Lunar clock to be built by River Thames by 2012

September 29th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Chinese experts have announced that the country's space scientists had completed the world's highest-resolution three-dimensional map of the moon. The map, covering the whole surface of the moon, was made based on image data obtained by a highly technical stereo camera carried by the Chang'e-1, China's first lunar probe.

September 26th, 2009 LONDON - With an instrument aboard India's Chandryaan discovering water molecules on the Moon, scientists are now all the more confident of harvesting water from the lunar surface in the future, which could help sustain lunar astronauts and even propel missions to Mars. Three spacecraft - India's Chandrayaan-1 and NASA's Cassini and Deep Impact probes - have detected the absorption of infrared light at a wavelength that indicates the presence of either water or hydroxyl, a molecule made up of a hydrogen and an oxygen atom.

September 24th, 2009 CHENNAI - The sensational discovery of water molecules on the lunar surface by an instrument owned by the American National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and carried by India's Chandrayaan-1 has been termed by scientists as a "very precious find". "Moon water is more precious than gold," an Indian space scientist told IANS, declining to be named.

September 17th, 2009 Londoners miffed after Tube map ditches ThamesLONDON — London's subway bosses have erased the River Thames. Mayor Boris Johnson on Thursday joined a chorus of disapproval at a new version of the London Underground map that does not show the river, which divides north and south London.

September 16th, 2009 2nd entrant in lunar landing contest gets halfwayLOS ANGELES — A privately built rocket competing for NASA prize money has been grounded halfway through a simulated lunar landing mission in the Mojave Desert, but developers plan to make another attempt. Masten Space Systems' "Xombie" rocket made a 93-second flight from a launch pad to a landing pad Wednesday before engine damage was discovered and the return flight was canceled.

September 14th, 2009 'Shakespeare in Love' set to be reborn as theaterLONDON — A British theater company plans to rebuild an Elizabethan playhouse using the set from the hit film "Shakespeare in Love." The oak-timbered set of the Rose Theatre was donated to the British Shakespeare Company by Judi Dench, who won an Academy Award for playing Queen Elizabeth I in the 1998 romantic comedy. The original Rose Theatre was built in 1587 on the south bank of the River Thames — then just outside London's city limits.

September 4th, 2009 BERLIN - In a new research work, a team of scientists has shown how optical atomic clocks in the future might become more compact and even portable, maybe even travel to space. The research was done by scientists from the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) in Braunschweig, Germany.

August 18th, 2009 LONDON - Archaeologists have found London's oldest known timber structure, which dating back to 5,700 years, could be the city's earliest "boardwalk". According to a report by BBC News, the structure was found in an ancient peat bog next to the Belmarsh prison in Plumstead, a suburb of East London near the banks of the River Thames.

July 20th, 2009 Researchers: Still learning from moon rocksST. LOUIS — Forty years after the Apollo 11 astronauts made their historic lunar landing, the rocks they collected are still helping researchers learn about the moon and the solar system.

July 20th, 2009 Queen watches as boatmen count her swansLONDON — Queen Elizabeth II took to the River Thames in a steam launch Monday to watch red-suited boatmen carefully count all her swans A Buckingham Palace official said it was the first time the 83-year-old queen, who has reigned for 57 years, was on hand for the venerable practice of "Swan Upping." The annual census of the Thames' swan population dates to the time Britain's royalty jealously guarded its right to own and eat any mute swan — the species of graceful white birds distinguished by long necks and orange and black bills — in the river. Although Britain has moved on from the days when the birds were prized as royal delicacies, the queen still theoretically has rights over all mute swans swimming on public rivers and lakes.

July 16th, 2009 NYC to auction off Apollo 11 itemsNEW YORK — Marking the 40th anniversary of man's first lunar landing, more than 50 items related to the Apollo 11 mission are to go on the auction block Thursday. Bonhams New York said many of the articles were acquired directly from the astronauts or were originally in their collections.

June 23rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, has successfully entered orbit around the moon after a four and a half day journey from the Earth. Engineers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, confirmed the spacecraft's lunar orbit insertion at 6:27 a.m.

April 7th, 2009 LONDON - Police in London have been placed on alert and life boats have been scrambled to prevent thousands of Tamil protesters from jumping into the River Thames in protest against a delay to impose a cease-fire in Sri Lanka. Four Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) lifeboats were placed on standby along with police, fire and the harbour master's vessels, amid concern the demonstrators would attempt to jump en-masse into the river, reports The Sun.

March 28th, 2009 LONDON - An American firm is planning to grow the first flowers on the Moon, in a proposed greenhouse on the lunar surface. According to a report in New Scientist, the company in question is engineering firm Paragon Space Development, which has designed habitats for plants and animals living in microgravity.

March 17th, 2009 LONDON - Around 999 near naked revellers, wearing nothing but skimpy Shamrock style bikinis, marched along the bank of the River Thames on March 15 to the amusement of sightseers. The march was carried out to promote an Air Lingus flight sale, and it did have restrictions on the level nudity.