Experts: Warp Drive Is Possible

Dream Chaser's first test flight scheduled for summer 2012

(NEWSER) - With the space shuttles retired, NASA currently has to rely on the Russians to ferry astronauts and cargo to and from the International Space Station. But it hopes to be able to hail a taxi soon. Dream Chaser, one of four "space taxis" being developed by private industry with support from NASA, will make an unmanned test flight next summer, reports Reuters . More»

Team seeks Google Lunar X Prize

(NEWSER) - A team of Canadians is aiming to send a few hockey pucks up to join Neil Armstrong's golf balls on the surface on the moon. The Canadians are one of 29 teams from 17 countries competing to win some of the $30 million in prize money Google is offering to anybody who can transport a robot to the moon before 2015—and make said robot travel at least 1,640 feet and transit back high-def images and video, CBC reports. Three pucks will be mounted on the Canadian probe's motors to prevent it from tipping over. More»

Private spacecraft on course to take paying passengers to space

(NEWSER) - The world's first manned commercial spacecraft has reached a major milestone. Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo was released from the mothership and completed its first solo glide flight over the Mojave Desert yesterday, Wired reports. The craft, which is undergoing rigorous testing ahead of plans to carry paying customers to space and back, landed safely at the Mojave Air and Space Port after being released at 45,000 feet. More»

Space program plans elusive nuclear spaceship by 2012

(NEWSER) - The Russians are planning to ride a $600 million nuclear-powered spaceship to Mars, and they say they may begin construction by 2012. “It’s a very serious project, and we need to find the money,” president Dmitry Medvedev says. Small nuclear reactors and batteries have long powered satellites, but their adaptation to any spacecraft, let alone an interplanetary one, has proved elusive. More»

(NEWSER) - The 'Big Wave,' a new explanation for the universe's mysterious accelerating expansion, is sending ripples through the world of astronomy. According to the theory, the Big Bang set off a wave, or waves, that rippled outward through space-time, making distant galaxies appear to expand away from us. Mathematicians came up with the Big Wave as an alternative to the Dark Energy theory, Space.com reports. More»