Part of a joint European-Russian mission to search for signs of life on Mars may be delayed due to cash flow problems, the European Space Agency said Friday.

"We need some more money," ESA director general Jan Woerner told journalists in Paris, citing project cost increases.

The European Space Agency's new boss elaborated Friday on his vision for a multinational research village on the Moon -- a leading contender for a project to succeed the International Space Station.

For now, it is just an idea -- called "crazy" by some -- but one that Jan Woerner said was being widely discussed as the end of the ISS looms large.

Astronaut Tim Peake on Friday became the first Briton to walk in space, undertaking a tricky mission to replace an electrical unit while under cover of darkness.

Peake and US colleague Tim Kopra switched their spacesuits on to battery power at 7:48 am (1248 GMT), marking the official start of the floating debut for Peake, who is also the first British astronaut to fly to the orbiting International Space Station.

China will launch a mission to land on the dark side of the moon in two years' time, state media reported, in what will be a first for humanity.

The moon's far hemisphere is never directly visible from Earth and while it has been photographed, with the first images appearing in 1959, it has never been explored.

Rumors are rippling through the science world that physicists may have detected gravitational waves, a key element of Einstein's theory which if confirmed would be one of the biggest discoveries of our time.

There has been no announcement, no peer review or publication of the findings -- all typically important steps in the process of releasing reliable and verifiable scientific research.

Scientists will send a few final prods to robot lab Philae, incommunicado on the surface of a comet hurtling through space, but hopes for a reply are running out, they said Tuesday.

A last-chance maneuver was attempted Sunday to shift the tiny lander into a sunnier angle for its battery-replenishing solar panels.

A Canadian helicopter pilot has died after plunging 20 meters (66 feet) down a crevasse when he landed on a remote ice shelf in Antarctica, Australian officials said Tuesday.

David Wood, 62, was winched out of the deep crack after two hours by specialist officers from Australia's Davis scientific research station.

Forty-five whales have died after stranding themselves on a southern Indian beach, a government official said Tuesday, with local fishermen struggling to save others.

The pod of whales started beaching themselves on Monday afternoon along a 15-kilometer (9-mile) stretch of coast near Tiruchendur on India's southernmost tip.

The gut microbes of the Iceman, a 5,300-year-old mummy found frozen in a European glacier in 1991, have shed new light on the history of human migration, scientists said Thursday.

Researchers thawed the mummy of the man, also known as Otzi, who was killed by an arrow when he was between 40 and 50 years old and hiking across the Otztal Alps between modern-day Italy and Austria.

Women are about three times as likely as men to say they are bisexual, and increasing numbers of U.S. women say they have had sexual contact with other females, new data showed Thursday.

More than 9,100 adults aged 18–44 took part in the 2011–2013 National Survey of Family Growth.