What went up is going to come down — and soon. A failed Russian Mars probe stranded above the Earth since November will plunge to its doom this weekend, likely on Sunday. Experts expect the 11 tons of fuel on board to explode high in the atmosphere as friction eats through the craft’s aluminum tanks. Read full article > >

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Incoming space junk: Failed Russian Mars probe expected to crash this weekend

Concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere rose to yet another high in 2010, according to the UN’s weather agency.

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No let up in greenhouse gas rise

Here’s what the Pentagon’s technological innovators hope will happen today: They’ll take an unmanned aircraft, launch it from an Air Force base in California and, once high in the atmosphere, have it barrel through the sky at about 13,000 miles per hour — a flight speed that would have it rocket from New York to Los Angeles in about 12 minutes. That’s the hope, anyway. Read full article > >

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Pentagon agency set for test of hypersonic aircraft

Scientists say that there has been a mysterious decline in the growth of methane in the atmosphere in the last decades of the 20th Century.

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New theories over methane puzzle

Q: Why was this week so crazy? A: Surely it began with the Tim Pawlenty campaign. The raw excitement he injected into the atmosphere was like a volcano! Q: What? Read full article > >

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Sarah Palin’s movie run, Urban Outfitters, and the Boring Lava field: a Q&A

Two students have recorded video of the Earth from high in the atmosphere using homemade equipment.

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‘Shoebox-Cam’ shows earth from on high

The European project to develop a space plane to take fare-paying passengers above the atmosphere is still very much alive, says EADS Astrium.

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Space tourism jet work continues

But current technology can reduce ship pollution 90%, and a House committee is weighing law to reduce black carbon emissions. In the next few decades, a warming Arctic will open up shorter shipping routes, potentially reducing the amount of fuel needed to travel between ports. But the increased amount of soot in the atmosphere could further accelerate the region’s climate change, and the shorter distances won’t generate enough fuel savings to offset the impact. read more

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New Shipping Lanes in Melting Arctic Will Accelerate Global Warming