LHC reaches data milestone

CERN - European Organization for Nuclear Research logo.

24 April 2012

In just three weeks of operation in "stable beams" mode, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has already delivered approximately one inverse femtobarn of data to the experiments - a measure of accelerator performance equivalent to 100 trillion proton-proton collisions. Last year, the LHC took three months to reach that amount. Stable beams mode enables the experiments to collect data for physics analysis.

CERN grid computing center

The LHC is now operating at 1380 proton bunches per beam, the maximum value set for this year. It has also exceeded the maximum peak luminosity – a measure of the instantaneous collision rate – achieved last year: while the top value for 2011 was 3.6 × 1033 collisions per square centimetre per second, LHC has now reached 3.9 × 10³³ cm-2 s-1.

Cross section of an LHC dipole in the CERN tunnel (click on the image for enlarge)

The higher collision energy of 4 TeV per beam (compared to 3.5 TeV per beam in 2011) and the resulting higher number of collisions expected both enhance the machine's discovery potential considerably, opening up new possibilities for searches for new and heavier particles.

Note:

CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is one of the world’s largest and most respected centres for scientific research. Its business is fundamental physics, finding out what the Universe is made of and how it works. At CERN, the world’s largest and most complex scientific instruments are used to study the basic constituents of matter — the fundamental particles. By studying what happens when these particles collide, physicists learn about the laws of Nature.

The instruments used at CERN are particle accelerators and detectors. Accelerators boost beams of particles to high energies before they are made to collide with each other or with stationary targets. Detectors observe and record the results of these collisions.

Founded in 1954, the CERN Laboratory sits astride the Franco–Swiss border near Geneva. It was one of Europe’s first joint ventures and now has 20 Member States.

More information:

    LHC homepage: http://lhc.web.cern.ch/lhc/

    ATLAS: http://atlas.ch/

    CMS: http://cms.web.cern.ch/

Images, Text, Credit: CERN.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Launched from Baikonur space rocket Proton-M spacecraft with YaSat-1B

ILS / ROSCOSMOS - YaSat-1B Mission poster.

24/04/2012

 Proton-M launch

April 24 at 2:00 Moscow time, 18 minutes from the launch pad area 200 Baikonur launch took place of a space rocket Proton-M with the upper block (RB), the Briz-M, designed for launching into orbit telecommunications spacecraft (SC) YaSat -1B.

In accordance with the flight cyclogram head unit in the Republic of Belarus the Briz-M and SC YaSat-1B cleanly separated from the third stage of the launch vehicle, followed by removal of the SC RB continued to the target orbit.

Proton-M with the upper block (RB), the Briz-M & satellite

Office of the spacecraft from the upper stage is scheduled for 11:00 Moscow time 30 minutes April 24 this year.

Proton-M & YaSat-1B launch

Original text in Russian: http://www.federalspace.ru/main.php?id=2&nid=19000

Images, Video, Text, Credits: Press Service of the Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos PAO) / Roscosmos TV / ILS /  Astrium / Translation: Orbiter.ch.

Regards, Orbiter.ch

ESA’s long-term technology plans for space exploration

ESA logo.

23 April 2012

Make it to low-Earth orbit and you’re halfway to anywhere, observed science fiction writer Robert Heinlein. A workshop at ESA’s technical heart has been assessing the technologies needed to make the other half of the trip.

ESA’s technical experts have prepared long-term roadmaps of technologies required for advanced robotic and human exploration.

On 13 April the people who will actually be developing these technologies for current and future space missions had their say.

Mars Sample Return mission

A one-day Space Exploration Technologies Workshop at ESTEC, the Netherlands, co-organised with industry body Eurospace, gathered representatives from leading European aerospace companies and ESA delegations to give their own reactions to the draft technology plans. 

More than 70 participants representing a variety of European industrial expertise and experience ranging from primes and large integrators to more specialised smaller companies spanning many ESA Member States were present.

“We are here to listen to your comments and ideas,” said ESA’s Giorgio Saccoccia, head of the Agency’s Propulsion and Aerothermodynamics division plans and coordinator for Exploration in the Directorate of Technical and Quality Management.

Exploration Technologies workshop

Nicolas Peter, Secretary of the Human Spaceflight, Microgravity and Exploration Programme Board, added that, “this workshop is part of a process aiming to initiate a dialogue with industry to prepare the future steps in exploration technology development and procurement.”

Technology roadmaps covering ten major technology areas were presented and discussed. It was highlighted by ESA specialists and industrialists that:

    - Advanced propulsion technologies will be required to meet the new requirements for space exploration cargo and human long-distance travel and planetary landing and return.

    - Robotic missions will need advanced autonomy, because signals from Earth will take long periods to reach them.

    - The Automation and Robotics plan includes a new generation of surface rovers. The workshop discussed whether development should extend beyond wheeled rovers to other modes of locomotion, such as walkers or aerostats.

    - Missions will venture farther from the Sun, and beneath planetary atmospheres. Solar energy may no longer be available at useable levels. So the Novel Energy Production and Storage plan includes the development of European nuclear power sources, as well as fuel cells.

    - Human crews will have to be kept alive and comfortable for years at a time. A self-sufficient closed-loop life-support system will be required – the long-term aim of ESA’s Micro-Ecological Life Support System Alternative (MELiSSA) programme – and effective radiation protection will be essential.

    - Inflatable habitats will be key to roomy space living, both for orbital missions and planetary exploration, ideally with portholes.

    - Planetary explorers will face a new class of threat that has so far only been encountered very briefly: surface dust.

    - The single most difficult class of missions, short of human expeditions, is sample return. An international Mars sample return mission remains a long-term plan, with other missions being considered.

    - Landing safely and precisely and then taking off will be extremely difficult, along with docking to a waiting ‘mothership’ for return to Earth.

    - The long distances that sample-return missions will travel means they will return to Earth very rapidly, requiring sophisticated thermal control.

Presenting draft roadmaps

The technology plans have been prepared by the Directorate of Technical and Quality Management, in coordination with mission designers in the Directorates of Science and Robotic Exploration and Human Spaceflight and Operations.

ESA Aurora Exploration  Program

Based on the comments provided by industry, the plans will be consolidated for ESA’s upcoming Ministerial Council and will form the basis for the preparation of an ESA coordinated procurement plan.

Related links:

Eurospace: http://www.eurospace.org/

Space Exploration Technologies Workshop: http://www.congrexprojects.com/12C22

Technology: http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Technology/index.html

Images, Video, Text, Credit: Credits: ESA / AOES Medialab / Anneke Le Floc'h.

Cheers, Orbiter.ch

Progress M-15M: there is docked!

ROSCOSMOS - ISS "Russian Vehicles" patch.

04/23/2012

April 22 at 18.40 Moscow time, carried out docking cargo vehicle (THC), "Progress M-15M" to the International Space Station (ISS).

Progress-15 arriving at Space Station

THC docked to a docking bay (CO) "Pierce". Convergence process was carried out in automatic mode controlled by the Mission Control Center specialists of FSUE TsNIIMash and Russian crew members of ISS cosmonauts Space Agency Anton Shkaplerova, Anatoly Ivanishin and Oleg Kononenko.

Progress-M15 docking

The ship delivered cargo to the station needed to keep the ISS in manned mode and the program of applied research on its board. Among the goods - fuel, water, food, equipment, systems management, communications and life support, supplies of compressed oxygen, medical equipment, personal hygiene and control of purity of the atmosphere and cleaning stations, equipment for scientific research and experiments, additional equipment for the Russian and segments of the American station, as well as parcels for the crew of the ISS.

The ISS crew continues to work 30/31 long expedition in the Commander Daniel Burbank (NASA), flight engineers Anton Shkaplerova (Roscosmos), Anatoly Ivanishin (Roscosmos), Oleg Kononenko (Roscosmos), Andre Cowper (ESA) and Donald Pettit (NASA .)

Original text in Russian: http://www.federalspace.ru/main.php?id=2&nid=18994

Image, Video, Text, Credits: Press Service of the Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos PAO) / NASA / Translation: Orbiter.ch.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

A New View of the Tarantula Nebula

NASA - Chandra X-ray Observatory logo.


04.21.12

To celebrate its 22nd anniversary in orbit, the Hubble Space Telescope has released a dramatic new image of the star-forming region 30 Doradus, also known as the Tarantula Nebula because its glowing filaments resemble spider legs. A new image from all three of NASA's Great Observatories - Chandra, Hubble, and Spitzer - has also been created to mark the event.

30 Doradus is located in the neighboring galaxy called the Large Magellanic Cloud, and is one of the largest star-forming regions located close to the Milky Way . At the center of 30 Doradus, thousands of massive stars are blowing off material and producing intense radiation along with powerful winds. The Chandra X-ray Observatory detects gas that has been heated to millions of degrees by these stellar winds and also by supernova explosions. These X-rays, colored blue in this composite image, come from shock fronts -- similar to sonic booms -- formed by this high-energy stellar activity.

The Hubble data in the composite image, colored green, reveals the light from these massive stars along with different stages of star birth including embryonic stars a few thousand years old still wrapped in cocoons of dark gas. Infrared emission from Spitzer, seen in red, shows cooler gas and dust that have giant bubbles carved into them. These bubbles are sculpted by the same searing radiation and strong winds that comes from the massive stars at the center of 30 Doradus.

Read more/access all images: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2012/30dor/

Image, Text, Credits: X-ray: NASA / CXC / PSU / L.Townsley et al.; Optical: NASA / STScI; Infrared: NASA / JPL / PSU / L.Townsley et al.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

Investigation on Envisat continues

ESA - ENVISAT Mission logo.

20 April 2012

Optical, radar and laser observations of the Envisat satellite show that it is still in a stable orbit. Efforts to regain contact with the satellite have been under way since 8 April, when it unexpectedly stopped sending data to Earth.

To determine if Envisat has entered its ‘safe mode’ – which would be a starting point for revival – the recovery team is drawing on every information source available.

Valuable help is coming from many European and international partners. France’s new Pleiades satellite normally provides very high-resolution images of Earth, but is now focusing on Envisat to shed more light on the situation.

Pleiades image of Envisat

On 15 April, the French space agency CNES turned Pleiades to capture images of Envisat passing within about 100 km. This remarkable feat was possible thanks to the exceptional agility of Pleiades.

Flight specialists and engineers are using the images to determine the orientation of Envisat’s solar panel – the satellite’s power source.

If the panel is in a suitable position for sufficient exposure to the Sun, enough power is being generated to put Envisat into safe mode, and could allow for re-establishing communications with Earth.

“We are really grateful to CNES for offering to acquire images of Envisat using their Pleiades and Spot satellites,” said Volker Liebig, ESA’s Director of Earth Observation Programmes. 

“Additional observations being acquired across the globe show how the international space community has come together to track this veteran satellite.”

The Fraunhofer Institute for High Frequency Physics and Radar Techniques in Wachtberg, Germany, is also providing images to help determine Envisat’s orientation.

Radar image of Envisat

Images from the TIRA ground-based tracking and imaging radar show the satellite’s body, solar panel and radar antenna.

“These unique images will enable us to analyse Envisat’s orientation, which will indicate whether we are able to regain contact with the satellite,” said Manfred Warhaut, Head of ESA’s Mission Operations Department.

Information on Envisat’s orbit is being provided by the US Joint Space Operations Center. In addition, multiple laser ranging stations on the ground are providing information to verify the stability of the satellite’s orbit.

The sudden interruption of Envisat services has disrupted data provision to the international Earth observation user community, which relies on data continuity.

The launch of the upcoming Sentinel series being developed for Europe’s Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) programme has become even more urgent.

The Sentinels will provide the data needed for information services to improve the management of the environment, understand and mitigate the effects of climate change and ensure civil security.

Related links:

CNES: http://www.cnes.fr/web/CNES-en/7114-home-cnes.php

Pleiades: http://smsc.cnes.fr/PLEIADES/

Pleiades images: http://image-cnes.fr/tag/pleiades/

Fraunhofer FHR: http://www.en.vvs.fraunhofer.de/members/fraunhofer-fhr/

GMES: http://www.esa.int/esaLP/LPgmes.html

Related missions:

Envisat: http://www.esa.int/esaEO/SEMWYN2VQUD_index_0_m.html

Sentinels: http://www.esa.int/esaEO/SEMTOMASS2G_index_0_m.html

Operations & Situational Awareness: http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Operations/index.html

Images, Text, Credits: ESA / CNES / Fraunhofer FHR.

Cheers, Orbiter.ch

Successful launch for Soyuz-U with THC Progress M-15M

ROSCOSMOS logo.

04/20/2012

 Successful launch for Soyuz-U with THC Progress M-15M

In accordance with the flight program of the International Space Station April 20 at 16.50 Moscow time from Launch Complex 31 area Baikonur launched cargo spacecraft Progress M-15M.

Soyuz-U with THC Progress M-15M launch

After regular office the third stage of the launch vehicle, THC, "Progress M-15M" launched into orbit Sputnik and adopted by the management of the Mission Control Center near Moscow (Korolev).

Docking THC Progress M-15M to the International Space Station is scheduled for 18.40 GMT April 22.

Russian truck will deliver to the ISS fuel, oxygen, equipment for scientific experiments, medical care facilities, as well as containers with food and water, expendables, etc.

Progress-M cargo spacecraft cutaway

The ISS crew continues to work 30/31-y long expedition in the Commander Daniel Burbank (NASA), flight engineers Anton Shkaplerova (Roscosmos), Anatoly Ivanishin (Roscosmos), Oleg Kononenko (Roscosmos), Andre Cowper (ESA) and Donald Pettit (NASA .)

Original text in Russian: http://www.federalspace.ru/main.php?id=2&nid=18988

Images, Video, Text, Credits: Press Service of the Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos PAO) / Roscosmos TV / Translation: Orbiter.ch.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch