Next chief of ESA wants a Moon Colony on the lines of the ISS

#MoonColony #ESA #NASA #NationalSpaceSymposium The European Space Agency (ESA) would be getting a new chief in Johann-Dietrich Wörner and, he wants a Moon Colony to be built on the lines of the International Space Station where specialists from all countries can work and pool their resources so that Man can venture beyond the Moon.
This has been reported in space.com of 1 May 2015.

The incoming leader of the European Space Agency Johann-Dietrich Wörner has expressed his enthusiasm for such a concept of a Moon Colony while speaking at the Space Foundation’s National Space Symposium. This is a gathering of global, commercial, civil, military and "new space" experts and the symposium was held in Colorado Springs last month. Wörner is currently the chairman of the executive board of DLR, the German Aerospace Center and his appointment as the next director general of the European Space Agency (ESA) had been announced on Dec. 18, 2014 and he would succeed Jean-Jacques Dordain, whose term of office ends on June 30.
Agreeing that the end of ISS operations was inevitable, he explained that there should be a permanent moon station as the successor of ISS. This station should be international, "meaning that the different actors can contribute with their respective competencies and interests."
NASA chief Charles Bolden also took part in the panel of space agency leaders during the symposium and, in his opinion, the moon as an interesting destination.

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ESA cargo ship Georges Lemaitre take leave from the ISS to splash down on Sunday

#atv5 #ISS #NASA #georgeslemaitre #ESA #cargoship Georges Lemaitre, the cargo ship of the European Space Agency (ESA) is its fifth and final Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV-5) and it has left the International Space Station before its final splashdown on Sunday as revealed in space.com dated 14 February 2015.
The unmanned ATV-5, is named after the 20th-century Belgian priest and astronomer and with its departure from the ISS an era ends – it had been at the orbiting lab ISS for six months.
The reentry of ATV-5 into the atmosphere over the South Pacific Ocean will be documented by the Expedition 42 crew on board the ISS as well as NASA, ESA and other agencies around the world. The aim of the agencies is "to gather detailed information on the mechanics of the breakup of a spacecraft re-entering the Earth's atmosphere."
Of course, onboard sensors in the ATV-5 would also collect information via its temperature-measuring Break-Up Camera. Incidentally, ATVs have been supplying ISS regularly ever since 2008 - the ATV-1 ("Jules Verne") was launched in March of that year. Next came ATV-2 ("Johannes Kepler") which blasted off in February 2011 followed by ATV-3 ("Edoardo Amaldi") in March 2012, and ATV-4 ("Albert Einstein") in June 2013.
The ATVs have brought in a total of about 34 tons of cargo to ISS, the orbiting lab, NASA and, as informed by NASA officials, the ATV-5, which is as big as a double-decker bus, had delivered more than 7 tons of food, scientific experiments, spare parts and other gear when it docked with the station on Aug. 12, 2014.

ESA will not search for lost Philae probe but wait for it to make contact

#ESA #philae #rosetta #abydos It was a historic moment when ESA’s Philae probe made its touchdown on the 4-Km wide "icy dirtball" 67P in November, but then ground lost contact with it and it gradually went silent when its battery ran flat. The orbiting Rosetta satellite took some high-resolution pictures of the surface of the comet but have not been able to identify the lander's location. The controllers have now decided to suspend search for the missing Philae and wait for it to call home as reported in bbc.com dated 30 January 2015.
They expect that communication links could be established in the May/June timeframe because, at that time, the lighting conditions at the probe's presumed resting place would improve and would provide enough power to run the onboard radio transmitter.
From available evidence, the ESA believes that after touchdown, it bounced twice, crossed a large depression named "Hatmehit", before finally coming to rest in a dark ditch that has now been dubbed "Abydos".
In the opinion of the scientists, this should happen once the comet's southern hemisphere comes out of winter in the coming weeks. At that time, the lighting conditions in the ditch will become better and that would allow the probe to first boot-up and then to communicate with Rosetta.
Once that happens, Rosetta will respond and wait for a reply. When it gathers enough light on its solar panels to maintain a stable telecoms link, it would start to warm and charge the battery system as well.
That way, Philae would be in a position to resume the science observations that were closed down just 60 hours after landing in November.

Race for Mars hots up – test flight on ESA mini shuttle set for 11 February 2015

#spacetaxi #ESA #ISS #IXV #vegarocket The European ‘space taxi’ IXV (or Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle) is getting readied for launch on 11 February 2015 as indicated in dailymail.co.uk of dated 29 January 2015 – it would be a test flight. This vehicle would make available to Europe with its own shuttle-like, reusable space vehicle.
One of the objectives of this mission is to gather vital flight data that that could assist Europe to develop technology for a sample return mission to Mars, or to return astronauts from the space station.
It has been planned to launch the ‘space taxi’ on February 11 by using a Vega rocket from Kourou, French Guiana – the flight would be of 100-minute duration. It may be recalled that the launch had, initially, been scheduled for November 18, but in October, Arianespace had announced a postponement in order 'to carry out additional flight trajectory analyses'.
The weight of the taxi is two tonnes, its size is that of a car and it is fitted with 300 sensors. The prototype IXV is expected to collect data on the craft's handling and thermodynamics. The two-piece shell will open to release the space plane at an altitude of 200 miles (320 km).
It has been developed over five years at a cost of $225 million and this IXV would be the test-bed for a reusable vehicle. It would be useful to bring astronauts back from the International Space Station (ISS). At present, this is done by Russia and its Soyuz.

ESA outlines ambitious plans to colonize the other side of the Moon

#darksideofmoon #ESA #destinationmoon #InternationalSpaceStation The European Space Agency has ambitious plans to colonize the dark side of the Moon because, in its opinion, such a step would be a crucial step for humans to penetrate deep into space exploration.
In a video, titled 'Destination: Moon', the ESA has outlined its plans of cresting a human settlement on the hostile terrain that covers the far side of the lunar surface. Of course, given the amount of interest that has been generated on human settlement on Mars, this concept to settle on the Moon could deserve some attention.
The moon is tidally locked to Earth, which means its near side always points towards our planet and, its far side, has remained unknown and unexplored. It is believed that the dark side has one of the largest impact crater in the solar system – it is said to be four billion years old. Its diameter is roughly 1,550 miles (2,500 km) and it stretches across nearly a quarter of the moon.
Portions of the crater are shrouded in perpetual darkness, its rim features huge mountainous peaks that are bathed in near-constant sunlight and the plan of ESA is to send robots to these peaks, and, finally, humans. The rim of the crater would be an ideal landing spot for humans. This is because these locations have 'the potential for near continuous solar power and a spectacular view over the rugged and cratered landscape below.'
In order to install a facility on the Moon similar to that in the Antarctica, the experience gained on the International Space Station would come in useful. Moreover, in 2009, NASAs Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite had analyzed the chemical composition of the material below the moon's South Pole and discovered that there were traces of frozen water.
This could also be exploited to generate water and, for future colonies to use the hydrogen and oxygen atoms to create rocket fuel.

Lost and found – UK’s Beagle-2 Mars Lander, missing since 2003

#Beagle2 #NASA #ESA #MarsExpress #solarcells The mystery of the missing Beagle-2 has now been solved. NASA has found Beagle-2, the Mars Lander of the UK. It was found by a NASA spacecraft that is orbiting the Red Planet. Beagle-2 was presumed to have been lost after it disappeared in the course of a landing attempt during Christmas in 2003.
The lost lander is clearly visible in new photos taken by NASA's sharp-eyed Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) - the discovery indicates that Beagle-2 had made a successful landing but did not unfold itself properly on the surface of Mars after landing.
As per available information, Beagle-2 had been sent to Mars on the European Space Agency's Mars Express mission. It had separated from that spacecraft on Dec. 19, 2003 and was expected to land on Mars six days later, on Dec. 25. However, Beagle-2 failed to make contact with the ground and, in the opinion of experts, it was believed to have crashed.
Anyway, it now appears that due to some malfunction, it was unable to open up all its solar arrays and, hence, could not expose its radio antenna – that was the only means of contact with the ground.
From the images transmitted by NASA’s MRO, Beagle 2 appeared to have only a few of its four solar arrays deployed. Its main parachute was visible close by, and its rear cover and drogue parachute looked to still be attached to the lander's main body.
It seems Beagle-2 made use of parachutes to slow its descent, and then deployed airbags to bounce to a stop very similar to the method adopted by NASAs Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity. However, in the case of Beagle-2, its design required a full deployment of its four solar arrays to expose its radio antenna, the vital link to Earth which did not happen.
Since the radio antenna was not free, it could not relay data and await instructions from ground. It was stuck and was forever silent on the surface of the Red Planet Mars.

False alarm of ammonia leak in the ISS – all astronauts are safe

#ammonialeak #ISS #NASA #ESA The International Space Station houses six astronauts – two of them are Americans, there is one Italian and the remaining three are Russians. They occupy two separate living spaces and, due to the scare of leaking ammonia gas, the Americans and the Italian had to evacuate to the Russian side of the orbiting lab.
However, the ammonia alarm in the ISS appears to be a false alarm as confirmed by NASA. They have said that there was no ammonia leak into the station's atmosphere and the astronauts were free to roam the outpost.
The station, at present, has a six-person crew - two of them are Americans, three Russians and an Italian astronaut. Once the scare started, all of them took refuge in the station's Russian-built segment. Thereby, they isolated themselves from modules built by NASA, Europe and Japan.
Latest information is that NASA astronauts Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore and Terry Virts along with European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, an Italian are all "safe and in good shape" with their Russian crewmates.
Incidentally, the ISS has approximately the same living space as a five bedroom house and it has been continuously occupied by rotating crews of astronauts and cosmonauts since 2000.