Read more

20 June 2008: GLAST safely in orbit, getting check-ups. Read more

20 June 2008: Mars lander loses day of work after data glitch. Read more

19 June 2008: New type of aurora spotted on Saturn. Read more

19 June 2008: Mars lander may have found ice at polygon's edge. Read more

19 June 2008: Trio of super-Earths found around Milky Way star. Read more

19 June 2008: The biggest black holes may feed just like the smallest ones, according to data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and ground-based telescopes. Read more

19 June 2008: The South African International Aerospace Symposium (SAIAS2008) will be held in Cape Town, South Africa, from 14 to 16 September. The theme for this event will be 'Advancing Africa through Partnerships in Aerospace'. Read more

18 June 2008: One of the ovens on NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander continued baking its first sample of Martian soil over the weekend. Read more

18 June 2008: CU-Boulder returns $3M to NASA in satellite design, operation cost savings. Read more

18 June 2008: A Slimmer Milky Way Revealed by New Measurements. Read more

18 June 2008: The Murchison meteorite contains molecules that form the very building blocks of DNA and RNA. This discovery was made by a team of scientists from the UK, the Netherlands and the USA. Read more

17 June 2008: NASA Tests Lunar Robots and Spacesuits on Earthly Moonscape. Read more

17 June 2008: US group Boeing to bid for Galileo navigation contracts: report. Read more 

16 June 2008: Phoenix Mars Lander Inspects Delivered Soil Samples. Read more

13 June 2008: After days of struggling with sticky Martian dirt, the Phoenix Mars Lander has unexpectedly succeeded in getting its first soil sample into an onboard laboratory for analysis. Read more

13 June 2008: A new NASA satellite with powerful gamma-ray vision has soared into orbit. It will observe the deaths of massive stars, probe the gamma-ray sky for unknown objects, and might even pin down the nature of the mysterious dark matter that pervades the universe. Read more

13 June 2008: Scientists Find New Type of Comet Dust Mineral. Read more

13 June 2008: The International Space Station could soon be relaying messages secured using quantum entanglement, if a proposed experiment is accepted by the European Space Agency later this year. Read more

12 June 2008: Discovery's astronauts inspected their ship's wings and nose Wednesday for any signs of damage after bidding "sayonara" to the international space station and heading for home. Read more

12 June 2008: GLAST Observatory in Orbit. Read more

12 June 2008: Plutoid chosen as name for solar system objects like Pluto. Read more

11 June 2008: Do Pluto and its moons feature cosmic graffiti? Read more

11 June 2008: Hints of structure beyond the visible universe. Read more

11 June 2008: Arecibo joins global network to create 6,000-mile telescope. Read more

11 June 2008: Detective astronomers unearth hidden celestial gem. Read more

11 June 2008: Hubble's sweeping view of the Coma Galaxy Cluster. Read more

10 June 2008: Radio waves from Earth clear out space radiation belt. Read more

10 June 2008: Successful first test of high speed 'penetrator'. Read more

10 June 2008: The sun has been laying low for the past couple of years, producing no sunspots and giving a break to satellites. Read more

10 June 2008: Giant Telescope Mirrors For The Moon Could Be Made With Carbon, Epoxy And Lunar Dust. Read more

9 June 2008: The Phoenix lander is getting ready to sniff the Martian soil for signs of life-friendly elements after scooping up a handful of dirt near the north pole. Read more

9 June 2008: Galaxy Collision Debris As A Laboratory To Study Star Formation. Read more

9 June 2008: New Satellite Remote Sensing Tool For Improving Agricultural Land Use Observation. Read more

6 June 2008: Phoenix snaps first close-up of Martian dust. Read more

6 June 2008: Astronomy study proves mathematics theorem. Read more

6 June 2008: Giant telescopes could be built from Moon dust. Read more

6 June 2008: Cassini Sees Collisions Of Moonlets On Saturn's Ring. Read more

6 June 2008: Telescopes from the four corners of the earth have been successfully linked up to create a real-time virtual telescope, enabling astronomers from the EU-funded Express Production Real-time e-VLBI Service (EXPReS) project to simultaneously observe galaxies in the distant universe. Read more

6 June 2008: A team of European and US space operation engineers has won the prestigious 'International SpaceOps Award for Outstanding Achievement'. Read more

6 June 2008: NASA chief urges Europe to build manned spaceship. Read more

5 June 2008: With two test digs under its belt, NASA's Phoenix lander is now ready to do some real science. Read more

5 June 2008: Nearby galaxies are chock-full of dark matter. Read more

5 June 2008: Astronomers searching for distant supernovae to probe dark energy in the early universe have unwittingly stumbled upon two relatively nearby objects that may shed light on the early solar system. Read more  

5 June 2008: Two of the Milky Way's spiral arms may be 'demoted'. Read more

5 June 2008: Team hopes to use new technology to search for ETs. Read more

5 June 2008: NASA Scientists Pioneer Method for Making Giant Lunar Telescopes. Read more

4 June 2008: Spacewalking astronauts work on new Japanese lab. Read more

4 June 2008: A set of 29 Hubble Space Telescope (HST) images of an exotic type of active galaxy known as a "post-starburst quasar" show that interactions and mergers drive both galaxy evolution and the growth of super-massive black holes at their centers. Read more

4 June 2008: Call it the case of the missing dwarf. A team of stellar astronomers is engaged in an interstellar CSI (crime scene investigation). They have two suspects, traces of assault and battery, but no corpse. Read more

4 June 2008: Milky Way Mapping Project Finds Surprisingly Slow Stars. Read more

3 June 2008: Phoenix digs up possible ice on Mars. Read more

3 June 2008: Newfound planet has just three times Earth's mass. Read more

3 June 2008: Astronomers weigh the coldest brown dwarfs with astronomy's sharpest eyes. Read more

3 June 2008: Mining for Molecules in the Milky Way. Read more

30 May 2008: NASA's Phoenix lander has successfully completed the deployment of its robotic arm, putting it on track to start digging into the Martian soil within a few days. Read more

30 May 2008: If life ever got going on Mars, it may have been exterminated 4 billion years ago by a buildup of salt. Evidence that the planet is poisonously salty comes from a study of minerals near the Martian surface. Read more

30 May 2008: Fastest spinning asteroid spied by amateur stargazer. Read more

30 May 2008: Milky Way's mass is drastically reduced. Read more

30 May 2008: Gamma-ray mission may detect dark matter. Read more

30 May 2008: Scientists Hold Seance for Supernova. Read more

30 May 2008: Warm Coronal Loops Offer Clue to Mysteriously Hot Solar Atmosphere. Read more

30 May 2008: Where man boldly goes, bacteria follow -- Are we contaminating space? Read more

30 May 2008: Pentagon wants laser attack warnings for satellites. Read more

28 May 2008: Upcoming gamma-ray mission may detect dark matter. Read more

28 May 2008: Mars scientists ponder polygon mystery. Read more

28 May 2008: Spacecraft spies probe parachuting to Martian surface. Read more

28 May 2008: Early images reveal frosts on Pluto. Read more

28 May 2008: Discovery Set for Saturday Launch to Space Station. Read more

28 May 2008: The little man and the cosmic cauldron. Read more

28 May 2008: Solar Eruption Seen in Unprecedented Detail. Read more

28 May 2008: September launch for ESA's gravity mission GOCE. Read more

28 May 2008: Satellites illuminate pollution's influence on clouds. Read more

28 May 2008: By resolving, for the first time, features of an individual star in a neighbouring galaxy, ESO's VLT has allowed astronomers to determine that it weighs almost half of what was previously thought, thereby solving the mystery of its existence. Read more

27 May 2008: Mars lander prepares for digging mission. Read more

27 May 2008: First Phoenix images reveal 'quilted' Martian terrain. Read more 

27 May 2008: Solar Wind Challenge: Two BU Astronomers Research Profs Will Debate Differing Theories Of Origin. Read more

27 May 2008: Swiss Atomic Force Microscope Helps Explore Mars Environment. Read more

27 May 2008: Japan is about to roll out the Lexus of space station labs. Read more

23 May 2008: A third giant red storm has flared up on Jupiter, joining the Great Red Spot and the recently developed Red Spot Junior. Read more

23 May 2008: Sun's properties not 'fine-tuned' for life. Read more

23 May 2008: Star self-destructs before astronomers' eyes. Read more

23 May 2008: Sunlit space station to put on marathon sky show. Read more

23 May 2008: Foot-dragging Mars rover finds Yellowstone-like hot spring deposits. Read more

23 May 2008: Phoenix mission to Mars will search for climate clues. Read more

22 May 2008: Storm winds blow in Jupiter's Little Red Spot. Read more

22 May 2008: Twinkle, twinkle, any star - Sun not so special. Read more 

22 May 2008: 100 Explosions on the Moon. Read more

22 May 2008: Swift satellite catches first 'normal' supernova in the act of exploding. Read more

22 May 2008: Artificial intelligence tackles data transmission from space. Read more

21 May 2008: Joint NASA-French satellite to track trends in sea level, climate. Read more

21 May 2008: New model helps to calculate energy output of stars.  Read more

21 May 2008: Gravity Probe B scores 'F' in NASA review. Read more

21 May 2008: NASA clears next shuttle mission for lift-off. Read more 

21 May 2008: Hubble Survey Finds Missing Matter, Probes Intergalactic Web. Read more

21 May 2008: Missing Matter Of Universe Found; Cosmic Web Discovered. Read more

20 May 2008: Mystery deepens over origin of biggest black holes. Read more

20 May 2008: A small red dwarf star has erupted with the brightest flare ever seen from a normal star other than the Sun. Read more

20 May 2008: Self-repairing aircraft could revolutionize aviation safety. Read more

20 May 2008: Dragon programme extended. Read more

19 May 2008: Europe's first crewed spaceship on the horizon. Read more

19 May 2008: Observations from space: NASA environmental data and lung disease. Read more

19 May 2008: Thirty-Meter Telescope Focuses on Two Candidate Sites. Read more

19 May 2008: Strange star stumps astronomers. Read more

16 May 2008: NASA Satellite Finds Interior of Mars Is Colder. Read more

16 May 2008: Eccentric pulsar system challenges theories of binary formation. Read more

16 May 2008: Key molecule discovered in Venus's atmosphere. Read more

16 May 2008: Astronomers use new model of dust in galaxies to remeasure the total energy output of stars in the universe. Read more

16 May 2008: Russian cargo ship lifts off for International Space Station. Read more

15 May 2008: Jupiter moon's poles 'wandered' far and wide. Read more

15 May 2008: Victorian supernova helps fill missing link. Read more

15 May 2008: Russia, Europe ink deal on new manned spacecraft. Read more

15 May 2008: Astrophysicists discover youngest known supernova in Milky Way. Read more

15 May 2008: Wandering poles left scars on Europa. Read more

15 May 2008: NASA study links Earth impacts to human-caused climate change. Read more

14 May 2008: Satellite communications by laser. Read more

14 May 2008: Astronaut health on moon may depend on good dusting. Read more

14 May 2008: A molecular thermometer for the distant universe. Read more

13 May 2008: Volunteers asked to help find dead spacecraft on Mars. Read more

13 May 2008: The human race will find life elsewhere in the universe as it pushes ahead with space exploration, astronauts back from the latest US space mission said Monday. Read more 

13 May 2008: New Water Reclamation System Headed for Duty on Space Station. Read more

13 May 2008: On the International Space Station, astronauts are carrying an experimental device that looks strikingly similar: LOCAD-PTS, short for Lab-On-a-Chip Application Development Portable Test System. Read more

13 May 2008: Intense Testing Paved Phoenix Road to Mars. Read more

12 May 2008: Astronomers begin search for 'vanishing' stars. Read more

12 May 2008: Iron 'snow' may explain Mercury's magnetic field. Read more

9 May 2008: Magnetic rocks may reveal Martian life. Read more

9 May 2008: Exhaling for Exploration: Scientists Test Lunar Breathing System. Read more

9 May 2008: Europe recruits astronauts for possible Moon missions. Read more

9 May 2008: Solar Variability: Striking a Balance with Climate Change. Read more  

8 May 2008: Did 'naive engineers' spur China's anti-satellite test? Read more

8 May 2008: Dust devils spotted at Mars probe's landing site. Read more

8 May 2008: A Super Solar Flare. Read more 

8 May 2008: Saturn Does the Wave in Its Atmosphere. Read more

8 May 2008: Europe creates largest radio telescope network

7 May 2008: Magnets help spacecraft stick together. Read more

7 May 2008: Did Earth once have multiple moons? Read more

6 May 2008: Canada to launch first space mission to hunt asteroids. Read more

6 May 2008: Spacecraft to fly into Sun's corona for first time. Read more

6 May 2008: Asteroid Impact 65 Million Years Ago Triggered A Global Hail Of Carbon Beads. Read more

2 May 2008: Rover instrument to sniff out life on Mars. Read more

2 May 2008: Telescope could focus light without a mirror or lens. Read more

2 May 2008: Aquarid meteor shower to peak on moonless night. Read more

2 May 2008: New type of pulsating white dwarf star discovered. Read more

2 May 2008: Geochemists challenge key theory regarding Earth's formation. Read more

1 May 2008: Saturn storm is longest ever seen. Read more

1 May 2008: NASA: Hubble mission delayed until fall for fuel tank work. Read more

18 April 2008: Dark matter may have been found on Earth. Read more

18 April 2008: New NASA Moon Mission Begins Integration of Science Instruments. Read more 

18 April 2008: NASA Statement on Student Asteroid Calculations. Read more

18 April 2008: The Moon and the Magnetotail. Read more

18 April 2008: Drifting Star Discovered: Implications For Star And Planet Formation Theory. Read more  

17 April 2008: Shape-shifting skin to reduce drag on planes and subs. Read more

17 April 2008: NASA extends Cassini's tour of Saturn's realm . Read more

17 April 2008: Limited transparency in federal nanotech research may hamper development. Read more  

17 April 2008: Stellar Birth in the Galactic Wilderness. Read more

17 April 2008: Mars technology on balloon to study the atmosphere. Read more

17 April 2008: NASA Completes First Full-Scale Motor Test for Orion Spacecraft. Read more

16 April 2008: The European Space Agency (ESA) has announced that it is to recruit a new batch of astronauts to take part in future missions to the International Space Station (ISS), the Moon and beyond. Read more

16 April 2008: Pioneer spacecraft mystery may be laid to rest. Read more

16 April 2008: Victorian pistons to cool space-age electronics. Read more

16 April 2008: NASA Extends Cassini's Grand Tour of Saturn. Read more

16 April 2008: Milky Way’s Giant Black Hole Awoke from Slumber 300 Years Ago. Read more

16 April 2008: The drifting star: Astronomers 'listen' to an exoplanet-host star and find its birthplace. Read more

16 April 2008: Hubble Pinpoints Location Of Record-breaking Cosmic Explosion. Read more

15 April 2008: Pilots will compete head to head in the world's first race featuring rocket-powered planes on 1 August 2008. Read more

15 April 2008: Hayabusa asteroid probe may never return to Earth. Read more

15 April 2008: Scrap unlucky 13th mission: Russian space chief. Read more

15 April 2008: Delta II Rocket Coming Together for NASA's GLAST Satellite Launch. Read more

15 April 2008: Radiation Risks For Astronauts On A Mission To Mars. Read more

14 April 2008: With less than two months to go before it is due to land on Mars, NASA's Phoenix probe has been directed towards a specific landing site called Green Valley. Read more

14 April 2008: Why is the universe's brightest blast still blazing? Read more  

14 April 2008: Solar Impulse aircraft demonstrates clean mobility. Read more

11 April 2008: Nanotechnology to boost space industry. Read more

11 April 2008: Avoiding wind tunnels, computer simulations pave way for hypersonic flight. Read more

11 April 2008: NASA Sets Sights on Lunar Dust Exploration Mission. Read more

11 April 2008: Spitzer Sees Shining Stellar Sphere. Read more

11 April 2008: ESA to recruit new European astronauts. Read more

10 April 2008: Smallest extrasolar planet discovered: Spanish researchers. Read more   

10 April 2008: MRO Spacecraft Images Mars Moon in Color and in 3D. Read more

10 April 2008: New rocky planet found in constellation Leo. Read more

10 April 2008: Unraveling the Mercury mystery: Boldly going where no one has gone before. Read more

10 April 2008: The largest synthesized telescope in Europe doubles its surface. Read more

10 April 2008: Galileo Masters competition enters new round. Read more

9 April 2008: Team simulates first merger of 3 black holes on a supercomputer. Read more

9 April 2008: Commemorating 30 years of European human space flight. Read more

9 April 2008: Galaxies' spiral arms may betray black holes' weight. Read more

9 April 2008: Hubble maps the changing constellation of Internet 'black holes. Read more

8 April 2008: Giant telescope project begins with a spin. Read more

8 April 2008: New Station Crew Prepares For Launch Tuesday. Read more  

8 April 2008: Milky Way seen to be a galactic cannibal. Read more

8 April 2008: Catching planets in the making. Read more 

8 April 2008: Cosmic engines surprise XMM-Newton. Read more

8 April 2008: Do Dwarf Galaxies Favor MOND Over Dark Matter? Read more

8 April 2008: Second satellite to be launched for EU Galileo satnav project. Read more 

7 April 2008: Rocket rolled out for Korean astronaut's launch. Read more

7 April 2008: NASA says spaceship's violent vibrations under control. Read more 

7 April 2008: Giant robots could carry lunar bases on their backs. Read more

7 April 2008: Meteorites delivered the 'seeds' of Earth's left-hand life. Read more 

7 April 2008: Astronomers View Distant Galaxies Evolving One Billion Years After The Big Bang. Read more

7 April 2008: Evolution Of Venus: First Too Fast, Then Too Slow. Read more

3 April 2008: Cargo ship set for precision docking with space station. Read more

3 April 2008: A team of astronomers says it may have spotted the youngest planet ever found. Read more

3 April 2008: Gravitational wave detectors to get major upgrade. Read more 

3 April 2008: Peanut' stars may explain strange supernovae. Read more

3 April 2008: 'Astro-comb' helps search for Goldilocks planet. Read more

3 April 2008: Black hole found in enigmatic Omega Centauri. Read more

2 April 2008: Universe's tiniest black hole discovered. Read more

2 April 2008: Heavy stars may go out with a whimper, not a bang. Read more 

2 April 2008: Mountains' on stars could trigger gravitational waves. Read more

2 April 2008: Impressive dress-rehearsal for Jules Verne ATV. Read more 

2 April 2008: NASA's GLAST satellite gets twin solar panels in prep for launch. Read more

2 April 2008: ASA Launches Airborne Study of Arctic Atmosphere, Air Pollution. Read more

31 March 2008: Quantum Channel Between Earth And Space? Firing Photons Makes Advance In Space Communication. Read more

28 March 2008: Astrotechnology Brings Nanoparticle Probes Into Sharper Focus. Read more

28 March 2008: Mercury's shifting, rolling past. Read more

28 March 2008: NASA awards innovative research contract. Read more

28 March 2008: Saturn's moon Enceladus surprisingly comet-like. Read more

27 March 2008: 'Sports car' of commercial spaceflight unveiled. Read more

27 March 2008: Cassini Tastes Organic Material at Saturn's Geyser Moon. Read more 

27 March 2008: At the JEC Composites Show 2008 to be held in Paris from April 1 to 3, Fraunhofer researchers will be exhibiting an aircraft wing that immediately detects any material damage. Read more

27 March 2008: A team of engineers from Bristol University has conducted the first firing of the STERN rocket motor. Read more

27 March 2008: New organic molecule in space. Read more

27 March 2008: Scientists are one step closer to understanding how new planets form, thanks to research funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and carried out by a team of astrophysicists at the American Museum of Natural History. Read more

27 March 2008: Evidence of the biggest meteorite ever to hit the British Isles has been found by scientists from the University of Aberdeen and the University of Oxford. Read more

26 March 2008: This isn't your father's idea of a space rover. NASA's Chariot is the first prototype in a new line of lunar vehicles that could someday bulldoze roads, dig trenches, and drill for minerals on the moon. And it is already proving as nimble as it is powerful in earthbound testing. Read more

26 March 2008: NASA reverses budget cuts that threatened Mars rovers. Read more

26 March 2008: If you want a bird's eye view of what is over the next hill, your best bet is a micro air vehicle – an autonomous aircraft with a wing span of less than 15 centimetres. Read more

26 March 2008: Shell Canada has incorporated Earth Observation data into its Sustainable Development Report, demonstrating the potential of satellites to provide a global and cost-effective way to measure objectively the sustainability of business activities. Read more

26 March 2008: Satellites help map soil carbon flux. Read more

25 March 2008: The crew of space shuttle Endeavour is slated to leave the International Space Station today. Read more

20 March 2008: Long ago, antimatter all but vanished from existence, allowing matter to predominate and form the stars and planets of the universe. Read more

20 March 2008: Mercury's Shifting, Rolling Past. Read more

20 March 2008: Fake Diamonds Help Jet Engines Take The Heat. Read more

20 March 2008: The tell-tale signature of the molecule methane in the atmosphere of the Jupiter-sized extrasolar planet HD 189733b has been found with the Hubble Space Telescope. Read more  

20 March 2008: The astronauts aboard the linked shuttle and station rested up Wednesday for the fourth spacewalk of their mission, a caulking gun and goo test. Read more

20 March 2008: Water Vapor Detected in Protoplanetary Disks. Read more

19 March 2008: The Vanguard I satellite celebrates its 50th birthday this year. Its launch on March 17, 1958 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, culminated the efforts of America's first official space satellite program begun in September 1955. Read more

19 March 2008: Flipping particle could explain missing antimatter. Read more

19 March 2008: An unusual electrical disturbance has been spotted in space, travelling unchanged through the ionised gas surrounding Earth. Read more

19 March 2008: Huge fountains of carbonated water once erupted on Mars, hurling hailstones and mud several kilometres into the air, a team of scientists says. Read more

19 March 2008: Two Texas college students discovered an asteroid while examining images of space on a computer, a report said. Read more

14 March 2008: Researchers using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope have discovered large amounts of simple organic gases and water vapor in a possible planet-forming region around an infant star, along with evidence that these molecules were created there. Read more

14 March 2008: Jules Verne ATV successfully performed two boosts today, bringing the spacecraft to an altitude of 303 km – half-way between the insertion orbit reached after last Sunday's launch and the orbit of the International Space Station. Read more 

14 March 2008: The organic soup that spawned life on Earth may have gotten generous helpings from outer space, according to a new study. Read more

14 March 2008: Purdue University engineers are conducting experiments using a new hydrogen facility to help NASA create designs to improve the cooling efficiency and performance of the J-2X rocket engine, critical for future missions to Mars and the moon. Read more

13 March 2008: The Cassini spacecraft will fly into mysterious icy plumes erupting from Saturn's moon Enceladus on Wednesday. Read more

13 March 2008: New radar software can quickly and accurately differentiate signals from birds and swarms of insects. Read more

13 March 2008: Returning humans to the moon by 2020 may seem like a distant goal, but NASA's Constellation Program already has scheduled the first test flight toward that goal to take place in less than 12 months. Read more

13 March 2008: Extraterrestrials will probably never ‘phone’ Earth in a way we’d understand as they’re unlikely to have evolved human-like intelligence – but that doesn’t mean we should give up the search for life beyond our planet. Read more

13 March 2008: Circling the globe aboard space shuttle Endeavour, the STS-123 crew members have completed their first full day in space. The astronauts inspected the orbiter’s heat shield and prepared for their arrival at the International Space Station tonight at 11:25 p.m. EDT. Read more  

13 March 2008: In a find that sheds light on how Earth-like planets may form, astronomers this week reported finding the first evidence of small, sandy particles orbiting a newborn solar system at about the same distance as the Earth orbits the sun. Read more

13 March 2008: The U.S. space agency released its "Research Opportunities in Aeronautics 2008" list, soliciting research in support of its supersonics project. Read more

12 March 2008: Engineers have fixed a glitch in the European Space Agency's newly launched space cargo ship, though the exact cause of the problem has not yet been disclosed. Read more

12 March 2008: Scientist answers how Peruvian meteorite made it to Earth. Read more

12 March 2008: Newly-released images of the lunar south-polar region obtained by ESA’s SMART-1 are proving to be wonderful tools to zero-in on suitable study sites for potential future lunar exploration missions. Read more 

12 March 2008: Columbus camera captures first views of Earth. Read more

12 March 2008: A team of scientists and engineers led by the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) will study how to design a telescope on the Moon for peering into the last unexplored epoch in the Universe’s history. Read more

12 March 2008: One of the great ongoing challenges of astrophysics, to find out how stars evolve and die, is to be tackled in an ambitious European research programme. Read more

11 March 2008: The man intended to be the first South Korean in space has been grounded for violating security protocol and will be replaced by a female biotechnology engineer, the science ministry said on Monday. Read more

11 March 2008: Black holes could bump asteroids our way. Read more

11 March 2008: The surprises continue. Scientists studying the harvest of photos from the MESSENGER spacecraft's Jan. 14th flyby of Mercury have found several craters with strange dark halos and one crater with a spectacularly shiny bottom. Read more

11 March 2008: NASA's Cassini spacecraft will make an unprecedented "in your face" flyby of Saturn's moon Enceladus on Wed., March 12. Read more

11 March 2008: The rotating service structure has been rolled away from space shuttle Endeavour in a major milestone leading up to launch.  Read more  

11 March 2008: When space shuttle Endeavor blasts off on March 11, some tiny ‘astronauts’ will piggyback onboard an experimental payload from Arizona State University’s Biodesign Institute. Read more

11 March 2008: Astronomers at the University of Rochester, home to one of the world’s largest groups of planetary nebulae specialists, have announced that low-mass stars and possibly even super-Jupiter-sized planets may be responsible for creating some of the most breathtaking objects in the sky. Read more

10 March 2008: An uncrewed Ariane rocket successfully put a cargo vessel into orbit on Sunday in Europe's first mission to carry supplies to the International Space Station (ISS). Read more

10 March 2008: The European Space Agency on Sunday carried out the maiden launch of a massive robot freighter designed to rendezvous automatically with the orbital space station. Read more

10 March 2008: Radio waves accelerate electrons within Jupiter’s magnetic field in the same way as they do on Earth, according to new research published in Nature Physics this week. Read more

10 March 2008: Astronauts bound for orbit this week will dabble in science fiction, assembling a "monstrous" two-armed space station robot that will rise like Frankenstein from its transport bed. Read more

10 March 2008: Astronomers have measured the distribution of mass inside a dark filament in a molecular cloud with an amazing level of detail and to great depth. Read more

7 March 2008: Scientists have discovered never-before-seen impact "megabreccia" and a possibly once-habitable ancient lake on Mars at a place called Holden crater. Read more

7 March 2008: Saturn satellite reveals first moon rings. Read more

7 March 2008: Astrophysicists are having a heated debate over the wave structure of the Sun’s Corona - a debate which may one day influence solar weather forecasting and the theory behind fusion reactors. Read more

7 March 2008: Astronomers hail first celestial views with twin giant mirrors. Read more

7 March 2008: Has ‘dark fluid’ saved Earth from oblivion? Read more

7 March 2008: Morphing aircraft mimics a bird on the wing. Read more

6 March 2008: Titan's surface organics surpass oil reserves on Earth. Read more

6 March 2008: Universe submerged in a sea of chilled neutrinos. Read more

6 March 2008: Mars and Venus are surprisingly similar. Read more

5 March 2008: Probing a glowing bubble of gas and dust encircling a dying star, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope reveals a wealth of previously unseen structures. Read more

5 March 2008: Colliding black holes may leave infrared afterglow. Read more

5 March 2008: Earth’s rotation may account for wayward spacecraft. Read more

5 March 2008: CERN particle detector: ATLAS completes world's largest jigsaw puzzle. Read more

5 March 2008: The first experiment inside the European Columbus laboratory has got underway to investigate whether plants could grow in outer space. Read more

5 March 2008: Pentagon worried by China in space and cyberspace. Read more

4 March 2008: A NASA spacecraft in orbit around Mars has taken the first ever image of active avalanches near the Red Planet's North Pole. Read more

4 March 2008: NASA'S mission to improve predictions of violent space weather. Read more

4 March 2008: One of the mysteries of our universe is that of dark energy and matter. Scientists all over the world are attempting to discover what particles make up dark energy and matter. Read more

4 March 2008: Lunar eclipse may shed light on climate change. Read more

3 March 2008: Liquid water has not been found on the Martian surface within the last decade after all, according to new research. Read more

3 March 2008: We cannot see the streams of dark matter forming a web across the sky, but unusual cross-shaped galaxies may mark where they intersect. Read more

3 March 2008: Nearest star’s wobbles could reveal Earth’s twin. Read more

3 March 2008: Graphite whiskers, rather than dark energy, could explain dimness of stellar explosions. Read more

29 February 2008: The Valencian Regional Government offers sixty Santiago Grisolia grants for foreign fellow investigators interested in participating in specific research programmes in a range of subjects. Read more

29 February 2008: Could meteorite discovery weaken dark energy’s case? Read more

29 February 2008: Is cosmic string the radio burst culprit? Read more

29 February 2008: Trio of Mars orbiters to monitor Phoenix probe’s landing. Read more

29 February 2008: Scientists at a Japanese university said they believed that another planet up to two-thirds the size of the Earth was orbiting in the far reaches of the solar system. Read more

28 February 2008: Scientists of the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search experiment have announced that they have regained the lead in the worldwide race to find the particles that make up dark matter. Read more

28 February 2008: Universe’s biggest stars form in the densest gas clouds. Read more

28 February 2008: A mega-collision between two large embryonic planets could have created Venus as we know it. Read more

28 February 2008: The moon's south pole region, a possible future landing site for human or robotic lunar missions, is far more rugged than had been thought says NASA. Read more

28 February 2008: U.S. scientists have used sodium atoms to determine Mercury's comet-like tail is much longer than had been thought. Read more

27 February 2008: Swift satellite images a galaxy ablaze with starbirth. Read more

27 February 2008: Venus has extraordinarily changeable and extremely large-scale weather. Read more

27 February 2008: An international group of astronomers have discovered that the sun-like star tau Bootis flipped its magnetic field from north to south sometime during the last year. Read more

27 February 2008: German astronomers have boosted our understanding of how very young stars grow, thanks to observations made with the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI). Read more

27 February 2008: Killer electrons lurk in the radiation belts surrounding Earth, called the Van Allen Belts. Something happens there that turns ordinary electrons into high-speed demons. Read more

27 February 2008: Diamonds may be rare on Earth, but are surprisingly common in space - and the super-sensitive infrared eyes of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope are perfect for scouting them. Read more

27 February 2008: Asteroid tracking proposal wins $25,000 prize which is hoped to spur the world’s space agencies to protect the planet from potentially dangerous impacts. Read more

27 February 2008: Tender: analysing perspectives for EU-US cooperation on space-related applications and services. Read more

27 February 2008: Giant meteor fireball explodes over northwest USA. Read more

26 February 2008: Astronomy technology brings nanoparticle probes into sharper focus. Read more

26 February 2008: Exoskeleton shows running, not walking, best on moon. Read more

26 February 2008: The night sky on Earth (assuming it survives) will change dramatically as our Milky Way galaxy merges with its neighbours and distant galaxies recede beyond view. Read more

26 February 2008: An accelerating universe wipes out traces of its own origins. Read more

26 February 2008: SCUBA-2 camera will explore earliest phases of galaxy formation. Read more

26 February 2008: Particle beams travelling at almost the speed of light get lined up after information going even faster tells devices to straighten things out. The result may provide information about the Big Bang. Read more

26 February 2008: How the atmospheres of Mars and Venus are affected by carbon monoxide. Read more

26 February 2008: Gaps in the soup of high energy particles near the orbits of two of Saturn's tiny moons indicate that Saturn may be surrounded by undiscovered, near-invisible partial rings. Read more

26 February 2008: Virgin Atlantic became the first commercial airplane operator to fly a plane powered partially by palm oil. Read more

25 February 2008: The Ulysses spacecraft which orbits around the sun is on the verge of freezing to death. Read more

25 February 2008: Scientists tuning very large array radio telescope for deeper exploration. Read more

25 February 2008: Proposed astronomy missions selected for further study by NASA. Read more

25 February 2008: Giant leap for planet spotting technique. Read more

25 February 2008: The heaviest black hole formed from the collapse of a single star weighs as much as 33 Suns. Read more

25 February 2008: Hope dims that Earth will survive Sun’s death. Read more

25 February 2008: Scientists explain intriguing phenomenon on Saturn's moon. Read more

25 February 2008: A small robotic aircraft powered by rotating "paddle-wheel" wings could yet rule the skies, if renewed interest in an antique design bears fruit. Read more

25 February 2008: Japan's space agency has launched an experimental communications satellite designed to enable super high-speed data transmission in remote areas. Read more

25 February 2008: Japan is set to launch a satellite aimed at providing high-speed Internet access across Asia, the country's space agency said. Read more

25 February 2008: China hopes to launch its second moon-orbiting satellite in 2009, state media reported, as the country steps up its space programme. Read more

22 February 2008: Saturn's orange moon Titan has hundreds of times more liquid hydrocarbons than all the known oil and natural gas reserves on Earth, according to new data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft. Read more

22 February 2008: Mars rovers sharpen questions about liveable conditions. Read more

22 February 2008: The light and dark of Venus. Read more

22 February 2008: MIT, NASA to probe universe from dark side of the Moon. Read more

22 February 2008: Giant ropes of dark matter found in new sky survey. Read more

22 February 2008: Powerful explosions suggest neutron star missing link. Read more

22 February 2008: The US is confident that its shooting down of a disabled spy satellite with a missile managed to destroy its potentially toxic fuel tank. Read more

22 February 2008: Giant meteor fireball explodes over northwest U.S. Read more

21 February 2008: Space shuttle returns to Earth after spacelab mission. Read more

21 February 2008: Cassini finds mingling moons may share a dark past. Read more

21 February 2008: ALMA telescope will open new window on the universe. Read more

21 February 2008: Dozens of gravitationally lensed galaxies discovered in distant universe. Read more

21 February 2008: Water gushes created "staircases" on Mars: study. Read more

20 February 2008: NASA MidSTAR-1 successful technologies may be revolutionary. Read more

20 February 2008: MIT to lead development of new telescopes on moon. Read more

20 February 2008: China set to launch record number of spacecraft in 2008. Read more

19 February 2008: The Atlantis shuttle has undocked from the International Space Station in preparation for its return to Earth. Read more

19 February 2008: NASA has selected 19 science teams to conduct year-long studies of new concepts for its next generation of major space observatories. Read more

19 February 2008: The Moon will turn an eerie shade of red for people in the western hemisphere late Wednesday and early Thursday, recreating the eclipse that saved Christopher Columbus more than five centuries ago. Read more

19 February 2008: Earth's orbit creates more than a leap year: Orbital behaviours als