Rocket carrying Cirque du Soleil founder blasts off

The founder of Cirque du Soleil, Guy Laliberte, and two professional astronauts blasted off Wednesday for the International Space Station (ISS) on a Russian rocket.

http://www.asd-network.com/press_detail/23491/Rocket_carrying_Cirque_du_Soleil_founder_blasts_off.htm

How Quantum Effects Could Create Black Stars, Not Holes (preview)

Black holes have been a part of popular culture for decades now, most recently playing a central role in the plot of this year’s Star Trek movie. No wonder. These dark remnants of collapsed stars seem almost designed to play on some of our primal fears: a black hole harbors unfathomable mystery behind the curtain that is its “event horizon,” admits of no escape for anyone or anything that falls within, and irretrievably destroys all it ingests.To theoretical physicists, black holes are a class of solutions of the Einstein field equations, which are at the heart of his theory of general relativity. The theory describes how all matter and energy distort spacetime as if it were made of elastic and how the resulting curvature of spacetime controls the motion of the matter and energy, producing the force we know as gravity. These equations unambiguously predict that there can be regions of spacetime from which no signal can reach distant observers. These regions--black holes--consist of a location where matter densities approach infinity (a “singularity”) surrounded by an empty zone of extreme gravitation from which nothing, not even light, can escape. A conceptual boundary, the event horizon, separates the zone of intense gravitation from the rest of spacetime. In the simplest case, the event horizon is a sphere--just six kilometers in diameter for a black hole of the sun’s mass. [More]











http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=276e1febfa97e1a61f501d32b398ed7b

Ariane 5’s Dual-Payload Flight is Given Green Light for October 1 Liftoff

The go-ahead for Arianespace's fifth launch of 2009 was given today, allowing final steps to be taken for Thursday evening's liftoff with the Amazonas 2 civilian telecommunications satellite and Germany's COMSATBw-1.

http://www.asd-network.com/press_detail/23492/Ariane_5_s_Dual-Payload_Flight_is_Given_Green_Light_for_October_1_Liftoff.htm

Thales Alenia Space: a Major Contributor to Upcoming Ariane 5 Launch

Thales Alenia Space built the COMSATBw-1 satellite for EADS Astrium and supplied the AmerHis-2 payload for Hispasat's Amazonas-2 satellite. Thales Alenia Space plays a major role on the upcoming Ariane 5 launch.

http://www.asd-network.com/press_detail/23495/Thales_Alenia_Space:_a_Major_Contributor_to_Upcoming_Ariane_5_Launch.htm

Astrium is Triple Prime Contractor for Next Ariane 5 Launch

Astrium is the prime contractor for the space segment of COMSATBw-1, the German military's first communications satellite. Astrium is also the prime contractor for Amazonas 2.

http://www.asd-network.com/press_detail/23503/Astrium_is_Triple_Prime_Contractor_for_Next_Ariane_5_Launch.htm

Probe zooms past Mercury for last flyby

A NASA spacecraft zoomed by Mercury on Tuesday to snap pictures of the planet's uncharted regions and fine-tune its path through the solar system, one that will ultimately place the probe in orbit around the small, rocky world.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33064482/ns/technology_and_science-space/

Seen from Space : Lhasa, Tibet

Seen from Space : Lhasa, Tibet

http://www.eorc.jaxa.jp/en/imgdata/topics/2009/tp090930.html

Space radiation hits record high

Like a wounded Starship Enterprise, our solar system's natural shields are faltering, letting in a flood of cosmic rays

http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10898/s/660d4f7/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cdn178820Espace0Eradiation0Ehits0Erecord0Ehigh0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fspace/story01.htm

Expedition 21 Crew Launches From Kazakhstan

The Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Wednesday.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/spaceref/jext/~3/oyE7dmMsWpQ/viewsr.rss.html

2009 Astronaut Glove Challenge

The 2009 Astronaut Glove Challenge is now scheduled, and teams that wish to compete may now register.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/spaceref/jext/~3/lhO2mFU9sDw/viewsr.rss.html

Why We Really Want to Go Back to the Moon

This year marked the 40th anniversary of two momentous events related to space exploration. One, the Apollo 11 moon landing on July 20, 1969, was a hallmark technological achievement. The other, the complete first run of Stanley Kubrick's remarkable movie 2001: A Space Odyssey , vividly depicted author Arthur C. Clarke's vision of humans traveling the solar system with abandon.

http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=2bed2cd4422f09712ccd525dd947c8f2

Spitzer Telescope Warms To New Tasks

Observations will continue by using two shortest-wavelength detectors in Spitzer's infrared array camera.

http://www.aviationweek.com/avnow/news/channel_space_story.jsp?id=news/Spitzer092809.xml&source=rss

Magnetic fields guide star birth

The picture of star formation just got a little more complicated: Cosmic magnetic fields play a more important role in the birth of stars that previously thought, a new study suggests.







http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33077744/ns/technology_and_science-space/

NIA and NASA Announce Student Engineering Competition

NIA and NASA Announce Student Engineering Competition

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/spaceref/jext/~3/Lh_FxFnt-gc/viewpr.rss.html

Top 10 antics in outer space

On the ISS, Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte plans to spend some time doing what he’s famous for –" making people laugh.  But he won’t be the first to bring some levity to space.







http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33060783/ns/technology_and_science-space/

Ariane liftoff rescheduled for the night of 1 October 2009

In order to perform complementary checks on the Ariane 5 launch vehicle, Arianespace has rescheduled the launch of AMAZONAS-2 and COMSATBw-1.


http://www.arianespace.com/news/mission-status.asp

China completes world’s highest-resolution 3D map of moon

Chinese experts Monday announced that the country’s space scientists had completed the world’s highest-resolution three-dimensional map of the moon. The map, covering the whole surface of the moon, was made based on image data obtained by a charge-coupled device (CCD) stereo camera carried by the Chang’e-1, China’s first lunar probe. The map’s spatial resolution -- measured by the distance of two features within an image that can be clearly defined -- is 500 metres.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-09/28/content_12122965.htm

The Trilogy is Complete - GigaGalaxy Zoom Phase 3

The third image of ESO's GigaGalaxy Zoom project has just been released online, completing this eye-opening dive into our galactic home in outstanding fashion. The latest image follows on from views, released over the last two weeks, of the sky as seen with the unaided eye and through an amateur telescope.

http://www.skynightly.com/reports/The_Trilogy_is_Complete_GigaGalaxy_Zoom_Phase_3_999.html

NSS-12 Satellite Arrives At Kourou

SES WORLD SKIES announces that its NSS-12 satellite has safely arrived at the European spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, onboard an Antonov cargo plane. The NSS-12 spacecraft, manufactured by Space Systems/Loral (SSL) will now be readied for launch onboard an Ariane 5 booster, scheduled for lift off on 29 October 2009.

http://www.space-travel.com/reports/NSS_12_Satellite_Arrives_At_Kourou_999.html

Russia’s Last Analogue Space Freighter Buried In Pacific

Russia's last cargo spaceship with an analogue control system plunged on Sunday into a "spaceship cemetery" in the southern Pacific, the Russian Mission Control said.

http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Russia_Last_Analogue_Space_Freighter_Buried_In_Pacific_999.html

Moon-smashing probe aims for new target crater

Just days before it is set to crash into the moon, NASA's LCROSS spacecraft has been retargeted to maximise its chances of finding water

http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10898/s/65bc08f/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cdn17870A0Emoonsmashing0Eprobe0Eaims0Efor0Enew0Etarget0Ecrater0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fspace/story01.htm

ISRO set to revise Chandrayaan-II objectives

Chandrayaan-I's 'path breaking' discovery of water on moon has prompted ISRO to revisit the scientific objectives of the Chandrayaan-II slated for 2013, said ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair in Bangalore after NASA publicly acknowledged its partnership in this discovery.

http://www.khabrein.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=26853&Itemid=62

New Map Helps Reveal Origins of Mysterious Features on Ganymede

In the search for extraterrestrial life, Jupiter's moon Ganymede, the largest in the solar system, is no Europa. The salty subsurface ocean it likely harbors is much farther below its surface than is Europa's  probable liquid ocean, and it's sandwiched between layers of ice, leading most scientists to conclude that the prospects for life on--or inside-- Ganymede are dim.

A joint NASA/ESA mission to both Europa and Ganymede is proposed to launch in 2020.









http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=ca14a824c29bd69a6a4f5159a883995e

Spacecraft to fly by Mercury for third time

NASA's MESSENGER probe will skim just 142 miles above Mercury at its closest approach during its third flyby, the last of three designed to guide the craft into orbit around the planet in 2011.







http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33064482/ns/technology_and_science-space/

Lights, camera ... Hubble!

"Hubble 3-D" is shaping up as a fitting sendoff for the world's most-loved telescope as well as the most complicated flying machine ever built.







http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/09/28/2082228.aspx

Textile antenna promises futuristic communications

With a simple press on his shirt insignia, the captain of the Star Ship Enterprise could send and receive messages. Now, thanks to the efforts of a Finnish company supported by ESA, this futuristic communication may not be limited to fiction.

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMQKBKIWZF_index_0.html

Spirit Makes Progress On Antenna Actuator

Spirit is recovering from the high-gain antenna (HGA) anomaly that occurred on Sol 2027 (Sept. 15, 2009). The HGA problem is suspected to be an apparent intermittent behavior in the dynamic brake relay for the HGA actuators, a problem that has been seen and mitigated before in other rover actuators.

http://www.marsdaily.com/reports/Spirit_Makes_Progress_On_Antenna_Actuator_999.html

Opportunity Passes 11 Mile Mark

Opportunity has driven four out of the last six sols, making way to Endeavour crater. On sols 2009, 2011, 2013 and 2014 (Sept. 18, 20, 22 and 23), the rover drove 55 metres (180 feet), 71 metres (233 feet), 70 metres (230 feet) and 59 metres (194 feet), respectively, passing 11 miles of total odometry.

http://www.marsdaily.com/reports/Opportunity_Passes_11_Mile_Mark_999.html

Moon-crashing probe aimed at bigger target

A NASA spacecraft destined to crash into a moon crater in the hunt for hidden caches of water ice has a new target, the space agency announced Monday.







http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33064495/ns/technology_and_science-space/

Soyuz rocket readied for space station mission

Workers at Russia's manned space-launch facility lifted to the launch pad on Monday a rocket that is to send Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte and two astronauts to the International Space Station.







http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33059996/ns/technology_and_science-space/

’Space clown’ buoyant ahead of space launch

Even in a sterile quarantine bay, the world's first space clown couldn't resist the urge to perform.







http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33056439/ns/technology_and_science-space/

Next Ariane launch on 30 September

Europe's heavy-lift launcher is scheduled to make its next flight from the Guiana Space Centre this week, carrying a Spanish and a German telecommunications satellite: AMAZONAS-2 and COMSATBw-1.

http://www.arianespace.com/news/mission-status.asp

MRO Ice Discovery Unexpected

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has found ice in freshly made craters on the Red Planet.

http://www.aviationweek.com/avnow/news/channel_space_story.jsp?id=news/MRO092809.xml&source=rss

Technical flaw delays Glonass satellite launch by month

The launch of three Glonass navigation satellites has been moved back by at least a month due to a technical defect in one of the satellites, the head of the federal space agency said on Friday. Roscosmos’s Anatoly Perminov said he had not as yet been officially notified of the specific cause for the postponement of the launch, which had been scheduled for Friday from the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan.

http://en.rian.ru/science/20090925/156252606.html

GigaGalaxy Zoom Phase 3

Image 1: The third image of ESO’s GigaGalaxy Zoom project is an amazing vista of the Lagoon Nebula taken with the 67-million-pixel Wide Field Imager attached to the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile. The image covers more than one and a half square degree–" an area eight times larger than that of the Full Moon –" with a total of about 370 million pixels. It is based on images acquired using three different broadband filters (B, V, R) and one narrow-band filter (H-alpha). (ESO)Image 2: The three images of ESO’s GigaGalaxy Zoom project showing the sky at different levels: from the view seen by the unaided eye to one seen through an amateur telescope, with a final zoom in onto the Lagoon Nebula as seen through a professional telescope. (ESO/S. Guisard/S. Brunier)

http://www.redorbit.com/news/space/1760257/gigagalaxy_zoom_phase_3/index.html?source=r_space

Final Assembly of 5th Ariane 5 is Complete With Dual-Passenger Payload

(September 25, 2009) -- The fifth Ariane 5 for launch in 2009 is ready for liftoff next week following the integration of its military and civilian telecommunications spacecraft payloads at the Spaceport in French Guiana. With the Amazonas 2 and C...

http://www.asd-network.com/press_detail/23420/Final_Assembly_of_5th_Ariane_5_is_Complete_With_Dual-Passenger_Payload.htm

Dragoneye Navigation Sensor Successfully Demonstrated on Space Shuttle

(Hawthorne, CA., September 24, 2009) -- Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) announces the successful demonstration of a proximity sensor, called DragonEye, on NASA’s STS-127 shuttle mission. DragonEye launched aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour o...

http://www.asd-network.com/press_detail/23424/Dragoneye_Navigation_Sensor_Successfully_Demonstrated_on_Space_Shuttle.htm

STSS Satellites Built by NGC Successfully Launched

(Cape Canaveral, Fla., September 25, 2009) -- A critical space-based capability was added to America’s ballistic missile defenses Sept. 25 when two U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) Space Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS) Demonstrator satellite...

http://www.asd-network.com/press_detail/23437/STSS_Satellites_Built_by_NGC_Successfully_Launched.htm

SpaceX’s DragonEye Navigation Sensor Demonstrated On Space Shuttle

Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) announces the successful demonstration of a proximity sensor, called DragonEye, on NASA's STS-127 shuttle mission. DragonEye launched aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour on July 15th, 2009, and was tested in proximity of the International Space Station (ISS) in preparation for future visits by SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft.

http://www.space-travel.com/reports/SpaceX_DragonEye_Navigation_Sensor_Demonstrated_On_Space_Shuttle_999.html

Astronomy Question of the Week: What is dark energy?

Exactly what is dark energy? Astrophysicists would also like to know the answer to this question –" it determines how the Universe will develop. Cosmologists are fairly sure that it has been expanding since the Big Bang. What is still uncertain is whether this expansion will continue forever or whether the Universe will one day begin to collapse again.

http://www.dlr.de/en/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-1/86_read-19523/

IKONOS Satellite Marks 10 Years In Operations

The world's first commercial, high-resolution, Earth imaging satellite, IKONOS, achieved its 10th year of operation on Sept. 24. Built by Lockheed Martin, the satellite continues to provide high-resolution imagery of the Earth to commercial and government customers around the world. IKONOS is owned and operated by GeoEye.

http://www.spacemart.com/reports/IKONOS_Satellite_Marks_10_Years_In_Operations_999.html

China to build, launch satellite for Laos

China will build and launch a communications satellite for Laos, Chinese media reported Saturday, following similar ventures for Nigeria and Venezuela.

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/China_to_build_launch_satellite_for_Laos_999.html

Extracting Water From Moon Possible: Indian Scientist

New Delhi, India (XNA) Sep 28, 2009 - Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) Chairman Madhavan Nair on Friday claimed that it is possible to extract water from the Moon just a few hours after it was confirmed that water was present on the lunar surface.

http://www.moondaily.com/reports/Extracting_Water_From_Moon_Possible_Indian_Scientist_999.html

India’s Moon Mission Quite Economical

India's moon mission has proved to be quite economical and cost much less compared to what other countries have spent on their projects, mission director M Annadurai said here. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) would continue to check costs in the Chandrayaan-II mission as well, he said.

http://www.moondaily.com/reports/India_Moon_Mission_Quite_Economical_999.html

Exposed Pallet stored back in HTV

The Exposed Pallet of the H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) Demonstration Flight was retrieved and stored back in the HTV Unpressurized Carrier at 10:20 p.m. on Sept. 25 (Japan Standard Time) by the robotic arms of the Kibo and the International Space Station (SSRMS) after its two cargoes, the experiment devices in the unpressurized environment, had been installed in the Kibo's Exposed Facility.

http://www.jaxa.jp/countdown/h2bf1/index_e.html

Awards Announced For Future Astrophysics Suborbital Flights

NASA has selected nine scientific teams to work on future high-altitude balloon and sounding rocket payloads. The selected proposals address a wide range of astrophysical mysteries from dark matter and cosmic-ray antiprotons to studies of galaxy clusters and supernova remnants.

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Awards_Announced_For_Future_Astrophysics_Suborbital_Flights_999.html

NASA Goddard Shoots The Moon To Track LRO

On certain nights, an arresting green line pierces the sky above NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. It's a laser directed at the moon, visible when the air is humid. No, we're not repelling an invasion. Instead, we're tracking our own spacecraft.

http://www.moondaily.com/reports/NASA_Goddard_Shoots_The_Moon_To_Track_LRO_999.html

Space Debris Gets Some Respect

For the last few decades the international space community has freely used near-Earth space for many important applications without regard for the impact of artificial satellites on the space environment. Although space-faring nations have spewed trash from 200 km to beyond 36,000 km, the space below about 1,600 km has been severely abused.

http://www.spacemart.com/reports/Space_Debris_Gets_Some_Respect_999.html

The Importance of Lunar Water

It has been a few days since the revelations concerning the Moon water results. There has been much discussion and debate, some of it heated, between those who think that this changes the arguments of lunar versus Martian exploration by humans.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/spaceref/jext/~3/DGGy4uE6E0c/viewnews.rss.html

China Planning To Launch Communication Satellite

Chinese media reported on Saturday that the country is planning to build and launch a communications satellite for Laos.

http://www.redorbit.com/news/space/1760114/china_planning_to_launch_communication_satellite/index.html?source=r_space

Expect more findings: Chandrayaan project director

With Chandrayaan-I striking water, doubts about the mission have been laid to rest. More findings as interesting as water are expected in
the coming months. Chandrayaan-I and II project director M Annadurai says...

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/india/Expect-more-findings-Chandrayaan-project-director/articleshow/5057856.cms

NASA Ice Satellite Maps Profound Polar Thinning

Researchers have used NASAs Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) to compose the most comprehensive picture of changing glaciers along the coast of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/spaceref/jext/~3/3aCBVOJZcgI/viewpr.rss.html

SMART-1 Mapped Crash Scene of Upcoming LCROSS Impact

The European Space Agency's SMART-1 team has released an image of the future impact site of NASA's Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS).

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.rss.html?pid=29250

Lotus Plant-Inspired Dust-Busting Shield to Protect Space Gear

A plant that lives along muddy waterways in Asia has inspired a NASA team to develop a special coating to prevent dirt and even bacteria from sticking to and contaminating the surfaces of spaceflight gear.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/spaceref/jext/~3/f4yDYKhcfUg/viewpr.rss.html

Masten Space Completes First Untethered Flights, Competes in Challenge

Masten Space Completes First Untethered Flights, Competes in Challenge

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/spaceref/jext/~3/ygORUosBpFg/viewpr.rss.html

Space Tracking and Surveillance System Satellites Built by Northrop Grumman Successfully Launched

Space Tracking and Surveillance System Satellites Built by Northrop Grumman Successfully Launched

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.rss.html?pid=29243

Ariane integration complete

The Amazonas 2 and COMSATBw-1 satellites have been installed atop their heavy-lift Ariane 5, which is now undergoing a final series of checks in preparation for liftoff on September 30 from the Spaceport in French Guiana. Amazonas 2 will be operated by Spain's HISPASAT with a coverage area extending from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego. COMSATBw-1 is a German military satellite that will play an important role in the German Bundeswehr's (German Armed Forces) concept for network-centric operations.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Arianespace/~3/iex3mn7yLWA/640.asp

No home in the galactic outer suburbs

The lack of protective dust in the outskirts of the Milky Way makes an Earth-type planet there unlikely

http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10898/s/652d9a5/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cmg20A3272740B90A0A0Eno0Ehome0Ein0Ethe0Egalactic0Eouter0Esuburbs0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fspace/story01.htm

Russian Space Agency Chief Wants Shuttle Extension

The head of Russia's space agency said Friday that he had hopes that NASA would extend the lifespan of its shuttle fleet, and had indications that it was possible."From some sources we have learned that it is possible to extend the life of the shuttle beyond 2011," RIA news agency quoted Roscosmos chief Anatoly Perminov."Then the situation would change substantially and it would be possible to work jointly with the Americans, unlike now, when the main burden (for the ISS) lies with the Russian side."

http://www.redorbit.com/news/space/1759677/russian_space_agency_chief_wants_shuttle_extension/index.html?source=r_space

Agency looks for ideas to clean up space junk

DARPA wants to hear about ideas to clean up orbital debris.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33024322/ns/technology_and_science-science/

India over the moon with water discovery

India on Friday hailed the discovery of water on the moon as a triumph for its lunar programme as the country aims to cement its reputation as a serious player in the space industry.

http://www.asd-network.com/press_detail/23409/India_over_the_moon_with_water_discovery.htm

DigitalGlobe Receives New Scheduled Launch Date of October 8, 2009

DigitalGlobe Receives New Scheduled Launch Date of October 8, 2009

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.rss.html?pid=29244

COM DEV Wins Commercial Satellite Contract

COM DEV Wins Commercial Satellite Contract

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.rss.html?pid=29245

NASA Seeks Ideas For New Prize Challenges

The Innovative Partnerships Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington is offering an opportunity for the public to help shape the prize challenges the agency offers to America's future citizen-inventors. For the next six weeks, ideas for new Centennial Challenge prize competitions may be proposed for NASA's consideration.

http://www.redorbit.com/news/space/1759832/nasa_seeks_ideas_for_new_prize_challenges/index.html?source=r_space

Russian satellite launches delayed due to glitch

Russia's space chief said Friday the launch of three satellites aimed at bolstering its planned GPS-type navigation system was delayed because of a malfunction in an earlier launched satellite, news agencies reported.







http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33019538/ns/technology_and_science-space/

Delta II launches experimental missile defense satellites

After days of delays, a Delta II rocket with a special missile defense payload blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Friday morning into hazy blue Florida skies. The rocket launched at 8:20 a.m. Friday, carrying into orbit two...





http://feeds.orlandosentinel.com/~r/news/space/space_blog/~3/A70KHEZjHKI/delta-ii-launches-experimental-missile-defense-satellites.html

Help for developing nations lies in space?

The Colorado Springs-based Space Foundation says outer space may just be what solves the social and economic woes of developing nations.

In a report released last week, the foundation emphasizes the importance science and technology — particularly space technology — will have on many of the challenges facing developing nations.

People in remote areas can be connected by communications satellites, which would assist in connecting those people with medical expertise and in connecting students and teachers with content, to name one example.

Remote sensing satellites can update officials about changes in land use, help them to provide natural disaster relief and in monitoring conflicts, to name another example. Officials would be able to quickly identify where aid is needed most, according to the report.

And in the area of economic growth, investments in space capabilities would spur progress in science and technology, which develops educated citizens and technology-smart governments, states the Space Foundation report.

Many nations are already increasing their investment in space programs, including India, Brazil and Nigeria.

http://www.thedenverdailynews.com/article.php?aID=5750

India’s moon water probe could yield more finds: scientists

NEW DELHI, Sept 25, 2009 (AFP) - Indian space scientists whose satellite detected water on the Moon’s surface said Friday their programme might yield further discoveries once all the data is analysed. "Chandrayaan I has found water on the moon, it...

http://www.asd-network.com/press_detail/23383/India_s_moon_water_probe_could_yield_more_finds:_scientists.htm

LM-Built IKONOS Satellite Marks 10 Years In Operations

(Denver, September 24, 2009) -- The world’s first commercial, high-resolution, Earth imaging satellite, IKONOS, will achieve its 10th year of operation on Sept. 24. Built by Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT], the satellite continues to provide high-resolut...

http://www.asd-network.com/press_detail/23387/LM-Built_IKONOS_Satellite_Marks_10_Years_In_Operations.htm

Thor 6 Ready to Be Shipped to Kourou

Telecommunication satellite built by Thales Alenia Space (Cannes, September 24, 2009) -- The Thor 6 satellite, of Telenor Satellite Broadcasting AS, a subsidiary of Norway’s telecommunication provider Telenor, is ready to be shipped to Kourou in F...

http://www.asd-network.com/press_detail/23389/Thor_6_Ready_to_Be_Shipped_to_Kourou.htm

Boeing bids for NASA space taxi programme

A NASA proposal to spur the development of private space taxis to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station once the space shuttle is retired has drawn a bid from U.S. aerospace giant Boeing Corp (BA.N).

Boeing is willing to invest "a substantial amount" of its own resources in the project, company officials said on Wednesday, but declined to give more financial details.

http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN23400481

Switzerland Has Sent Its First Satellite Into Space

Lausanne, Switzerland (SPX) Sep 25, 2009 -
The Indian launcher Polar Space Launch Vehicle took off at 8:22 a.m. - Swiss time. Twenty minutes later, the SwissCube was ejected from the nose cone of the rocket at an altitude of around 720 kilometers. At 9:37 a.m. the first ever signals sent from a Swiss satellite in space were picked up from Stanford (California). Mission accomplished.

http://www.spacemart.com/reports/Switzerland_Has_Sent_Its_First_Satellite_Into_Space_999.html

MARSIS Data Reveal New Method To Measure The Magnetic Field Of Mars

Paris, France (ESA) Sep 25, 2009 -
Unusual signals detected by the Mars Express MARSIS instrument have been used to determine the magnetic field strength of Mars. In a forthcoming issue of Icarus, Ferzan Akalin and colleagues demonstrate how the MARSIS instrument can be used as a magnetometer - an unexpected application with important consequences for studies of local plasma effects and the Mars Express spacecraft environment.

http://www.marsdaily.com/reports/MARSIS_Data_Reveal_New_Method_To_Measure_The_Magnetic_Field_Of_Mars_999.html

Indian rocket launches seven satellites

New Delhi (UPI) Sep 23, 2009 - Indian space scientists Wednesday announced the successful launch of seven satellites in a single mission, termed fantastic by the nation’s leadership.

http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Indian_rocket_launches_seven_satellites_999.html

One Giant Leap For the Isle of Man

Excalibur Almaz (EA), headquartered on the Isle of Man, anticipates launching an active private sector space programme by 2013 using updated and modified technology from the ’Almaz’ space system. EA plans to offer week-long orbital space flights to commercial customers, including governments and academic institutions, taking a big leap beyond the sub-orbital flight market targeted by most other private space companies.


http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/spaceref/jext/~3/nfClOHfgOLE/viewpr.rss.html

KIRARI: Signals stopped; successful operation ends

At 2:48 p.m. on Sept. 24, 2009, signal transmissions to the JAXA Optical Inter-orbit Communications Engineering Test Satellite "KIRARI" (OICETS) were terminated, and its operation was completed. The KIRARI was initially scheduled to be operated in orbit for about one year, but it survived for four years, much longer than the original plan. The KIRARI was launched by the Dnepr Launch Vehicle from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, on Aug. 24, 2005, and made many achievements in the space optical communication area including bi-directional optical inter-satellite communication and links between a lower-orbit satellite and a ground optical station.

http://www.jaxa.jp/projects/sat/oicets/index_e.html

Spitzer Spots Clump of Swirling Planetary Material

Astronomers have witnessed odd behavior around a young star. Something, perhaps another star or a planet, appears to be pushing a clump of planet-forming material around.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/spaceref/jext/~3/lb6Sny_iAx8/viewpr.rss.html

NASA Goddard Shoots The Moon to track Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Spacecraft

28 times per second, engineers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center fire a laser that travels about 250,000 miles to hit the minivan-sized Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft moving at nearly 3,600 miles per hour as it orbits the moon.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/spaceref/jext/~3/k3HM-xtg2bo/viewpr.rss.html

Three Spacecraft Find Water on Moon

Three spacecraft have discovered evidence of widespread water on the moon. Several satellites orbiting the moon have found tell tale readings of ice in the lunar soil, billions of gallons of it. There had been hints of this in the 1990s, but now, three papers in the journal 'Science' say there is solid proof. In just a few weeks, there may be even better evidence, as NASA plans to crash its Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite, known as LCROSS, into the moon, while another satellite measures precisely what it kicks up.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/24/science/space/24moon.html?_r=1&em

Meteorite impacts turn up nearly pure water ice in Mars’s mid-latitudes

Planetary scientists looking for water ice on Mars have employed a number of tactics to great success in their search. The Phoenix lander dug it up and orbiting radar measurements have seen it under insulating blankets of debris. ( Frozen water sublimates to vapor in Mars's climate and so is not stable when exposed at the surface.)







http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=c3a0c3c1514bdc6cdfa9e1baaa9fcbb0

India Launches Oceansat-2, six Nanosats

The Indian Space Research Organization's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle lifted the satellites into orbit.

http://www.aviationweek.com/avnow/news/channel_space_story.jsp?id=news/Oceansat092409.xml&source=rss

Spacecraft Find Clear Evidence of Water on Moon

New data from the Deep Impact spacecraft and the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3), an instrument aboard India's recently ended Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, provide, for the first time, clear evidence that water exists on the surface of the Moon.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/spaceref/jext/~3/EF_T36-PXbs/viewpr.rss.html

NASA works on space age coating

NASA scientists say they've developing a coating that can prevent dirt and even bacteria from sticking to and contaminating the surfaces of spaceflight gear.

http://www.spacemart.com/reports/NASA_works_on_space_age_coating_999.html

Keck: Twin 10-meter Telescopes Spot Double Dust Cloud

Linking the twin, 10-meter telescopes in Hawaii, astronomers at the W. M. Keck Observatory discovered an extended, double-layered dust disk orbiting 51 Ophiuchi, a star that is 410 light-years from Earth. It is the first time the Keck Interferometer Nuller instrument has identified such a compact cloud around a star so far away.

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Keck_Twin_10_meter_Telescopes_Spot_Double_Dust_Cloud_999.html

Masten Space Completes First Untethered Flights

Masten Space Systems successfully demonstrated multiple sustained free flights of its XA-0.1B vertical take-off, vertical landing (VTVL) rocket this past week. The longest flight was 93 seconds and involved a flight between two pads 60 meters apart. This marks the first time a purely rocket powered VTVL has flown from Mojave Air and Space Port.

http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Masten_Space_Completes_First_Untethered_Flights_999.html

Ares I test was "outstanding" but thrust oscillation not beat yet

Two weeks ago in the Utah desert, engineers from NASA and the Ares I prime contractor, ATK, test fired the rocket's huge solid-fuel first stage motor for the first time.

http://feeds.orlandosentinel.com/~r/news/space/space_blog/~3/rgXTMCBeVEA/ares-i-test-was-outstanding-but-thrust-oscillation-not-beat-yet.html

NASA Orbiter Finds Ice In New Craters On Mars

The HiRISE camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took an image of a new, 8-metre-diameter meteorite impact crater in the topographically flat, dark plains within Vastitas Borealis, Mars, on November 1, 2008. The crater was made sometime after Jan. 26, 2008. Bright water ice was excavated by, and now surrounds, the crater.

http://www.redorbit.com/news/space/1759282/nasa_orbiter_finds_ice_in_new_craters_on_mars/index.html?source=r_space

Moon water findings are a game-changer

The discovery of widespread but small amounts water on the surface of the moon may well revolutionize our understanding of the nature of the moon's surface, experts say.







http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33007226/ns/technology_and_science-space/

NASA Spacecraft Sees Ice on Mars Exposed by Meteor Impacts

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has revealed frozen water hiding just below the surface of mid-latitude Mars. The spacecraft's observations were obtained from orbit after meteorites excavated fresh craters on the Red Planet.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/spaceref/jext/~3/UDiyztw5r1g/viewpr.rss.html

Delta II launch of defense satellites now set for Friday

NASA delayed Thursday's launch of a ULA Delta II rocket carrying experimental missile-tracking satellites by at least 24 hours so workers could repair a small fuel leak at pad 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station . The leak in...





http://feeds.orlandosentinel.com/~r/news/space/space_blog/~3/8LG3zVJJVYM/delta-ii-launch-of-defense-satellites-now-set-for-friday.html

NASA to Evaluate International Battery’s Lithium-Ion Large-Format Batteries

NASA to Evaluate International Battery's Lithium-Ion Large-Format Batteries

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/spaceref/jext/~3/QgBmF5BwpTw/viewpr.rss.html

QZZS proto-flight test starts

QZZS proto-flight test starts

http://www.jaxa.jp/projects/sat/qzss/index_e.html

China to Construct Manned Space Station

China aims to build a manned space station with its own technology by 2020, the next step toward becoming a space power and a feat only the U.S. and Russia have accomplished so far. Chinese media on Tuesday reported that Wang Yongzhi, the project's chief designer and a senior researcher at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, announced the plan at a conference on 60 years of Chinese space technology on Monday.


http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2009/09/23/2009092300766.html

Boeing, NASA mull commercial space travel

Boeing is proposing to join hands with NASA to research and develop commercially viable space transportation as a first step toward shipping astronauts and then possibly civilian travelers into the Earth's lower orbit.

http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Boeing_NASA_mull_commercial_space_travel_999.html

LCROSS will check for lunar water

A hotly anticipated experiment will test the theory next month that the moon's permanently shadowed polar craters harbor pockets of water ice. A NASA spacecraft called the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) will perform a two-stage bombardment of a south polar crater to see what rises up in the ensuing debris plume.

http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=cfb5d9a012719faf534031af950bffe1

Wearable computer tested on space station

The European Space Agency says astronaut Frank De Winne has tested a wearable computer system while changing an International Space Station filter.The ESA said its system includes a display that projects 3D graphics and data onto De Winne's field of view.

http://www.redorbit.com/news/space/1758283/wearable_computer_tested_on_space_station/index.html?source=r_space

Prospect of moon ice spurs excitement

Fresh reports suggest that water ice may be closer at hand on the moon than scientists previously thought –" and that could be a boon for future explorers.







http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32987896/ns/technology_and_science-space/

MESSENGER Spacecraft Prepares for Final Pass by Mercury

NASA's Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry, and Ranging spacecraft known as MESSENGER will fly by Mercury for the third and final time on September 29.

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2009/sep/HQ_09-221_Messenger_Final_Flyby.html

ISRO Successfully Launches Seven Satellites on One Rocket

India successfully launched seven satellites including six from foreign countries on Wednesday, officials said, underlining the country’s ambitions in the space business. About a month after its first moon mission was aborted, the country’s space agency announced that the seven satellites had been put into orbit about 720 kilometres (447 miles) above the Earth.

India will use one of the satellites, Oceansat-2, for monitoring ocean patterns and identifying fishing zones, enhancing the capability of the first Oceansat, which was launched in 1999, the agency said. Of the six foreign satellites, there are four from Germany and one each from Switzerland and Turkey. They are university-funded payloads being used to test new technologies.


http://mailview.custombriefings.com/mailview.aspx?m=2009092301aiaa&r=2949763-0a92&l=01b-225&t=c

Astrium to Deliver 1st Military Communication Satellite for Germany

-- The first satellite is ready for launch in French Guiana -- The entire system will be fully operational by the end of 2010 once the second satellite is launched (Ottobrunn, September 23, 2009) -- Astrium will deliver into orbit the first of ...

http://www.asd-network.com/press_detail/23362/Astrium_to_Deliver_1st_Military_Communication_Satellite_for_Germany.htm

Raytheon Receiver Surpasses Milestone in Satellite Tracking

(El Segundo, Calif., September 23, 2009) -- Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) has surpassed another milestone on its Modernized User Equipment program by achieving live satellite M-code tracking with its MUE receiver. A Raytheon-led team developed mode...

http://www.asd-network.com/press_detail/23365/Raytheon_Receiver_Surpasses_Milestone_in_Satellite_Tracking.htm

NASA Invites Students to Drop Everything

NASA is inviting student teams to experience microgravity science by designing and building experiments to be conducted in a NASA drop tower.

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2009/sep/HQ_09_223_Ed_DIME_WING.html

7th Ariane 5 for Launch in 2009 Arrives at the Spaceport

Launch vehicles for three upcoming Arianespace missions are now at the Spaceport in French Guiana following this week's delivery of components for Ariane 5's record seventh flight of 2009.

http://www.asd-network.com/press_detail/23368/7th_Ariane_5_for_Launch_in_2009_Arrives_at_the_Spaceport.htm

LOFAR Takes The Long View Across Borders

An international group of astronomers have succeeded in the first joint observations between the LOFAR stations in Exloo (The Netherlands) and Effelsberg (Germany). This constitutes the "first light" of the LOFAR telescope as an international array. The bright quasar 3C 196, located almost ten billion light years away from Earth, was detected successfully on 2009 August 20 providing first "interferometric fringes", equivalent to the "first light" for an ordinary telescope.

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/LOFAR_Takes_The_Long_View_Across_Borders_999.html

EVE: Measuring Sun’s Hidden Variability

Every 11 years, the sun undergoes a furious upheaval. Dark sunspots burst forth from beneath the sun's surface. Explosions as powerful as a billion atomic bombs spark intense flares of high-energy radiation. Clouds of gas big enough to swallow planets break away and billow into space. It's a flamboyant display of stellar power.

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/EVE_Measuring_Sun_Hidden_Variability_999.html

MESSENGER Prepares For Final Pass By Mercury

NASA's Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry, and Ranging spacecraft known as MESSENGER will fly by Mercury for the third and final time on Sept. 29.

http://www.redorbit.com/news/space/1758507/messenger_prepares_for_final_pass_by_mercury/index.html?source=r_space

Probes confirm water’s presence on the moon

Three different spacecraft produce what has been called "unambiguous evidence" of water across the surface of the moon.







http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32992137/ns/technology_and_science-space/

Three Separate Spacecraft Have Detected Significant Water On the Moon

Three articles will appear in Science Magazine today. Three different spacecraft - three different instruments - all saying the same thing about the presence of water and other materials on the Moon.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/spaceref/jext/~3/6JW5yXol89c/viewnews.rss.html

Boeing throws its hat into the commercial space ring

Undaunted by Congressional skeptics of commercial space ventures, aerospace heavyweight Boeing Co. submitted a proposal Tuesday to NASA requesting the agency to speed up development of commercial human spaceflight capabilities.

http://feeds.orlandosentinel.com/~r/news/space/space_blog/~3/NbH3qNHoiuI/boeing-throws-its-hat-into-the-commercial-space-ring.html

NASA To Hold Teleconference To Discuss New Findings About Mars

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., will host a media teleconference at noon PDT on Thursday, Sept. 24, to discuss new research results from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2009/sep/M09_184_MRO_Teleconference.html

NASA Announces Awards For Future Astrophysics Suborbital Flights

NASA has selected nine scientific teams to work on future high-altitude balloon and sounding rocket payloads. The selected proposals address a wide range of astrophysical mysteries from dark matter and cosmic-ray antiprotons to studies of galaxy clusters and supernova remnants.

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2009/sep/HQ_09_220_Future_Astro_Subflights.html

Falcon 9 Back on USAF Launch Schedule

After being removed from the USAF's 45th Space Wing's launch schedule for five months, SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket is back on the board. The most recent 90-day range forecast released Tuesday has the rocket's maiden launch planned for 29 November. Commercial space advocates say Falcon 9's return to the Air Force manifest is a significant development that should demonstrate to critics that the promise of new rocket companies is real. The news arrived one week after several members of Congress cast doubt on the viability of commercial spaceflight as they defended NASA's plans to replace the space shuttle.

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_space_thewritestuff/2009/09/air-force-spacexs-falcon-9-first-launch-planned-for-nov-29-.html

Companies Answering DARPA Solicitation for Space Junk Ideas

Companies Answering DARPA Solicitation for Space Junk Ideas

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=orbital-debris-darpa

India launches seven satellites: space agency

India successfully launched seven satellites including six from foreign countries on Wednesday, officials said, underlining the country's ambitions in the space business.

http://www.asd-network.com/press_detail/23343/India_launches_seven_satellites:_space_agency.htm

Turning space technology into business

For the fifth time, ESA hosted this month the one-week CEMS kick-off seminar for students from leading European management schools to learn about technology transfer and what it takes to turn space technology breakthroughs into viable non-space businesses.

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEM62VJIWZF_index_0.html

Boeing Completes Ground Tests to Prepare for 1st GPS IIF Satellite Launch

(El Segundo, Calif., September 22, 2009) -- Boeing [NYSE: BA] has successfully completed key ground tests that help pave the way for next year’s launch of the first Global Positioning System (GPS) IIF satellite. Built at Boeing’s El Segundo satell...

http://www.asd-network.com/press_detail/23329/Boeing_Completes_Ground_Tests_to_Prepare_for_1st_GPS_IIF_Satellite_Launch_.htm

Lockheed Martin-Built Satellite System Operating Successfully On Orbit

A next-generation satellite, designed and built by Lockheed Martin for the U.S. government, is performing as required following its successful launch from Cape Canaveral.

http://www.asd-network.com/press_detail/23333/Innovative_LM-Built_Satellite_System_Operating_Successfully_On_Orbit.htm

Argon On The Moon

Sydney, Australia (SPX) Sep 23, 2009 -
In early October, NASA’s LCROSS mission will impact a crater near the Moon’s south pole, creating a massive plume of debris that will be visible from Earth. Telescopes on the ground, and on board the LCROSS shepherd spacecraft, will search this plume for evidence of water vapour.

http://www.moondaily.com/reports/Argon_On_The_Moon_999.html

Team Selenokhod Enters Google Lunar X PRIZE Competition

Team Selenokhod, a Russian group of engineers and managers, has announced its official entry into the Google Lunar X PRIZE - a $30 million competition that challenges space professionals and engineers from across the globe to build and launch to the moon a privately funded spacecraft capable of completing a series of exploration and transmission tasks as outlined in the competition's official rules.

http://www.moondaily.com/reports/Team_Selenokhod_Enters_Google_Lunar_X_PRIZE_Competition_999.html

Looking For Life As We Don’t Know It

Scientists at a new interdisciplinary research group in Austria are working to uncover how life might evolve with "exotic" biochemistry and solvents, such as sulfuric acid instead of water. Their research will be presented at the European Planetary Science Congress in Potsdam by Johannes Leitner.

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Looking_For_Life_As_We_Dont_Know_It_999.html

The thinnest, most delicate thing in space

The line between the success and failure on a space mission can be a very fine one. Very fine.

We’ve had an illustration of that in recent days with the contrasting fortunes of two European Space Agency (Esa) missions - Goce and Cryosat.

The Goce satellite is in orbit and about to start its quest this week to make the most detailed global map ever obtained of Earth’s gravity field.

Cryosat - or at least the second version of it - is heading back to the launch pad for another attempt to get its ice science off the ground following a disastrous rocket failure four years ago.

Launches are always high anxiety events.

I remember in March chatting with a member of the Goce team just 20 minutes prior to what would eventually prove to be a successful climb to orbit - and it was clear at the time that his stomach was doing some Olympic somersaults.

You could tell because he was ever so slightly struggling for breath as he spoke. We’ve all been there; we all know and sympathise with that experience.

Some of the stress comes from knowing all of the things that could possibly go wrong. One in particular on Goce caught my attention, and this concerned some spectacularly thin wires.

Goce will make its gravity map using an instrument called a gradiometer. Put very simply, it’s a box that houses three pairs of platinum blocks.

These metal blocks, or test masses as they call them, sit across the three axes of the spacecraft; and as Goce bumps and grinds through the Earth’s gravity field, the blocks sense the disturbance.

Of course that disturbance is fantastically small. It is so tiny in fact that if an electrical potential were to build up in the mechanism, the attraction between the blocks and their housing would totally swamp the measurements.

So to get over this problem, the engineers attached gold wires to the blocks to, in essence, "ground" them so that potential could not develop. But then the weight of the wire might also have introduced a bias to the measurements, so the engineers were forced to make the wires ridiculously slim and light.

The wires are just five microns (millionths of a metre) thick.

Problem solved? Yes, perhaps. But how would these astonishingly slender wires survive the violent shaking experienced on launch? If the vibration snapped them then Goce would arrive in orbit as a worthless hunk of junk.

This single puzzle kept Goce engineers engaged for 18 months while they carried out the tests needed to prove the wires were sufficiently robust.

Their confidence was well placed. All the wires did the business and Goce is now "go for science".

Cryosat, sadly, fell victim to a "circumstances beyond our control" event - the failure of its Russian Rockot launcher.

The Rockot is a converted intercontinental missile, a former war machine pressed into the civil service of space.

It had an excellent record at the time; there was nothing to suggest Cryosat might be at risk - but fail, it did.

Richard Francis, the Esa project manager on the mission, re-lives the gory detail (you can listen below).

It gives a remarkable insight into the emotions that exist in a control room when a shiny new satellite goes missing, and all the procedures to deal with an emergency that were practised in the pre-launch simulations fail to recover the situation.

In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit BBC Webwise for full instructions. If you’re reading via RSS, you’ll need to visit the blog to access this content. var emp = new bbc.Emp(); emp.setWidth("466"); emp.setHeight("106"); emp.setDomId("cryosat_230909"); emp.setPlaylist("http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/emp/8270000/8270600/8270603.xml"); emp.write();

To summarise: The Rockot is a three-stage vehicle. The first stage worked perfectly.

It was in the second-stage that something went amiss. An onboard command was executed out of sequence which meant the second-stage engine, instead of shutting down at the correct moment to allow for separation with the third-stage, continued to burn.

The whole assembly - second and upper-stages, and the precious Cryosat on top - went tumbling out of control and fell back to Earth.

The descending mass was moving at about 5km per second and eventually exploded over the Arctic some 120km from the pole. It’s said a Russian meteorological station saw the fireball come in.

A fireball that had taken in the region of 75m euros and 6,000 man-hours to build.

Richard Francis recalls:

"The flight operations director, who had normally been very careful at the end of each simulation as to how we should shut down our various computers, basically said, ’turn them off anyway you want, and go’. And at that point a large number of the operations team were in tears."

Events have turned for Cryosat. The European Space Agency ordered a replacement.

We filmed the new spacecraft in Ottobrunn, Germany, last week. It was about to be packed up ready for despatch to the launch complex at Baikonur.

At the end of filming, as we turned to head out of the cleanroom door, the mission’s chief scientist Professor Duncan Wingham mused: "That’s probably the last time I’ll see it."

Let’s hope he’s wrong. Let’s hope he’ll see Cryosat-2 again soon as a fast-moving dot in the night sky, heading pole-to-pole to acquire some of the best data yet on the state of the Earth’s ice sheets.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/jonathanamos/2009/09/thin-line.shtml

Proton Launch Delayed Due To Problem With Glonass Satellite

Russia's launch of a Proton-M carrier rocket from the Baikonur space centre has been delayed due to a problem with one of Glonass-M satellites, a source at the launch facility in Kazakhstan said.

http://www.gpsdaily.com/reports/Proton_Launch_Delayed_Due_To_Problem_With_Glonass_Satellite_999.html

More than 100,000 visitors for German Aerospace Day 2009 at DLR

The doors to the German Aerospace Center were not intended to open to the public until 10:00. The attractions on display at the DLR site –" in the aerospace and energy research laboratories and facilities and at the ESA astronaut-training centre –" all ensured that a large number of visitors sought to be admitted as early in the day as possible. This meant that the entrance gates to DLR were opened at 09:30, half an hour earlier than planned. By that evening, about 100,000 guests had attended German Aerospace Day 2009.

http://www.dlr.de/en/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-1/86_read-19885/

Radar Map of Buried Mars Layers Matches Climate Cycles

New, three-dimensional imaging of Martian north-polar ice layers by a radar instrument on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is consistent with theoretical models of Martian climate swings during the past few million years.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/spaceref/jext/~3/ux55IrZ4sVI/viewpr.rss.html

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 first launch planned for Nov 29

After being removed from the U.S. Air Force's 45th Space Wing's launch schedule for five months, SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket is back on the board.


http://feeds.orlandosentinel.com/~r/news/space/space_blog/~3/l2RMR_p6K3U/air-force-spacexs-falcon-9-first-launch-planned-for-nov-29-.html

U.S. Military Looking for Ideas on How to Curb the Threat of Orbiting Junk

Gazing up into the sky on a clear night, the heavens can appear as pristine as a mountain stream. But in truth, at least in Earth's vicinity, the trash factor in space may be more akin to what is found in New York City's East River. The region known as low Earth orbit (extending from 160 to 2,000 kilometers above Earth's surface), which is where many satellites spend their lives and "afterlives," has a litter problem caused by decades of neglect, and it's one that currently lacks an expedient solution.










http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=7e32fdb9e3d4929e66f6ef2986e8ea01

NASA Sets Target Date for Ares I-X Rocket’s Test Launch

NASA is targeting Tuesday, Oct. 27, for the flight test of the Ares I-X rocket, pending successful testing and data verification.

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2009/sep/HQ_09-219_Ares_I-X_Launch_Date.html

Chandra Captures New Vista Of Milky Way Centre

A dramatic new vista of the center of the Milky Way galaxy from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory exposes new levels of the complexity and intrigue in the Galactic centre.

http://www.redorbit.com/news/space/1757340/chandra_captures_new_vista_of_milky_way_center/index.html?source=r_space

Exoplanet CoRoT-7b has five times the mass of Earth

In early February 2009, the CoRoT satellite discovered the planet CoRoT-7b, measuring just two Earth radii in size. Following a series of elaborate and high-precision measurements conducted by the European Southern Observatory (ESO), it has now proven possible to determine the mass of this extra-solar planet. CoRoT-7b is five times heavier than our home planet and has approximately the same density. CoRoT-7b therefore definitively belongs to the class of what are known as 'Super Earths'. Scientists from the German Aerospace Center (DLR) have a substantial role to play in this search for exoplanets using the CoRoT space telescope.

http://www.dlr.de/en/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-1/86_read-19776/

NGC Integrates Webb Telescope Simulator

The huge assembly standing in Northrop Grumman Corporation's high bay looks a lot like the James Webb Space Telescope...

http://www.asd-network.com/press_detail/23332/NGC_Integrates_Webb_Telescope_Simulator.htm

New Code Gives Astrophysicists First Full Simulation Of Star’s Final Hours

The precise conditions inside a white dwarf star in the hours leading up to its explosive end as a Type Ia supernova are one of the mysteries confronting astrophysicists studying these massive stellar explosions. But now, a team of researchers, composed of three applied mathematicians at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and two astrophysicists, has created the first full-star simulation of the hours preceding the largest thermonuclear explosions in the universe.

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/New_Code_Gives_Astrophysicists_First_Full_Simulation_Of_Star_Final_Hours_999.html

Phobos Grunt Including Phobos LIFE Delayed Until 2011

The Russian space agency, Roscosmos, has decided to delay from 2009 to 2011 the launch of the Phobos Grunt mission to study and return samples from the Martian moon Phobos. The Planetary Society's LIFE (Living Interplanetary Flight Experiment) experiment, designed to test the ability of microorganisms to survive deep space flight, is part of the mission.

http://www.marsdaily.com/reports/Phobos_Grunt_Including_Phobos_LIFE_Delayed_Until_2011_999.html

Zooming To The Centre Of The Milky Way - GigaGalaxy Zoom Phase 2

The second of three images of ESO's GigaGalaxy Zoom project has just been released online. It is a new and wonderful 340-million-pixel vista of the central parts of our home galaxy as seen from ESO's Paranal Observatory with an amateur telescope.

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Zooming_To_The_Centre_Of_The_Milky_Way_GigaGalaxy_Zoom_Phase_2_999.html

Oceansat-2 Set For Launch Tomorrow From Sriharikota

Oceansat-2 satellite that would help identify potential fishing zones and provide inputs for weather forecasting is poised to be launched into orbit on board the Polar Launch Satellite Vehicle from the spaceport of Sriharikota in the east coast, 90 kms from here, Wednesday.

http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Oceansat_2_Set_For_Launch_Tomorrow_From_Sriharikota_999.html

How can there be clouds in space?

There are many different kinds of clouds in space, but none of them have anything to do with what we know as clouds on Earth –" which are made out of tiny droplets of water. Originally –" before the invention of the telescope –" astronomers referred to all the shining, extended structures without clearly defined edges that they saw in space as –˜clouds' (nebulae in Latin). Since even entire galaxies can appear to be cloudy patches to the naked eye, they were also called –˜nebulae'.

http://www.dlr.de/en/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-1/86_read-18919/

Sept. 15 House of Representatives Hearing on Space Flight Includes Misconceptions; Industry Group Offers Clarity

Next Step in Space, a coalition of businesses, organizations, and people working toward ensuring the future of human spaceflight in the United States, today issued a white paper.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/spaceref/jext/~3/_19yTgs5TZM/viewpr.rss.html

Found: 62 meteor showers new to science

Move over Perseids – radar observations have revealed previously unrecognised associations in the interplanetary debris that rains down on Earth

http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10898/s/6433902/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cdn17831/story01.htm

Glow Away: NASA Lights Up the East Coast Sky with a Noctilucent Cloud

Clouds come in countless shapes, from fluffy cotton candy to wispy lines that streak across the sky, but they are all formed from one simple ingredient--water vapor. In an experiment conducted September 19, scientists created the first artificial, high-atmosphere noctilucent cloud .










http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=7bc3a7c6734db93bf487669015a971e4

Planck first light survey reveals promising results

The European infrared telescope has sent back its 1st images of the early Universe. Cosmologists and astrophysicists the world over are now looking forward to a treasure trove of data.


http://www.cnes.fr/web/CNES-en/7894-gp-planck-first-light-survey-reveals-promising-results.php

ESA Calls For Ideas For Climate Change Studies From ISS

Paris, France (ESA) Sep 22, 2009 -
ESA will soon start looking for ideas to use the International Space Station as a platform to conduct research into global climate change.

http://www.space-travel.com/reports/ESA_Calls_For_Ideas_For_Climate_Change_Studies_From_ISS_999.html

Nimiq 5 Successfully Performs Post-Launch Manoeuvres

Space Systems/Loral has announced that Nimiq 5, a direct-to-home television satellite built for Telesat, is performing post-launch maneuvers according to plan. The satellite's solar array deployed on schedule early Friday morning following its successful launch from the Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan aboard an ILS Proton Breeze M launch vehicle.

http://www.spacemart.com/reports/Nimiq_5_Successfully_Performs_Post_Launch_Maneuvers_999.html

Progress M-67 Undocks From ISS

Moscow, Russia (RIA Novosti) Sep 22, 2009 -
Russia's Progress M-67 cargo spacecraft successfully undocked on Monday from the International Space Station (ISS), a Russian Mission Control spokesman said.

http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Progress_M67_Undocks_From_ISS_999.html

Cassini Reveals New Quirks And Shadows During Saturn Equinox

NASA scientists are marveling over the extent of ruffles and dust clouds revealed in the rings of Saturn during the planet's equinox last month. Scientists once thought the rings were almost completely flat, but new images reveal the heights of some newly discovered bumps in the rings are as high as the Rocky Mountains. NASA released the images Monday.

http://www.saturndaily.com/reports/Cassini_Reveals_New_Quirks_And_Shadows_During_Saturn_Equinox_999.html

Surprising theory on Mars’ hue arises

Mars was not always red, according to a new theory for how the planet took on its characteristic ruddy hue.







http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32957601/ns/technology_and_science-space/

NASA Briefing To Reveal Evidence of Water on the Moon - Lots of It

The topic of the press briefing will be a paper that will appear in this week's issue of Science magazine wherein results from the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) aboard Chandrayaan-1 will be revealed.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/spaceref/jext/~3/D-HUaEEymPw/viewnews.rss.html

Final payload integration for Ariane

The Amazonas 2 satellite has been encapsulated inside Ariane 5's ogive-shaped payload fairing in preparation for the heavy-lift vehicle's launch later this month. This spacecraft - which will provide the Spanish-based HISPASAT telecommunications operator with relay capacity over the Americas - will ride on the dual-payload flight with the German military satellite COMSATBw-1.



http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Arianespace/~3/UEtsG-dEOC0/638.asp

Swiss Satellite In Space

Switzerland's first satellite, named SwissCube, will travel on ISRO's PSLV (C14 mission) from Satish Dhawan Center near Chennai. The picosatellite (10x10x10 cm3, 1 kg) was developed at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland in collaboration with several other swiss engineering schools, universities and private industry; the University of Neuchâtel and five universities of applied sciences in Switzerland. RUAG Space provided extensive support to the students during the construction of the satellite. About 200 students participated in the elaboration, fabrication and tests of the satellite.

http://www.satnews.com/cgi-bin/story.cgi?number=386494529

ESA astronaut takes classroom into space

Hundreds of schoolchildren were linked to a special classroom when ESA astronaut Frank De Winne demonstrated a curriculum-related experiment in space from inside the European Columbus laboratory during a live link-up between the International Space Station and four European science museums.

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMFG4KVUZF_index_0.html

CoRoT - Exoplanet revealed in February is Earth-like

CNES’s space telescope detected its 1st Earth-like exoplanet in 2008. Ground observations have now confirmed it is a solid, rocky world.


http://www.cnes.fr/web/CNES-en/7893-gp-corot-exoplanet-revealed-in-february-is-earth-like.php

Amazonas 2 Satellite is Integrated for Ariane 5’s Upcoming Launch

Final payload integration is underway for Arianespace's fifth Ariane 5 mission of 2009, with the Amazonas 2 telecommunications satellite now encapsulated in its payload fairing.

http://www.asd-network.com/press_detail/23298/Amazonas_2_Satellite_is_Integrated_for_Ariane_5_s_Upcoming_Launch.htm

Ames Scientist Using Space Station Lab To Study Crystal Growth

A research project 10 years in the making is now orbiting the Earth, much to the delight of its creator Rohit Trivedi, a senior metallurgist at the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory. Equipment recently delivered to the International Space Station by the Space Shuttle Discovery will allow the Earth-bound Trivedi to conduct crystal growth experiments he first conceived more than a decade ago.

http://www.redorbit.com/news/space/1756677/ames_scientist_using_space_station_lab_to_study_crystal_growth/index.html?source=r_space

School Kids Track LCROSS

Image 1: The Goldstone Apple Valley Radio Telescope (GAVRT).Image 2: GAVRT students attend the launch of LCROSS with Brian Day (center) at the Kennedy Space Center.

http://www.redorbit.com/news/space/1756678/school_kids_track_lcross/index.html?source=r_space

ISRO to launch 7 satellites in 1,200 seconds

ISRO is all set to put six nano satellites and one major ocean satellite into orbit on Wednesday from Sriharikota. The final 51-hour countdown began on Monday at 9am. Of the six nano satellites, four are from Germany, one is from Switzerland and one from Turkey. The seventh is a big one, India’s Oceansat-2 weighing 960 kg.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/india/ISRO-to-launch-7-satellites-in-1200-seconds/articleshow/5039961.cms

Invading Black Holes Explain Cosmic Flashes

Black holes are invading stars, providing a radical explanation to bright flashes in the universe that are one of the biggest mysteries in astronomy today.

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Invading_Black_Holes_Explain_Cosmic_Flashes_999.html

C1XS Will Provide New Understanding Of Lunar Surface

Over its ten months of operation, the Chandrayaan-1 X-ray Spectrometer (C1XS) has gathered data for a total of 30 solar flares, giving the most accurate measurements to date of magnesium, aluminum, silicon, calcium, and iron in the lunar surface.

http://www.moondaily.com/reports/C1XS_Will_Provide_New_Understanding_Of_Lunar_Surface_999.html

NASA assigns final shuttle crew

NASA has assigned the astronauts who will make the last scheduled space shuttle trip, targeted to launch in September 2010 to the International Space Station.

http://www.space-travel.com/reports/NASA_assigns_final_shuttle_crew_999.html

NASA Engineers Design Prototype Electromagnetic Propulsion System

NASA Engineers Design Prototype Electromagnetic Propulsion System

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/deltav/24134/?a=f

DARPA Requests Information on Ways to Deal with Space Junk

DARPA Requests Information on Ways to Deal with Space Junk

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/09/pentagon-wants-space-junk-cleaner/

’Night-shining’ clouds seen from Earth and space

Noctilucent clouds float much higher than other clouds, allowing them to shine when the sun is below the horizon –" see a gallery of the mysterious, shimmering clouds here

http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10898/s/63e4298/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Cgallery0Cnoctilucent0Eclouds/story01.htm

Centre of the Milky Way - GigaGalaxy Zoom Phase 2

The second of three images of ESO's GigaGalaxy Zoom project has just been released online. It is a new and wonderful 340-million-pixel vista of the central parts of our home galaxy as seen from ESO's Paranal Observatory with an amateur telescope.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/spaceref/jext/~3/5rwtFVUR4h4/viewpr.rss.html

NASA to Preview Mission’s Third Flight Past Mercury

NASA will host a media teleconference at 1 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, Sept. 23, to preview the third and final flyby of Mercury by the Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry, and Ranging spacecraft known as MESSENGER.

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2009/sep/HQ_M09-181_Third_Messenger_Flyby.html

NASA To Preview MESSENGER’s Third Mercury Flyby

NASA will host a media teleconference at 1 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, Sept. 23, to preview the third and final flyby of Mercury by the Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry, and Ranging spacecraft known as MESSENGER.On Sept.

http://www.redorbit.com/news/space/1756460/nasa_to_preview_messengers_third_mercury_flyby/index.html?source=r_space

Space shuttle returns to Florida ... on a jet

Ten days after descending from space to a California landing, the space shuttle Discovery made yet another landing on Monday –" this time at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, atop a modified jumbo jet.







http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32953793/ns/technology_and_science-space/

Belarus to create national space agency

Belarus plans to create its own space agency, and will consider specialists’ proposals by the end of the year, Russia’s space agency quoted a Belarusian official as saying. Roscosmos quoted Mikhail Myasnikovich, president of National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, as saying the creation of a new agency is part of the national space research program for 2008-12.


http://en.rian.ru/world/20090921/156201253.html

GigaGalaxy Zoom Phase 2

The second of three images of ESO's GigaGalaxy Zoom project is a new and wonderful 340-million-pixel vista of the central parts of our galactic home, a 34 by 20-degree wide image that provides us with a view as experienced by amateur astronomers around the world.

http://www.redorbit.com/news/space/1756366/gigagalaxy_zoom_phase_2/index.html?source=r_space

Scientists in space to work overtime

The $100 billion international space station finally appears ready to be used as a science lab. The next few years should bring a flood of research.



http://feeds.chron.com/~r/houstonchronicle/space/~3/O5Q4mJwBGTU/6628585.html

Europe-wide education event with ESA astronaut Frank De Winne

A Europe-wide education event today links ESA astronaut Frank De Winne on the International Space Station with hundreds of schoolchildren in several European cities. In a live link-up with the ISS, De Winne will perform a simple experiment in space to demonstrate the effects of freefall.

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEM98SQXQZF_index_0.html