Remember that WOW signal detected by SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) from 1977? The signal, witnessed by a project volunteer, was so strong that he quickly circled the indication on a printout and scribbled the phrase “Wow!” in the margin. Dubbed the Wow! signal, it"s considered by some to be the most likely candidate from an artificial, extraterrestrial source ever discovered, but it"s never been detected again. And now this. A Durban University of Technology teacher and his st...

Submitted by Tjay: Scientists don"t know much about the mysterious phenomenon known as dark energy, but they do have a picture of what it"s doing to the universe, namely, driving it apart. In what may be the clearest detection of dark energy to date, astronomers at the University of Hawaii looked at microwaves left over from the beginning of the universe some 13.7 billion years ago. The scientists grouped the rays depending on whether they had passed through massive clusters of galaxies or bee-l...

As night was falling across the Americas on Sunday, August 28, 1859, the phantom shapes of the auroras could already be seen overhead. From Maine to the tip of Florida, vivid curtains of light took the skies. Startled Cubans saw the auroras directly overhead; ships" logs near the equator described crimson lights reaching halfway to the zenith. Many people thought their cities had caught fire. Scientific instruments around the world, patiently recording minute changes in Earth"s magnetism, sudden...

It would appear that the US President has been briefed by Phoenix scientists about the discovery of something more "provocative" than the discovery of water existing on the Martian surface. This news comes just as the Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer (TEGA) confirmed experimental evidence for the existence of water in the Mars regolith on Thursday. Whilst NASA scientists are not claiming that life once existed on the Red Planet"s surface, new data appears to indicate the "potential for life" mor...

Submitted by Stance: The Phoenix Mars mission has found water in a soil sample after spending the last two months examining the red planet for evidence that it could support life, NASA scientists said. The spacecraft's robotic arm has dug several trenches in the Martian soil near the planet's north pole and been heating soil samples in a series of small "ovens." It had earlier spotted chunks outside the rover that scientists had identified as ice, but data sent back by the most...

The British business tycoon Richard Branson has unveiled an aircraft in the US that will be used for his project to launch tourists into space. The high-altitude jet will act as the mothership for a spacecraft, releasing it in mid-air to take two crew and six passengers on sub-orbital flights. More than 250 people have already paid $200,000 (£100,000) each to be among the first making the tourist trips. Mr Branson predicts the maiden space voyage will take place in 18 months. A crowd of engineer...

The first official image of a Russian-European manned spacecraft has been unveiled. It is designed to replace the Soyuz vehicle currently in use by Russia and will allow Europe to participate directly in crew transportation. The reusable ship was conceived to carry four people towards the Moon, rivalling the US Ares/Orion system. Unlike previous crewed vehicles, it will use thrusters to make a soft landing when it returns to Earth. Russian aerospace writer and graphic designer Anatoly Zak has pr...

A Nasa plea for urine donations has been leaked, leading to a flood of offers. The US space programme is seeking urine from workers at the Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas, so it can create the perfect space lavatory. It"s for the new Orion space capsule which will eventually take astronauts to the moon, reports the Daily Telegraph. John Lewis, Nasa"s head of life support systems for Orion, said the Orion will be in space for up to six months while astronauts work on the moon, so getting r...

NASA researchers and scientists have been looking for evidence that Mars could have supported life in the past or that it could be habitable in the future, but they want to dispel any online rumors: They have not found life on the Red Planet. The Phoenix Mars Lander has been analyzing soil samples from Mars, and NASA"s support team for the mission is interested in finding evidence of whether Mars has or ever could support life. Some samples have shown that the Red Planet has some indications -- ...

Scientists analyzing two soil samples their Phoenix spacecraft dug from the surface of Mars announced they have discovered what may be the highly oxidizing chemical called perchlorate, a common component of rocket fuels, explosives and some medicines, they reported Monday. The surprising discovery in the Martian soil seems contradictory, because if it really is confirmed as a perchlorate compound it suggests that the planet"s soil may be very much like Earth"s, said Peter Smith, the University o...

For million of years after the Big Bang, the universe was a dark place filled only with wisps of hydrogen and helium, as well as the mysterious substance known as dark matter that makes up much of the universe’s mass. Now, researchers have finished running a sophisticated computer program that simulated those early cosmic conditions and replicated the production of the first primordial star, which cast the first rays of starlight out into the blackness. Researchers say that the new model shows t...

Just four years after President Bush announced his vision to send astronauts back to the moon and then on to Mars, legendary astronaut Buzz Aldrin is leading an effort to re-examine the whole idea in particular, NASA"s choice of rockets for the mission. It is the latest sign that NASA"s Constellation program _ intended to replace the space shuttle after 2010 _ is in trouble. Concerned by reports that the Ares rockets and Orion crew capsule are beset by cost overruns, schedule delays and complex ...

A lawyer for Peggy Fossett, widow of the aviation adventurer Steve Fossett, has dismissed claims he may have faked his own death. Michael LoVallo disputed suggestions from investigators and insurance assessors that the record-setting pilot and balloonist, a friend of Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson, could still be alive after his mysterious disappearance in the Nevada desert 10 months ago. Mrs Fossett petitioned a Chicago court to have her husband declared dead. Her request was granted in Februa...

Submitted by Stance: Former Nasa astronaut and moonwalker Dr Edgar Mitchell - a veteran of the Apollo 14 mission - has stunningly claimed aliens do exist. And he says extra-terrestrials have visited Earth on several occasions - but the alien contact has been repeatedly covered up by governments for six decades. Dr Mitchell, 77, said during a radio interview that sources at the space agency who had had contact with aliens described the beings as 'little people who look strange to us.' He ...

For millions of years, early Mars was warm and wet—a perfect host for the development of life—a new study says. Scientists used NASA"s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to take a close look at clays on the Martian surface known to be associated with water. The telltale clays—called phyllosilicates—were found to be scattered broadly across the planet"s surface in craters, valleys, delta formations, and dunes. That means water existed in a variety of terrains, the scientists say. "It wasn"t this hot, bo...

Amy Geppert: Snug in Earth’s orbit, Hubble is free from the background glare that earthly telescopes must fight to see the stars. This allows its supersensitive camera to take better photos of galaxies farther away—and thus much dimmer—than any optical telescope on the ground can. But despite being closer to the moon than any other telescope, there’s no way the scope could snap a photo of that one small step man took 40 years ago. Considering the distance to the moon and the resolving power of H...