Space & Earth news

Seattle team wins $900,000 in Space Elevator Games

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

1hour ago | 5 / 5 (1) | 1

(AP) -- A Seattle team has collected a $900,000 prize in a NASA-backed competition to develop the concept of an elevator to space - an idea spurred by science fiction novels.

Russian rocket to launch from French Guiana in 2010

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

1hour ago | not rated yet | 0

A Russian rocket will next year for the first time blast off from a European launch pad in South America, officials said Saturday, as the first rockets headed for the site on board a ship.

'Dropouts' pinpoint earliest galaxies

Space & Earth / Astronomy

21 hours ago | 4 / 5 (8) | 10

Astronomers, conducting the broadest survey to date of galaxies from about 800 million years after the Big Bang, have found 22 early galaxies and confirmed the age of one by its characteristic hydrogen signature ...

Hylas payload shipped to India

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

21 hours ago | 5 / 5 (1) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Hylas, a flexible, broadband Ka-band satellite, is steadily moving towards completion. The communications payload has been shipped from England to India for integration with the platform, ...

Mars: Chaotic terrain between Kasei Valles and Sacra Fossae

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Nov 06, 2009 | 4.7 / 5 (7) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Mars Express flew over the boundary between Kasei Valles and Sacra Fossae and imaged the region, acquiring spectacular views of the chaotic terrain in the area.

Past climate of the northern Antarctic Peninsular informs global warming debate

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Nov 06, 2009 | 2.3 / 5 (6) | 1

The seriousness of current global warming is underlined by a reconstruction of climate at Maxwell Bay in the South Shetland Islands of the Antarctic Peninsula over approximately the last 14,000 years, which ...

States call on EPA for tougher air pollution regulations

Space & Earth / Environment

Nov 06, 2009 | 3.2 / 5 (5) | 0

Twelve states and the District of Columbia urged the Environmental Protection Agency Thursday to adopt more rigorous national policies so they can meet federal air pollution reduction requirements for the region.

The greening of Willis Tower: Rooftop gardens part of plan to improve efficiency

Space & Earth / Environment

Nov 06, 2009 | 4 / 5 (6) | 0

Growing up in the southwest suburbs, Sara Beardsley had a view of the Chicago skyline from her house. Today, she is transforming that skyline, but you won't find her work glorified on a $6 mug or gracing postcards.

Caribbean, Gulf spared widespread coral damage

Space & Earth / Environment

Nov 06, 2009 | 3 / 5 (2) | 1

(AP) -- Lower-than-feared sea temperatures this summer gave a break to fragile coral reefs across the Caribbean and the central Gulf of Mexico that were damaged in recent years, scientists said Thursday.

Success in 'space elevator' competition (Update 3)

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Nov 05, 2009 | 4.3 / 5 (31) | 50

(AP) -- A robot powered by a ground-based laser beam climbed a long cable dangling from a helicopter on Wednesday to qualify for prize money in a $2 million competition to test the potential reality of the ...

Space hotel taking bookings for 2012 opening

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Nov 05, 2009 | 4.5 / 5 (18) | 10

(PhysOrg.com) -- The first orbiting space hotel is on track to open for its first customers in 2012, but hurry, as bookings are filling fast.

Rapid supernova could be new class of exploding star

Space & Earth / Astronomy

Nov 05, 2009 | 4.7 / 5 (17) | 4

(PhysOrg.com) -- An unusual supernova rediscovered in seven-year-old data may be the first example of a new type of exploding star, possibly from a binary star system where helium flows from one white dwarf ...

Starring Intelligent Aliens

Space & Earth / Astronomy

Nov 05, 2009 | 4.8 / 5 (6) | 5

The most probable place to find intelligent life in the galaxy is around stars very similar to our sun, a new study has found.

3 Questions: Sergey Paltsev on the costs of climate-change legislation

Space & Earth / Environment

Nov 05, 2009 | 1.7 / 5 (3) | 4

Sergey Paltsev, a principal research scientist in MIT’s Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, was the lead author of a recent report that analyzed the costs of climate legislation currently ...

Airborne nitrogen shifts aquatic nutrient limitation in pristine lakes

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Nov 05, 2009 | 3.3 / 5 (4) | 3

The impact of airborne nitrogen released from the burning of fossil fuels and wide-spread use of fertilizers in agriculture is much greater that previously recognized and even extends to remote alpine lakes, ...

Hubble Image Showcases Star Birth in M83, the Southern Pinwheel

Space & Earth / Astronomy

Nov 05, 2009 | 4.6 / 5 (9) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- The spectacular new camera installed on NASA's Hubble Space Telescope during Servicing Mission 4 in May has delivered the most detailed view of star birth in the graceful, curving arms of ...

Unusual meteorite found by time-lapse camera observatory

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Nov 05, 2009 | 4.4 / 5 (12) | 2

(PhysOrg.com) -- An unusual meteorite with an interesting orbit has been tracked to the ground using a photographic observatory that records time-lapse images of fireballs traveling across the sky.

Climate Change, Nitrogen Loss Threaten Plant Life in Arid Desert Soils

Space & Earth / Environment

Nov 05, 2009 | 2.4 / 5 (7) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- In the Mojave Desert winds howl across this hottest place in North America, blowing sands across Death Valley and through empty ghost towns, swirling across treeless land for hundreds of miles. ...