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
2 Physics
3 Technology
4 Space exploration
5 Awards
6 Deaths

Astronomy

January 19 - the Hubble Space Telescope Program received notification of the cancellation of all further HST on-orbit servicing
March 15 - Astronomers announce the discovery of Sedna, a Pluto-like planetoid which is the most distant individual object known to orbit the Sun.
May 18 - Scientists using the Chandra X-ray Observatory announced their [findings] that supports the notion that the expansion of the Universe is accelerating.
June 8 - Transit of Venus across 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 free flying air-breathing hypersonic flight.
April 2004 - Scientists from the University of California at Irvine announce the first high-speed transistor made from a carbon nanotube, operating at microwave frequencies.

January 3 - NASA's Spirit, the first of two Mars Exploration Rovers, lands successfully on Mars.
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.
April 1 - The Genesis probe closes and seals its particle collection instrument, and begins to return to Earth.
June 11 - Cassini-Huygens, the NASA/ESA mission to Saturn, makes a flyby of one of Saturn's small outer moons, Phoebe.
June 21 - SpaceShipOne, the first civilian space ship is launched in California, reaching an altitude of 100 km (62.5 miles), just passing the edge of space.