Space giants

14 July 2011 Last updated at 17:49 GMT "We wouldn't be able to do today what we do unless someone had flown first - and that was Yuri Gagarin" London paid tribute to Yuri Gagarin on Thursday, unveiling a statue of the cosmonaut just a few metres back from The Mall.

The figure stands, arms outstretched, looking across the road to another great explorer, Captain James Cook.

Gagarin's achievement in circling the Earth on 12 April 1961 still seems remarkable - a step into the complete unknown.

His link with the UK goes back to the world tour he undertook shortly after returning to Earth. He was invited to Britain by the National Union of Foundrymen.

It was said the UK government at the time didn't really know how to react to his visit and was initially reluctant to get too involved. Only when it saw how warmly and enthusiastically the British people welcomed the Soviet spaceman did the London government decide to roll out the red carpet.

He met the Queen - as you do - and the then Prime Minister Harold MacMillan. The latter encounter took place at Admiralty Arch - one good reason to site the statue close by.

Krikalev has clocked more than 800 days in orbit

The other good reason is that it is right outside the British Council's headquarters. The Council, in the form of its director of visual arts, Andrea Rose, had been trying to get a Henry Moore sculpture to Moscow to be part of an exhibition in the Kremlin Gardens. In return, Rose wanted a Gagarin figure to come back to London.

Well, the Moore sculpture was never permitted to leave its home in Parliament Square, but she did get her alloy cosmonaut.

The figure is a copy of one found in the town of Lubertsy, just outside Moscow, where Gagarin trained as a foundry worker when he was little more than 15 years of age.

Lubertsy, understandably, was reluctant to let the original go abroad, even on loan, so the Russian space agency (Roscosmos) paid for a replica to be fashioned and shipped to Britain. And in Thursday's crowd, I found a man who has special reason to celebrate the pioneer Gagarin.

This was Sergei Krikalev, the most experienced spaceman in history.

Krikalev has clocked more than 800 days in orbit on six missions - to Mir and the International Space Station (ISS).

Krikalev, you may recall, was the man they dubbed "the last citizen of the USSR" because in the 300-plus days he spent on Mir in 91/92, the Soviet Union collapsed.

Today, Krikalev is the head of the Gagarin Training Centre, Star City. All the cosmonauts/astronauts that come through the centre will have learnt something from him. So what, I wondered, did he think of Yuri?

"We wouldn't be able to do today what we do unless someone had flown first - and that was Yuri Gagarin," he told me.

His six flights included two shuttle missions

"That's why Neil Armstrong when he stepped on the Moon said, 'Gagarin called all of us into space'. We just followed his steps.

"From his one orbit in little more than an hour, we now do multi-orbit, multi-month missions. And now it's all international co-operation - multi-tonne space-station modules built in different countries."

Krikalev's record is 803 days and nine hours and 39 minutes in space. If one does, let's say, nearly 16 orbits a day on the ISS, it means Krikalev must have circled the Earth well over 12,500 times.

There has been a lot of talk in recent days about the last space shuttle mission and the end of an era.

Krikalev flew on the shuttle twice - on his first flight with Charlie Bolden, then the ship's commander and now Nasa Administrator; and on the second to make the first delivery of a US module to the fledgling ISS.

"I have a sad feeling to see the end of shuttle, the same as I felt to see the end of Mir," he said. "But shuttle was a great programme and the space station would not have been possible without it.

"We will push out; we will eventually go beyond the space station. But even staying in the Earth's orbit, we are not repeating what we've done in the past. It's like the Romans who moved up and down a road. We move up and down that same track but today we travel in a high-speed train, so you cannot say nothing's changed. I am excited about the future."

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Obama makes call to space station

15 July 2011 Last updated at 18:19 GMT By Jonathan Amos Science correspondent, BBC News ISS and Atlantis crews take a call from the US President Barack Obama US President Barack Obama joked with astronauts in a call to the International Space Station (ISS).

When he came on the line, the American leader said: "This is President Obama, who am I talking to?"

After the crew introduced themselves, he quipped: "Well, that's funny because I was just dialling out for pizza; I didn't expect to end up in space."

Mr Obama called the ISS to pay tribute to the crew of space shuttle Atlantis on its final visit to the station.

When Atlantis returns to Earth next Thursday, the ship will join the US space agency's (Nasa) other shuttles in retirement.

"There have been thousands who have poured their hearts and souls into America's space shuttle programme over the last three decades that are following this mission with special interest," the president observed. "To them and all the men and women of Nasa, I want to say thank you. You helped our country lead the space age and you continue to inspire us."

Mr Obama has set Nasa on a path to commercialising low-Earth orbit space transportation. He wants the next generation of American vehicles that taxi astronauts to and from the space station to be developed and operated by private companies.

The first of these ships could fly in the next three to four years. As an incentive, the Atlantis crew will be leaving on station a special flag flown by the maiden shuttle mission back in 1981. The first commercial crew to arrive at the ISS will be able to claim it as a prize in what Mr Obama described as a "capture the flag moment for commercial spaceflight".

Obama: "I was just dialling out for pizza"

"We sure hope to see some of our commercial partners climbing onboard really soon," said Atlantis shuttle commander Chris Ferguson. "I know there is a lot of competition out there, a lot of people are fervently working towards this goal to be the first to send a commercial astronaut into orbit; and we look forward to seeing them here soon."

Within minutes of the Obama call to the ISS, one of the leading companies bidding to provide commercial crew transportation, SpaceX of California, had posted on its Twitter stream: "SpaceX commencing flag capturing sequence…"

The Atlantis crew are in the midst of a very busy few days at the ISS. They brought up more than 3.5 tonnes of supplies, including over a tonne of food. All of it has to be transferred to permanent storage positions on the station, and then 2.5 tonnes of rubbish must be put inside the shuttle for the return to Earth.

Nasa has extended the mission by one day. Atlantis is due to land at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida early on 21 July local time.

"It's going to be sad to retire the shuttle," commander Ferguson said in an earlier call with the American media. "That said, it's had a very long and storied career. It's done tremendous things.

"If it weren't for the space shuttle, the station wouldn't be here and it certainly wouldn't be as large as it is." he added.

The Southern Lights seen from the ISS. In the foreground (left to right) are a station solar wing, a robotic boom and the docked Atlantis Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk

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Space shuttle on final ISS visit

10 July 2011 Last updated at 15:47 GMT Atlantis docks for the final time in the shuttle programme's history

Atlantis has docked with the International Space Station (ISS) on the final mission of the US space shuttle programme.

It will spend at least seven days at the ISS and, on its return to Earth, will be retired along with the other shuttles in Nasa's fleet.

Atlantis is taking vital supplies to the space station, including more than a tonne of food, ensuring astronauts there have got enough to last a year.

The first shuttle mission was in 1981.

Robots

At 1507 GMT on Sunday, Nasa mission control in Houston announced: "Contact, docking confirmed."

The naval bell on the ISS chimed to greet Atlantis.

"Welcome to the International Space Station for the last time," ISS astronaut Ronald Garan said.

Continue reading the main story Continue reading the main story

135 missions 33 for Atlantis

355 astronauts taken into space since 1981

The fleet has flown well over 870 000 000 km

The shuttle and its boosters have 2.5 million moving parts

Figures assume Atlantis completes missionAtlantis commander Chris Ferguson replied: "It's great to be here station, see you shortly."

ISS astronauts photographed the shuttle as it did a backflip before docking, so that all of the craft can be studied for damage before its return to Earth.

Atlantis is carrying the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module, a large cylinder containing more than 3.5 tonnes of food, other supplies and spare parts designed to sustain the station.

The cargo is to be lifted out of the shuttle's payload bay and attached directly to the station on Monday.

The Atlantis and ISS crews will then be able to go inside Raffaello to begin the process of transferring its contents to more permanent storage positions on the platform.

BBC science correspondent Jonathan Amos says the delivery has major significance.

Once Nasa retires its shuttles, it will be relying on robotic spacecraft from private companies to make cargo runs to the ISS, he says.

Just one spacewalk will be performed during this mission.

This will be done by two of the station's residents, who will move an ammonia pump that recently failed on the station to the shuttle's payload bay.

The pump is an important component in the ISS cooling system and it will be taken back down to the ground so engineers can understand why it stopped working.

Atlantis is due to return to Earth on 20 July, bringing to an end Nasa's 30-year orbiter programme.

Atlantis launches from Cape Kennedy

Atlantis itself will be made safe for public display at the Kennedy Space Center visitor complex.

Nasa intends to use resources diverted from the shuttles to build a capsule capable of going to deep-space locations such as asteroids.

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'Rough boroughs' of space listed

12 July 2011 Last updated at 09:22 GMT By Jason Palmer Science and technology reporter, BBC News Fermi spotted that the Crab Nebula, once thought to be constant, flares violently with gamma rays The catalogue that lists the most violent neighbourhoods in the Universe has been updated.

The Fermi space telescope captures gamma rays - the highest-energy light in nature, which hints at the cosmos' most extreme conditions and processes.

The second Fermi catalogue represents a full two years of data, improving on the first edition's 11 months.

It lists 1,873 gamma-ray sources; some 589 remain unidentified and could represent entirely new cosmic objects.

Dave Thompson, a Nasa astrophysicist who co-led the catalogue's production, told BBC News that the effort was more than just an expanded list.

"The new catalogue is a new data set," he said. "We've reanalysed all the data, reduced our background, developed new methods of analysis. We're convinced that not only is this quantitatively a better catalogue - it's qualitatively a better catalogue."

It is also a snapshot from a slowly unfolding film of the Universe's most extreme environments.

"It's very important to understand that the gamma-ray sky is not static, it's changing all the time," explained Steven Ritz, deputy principal investigator for the Fermi mission's Large-Area Telescope.

"Our great advantage with this facility is that we're able to see the whole sky all the time; every three hours we've covered the whole sky, so there are interesting differences between the first year catalogue and the second and that speaks to the variability of the sky," he told BBC News.

Cosmic mysteries

The greatest proportion of the sources - 1,095 of the 1,873 - is made up of what are known as active galactic nuclei, which are thought to be supermassive black holes at the centres of galaxies.

Continue reading the main story

We've been looking at the 'optical' sky since the Babylonians but the gamma-ray sky is definitely a 20th and 21st Century experience”

End Quote Julie McEnery Fermi project scientist While they are known more for drawing material in, black holes can also help generate a jet of material and light; this jet, when pointed straight at the Earth, is known as a blazar.

But the second-most common category that Fermi has spotted, comprising some 572 gamma-ray sources, is "unidentified".

That is, researchers have compared the objects' locations with those of other known sources of light, and found nothing that should be a gamma-ray emitter.

They are hundreds of cosmic mysteries waiting to be solved.

"My guess is that it's not just one class of sources, but there are many sources of types we already know about that we just haven't identified yet at other wavelengths," Dr Ritz said.

"And quite possibly new types of sources, which is what the whole thing is all about."

The Fermi team will continue to collect and refine their data, but the second catalogue represents the most comprehensive list that science has obtained of the Universe's most violent neighbourhoods - yet it remains to find out exactly what is going on in them.

"Our knowledge of the gamma-ray sky is very poor, so our knowledge of how gamma-ray sources tick - what makes them, how particles behave in them - is still fairly new," said Fermi project scientist Julie McEnery.

"It's part of the reason that the gamma-ray astronomy field is so exciting - because it's so fresh. We've been looking at the 'optical' sky since the Babylonians but the gamma-ray sky is definitely a 20th and 21st Century experience."

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China and UK strike space deal

29 June 2011 Last updated at 09:03 GMT By Jonathan Amos Science correspondent, BBC News The DMC-3 satellites will see details less than a metre across Chinese and UK companies have agreed a deal that will result in three high-resolution Earth observation spacecraft being built to map China's extraordinary growth from orbit.

The deal was penned between Guildford satellite imagery provider DMCii and Beijing-based company 21AT.

It means DMCii can now roll out its new constellation of spacecraft that will picture details on the surface of the planet less than a metre wide.

They should be ready to launch in 2014.

For 21AT (Twenty First Century Aerospace Technology Company Ltd), it means it can have ready access to Earth imagery without the worry of having to launch and operate satellites in orbit.

The Chinese company will take 100% of the capacity of the three spacecraft over an initial contract period of seven years. Day-to-day use of the data will be handled by 21AT subsidiary, BLMIT.

It will use the pictures to monitor land use and land-cover changes. In particular, the data will enable regional governments to plan better the extraordinary rate of development in China's cities.

The satellites for the DMC-3 constellation, as it is called, will be manufactured by DMCii's parent company, Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL). It will cost some ?110m to build, launch and insure these platforms.

The imagery from the satellites will be needed in particular for urban planning

Approval for the deal has come from the highest levels in government in both London and Beijing, and the satellite data package was actually part of the ?1.4bn of trade agreements signed between premiers David Cameron and Wen Jiabao during their summit on Monday.

Both administrations gave their consent after being re-assured that no technology transfer rules were being broken.

The DMC-3 constellation will be operated on a different business model to the other satellites managed currently by DMCii.

These older platforms are wholly owned by the countries that use their data. In the case of DMC-3, the Guildford company will own the spacecraft and lease the capacity to the Chinese. It is a model familiar in satellite telecommunications but not in Earth observation.

Each DMC-3 satellite will be in a larger class than the earlier spacecraft - about 350kg in mass.

As well as their high resolution cameras (1m/pixel resolution panchromatic; 4m/pixel resolution colour), they will also accommodate imagers capable of mapping ultra-wide strips of the Earth's surface, albeit at resolutions above 20m.

This broad-swath facility will allow DMCii to use the new satellites for disaster response - a key skill the company has developed for itself during its seven years of existence.

Its current fleet plays a leading role in acquiring the urgent maps needed by relief agencies when a natural or man-made calamity strikes a particular corner of the globe.

The deal was signed on Monday - part of a much wider UK-China trade agreement

No formal arrangement has been put in place to allow the Chinese-sponsored platforms to perform this function, but it is expected they will take up some humanitarian duties from time to time.

21AT-BLMIT already does this with the Beijing-1 satellite that has been managed in orbit by DMCii since its launch in 2005. Beijing-1 returned much needed imagery following the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008.

The vast majority of the time, however, the DMC-3 satellites will be busy mapping the rapidly changing landscape of China. Their coverage should ensure that any given area in the country can be re-visited on a daily basis.

DMCii hopes the initial three satellites can be followed by a fourth in due course.

"There is an enormous requirement for Earth observation data in China - for urban planning, for agriculture and water management, everything - and they also want to be able to update everything rapidly," explained SSTL Chairman, Sir Martin Sweeting.

"On that basis we planned to put up a constellation of three spacecraft, but when the Chinese went away and looked in detail at what they needed they realised they wanted all the data. So, we'll launch these first three satellites and then look at putting up a fourth to expand the capacity and bring other partners on board as well," he told BBC News.

Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk

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Near miss for space station crew

28 June 2011 Last updated at 20:24 GMT By Jonathan Amos Science correspondent, BBC News A fragile beauty - the International Space Station could be endangered by even a small piece of passing junk A piece of debris has narrowly missed the International Space Station (ISS), forcing its six crew members to go to their escape capsules and prepare for an emergency evacuation back to Earth.

Officials said the debris came within 335m (1,100ft) of the platform.

The crew were given the all clear to return to work minutes after the object passed by at 1208 GMT.

The junk was of unknown size but experts say even a small object could do considerable damage to the ISS.

The US space agency's (Nasa) Associate Administrator for Space Operations, Bill Gerstenmaier, said it was the closest a debris object had ever come to the station. An analysis was now under way to try to understand its origin, he added.

"We don't know what it was. It doesn't have an ID; it's just listed in our tables as 'unknown'," he told reporters.

The Russian space agency had earlier explained: "A situation arose linked to unidentified 'space trash' passing very close to the space station. The crew was told to take their places aboard the Soyuz spacecraft."

Soyuz capsules are used to ferry crew to and from the orbiting platform, and enough vehicles are always present so that they can be used as "lifeboats" if an emergency arises.

Before getting into the capsules, the crew closed all the hatches on the ISS.

The station is currently manned by three Russians, two Americans and a Japanese astronaut.

Dangerous fragments

A Russian official said that only 10% of all objects in Earth's orbit are satellites, while the rest is rubbish: spent rocket stages, defunct satellites, acceleration blocks and other debris.

Scientists estimate that there are hundreds of thousands of junk fragments in space of up to 10cm (four inches) in size, but there are many millions more pieces that are smaller.

Even fragments a few centimetres in width are a hazard because they travel at many thousands of kilometres per hour.

Normally, the station can use thrusters to move out of the way of a piece of junk, but this alert was raised too late for such a manoeuvre.

"We're working with our Russians partners to see if we can shorten the timeline to do manoeuvres," Mr Gerstenmaier said.

"Today, it takes us a couple of days to actually get the manoeuvre timeline loaded in station and to try to do the manoeuvre to avoid debris. We're working with Russians to make some software changes where we can do that in a much more expedient manner, so if we get late notification of another object - we'll have the ability to move."

Three crew members were forced briefly to follow the same proceedure in an incident in 2009.

The ISS is currently flying at over 380km altitude. It was pushed to this height recently to take it clear of residual air molecules at the top of the atmosphere that tend to drag it downwards over time. Station managers would not wish to push it much higher because that would take it closer to known debris fields and more of the space radiation that can be harmful to the health of astronauts.

The station is a $100bn project that has been under construction about 220m (350km) above the Earth since 1998. Five partners are involved - the US, Russia, Japan, Canada and Europe (10 nations coordinated through the European Space Agency).

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Space truck dives to destruction

21 June 2011 Last updated at 23:54 GMT By Jonathan Amos Science correspondent, BBC News, Paris Artist's impression: Contact with Kepler was lost at 2041:39 GMT at an altitude of 80km Europe's space freighter has destroyed itself over the South Pacific.

The ATV-Johannes Kepler ship took 1.3 tonnes of rubbish from the space station into a controlled dive into the atmosphere just before 2100 GMT on Tuesday.

Most of the vehicle and its waste cargo would have been vaporised in the descent.

Only a few robust pieces of hardware could have survived to the ocean surface, say officials.

The burn-up brings to an end Kepler's four-month mission to the station.

Its purpose had been to deliver more than seven tonnes of fuel, food, air and equipment to the orbiting platform.

Kepler also used its big thrusters to push the International Space Station (ISS) higher into the sky.

The space lab is now flying at an altitude of more than 380km (235 miles) - its furthest ever distance from Earth in its finished confirguration.

It means the station will now experience less drag from the wisps of air still present high above the planet that work to pull the platform downwards over time.

Continue reading the main story As a partner in the International Space Station (ISS) project, Europe is providing five ATVs - Automated Transfer VehiclesJohannes Kepler, named after the great 16th/17th Century German scientist, is the second such ship in the Esa seriesThe robotic freighters fly unmanned but can be entered by astronauts once the vehicles are docked at the space stationATVs can take up more than seven tonnes of fuel, food, water, air and equipment. They also push the ISS higher in the skyFor their return into the atmosphere, the ATVs are filled with station rubbish. Almost everything burns up on the fiery descentAt launch, ATV-Johannes Kepler weighed in excess of 20 tonnes - the heaviest payload Europe has ever put in orbitThe European Space Agency (Esa) has been delighted by the robotic ship's performance since its launch in February.

Its automatic rendezvous and docking systems had no problem finding the ISS; and then, having attached itself to the back of platform, the truck operated in a flawless fashion.

Kepler was the second such freighter flown by Esa; the first, known as Jules Verne, completed its mission to the station in 2008.

The Automated Transfer Vehicles (ATV is their generic name) are the means by which Europe pays its share of the common operating costs of the platform project. It is a barter arrangement in which capability and hardware is provided instead of cash.

Nasa's MPCV would take astronauts beyond the ISS into deeper space

Three further freighters are planned, with the first of these - Edoardo Amaldi - due to launch at the end of February next year. The final two will go up in 2013 and 2014.

Beyond them, Esa is looking to take the capabilities and expertise gained on the trucks into a new type of spacecraft - something it has dubbed for the moment simply as the "ATV Derivative".

Its purpose and design are currently being discussed with the US space agency, Nasa.

One possible outcome is some sort of European contribution to the Americans' Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV).

The MPCV is envisaged by Nasa as a manned ship that could take astronauts beyond the space station, to the Moon, asteroids and Mars.

Ideas are far from fully formed, but an ATV-like tug could help assemble in orbit the elements of an expedition that started out from the station. Perhaps the derivative could even provide some propulsive capability to send the MPCV on its way.

Speaking at this week's Paris Air Show, Esa officials said they would report progress on the talks to the agency's member states in October.

"I don't want to beat about the bush - I think it would be fantastic if there would be a mission going beyond low-Earth orbit for this barter. But once again we need to understand the technical details," said Thomas Reiter, the former German astronaut now in charge of Esa's human spaceflight programme.

"It's not in so much detail that I can tell you much about it, other than we've had two interface discussions," he told BBC News.

Esa director general Jean-Jacques Dordain also emphasised the preliminary nature of the dialogue. In addition, he underlined the need for the ATV Derivative to fulfil roles that matched Europe's interests and objectives away from the MPCV. In this context, the derivative could be a robotic vehicle to carry out the in-orbit servicing of other spacecraft.

"We should converge towards the autumn of this year, possibly not on one single vehicle but at least on one module, that would make it possible to have some derivatives in the future, with perhaps one vehicle provided to the US and one that we could use in other circumstances," Mr Dordain told BBC News.

The Jules Verne space freighter burns up over South Pacific in 2008

Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk

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Europe links space with defence

22 June 2011 Last updated at 06:39 GMT By Jonathan Amos Science correspondent, BBC News, Paris Esa is looking to build a radar system that will scan low-Earth orbits to detect hazardous debris objects Two European organisations - one concerned with space, the other with defence - have signed an agreement on closer co-operation.

The European Space Agency (Esa) and the European Defence Agency (EDA) penned their accord at the Paris Air Show.

The pair hope closer ties can help them avoid duplication and reduce the cost of space activity where they have shared interests.

These areas include satellite remote-sensing and communications.

Although both organisations include many of the same states in their membership (EDA is part of the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy), they are actually separate legal entities.

One obvious example of overlap concerns Esa's desire to develop a Space Situational Awareness (SSA) programme.

This will use radar and other technologies to track and catalogue the precise movements of all bodies moving in orbit - from spacecraft to asteroids.

It is a priority for Esa because it frequently has to shift its satellites to avoid a collision with a piece of debris, of which there are now thousands of items floating above Earth.

But European armed forces also have an intelligence interest in knowing what is moving overhead - for example, others' spy satellites - and they already deploy radar capability to ascertain such information.

"There is a need to define civilian requirements and that is clearly to be done by the European Space agency, but also to see what would be more security[-orientated] requirements, and particularly in the military field. That is something that requires co-operation between us," EDA chief executive Claude-France Arnould told BBC News.

The agreement signed at Le Bourget should make it easier to exchange technical and catalogue data.

She cited other areas where "synergies" existed - such as the safe introduction into civilian airspace of unmanned aerial vehicles using satellite communications; and in the development of space technologies that gave Europe industrial independence.

Cooperation in the defence sphere is a delicate issue for the European Space Agency.

Its convention states that it must only engage in activities that have "exclusively peaceful purposes". A country like Switzerland, which maintains absolute neutrality, would not be part of Esa if this declaration were broken.

"Obviously, I could not sign this agreement if it was not consistent with the convention of Esa," said the space agency's director general, Jean-Jacques Dordain.

"I invite you to read the Esa convention; you will not find the adjective 'civilian'. Nowhere is it written 'civilian' - just 'for peaceful purposes'.

"So as long as we are working for peaceful purposes - and Madame Arnould has mentioned a list of topics that are only for peaceful purposes - then I think that we are entitled to work on all these aspects."

Mr Dordain said there were checks in place to ensure technologies developed within the agency were not simply passed over to be used in weaponry.

Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk

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High-speed 'space wedge' on track

23 June 2011 Last updated at 13:02 GMT By Jonathan Amos Science correspondent, BBC News, Paris The IXV would be launched atop a Vega rocket The European Space Agency (Esa) is pressing ahead with its re-entry demonstrator known as the IXV, which it expects to launch in 2013.

This distinctive wedge-shaped vehicle will be put at an altitude above 400km from where it will begin its flight back to Earth.

Its suite of sensors should give engineers new insights into how objects fall back through the atmosphere.

Ultimately, the data should inform better spacecraft design.

Even probes sent to land on other worlds like Mars should benefit from the knowledge.

"IXV is providing Europe with important technologies and a step to more ambitious programmes in the future," said Antonio Fabrizi, one of Esa's senior directors.

He signed an agreement at the Paris Air Show that will lead to manufacture of the demonstrator by Thales Alenia Space in Italy.

The company's facility in Turin has spent the past two years researching the concept.

The Intermediate Experimental Vehicle (IXV) is a car-sized, two-tonne automated craft that can be seen as a follow-on to the Advanced Re-entry Demonstrator flown by Esa in 1998.

But whereas ARD was a traditional cone-shaped object, IXV is very different; it has flaps and thrusters to control its descent trajectory. A ceramic heatshield on its underside will prevent IXV from burning up.

The vehicle will launch from French Guiana in South America on Esa's forthcoming small rocket, Vega.

The top stage of Vega will put IXV on a sub-orbital trajectory around the Earth that will bring the demonstrator down in Pacific. A parachute will be deployed to bring it to a gentle splash-down. The whole mission should last about an hour.

The knowledge gained from the flight is expected to feed into materials research and the computer models that are used to describe the energetic physics that occurs when an object plunges through atmospheric gases at several kilometres per second.

Europe's expertise on re-entry technologies is more limited than, say, the US, and it is looking to boost its knowledge with a number of flight demos.

Later this year Esa will also launch its EXPERT (eXPErimental Reentry Testbed) vehicle.

This is smaller than the IXV at just over 1.5m in length and weighing slightly less than 450kg; but again, it will be packed with sensors.

EXPERT will launch to just over 100km on a submarine missile before falling back to the ground and landing by parachute.

Thales Alenia Space is also leading this project industrially, too.

"We are growing a competency in re-entry in our company and this will feed into future missions," Luigi Pasquali, the president and CEO of Thales Alenia Space (Italy), told BBC News.

Although only one flight of the IXV is currently planned, its recovery from the ocean would allow further experimental flights to be conducted.

Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk

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Space freighter heads to Earth

20 June 2011 Last updated at 15:23 GMT By Jonathan Amos Science correspondent, BBC News, Paris Space tug: The ATV-Johannes Kepler (at bottom-right) has immense propulsive capability Europe's orbital freighter has undocked from the space station in readiness for its fiery dive to Earth.

Astronauts have filled ATV-Johannes Kepler with about 1.3 tonnes of rubbish that it will carry to incineration over the southern Pacific Ocean.

The robotic ship's final task in its mission was completed on Sunday, when it used its big thrusters to boost the platform to a higher altitude.

The space lab is now flying more than 380km (235 miles) above the Earth.

That is more than 30km higher than where it has traditionally been kept through its life.

Kepler pushed away from the station at 1446 GMT on Monday. What remains of the robotic ship and its waste cargo after its destructive descent is expected to hit the water about 2059 GMT on Tuesday.

The European Space Agency (Esa) has been delighted by Kepler's performance since its launch from Earth in February.

Its automatic rendezvous and docking systems had no problem finding the International Space Station (ISS); and then, having attached itself to the back of platform, operated in a flawless fashion.

The one anomaly was a broken fan used to circulate air inside the freighter's cargo bay.

"Some people in the control room had joked they were bored because the mission was going so flawlessly, but from a mission manager's point of view - a 'boring mission' is absolutely the best kind of mission you can have," said Nico Dettmann, who runs the ATV programme at Esa.

Continue reading the main story As a partner in the International Space Station (ISS) project, Europe is providing five ATVs - Automated Transfer VehiclesJohannes Kepler, named after the great 16th/17th Century German scientist, is the second such ship in the Esa seriesThe robotic freighters fly unmanned but can be entered by astronauts once the vehicles are docked at the space stationATVs can take up more than seven tonnes of fuel, food, water, air and equipment. They also push the ISS higher in the skyFor their return into the atmosphere, the ATVs are filled with station rubbish. Almost everything burns up on the fiery descentAt launch, Kepler weighed in excess of 20 tonnes - the heaviest payload Europe has ever put in orbit.

Most of its more-than-seven-tonnes of cargo was fuel, a good fraction of which it has used in a series of manoeuvres to rotate and boost the ISS.

Such is the propulsive might of the tug that it can turn the 420-tonne orbiting complex on its end - a procedure that can sometimes make it easier for other vehicles to come and go.

But the key manoeuvres were the boosts completed in recent days that took the ISS from just in excess of 340km above the Earth to more than 380km.

At this altitude, the station will encounter fewer of the residual air molecules still present high above the planet that can drag the platform down over time.

If regular re-boosts were not performed, the ISS would come crashing to Earth, so Kepler's efforts will have been critical to the long-term operation of the lab.

Keep clear

"We've used almost four tonnes of propellant to bring the station to a higher altitude. One boost brought an additional velocity of 11 metres per second and that's the biggest delta-V (change in velocity) on a human spaceflight vehicle since the lunar insertion orbit [on Apollo]," said Kris Capelle, the lead mission director at Esa's ATV control centre in Toulouse, France.

After undocking, Kepler will perform two de-orbit burns to bring itself out of the sky.

European astronauts Paolo Nespoli (L) and Roberto Vittori (R) float inside Johannes Kepler

The controlled re-entry has been targeted for an uninhabited part of the South Pacific. The shipping and aviation sectors have been warned to stay clear of the debris fall "footprint".

Most of the vehicle should be vaporised in the fall.

"We know there are a few heavy parts like the thrusters, obviously, which will hit the South Pacific; they're built to withstand very high temperatures," Capelle told the BBC. "The ATV's Russian docking system is also a very substantial piece of hardware, and part of that will probably fall into the water as well."

Esa already has another ATV (Automated Transfer Vehicle), named after Italian physicist Eduardo Amaldi, in preparation.

This vehicle is due to be shipped to Europe's spaceport in French Guiana in the coming few weeks. Its launch on an Ariane rocket should take place in February.

Future ideas

Two further vehicles are planned for launch in 2013 and 2014, before the freighter programme comes to an end.

Europe then hopes to take the capabilities and expertise gained on ATV into a new type of spacecraft.

Its purpose and design is currently being discussed with the US space agency (Nasa).

It is possible, but by no means certain, that this new project could form a European contribution to the Americans' Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV).

The MPCV is envisaged as a manned ship that could take astronauts beyond the space station, to the Moon, asteroids and Mars.

"We are in discussion - and I emphasise just discussion - with Nasa about contributing with some sort of ATV derivative," Dettmann told BBC News.

"What that derivative is - we're not sure yet. It could be a propulsion service module that contributes to the Nasa Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle. But, I say again, these are investigations which have only just started, and we have to work out whether it is something that will really benefit both parties."

European space officials will be following Kepler's progress from here at the Paris Air Show in Le Bourget. The biennial event is a key one in the space industry and institutional calendar, and Esa will be using the show to highlight the freighter's achievements.

The spectacular return of the previous freighter, Jules Verne in 2008, was captured on video Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk

View the original article here

Space rubbings

17 June 2011 Last updated at 02:07 GMT By Neil Bowdler Science reporter, BBC News Dr Phillip Lindley of Leicester University on how science is being used to crack a Renaissance mystery

The science of the space age is being deployed to probe the secrets of the Tudor tombs of the great Howard family.

Laser imaging and X-ray spectrometers are being used to scan the tombs so they can be virtually deconstructed and reassembled in their original guise.

It is thought two of the tombs, in the church of St Michael the Archangel in Framlingham, Suffolk, were substantially remodelled after they were moved from Thetford Priory in Norfolk in 1540.

The belief is that the salvaged tombs received a Renaissance makeover, with new simpler additions or replacements probably made in the 1550s.

Other elements seem to have been abandoned at Thetford following its dissolution, where they were found during excavations in the 1930s. These fragments will also be scanned and thrown into the 3D jigsaw.

Virtual reconstruction

"They're very significant, they're among the most important tombs of the 16th Century in England, both stylistically and in terms of the people represented here," said Dr Phillip Lindley of Leicester University, the art historian who is leading the project.

"There's Thomas Howard, the third Duke of Norfolk, and Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond, Henry VIII's bastard son and Howard's son-in-law."

Thomas Howard was a senior figure throughout the reign of Henry VIII. Two of his nieces, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, both famously married Henry.

But he fell from favour late in the Tudor monarch's reign, and was only saved from death because Henry himself died the night before Howard's scheduled execution.

"We're scanning these tombs three-dimensionally," says Dr Lindley. "Both Howard and Fitzroy's tombs seem to be multi-phase monuments.

"They have a first and second phase separated by as little as 15 years and what we're going to do is virtually disassemble them and reconstruct them in what we think were their original appearances."

Two of the Howard tombs appear to have been remodelled after being moved from a priory

The scanning team, EuroPac 3D, used a laser to build up thousands of spatial reference points across the tombs' surfaces. These points were then connected up in tiny triangles and the image rendered to create a high-resolution 3D model of the tombs.

The researchers are also using X-ray spectrometers - widely-used tools to determine the composition of objects ranging from meteorites to distant star clusters - to pick out different types of stone and faint traces of paint.

All will be done without a stone being moved, and the Howards quickly left in peace as the project moves to the office.

It is there that over the course of the next few months, the tombs will be virtually broken apart and reassembled into various possible configurations.

Excavated remains from Thetford Priory are also being scanned and will be added into the virtual jigsaw, until Dr Lindley and colleagues believe they have rebuilt the tombs in their original form.

The project, which involves collaboration with Yale and Oxford Universities and English Heritage, is being funded by the UK's Science and Heritage Programme.

Transit damage

Art historians have long suspected that these two tombs were moved from Thetford Priory and it was first suggested in the 1980s that both tombs were composite works, with some portions dating from before 1540 and later parts added when the monuments were brought to Framlingham.

The tomb of the third duke of Norfolk has a simpler undecorated top portion, which has many marks etched upon it identifying the work of individual stonemasons. The more decorative base has no such marks, and is lavishly carved with images of the apostles.

These figures, carved in the base section of the tomb, have similar crack marks and clear repairs, suggesting they may have been stacked up on a cart for transit from Thetford, and that the stacked pieces then broke down the same fault lines and had to be repaired.

The monument of Henry Fitzroy, by contrast, has a base section decorated with heraldry and is also covered with masons' marks, while its upper section showcases Old Testament narratives but none of the marks.

It has been suggested that the work of the 1550s can be identified by the mason's marks and simpler, plainer, style.

View the original article here

Space embrace

By Jonathan Amos Science correspondent, BBC News It is a stunning image and one that is bound to be reproduced over and over again whenever they recall the history of the US space shuttle.

The picture was taken by Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli as he left the International Space Station in May in a Soyuz capsule to return to Earth.

Safety procedures mean the Russian vehicle would never normally be in transit when a shuttle is present.

It makes this the first-ever image of an American orbiter docked to the ISS.

That statement is certainly true of stills taken in close proximity to the outpost.

Endeavour sits firmly on the bow of the station, which is moving across the surface of the Earth at a speed of 27,000km/h (17,000mph) and at an altitude of approximately 355km (220 miles).

Nespoli's camera is looking along the ISS's truss, or backbone, which carries the four sets of giant solar wings. The stern is occupied by Europe's robotic freighter - the Johannes Kepler ship.

The pictures were acquired on 23 May but were only released by the US space agency (Nasa) on Tuesday. They had been eagerly awaited by space fans.

Nespoli had spent a lot of time during his 159-day stay at the station taking pictures of Earth and life aboard the international outpost. Many of these images were posted on his mission Flickr account. It was widely expected therefore that the European Space Agency astronaut would get some excellent shots during the unique departure.

Enthusiasts on the ground with telescopes routinely try to snap a shuttle attached to the ISS, and some of the results have been very impressive. But none of these pictures compares to the majestic portrait acquired by Nespoli so close to the orbiting complex.

The timing and subject are also perfect. Endeavour is seen here making her final sortie into orbit, delivering the last big US assembly item - a $2bn particle physics experiment known as the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer. The seven-tonne machine now sits on top of the platform.

Endeavour was also the orbiter chosen to take up the very first American segment of the platform when the project had just got started in the late 1990s.

The youngest of Nasa's shuttles returned to Earth on 1 June and will now be prepared for public display at a science museum in California. Sister ship Atlantis stands ready on the launch pad in Florida for a swansong of her own in July. Once her mission is done, no orbiter will ever fly again.

Nespoli's crewmates in the Soyuz were Russian cosmonaut and Expedition 27 commander Dmitry Kondratyev; and Nasa astronaut Cady Coleman. Apart from the photo opportunity, their departure was a standard ISS crew rotation flight.

Their replacements blasted off from Kazakhstan on Tuesday in another Soyuz vehicle. Nasa astronaut Mike Fossum, Russian cosmonaut Sergei Volkov and Japanese astronaut Satoshi Furukawa are scheduled to arrive at the ISS on Thursday, raising its complement once again to six individuals.

The venerable Soyuz will be the only way for astronauts and cosmonauts to reach the platform in the years following the retirement of the shuttle fleet.

Nasa hopes some US commercial carriers will become available in the middle of the decade.

Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk

View the original article here

Surfing in space

3 June 2011 Last updated at 12:02 GMT Ka-Sat is delivering services across Europe Feel the bandwidth. Those who live in out-of-the way places in the UK and the rest of Europe, and who have been feeling digitally deprived, now have a new friend in the sky.

This week saw the entrance into commercial service of Ka-Sat, a six-tonne telecommunications spacecraft dedicated to providing broadband internet to consumers and businesses across the continent.

Operated by Paris-based Eutelsat, the platform joins the fray with London-based Avanti's Hylas-1 spacecraft, which came on stream just a few weeks ago.

The pair are the first net-dedicated satellites for Europe and should make quite a difference to the "not-spot" problem. Not-spots, if you were wondering, are those places where it has not been possible to get decent net connectivity via terrestrial solutions - fibre, ADSL, 3G, 4G, etc. It's a significant issue.

"Ninety-five percent of Europeans now have access to broadband internet infrastructure. That's a great achievement. But it still leaves a lot of people - 10 million households, in fact - who we are still to reach," Neelie Kroes, the European Commission vice-president responsible for digital matters, said on Tuesday.

"I am confident that this can be done - but only if we use the full range of options. To deliver that last 5%, we are going to have to get creative about the technology solutions we use."

To put this is into a more specific British context, it's thought there are about 250,000 households for whom dial-up remains the only option for getting online; and there are about two million homes where terrestrial solutions will get them up to two megabits per second (Mbps), max.

So satellite is very much now one of the options in the mix.

Competition will hopefully make prices tumble

Internet from the sky hasn't always had the best press. The image often portrayed is one of very slow connectivity (by terrestrial standards), and, worse still, something that is very expensive to install and run.

You'll also have heard grumbles about latency (more of which later). But the point about the new entrants is that they are changing the landscape, and quite dramatically so.

They operate in the Ka band - geek-speak for the higher frequencies in the radio communications spectrum. These new satellites can handle a much faster throughput of data, and that is reflected in the services they'll be offering. One would hope that competition will also make prices tumble.

For example, if you go to one of the retailers selling broadband packages through Ka-Sat, you should be able to get "up to" 6Mbps download (maximum upload 1Mbps) for ?24.99 a month. The one-off cost of the equipment - dish and modem - and installation will likely cost about ?300 (although, if you're adventurous, you can put the dish up yourself, and with a separate gadget even pick up satellite TV on the same antenna).

Just focus for a moment on the ?24.99 a month. It wasn't that long ago that I was paying a similar sum for ADSL 2Mbps. And for these new high-throughput satellites, packages up to 10Mbps are available (and higher still on Ka-Sat for professional users like broadcasters).

I'll be interested to hear your experiences in the comments section if you are a satellite broadband user, whether you've still got one of the old connections running through a Ku band spacecraft; and especially if you've managed to get on to one of the new platforms.

The telecommunications "brain" in Ka-Sat was prepared in the UK

"We've been switching over customers to Hylas; we've moved some three-and-a-half thousand now, mostly in Scotland with our existing partners and in Northern Ireland," Avanti's Simon Barrett told me. "It's a better service and the general response has been very positive."

Tell me also what you think about latency. This refers to the delay in signal travel time up into space and back, and the impact it can have on the surfing experience.

People have long complained about net telephone calls (Voip) not working well; and likewise VPNs, the secure connections used by business.

A lot of technical tricks have been introduced in recent years to improve matters considerably.

The ping tests to a server in California via Ka-Sat that I saw this week recorded a very stable 900 milliseconds.

Steve Petrie works for Skylogic which is managing Ka-Sat services with its network of retail partners. He told me: "I don't think latency is as important as some people make out. There's really nothing you can't do on this satellite service.

"People always say 'well, what about gaming?'. So we've done a lot of testing on gaming and most of it works fine. From bridge and poker to driving games, where people in different countries may be racing each other, we've found no problems.

"The games that may be problematic are the shooting games, and you may find yourself getting shot more often. But, to be honest, most people are not going to notice the latency."

So, if "shoot 'em ups" are your passion, satellite broadband is probably not your solution; but for many of the digitally dispossessed out there who stand little chance of getting a decent terrestrial connection anytime soon - the new wave of satellite broadband packages will be most welcome.

We want connectivity on the move

Now, of course, you might be sitting there reading this page, having called it up on your fibre connection, and thinking "this really doesn't affect me". But there may be another area where it does: on aeroplanes and trains and other moving vehicles.

Increasingly, these modes of transport will incorporate wi-fi onboard, and all the stuff you normally do on your net-enabled phone will be fed through the new-generation of high-throughput spacecraft.

Finally, it's interesting for me, having witnessed Hylas and Ka-Sat being built in a British factory prior to launch (their communications payloads were both prepared by Astrium in Portsmouth), to now see the pair finally in service in orbit.

Net-dedicated satellites are a technology the UK could take a lead in, if it so chooses.

There are many other parts of the world where satellites will also form a part of the mix of connection solutions. No-one would suggest that satellites can match terrestrial fibre on speed and price, but if you're living in one of the 10 million dial-up-only homes across Europe, they at least give you some options.

View the original article here

Magnetic space future

17 May 2011 Last updated at 06:23 GMT UK engineers spent 12 years working on the device, only to see it dropped from the mission late on It's thought as many as half a million people crammed the roads and beaches outside the Kennedy Space Center to see Endeavour's final launch.

Thousands more had official guest status and got a slightly closer view from inside the spaceport itself. A magnificent morning ascent for the youngest of the Nasa spaceplanes as it began its final mission - the delivery of the $2bn Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) instrument to the International Space Station.

There will, however, be a group of British engineers for whom Monday's lift-off was a bitter-sweet moment. These are the people whose technology got dropped from AMS in the year before launch.

For those not familiar with this story, let me back up and reprise events. They have some potentially fascinating implications for deep space travel.

AMS is one of the most expensive science experiments ever put in space - probably the most expensive.

It has taken a group of 600 or so researchers from 16 nations a total of 17 years to prepare it for flight. It promises some dramatic new insights into the origin and make-up of the cosmos.

AMS will do this by studying the storm of high-energy particles (cosmic rays) that are hurled at Earth from the deepest reaches of the Universe.

Critical to its operation is a very strong magnet. As the particles enter AMS, they will bend through this magnet. How they bend reveals their charge, a fundamental property that says a great deal about the nature of those particles and where they came from.

Endeavour climbs into the sky, the AMS packed in its payload bay

The UK at a programmatic level never got involved in AMS, presumably because it was a space station project (and the UK doesn't engage with human spaceflight), but one British company was contracted to build the all-important magnet.

Scientific Magnetics (formerly Space Cryomagnetics) of Culham, in Oxfordshire, spent 12 years developing this super-cooled beast, and it was - so the project leaders on AMS told me - a marvel.

It was incredibly powerful and directed its entire field inwards, like an enclosed bubble. From the outside, the magnet appeared as an inert beer can.

This was really important because if you put such a device on a shuttle or a space station and it hasn't been carefully designed, it will start to interact with its surrounding - even try to orientate itself with the Earth's magnetic field. Not what you want on a space vehicle.

But to cut a long story short, the British magnet's super-fluid-helium cooling mechanism meant that it was only ever going to be a short-lived device. And when the space station's life was extended last year to 2020, the AMS project leaders took the decision to remove the UK magnet and replace it with a less powerful, but much longer-lived, Chinese one.

Now, as I say, this is a story with some interesting outcomes.

The British magnet is currently sitting in store at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (Cern) where AMS was assembled and tested, and there's a lot of interest in seeing its technology put to other uses.

The first of these is astronaut protection. The cosmic rays that AMS is trying to characterise are particles that also represent a hazard to humans in space.

Ad Astra has been running a testbed incorporating British superconducting-magnet technology

When astronauts eventually go beyond the space station - back to the Moon, and on to asteroids and Mars - they will need to shield themselves from these high-energy particles. The idea of using a powerful magnetic field to do this job is being investigated Dr Roberto Battiston, the deputy principal investigator on AMS. He told me:

"We continue to work to understand how this technology could be used for future shielding of astronauts undergoing long exposure, for instance at a Moonbase or on a trip to Mars… because this is by far the most advanced super-conducting magnet-design ever built and completed for a space mission. It is not going to fly but it had everything that would allow it to fly.

"The European Space Agency asked me to submit a proposal for a feasibility study and [Scientific Magnetics] is part of it.

"We would design the magnet in a different way to the AMS one. AMS was designed to have a very strong magnetic field within an inner bore. By modifying the coils and the currents, we can design a magnetic field confined in an external ring surrounding an inner bore that is magnetic-field free. In this internal module will be the habitable part for the astronauts - where they will live. We are talking about something having a diameter of about five to six metres and the length of 10m - surrounded by this magnetic field that is intense enough to bend away cosmic rays coming from deep space."

The AMS (left) will sit on the station's truss, or backbone, slightly tilted to look past the giant solar wings

There are immense practicalities to overcome, of course. These special magnets get their strength because they are superconducting. This means running them at cryo-temperatures, which demands a lot of liquid helium.

This has a tendency to boil off over time, limiting the life of your device, which brings us back to AMS. All that said, Professor Battiston is encouraged by the research. He says it should be possible to limit radiation exposure on a Mars flight to something similar to that currently experienced by astronauts on a six-month stay at the space station.

The other big space application for which a magnet like the British device might be useful is in the plasma rockets that could one day propel all spacecraft.

These rely on the motion of highly excited gases, or plasmas, moulded by magnetic fields to provide thrust. Although they don't give the initial big kick you get from chemical combustion, their supreme efficiency means they can go on thrusting for extended periods, achieving far more acceleration per kilogram of fuel consumed. Proponents of plasma rockets say they could dramatically cut the journey time to Mars from months to weeks.

Scientific Magnetics has already produced a superconducting magnet for a testbed at Ad Astra in Texas, the company at the forefront of this propulsion technology.

Steve Harrison from Scientific Magnetics told me:

"These rockets use radio frequency heating to generate the plasma and then the magnets contain the plasma in the same way they do in a tokomak fusion reactor. The magnets are profiled such that they form a sort of nozzle out the back; and because the plasma is expanding and supersonic, it flies out and gives you thrust. For the system Ad Astra has been testing for the last two years, we designed and built the super-conducting magnet."

Similar obstacles to the magnetic shield prevent immediate adoption of the propulsion application as well, but both concepts are definitely worth watching for the future.

Magnet technology could provide both radiation shielding and propulsion on future deep-space vehicles

View the original article here

Endeavour docks at space station

18 May 2011 Last updated at 15:21 GMT Endeavour performed a backflip before docking with the ISS

The US space shuttle Endeavour has arrived at the International Space Station (ISS).

The orbiter, which is making its last foray above the planet, will spend just under two weeks at the platform.

It is delivering a $2bn particle physics experiment and a tray of critical spare parts.

On its return to Earth on 1 June, Endeavour will be prepared for public display at the California Science Center in Los Angeles.

The ship completed the now traditional flip manoeuvre just prior to docking, to allow astronauts on the ISS to photograph all of the shuttle's surfaces.

This imagery will be sent to Earth to be assessed by engineers, who will check to see the orbiter has sustained no damage during its launch on Monday or during the two-journey to get to the ISS.

Beyond Endeavour, the US space agency (Nasa) plans one further shuttle mission to the station in July.

America will then use Russian Soyuz capsules to fly its astronauts to the ISS, before a number of US national commercial carriers enter service and take up the role sometime in the middle of the decade.

Endeavour's crew was led through the hatch into the ISS by their commander Mark Kelly.

The veteran of three previous shuttle flights is the husband of Arizona congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who was shot in the head by a gunman at one of her constituency meetings in January.

She has made remarkable steps in her recovery since the attack, enabling Kelly to leave Earth for 16 days to take part in the mission.

Shuttle commander Mark Kelly is greeted by the ISS crew as he climbs aboard

The Endeavour crew's key ahead will be to fit the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) to the top of the ISS.

The machine, which has taken 17 years to prepare, will undertake a comprehensive survey of cosmic rays.

These are the high-energy particles that are accelerated in Earth's direction from all corners of the cosmos.

Scientists hope that in characterising these particles they can learn more about how the Universe came into being and how is it constructed.

The astronauts will use the robotic arms of both Endeavour and the ISS to put the detector in place on Thursday.

Shuttle Atlantis is currently being prepared for a final mission sometime in July

View the original article here

Water bears in space

17 May 2011 Last updated at 02:46 Tardigrades are microscopic animals commonly known as water bears In 2007, a little known creature called a tardigrade became the first animal to survive exposure to space.

It prevailed over sub-zero temperatures, unrelenting solar winds and an oxygen-deprived space vacuum.

On Monday, this microscopic cosmonaut has once again hitched a ride into space on the Nasa shuttle Endeavour.

Its mission: to help scientists understand more about how this so-called "hardiest animal on Earth" can survive for short periods off it.

Tardigrades join other microscopic organisms selected to be part of a project into extreme survival.

Endeavour climbs into the sky on Monday

Project Biokis is sponsored by the Italian Space Agency and will investigate the impact of short-duration spaceflight on a number of microscopic organisms.

The project will use seven experiments to investigate how spaceflight affects organisms on a molecular level.

The team will be using molecular biology to evaluate any changes in the organisms' genetic information, as well as investigating how cells physically adapt to cope with extreme dehydration, caused by the space vacuum, and damage caused by cosmic radiation.

One of these experiments, the Tardkiss experiment, will expose colonies of tardigrade to different levels of ionising radiation, determined using an instrument called a dosimeter, at different points during the spaceflight mission.

The results from Tardkiss will enable researchers to determine how radiation dosage effects the way cells work.

Tardigrades are of particular interest following the 2007 European Space Agency (Esa) Foton-M3 mission, during which their ability to survive space conditions was discovered.

Stocky bodies

Tardigrades are microscopic animals more commonly known by their non-scientific name, the water bear.

Their stocky bodies and gait have all the hallmarks of a bear. But this isn't a typical bear encounter.

These bears are less than 1mm long and are found in the sea, in fresh water and on land.

Genetic studies have shown that they originally lived in freshwater environments before adapting to colonise the land, seeking out moist habitats such as soil, mosses, leaf litter and lichen.

Tardigrades earned the "hardiest animal on earth" tag having evolved elaborate dormancy strategies that allow them to shut down all but the essential biological processes when conditions are not conducive to supporting life.

Coloured scanning electron micrograph of the water bear Echiniscus granulatus

Professor Roberto Guidetti from the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia believes their ability to suspend life and withstand freezing and desiccation may explain why they can survive in space.

"Tardigrades can be found all over the world from the Arctic to the Antarctic, from high mountains to deserts, in urban areas and backyard gardens," he explained.

"In terrestrial environments, they always require at least a film of water surrounding their bodies to perform activities necessary for life."

But if these conditions change, tardigrades are capable of entering an extreme form of resting called cryptobiosis.

In this state, they are capable of withstanding freezing, a process called cryobiosis, and desiccation, a process called anhydrobiosis.

Arid state

"This capability [to withstand desiccation] involves a complex array of factors working at molecular, physiological and structural levels," Professor Guidetti told BBC News.

"The physiology and biochemistry of anhydrobiosis is bound to a complex system that involves many different molecular components working together as bioprotectants."

Sugars and heat stress proteins, which are expressed when cells become stressed, act as "molecular chaperones" protecting important molecules within the cell.

The disaccharide sugar called trehalose plays a role in the protection of cells and biomolecules from dehydration by replacing water that is normally bonded to hydrogen.

During dehydration, loss of water increases the ionic concentration leading to the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) which damage important biomolecules including DNA.

A water bear egg, imaged by coloured scanning electron micrograph

To counter this attack, organisms produce antioxidants that can mop up ROS minimising cell damage.

The regulation of antioxidant metabolism represents a crucial strategy to avoid damage during dehydration.

"Tardigrades can persist for months, or even for years, in the anhydrobiotic state. When in the desiccated state, tardigrades show a high resistance to physical and chemical extremes," explains Professor Guidetti.

"For example, very low and high temperatures, exposure to high pressure or vacuum, as well as contact with organic solvents and ionising radiation."

Exposure to the conditions found in space induces rapid changes in living systems.

The TARDKISS study may help researchers such as Professor Guidetti develop techniques to protect other organisms, including humans, from the extreme stresses found under space conditions.

It may also help with the future long-term goal of extending the exploration of the Solar System.

View the original article here

Water bears in space

17 May 2011 Last updated at 02:46 Tardigrades are microscopic animals commonly known as water bears In 2007, a little known creature called a tardigrade became the first animal to survive exposure to space.

It prevailed over sub-zero temperatures, unrelenting solar winds and an oxygen-deprived space vacuum.

On Monday, this microscopic cosmonaut has once again hitched a ride into space on the Nasa shuttle Endeavour.

Its mission: to help scientists understand more about how this so-called "hardiest animal on Earth" can survive for short periods off it.

Tardigrades join other microscopic organisms selected to be part of a project into extreme survival.

Endeavour climbs into the sky on Monday

Project Biokis is sponsored by the Italian Space Agency and will investigate the impact of short-duration spaceflight on a number of microscopic organisms.

The project will use seven experiments to investigate how spaceflight affects organisms on a molecular level.

The team will be using molecular biology to evaluate any changes in the organisms' genetic information, as well as investigating how cells physically adapt to cope with extreme dehydration, caused by the space vacuum, and damage caused by cosmic radiation.

One of these experiments, the Tardkiss experiment, will expose colonies of tardigrade to different levels of ionising radiation, determined using an instrument called a dosimeter, at different points during the spaceflight mission.

The results from Tardkiss will enable researchers to determine how radiation dosage effects the way cells work.

Tardigrades are of particular interest following the 2007 European Space Agency (Esa) Foton-M3 mission, during which their ability to survive space conditions was discovered.

Stocky bodies

Tardigrades are microscopic animals more commonly known by their non-scientific name, the water bear.

Their stocky bodies and gait have all the hallmarks of a bear. But this isn't a typical bear encounter.

These bears are less than 1mm long and are found in the sea, in fresh water and on land.

Genetic studies have shown that they originally lived in freshwater environments before adapting to colonise the land, seeking out moist habitats such as soil, mosses, leaf litter and lichen.

Tardigrades earned the "hardiest animal on earth" tag having evolved elaborate dormancy strategies that allow them to shut down all but the essential biological processes when conditions are not conducive to supporting life.

Coloured scanning electron micrograph of the water bear Echiniscus granulatus

Professor Roberto Guidetti from the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia believes their ability to suspend life and withstand freezing and desiccation may explain why they can survive in space.

"Tardigrades can be found all over the world from the Arctic to the Antarctic, from high mountains to deserts, in urban areas and backyard gardens," he explained.

"In terrestrial environments, they always require at least a film of water surrounding their bodies to perform activities necessary for life."

But if these conditions change, tardigrades are capable of entering an extreme form of resting called cryptobiosis.

In this state, they are capable of withstanding freezing, a process called cryobiosis, and desiccation, a process called anhydrobiosis.

Arid state

"This capability [to withstand desiccation] involves a complex array of factors working at molecular, physiological and structural levels," Professor Guidetti told BBC News.

"The physiology and biochemistry of anhydrobiosis is bound to a complex system that involves many different molecular components working together as bioprotectants."

Sugars and heat stress proteins, which are expressed when cells become stressed, act as "molecular chaperones" protecting important molecules within the cell.

The disaccharide sugar called trehalose plays a role in the protection of cells and biomolecules from dehydration by replacing water that is normally bonded to hydrogen.

During dehydration, loss of water increases the ionic concentration leading to the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) which damage important biomolecules including DNA.

A water bear egg, imaged by coloured scanning electron micrograph

To counter this attack, organisms produce antioxidants that can mop up ROS minimising cell damage.

The regulation of antioxidant metabolism represents a crucial strategy to avoid damage during dehydration.

"Tardigrades can persist for months, or even for years, in the anhydrobiotic state. When in the desiccated state, tardigrades show a high resistance to physical and chemical extremes," explains Professor Guidetti.

"For example, very low and high temperatures, exposure to high pressure or vacuum, as well as contact with organic solvents and ionising radiation."

Exposure to the conditions found in space induces rapid changes in living systems.

The TARDKISS study may help researchers such as Professor Guidetti develop techniques to protect other organisms, including humans, from the extreme stresses found under space conditions.

It may also help with the future long-term goal of extending the exploration of the Solar System.

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