2004 in science

The year 2004 CE in science and technology included many events, some of which are listed below.

Table of contents

1 Astronomy and space exploration
2 Physics
3 Technology
4 Awards
5 Births
6 Deaths

Astronomy and space exploration

January 3 - NASA's Spirit, the first of two Mars Exploration Rovers, lands successfully on Mars.
January 19 - the Hubble Space Telescope Program received notification of the cancellation of all further HST on-orbit servicing
March 2 - NASA report that the area where their Mars probe Opportunity touched down shows unmistakeable signs of contact with water in the geological past.
March 2 - ESA's Rosetta mission launches, aiming to land on Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko in 2014.
March 4- NASA's Spirit finds evidence of past contact with water in volcanic rocks on Mars.
March 15 - Astronomers announce the discovery of Sedna, a Pluto-like planetoid which is the most distant individual object known to orbit the Sun.

April 20 - NASA launches Gravity Probe B in an effort to test Einstein's general theory of relativity.
March A team from Australia, Russia and Greece announce a new material, made from a nano-foam of carbon that has the lowest density ever reported for a solid.

March 27 - NASA succeeds in a second attempt to fly its X-43A experimental airplane from the Hyper-X project, attaining speeds in excess of Mach 7, the fastest ever air-breathing hypersonic flight.