Data gleaned from satellite Metop revealed that the ozone hole over Antarctica was twice as big as Europe at its worst. This observation was made in late September. Scientists who analyzed data from the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment 2 (GOME-2) on board Metop said that some unusual meteorological conditions this year caused the extensive thinning of the ozone layer.

Europe's Metop is one of three identical weather and climate observer spacecrafts that will be flying in a polar orbit over the next few years to gather data. This is a joint project between Eumetsat and the European Space Agency (ESA).

Metop's newest observation - though significant and alarming - pales in comparison to last year's recorded size of the Arctic ozone hole. Last year's hole was said to have been twice the size of North America. Even with the Montreal Protocol which places an international ban on substances responsible for ozone depletion, scientists still find ozone thinning over different regions such as the South Atlantic, South America, and Australia. Because of these recent findings, almost 200 governments have agreed to speed up the timetable on phasing out chemicals that have negative effects on the ozone layer.

Drinking tea is most popular among the Chinese as it's reported to be good for the body and is believed to be connected with weight loss. With a new discovery from Chinese scientists, drinking might become even more popular.

Over a course of 5 years, researchers from the Nanjing Institute for Paediatrics in China have been studying obesity, with their focus on children. Through the study, they found out that the polyphenol compound found in tea can help people in their fight against obesity. According to the Institute's director, Guo Xirong, Oolong tea is most recommended.

Other institutions have yet to confirm the findings of this study, but if you're looking for ways to keep those pounds off and believe that tea helps you get thinner, you can do what the Chinese do and drink tea (though too much green tea might be bad for the health). Or you can opt for hormone-based treatments and of course, exercise.

I was after some mysticism and drama with the title, but let's just get to the point. The topic at hand is interesting enough.

Dig this: the spacesuits that will be used by NASA astronauts in the future will have "self-healing capabilities." ILC Dover LP, the company that has been making the spacesuits for NASA since the Apollo missions in the 60s will have these suits with amazing abilities ready as early as 2018 - just in time for NASA's return to the Moon.

These "abilities" will enable the spacesuits to self-repair holes, generate electricity and kill germs. Materials used in making the layers of the suit will enable it to heal itself - the rubber-like polymer gel sandwiched between layers of polyurethane will ooze out from surrounding areas to patch the holes in the suit. Vacuum chamber tests have been conducted to prove that up to 2mm wide holes can be patched up by the gel. The suit will also be able to alert the astronaut if there are any large holes in the spacesuit via the current-carrying wires incorporated to the material.

As for generating power, the suit will have flexible solar cells sewn into its outer layer. At the moment, the company building the spacesuits are still testing what kind of cells will be most suitable for this - either polymer or silicon-based cells.

Hopefully, these smart spacesuits will be ready for NASA's (and other nations') journey to the Moon and into the other parts of the cosmos.

We already assumed that there would be major setbacks to the scientific community with the (nasty) budget cut NASA received, but we never really though the impact would be as bad as the Space Frontier Foundation says it would be.

This space advocacy group has just submitted its assessment regarding NASA's space exploration plans - and what they're saying is far from good. Titled "Unaffordable and Unsustainable - NASA's failing Earth-to-Orbit Transportation Strategy," this, for one, calls for the immediate elimination of work on Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) block 1 and for the delay of Crew Launch Vehicle (CLV) program.

The CEV Block 1 has been designed for ISS missions, which according to the group should be handed to private space firms.

According to Space Frontiers Foundation, NASA should also be considering taking more private partners if they intend to continue with space exploration. The agency should buy a service from US companies, as NASA doesn't have the capability to build, develop and operate crew or cargo missions anymore.

Space Frontier Foundation is also calling for the government to transfer $2B to $3B to the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program which currently has a budget of just $500M until 2010. This will result to additional COTS competition, promoting six to eight more contracts.

Their major concern, according to Space Frontier Foundation's co-founder Rick Tumlinson, is that science might also suffer if NASA's incapability (budget, engineering, space access systems) starts to affect space exploration.

The last time the International Space Station (ISS) had a major repair/construction was in late 2002, and since then, only scheduled spacewalks by astronauts have been the only way to make repairs to the ISS.

The two truss segments - P3 and P4 - have been prepared for the scheduled August launch of Atlantis. These will add another set of solar panel wings to the ISS. The batteries too have been replaced by NASA in fear that they won't be able to store and provide enough energy as they have been in the ground for too long.

A part of these segments to be sent to the ISS is the 10-foot wide Solar Alpha Rotary Joint which will keep these solar panels aimed at the sun. Other cargo that are waiting to be boarded onto the space shuttle Atlantis are Europe's Experiment Module, the Japanese Experiment Module, and a starboard truss.

Hopefully, everything goes as planned for the Atlantis so that the construction plans for the ISS and other experiments to be conducted there will finally be carried out.

If they have $20 million to burn for a trip to the International Space Station (ISS), then maybe they'd want to spend $15 million more to take a walk outside of the ISS.

This $15M spacewalk will now be an option for tourists to the ISS. It will be a 90-minute spacewalk outside of the Russian modules which will be accompanied by a Russian cosmonaut.

Three civilians have already paid their way to the ISS via a Russian Soyuz rocket. These trips have been organized by Space Adventures of US, Virginia and Vienna, and in cooperation with Rocket Space Corporation Energia and the Russian Federal Space Agency.

Space tourists who are going to avail of this new option are not expected to do any work on the ISS unlike those trained astronauts on previous spacewalks conducted. They will be outside of the ISS just to experience what it's like to really be in space, and they will even be allowed to bring with them a video or still camera.

But even with all the news about this $15M spacewalk circulating, NASA doesn't have a comment about it yet as they still haven't had confirmation about selling spacewalks. This new option for space tourists will also be causing delay on the return of some astronauts aboard the Soyuz because the spacewalk would lengthen the stay of the tourists on the ISS.

Those who have signed up for the $20M commercial space flight are Daisuke Enomoto, an internet entrepreneur, and Charles Simonyi, former developer at Microsoft in Washington. No news so far if these two people will be taking the $15M spacewalk option.

The Genesis craft which was built by Bigelow Aerospace has blasted into space via a Dnepr rocket from Siberia's Dombarovsky missile base at 7:53 AM Pacific time.

The inflatable spacecraft was built by the commercial company owned by hotel tycoon Robert Bigelow. A converted Russian intercontinental ballistic missile carried the spacecraft into space.

Genesis was based on a NASA-discarded design and will be inflated to a its full size (from its 15 ft. by 8 ft. size) once it's in orbit.

The goal of sending and testing the inflatable spacecraft is to make space access cheaper - and perhaps easier. Because it would be less expensive to send a craft that's one-third the size of a typical spacecraft ("hard" habitation, as they call it), it would also translate to a less costly stay for people who want to go to space.

The Genesis craft is also tough and durable, and willbe able to withstand space debris. The craft is made of a variety of materials, including a fibrous textile called Vectran and Kevlar which is used in bullet-proof vests. Once inflated, the walls of Genesis will be 16 inches thick. The 13 cameras onboard the craft will also be activated then to monitor the living inhabitants of the said module - cockroaches and Mexican jumping bean moths.

If this test (and succeeding ones) show promising results, expect space to be commercialized accessible soon.

They would've taken in the view of Earth 350 kilometers down, but they had a long task list to attend to, so they could only glance at our world for brief moments from where they were.

Mike Fossum and Piers Sellers have done the second of the three scheduled spacewalks. This time, they "walked" for about six and a half hours in space, carrying out repairs on the International Space Station. They were fixing the cables on the exterior of the ISS.

This spacewalk was necessary to make sure that the robotic arm's mobile transporter will function properly. This crane is essential to the construction effort on the ISS, as it takes care of grappling heavy station components and takes these equipments to locations where they will then be installed.

This system has not been functioning since December of last year since the data cable and its power were severed. The two astronauts also used this opportunity to attach a spare pump module used for the cooling system of the ISS.

Discovery docked with the ISS last Thursday and is scheduled to land at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 17.

The European Space Agency (ESA) has agreed last June 22 to work together with Russia in the latter's proposed exploration of new crew-transport vehicle designs for space missions.

Originally Russia's program called Clipper, this new  program now called Advanced Crew Transportation System (ACTS) aims to develop a new space craft design for a vehicle that could go on missions to the moon, the international space station and elsewhere. They would start with an enlarged and evolved Soyuz capsule as the design focus and later on move on to a winged spacecraft design.

Russia approached ESA and solicited its involvement in the proposed program. The planned vehicle will be designed to carry six astronauts for rendezvous missions or docking in orbit. It's also being designed to be able to carry out manned lunar missions and possibly manned Mars exploration as well. ESA member countries have already allotted 15 million Euros ($19M) for this two-year program.

This program might also call for Japan's participation as the country with space aspirations has also aired its desire to take part in this designing of a new space craft.

If you think angels can't be seen outside of this planet, then you're wrong. Sort of.

An image of the two largest moons of Saturn together was taken by the Cassini spacecraft last June 11 where it shows that the smaller moon was wearing a halo. This was captured when Cassini was about 3.6 million kilometers away from the moon Rhea.

The second-largest moon of Saturn (Rhea) is the one silhouetted again the moon Titan in the image. Titan is about three times as large as Rhea. The halo effect is actually the sunlight scattered by the thick atmosphere of Titan. (The sun is positioned behind the moon in this image.)

This image however, was not taken for its aesthetic appeal; this is going to be used by mission managers to aid them in planning out Cassini's manoeuvres in the coming years. These large moons have a gravitational effect on the spacecraft so it's important to gather such orbital information for the mission.