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Wednesday, September 19, 2007

ESA : UNCCD recognises importance of satellites for combating desertification

Land degradation index in Sicily
Land degradation index in Sicily

UNCCD recognises importance of satellites for combating desertification
19 September 2007
Desertification is a worldwide problem that poses a severe challenge to more than 1.2 billion people in more than 100 countries. Delegates from 191 signatories to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification gathered in Madrid, Spain, from 3 to 14 September to address this problem that affects a quarter of the Earth’s land surface.

During the conference, the Bureau of the Conference of the Parties (COP 8) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) met to agree upon a new 10-year plan to stem desertification and set measurable objectives with a timeline for achieving them.

ESA has been working closely with the UNCCD secretariat for more than five years to develop tailored and standardised information services based on satellite observations to assess and monitor desertification and its trends over time.



Vegetation Quality Index for Sardinia

Vegetation Quality Index for Sardinia
In 2004, ESA launched a satellite-based information system called DesertWatch to work with three of the European countries most affected by desertification – Italy, Portugal and Turkey. In addition to helping national and regional authorities to assess and monitor land degradation and desertification, DesertWatch also aims to support these authorities in reporting to the UNCCD.

Speaking at the conference, Lúcio Pires do Rosário of the Portuguese UNCCD National Focal Point illustrated the DesertWatch approach as one of the best practices related to assessing and monitoring land degradation, vulnerability and rehabilitation.

Rosário suggested the UNCCD Committee on Science and Technology (CST) should consider adopting DesertWatch as one of the UNCCD tools for monitoring some of the key land degradation indicators listed in the 10-year strategic plan and framework to enhance the implementation of the UNCCD. This proposal is scheduled to be discussed at the next meeting of the CST in 2008.



ESA side event
ESA side event

ESA hosted a side event at the UNCCD COP entitled ‘Monitoring Land degradation from Space: the DesertWatch project’. The side event – organised jointly by ESA and the UNCCD National Coordinating Bodies of Portugal, Italy and Turkey – allowed more than 80 people plus delegates from different countries to view results from the DesertWatch project.

DesertWatch focuses on Northern Mediterranean countries, but ESA is preparing a follow-on project that will generalise the methodology and adapt the developed land degradation indicators for countries outside this region. DesertWatch takes place as part of ESA’s EO Data User Element (DUE).

The UNCCD was established in 1994 in the wake of the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, which recognised desertification as a major social and environmental problem. Desertification does not so much refer to the spread of existing deserts as the creation of new ones, through the reduction of productivity of vulnerable dryland areas by soil deterioration and erosion as well as the long-term loss of natural vegetation.

Bad Astronomy : Meteorite mayhem, Part I

According to AdelaideNow (Australia), a meteorite fell on a village in Peru, and now the villagers are complaining of all manners of sickness:

Around midday Saturday, villagers were startled by an explosion and a fireball that many were convinced was a plane crashing near their remote village, in the high Andes department of Puno in the Desaguadero region, near the border with Bolivia.

Residents complained of headaches and vomiting brought on by a “strange odour,” local health department official Jorge Lopez told Peruvian radio RPP.

Seven policemen who went to check on the reports also became ill and had to be given oxygen before being taken to hospital, Mr Lopez said.

Rescue teams and experts were dispatched to the scene where the meteorite had left a crater 30m wide and 6m deep, said local official Marco Limache.

“Boiling water started coming out of the crater and particles of rock and cinders were found nearby. Residents are very concerned,” he said.

Interesting. Typically, you don’t get small craters (like a meter across) because the meteorite needed to produce something in that size range would be so small that it wouldn’t be moving very quickly when it hit the ground (200 kph or so). Big craters, hundreds of meters across, are formed when a big object hits at hypersonic speeds, because the air doesn’t slow them down much. Craters intermediate in size are very rare, as far as I seen; an object, say, 10 meters across will still be moving at quite a clip when it hits, but not at hypersonic speeds. So the crater size makes me suspicious; I wouldn’t expect a flaming meteorite at that size… but I won’t rule it out with my limited knowledge.

The smoke and other effects make me very suspicious indeed. You just don’t get that sort of thing from a meteorite! Maybe this was space debris, a satellite re-entering. Or it was misreported. Or maybe it was something else. I’ll keep my eyes open for more news; add a comment if you hear more. Boing Boing has an image of the crater.

Part II coming soon.

Bad Astronomy: Google Moon

Via the Google blog comes the news of a new app: Google Moon!

It’s very cool, and you can even select the Apollo landing sites. When you zoom in, it shows you the locations of various moonwalks, pieces of equipment, and more.

They were pretty clear about its use in the press release:

Google Moon’s visible imagery and topography are aligned with the recently updated lunar coordinate system and can be used for scientifically accurate mission planning and data analysis. The new site is designed to be user- friendly and encourage the exchange of data and ideas among scientists and amateur astronomers.

Nice. It’ll be interesting to see how this might play out when it’s time to start landing there again. I would love to see the LRO data get integrated into this next year, too.

One irritating thing (that isn’t Google’s fault) is that in many parts, the craters look like domes! This is because the illumination from the Sun is coming from some direction other than down, toward the bottom of your screen. As humans, we evolved to perceive objects as if they are illuminated from above, and when they aren’t, it confuses our poor brains. Depressions look like bumps, and vice-versa.

In fact, this can be avoided by having different data able to be put into the database; the Lunar Ranger series mapped almost the entire Moon, so I bet there are more images to choose from.

But back on topic, I can think of lots of APIs (little programs designed to use the interface) to go with this one! And once my book is done, I’ll have time to fool around…

And no, when you zoom all the way in, it’s not made of cheese.

ESA: How Industry can use technologies developed for space

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Textile production monitored by a 'space eye'

How Industry can use technologies developed for space
19 September 2007
Spin-offs from space technology, often used in our everyday lives, will be given centre stage at the European Space Technology Transfer Conference to be held in Munich from 16 to 17 October.

Uses to which space technologies are already being put include innovative crash test systems to improve car safety, microbiological sensors for water treatment, light-weight hydrogen-tanks for environmentally friendly cars, and systems to identify sulphur in fuel and sort scrap metal. Research is also ongoing to see how space technology can be applied in state-of-the-art ultra light robots for surgery, and to produce artificial organs and prostheses.

The future potential of advanced European space technologies will be addressed at the Conference that will take place at the MunichExpo, and which is being co-organised by ESA and the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs, Infrastructure, Transport and Technology.




Space technology and experience help in daily life
“It is not always obvious what role in our daily life the spin-off of advanced technologies, originally developed for our space programmes, can play. At this conference we will be very concrete and focus on successful transfers of space technology that bring commercial benefit to the space and the non-space industry.

“We have 24 speakers who will reveal exciting new transfers in each of their sectors so everyone can see what can be achieved when using available space technologies in the research and development of new applications and systems in non-space fields,” says Frank M. Salzgeber, head of ESA’s Technology Transfer Programme Office and one of the instigators of the conference.

Among the speakers will be Douglas A. Comstock, Director for NASA’s Innovative Partnership Programme, who will illustrate how international cooperation projects can both serve space programmes and the technology transfer of space tech into non-space application.

Dr Peter Hofmann, Director of Business Development from Kayser-Threde, Germany, will also illustrate the successful use of space technology. For Kayser-Threde, space spin-offs resulted in the set-up of two new divisions: one in the automotive field and one in process control systems. Today both offer well established market products and services. The automotive division has for many years upheld its title as a world market leader in on-board crash test acquisition systems and now offers complete crash facilities to improve car safety.




Space technology improves racing car safety and performance
Altogether 19 companies from 10 European countries will present successful transfers where space technology has provided innovative solutions in a variety of sectors such as automotive, medical, energy, textile, security and robotic.

Prof. Dr Ulrich Walter, Head of the Chair of Astronautics at the Technical University of Munich and former German astronaut, will also give his first-hand experience of the complexities of engineering spacecraft.

“Every year in Europe we use a significant amount of money for the research and development of the new technologies and materials needed for our space programmes. This provides an incredible pool available for use in new and intelligent solutions to problems on Earth that will improve everyday life for all of us,” adds Salzgeber.



Entrance to the European Space Technology Transfer Conference

“We have set up a network of technology brokers in Europe to facilitate the transfer and help interested industries and entrepreneurs identify possible technologies. In addition, we support entrepreneurs and start-up companies with bright ideas for the use of space technology in new applications at our three Business Incubation centres in the Netherlands, Germany and Italy.”

For those interested in attending the European Space Technology Transfer Conference a limited number of seats will be assigned on a first come first served basis.

Registration can be done online at http://www.estt-conference.com.



About ESA's Technology Transfer Programme Office (TTPO)

The main mission of the ESA TTPO is to facilitate the use of space technology and space systems for non-space applications and to further demonstrate the benefit of the European space programme to European citizens. The TTPO is responsible for defining the overall approach and strategy for the transfer of space technologies including the incubation of start up companies.

The Enduring Mysteries of the Moon

The Enduring Mysteries of the Moon
By Charles Q. Choi
Special to LiveScience
posted: 17 September 2007
07:52 am ET

The moon--linked in myth with goddesses of witchcraft and the hunt, with gods of magic and wisdom--is nearly as old as Earth itself, with enigmas of its own. As close as the moon is to Earth, we are still far from solving all its mysteries--from how the moon was born to whether life on Earth has its past and future there.

How was the moon made?

Most scientists think the moon was born from a gargantuan collision--when a young, 30-million-year-old Earth was sideswiped by an embryonic planet the size of Mars some 4.5 billion years ago, with debris from our planet and this impactor eventually coalescing into a molten, red-hot moon.

Curiously, while the latest computer models suggest most of the moon came from the impactor, lunar samples from the Apollo and other missions suggest the moon is very chemically similar to Earth's mantle.

"Perhaps that means the impactor, this embryonic planet, was similar to Earth, drawn from the same materials our planet was," said Bernard Foing, principal scientist on SMART-1, a European Space Agency satellite that orbited the moon from 2004 to 2006. Japan's lunar orbiter Kaguya, which launched Sept. 13, and India's 2008 lunar craft Chandrayaan-1 should return more details about the moon's composition, evolution and, ultimately, its mysterious origin.

Water on the moon?

The relentless bombardment of the moon by comets and water-rich asteroids over billions of years could have left water behind on the lunar surface, possibly hidden in permanent shadows in craters at the moon's poles.

In 1999, the Lunar Prospector orbiter discovered unusually high levels of hydrogen. This could be linked with water--which is, after all made from hydrogen and oxygen--"although hydrogen in the solar wind could have been trapped at the poles as well," Foing said.

Although ground-based telescopes suggest ice may not exist in thick deposits at lunar polar craters, ice could still exist in grains mixed in with the dirt. NASA's 2008 Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter will carry along two probes that will crash onto the moon to search for water ice at its south pole.

The Lunar Cataclysm

The moon was rocked by a chain of devastating cosmic impacts known as the Lunar Cataclysm or the Late Heavy Bombardment about 4.2 billion to 3.8 billion years ago, which gouged out 50 or so giant basins still visible on the lunar surface. Astronomers suspect it occurred when the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn shifted, with the gravitational pull of these giant planets hurling more asteroids and comets around.

All the inner planets likely got hit at the same epoch as well--Foing estimated Earth suffered 25 or 30 times more impacts than the moon. Scientists aren't quite certain when the Late Heavy Bombardment occurred and how long it lasted, but it apparently took place around when life arose on Earth.

Pinning down when these impacts occurred could help shed light on whether they scoured primitive life that had just developed on Earth--or whether they planted chemical ingredients that helped life emerge. "It will be necessary to go to many impact basins on the moon to measure samples to try and figure out when they were created," Foing said.

Clues of life's origins on the moon?

Millions of tons of rocks blasted off Earth by cosmic impacts during the planet's earliest days could have landed on the moon, stones that could hold secrets concerning the origins of life -- including the remote possibility of microbial fossils.

"As much as 200 kilograms from the early Earth could have fallen on every square kilometer of the moon," Foing said. "These rocks could be a very interesting scientific goal for robot and human expeditions to dig and look for."

Future of the moon?

When it comes to the future of life, "are we able to bring Earth's life to the moon? Can we expand life outside Earth's cradle? That's a question yet to be answered," Foing told SPACE.com.

The moon holds intriguing resources in its minerals, including metals and oxygen, "but it doesn't contain much carbon," Foing said. "If you want to grow plants there, you'll need to enrich the dirt, bring in carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus."

Lunar settlers could use any water available on the moon for survival, but that water could hold billions of years worth of secrets regarding comets that collided with the moon, "so I'd rather study it than drink it," Foing said. "We could just use the hydrogen and oxygen available on the moon to produce artificial water."

Lift-off of the Foton-M3 spacecraft onboard a Soyuz-U rocket

Lift-off Foton-M3
Lift-off of the Foton-M3 spacecraft onboard a Soyuz-U rocket

Lift-off for Foton microgravity mission
14 September 2007
ESA PR 28-2007. An unmanned Foton spacecraft, carrying a payload of more than 40 ESA experiments, was successfully launched earlier today. The Soyuz-U launcher lifted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, at 13:00 CEST (11:00 GMT).

Nearly 9 minutes later, the Russian Foton-M3 spacecraft separated from the rocket's upper stage and was inserted into a 300 km orbit that will carry it around the Earth once every 90 minutes.

The Foton will spend 12 days in orbit, during which time the onboard experiments will be exposed to microgravity, and in some cases, to the harsh environment of open space, before re-entering the atmosphere and landing on the steppes near the Russian-Kazakh border.





Animation showing the orbital injection of Foton-M2
The 400 kg European payload includes experiments that will contribute to advances in many areas of research. The scientific experiments come from a wide range of scientific disciplines, including fluid physics, biology, protein crystal growth, meteoritics, radiation dosimetry and exobiology (life beyond Earth). The technology-related experiments may lead to more efficient oil extraction processes, better semiconductor alloys and more efficient thermal control systems.

"The Foton mission is part of ESA’s programme for Life and Physical Sciences in spaceexplained Josef Winter, Head of ESA's Payload and Microgravity Platform Division.

"The mission provides an important opportunity for European researchers to conduct a wide variety of experiments in microgravity prior to the availability of ESA's ISS module, Columbus. In total, the Foton-M3 mission is carrying 43 scientific and technological payloads supplied by ESA, Germany, Belgium, France, Italy and Canada, as well as a number of Russian experiments."



Preparation of the Foton-M3 spacecraft
Preparation of the Foton-M3 spacecraft at Baikonur Cosmodrome

One of the more unusual European payloads is the ESA/DLR Aquahab experiment, an aquatic habitat that will be used to observe the effects of weightlessness on a single cell organism, Euglena gracilis, and a small cichlid fish.

The Biobox payload consists of two programmable incubators containing five experiments on cell biology. Three of these will study the effects of weightlessness on bone-forming cells and bone-degrading cells. A fourth experiment will study the damaging effects of space radiation on skin tissue, while another aims to understand the effects of weightlessness on connective tissue cells.

Two more incubators are included in Eristo/Osteo, a joint ESA/Canadian Space Agency project. The two sets of identical hardware contain four thermally controlled experiment trays that will be used to test and evaluate the effects of drugs and growth factors on bone cell activity.



Biopan

Biopan opens during to expose the experiments to the harsh environment of space
The Franco-Belgian TEPLO experiment aims to measure the performance and characteristics of new designs of heat pipe in weightlessness. This kind of technology should help to significantly reduce the mass and complexity of thermal control subsystems used in space.

On the spacecraft's exterior is a multi-user experimental facility called Biopan, which is designed to automatically expose its ten experiments to the harsh environment of space for the duration of the mission. Attached to the Foton's heat shield are the Stone-6 and Lithopanspermia experiments in which pieces of rock containing living organisms will be exposed to the extreme temperatures and pressures experienced during re-entry.



YES2 is mounted on the outside of the Foton

Also on the outside of the Foton, attached to its battery module, is an ambitious experiment known as the second Young Engineers' Satellite (YES2). Led by ESA's Education Office, some 450 students from ESA Member States and beyond have worked with prime contractor Delta-Utec to design and build the 36 kg payload.

On 25 September, as the Foton mission nears its end, YES2 will deploy a 30 km tether, the longest ever flown in space. A small re-entry capsule released from the end of the tether will be used to demonstrate the possibility of returning small payloads to Earth at a fraction of the cost of current methods.



Background

Foton spacecraft are based on Russian Vostok spacecraft in which Yuri Gagarin orbited the Earth in 1961. They comprise three sections: a battery module at the front end, a spherical recoverable capsule, and a service module at the rear. ESA has been participating in Foton missions since 1991 and the Foton-M3 mission is the ninth with ESA involvement.