EADS wins lucrative ESA Contract for Ariane 6 Launcher - No Surprise

European Airbus Defence and Space (EADS), number two worldwide in space technologies and ESA's prime contractor, has been awarded a 60-million-euro contract by the European Space Agency (ESA) to continue definition and feasibility studies in 2014, for the new Ariane 6 European launcher.

These studies will pinpoint the detailed architecture developed so far and consolidate the launcher's main characteristics.

The results of these studies will be revealed in November 2014 at ESA's System Requirements Review (SRR).

Validation of the programme's progress should allow ESA to set the specifications of the Ariane 6 launch system, which will then enable member states to decide on continuation of the new launcher's development at the next ESA Ministerial Council meeting, scheduled for December 2014.

European Airbus Defence and Space (EADS) will continue fine tuning the definition of the Ariane 6 launcher, while in parallel developing the Ariane 5 ME launcher and, in particular, developing many features common to both Ariane 5 ME and Ariane 6.

The ESA contracts awarded to EADS Astrium (now owned and integrated into European Airbus Defence and Space, EADS) in 2013 include developing the Ariane 5 ME with the aim of improving Ariane 5 performance by over 20% by 2018.

At the November 2012 Ministerial Council meeting, ESA decided to commence definition studies for the new Ariane 6 launcher and to continue with the development of Ariane 5 ME, while also seeking to maximise synergies between the two future launchers.

None of this comes as any surprise as EADS continues to benefit from its close contact with the directors of ESA and its near-monopoly hold on European Space Technology, Satellite and Launcher systems.

Electrolux Design Lab competition: Flying mini-robot cleaners wins

The winners of the annual Electrolux Design Lab competition have been announced, and first place has gone to a young designer from Colombia, Adrian Perez Zapata. 

His design is of a ball shaped unit that houses sensing technology along with 908 independent tiny flying miniature flying robots—upon command from the host unit, they fly off and clean up dust and dirt in someone's house.

They can also deposit air freshening chemicals.

The annual Electrolux Design Lab competition is held by the famous household appliance maker for the purpose of stimulating, and prodding to action, design students from around the world.

The first prize winner this year gets 5,000 Euros and a chance to work with professionals in the field at Electrolux's main design center for six months. (These will be the same designers that failed to come up with anything as creative as the prize winner. I hope Zapata is impressed!)

Zapata's design was inspired by both nature and work being done at Harvard, he told those in attendance at the award ceremony.

He noted the efficiency and cleanly beautiful way insects work together to pollinate flowers in his garden.

Also, he mentioned that researchers at Harvard have built tiny flying robots that mimic bees and since the theme for this year's competition was Inspired Urban Living (as it applies to social cooking, effortless cleaning or natural air) he combined the two concepts and came up with tiny bee-like robots that carry a capsule capable of depositing a drop of water onto a surface, (and presumably sucking it up again along with the dirt it holds) and then returning to the housing unit, for depositing—similar to bees returning with nectar.

His idea also calls for the main unit to have the capability of scanning a house to note its layout and of course, to detect which parts of it need cleaning.

That information would be conveyed to the flying bots and they would then go clean it.

Electrolux reports that over 1700 entries were received this year from 60 countries across the globe. The competition was conducted in five stages, each winnowing down the number of entrants.

The final winners were chosen by a panel of experts.

ESA's ATV Jules Verne operations team wins prestigious UK aeronautics prize

The UK's Royal Aeronautical Society has awarded its top Gold Medal Team prize to ESA's Automated Transfer Vehicle operations team, in recognition of their achievement in operating ATV Jules Verne during its 2008 mission to the International Space Station.

The Gold Medal is conferred for work of outstanding achievement in aerospace.
ATV Jules Verne, ESA's first resupply and reboost vehicle, was launched in March 2008 and on 3 April became the first vessel to perform a fully automated docking with the International Space Station (ISS).

During the vessel's five-month attached phase, Jules Verne delivered over 2200 kg of vital cargo, including food, clothes, equipment, fuel, water and oxygen, to the astronauts on the ISS.

The extremely accurate automated docking demonstrated Europe's world-class industrial capabilities and the superlative skill of the scientists, engineers and technicians who contributed to the construction, preparation, launch and operation.

"I am delighted to accept this award on behalf of the Agency and everyone across borders and organisations who worked long and hard to make ATV an outstanding success. The ATV's design and construction, the superb automated docking technology and her flawless first mission all tell a truly European success story," said Bob Chesson, Head of ESA's Human Spaceflight Operations Department.

In flight, ATV operations are managed by a combined ESA/CNES (Centre National d'Études Spatiales) mission operations team based at ESA’s ATV Control Centre, Toulouse, France. These experts are assisted by a network of support teams from ESA's Human Spaceflight, Operations and Technology Directorates, at CNES, and at dozens of industrial partner companies from 10 European countries under the prime contractorship of EADS Space Transportation, France.

Windows WINS server attack coming from China

Yesterday, John Fontana reported that the vulnerability in the WINS service on Windows server was being exploited, and now researchers have found that the attacks are coming from China, despite some troubles with the undersea cables linking China to other parts of the world.

Attacks on the WINS service vulnerability in Windows Server are coming from China, but so far are not widespread, according to the Internet Storm Center.

The ISC, which is run by the SANS Institute, says they have only been able to collect limited information on the attacks, but confirmed that they are coming from IP addresses inside China.

The WINS service vulnerability was revealed last week when Microsoft issued patch MS09-039 as part of its regular Patch Tuesday release cycle

The vulnerability was rated as "critical."

Bojan Zdrnja, who is the current Handler on duty at the ISC, said in an email response that the ISC has received "several confirmations that the attacks appear to be real, and targeted against WINS servers that have not been patched with the MS09-039 patch."

He said ISC data shows that there is scanning going on, but so far there is no evidence of a widespread attack.