The first pictures of comet dust grains from the Stardust capsule are now floating around on the internet. [PhysOrg.com]

NASA’s Chandra telescope has observed a halo of hot gas falling into a spiral galaxy, providing evidence for theories of galaxy formation. [EurekAlert!]

Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology have created polymer nanotubes up to a centimeter long, stable enough to hold their shape over a sizable period of time. Applications in biotech beckon. [KurzweilAI.net]

After mentioning in a post yesterday in my own blog that I’d love to see someone working on a space elevator project so we could avoid unnecessary and dangerous rocketry to get into orbit, some helpful soul pointed me towards the website for The LiftPort Group, who are doing exactly that. They are predicting their first lift on April 12, 2018…good luck to them!

Russian space company Energia annouces a new reusable shuttle craft to replace the ageing Soyuz design, to be operational by 2015. It is hoped it will take up the duties of delivering crew and supplies to the ISS. [PhysOrg.com]