The pioneer anomaly is a mystery involving the NASA Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft. Launched in 1972-73, they have traveled hundreds of millions of kilometers to explore the outer solar system and, soon,  interstellar space. However, their speed is wrong, at least according to our generally accepted laws of physics. Sir Isaac Newton described the gravitational force that a body exerts on another body as related to the primary body"s mass. Gravity exerted by a massive body, it turns out, exerts les...

Scientists say they have unlocked some of the secrets behind black holes, the gravitational fields known for sucking up light and stars from the Universe. In a report in the journal Nature, US researchers say they have worked out how black holes emit jet streams of particles at close to light speed. The University of Boston team say the streams originate in the magnetic field near the edge of the black hole. They say it is within this region that the jets are accelerated and focused. Despite the...

The next phase in physics" great 21st century quest - to detect gravitational waves - has been approved. More than $200m (£100m) is to be spent upgrading the US Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatories. Ligo is hunting for ripples predicted to be seen in the fabric of space-time when extreme cosmic events occur, such as the merger of super-dense stars. Confirmation of the waves" existence should open up new ways to study the mysteries of the Universe. Ultimately, scientists would ho...

Until very recently, asking what happened at or before the Big Bang was considered by physicists to be a religious question. General relativity theory just doesn’t go there – at T=0, it spews out zeros, infinities, and errors – and so the question didn’t make sense from a scientific view. But in the past few years, a new theory called Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG) has emerged. The theory suggests the possibility of a “quantum bounce,” where our universe stems from the collapse of a previous univers...

Anthony North: Big Bang happened like this. Once upon a time there was a "singularity" that contained everything that was. Suddenly it blew up, releasing fundamental particles that expanded to fill space. Gravity came into being and particles came together into stars and planets. More complicated particles were "cooked" in the stars, and were released through supernova, to form other heavenly bodies, and from them eventually came life. The theory is neat and tidy.: It came out of the realization...

The ATHLETE (All-Terrain Hex-Legged Extra-Terrestrial Explorer) robot could play an essential role in new lunar bases. According to NASA, the 15 ton lunar habitat would be mounted on top of the six-legged robot. The habitat could walk right off of the lunar lander, and then proceed to any desired location. Wheeled locomotion would be used for level ground; more challenging terrain could be negotiated with the full use of the flexible legs. The ATHLETE-based habitat could then be controlled direc...

Every 11 years or so, the sun gets a little pissy. It breaks out in a rash of planet-sized sunspots that spew superhot gas, hurling clouds of electrons, protons, and heavier ions toward Earth at nearly the speed of light. These solar windstorms have been known to knock out power grids and TV broadcasts, and our growing reliance on space-based technology makes us more vulnerable than ever to their effects. On January 3, scientists discovered a reverse-polarity sunspot, signaling the start of a ne...

Although the “high ground” of outer space seems to offer clear military advantages, nations have so far resisted placing weapons into Earth orbit. That strategic forbearance may be changing. The National Space Policy adopted by the U.S. in 2006 seemed to open the way to the further militarization of space. Soon afterward, China tested a ground-based antisatellite missile. But space weaponry could trigger a costly international arms race. Satellites and space weapons will remain vulnerable to att...

Astronauts, by necessity, work hard in space. But during their precious time off aboard the International Space Station (ISS), some spaceflyers are picking their brains to come up with the future of space sports. "Sometimes, you just develop them by happenstance," said NASA astronaut Garrett Reisman, who is living aboard the space station as an Expedition 17 flight engineer. The mundane task of filling large water bags took on a whole new meaning, he said last week in a televised interview. "We ...

NASA wants astronauts who will return to the moon to take one long step for mankind. The US space agency hopes to build moon bases that can house astronauts for stays of up to six months, with an intricate transportation and power system, Carl Walz, director of NASA"s Advanced Capabilities Division, said Friday. NASA is examining different designs for lunar outposts but that they could be inspired by the orbiting International Space Station (ISS), he said. "We need to establish a long, extended ...

Scientific and technical teams from NASA and the European Space Agency are fleshing out ideas for the next mission to fly to an outer planet — either to Jupiter or Saturn. A decision on which of those two exploration targets will be the destination for the space agency"s next multibillion-dollar flagship mission is expected by year"s end. "We have the outer planet flagship mission in the (NASA) budget ... I do believe it will happen," said Fran Bagenal, a professor of astrophysical and planetary...

NASA is drawing up plans to probe the secrets of moon dust using a small orbiter that will ride piggyback on another spacecraft"s rocket. The $80-million LADEE spacecraft is slated to launch alongside a lunar gravity-mapping probe in 2011 on a 100-day mission to study the moon"s wisp-thin atmosphere and ever-present dust, the agency said Thursday. A clear understanding of the moon"s atmosphere and its clingy dust will be vital for NASA as it moves forward with plans to return astronauts to the l...

Spanish and UCL (University College London) scientists have discovered a possible terrestrial-type planet orbiting a star in the constellation of Leo. The new planet, which lies at a distance of 30 light years from the Earth, has a mass five times that of our planet but is the smallest found to date. One full day on the new planet would be equivalent to three weeks on Earth. The team of astronomers from the Spanish Research Council (CSIC) working with Dr Jean-Philippe Beaulieu, a visiting astrop...

Astronomers have discovered a planetary system orbiting a distant star which looks much like our own. They found two planets that were close matches for Jupiter and Saturn orbiting a star about half the size of our Sun. Martin Dominik, from St Andrews University in the UK, said the finding suggested systems like our own could be much more common than we thought. And he told a major meeting that astronomers were on the brink of finding many more of them. The St Andrews researcher said this planet...

Submitted by Stance: An international team of astronomers has found 10 new "extra solar" planets, planets that orbit stars other than our sun. The team used a system of robotic cameras that yield a great deal of information about these other worlds, some of which are quite exotic. The system is expected to revolutionize scientific understanding of how planets form. Two participating astronomers from the U.S. are Rachel Street and Tim Lister. Street is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of C...

A sniff test of water vapor spewing from Saturn"s moon Enceladus shows it is gushing with organic molecules, increasing the possibility of life existing somewhere in the Saturn system. Scientists have been intrigued by the moon since the fountain of water was first spotted in 2005. Now they"ve identified a soup of prebiotic material there, similar to what"s found in comets, from an analysis of data collected by the Cassini spacecraft. Nobody really knows how life began, but astrobiologists guess...