
London: A study of future human missions has indicated corporate researchers could be living on the moon by the time NASA astronauts head off to visit an asteroid in the 2020s. The study by Bigelow Aerospace, commissioned by NASA, shows "a lot of excitement and interest from various companies" for such ventures, Daily Mail quoted Robert Bigelow, founder and president of the Las Vegas-based firm, as saying.
The projects range from pharmaceutical research aboard Earth-orbiting habitats, to missions to the Moon's surface, he said on Thursday, citing a draft of the report due to be released in a few weeks.
NASA intends to follow the International Space Station programme with astronaut visits to an asteroid by 2025 and to Mars about a decade later.
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05:08 AM, May 25, 2013

Washington: NASA's Mars rover, Opportunity, has finished examining a fractured rock on the red planet intensely altered by water, providing evidence about a wet ancient environment possibly favourable for life. Opportunity is now driving to a new study area after a dramatic finish to 20 months on "Cape York." The fractured rock, called "Esperance," provides evidence about a wet ancient environment possibly favourable for life, mission's principal investigator, Steve Squyres...

09:41 AM, May 20, 2013

Mumbai: Air India's plan to trim its 27,000 bloated workforce by offering a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) is stuck in the North Block, with the Finance Ministry questioning the rationale behind the proposed scheme. The VRS scheme is "stuck in the Finance Ministry over the payment of Rs 1,200 crore for it. The ministry has pointed out that around 7,000 employees will retire from service over the next three years...

01:50 PM, May 19, 2013

Cape Canaveral, Florida: A music video shot aboard the International Space Station went viral on Monday, turning an astronaut into an overnight music sensation with his zero-gravity version of David Bowie's hit "Space Oddity." As the first Canadian to command the space station, a $100 million project of 15 nations, Chris Hadfield had already earned himself a place in the history books. But as he prepared to return home on...

11:58 AM, May 14, 2013

A music video shot aboard the International Space Station by a Canadian astronaut gets over 1.5 million hits on YouTube. ...

11:12 AM, May 14, 2013

Toronto: Music lovers wanting to hear live tunes without going to a concert or club or leaving the comfort of their home can use new computer apps that connect them to events in venues around the world. Although event-streaming sites like Livestream offer some live concerts, these apps are tailored exclusively for music and try to capture the atmosphere and social aspects of a live show. "Going to a concert...

10:06 AM, May 14, 2013

This image provided by NASA shows astronaut Chris Hadfield recording the first music video from space Sunday May 12, 2013. The song was his cover version of David Bowie's Space Oddity. Hadfield and astronaut Thomas Marshburn are scheduled to return to earth. ...

11:22 AM, May 13, 2013

New Delhi: Reliance Industries' billionaire chief Mukesh Ambani has kept his annual salary capped at Rs 15 crore for the fifth year in a row, while foregoing nearly Rs 24 crore from the remuneration approved for him by shareholders. Ambani has kept his salary at the country's biggest private sector entity, RIL, unchanged at this level since the fiscal 2008-09. "The Chairman and Managing Director's compensation has been set at...

02:00 PM, May 12, 2013

New Delhi: Offshore-centric IT services major Cognizant has paid its India-origin CEO Francisco D'Souza a pay package of USD 10.61 million in cash, stocks and other benefits. The US-listed company, which has a large portion of its 1.63 lakh workforce in India, paid Frank a base salary of USD 590,000, stock awards worth USD 9.59 million and a non-equity incentive plan compensation of USD 405,780 for the last year. However,...

11:55 AM, May 12, 2013

Miami: Two astronauts aboard the International Space Station took a hurriedly arranged spacewalk on Saturday to try to fix an ammonia leak in a cooling system on one of the station's solar arrays that provide electricity to the orbital outpost. The astronauts used a pistol-shaped screwdriver to remove a panel, install a spare pump and add new ammonia coolant, and were to spend several more hours outside the station troubleshooting...

07:18 AM, May 12, 2013

Miami: NASA plans to send two astronauts aboard the International Space Station out on a spacewalk on Saturday to try to fix an ammonia leak in a cooling system on one of the station's solar arrays, the US space agency said on Friday. The crew spotted a steady stream of small, white frozen ammonia flakes floating away from a coolant line outside the orbital outpost on Thursday. Mission managers reviewed...

06:17 AM, May 11, 2013

Beijing: China-India relations have "strategic significance" and "global impact" as both are large developing countries and emerging markets, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang told India's visiting External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid in Beijing on Friday. Later, Khurshid also met Chinese State Councillor Yang Jiechi, who also pledged to strengthen ties between the two countries. Premier Li highlighted the importance that the new Chinese government has placed on developing ties with India,...

04:25 AM, May 11, 2013

New Delhi: CAG report commands respect and cannot be brushed aside but it cannot be the final word on an issue, the Supreme Court said on Thursday while noting that the auditor's findings cannot be gospel truth as it is subject to scrutiny by Parliament. A bench of justices KS Radhakrishnan and Dipak Misra said that CAG's report is always subject to parliamentary debates and it is possible that Public...

10:40 PM, May 09, 2013

Washington: Want to be a part of space exploration history? NASA is inviting public to submit their names, short poems and personal messages online for a DVD to be carried aboard a spacecraft that will study the Martian atmosphere. The DVD will carry every name submitted. The public also is encouraged to submit a message in the form of a three-line poem, or haiku, NASA said. However, only three haikus...

01:31 PM, May 02, 2013

London: Europe's Herschel space observatory - the largest infrared telescope ever launched - has stopped working after exhausting its supply of liquid helium coolant, ending more than three years of pioneering observations of the cool Universe. Instruments on The European Space Agency's (ESA) billion-euro flagship observatory have warmed to levels that mean it has closed its eyes on the Universe. The mission began with over 2300 litres of liquid helium,...

05:25 PM, Apr 30, 2013

Mumbai: S Mobility recently launched the 5-inch Smart Flo Pace 2 Mi-502 in India. This dual-SIM smartphone runs on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and is powered by a 1GHz dual-core processor. The phone is available for Rs 6,999. The device has only 512MB of RAM, so multitasking could lead to lags if you're using apps that use lots of resources. On the internal memory side, it has only 512MB...

05:25 PM, Apr 30, 2013

Chennai: Producer turned actor V T V Ganesh, who is busy wrapping up his upcoming Tamil production venture 'Inga Enna Solludhu', says comedy can click at the box office at any time of the year provided it is entertaining and fresh. "At any time of the year, one of the most successful genres is comedy. However, not all comedies have been successful, therefore, it's important to make something different and...

03:13 PM, Apr 30, 2013

New Delhi: Emissions from coal plants resulted in 80,000 to 1,15,000 premature deaths and more than 20 million asthma cases in 2011-12 in the country, the Lok Sabha was informed on Monday. According to a report titled 'Coal Kills - An assessment of death and disease caused by India's dirtiest energy source', the coal-based plants quantified additional health impacts, such as hundreds of thousands of heart attacks. The estimated monetary...

05:35 AM, Apr 30, 2013

Beijing: Over 600 Chinese have applied to join an ambitious Dutch aerospace project that plans to send humans on a one-way trip to Mars for permanent settlement. The Dutch project, while triggering enthusiasm to explore outer space, is also under fire with the trip being viewed by some as a suicide mission, with applicants being shipped to a planet that is uninhabitable by humans. The project, Mars One, is being...

07:00 PM, Apr 29, 2013

New Delhi: Expressing concern over the misuse of central funds in Odisha, a delegation led by state Congress president Niranjan Patnaik met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to seek a need-based financial package for the state, party leaders said in Delhi on Saturday. "The prime minister has said that there is no discrimination whatsoever with Odisha as is being claimed by the state government, and under the revised guidelines of backwardness,...

06:01 AM, Apr 28, 2013