The search for MH370

The aircraft debris which washed up on the French island of Reunion last week is from Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH370. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak (pic) announced at a special press conference early Thursday that the joint France-Malaysia investigations had confirmed the aircraft flaperon found on the island as originating from the aircraft.

“Today, 515 days since the plane disappeared, it is with a heavy heart that I must tell you that an international team of experts have conclusively confirmed that the aircraft debris found on Reunion Island is indeed from MH370.

We now have physical evidence that, as I announced on 24th March last year, flight MH370 tragically ended in the southern Indian Ocean,” he said at the Putra World Trade Centre.

The wing part had been officially identified last week as part of a Boeing 777 by French authorities together with Boeing, the US National Transportation Safety Board and a Malaysian investigation team.

MH370, with 239 people on board, disappeared from radar during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014.

The aircraft is believed to have ended its journey in the southern Indian Ocean.

Article from TheStar

Has NASA found 'another Earth'? Space agency could reveal new planet capable of supporting LIFE

Space agency to hold an announcement revealing 'new discoveries' made by the Kepler Space Telescope responsible for finding habitable planets

The Kepler Spacecraft was launched in 2009 with the specific aim of locating exoplanets. That is, planets with similar attributes to Earth and a safe enough distance from a parent star to sustain life.

When it's not snapping the first ever pictures of Pluto or scouring Mars for skeletons and pyramids, NASA is exploring the depths of space for life-supporting planets.

Now the space agency has put out a statement saying it will hold a press conference to reveal: "new discoveries made by its planet-hunting mission, the Kepler Space Telescope".

The announcement will take place at 4pm on Thursday, July 23 and could involve the discovering of a second Earth that potentially supports life.

"Exoplanets, especially small Earth-size worlds, belonged within the realm of science fiction just 21 years ago," a spokesperson for NASA said.

"Today, and thousands of discoveries later, astronomers are on the cusp of finding something people have dreamed about for thousands of years -- another Earth."

Since its launch, the Kepler Spacecraft has picked out 1,028 planets and 22 of those are believed to have conditions suited to life.

NASA looks specifically for a planet to be in the "habitable zone" - the distance from a star that means the surface temperature can sustain liquid water.

Australia trip