First contact with extra-terrestrial intelligence
First Contact: Contact with extra-terrestrial intelligence/civilisation is established
Optical lifting demonstrated for the first time
Scientists observed and experimentally verified a micrometer-scale object being lifted by a beam of laser light. Optical lifting may be useful for improving the design of solar sails for interstellar space travel. The scientist...
Privatisation of space flights
Growing efforts of commercial firms to commercialise space travel, including space tourism. For example, Boeing has teamed up recently with a private spaceflight marketing firm to sell passenger seats for future flights of its ...
Low-cost space travel and human enhancement technologies enable massive migration of humans from earth and establishing permanent space colonies on other planet or on large space stations.
A military confrontation takes place in space, using space weapons such as anti-satellite lasers and missiles, space-planes, etc.
Revolutionary space propulsion technology
New space propulsion technology (not based on chemical rockets) enables a dramatic reduction of the cost per pound required to get a satellite into orbit or to propel a spacecraft to its destination in space This is achieved b...
Global warming is not anthropogenic
Scientists prove that the global warming is NOT anthropogenic, but related to changing solar activity or other newly discovered phenomena in space
Discovery of earth-like extra-solar planets
As of December 2, 2010, 505 extra-sols planets were detected. Most are giant planets (like Jupiter), but recently several relatively lightweight exoplanets, only a few times more massive than Earth, have also been detected, thu...
Life-form thriving on arsenic was discovered on Earth
NASA-funded research discovered microorganisms on Earth (in Mono Lake, California), able to thrive and reproduce using the toxic chemical arsenic. According to NASA, this finding of an alternative biochemistry makeup will alter...
Perhaps this is more of a stereotypical Wild Card, but it would surely boost interest and investment in science. By this I am not alluding to aliens landing here, but some evidence of intelligent signals from deep space for ins...
Comercial craft orbits and returns
For the first time, a commercial space-craft has gently returned to Earth from orbit. The flight (wednesday 8-12-2010) by Space Exploration Technologies went flawlessly. It started with the launching of its Falcon 9 rocket, inc...
Earth biosphere damaged by Gamma-ray bursts
Gamma-ray bursts originating thousands of light-years away cause serious damage to the earth biosphere, including shutting down photosynthesis in the oceans at depths of up to 260 feet. Gamma-ray bursts are linked to mass extin...
The space between the Earth and the Moon is filled with space debris (burnt out rocket casings, broken satellites, etc.) Space debris can circle the Earth for years until it slams into something, creating yet more space debris....
A Solar storm disrupts critical systems
An intense Solar storm seriously disrupts communication networks, electronic devices, computers, power networks etc.
The latest GPS (Global Position System) jamming devices are now (in 2010) being used by car thieves in the UK to render stolen cars and trucks undetectable by law enforcement. In Germany, it’s believed that some drivers are u...
The EU takes a lead in manned space missions
In contrast to its previous policy, and following the decreasing interest in manned space missions in the US, the EU invests huge resources in manned missions to space and becomes a world leader in these endeavors.
Accumulating evidence that life is or was possible on Mars
A growing number of scientists tend to think that Mars habits (or was habiting) some forms of life, following a variety of recent discoveries that support the assumption that life is or was possible there. It is not considered ...
Space-based solar panels supply energy to earth
A new technology enables affordable and efficient large space-based solar panels, which by beaming microwaves provide most of the world's energy needs. The energy is clean and renewable, the source is infinite.
Large NEO (near earth object) hits Europe
A near earth object (asteroid or comet) about 1 Km in size hits Europe, causing a major disaster on a regional or global scale (depending on the actual size of the object)
Cubesats and the revolution in space science
Cubesats-- 1 liter-sized satellites weighing no more than a kilogram-- have been around for about a decade, and are now starting to be the subject of serious scientific and defense research. New programs sponsored by NASA and t...