Manila has suspended oil and gas exploration in the South China Sea, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s spokesman said Wednesday, as it tries to strike a deal with Beijing on a joint energy project. Drilling off the Philippines was allowed to resume in October 2020 when Duterte — who has taken a softer approach than his predecessor to Beijing’s claims over most of the waterway — lifted a 2014 moratorium. It was hoped that Duterte’s […]
Tag: exploration
Planetary pact: China and Russia to launch lunar space station
by Anastasia CLARK Agence France Presse MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) – Russia and China unveiled plans Tuesday for a joint lunar space station, as Moscow seeks to recapture the glory of its space pioneering days of Soviet times, and Beijing gears up its own extraterrestrial ambitions. Though Moscow was once at the forefront of space travel — it sent the first man into space — its cosmic ambitions have dimmed thanks to poor financing and […]
Oil exploration up in the air as prices dive
by Benoît PELEGRIN Agence France-Presse The coronavirus pandemic that has slammed oil demand and prices is forcing energy majors to tighten their belts on exploration, even if finding new deposits remain essential to their existence. While the sector is increasingly diversifying into greener energies such as electricity and wind power, its core business remains oil and gas. “Questions abound over whether it is still profitable to look for oil given subdued demand growth prospects and […]
China launches powerful rocket in boost for 2020 Mars mission
by Jing Xuan TENG Agence France-Presse BEIJING, China (AFP) — China Friday launched one of the world’s most powerful rockets in a major step forward for its planned mission to Mars in 2020. The heavy lift Long March 5 rocket carrying a Shijian 20 test satellite payload blasted off from the Wenchang launch site on the southern island of Hainan at 8:45 pm (1245 GMT), a live-stream from state broadcaster CCTV showed. “After more than 2,000 […]
Voyage into the unknown explores Indian Ocean’s hidden depths
by Robin MILLARD Agence France-Presse LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — A mission to explore uncharted depths in the Indian Ocean was launched on Wednesday, hoping to discover hundreds of new species and find out what impact plastic is having way below the surface. The First Descent expedition, led by British-based ocean research institute Nekton, is set to send submersibles as deep as 3,000 meters off the Seychelles from March to test the health of the […]
Roque: PHL-Chinese state firm joint exploration of S. China Sea “likely to happen”
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque on Thursday said a Philippine-Chinese state firm joint exploration of the South China Sea was “likely to happen.” “We might enter into an agreement with a Chinese-owned corporation, not the Chinese state itself,” Roque said in an interview aired over national television. Roque declined to name the company, but said it was state-owned. “They’re moving forward and it’s likely to happen,” he added without giving a timetable or the exact terms of […]
Pence praises 12 “elites” who join ranks of NASA’s 2017 astronaut class
HOUSTON, United States (Reuters) – United States Vice President Mike Pence congratulated America’s newest astronaut candidates at the Johnson Space Center in Houston on Wednesday (June 7). The National Aeronautics and Space Administration said the candidates were chosen from a pool of 18,000 applicants “to carry the torch for future human space exploration.” Pence described the NASA candidates as “elites” who carry “the hopes and dreams of the American people.” “The new astronaut candidates could one […]





