European MATROSHKA experiment reveals safer levels of hazardous radiation

Interior structure of the phantom used in the MATROSHKA experiment. 

White tubes contain sets of thermoluminescent detectors. 

Half of these detectors was manufactured by the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Krakow, Poland. 

Image courtesy DLR.

Analysis of data from the MATROSHKA experiment, the first comprehensive measurements of long-term exposure of astronauts to cosmic radiation, has now been completed.

This experiment, carried out on board and outside of the International Space Station, showed that the cosmos may be less hostile to space travellers than expected.

Among the many life-threatening hazards to the space traveller, cosmic radiation is a major one, considerably limiting the time astronauts may spend in space without incurring excessive risk to their health from too high a dose of this ionizing radiation.

To determine the actual doses of radiation which astronauts undergoing long-term space travel are exposed to, the European Space Agency (ESA) in collaboration with research institutions from Germany, Poland, Austria, Sweden and Russia, designed and carried out the MATROSHKA experiment.

A phantom closely mimicking the human body was fitted with several thousand detectors, most of which were manufactured at the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IFJ PAN) in Krakow, Poland.

These detectors recorded the doses from cosmic radiation inside the International Space Station and outside, in open space, over a few years.

The painstaking analysis of the MATROSHKA data has just been completed, yielding somewhat unexpected results.

"One may say that we found open space to be a bit less hostile to humans than expected. The effective doses, related to the health risk of the astronauts and calculated from measurements with our detectors, were lower than those indicated by dosimeters worn by the astronauts", says Dr. Pawel Bilski, an Associate Professor at IFJ PAN.

A specially adapted humanoid phantom used in medical research, in which real human bones were placed inside a plastic "body" simulating the shapes and densities of soft tissues or lungs in the human body, was used to measure doses of cosmic radiation.

Matroshka with ISS Expedition 11 Commander Sergei Krikalev (left) and ISS Expedition 11 Flight Engineer John Phillips (right)

Credit: ESA

The mannequin (a torso without legs) consisted of 33 slices of 2.5 cm thickness each. The measuring equipment was located inside these slices and included sets of passive thermoluminescent detectors placed in plastic tubes.

Thus, a three-dimensional rectangular grid of measurement points was created inside the phantom by six thousand thermoluminescent detectors. Over three thousands of these detectors were manufactured at the IFJ PAN.

This experimental design enabled the researchers to accurately determine the spatial distribution of dose inside the phantom, to evaluate doses absorbed in particular organs of the human body, and finally to establish the value of the so-called effective dose, which is considered to be an estimate of the radiation hazard to humans.

"Our thermoluminescent detectors are thin white pellets of 4.5 mm diameter. We produce them out of lithium fluoride, adding some carefully selected dopants", explains Prof. Pawel Olko, Scientific Director of IFJ PAN.

The dopants spoil the regular structure of the crystal lattice of lithium fluoride in the thermoluminescent detector and create additional forbidden energy levels, which may act as traps for free electrons created by cosmic radiation in this lattice.

The number of such trapped electrons gradually increases with dose absorbed in the detector.

When the exposed detector is next heated in the laboratory, the trapped electrons are released and emit light, the amount of which is proportional to the dose absorbed in the detector, and can be accurately measured.

The main hazard to the astronaut's health due to exposure to cosmic radiation is the increased probability of developing cancer in his or her body.

This probability however is quite dependent on the type of radiation the astronaut is exposed to.

Most of the natural sources of ionising radiation on Earth produce electromagnetic radiation of high energy; gamma rays.

On the other hand, in cosmic rays, energetic protons or heavier ions dominate, which are much more effective in creating cancer cells.

Thermoluminescent detectors are unable to distinguish between gamma rays or ions, therefore the phantom was also equipped with plastic track detectors in which tracks of protons or heavier ions could be measured.

The mannequin on board of the International Space Station (ISS), with thermoluminescent and plastic detectors inside its "body", was also dressed in a "poncho" with additional detectors, simulating the personal dosimeters worn by astronauts.

Thus, doses recorded by individual dosimeters of the ISS crew could be compared with those actually absorbed inside their bodies.

The MATROSHKA facility basically consists of a human phantom upper torso, a Base Structure and a Container with a total weight of about 65 kg.

Credit: HAMLET project

Over the years 2004-2009 the MATROSHKA mannequin underwent three exposures to cosmic radiation, each lasting a year of more.

Two of these exposures occurred inside the Russian modules of the space station and for one exposure the phantom, in a container imitating the shielding properties of a spacesuit, was placed in open space outside the ISS. Such measurements have never been done before.

After returning the detectors to Earth, their painstaking readout and analysis of the complete data set gathered within the MATROSHKA experiment were carried out by teams of scientists at the IFJ PAN in Krakow, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Cologne and at the Technical University of Vienna.

Their overall conclusion was that the individual dosimeters worn by the crew inside the ISS overestimated the actual dose measured inside the phantom by about 15%. However, in open space this overestimation exceeded 200%.

"We must remember that measurements within the MATROSHKA experiment were performed at low Earth orbit where the Earth's magnetosphere significantly reduces the number of charged particles from cosmic radiation. In interplanetary space there is no such shielding", notices Dr. Bilski.

From the results of the MATROSHKA experiment the scientists conclude that travel of astronauts to the Moon or to Mars may be somewhat safer in terms of their radiation hazard than presumed so far.

Nevertheless, the doses the space travellers are likely to receive, even though being lower than thought earlier, would still remain dangerously high.

The extensive analysis of the data gathered within the MATROSHKA experiment was supported by the HAMLET project, within the 7th EU Framework programme.

DHL Paketkopter 2.0: Juist Island to get first German drone delivery service

Deutsche Post DHL says it is starting Germany's first drone package delivery service, a test program transporting medicine to a pharmacy on a North Sea island.

The company said the quad-rotor "DHL Paketkopter 2.0" will begin daily flights Friday, bringing a maximum load of 1.2 kilograms (2.65 pounds) of medicine to the German island of Juist.

The island has about 1,500 inhabitants. It's usually served by one ferry per day and an occasional small-aircraft flight, depending on the weather.

DHL said Wednesday it will monitor each 12-kilometer (7.5-mile) flight to the island, but the water, snow and dust-resistant drone will fly on autopilot to deliver the medicine—at no extra cost during the test.

The company says it currently has no concrete plans for full-scale regular drone deliveries.

Together with the two research and development partners, the Institute of Flight System Dynamics, RWTH Aachen and the Microdrones GmbH, went through DHL package one led by the Lower Saxony Ministry for Economic Affairs, Labour and Transport of review and approval process.

The Federal Ministry of Transport and digital infrastructure has set up in coordination with the German Air Traffic Control (DFS) for this research project an exclusive restricted area.

In addition to the island of Juist municipality and the town of Norden, the National Park Administration Wadden Sea has approved the use of the copter.

Project "Brainflight" gets off the ground: Flight Simulation Video

Simulating brain controlled flying at the Institute for Flight System Dynamics. 

Video and Images courtesy A. Heddergott and TU Munchen.

Pilots of the future could be able to control their aircraft by merely thinking commands. Scientists of the Technische Universitat (TU) Munchen and the TU Berlin have now demonstrated the feasibility of flying via brain control - with astonishing accuracy.

The pilot is wearing a white cap with myriad attached cables.

His gaze is concentrated on the runway ahead of him. All of a sudden the control stick starts to move, as if by magic. The airplane banks and then approaches straight on towards the runway.

The position of the plane is corrected time and again until the landing gear gently touches down. During the entire maneuver the pilot touches neither pedals nor controls.

This is not a scene from a science fiction movie, but rather the rendition of a test at the Institute for Flight System Dynamics of the Technische Universitat (TU) Munchen.

Scientists working for Professor Florian Holzapfel are researching ways in which brain controlled flight might work in the EU-funded project "Brainflight."

"A long-term vision of the project is to make flying accessible to more people," explains aerospace engineer Tim Fricke, who heads the project at TUM.

"With brain control, flying, in itself, could become easier. This would reduce the work load of pilots and thereby increase safety. In addition, pilots would have more freedom of movement to manage other manual tasks in the cockpit."

Tim Fricke

Surprising accuracy
The scientists have logged their first breakthrough: They succeeded in demonstrating that brain-controlled flight is indeed possible - with amazing precision. Seven subjects took part in the flight simulator tests.

They had varying levels of flight experience, including one person without any practical cockpit experience whatsoever.

The accuracy with which the test subjects stayed on course by merely thinking commands would have sufficed, in part, to fulfill the requirements of a flying license test.

"One of the subjects was able to follow eight out of ten target headings with a deviation of only 10 degrees," reports Fricke.

Several of the subjects also managed the landing approach under poor visibility. One test pilot even landed within only few meters of the centerline.

The TU Munchen scientists are now focusing in particular on the question of how the requirements for the control system and flight dynamics need to be altered to accommodate the new control method.

Normally, pilots feel resistance in steering and must exert significant force when the loads induced on the aircraft become too large. This feedback is missing when using brain control.

The researchers are thus looking for alternative methods of feedback to signal when the envelope is pushed too hard, for example.

Electrical potentials are converted into control commands.
For humans and machines to communicate, brain waves of the pilots are measured using electroencephalography (EEG) electrodes connected to a cap. An algorithm developed by scientists from Team PhyPA (Physiological Parameters for Adaptation) of the Technische Universitat TU Berlin allows the program to decipher electrical potentials and convert them into useful control commands.

Only the very clearly defined electrical brain impulses required for control are recognized by the brain-computer interface. "This is pure signal processing," emphasizes Fricke. Mind reading is not possible.

More Information: The researchers will present their results end of September at the "Deutscher Luft- und Raumfahrtkongress," among other places.

The work presented has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° 308914.

The project "Brainflight" is a partnership between TEKEVER (Project Coordinator - Portugal), Champalimaud Foundation (Portugal), Eagle Science (Netherlands) and Technische Universitat (TU) Munchen (Germany).

Germany cancels 'Euro Hawk' drone programme

Germany has cancelled a planned 'Euro Hawk' drone programme fearing European authorities will not certify them, a defence ministry source said Tuesday after reported European safety concerns.

Thomas de Maiziere

Germany had "no hope" of seeing the unmanned aircraft, part of a programme that would have cost more than one billion euros ($1.3 billion), approved for use, said the source speaking on condition of anonymity.

The European Aviation Safety Agency has said it would only certify the drones to fly over unpopulated areas because of a lack of an anti-collision system to protect airliners, according to German press reports.

"The equipment is not ready for approval without immense expenditure," the source added.

Germany has already spent 508 million euros on a Euro Hawk prototype and was due to fork out a further 500 million on four more models.

The Euro Hawk is a version of the American Global Hawk produced by Northrop Grumman and re-modelled by the European defence and aerospace company EADS.

Berlin has also already spent 40 million euros on modernising the northern Jagel air base where the reconnaissance drones would have been based.

Northrop Grumman also did not want to provide technical documents necessary for the certification process, German press reports said.

In 2011, one year later than planned, the prototype Euro Hawk arrived at the Manching base near Munich in southern Germany.

Germany is in talks with Israel on buying Heron TP drones but German Defence Minister Thomas de Maiziere has indicated that any purchase would not take place ahead of September 22 elections, according to German news reports.

Heron TP-2

Fabbster 3D Printer

The fabbster works on the principle of layer construction. This literally means that it prints the components layer by layer.

The fabbster melts plastic material in the extruder and prints it through a nozzle onto a platform. After printing one layer the print head lifts and applies another layer of melted synthetic material on the just printed one.

The component is built from the bottom upwards layer by layer. While cooling down the material solidifies and connects to a complex object.



The fabbster kit
The fabbster comes in a compact box as a partially assembled construction kit.

The kit is completely mounted within only a few hours; simple and easy through a step-by-step assembly guide, as well as videos of the various construction sequences.

All tools required for the assembly are included in the fabbster kit.

Ice Stalagmites

Ice stalagmites in Oswald Cave, Muggendorf, Germany.

ESA DLR: EDRS space network ready to go ahead

The design of Europe’s data relay satellite system – EDRS - has been completed and approved.

This marks the moment when it moves ahead with a green light from its first customer, the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security initiative from the European Union (GMES).

EDRS will provide a telecommunications network that is fast, reliable and seamless, making real-time information from satellites available on demand.

EDRS will be the first commercially operated data relay system to deliver services to the Earth observation community.

It is being built through a Public–Private Partnership (PPP) between ESA and Astrium Services, using payloads carried by two satellites in geostationary orbit, hovering 36 000 km above the Equator, where their speed matches Earth’s rotation.

Data transmitted from satellites in lower orbits to either of these EDRS payloads can then be relayed to the ground.

The payload includes a laser terminal developed by TESAT of Germany to transmit up to 1.8 gigabits per second over distances in excess of 40 000 km, between the lower satellites and EDRS in geostationary orbit.

A design review board of senior members from ESA, Astrium and the DLR German Aerospace Center approved the entire system design: from the satellites to the support that will be required from the ground.

The industrial organisation is fully in place with all subcontracts negotiated and ESA’s partner Astrium Services ready to begin production.

“EDRS is a fantastic breakthrough for Europe, from the innovative laser communication terminal technology, which is the heart of EDRS, to the provision of operational services by 2014 through a PPP that combines the best from European space companies with the national and European space institutions,” says Magali Vaissiere, director of ESA’s Telecommunications and Integrated Applications Directorate.

The first of the two EDRS payloads will be carried on the Eutelsat-EB9B satellite, starting operation in 2014, built by Astrium and positioned at 9°E over the Equator.

The second satellite, planned for launch in 2016, will carry the second EDRS payload as well as the Hylas-3 payload from the UK’s Avanti Communications. This satellite will be built by Germany’s OHB using the SmallGEO platform, currently under development by OHB under ESA contract.

ESA: France, Germany seek Ariane Launcher compromise

ESA, the European Space Agency, made progress towards a deal on budget and a successor to the Ariane 5 rocket at talks on space strategy.

Initiating a two-day meeting against a backdrop of financial constraints, many countries backed proposals to keep spending unchanged over the next few years.

Major ESA players France and Germany seemed to be bridging their differences over a future launcher.

"There is quite a strong view in the council in favour of flat cash," UK's Willetts told reporters, referring to a stable budget.

"My starting point is that... it ought to be able to be possible in tough times to deliver the efficiency savings," he said. "Other major players have made that point as well but as of this moment it is unresolved."

ESA spokesman Franco Bonacina said "progress has been made on certain things" but "for the problematic issues... the debate is still going on", and the outcome would come on Wednesday.

The meeting -- the first at ministerial level in four years -- takes place against a backdrop of money worries, a fast-shifting satellite market and the growing strength of the US private sector in near-Earth space.

ESA Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain told AFP last week he hoped ministers would back a three-year budget of 12 billion euros ($15 billion) but added he would be happy with "something around 10 billion euros".

It would mean a roughly stable budget compared with current levels, "but given the current situation, this is not small beer", he said.

One of the most crucial agenda items is deciding on a future rocket launcher to replace the ageing Ariane 5.

The new rocket should provide more flexible launch options for the swiftly-changing satellite market and wean itself off the 120 million euros a year that the Ariane 5 needs from ESA's budget each year.

France is pushing for a smaller, sleeker Ariane 6, which would require investment of about four billion euros, culminating in a maiden flight in 2021 if all goes well.

But industrialists fear that this timescale is way too long and will give the advantage to fleet-footed rivals in commercial satellite launches.

They prefer a German-backed option, an Ariane 5 ME (for "Midlife Evolution"), which would be ready by 2017 at a putative cost of two billion euros.

"I think we are probably heading towards a compromise, or some kind of understanding, between France and Germany," Willetts told reporters, in remarks confirmed by two other sources.

Those sources said the hoped-for compromise would approve the "ME" and over the next two years study how its technology could be used in a future Ariane 6 to save money.

Weighing on many minds is not just belt-tightening but also the rise of the US private sector.

The bogeyman is the US firm SpaceX, which last month sent an unmanned freighter, Dragon, to the International Space Station under a NASA initiative to delegate resupply missions to private corporations.

In other developments in Naples, ministers agreed to launch a dialogue with the European Union about clarifying what each institution will do in space.

The risk of turf battles has emerged with the EU's Galileo satellite navigation system, which is being launched by ESA.

ESA is an intergovernmental agency that is legally separate from the 27-nation EU; two of its members (Norway and Switzerland) are not part of the EU club, and Canada is an associate member.

DLR at the ILA 2012 Berlin - Image

At the International Aerospace Exhibition (Internationale Luft- und Raumfahrtausstellung; ILA) 2012 in Berlin, the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft und- Raumfahrt; DLR) will be displaying their research in the aerospace sector with more than 70 exhibits at the DLR stand (Hall 4), the Space Pavilion, the open-air area and the static display.

Credit: DLR

Whiplash Lightning, Munich, Germany

A whiplash-shaped lightning bolt illuminates the night sky above the skyline of Munich, southern Germany

Picture: PETER KNEFFEL/AFP/GettyImages

The Airpiano 3D: Playing the piano in the air!

Credit to www.airpiano.de

The airpiano is an innovative MIDI and OSC controller. It allows the user to trigger invisible keys and faders in midair.

Touch-Free Interface

The airpiano is the first musical interface to introduce an intuitive and simple touch-free interaction. Most touch-free interfaces require users to stare at a display.

The user’s hand gestures in 3D space control elements on the screen. However, musicians and performers need to be able to play their instruments in a more free and intuitive way.

The airpiano’s keys and faders are therefore not on the screen, but above the airpiano surface. The performer knows the position of each controller in the air, so no display is needed, and the interaction becomes much more natural.

Discrete and Continuous Control

The airpiano is often compared with the Theremin. The Theremin is a wonderful instrument which is quite difficult to play. One reason for this is that it provides only continuous control.

The airpiano has a matrix of 24 discrete keys and 8 faders, which makes it much more simple to use.

Actually, the airpiano software makes the device so versatile that there is no real reason for a comparison.

These are completely different instruments.

Check out the airpiano features. User Experience Some people ask: why not just use a box with lots of buttons and shiny LEDs? What can I do with an airpiano that I can’t do with other controllers?

Well, we love all kinds of musical interfaces, and there are many wonderful and innovative alternative controllers out there.

However, we strongly believe that the airpiano introduces a new user experience, a magical and cool performance tool and an experimental instrument to explore.

The airpiano software allows setting the device in numerous ways and since there are no “rules” of how to play an airpiano, new creative ideas and playing techniques will come to life!

ESA EDRS Satellite System makes room for Hylas-3

When the European Data Relay System launches its second satellite in 2015, it will be taking the Hylas-3 communications package along for the ride thanks to ESA’s ‘hosted payload’ approach.

EDRS is being built through a public–private partnership between ESA and Astrium Services, using payloads carried by two satellites in geostationary orbit, 36 000 km above the Equator.

Data transmitted from satellites in lower orbits to either of these EDRS nodes can then be relayed to the ground.

The first of the two EDRS nodes will be carried on the Eutelsat-9B satellite in late 2014, built by Astrium and positioned at 9°E over the Equator.

The second satellite carrying EDRS had room for another payload, so ESA offered it to industry in August last year.

Avanti Communications of the UK was selected, with the final agreement being signed on 10 July at the UK’s Farnborough International Airshow.

Through this arrangement, the cost of satellite resources and the launch are now shared. This contributes to the funding of the EDRS programme while providing access to space at a lower cost for the hosted payload.

Avanti and ESA previously worked together to launch the Hylas-1 satellite in 2010.

Providing European broadband coverage and TV distribution, Hylas-1 is the first European satellite specifically designed to provide interactive broadband services, as ESA’s first public–private partnership in a full satellite system.

Hylas-3 includes a steerable multibeam antenna to provide communications for institutional and international customers, and is completely independent of EDRS.

The EDRS payload includes a laser terminal developed by TESAT of Germany to transmit up to 1.8 gigabits per second over distances in excess of 40 000 km, between the lower satellites and EDRS in geostationary orbit.

Both EDRS and Hylas-3 will be flown on a satellite built by OHB of Germany using the Small GEO platform.

Through its ARTES telecommunications programme, ESA has supported a number of hosted payloads over the years.

DLR News: Launched with Sharp edges

After a 10-minute flight, the sharp-edged SHEFEX II spacecraft landed safely west of Spitsbergen.

Researchers from the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) launched the seven-ton and roughly 13-metre-long rocket and its payload from the Andøya Rocket Range in Norway at 21:18 CEST on 22 June 2012.

As it re-entered the atmosphere, SHEFEX withstood temperatures exceeding 2500 degrees Celsius and sent measurement data from more than 300 sensors to a ground station.

“The SHEFEX II flight takes us one step further in the road to developing a space vehicle built like a space capsule but offering the control and flight options of the Space Shuttle much more cost-effectively,” says project manager Hendrik Weihs.

DLR Portal - News

German team finds a way to link boron atoms with a triple bond

In the chemical world, there are few instances where atoms form triple bonds (where three electrons from an atom are bonded with the electrons from another atom). In fact other than triple bonds between carbon and nitrogen few examples exist at all. 

One instance that theory had predicted should work was with boron, mainly because of where it sits on the Periodic Table of Elements, but also of course because in its stable state it has just three electrons. Because of this, various chemists over the years have tried to figure out a way to form a compound made of triple bonded boron atoms. 

Now, it appears a team in Germany at the University of Würzberg, has succeeded. They have published a paper describing their results in the journal Science.

To get two boron atoms to triple bond with one another, you can’t just shove them together and hope they will stick because they are too stable in their current state. In other words, they’ll just ignore one another. To get them to bond some external force must be introduced.

Prior researchers had tried using a laser as a force, but only succeeded in creating a triple bound that could exist at eight degrees above absolute zero. At room temperature it vaporized.

The German team took another approach, instead of trying to push the atoms into bonding, they coaxed them together by slowly filling the places that the three electrons can exist around the nucleus with something else, essentially leaving them no choice but to bond with the electrons from another boron atom.

To do that, they introduced a molecule that contained carbon and nitrogen atoms, called a N-heterocyclic carbine (NHC) in a sterile vacuum chamber.

The idea is that because main-group elements such as boron are most stable when surrounded by eight electrons, creating an environment where the boron atoms could share two electrons from the NHC would leave three openings for electrons from one boron atom to be shared with those of another.

Thus, the three electrons from each would form bonds with each other naturally to create the full complement of eight electrons. To make it happen they induced a boron-boron double bond as a first step, and then a triple bond in the second.

The result is a green crystal that will exist at room temperature indefinitely in the absence of air or water.

Because the discovered process and resultant material is still so new, scientists don’t really know if it might be useful for anything, but the fact that the team has finally solved the riddle of how to get boron to triple bound, will assure them a place in the history books.

More information: Ambient-Temperature Isolation of a Compound with a Boron-Boron Triple Bond, Science, 15 June 2012: Vol. 336 no. 6087 pp. 1420-1422. DOI: 10.1126/science.1221138

New German scope will study the Sun

One of the major centres for solar studies is on the holiday island of Tenerife, high on the Moon-like landscape of the plateau surrounding Mount Teide called Las Canadas.

I remember this already being an important observatory with way back in the early Seventies when I was a young site-tester on the plateau checking sky conditions for another planned observatory that ended up being built on the neighbouring island of La Palma.

Now a new German solar telescope has been added to the mushrooming number of solar instruments at the site, called the Spanish Observatorio del Teide of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias at Izaña. Called GREGOR, it is the largest solar telescope in Europe and the third biggest in the world.

This telescope, which will be inaugurated on May 21, is unusual because it will also be used at night to observe bright stars and compare their cycle of activity changes with the Sun.

GREGOR has a mirror 1.5 metres across (5ft) and will observe the Sun’s visible surface, called the photosphere, and the lower region of its atmosphere called the chromosphere, in the visible and infrared regions of the spectrum.

A range of instruments in neighbouring laboratory rooms will examine the light to study how these solar regions interact with the Sun’s magnetic field and movement of hot plasma.

Like many telescopes nowadays, a system of adaptive optics will compensate for atmospheric disturbances. Together with the large diameter this will allow observation of the Sun in great detail, down to features just 70km across, which the German team claim will be similar to what can be achieved in space.

Another unusual aspect of GREGOR is that it will operate in the open rather than a dome to allow the wind to cool the telescope’s structure and its mirrors. Its protective housing slides away to allow this.

The main mirror, or primary, is relatively lightweight and made from a material that does not change its shape under the heat of the brilliant Sun. It is also has a cooling mechanism added to the back of the primary to prevent it from heating up and producing image-distorting turbulence.

GREGOR, which will be open to use by astronomers from all over the world, was built by a German consortium led by the Kiepenheuer-Institut für Sonnenphysik in Freiburg with partners the Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam and the Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung in Katlenburg/Lindau.

Other contributions were made by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, the Institut für Astrophysik Göttingen, and the Astronomical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.

First US Footage of Space - Captured german V2 Rocket

This is the first US Footage of Space taken from a German V2 Rocket launched from White Sands New Mexico in 1946. German Rocket scientists were 'extracted' from Germany at the end of the War in Europe to establish a Rocket Programme for the US.

The most famous of these scientists was Von Braun, who became a major player in US rocket technology despite being a German Nazi member and supporter of Hitler's regime.



Von Braun went on to build the Saturn-V Moon Rocket for US President JF Kennedy.

ESA’s blogging astronauts on the road to space - images

Alexander Gerst, ESA astronaut, training for spacewalks. 

Here he is in the Neutral Buoyancy Lab at NASA's Sonny Carter Training Facility, near Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. 

Alexander preparing for his mission to the International Space Station in 2014, as a flight engineer for Expeditions 40 and 41.

Alexander Gerst was born in Künzelsau, Germany, in 1976. 

He studied at the University of Karlsruhe, Germany, where he received a diploma in geophysics. 

He also studied Earth Science at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand, where he was awarded a Master of Science. 

He has been working as a researcher since 2001. In his spare time he enjoys mountaineering, diving, climbing and skydiving.

Credits: NASA

The UFO In Baltic Sea

Envisat Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) satellite image acquired July 11, 2010 shows blue-green algae blooms in the Baltic Sea.

The term "Algae bloom" is used to describe the multiplying of phytoplankton, microscopic marine plants that drift on or near the surface of the sea. 

While individually microscopic, the chlorophyll that phytoplankton use for photosynthesis collectively tints the surrounding ocean waters, providing a means of detecting these tiny organisms from space with dedicated 'ocean colour' sensors.

Germany, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia and Poland are pictured bordering the sea.

(Photo: REUTERS/European Space Agency/)

 
In 2011, an extraordinary circular object was seen on the surface of the Baltic Sea by a group of stranded ship hunters. This year, they claimed again that they have witnessed another strange object with a disc-like shape around 200 meters away- from the area where they first saw the same kind of thing.

The leader of the team, Peter Lindberg, joked that the first thing they have discovered 300 feet below the sea surface might be a UFO, or an unidentified flying object, when interviewed by CNN.

The first bizarre object that was discovered June last year has a diameter of 195 feet. Believers thought of it as a stranded UFO, which had smashed into the sea leaving behind a trail of damage about 900 feet. The story regarding this so-called UFO was exposed at News.com.au.

CNN news revealed how the group found out about the objects.

The hunters were using an imaging technique that tracks down and magnetize a sonar "towfish." The towfish actually appears sideways underwater. They placed the device at the back of the boat, where it suitably produces a sound that echoes to map underwater.

The Baltic Sea is like a breeding ground where you can typically discover retrieved objects. Ardreas Olsson, a sonar expert, said they have identified 20,000 salvaged objects mostly stranded ships in the Baltic Sea. Olsson thinks that there could be over 100,000 things to discover underwater. He's excited to encounter more discoveries.

UFO believers are for sure more than excited to hear updates about the new found object.

All-seeing Ball Camera snaps panoramas in mid-air

Throw a typical camera in the air and you're unlikely to capture anything stunning. But now a new ball-shaped camera, created by Jonas Pfeil from the Technical University of Berlin and colleagues, is designed to be tossed upwards to snap panoramas in mid-air.

The rubber ball, which contains 36 cellphone cameras, barely moves at the highest point of its trajectory so the photos it captures aren't blurred by movement.

A built-in accelerometer measures in-flight speed to detect this stationary point and trigger the cameras. Software then stitches the pictures together into a spherical panoramic image.

The team developed the system to simplify panoramic photography, which normally involves painstakingly connecting several different images.

The ball will be demonstrated at Siggraph Asia, a conference on computer graphics and interactive techniques, from December 13-15 in Hong Kong.

Dinsaur Bones: Near-Perfect Fossil on Display in Munich

German paleontologists have discovered what they believe is the best-preserved dinosaur skeleton ever found in Europe.

Some 98 percent of the fossil found in the southern state of Bavaria is intact, and it will soon be placed on display for a short time in Munich.

The discovery of young, unnamed dinosaur fossils is rare, but on Wednesday researchers in southern German state of Bavaria announced they had uncovered an almost perfect specimen.

The flesh-eating member of the theropod subgroup, which walked on its hind legs, is among the best preserved specimens of its kind worldwide, said Oliver Rauhut, conservator of Bavaria's state paleontological and geological collections (BSPG) in Munich.

The fossil found in the central Bavarian community of Kelheim is about 98 percent complete, and also includes preserved bits of skin.

"The around 135-million-year-old fossil is of outstanding scientific importance," dinosaur expert Rauhut told the German news agency DPA.

A number of similar fossils have been found in China, he said, but they are not as well-preserved. "From far away they often look complete," he said. "But up close one sees that the bone preservation is not that great."

On Display in Munich 
Though the 72-centimeter juvenile dinosaur is preserved in stone, a number of anatomical details remain.

"The best-preserved Tyrannosaurus we have are about 80 percent preserved, and that is already terrific," said Rauhut, comparing the two theropods, which are among the rarest dinosaur fossils.

Most of the fossils in this group exist in only fragments, said Dan Ravasz, spokesman for the upcoming mineral exhibition, The Munich Show, a trade fair dedicated to minerals, germs, jewellery and fossils that runs for four days starting on Oct. 27.

The experts aren't certain just how old the dinosaur was when it died, though they estimate that a freshly hatched Tyrannosaurus would have been about the same size.

They were able to determine that the specimen is young by measuring the size of its skull, body proportions and the bone surface.

Learning more about young dinosaurs is important for scientists to understand more about their evolutionary process.

The fossil, discovered between one and two years ago, has been registered as a German cultural asset, giving it a status that drastically lowers its monetary worth, but ensures the artefact will remain in the country.

Ravasz declined to reveal the exact location of the discovery or its owner, but said it would later be loaned to a museum.