UAE launches project to send unmanned probe to Mars

Oil-rich United Arab Emirates on Monday launched a project that aims to send the first Arab unmanned probe to Mars by 2021.

The Gulf state set up the UAE Space Agency to supervise and finance the "Emirates Institution for Advanced Science and Technology (EIAST) to execute and manage all stages of the Mars probe project," a statement said.

The two entities signed a seven-year partnership agreement Monday, setting the timing as well as legal and financial frameworks for the Mars project, said the statement.

In July the UAE government revealed a plan to create a space agency to drive the project.

It said at the time that UAE investments in space technologies have already topped 20 billion dirhams ($5.44 billion).

The UAE, a seven-emirate federation formed in 1971, will become the ninth country in the world with space programmes to explore the Red Planet, according to the statement.

On Oct 20th his Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, on Monday attended the signing of an agreement to build the first Arab Islamic probe to reach Mars.

The agreement emphasises the importance of building a national base of research, developing specialised national cadres during the coming years, and the commitment of international partners in conveying all necessary knowledge to the national work team which will, in turn, contribute to building a solid scientific base for developing the UAE space sector.

“We started today a seven-year journey with a national team; through it we will cross hundreds of millions of miles to build globally competitive Emirati individuals. We say to the people of our region join us in building a new history for our Arab nation,” Shaikh Mohammad said on his social media account.

Upon completion, the probe is expected to reach Mars in nine months, an achievement which will make the UAE one of nine nations around the world with a Mars exploration space programme.

The probe’s estimated time of arrival on Mars, the year 2021, coincides with the 50th anniversary of the creation of the UAE.

Space is considered a key factor for economic security, used for satellite communications, broadcasting, meteorology and observing natural disasters.

The UAE’s current national investments in technology-related projects and industry is more than Dh20 billion, which includes Yahsat satellite communications company and Thuraya telecommunications company.

The UAE Space Agency was earlier set up by Shaikh Mohammad for supervising and organising all space activities, developing the sector, ensuring knowledge transfer, enhancing the UAE’s position as a global player in aerospace, and maximising the contribution of space industries to the national economy. The agency will report to the Cabinet and enjoy financial and administrative independence.

The UAE’s purpose is to build Emirati technical and intellectual capabilities in the fields of aerospace and space exploration and to enter the space industry and to make use of space technology in a way that enhances the country’s development plans.

SHERPA: A Life Saving UAV Quadcopter Project in the Alps

Scientists at the University of Twente are working on robots that are expected to save lives in calamity situations in the Alps.

The emphasis within this SHERPA project is on cooperation between human rescue workers, the ground robot ('ground rover') with a robotic arm and flying robots.

This week all the members of the SHERPA consortium will meet in Twente in order to harmonize their results and to experiment with the various parts of the robot platform.

It is because of scientific innovations that robots are increasingly being relocated from predictable environments such as factories, to locations where calamities can occur, such as the Alps.

The robots of the SHERPA project provide rescue workers with support during their tasks, for instance, after an avalanche.

In extreme, dangerous cases, these robots can even take over some aspects of the work of their human team-members by locating victims. SHERPA will greatly increase the chance of saving victims.

Humans and robots working together
What is unique about SHERPA is the cooperation between humans and robots, each with their own qualities, in order to achieve a common goal: saving lives.

The emphasis with robots is on their autonomy, cognitive capacities, strategy for cooperation and in the interaction with their human colleagues.'

Together, humans and robots will form rescue teams that the Italian organization of rescue workers has stationed in the Alps.

On behalf of the University of Twente (UT), Raffaella Carloni and other members of the Robotics and Mechatronics group (CTIT institute) and the LEO Centre for Service Robotics are working on the mechanical design, the control mechanism and realizing the robotic arm.

This arm is being developed and constructed in Twente and will be mounted onto the ground robot.

Furthermore, the UT is focussing on technological support of the interaction between humans and robots.

The robotic arm is capable of grasping the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), i.e., the flying robot, while it is airborne and placing it on the charger for the ground robot.

This innovative robotic arm is unique because it rigidity can be adjusted to a task. In addition, the arm is more resilient to shocks and vibrations than the current generation of robotic arms.

To provide a rescue worker who is operating the airborne robot with the best possible technological support, he or she will be equipped with sensors and portable technology. This too is, in part, a 'task of ' the UT.

The enormous advantage of this approach is that a rescue worker has optimum perception and can respond adequately to a possible calamity situation without actually having to be present at the site of the calamity.

The Sensors measure the robot's dynamic movements, such as position, speed and resistance. Because of the robot's cognitive algorithms, the robot and human can jointly seek victims and determine their actions in order to save human lives.

NASA SLS rocket system: RS-25 Rocket Engine test project begins

RS-25 rocket engine No. 0525 is positioned onto the A-1 Test Stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi in preparation for a series of developmental tests. 

Credit: NASA

Engineers have taken a crucial step in preparing to test parts of NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket that will send humans to new destinations in the solar system.

They installed on Thursday an RS-25 engine on the A-1 Test Stand at the agency's Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.

The Stennis team will perform developmental and flight certification testing of the RS-25 engine, a modified version of the space shuttle main engine that powered missions into space from 1981 to 2011.

The SLS's core stage will be powered by a configuration of four RS-25 engines, like the one recently installed on the A-1 stand.

"This test series is a major milestone because it will be our first opportunity to operate the engine with a new controller and to test propellant inlet conditions for SLS that are different than the space shuttle," said Steve Wofford, SLS Liquid Engines Element manager.

"This testing will confirm the RS-25 will be successful at powering SLS."

Early tests on the engine will collect data on the performance of its new advanced engine controller and other modifications.

The controller regulates valves that direct the flow of propellant to the engine, which determines the amount of thrust generated during an engine test, known as a hotfire test.

In flight, propellant flow and engine thrust determine the speed and trajectory of a spacecraft. The controller also regulates the engine startup sequence, which is especially important on an engine as sophisticated as the RS-25.

Likewise, the controller determines the engine shutdown sequence, ensuring it will proceed properly under both normal and emergency conditions.

"Installation of RS-25 engine No. 0525 signals the launch of another major rocket engine test project for human space exploration on the A-1 Test Stand," said Gary Benton, RS-25 rocket engine test project manager at Stennis.

The SLS is designed to carry astronauts in NASA's Orion spacecraft deeper into space than ever before, to destinations including an asteroid and Mars.

NASA is using existing and in-development hardware and infrastructure, including the RS-25 engine, to the maximum extent possible to enable NASA to begin deep space missions sooner.

Testing of engine No. 0525 begins in the coming weeks on a test stand originally built in the 1960s for Apollo-era engines that helped launch the lunar missions.

The stand has since been used for several major testing projects, and NASA spent almost a year modifying the structure to accommodate the RS-25 engine.

The SLS Program is managed at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Aerojet Rocketdyne of Sacramento, California, is on contract with NASA to adapt the RS-25 engines for SLS missions.

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).

Droplets: Mobile Swarm computers project turns to crowdfunding - video

University of Colorado, Boulder researchers seek to build a swarm of Droplet robots and have turned to crowdfunding.

They have been working on a robotic platform to study swarming behavior; their goals are to test swarming algorithms on a large scale, bring Droplets into college classrooms, use Droplets to teach K-12 science, and provide Droplets for artistic use.

John Klingner, PhD candidate, computer science, said "We are ready to scale up" and they would now like to buy parts and pay for 1,000 robots to be assembled.

Droplets are an experimental research and educational platform, for large-scale swarming research, using an MIT License


A Droplet is a small mobile robot. The platform features include moving and communicating omni-directionally.

The platform has three components, the hardware, the embedded software and the software simulation environment.

The required infrastructure includes a powered floor. The hardware component includes the actual robot and the test bed/floor that experiments are run on.



The robots are Ping-Pong ball sized devices. They have RGB color and IR sensing, actuation using vibration motors and communication, using analog/digital IR sensors.

Nikolaus Correll, assistant professor, computer science, said that after working on this robotic platform they have now reached a stage where they want to mass-produce them.

The team has used a promotional video to highlight the potential educational value of their Droplets platform.

Klingner spoke about bringing the technology to a wider arena of students.

He talked about their hopes in giving small groups of students, say, 30 robots, with which they could test out some simple swarm algorithms individually and then, at the end of the course, bring all 300 or so robots together for a more complex task.

Correll said the Droplets would be valuable for use in high schools as well: "We are also looking to collaborate with local high schools in the area and use the swarm" to teach them not only about swarms but maybe also about organic chemistry, math, geometry and the immune system.


His interest in the Droplets project reflects his deeper interest in what such scientific exploration can reveal.

"The entire world is actually a swarm so everything you see is just a swarm of atoms working together and at some point those atoms make a cell and at some point those cells make molecules; they make brains; they make livers; and hearts."

At the end of the day, he said, "all of these things are swarms." As such, Correll said he was "very curious to understand what the principles and mechanisms are that drive these things."

Taking these robots and programming them, he added, might increase an understanding of how to recreate such phenomena.

In addition to educational value, Klingner noted that one of the things they were thinking about is mapping an oil spill.

Anshul Kanakia, PhD candidate, computer science, noted a scenario where one is out in the ocean, not knowing where the spill begins, and wanting a good real-time map of the spill.

Each individual robot could make a guess, all go up and surround it and "talk" to each other.

DARPA XS-1 Space Plane Project Seeks $27 Million in 2015 Funding

Artist's concept of DARPA's Experimental Spaceplane (XS-1), a proposed unmanned, hypersonic vehicle that the agency hopes will lower satellite launch costs substantially. 

Officials are targeting Mach 10 for the suborbital vehicle.

Credit: DARPA

The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency expects to spend some $800 million on space programs from 2015 through 2018, an increase of $130 million over what was projected at this time last year, Defense Department budget documents show.

Nearly all of the targeted increase for DARPA's Space Programs and Technology Office is backloaded into the outyears, the documents show.

For 2015, the office is seeking nearly $180 million, only $7.5 million more than this year’s funding level.

DARPA's budget books break out funding on a program-by-program basis for the upcoming fiscal year only; outyear projections are provided only at the department level.

DARPA's mission, generally speaking, is to pursue high-risk, high-payoff technology development projects that could someday benefit the military.

These projects are taken on with the understanding that many, if not most, will fail. Defense Department officials often talk about "DARPA-hard" programs to describe their degree of difficulty.

For example, the 2015 request includes $27 million for XS-1, a concept for a reusable space plane that could ultimately fly 10 times in 10 days and boost payloads into low-Earth orbit for less than $5 million per launch. The program received $10 million in 2014.

"Technologies derived from the XS-1 program will enable routine space launch capabilities with aircraft-like cost, operability and reliability," a DARPA announcement from November 2013 reads.

"The long-term intent is for XS-1 technologies to be transitioned to support not only next-generation launch for Government and commercial customers, but also global reach hypersonic and space access aircraft."

The agency hopes to select a single vendor next year for the final design and development of the vehicle, which could make its initial test flight in 2018.

DarkSide: Project aims to find particles of dark matter

The DarkSide-50 research team is made up of faculty, students and researchers from dozens of institutions around the world,

From left, Luca Grandi, an assistant professor at the University of Chicago, Richard Saldanha, an associate fellow in the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics at the University of Chicago, and Hanguo Wang, a researcher at the University of California-Los Angeles. 

While wearing protective clothing to keep the environment clean, they are working to assemble the core of the dark matter detector, an argon-filled tank with photodetectors at the top and bottom to spot the light from collisions, and copper coils to help determine where the collisions occur. 

Credit: Peter Meyers

In a laboratory under a mountain 80 miles east of Rome this fall, a Princeton-led international team switched on a new experiment aimed at finding a mysterious substance that makes up a quarter of the universe but has never been seen.

The experiment, known as DarkSide-50, is searching for particles of dark matter. For the last several decades, researchers have known that visible matter—the stuff we can see—makes up only 4 percent of the universe, while dark energy is thought to make up about 73 percent.

Dark matter is thought to make up the remaining 23 percent, and finding it, researchers say, will solidify our understanding of how the universe formed and shed light on its ultimate fate.

Peter Meyers

"This is like the search for the Higgs boson was 10 years ago," said Peter Meyers, a professor of physics at Princeton University and one of the lead scientists on the project.

"We have a good idea of what to look for, but we don't know exactly where or when we will find it."

Housed inside a cavernous chamber in Italy's Gran Sasso National Laboratory, the DarkSide-50 collaboration involves 17 American institutions as well the Italian Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN) and other institutions in Italy, France, Poland, Ukraine, Russia and China.

The research team includes postdocs, staff researchers and several graduate and undergraduate students from Princeton.

The researchers spent last summer assembling the detector, which consists of three fluid-filled chambers nested one inside the other like Russian dolls.

Now that the experiment is up and running, the waiting begins. Unlike the massive Large Hadron Collider that discovered the Higgs, DarkSide-50 doesn't smash anything. Instead, it is designed to detect dark matter particles that drift through its chambers.

Looking for WIMPs 
The evidence for dark matter dates to the 1930s, when astronomers realized that the amount of matter we can see—as planets, stars and galaxies—falls far short of what must be out there to give galaxies their characteristic spiral shapes and clustering patterns.

Without this missing matter, the galaxies should have flown apart long ago. Matter provides the gravity that keeps the stars in rotation around the galaxy's center.

Unless our theories of gravity are wrong—and a minority of physicists think that is a possibility—dark matter must exist.

Cristiano Galbiati

"Finding dark matter particles would help confirm our understanding of the universe," said Cristiano Galbiati, an associate professor of physics at Princeton.

"And, whether or not we find it, we will have learned a great deal about how to go about looking for it. This is as exciting a moment in the search for dark matter as there has ever been."

Although no one knows for sure what dark matter is made of, the DarkSide-50 team and many other scientists think the most likely candidate is a particle so weak that it is called a WIMP, which is short for "weakly interacting massive particle."

As the name suggests, WIMPs barely interact with their surroundings. They simply drift through walls like ghosts.

If you cup your hands together, you will surround—but never trap—a few of these ethereal beings. Scientists suggest that a WIMP can be detected when it smacks into the nucleus of an atom such as argon, which is found in air.

When this happens in a chamber of densely packed argon atoms, the stricken atom recoils and creates a track of excited argon atoms in its wake.

This track appears as a fleeting trail of light, which can be detected by devices called photodetectors. But these collisions are rare—just a few WIMPs are detected each year.

Because other particles also give off light when they collide with argon, DarkSide-50 is located nearly a mile beneath Gran Sasso mountain ("gran sasso" is Italian for "great stone").

The rock shields out cosmic-ray particles that routinely bombard the Earth.

To read the full article go here

Buran: Russia starts ambitious super-heavy space rocket project

On the 25th anniversary of the historic flight of the Soviet space shuttle Buran, Russia's Roscosmos space agency has formed a working group to prepare "within weeks" a roadmap for the revival of the Energia super-heavy booster rocket.

The group led by Oleg Ostapenko, the new head of Roscosmos Federal Space Agency, is set to draw up proposals on the design of a super-heavy launch vehicle capable of delivering up to 100 tonnes of payload to the baseline orbit, former Soviet minister of general machine building, Oleg Baklanov, said on Friday.

"You have assumed the responsibility and dared to head the group, which is supposed to find an answer to the question how we can regain the position we demonstrated to the world with the launch of a 100-tonne spacecraft [Buran in 1988] within a few weeks," the ex-minister told Ostapenko at the event dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the flight of the Buran shuttle spacecraft.

The new carrier rocket Angara is set to become the base for the ambitious project that could bring Russia back to its heyday of space exploration. It could be launched from the Vostochny Cosmodrome which is now being constructed in Russia's Far East, and will replace Kazakhstan's Baikonur as Russia's main launchpad.

The 1988 launch of the Energia super-heavy rocket carrying the Buran space shuttle proved the rocket was capable of delivering 100 tonnes into orbit.

That was five times more than the Proton-M rocket with a 20-tonne payload, thus making it the most powerful Soviet/Russian booster rocket ever developed.

As the International Space Station is scheduled to be taken out of service around 2020, ex-minister Baklanov explained that such a powerful rocket would allow the construction of a new orbital station "larger in its weight and dimensions."

Also, a booster similar to the Soviet Energia would be indispensable for "exploring outer space in a wise manner, working in shifts on Mars, the Moon and so on," he added.

At the same media conference, president of the Energia Rocket and Space Corporation Vitaly Lopota announced that Russia will soon need super-heavy rockets to create a shield against possible future space weapons - which means deploying into orbit massive communications satellites and electronic warfare platforms.

KickSat co-creator, team launches new 'Pocket Spacecraft' project on Kickstarter

One of the team members who successfully launched KickSat on Kickstarter has started a new project called "Pocket Spacecraft" with the aim of launching thousands of CD shaped "space craft" into space and landing them back on Earth or on the moon.

KickSat project was designed to allow anyone (for a small price) to put a tiny satellite aboard a rocket and have it launched and sent into an orbit around Earth.

That Kickstarter project reached its funding goals and is now scheduled for launch sometime later this year.

Upload a profile picture/avatar (left) or school, club or company pennant (middle) to a shared spacecraft, or customise the whole of your Earth or Lunar Scout personal spacecraft! (right)

In this new project, the team wants to give anyone who wishes to do so, the opportunity to send a craft to space and back, or more optimistically, to the moon.

At the heart of the project is the Pocket Spacecraft—it's shape and size is similar to a DVD only smaller and much thinner.

The idea is to pack thousands of them onto a craft that is itself put aboard a rocket.

Upon launch, some of the Pocket Spacecraft will be released into space where they will fall back to Earth—others will continue on to the moon where they will be set free to crash-land onto its surface.

Each Pocket Spacecraft is up for sale—those who wish to purchase one can upload pictures or messages to it, or even add some programming. Each has a solar panel on it, electronic circuitry and communications gear that will allow for its owner to track its movements with their cell phone.

Prices for the Pocket Spacecraft vary depending on whether the buyer wants their craft to fall back to Earth (Earth Scout-£99), or travel on to the moon (Lunar Scout-£199).

Other options are also available to allow for groups to share a craft.

Many of the craft are expected to survive falling to Earth—those falling to moon's surface, on the other hand will perish.

Pocket Mission Control will allow you to monitor your spacecraft telemetry (d), onboard apps (e), your training achievements (f), ground station status (g), and where your spacecraft is in space (h) 

Those who sign up to the project and buy a craft will be able to watch as their Pocket Spacecraft is made, tested, packed and carried to a rocket for launch.

On its Kickstarter page, the team says they hope to collect the £290,000 goal needed for the project to proceed, and that if all goes as planned, would like to create a similar project for launching tiny craft to other planets in the solar system as well.

George Dyson (Science Historian): Project Orion - A nuclear-powered rocket to Saturn - YouTube

George Dyson tells the amazing story of Project Orion, a massive, nuclear-powered spacecraft that could have taken us to Saturn in five years.

With a priceless insider's perspective and a cache of documents, photos and film, Dyson brings this dusty Atomic Age dream to vivid life.

Microsoft co-founder Allen launches space project - Stratolaunch Systems

Microsoft Corp co-founder Paul Allen is planning to build a spaceship that could replace the Space Shuttle this decade.

Allen, 58, is hoping his new company, Stratolaunch Systems, will launch unmanned rockets from a flying carrier plane to ferry government and commercial payloads into space and back, and eventually evolve to human space missions.

The initiative comes only months after the United States retired the Space Shuttle program after 30 years, opening the door to private enterprise to supply space vehicles.

Allen's rocket will be launched from a massive carrier aircraft powered by six jumbo jet engines, to be constructed by Scaled Composites, a unit of defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp.

The rocket itself will be made by private space company SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk, the billionaire co-founder of PayPal.

The first test flight is planned to happen within five years.

"I have long dreamed about taking the next big step in private space flight," said Allen in a statement. "To offer a flexible, orbital space delivery system."

Allen - listed by Forbes magazine as the world's 57th richest person, with a fortune of $13.2 billion - is the latest in a line of tech billionaires with interests in the privatization of space travel.

His space ambitions put him alongside Musk and Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, whose Blue Origin aims to put people into space at an affordable price, rather than the millions of dollars it has cost up to now.

Allen, who made up the name Microsoft, co-founded what became the world's biggest software company with Bill Gates in 1975.

Lacking Gates' single-minded drive for business success, he left Microsoft in 1983, as he dealt with a first battle with cancer. He recently survived a second course of treatment for a different type of cancer, but says he is healthy now.

Allen's interests and investments range far and wide, but are focused on his native Seattle and the Pacific Northwest.

He owns the Seattle Seahawks professional football team, the

Trail Blazers basketball team in Portland, and his investment firm developed much of the South Lake Union neighborhood which is central to Seattle's re-emergence as a technology center.

He is a generous donor to the University of Washington and is funding new research into the brain.

For leisure pursuits, he owns one of the world's largest yachts and built the Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum in Seattle. Allen's memoir, titled "Idea Man", was published earlier this year.

ESA ESERO Project: Summer Workshop for Secondary School Science Teachers

The International Space Station, the largest laboratory ever built in space, is the result of many years of cooperation between the USA, Russia, Canada, Japan and Europe.


This illustration shows the Automated Transfer Vehicle, ATV, that carries food, clothing, fuel tanks, air and drinking water to the ISS crew.

The first launch of this supply vessel in 2008 marked the first ever rendezvous and docking of a European spacecraft in orbit.


Credits: V. Bétoulaud

The European Space Agency is providing many innovative and inspiring aids to teachers to enhance their curriculum with space related subjects. Now ESA is inviting educators to a summer workshop at its establishment in the Netherlands from 28 to 30 June 2010.

ESA’s Directorate of Human Spaceflight has been using the International Space Station as a 'classroom in space' for many educational events and for the production of educational material made available to teachers, science educators and all interested.

ISS will continue in orbit till at least 2020 – and the educational side of the ISS will be even stonger in the future as the focus of the ISS activities is being turned from construction to routine operation.

For more information contact ESA directly by following this link

Natural World: The Chimpcam Project

How does a chimpanzee see the world? A research project at Edinburgh Zoo is designed to answer just that question in an innovative new way - by training chimps to use video touch screens and giving them a special chimp-proof camera.

How will they react to tools which in evolutionary terms are a few million years ahead of them? As chimp specialist Betsy Herrelko finds out, trying to communicate with chimps using video technology has its trials and tribulations.

Russian Companies Move to Support Bulgarian Nuclear Energy Project

Bulgaria's nuclear plant project in Belene following the withdrawal of German utility RWE, Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko said Friday.

"Russia wants to see the project continue and we are currently holding constructive dialogue with the Bulgarian government to find a fair corporate solution allowing us to secure the further development of Belene," Shmatko said after intergovernmental energy talks in Sofia.

He said he had spoken to the Bulgarian government of "the interest of Russian companies to become shareholders in Belene."

RWE's withdrawal from the 10-billion-euro (14.6-billion-dollar) project for a new nuclear power plant on the Danube prompted Bulgaria to seek new investors to take up the German utility's 49-percent stake in the project.

Severe shortage of funding for the 2,000-megawatt plant also made Bulgaria's government consider selling part of its own 51-percent share in Belene, according to Economy and Energy Minister Traicho Traikov.

"The entry of new investors in the project under mutually acceptable conditions is of interest to Bulgaria. The Russian side, on the other hand, is interested in securing the development of the project ... So the participation of Russian companies as shareholders is an option," Traikov said Friday.

Traikov did not however say when the government would call the international tender for new investors for the plant, for which it had already chosen a builder -- the Russian company Atomstroyexport.

Neither Traikov nor Shmatko would say how big a stake the Russian investors might take up.

Shmatko meanwhile said Russia was ready to provide Bulgaria with a government loan to help it fund the project.

Bulgaria's new right-wing government had refused to offer the necessary state guarantees for the credit and Shmatko said Friday that Russia understood Bulgaria's reluctance to take up more debt amid the current economic and financial crisis.

But he underlined the importance of the project for both Bulgaria and Russia and said it was necessary to overcome "the current uncertainties" surrounding Belene's future.

ESA: SMOS satellite instrument comes alive

Click here to see animation.........

The MIRAS instrument on ESA's SMOS satellite, launched earlier this month, has been switched on and is operating normally. MIRAS will map soil moisture and ocean salinity to improve our understanding of the role these two key variables play in regulating Earth’s water cycle.

"Following the switch-on, MIRAS is working beautifully well with all key subsystems, including all of the receivers, the optical fibres and the correlator unit, in perfect functioning condition," said ESA’s Manuel Martin-Neira, SMOS Instrument Principal Engineer. "We have been able to produce reasonable test data even without in-orbit calibration."

MIRAS (Microwave Imaging Radiometer using Aperture Synthesis) is an L-band radiometer with 69 receivers mounted on three deployed arms to measure the radiation coming from Earth.
In order to measure accurately, the receivers must be within a +/-3°C temperature range of each other, with the optimal operating temperature at 22°C. Heaters are installed on the satellite to achieve the temperature needed.

First MIRAS signal received
Switching on the instrument begins with activating the central payload computer, which controls many of the instrument’s subsystems and gives instructions to the distributed command and monitoring modes on each arm.

To assess the electrical performance of the instrument after switch-on while limiting the consumption of heater power, the physical temperature for start up was set to 10°C.

"The active thermal control is now in operation and is keeping the instrument well within the expected temperature range," Mr Martin-Neira said. "Tomorrow we expect to assess the payload at the final 22°C temperature."

The central payload computer also controls the 'mass memory', which collects all the science data from the receivers and sends them to receiving stations on the ground. The high-speed downlink, which transmits the data to the ground station, was switched on, and data have been transmitted to ESA’s European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC), in Villafranca, Spain. The data acquisition and processing systems located at ESAC are also working well, and the first test of the product generation system has been successful.

"With the critical launch and early orbit phase completed, the engineers can now evaluate the quality of the downlinks and concentrate on the calibration of the instrument," SMOS Project Manager Achim Hahne said.