ESA JUICE: Mission gets go ahead towards exploration of Jupiter

Artist's impression of the JUICE mission. 

Credit: ESA/AOES

The European Space Agency's JUICE (JUpiter ICy moons Explorer) mission has been given the green light to proceed to the next stage of development.

This approval is a milestone for the mission, which aims to launch in 2022 to explore Jupiter and its potentially habitable icy moons.

JUICE gained approval for its implementation phase from ESA’s Science Programme Committee during a meeting at the European Space Astronomy Centre near Madrid, Spain, on 19 and 20 November 2014.

Chosen by ESA in May 2012 to be the first large mission within the Cosmic Vision Programme JUICE is planned to be launched in 2022 and to reach Jupiter in 2030.

The mission will tour the giant planet to explore its atmosphere, magnetosphere and tenuous set of rings and will characterise the icy moons Ganymede, Europa and Callisto.

Detailed investigations of Ganymede will be performed when JUICE enters into orbit around it, the first time any icy moon has been orbited by a spacecraft.

During its lifetime, the mission will give us an unrivalled and in-depth understanding of the Jovian system and of these moons.

The scientific goals of the mission are enabled by its instrument suite. This includes cameras, spectrometers, a radar, an altimeter, radio science experiments and sensors used to monitor the plasma environment in the Jovian system.

In February 2013, the SPC approved the payload that will be developed by scientific teams from 16 European countries, the USA and Japan, through corresponding national funding.

At the November 2014 meeting of the SPC, the multilateral agreement for JUICE was also approved.

This agreement provides the legal framework for provision of payload equipment and ongoing mission support between funding agencies.

European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti wears a NASA spacesuit

European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti of Italy wears a NASA spacesuit ahead of spacewalk training inside the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory, a giant training pool near the Johnson Space Center in Houston. 

Cristoforetti will launch to the International Space Station on Nov. 24 to join the orbiting lab's Expedition 42 crew. 

NASA astronaut Terry Virts and Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov will join her. 

Credit: NASA, ESA

SNC Dream Chaser: European Space Agency contributes Hardware

Dream Chaser, a commercial space plane built by Sierra Nevada Corp.'s Space Systems, is seen at NASA's Dryden Flight research Center located inside Edwards Air Force Base in California.

Credit: NASA

The European Space Agency (ESA), following in the footsteps of the German space agency (DLR), on Jan. 8 said it had signed an agreement with Sierra Nevada Corp. to investigate a European collaboration on SNC’s Dream Chaser crew-transport vehicle.

The 20-nation ESA said the one-year study with Sparks, Nev.-based SNC will focus on ESA-developed hardware that could be integrated into the Dream Chaser, reducing SNC’s development costs.

One specific focus, the agency said, will be ESA’s International Berthing Docking Mechanism, being developed in Belgium, Italy and Switzerland for use at the International Space Station and in future international space exploration missions.

The German Aerospace Center (DLR), in November concluded an agreement with OHB AG’s Kayser-Threde division in Munich to use German national funding for a similar study, this one focusing on Dream Chaser’s adaptability as a satellite-launch and satellite-recovery platform in orbits higher than the international space station.

Bremen, Germany-based OHB, a major space hardware contractor, said a Europeanised Dream Chaser, called DC4EU — Dream Chaser for European Utilization — could be used to ferry astronauts and gear to the space station.

ESA, Germany and the other partners in the international space station — the United States, Russia, Japan and Canada — have agreed to continue operating the orbital complex until 2020 and are discussing whether to extend the station’s life to 2028.

OHB said the Dream Chaser vehicle, being developed by SNC as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, could assure Europe a role in manned space activities after the station is decommissioned.

European Space Agency (ESA) sets a path for big space science

Europe has fixed a broad plan for the big space science missions it will launch over the next two decades.

It will likely lead to a large X-ray telescope being launched in 2028, and to an orbiting observatory to detect gravitational waves going up in 2034.

Together, these two ventures will cost in excess of 2bn euros (£1.7bn).

They join a mission already approved known as Juice, which will see a big satellite sent to observe Jupiter and its icy moons in 2022.

The path ahead was set by the Science Policy Committee (SPC) of the European Space Agency (Esa), which is meeting in Paris, France.

The committee's decision should now give clear direction and certainty to Europe's research and industrial base.

Fabio Favata

"These big missions take a long time to put together - of the order of 20 years," said Dr Fabio Favata, head of Esa's Science Planning and Community Coordination Office.

"Of course, when you fix things you trade flexibility for stability, but this gives the community the opportunity to plan. They now understand what will be the 'pillars', what will be the 'cornerstones'," he told reporters.

The SPC gathering was asked to approve a set of scientific "themes" that will guide the selection of Esa's next Large Class mission opportunities.

The agency tries to launch one of these flagship endeavours every six years.

The themes are titled the "hot and energetic Universe", and the "gravitational Universe".

And although these themes do not endorse a specific X-ray telescope or gravitational wave detection concept, their prescription is so tight that only two candidates can have real confidence of making it through the forthcoming selection process.

These are the two consortia that narrowly lost out to the Juice team in the last L-Class competition in 2012.

The Athena+ science instruments. Left: Design drawing of the X-IFU showing the Dewar and a zoom on the focal plane assembly. Right: Design drawing of the WFI.

The X-ray telescope proposal currently goes by the name of Athena+. It would be roughly four tonnes in mass and have a 12m focal length.

With a survey capability and sensitivity a hundred times better than today's best space telescopes, Athena+ would be used to study the origin of the monstrous black holes that reside at the centres of galaxies, among other objectives.

A Lisa-like observatory would detect gravitational waves using lasers fired across millions of km of space

It would fire lasers across millions of km of space to try to measure the disturbance in the fabric of space-time resulting from exploding stars and merging black holes.

The gravitational wave observatory, Laser Interferometer Space Antennagoes, (Lisa).

It is a concept that has been studied for the better part of 20 years already.

Indeed, ESA is about to fly a small satellite called Lisa Pathfinder to demonstrate some of the key technologies.

The agency will call for proposals to take the 2028 launch opportunity early next year. There will then be a design phase with various technical reviews before a formal adoption of a mission in about 2018.

Read the full article here

Mars crater may actually be ancient supervolcano

Seen above, for the basin and surrounding area, higher elevations (reds and yellows) and lower elevations (blues and grays) are indicated. Credit: NASA/JPL/GSFC

A research project led by Joseph R. Michalski, Senior Scientist at the Planetary Science Institute, has identified what could be a supervolcano on Mars – the first discovery of its kind.

In a paper published Oct. 3 in the journal Nature, Michalski and co-author Jacob E. Bleacher of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center describe a new type of volcanic construction on Mars that until now has gone unrecognized.

The volcano in question, a vast circular basin on the face of the Red Planet, previously had been classified as an impact crater.

Researchers now suggest the basin is actually the remains of an ancient supervolcano eruption.

Their assessment is based on images and topographic data from NASA's Mars Odyssey, Mars Global Surveyor and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) spacecraft, as well as the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter.

In the Nature paper Michalski and Bleacher lay out their case that the basin, recently named Eden Patera, is a volcanic caldera. Because a caldera is a depression, it can look like a crater formed by an impact, rather than a volcano.

"On Mars, young volcanoes have a very distinctive appearance that allows us to identify them," Michalski said. "The long-standing question has been what ancient volcanoes on Mars look like. Perhaps they look like this one."

Above, the dark color indicates younger material draped across the Eden Patera depression. 

Credit: ESA

The researchers also suggest a large body of magma loaded with dissolved gas (similar to the carbonation in soda) rose through thin crust to the surface quickly.

Like a bottle of soda that has been shaken, this supervolcano would have blown its contents far and wide if the top came off suddenly.

"This highly explosive type of eruption is a game-changer, spewing many times more ash and other material than typical, younger Martian volcanoes," Bleacher said.

"During these types of eruptions on Earth, the debris may spread so far through the atmosphere and remain so long that it alters the global temperature for years."

After the material is expelled from the eruption, the depression that is left can collapse even further, causing the ground around it to sink.

Eruptions like these happened in ages past at what is now Yellowstone National Park in the western United States, Lake Toba in Indonesia and Lake Taupo in New Zealand.

More information: www.nature.com/nature/journal/v502/n7469/full/nature12482.html

European Space Agency (ESA) readies for solar storm risks

This January 23, 2012 image provided by NASA SDO shows a solar flare erupting on the Sun's northeastern hemisphere. 

Europe has launched its first space weather coordination centre to raise the alarm for possible satellite-sizzling solar storms that also threaten astronauts in orbit, plane passengers and electricity grids on Earth.

Though impossible to predict, a worst-case scenario mega-storm can happen at any time, leaving the world without Internet, telephones, television, electricity and air and rail transport for days on end.

Limited precautions can be taken, but early warning is key, say experts at the European Space Agency (ESA) which runs the centre from Brussels.

Juha-Pekka Luntama

"A pilot can always land a plane... because they have alternatives (to satellites) for navigation, but if they get the disturbance without warning, at the wrong time, that can be dangerous," Juha-Pekka Luntama, head of ESA's space weather division told AFP at the launch.

Even a slight satellite glitch can put navigation out by 100 metres (yards)—enough to miss a runway.

Earth's atmosphere and magnetosphere protect the planet from radiation released during solar flares and geomagnetic storms—some of the most severe forms of space weather.

Smaller eruptions usually have little noticeable effect—perhaps slight problems with car navigation systems or mobile phones but a major solar storm on the scale of an event in 1859 that crippled global telegraph systems could have severe impacts today.

A "coronal mass ejection"—which sends electromagnetic radiation flying towards Earth at a speed of some 2,500 kilometres (1,500 miles) per second and plays havoc with long transmission lines— caused surges on telegraph lines so strong in 1859 that offices caught fire and operators received electric shocks.

Such super storms happen "only very occasionally, perhaps once or twice a century," according to ESA's human spaceflight director Thomas Reiter.

Luntama added that the most severe storms statistically happen around the solar maximum—a period of greatest activity in the 11-year solar cycle—where we are now.

"In some ways you can say that the next two years is the time period that a solar event is more likely," he said.

An 1859-like storm today could claim about 50 to 100 satellites—10 percent of the total in orbit, at a cost of billions of euros, according to ESA but probably the biggest threat to Earth lies in electric power grid surges.

"In the worst case, what could happen is that the transformers in the power grid are damaged and in that case, replacement of the transformers can take weeks or months," said Luntama.

Even if only a small part of the grid is damaged, overloading in neighbouring systems can lead to more blackouts that spread domino-like, such as the nine-hour power blackout in Quebec in Canada in 1989.

Astronauts orbiting Earth on the International Space Station (ISS), closer to the source of the radiation, could be at high risk of a severe solar storm, as could plane crews and passengers flying over the polar regions.

Precautions would include turning off satellites to lessen the risk, reducing the load on power grids, astronauts taking cover in well-shielded part of the ISS, and planes being diverted or even grounded if communications become unreliable.

Once witnessed by space weather watchers, the fallout from a solar storm takes between 17 and 48 hours to reach Earth, depending on its severity.

The coordination centre, a central point for space weather enquiries, will draw on the expertise of dozens of European universities, research institutions and private companies.

A similar service already exists in the United States. For the moment, the ESA service—funded by 14 member states— is free.

The centre started operating six months ago and is expected to be fully operational by 2020—part of wider, multi-billion euro ESA system that also tracks objects in space that pose a collision threat.

ESA's ExoMars: Neptec wins contract to develop cameras

The main challenge in the development of these cameras will be to design them to withstand the extreme environmental conditions that will be experienced on the surface of Mars.

Neptec Design Group has signed a contract with EADS Astrium UK Limited for the design and build of navigation cameras for the ExoMars Rover.

The ExoMars Programme has the goals of understanding the Martian environments and establishing whether life had or could now exist on Mars.

The Programme comprises two Missions: an Orbiter in 2016; and a Rover Mission in 2018.

Contracts with European organisations represent an increasing portion of Neptec's Space Exploration business as the company expands beyond its core business with the NASA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).

"We are thrilled to be a part of this exciting journey in exploring the planet Mars," said Mike Kearns, Neptec President of Space Exploration.

"The vision cameras that we are developing will be the eyes of the rover as it explores the surface of Mars." The main challenge in the development of these cameras will be to design them to withstand the extreme environmental conditions that will be experienced on the surface of Mars.

"This ExoMars programme is an example of what can be accomplished when governments and industry work together in the space sector," said Neptec's CEO Iain Christie.

"The contract for these navigation cameras has involved the co-operation of the Canadian Space Agency, and the European Space Agency."

The ExoMars Programme is a European Space Agency Robotic Exploration Mission under the prime contractorship of Thales Alenia Space Italia, with EADS Astrium UK Limited leading the Rover Vehicle developments.

European Space Agency (ESA): VEGA Build and launch - Live streaming video

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SGAC has released the Executive Summary of its 2011 Annual Report

SGAC has released the Executive Summary of its 2011 Annual Report 

Click on the picture to visit the website.

National security expert warns of Asian space race

James Clay Moltz, an associate professor in the department of national security affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, has published a commentary paper in the journal Nature where he warns of a possible space race involving many Asian nations, possibly leading to an arms race. 

 
Moltz writes that despite denials by the major Asian players, there exists the beginnings of a space race among the most technologically advanced countries in the area.

In the lead of course is China, which besides the United States and Russia, is the only country to have put a person in space on its own.


Other Asian countries actively involved in space technology include India, South Korea and Japan, though others such as Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Taiwan are working on building a presence as well.

Japan of course, has been actively involved with the International Space station, and India has been putting nerves on edge by mixing its space technology with military goals by building rockets capable of carrying a payload all the way to Beijing.

The country has also launched its own rockets into space to deliver satellites, though it’s not yet achieved the broad range of successes of the Chinese program.

The problem with an Asian space race, Moltz contends, is that it builds an arena of unhealthy competition bred out of historic geopolitical rivalries.

It also wastes resources, but that’s not something that should concern other countries. What should he writes, is the possibility of an Asian space race morphing into an Asian arms race, something that could impact virtually every nation on Earth.

The current situation, he explains, is a collection of Asian countries who are unwilling to work together to meet mutual goals such as can be seen with the European Space Agency (ESA).

Instead, individual countries work independently, quite often duplicating work done by other countries both in Asia and in the west, resulting in secretive programs that have as a goal beating one another to the next level, rather than building programs that serve the national, or international good.

What is perhaps most chilling about an Asian space race is the way China, which is the clear leader, has gone about its space program, highlighted not by its triumphs in manned exploration, but in it’s destruction of one of its dead weather satellites by an anti-satellite weapon back in 2007.


Not only did that action contribute to the vast collection of space junk, but it sent shock waves through the entire international community as it demonstrated very clearly the types of technology China has been secretly working on. And because of its leadership role in the Asian community, the action has likely set other countries to develop their own such weapons.

One other worrisome offshoot of the space race is the impact it might have on those Asian countries unable to join in.

Pakistan, for example, a country with nuclear weapons, has voiced concerns over the missile technology that India has developed and has repeatedly made it clear that any actions by India it deems a threat to its own survival would be met with all out war, including the use of nuclear bombs.

More information: Technology: Asia's space race, Nature 480, 171–173 (08 December 2011) doi:10.1038/480171a

KLM Announces Suborbital Flight Relationship With Space Experience Curacao

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines has announced to the Netherlands press that they were embarking upon a new relationship with Space Experience Curacao (SXC).

KLM will be supporting future suborbital flights through purchases, inclusion in their frequent flyer program, inclusion in future KLM vacation packages to Curacao, and other yet-to-be-named support.

The flights will be made on the XCOR Lynx suborbital spacecraft.

Last month SXC and XCOR Aerospace jointly announced the intent of SXC to lease a production version of the Lynx suborbital spacecraft, pending United States government approvals to station the vehicle on the island of Curacao in the Netherlands Antilles.

With a planned start date in January 2014 SXC and now KLM will market and sell flights. XCOR will provide operational support for the vehicle at Space Port Curacao.

On the front page of De Telegraaf, the largest circulation Dutch newspaper, KLM Chief Executive Officer Peter Hartman said of the new relationship and suborbital spaceflight: "It is a fantastic project that totally fits the pioneering spirit of KLM."

This history includes operating the longest regularly scheduled air service in the world throughout the 1920s, and opening their first transatlantic service in 1934 between Amsterdam and Curacao.

SXC Founder and former Royal Netherlands Air Force Chief of Staff Ben Droste referred to the exploration and entrepreneurial spirit the Dutch have demonstrated for over five centuries and noted their logical extension to space.

"This is a project that completely fits our VOC tradition (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, aka the Dutch East India Company). The Dutch have successfully traversed the world's seas, pioneered long distance air travel, and now have set our sights on space."

German Government Defy European Space Agency

The German government has informed the European Space Agency (ESA) in writing that it will remain opposed to the award of a $1.7 billion meteorological satellite contract to a French-led consortium regardless of the findings of an independent review board tasked to audit the contract procedures, according to European government and industry officials.

The apparent hardening of Germany’s position with respect to the six-satellite Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) contract makes it less likely that ESA and its MTG partner, the Eumetsat meteorological satellite organisation, will be able to move forward on the program in the coming weeks.

The 18-nation ESA had hoped that German reservations about the MTG contract would abate once a six-member Procurement Review Board rendered its conclusions April 30. The German argument is centred on the fact that although the bid was led by Astrium’s German division, it was not selected and there are claims of unfair and preferential treatment being given to the French bid, by Jean-Jacques Dordain, ESA director general.

The board of enquiry was hired to shed light on the MTG bid-evaluation process, and to clear the air of suspicion that had surrounded the project and vendor selection process, for months.

The procurement review team began work just before Eumetsat’s 26 member nations met March 26 to begin the year-long MTG implementation process but Germany, joined by Portugal, declined to approve the project at the Eumetsat meeting because of procedural and economic discrepancies.