Greetings, fellow Stargazers! Have you been enjoying the rain? Then keep your eyes open for a "celestial shower" as meteoritic activity picks up over the next few nights, culminating in the peak of the Ophiuchid meteor Saturday night through Sunday morning. While you're out relaxing, be sure to spare some time for lunacy and take a look some interesting features on the Moon. Need a test of your telescope's resolving power? Then I "double dare" you to take on Gamma Virginis! Whenever you're ready, I'll see you in the back yard…. (...)
Read the rest of Weekend SkyWatcher's Forecast – June 18-20, 2010 (1,028 words)

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Nancy on Venus. Credit: USGS

This was posted on USGS Astrogeology Science Center website yesterday: "The name Nancy has been approved for a crater on Venus located at 6.4N, 272.2E." I checked with Jennifer Blue, who posts the latest nomenclature planetary news on the USGS site, wondering if the crater was named for anyone in particular or just Nancys in general. She told me that small craters (less than 20 km in diameter) on Venus are named with common female first names, while larger craters (over 20 km) are named for deceased women who have made outstanding or fundamental contributions to their field.
(...)
Read the rest of Nancy is Now on Venus (142 words)

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Noctilucent clouds over Kendal Castle, England. Credit: Stuart Atkinson

It's summer (well, OK, technically next week it is summer) but it's the time of year that northern latitudes can see the beautiful, awe inspiring atmospheric phenomena called Noctilucent Clouds, or night shining clouds. They aren't like regular cumulus or cirrus clouds, but are mysterious and unique high atmosphere cloud formations thought to be composed of small ice-coated particles. How they form and why is not well understood, and usually the best time to see them is at twilight when the high altitude clouds are backlit by the sun. But Stu Atkinson in England sent in these great images of NLC's, which he took in the wee hours of the morning (he woke up at 1:30 am) from the stunning location of Kendal Castle. He's got more at his website, Cumbrian Sky.

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Read the rest of It's Noctilucent Cloud Season! (183 words)

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Astronomers caught a glimpse of a future star just as it is being born out of the surrounding gas and dust, in a star-forming region similar to the one pictured above. (Spitzer Space Telescope image of DR21 in Infrared) Credit: A. Marston (ESTEC/ESA) et al., JPL, Caltech, NASA

Astronomers have glimpsed into the earliest stages of star formation, and have seen what could be the youngest known star at the very moment it is being born. “It’s very difficult to detect objects in this phase of star formation, because they are very short-lived and they emit very little light,” said Xuepeng Chen, from Yale University and lead author of a new paper. Not yet fully developed into a true star, the object is in the earliest stages of star formation and has just begun pulling in matter from a surrounding envelope of gas and dust. The team detected the faint light emitted by the nearby dust.
(...)
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Artist impression of the OWL Telescope concept

We spent 5 episodes telling the story of astronomy so far, how we got from the work of the Babylonians to the modern discoveries made in the last decade. But now we want to look forward, studying the current space missions and experiments to uncover the mysteries that astronomers hope to solve.

Click here to download the episode.

Or subscribe to: astronomycast.com/podcast.xml with your podcatching software.

The Future of Astronomy shownotes and transcript

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The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has provided insights into two recent events on Jupiter: the mysterious flash of light on 3 June and the disappearance of the planet’s dark Southern Equatorial Belt.

Very informative articles by Dr. Kremer.
A number of pictures at the web sites as well.
- LRK -

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http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=1400
NASA's First Lunar Orion Test Capsule Built
Ken Kremer
Monday, June 7, 2010

The GTA is the essential forerunner of a crewed spacecraft which NASA had intended to utilize for a return of human footsteps to the Moon, and then to Mars and beyond until President Obama proposed to wholly terminate Project Constellation, including Orion, in his initial 2011 budget proposal and radically alter NASA's future path.

"The Orion GTA is the flight test article that was designed in support of Lunar Missions," explained Mark McCloskey to me during my fact finding visit to Michoud to observe the capsule first hand. McCloskey is the Lockheed Martin Senior Production Manager for Orion at Michoud.

McCloskey and other senior Lockheed representatives spoke to me in depth about Orion development at NASA's Michoud manufacturing facility in New Orleans. Michoud is also the production site for the Space Shuttle's huge External Tanks, which I'll report on separately.

This GTA test vehicle is not the de-scoped and stripped down, unmanned  " rescue lifeboat" recently proposed by President Obama at his April 15 space policy speech at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) where he resuscitated the Orion project, but with limited objectives and functionality.

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Another article with more information.
- LRK -

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http://nasatech.net/
Orion Ground Test Article (GTA)
by Ken Kremer

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An earlier article before the final completion weld.
- LRK -

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http://www.universetoday.com/2010/05/25/first-orion-capsule-forming-rapidly/
First Orion Capsule forming rapidly
May 25th, 2010

Written by Ken Kremer

The first Orion crew capsule is rapidly taking shape as assembly work to construct  the skeletal framework of the first pathfinder Orion capsule – the Ground Test Article – or GTA, is nearing completion.

The Lockheed Martin team building Orion is just one weld away from completing the framework of an Orion cabin at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. Precision welding to join together the final large skeletal segments (see my earlier report) has proceeded well according to Lockheed managers I spoke with.

“The Orion capsule is the Congressionally approved program of record and we are moving forward with it”, says Larry Price, Lockheed’s Orion Deputy Program Manager in an interview with me. “Our work is continuing with the funding which is still approved until September 2010. Orion is a very functional vehicle. All subsystems will be state of the art.

“Orion is not Apollo on Steroids”, Price emphasized.

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Will follow how Orion is finally used and in what configuration.

Some information about Dr. Kremer.
- LRK -

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http://www.rittenhouseastronomicalsociety.org/Dr.Kremer/K.htm
Dr. Ken Kremer

Dr. Ken Kremer is a research scientist  and freelance science journalist (Princeton, NJ) whose articles and space exploration images have appeared in magazines, books and on websites, including Astronomy Picture of the Day, ABC News, Aviation Week, Spaceflight Now, Spaceflight, New Scientist, The Planetary Society, Universe Today, Science News, International Year of Astronomy, 2010 Year in Space Calendar, NASA and the covers of Aviation Week & Space Technology, Spaceflight and the Explorers Club magazines.

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Thanks for looking up with me.
- LRK -

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
Comments accepted here - http://lunar-update.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
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http://www.washingtonmonthly.com//features/2010/1005.homans.html
The Wealth of Constellations

Can the free market save the space program?
By Charles Homans

Marine Major General Charles F. Bolden has made a career of taking on daunting assignments. After growing up black in segregated South Carolina, Bolden spent his teenage years badgering congressmen into helping him gain admittance to the nearly all-white U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis. Shipped out to Southeast Asia in 1972, he flew more than a hundred missions over Vietnam and Laos. After the war he spent a few years test-flying experimental aircraft, then—why not?—became an astronaut. When the space shuttle Columbia  blasted off from Cape Canaveral in January 1986, sixteen days before the Challenger explosion, Bolden was in the pilot’s seat. So when President Barack Obama was looking to fill the top job at the National  eronautics and Space Administration last May, the ex-astronaut, then sixty-two and retired, seemed a natural choice. NASA was four years into its most ambitious project since Apollo, a plan to send American astronauts back to the moon and, in time, on to Mars. It needed a leader equal to the challenge.

Nine months later, however, Bolden received an assignment even tougher than overseeing the mission: getting rid of it.

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http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/orion/index.html
Orion Spacecraft Takes Shape

The Orion crew exploration vehicle took shape as the two halves of the crew module were fused together at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, La.

The Lockheed Martin Orion team welded the forward cone assembly to the aft barrel assembly using the next generation friction stir weld process.

The 445-inch long weld is the longest such weld of its kind and will ensure optimal structural integrity for the harsh environments of space flight.

› View images -
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/multimedia/orion_takes_shape.html

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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK

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Mars Exploration Rovers Special Update: Spirit Team Announces Major Water Discovery

Jiuquan, China (XNA) Jun 16, 2010
China has successfully sent into space a scientific research satellite at 9:39 a.m. Tuesday from northwest China's Gansu Province. The satellite "Shijian XII," sent from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center of Gansu Province, was carried by the China-developed Long March 2D rocket.

Sources with the launch center said the satellite was designed for carrying out scientific and technological experiments including space environment probe, measurement and communications.

"Shijian XII" was developed by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, a research institution affiliated to state-run China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

China produced its first Long March rocket in 1970. Tuesday marks the 125th flight of Long March rockets.

"Shijian" means practice.

Source: Source: Xinhua

Paris (AFP) June 15, 2010
A former Soviet SS-18 intercontinental missile lofted a trio of European micro-satellites into space on Wednesday, including a satellite to monitor the Sun's impact on climate change, France's National Centre for Space Studies (CNES) said.

The Russian-Ukrainian Dnepr lifted off at 1442 GMT from Yasny, southern Russia, the CNES said in a press release issued in Paris.

Its triple payload included a 150-kilo (330-pound) French satellite called Picard that will scrutinise the Sun for changes that could affect Earth's climate system.

More than 80 percent of current climate change is attributable to greenhouse gases that trap solar heat, leaving variations in solar output as the other big contributor.

Picard, named after a 17th-century French astronomer who investigated solar activity, will orbit at an altitude of 725 kilometres (453 miles), the CNES said.

It carries a telescope that will take images of the Sun in five wavelengths, and two other instruments to measure the Sun's energy output.

The other passengers aboard the Dnepr were the satellites Mango and Tango, under a Swedish Space Corporation project called Prisma.

They will test new sensors and navigation technologies designed to enable satellites to rendezvous or fly in formation in space.

The SS-18 was code-named "Satan" by NATO in the Cold War's heyday. In the 1990s, a number of the missiles were converted so that they could carry small civilian payloads into low Earth orbit.

Tokyo (AFP) June 15, 2010
Japan's space agency has applied for a Guinness World Records listing after its Hayabusa space probe returned from a seven-year journey to an ancient asteroid, an official said Tuesday.

Hayabusa, "falcon" in Japanese, left Earth in 2003 and returned late Sunday, completing a five-billion-kilometre (three-billion-mile) round trip to the potato-shaped Itokawa asteroid.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, on Monday applied to the London-based Guinness World Records to list Hayabusa's trailblazing journey, an official with the agency said.

"We are seeking its recognition as the first-ever spacecraft that landed on and returned from a celestial body other than the moon, and also for completing the longest ever (space) journey," the official said.

JAXA is not seeking recognition of the total distance Hayabusa travelled as it is a rough estimate and not scientifically important, she said.

As planned, the spacecraft burned up on re-entering Earth's atmosphere, creating a fireball in the night sky over the Australian desert.

Before its fiery end, it released a heatproof sample canister which scientists hope contains material from the asteroid's surface to give them clues on the origins of the solar system.

The pod, which made a textbook parachute landing in the Australian Outback, is to leave Thursday for Japan for analysis.

earlier related report
Asteroid space probe to return to Japan
Sydney (AFP) June 15, 2010 - A space capsule that scientists hope is carrying asteroid dust, potentially revealing secrets about the origins of the solar system, will be flown back to Japan this week, officials said Tuesday.

The precious probe, which made a textbook landing in the Australian Outback on Sunday after a seven-year, five-billion-kilometre (three-billion-mile) journey to the ancient Itokawa asteroid, will be carried on a chartered flight.

"The journey starts Thursday," an official from the Japanese space agency JAXA told AFP from the South Australian desert landing site at Woomera. "It will reach Japan on the 18th (Friday)."

The capsule was carried by the Hayabusa probe, which returned to Earth late Sunday, blazing across the Outback sky as it burned up on re-entry before an enthralled crowd of scientists from Japan, the United States and Australia.

The heat-resistant capsule, which had been ejected earlier, parachuted to a soft landing inside Australia's military testing range at Woomera before being retrieved by helicopter late on Monday.

It will remain within the secure military site until it is taken to Japan.

"They (scientists) are inspecting the outside of the capsule," the JAXA spokesman said.

The probe, which appears intact, is expected to remain sealed for several weeks while it undergoes a battery of tests. So scientists will not know for some months whether it was able to collect any material from the asteroid.

The Hayabusa was launched in May 2003 and reached the Itokawa asteroid in September 2005.

Its return to Earth was delayed for three years by technical problems and scientists had been concerned it might not be able to complete the journey, or could become lost in the vast Australian desert.

JAXA officials were delighted when they were able to land the probe exactly where they predicted, completing an historic mission in which the capsule became the first to complete a journey to an asteroid and back to Earth.

Baikonur, Kazakhstan (AFP) June 16, 2010
A Russian cosmonaut and two American astronauts blasted off Wednesday for a restaffing mission to the International Space Station, Russian television showed in a live broadcast.

The Soyuz-FG rocket lifted off on schedule from Russia's Baikonur cosmodrome in the Kazakh steppe at 01:35 am (2135 GMT Tuesday) carrying Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin and US astronauts Shannon Walker and Douglas Wheelock.

In a pre-flight press conference, the US astronauts admitted to some apprehension about the mission, but voiced their readiness and gratitude.

"I am very happy to be going and maybe just a little afraid," Walker said as quoted by the RIA Novosti news agency, with Wheelock echoing the sentiment.

Yurchikhin's young daughter Elena told her father in a public goodbye that she wanted to follow in his footsteps as a cosmonaut, complaining though that "Mom won't let me" fly to space just yet.

"I am with your mother on this 100 percent," Yurchikhin answered.

Russia's Vesti-24 television news channel showed the team sitting calmly in the cockpit as the rocket fired off into the night sky.

The Soyuz is due to dock with the ISS early Friday.

The mission is the last launch by a Soyuz rocket to the ISS before the US space shuttle program is mothballed later this year, leaving the burden of travel to the ISS entirely on Russian spacecraft.

Despite losing the shuttles Columbia and Challenger in a pair of disasters the programme was considered a resounding success and soon took on the lion's share of responsibility for transporting US astronauts.

A successor to the space shuttle is scheduled to take off no earlier than 2015.

Yasny, Russia (SPX) Jun 16, 2010
The Swedish Prisma satellites have been successfully launched aboard a Dnepr launcher from Yasny, Russia at 14.42 UTC. Sixteen minutes after launch, the two Prisma satellites were released, clamped together in launch configuration.

The mission control center of the Swedish Space Corporation had its first contact with Prisma 16.14 UTC. The operations team could verify that the solar array panels had been deployed as planned and that the satellites are in a nominal state.

During the coming days, all subsystems on both satellites will be successively verified, leading up to the planned separation of the satellites - Mango and Tango - on 3 August.

Prisma will demonstrate break-through technologies for autonomous formation flying and rendezvous. The mission comprises the verification of innovative systems for guidance, navigation and control, software and sensors as well as two propulsion systems. The series of experiments will commence after the separation in August and continue for ten months.

The Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) is the prime contractor for Prisma and has developed the major part of the onboard technologies and navigation experiments as well as the mission control software.

The German Aerospace Center DLR, the French space agency CNES and the Danish University of Technology have contributed with navigation experiments, software and sensors.

The environmentally benign propulsion system and the micropropulsion system demonstrated onboard are developed by the SSC companies ECAPS and NanoSpace and make their first spaceflight on Prisma.

The Swedish National Space Board is the initiator of the Prisma mission and finances the project with support from the space agencies of France and Germany.

"Prisma is an excellent platform for the Swedish space industry to qualify its inventions in space", says Olle Norberg, Director General of the Swedish National Space Board.

"The mission will fortify Sweden's position as a prominent technology nation and hopefully open doors to new international space projects where we can contribute."

"SSC is a renowned player in the international space business", says Lars Persson, CEO of the Swedish Space Corporation.

"We really look forward to once again proving our capabilities in satellite development and control, and to the verification of our unique innovations such as the propulsion systems, which we expect to be very prosperous on the international market. We also appreciate the very rewarding cooperation we have with our European partners in this project."

Technologies for autonomous formation flying and rendezvous are required in scientific missions where two or more spacecraft need to interact to form powerful antennas and telescopes. These innovations are also essential in missions that involve docking and inspections of satellites in orbit.

London, UK (SPX) Jun 16, 2010
The UK Space Agency is announcing Pounds 10.5M for the development of instruments to search for signs of past or present life on Mars. The instruments are part of the scientific payload on the ExoMars rover to be launched in 2018 as part of a joint mission between the European Space Agency (ESA) and US space agency NASA. ExoMars is a flagship project in the UK Space Agency's science and exploration programme.

A two-step programme, the adventure begins in 2016 when NASA will launch an ESA-led orbiter to try to understand the origin and distribution of trace gases in the atmosphere of the Red Planet. In particular, it aims to explain why methane - a gas which scientists know should be destroyed in the atmosphere within a few hundred years - seems to be continuously forming at certain places on the planet.

The orbiter will also release an experimental probe which will make a fiery descent into the thin Martian atmosphere and use its on-board rockets to demonstrate Europe's ability to make a controlled landing on another planet.

Then in 2018, NASA will land ESA's ExoMars rover alongside a NASA rover. Thanks to funding from the UK Space Agency, the rover vehicle for ExoMars is being designed and tested by leading UK space company EADS Astrium at its facility in Stevenage, Hertfordshire under a multi-million pound contract.

The ExoMars rover is a robotic scientist which will search for evidence of past and present life and study the local Martian environment to understand when and where conditions that could have supported the development of life may have prevailed.

Unlike previous US rovers, ExoMars will carry a radar able to search beneath it for scientifically promising locations under the surface and a drill to extract samples from 2 m down that will be fed to its on-board laboratory.

The UK is leading on developing two of the nine instruments (the Life Marker Chip and the Panoramic Camera) on the rover and has a major involvement in two other instruments (the Raman Laser Spectrometer and the X-Ray diffactometer).

David Willetts, Universities and Science Minister, said, "The UK's world-leading technology will play a major role in this international ExoMars project. Our scientists will expand our knowledge of the red planet and help generate applications for these technologies here at home to benefit society and the economy. It's exciting to see UK engineers working on the most ambitious Mars mission ever attempted."

The Life Marker Chip is a highly innovative instrument using techniques from the world of medical diagnostics and is designed to detect the presence of organic compounds that might suggest the rover has found past or present life. UK involvement comes from the University of Leicester, Cranfield University and Imperial College London. The leader of the project (the so-called Principal Investigator) is Prof Mark Sims from the University of Leicester.

The Panoramic Camera will be the eyes of the rover. It will help guide the rover and be used by geologists to understand the history and structure of Mars. This will help choose the best locations to use the drill to acquire samples. Led by planetary scientist Professor Andrew Coates from the Mullard Space Science Laboratory of the University College London, it also involves robotics expert Professor Dave Barnes at the University of Aberystwyth.

The Raman Laser Spectrometer uses a very sensitive technique called Raman spectroscopy to diagnose the internal structure of molecules so that scientists can understand what sort of minerals and organic compounds the rover is studying. The UK team is led by Dr Ian Hutchinson from Leicester University, while Professor Howell Edwards of Bradford University is the Science Team Coordinator. The Science and Technology Facilities Council's Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Harwell, Oxfordshire is also a major contributor to this programme, which is led by Spain.

The X-Ray Diffractometer will study the structure of minerals already known to exist on Mars such as clays, carbonates and sulphates and also determine whether these have been subjected to alteration processes by water and have the potential to harbour life. Dr Ian Hutchinson and Dr Richard Ambrosi of Leicester University have an important role in the development of the detector array for this instrument and Dr Hutchinson is the Deputy Principal Investigator for the instrument, which is led by Italy.

Breakdown of funding: Life Marker Chip - Pounds 4.8M Panoramic Camera- Pounds 2.7M X-Ray Diffractometer - Pounds 1.1M Raman Laser Spectrometer - Pounds 1.9M

Spin-offs:

Listed below are just a few examples of the programme's spin-outs in fields ranging from human mobility to environmental resources.

Technology developed for ExoMars will help to clean and extract oil deposits in less time - and using less water - than current methods. Two-thirds of the Earth's petroleum lies in deposits such as oil sands which are difficult to retrieve. They are usually mined and extracted using a hot water and flotation step but the process leaves substantial amounts of water, contaminated by organic compounds, sitting in settling pools for years. ExoMars scientists at Imperial College London (Prof. Mark Sephton) in conjunction with University of Leicester and Cranfield University as part of the LMC project came up with an innovative solution. State-of-the-art components for detecting organic matter on Mars require water-based solvents to extract 'molecular fossils' from rocks. The extraction uses an advanced surfactant technology that is readily transferable to terrestrial applications and can reduce the time needed for the water recycling process to days or weeks. These surfactants also scavenge organic compounds from water and are so environmentally benign they are actually edible. The Life Marker Chip (LMC) instrument has been developed from advanced medical diagnostics technology that can detect the presence of disease agents and antibodies. It is designed to detect trace levels of multiple organic molecular targets - biomarkers of life - in samples of Martian rock and soil while at the same time operating in extreme environments and has been developed for ExoMars by scientists at the University of Leicester, Cranfield University (Prof. David Cullen) and Imperial College London, The LMC can also detect molecular pollutants, leading to a number of possible uses within the environmental sector, as well as security applications through detecting illicit drugs and chemical or biological agents. Magna Parva Ltd, based in Leicester, is applying engineering know-how gained from ExoMars to a number of different challenges. These include modifying the design of beverage cans so that less material is used during manufacture. The company's work with a global beverage can maker could allow raw material costs to be reduced by 12% - a huge potential impact since the global consumption of canned beverages alone is around 270 billion units each year. Apart from possible annual savings of around Pounds 100 million in ten years time, the innovation also benefits the environment. Magna Parva was shortlisted for the Lord Stafford Award for Innovation in Development in 2009. Robotic technology intended for Mars could soon be helping to transport passengers and goods at airport terminals on Earth. A consortium of academics and industry, led by Wiltshire-based technology company company SciSys, successfully demonstrated an autonomous Mars rover prototype and adapted the system for use in airports. It will allow people with reduced mobility to use smart devices to remotely request transportation. The underlying control software was the result of STFC-funded work and a prototype has been developed, courtesy of the EU sponsored FP6 programme. This was demonstrated in a live trial in December 2009 at Portugal's Faro airport.

London, UK (SPX) Jun 16, 2010
Surrey Satellite Technology )SSTL) has celebrated 25 years of space innovation. The British company was incorporated on 11th June 1985 to commercialise small satellite research from the University of Surrey and has since become the most successful cash exit from a UK university spin-out when it was acquired by EADS Astrium last year.

During the past 25 years, SSTL has earned an international reputation for delivering cost effective space missions in rapid timescales with the successful launch of 34 small satellites together with its contributions to third party space missions. This approach is deeply rooted in the culture of the Company and is made possible by its committed employees and the continuing close cooperation between SSTL and the Surrey Space Centre.

SSTL Executive Chairman and founder Sir Martin Sweeting commented, "As a PhD student in 1985 I was not afraid to take risks - I believed that the costs associated with space could be cut dramatically by taking a new approach to engineering. We have changed the face of space by taking a highly innovative approach to both technology and management of space projects and exceeded expectations by consistently delivering highly capable and reliable space missions. We continue to apply this principle and determination in everything we do - from producing commercial Earth Observation missions to enabling cost effective interplanetary exploration."

It is generally accepted that computing power doubles approximately every 18 months and by applying the best available technologies in space, SSTL has taken advantage of the latest advances such as Solid State Drives (SSD) or powerful microprocessors and rapidly applied them in space offering more capable satellites at ever more affordable prices.

This is clearly shown in the rapid advance of Earth observation - today's 2nd generation Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC) satellites have ten times the capability of the original satellites launched just five years ago.

In October 2010, SSTL will launch NigeriaSat-2, one of the most capable small satellites in orbit and by the end of 2010 a further seven SSTL-built satellites will be in orbit using the best available advances in technology.

The ability of SSTL to produce high quality spacecraft to a rapid schedule has also been recognised by the established space agencies and in 2005 SSTL completed the first Galileo programme test satellite, GIOVE-A, on time and within budget for the European Space Agency (ESA). This satellite embraced SSTL's space engineering principles resulting in a highly cost effective solution.

It soon proved its worth when GIOVE-A secured the radio frequencies necessary for the European satellite navigation system, ensuring that Galileo could progress The success of this mission ultimately led to SSTL and its partner OHB System AG being awarded a contract to build the first 14 fully operational spacecraft following the validation phase in January 2010.

Also in 2005 SSTL proved that small satellites could provide state-of-the-art high resolution Earth observation for security with the TopSat mission, which was built for the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) with support from the UK Government's MOSAIC programme.

This seed corn funding also resulted in the launch of Algerian AlSAT-1 - the first satellite in the international Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC). This constellation has since grown to six satellites, all built by SSTL for different member nations, providing countries such as Nigeria, Algeria, Spain and the UK with the ability to map changes in the environment and assist with disaster relief campaigns.

From this small initial investment, SSTL has since made Pounds 95m of export sales of EO satellites, achieving greater than a 10:1 return on the investment.

What's next? SSTL believes that in the short term remote sensing constellations will continue to develop, improving our knowledge of the Earth, its environment and its resources, with more up to date and cost effective information. SSTL's Chief Executive, Dr Matt Perkins, sees two areas ripe for development using SSTL's unique approach.

"Small satellites are a highly credible alternative for communications services from geostationary orbit and for interplanetary exploration which is traditionally hugely expensive. SSTL, with the support of our new owners EADS Astrium and our strong links with the Surrey Space Centre, can substantially reduce the cost and timescales for these missions, delivering benefits earlier and enabling more missions to be flown. We look forward to continuing to change the economics of space over the next 25 years."

Minister for Universities and Science David Willetts said:

"The space and satellite sector has bucked the trend and outperformed the rest of the UK economy during the recession. SSTL should be proud of the part it has played - not just recently but over the past 25 years. I wish the company all the best as it looks to the next 25 years and beyond."

Paris, France (ESA) Jun 16, 2010
As the ISS circles Earth, it has begun tracking individual ships crossing the seas beneath. An experiment hosted by ESA's Columbus module is testing the viability of monitoring global traffic from the Station's orbit hundreds of kilometres up.

The ship-detection system under test is based around the Automatic Identification System (AIS), the marine equivalent of the air traffic control system.

All international vessels, cargo ships above certain weights and passenger carriers of all sizes must carry 'Class A' AIS transponders, broadcasting continually updated identification and navigation data.

AIS allows port authorities and coastguards to track seagoing traffic, but the system relies on VHF radio signals with a horizontal range of just 40 nautical miles (74 km). This makes it useful within coastal zones and on a ship-to-ship basis but open ocean traffic remains largely untracked. However, AIS signals travel much further vertically - all the way up to the International Space Station.

Global overview of maritime traffic
"The COLAIS (Columbus AIS) experiment was switched on at the start of June," said Karsten Strauch, ESA's project manager.

"To give an idea, more than 90 000 Class A AIS messages were gathered between 19:00 GMT on 2 June and 09:00 GMT the following day, giving a global overview of maritime traffic."

With commissioning completed, the experiment is run remotely and the results are routed via the Columbus Control Centre in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany to COLAIS teams.

"We are currently testing the NORAIS receiver, built by the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment and Kongsberg Seatex," explained Mr Strauch.

"In three months' time the Station crew will switch it with a second receiver called LUXAIS, the work of Luxembourg companies Luxspace and Emtronix. For the next two years we will go on swapping between these receivers."

The Station's orbit crosses all major shipping lanes. The main challenge is simply that far too many vessels are detected at once, leading to signal overlaps and interference. The Station's 7 km/s speed also distorts the signal. The receivers therefore need to be capable of high-performance signal detection and message decoding.

Being hosted on the ISS, COLAIS can be kept updated in the future simply by astronauts swapping receivers, or fixing any problems that arise.

Integrating AIS information with other satellite data, such as from remote-sensing satellites, should significantly improve maritime surveillance and boost safety and security at sea.

ESA is planning a dedicated initiative in this area as part of its Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems (ARTES) programme.

Paris, France (ESA) Jun 16, 2010
ESA's comet-chaser Rosetta is heading for a blind date with asteroid Lutetia. Rosetta does not yet know what Lutetia looks like but beautiful or otherwise the two will meet on 10 July.

Like many first dates, Rosetta will meet Lutetia on a Saturday night, flying to within 3200 km of the space rock. Rosetta started taking navigational sightings of Lutetia at the end of May so that ground controllers can determine any course corrections required to achieve their intended flyby distance.

The close pass will allow around 2 hours of good imaging. The spacecraft will instantly begin beaming the data back to Earth and the first pictures will be released later that evening.

Rosetta flew by asteroid Steins in 2008 and other space missions have encountered a handful of asteroids. Each asteroid has proven to be an individual and Lutetia is expected to continue the trend.

For a start, no one knows what it looks like. Orbiting in the main belt of asteroids between Mars and Jupiter, it appears as a single point of light to ground telescopes. The continuous variation in its brightness makes it clear that Lutetia is rotating and has an uneven surface. These observations allow astronomers to estimate its shape and size, but their determinations all differ.

Initially it was thought that Lutetia is around 95 km in diameter but only mildly elliptical. A more recent estimate suggests 134 km, with a pronounced elongation. Rosetta will tell us for certain and will also investigate the composition of the asteroid, wherein lies another mystery.

By any measure, Lutetia is quite large. Planetary scientists believe that it is a primitive asteroid left on the shelf for billions of years because no planet consumed it as the Solar System formed. Indeed, most measurements appear to back this picture, making the asteroid out to be a 'C-type', which contains primitive compounds of carbon.

However, some measurements suggest that Lutetia is an 'M-type', which could mean there are metals in its surface. "If Lutetia is a metallic asteroid then we have found a real winner," says Rita Schulz, ESA Rosetta Project Scientist.

That is because although metallic asteroids do exist, they are thought to be fragments of the metallic core of larger asteroids that have since been shattered into pieces. If Lutetia is made of metal or even contains large amounts of metal, Dr Schulz says that the traditional asteroid classification scheme will need rethinking. "C-class asteroids should not have metals on their surfaces," she says.

Asteroid science stands to gain once this observational conundrum is resolved because Rosetta's data will provide a valuable collection of 'ground truths' that can be used to resolve conflicting ground-based observations not just for Lutetia but for other asteroids as well.

For 36 hours around the moment of closest approach, Rosetta will be in almost continuous contact with the ground. The only breaks will come as Earth rotates and engineers have to switch from one tracking station to another.

Good contact is essential because the uncertainties in the asteroid's position and shape may demand last minute fine-tuning to keep it centred in Rosetta's instruments during the flyby. "The skeleton of the operation is in place, and we have the ability to update our plans at any time," says Andrea Accomazzo, ESA Rosetta Spacecraft Operations Manager.

Pasadena CA (JPL) Jun 16, 2010
Engineers with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., are running diverse trials with a test version of the radar system that will enable NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission to put the Curiosity rover onto the Martian surface in August 2012.

One set of tests conducted over a desert lakebed at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif., in May 2010 used flights with a helicopter simulating specific descent paths anticipated for Martian sites.

During the final stage of descent, NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission will use a "sky crane" maneuver to lower Curiosity on a bridle from the mission's rocket-powered descent stage. The descent stage will carry Curiosity's flight radar.

The testing at Dryden included lowering a rover mockup on a tether from the helicopter to assess how the sky crane maneuver will affect the radar's descent-speed determinations by the radar. The helicopter carried the test radar on a special nose-mounted gimbal.

Helicopter-flown testing has also been conducted at other desert locations for experience in an assortment of terrains. Later in 2010, the team plans to test the higher-altitude, higher-velocity part of Curiosity's radar-aided descent by flying the test radar on dives by an F/A-18 jet from Dryden.

Cambridge MA (SPX) Jun 10, 2010
On the surface of things, how a bubble bursts may seem to be a simple, unremarkable event. In the June 10th issue of Nature, engineers at Harvard report just the opposite, having uncovered the beautifully complex physics behind rupturing bubbles.

Instead of simply vanishing, a large bubble disperses into a ring of smaller bubbles. The finding could be appropriately called an advance in "pop" science.

Lead author James C. Bird, a graduate student at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), and his colleagues believe they have stumbled upon a universal behavior in how bubbles pop that holds as true for suds in a sink as it does for foam in the ocean.

"In order to minimize surface area, a bubble will be nearly hemispherical when it is in contact with a solid or liquid interface," explains Bird. "We found that when these hemispherical bubbles pop, there is a two step process that can create a ring of smaller bubbles. While the resulting smaller bubbles have long been seen, until now the 'how' has never been reported in the literature."

The curved nature of the bubble plays a critical role, as the shape leads to higher pressure on the inside than on the outside of the bubble. Once the bubble opens up (i.e., bursts) it equilibrates, resulting in an inward net force due to the surface tension.

"In the first step, the forces acting on the bubble cause the film to fold in on itself as it retracts and therefore trap a pocket of air in the shape of a torus, or donut. In the second step, surface tension breaks this torus of air into a ring of smaller bubbles just like surface tension breaks a thin stream of water from a faucet into individual droplets," adds Bird.

The cascade effect is short lived, occurring no more than twice in experiments to date. "The smallest bubbles no longer form a spherical cap and reintegrate into the liquid; this is the end of the cascade."

Since the popping process happens too rapidly to be seen with the naked eye, the team used high-speed cameras to film the collapse. Based upon observing the video, they then constructed a numerical model to test and replicate their experimental assumptions.

Bird and one his co-authors, Laurent Courbin, a former SEAS research associate, were inspired to study how bubbles pop during a late night lab session. As they were investigating ways to spread bubbles on different surfaces, the pair noticed the resulting rings and decided to take a closer look.

"After that point, any time I was just walking around during a rainy day I'd look at the bubbles popping on puddles," says Bird. "When I went swimming in the ocean I would watch the bubbles on the surface and just see if I could notice the same effect. And I soon realized it was everywhere."

The physics behind bursting appears to be independent of the material of the bubble. The investigators were surprised to find that the ring effect is still seen with fairly viscous liquids like oil and even in solutions up to 5,000 times as viscous as water. Bird is anxious to study similar popping effects in more exotic materials such as molten glass, lava, and mud.

While understanding how bubbles pop may not offer any near-term applications, the researchers expect that understanding how to create small bubbles from larger ones could one day help inform a variety of fields.

"We have provided a general explanation of why these rings of smaller bubbles can be observed," says co-author Howard A. Stone, Bird's adviser and now the Donald and Elizabeth Dixon Professor in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton. "We think this study highlights one role for larger bubbles in aerosol formation."

It is well known that when small bubbles pop on a liquid surface tiny droplets are ejected upwards. The effect can be readily seen and felt with carbonated sodas. Bubble-mediated aerosols are also relevant to applications in health and climate.

The shooting droplets have been shown to transfer any infectious material as well as dissolved gases and salt from large bodies of water, such as the ocean, into the air. Bubbles over a few millimeters in diameter have tended to be dismissed by researchers as not producing aerosols.

The team's findings, however, may modify this belief as they further uncover how larger bubbles can be a source for these smaller, droplet-creating bubbles.

"So much of cutting-edge research can only be seen with specialized equipment. What I love about this study is that the overall effect can be seen by anyone in their kitchen," concludes Bird. "It's a relatively simple effect and yet you end up with these beautiful patterns and something that is universal."

Rielle de Ruiter, a former intern at SEAS and now a graduate student at the University of Twente in the Netherlands, is also part of the 'pop' science team. The researchers acknowledge funding support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) through the Harvard Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC).

Pasadena CA (JPL) Jun 16, 2010
Spirit remains silent at her location called "Troy" on the west side of Home Plate. No communication has been received from the rover since Sol 2210 (March 22, 2010).

It is likely that Spirit has experienced a low-power fault and has turned off all sub-systems, including communication and gone into a deep sleep. While sleeping, the rover will use the available solar array energy to recharge her batteries.

The rover electronics module (REM) is expected to get colder than ever before. When the batteries recover to a sufficient state of charge, Spirit will wake up and begin to communicate over X-band and Ultra-High Frequency (UHF).

There is the additional risk that the rover may trip a mission clock fault.

If that happens, the rover would remain asleep until the batteries have recharged sufficiently and there is enough sunlight on the solar arrays to wake the rover.

With the passing of the southern winter solstice (on May 13, 2010), solar energy levels and temperatures should be improving.

Total odometry is unchanged at 7,730.50 meters (4.80 miles).