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SYDNEY, Australia — Airborne laser technology has uncovered a network of roadways and canals, illustrating a bustling ancient city linking Cambodia’s famed Angkor Wat temple complex. The discovery was announced late Monday in a peer-reviewed paper released early by the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The laser scanning revealed a previously undocumented formally planned urban landscape integrating the 1,200-year-old temples. The Angkor temple complex, Cambodia’s top tourist destination and one of Asia’s most famous landmarks, was constructed in the 12th century during the mighty Khmer empire. Angkor Wat is a point of deep pride for Cambodians, appearing...

In the year 802 C.E., the founder of the medieval Khmer empire, Jayavarman II, anointed himself "king of the world." In laying claim to such a grandiose title, he was a little ahead of his time: It would be another few centuries before the Khmers built Earth's largest religious monument, Angkor Wat, the crowning glory of a kingdom that stood in what is today northwestern Cambodia. But Jayavarman II had good reason to believe that his nascent kingdom, in the sacred Kulen hills northeast of Angkor, was a record-holder. Airborne laser scanning technology, or LiDAR, has revealed the imprint of...

Jungle-Covered Ruins May Hold Surprising Hints by Brian Thomas, M.S. The ancient and elaborate temple at Angkor Wat is not the only interesting site to see when visiting Cambodia. Archaeologists have been discovering hundreds of temples, many still buried beneath thick jungle growth, strewn across the whole surrounding area. A picture is emerging of buildings that connected a thriving society across a broad region. Could soon-to-be uncovered stone carvings somehow intersect with biblical history? Australian archaeologist Damian Evans employed "lidar" technology to find new temples far faster than the old way—that of hacking through jungle and hoping to hit some...

Archaeologists in Cambodia have found multiple, previously undocumented medieval cities not far from the ancient temple city of Angkor Wat, the Guardian can reveal, in groundbreaking discoveries that promise to upend key assumptions about south-east Asia’s history. The Australian archaeologist Dr Damian Evans, whose findings will be published in the Journal of Archaeological Science on Monday, will announce that cutting-edge airborne laser scanning technology has revealed multiple cities between 900 and 1,400 years old beneath the tropical forest floor, some of which rival the size of Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh.

Surveillance satellite launching Thursday atop Delta 4-Heavy rocket CAPE CANAVERAL — One of the largest satellites in the world will launch aboard America’s biggest operational booster Thursday, riding that power to a listening post 22,300 miles above the planet for its clandestine eavesdropping mission, all indications suggest. A United Launch Alliance Delta 4-Heavy rocket will fly from Cape Canaveral’s Complex 37 at 1:59 p.m. EDT (1759 GMT). Although the duration of the day’s usable launch window has not been revealed, officials previously said liftoff would occur by 6:30 p.m. EDT (2230 GMT). Weather forecasters say there is a risk of...

A former NASA astronaut suspected of drunken driving was charged with the murders of two young girls killed in a crash early Monday. Enlarge James Halsell Jr., 59, of Huntsville was charged with the murders of two young girls killed in a crash early Monday. Alabama State Troopers arrested James Halsell Jr., 59, after a preliminary investigation of the two-vehicle crash. Naomi Deona James, 13, and Jayla Latrice Parler, 11, were killed, said Alabama Law Enforcement Agency spokesman Senior Trooper Reginal King. Brent Mayor Dennis Stripling said that the girls live in Texas. He had picked them up and was...

The outcome of dueling versions of the National Defense Authorization Act could determine how much the U.S. lines Russia's pockets before what some lawmakers hope is a speedy transition to a domestically produced rocket engine. The RD-180 engine is built by NPO Energomash, a manufacturer mostly owned by the Russian Federation. It's used in the Atlas V rocket, built by Lockheed Martin and Boeing's United Launch Alliance. The House version of the NDAA approves all of the 18 requested engines. In the Senate, where there has been a lengthy battle over buying from Russia, the NDAA authorizes nine engines. Either...

NASA on Saturday successfully expanded and pressurized an add-on room at the International Space Station two days after aborting the first attempt when it ran into problems.

NASA has revealed that a massive hole, measuring more than ten per cent of the Sun's surface area, has opened up on our star. ... NASA says the huge hole is actually not of great concern, but it remains unclear why the coronal holes actually form. ..

The United States has begun manufacturing nuclear spacecraft fuel for the first time in a generation, but full production of the stuff is still seven years or so away. In December, officials at the Department of Energy's (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee announced that researchers at the site had generated a 1.8-ounce (50 grams) sample of plutonium-238, the fuel that powers deep-space missions such as NASA's New Horizons Pluto probe and Cassini Saturn orbiter.

Last year, scientists proposed nearly 50 locations on Mars as possible places for future human landings. Those landing-zone sites contain "regions of interest" that can be reached from primary touchdown spots. Good touchdown sites will allow crews to land safely and carry out operations; offer a wealth of interesting science activities; and provide resources that the astronauts could use. For example, any favored exploration zone should allow expeditionary crews to tap into at least 100 metric tons (110 U.S. tons) of water, NASA officials have said. With its suite of instruments and cameras — particularly the sharp-shooting High Resolution Imaging...

"The idea of suspended animation for interstellar human spaceflight has often been posited as a promising far-term solution for long-duration spaceflight," said Dr John Bradford, CEO of the firm. The cryosleep system works by chilling humans and artificially inducing a state of hypothermia so astronauts can hibernate for up to two weeks. A similar technique is already used to cool the body of someone who has suffered a cardiac arrest in a bid to avoid brain damage. This would allow just one space man or woman to maintain the ship, meaning the spacecraft could be much smaller and travel more...

A protective magnetic force field, self-assembling space habitat and a deep sleep chamber. These may seem like concepts straight out of science fiction, but they are quite real and are actually three of eight projects that NASA will be working on in order to improve space exploration. NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) is the agency's annual program that is responsible for funding such concepts. According to NASA, the one thing that all of these concepts have in common is their ability to "change the possible." However, it's not enough to change the possible- they actually have to be technically sound....

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket rises off the pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida carrying the JCSAT-14 communications satellite on May 6, 2016. Photos on site.

You’ve read about the climate fraud committed ‘on an unbelievable scale’ by the shysters at NASA. You’ve read about how NOAA overestimated US warming by 50 percent. Now it’s NSIDC’s turn to be caught red-handed fiddling the data and cooking the books.

If Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton don't resonate with American voters, they always have Andrew Basiago -- a presidential candidate who is pretty sure he's going to become "either president or vice-president" between 2016 and 2028, according to information he's gathered time travelling. Cheekily calling his campaign "a time for truth," Basiago, 54, brags on his site that he "served bravely in the two secret U.S. defence projects in which time travel on Earth and voyages to Mars were first undertaken." Basiago -- who has made similar claims in the past -- also said he's helped several former presidents make...

There is an old adage among overworked and overstressed staffers (both congressional and military) that, “if you put off everything to the last minute, you can do everything in a minute.” This adage is actually a commentary on workloads and the pressure they produce, not about the truth of completing the tasks at hand. Now Congress seems to be attempting to do everything in a minute by applying money in an attempt to make up for lost time. Specifically, Congress and multiple administrations should have begun – decades ago – seriously planning for replacement and deployment of the US Space...

n a discovery with implications for long-term spaceflight and future missions to Mars, a researcher at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus has found that mice flown aboard the space shuttle Atlantis returned to Earth with early signs of liver disease. "Prior to this study we really didn't have much information on the impact of spaceflight on the liver," said the study's lead author Karen Jonscher, PhD, an associate professor of anesthesiology and a physicist at CU Anschutz. "We knew that astronauts often returned with diabetes-like symptoms but they usually resolved quickly." But the prospect of liver damage raises...

While planning the lunar landings, Nasa had a decision to make: What route would they use to reach the Moon? It was one of many that needed to be made, but little did they know then, it would have an important effect of the survival of the ill-fated Apollo 13 crew. This Sunday, 17 April, marks the safe return of James Lovell, “Jack” Swigert and Fred Haise after almost 88 tense hours on board their critically wounded craft thanks to that stroke of luck. The drama started unfolding at almost 56 hours Ground Elapsed Time (GET), meaning it was the...

Anyone used to commenting on Facebook posts knows there's a lot of misrepresentation going on. Well, when it comes to climate change , NASA's not going to stand for it.