»space«

Now, when the Space Shuttle Atlantis is visiting the International Space Station (ISS), swapping crew members and extending hardware by attaching the space lab Columbus, it's time to tell your kids about human space flight, what this people are doing on-board, and what all this fuzz is about.
Thus, cock your head and watch the sky. The space station is visible very good just after sunset as a bright straight moving spot (it takes 91 minutes for one orbit, its altitude is around 340 kilometers).
ESA provides a nice mash-up of ISS's present position on a Google map, although no future advice for a sighting at your home town is available. That's done by a website of NASA, showing the possible sightings for the next days. Click on "Sighting Opportunities" and go ahead for your country and nearest town.

The German space agency (DLR) is planning a national mission to the Moon. An orbiter shall photograph the full surface of the Moon with a resolution of roughly a meter. At present only 18 percent of the Moon's surface is mapped, reports Markus Becker in Spiegel online (28.2.2007). The DLR has presented the idea to MP's in Berlin and received positive feedback. Sources say that DLR finds it more convenient to plan a mission of its own than a multi-national endeavour under the auspices of the European Space Agency. Possibly Italy is collaborating because Italian researchers are also considering a lunar mission. Representatives of DLR say that with the decision of the U.S. to go back to the Moon there's a now rush in ideas for space exploration and it's good to join in and take the lead.

In an interview the head of DLR's space programme, Walter Döllinger, says that the lunar probe dubbed Mona Lisa should be adopted by 2008, build by 2012 and launched around 2013. Well, there are not many places in Germany to study space science. One is the University of Stuttgart and, surprisingly, researchers there are planning also a space mission to the Moon. One aim is to use and test a new propellant for the mission: Teflon.

Negotiations about the concession to operate the Galileo satellite navigation system are tough, but insiders hope they will be finalized this March. According to a report of Deutschlandfunk radio (23.2.2007), the German national radio broadcaster, Galileo is in heavy delay. There are not only struggling the European Space Agency and the European Union on one side and the private consortium on the other side about the contract, the so called public private partnership. Also the multi-national consortium has to distribute shares between its members EADS (FR/DE), Thales (FR), Alcatel (FR) and Finmeccanica (IT). A key technological element of Galileo will be the launch of the next test satellite Giove-B later this year. The satellite will carry a new type of atomic clock crucial for a navigation precision down to centimeters. The success of Galileo will depend on the workings of this clock. The first four navigation satellites (out of 30) are scheduled for launch in 2008. "Let's wait and see," comments the press report. Orders for the remaining 26 satellites are still out to be done. It is expected that Galileo goes into service by the year 2012, or later.

In addition, check our project site at http://ongalileo.com

The particle smasher LHC at Cern will start work in year, or so, and Jim Holt looks for the NY Times (14.1.2007) into what's a possible outcome of the research. The Higgs particle that may give matter mass, another particle, one more particle. Well, you cannot predict the unknown, especially in particle physics. The article has a wonderful slideshow of photographs that corresponds well with the subject: physicists try to unravel symmetries in the early universe and Simon Norfolk takes pictures of the very symmetric equipment and detectors at Cern.

The recent scientific report of a map of the spread of dark matter in our universe is featured in an article of the Boston Globe (15.1.2007). What makes the piece fascinating is the accompanying info graphic. If you haven't understood what scientists achieved, the graphics explains.

Eventually the new world adopted the metric unit measurement system from the old, at least for Nasa's moon exploration projects. Keep in mind that there were problems in recent space projects because different suppliers used different measurement systems. What also pleased me is that Nasa refers in the weblink section of its news release to Wikipedia as an explanatory source of the metric system.

Pictures of the Omi instrument at Nasa's Aura satellite show the smoke level over Europe. Actually, the instrument adds up all the nitrous oxide in an air column of 10 km above ground. As estimated levels above industrial hot spots are highest. Red is high concentration. Image (c) KNMI
[Correction: The data-processed picture of 14. December does not show the smoke plume of the oil tank fire near London. Investigator Richard Friebe was told that scientists who do the data-processing and modelling of Omi satellite data may not track the smoke plume of the fire.]

The NY Times editorial (22.9.2006) in appraise of the recent shuttle mission: "We?ve never been great fans of the International Space Station, an enormously costly project that will yield such limited scientific and economic benefits that it seems destined to be considered a white elephant. Nevertheless, we had to marvel at the magnificent performance of the crew of the shuttle Atlantis, which ended an arduous 12-day mission to the station with a flawless landing yesterday."

And with slight optimism: "For the first time in years it seems possible that NASA may actually be able to finish the station by 2010 and then retire the aging shuttle fleet so as to free up money for new vehicles to carry out the more ambitious program to explore the Moon and eventually Mars."

At the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Cologne researchers test the wheels of a rover for the forthcoming European space mission to planet Mars called ExoMars. The prototype rover is called Solero, short for Solar Powered Exploration Rover. It's one meter long and has got six wheels. Crucial is the wheel's material. Air tyres are of no use: at the deep temperatures of Mars they become too rigid. Cosmic radiation makes them brittle, thus they run flat. Thus, researchers developed a flexible wheel with metal parts. A special construction guarantees a high contact area with the surface to ensure good traction. This autumn a one-year-lasting evaluation phase will start to finalise the wheels' design, reports Guido Meyer in Deutschlandfunk radio (12.7.2006).

The Economist (11.5.2006) is enthusiastic about private space flights and compares the trials with the first flight of the Wright brothers. However, it seems that ideas meet enough money, and five concepts compete to earn the support of the rich investors. All is about sub-orbital flight because bringing a spaceship into orbit costs to much energy (keep in mind the large booster rockets of the Space Shuttle). "Instead, it will travel briefly into space, offering a short thrilling ride out of the atmosphere, a few minutes of weightlessness, and a spectacular view of the planet from about 100km," writes the Economist.