World's biggest atom smasher sets first record

After a year's delay, the Large Hadron Collider near Geneva became the world's highest-energy particle accelerator on November 30, revving up each of its twin proton beams to energies of 1.18 trillion electron volts. That smashes the record of 0.98 trillion eV held since 2001 by the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory's Tevatron in Batavia, Ill.

However, the researchers have yet to collide the beams at this record-breaking energy. So far, the highest collision energies at the LHC have only been 450 million eV.

The collision energies that the LHC can attain are critical for investigating the fundamental forces and particles in nature. That's because the more powerful the accelerator, the heavier the particles it can produce. For instance, researchers hope the LHC may find the elusive Higgs boson, a proposed, extremely massive subatomic particle that, if found, would explain why elementary particles have the particular mass they do. 

The Large Hadron Collider shut down for a year beginning in September 2008 — soon after its first collisions — when a faulty electrical connection between two magnets led to a leak of helium gas in a section of the accelerator. 

Engineers restarted the collider on November 20, injecting the first beams since 2008 into the accelerator. The first low-energy collisions since the breakdown took place November 23 and were recorded by the accelerator's four major detectors. Scientists hope to collide each beam at energies of 3.5 trillion eV by March 2010. The LHC won't operate at its highest possible energy, corresponding to 7 trillion eV per beam, until 2011, said a spokeswoman from CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, which hosts the LHC.

At the time of the electrical mishap last year, about 10,000 amps of current were flowing through the collider's magnets. On November 30, when the collider's proton beams achieved their record energy, only 2,000 amps flowed through the magnets, the spokeswoman said. A full 10,000 amps won't circulate until early next year.

In addition to increasing the current, scientists are also working to collide the beams at higher intensities. So far, each colliding beam has contained only about 5 billion protons, but researchers ultimately want to achieve collisions with 110 billion protons per beam by early in 2010.

[SOURCE: SCIENCE NEWS]

Large Hadron Collider progress delights researchers

Researchers working on the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) say they are delighted with the progress made since the machine restarted on Friday.

One official said the collider had done more in a few hours than it did in five days of operations last year.

The LHC is being used to smash together beams of protons in a bid to shed light on the nature of the Universe.

Housed in a 27km-long circular tunnel under the Franco-Swiss border, it is the world's largest machine.

During the experiment, scientists will search for signs of the Higgs boson, a sub-atomic particle that is crucial to our current understanding of physics. Although it is predicted to exist,
scientists have never found it.

The machine was heavily damaged when an electrical fault caused a tonne of liquid helium to leak into the tunnel just nine days after it was first launched in September last year.

During 14 months of repairs dozens of giant superconducting magnets that accelerate particles at the speed of light had to be replaced.

Operated by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (Cern), the LHC will create similar conditions to those which were present moments after the Big Bang.

"We are further advanced now than where we were after five days of experiment last year," said Cern's director of accelerators Steve Myers.

He added that the extra year had allowed researchers to upgrade instrumentation and computer software.

"It's all been pretty positive so far," said James Gillies, director of communications for Cern. "Now, [the team] is knuckling down to the hard work."

He added: "We're not expecting any major milestones to be reached over the next few days."

Operations team members spent Saturday injecting protons into the LHC's 27km-long "ring", attempting to improve the lifetime of the beams.

"Right now we've got a beam lifetime of half an hour, which is pretty good for where we are. But ultimately, we want to keep a beam in the machine for 10-12 hours. There's a lot of detailed, nitty-gritty work in order to get there," said Dr Gillies.

Engineers had discussed the possibility of attempting to increase the collider's energy to a record-breaking level of 1.2 trillion electron volts this weekend.

Only the Tevatron particle accelerator in Chicago, US, has so far approached this energy, operating at just under one trillion electron volts.

However, this plan now looks unlikely. Instead, engineers will probably concentrate on preparing the machine for its first low-energy collisions, scheduled to happen in the next 10-15 days.

Progress on restarting the machine went more quickly than expected on Friday. It was not anticipated that engineers would try to circulate a proton beam until 0600 on Saturday at the earliest.

Two stable proton beams had already been circulated in opposite directions around the machine by midnight (GMT) on Friday.

Engineers first circulated a beam all the way around the LHC on 10 September 2008.

[SOURCE: BBC]

Scientists Launch Effort To Sequence DNA Of 10K Vertebrates

Scientists have an ambitious new strategy for untangling the evolutionary history of humans and their biological relatives: Create a genetic menagerie made of the DNA of more than 10,000 vertebrate species. The plan, proposed by an international consortium of scientists, is to obtain, preserve, and sequence the DNA of approximately one species for each genus of living mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish.

"Understanding the evolution of the vertebrates is one of the greatest detective stories in science," said David Haussler, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC). "No one has ever really known how the elephant got its trunk, or how the leopard got its spots. This project will lay the foundation for work that will answer those questions and many others."

Known as the Genome 10K Project, the approximately $50 million initiative is "tremendously exciting science that will have great benefits for human and animal health," Haussler said. "Within our lifetimes, we could get a glimpse of the genetic changes that have given rise to some of the most diverse life forms on the planet."

Haussler is one of the lead authors of an article, published online November 5, 2009, in the Journal of Heredity, that outlines the project. The other lead authors include Stephen J. O'Brien, chief of the Laboratory of Genomic Diversity at the National Cancer Institute, and Oliver A. Ryder, director of genetics at the San Diego Zoo's Institute for Conservation Research and adjunct professor of biology at the University of California, San Diego. Coauthors and additional authors, who together make up a group called the Genome 10K Community of Scientists (G10KCOS), include geneticists, paleontologists, ecologists, conservationists, and other scientists representing major zoos, museums, research centers, and universities around the world.

The proposal originated at a meeting Haussler hosted at UCSC in April 2009. More than 50 scientists came together to discuss the merits of the project and its daunting logistic and financial challenges. "Some of the people at the meeting were initially skeptical," Haussler said. "But they quickly recognized the many advantages of a shared infrastructure and data analysis system."

The primary impetus behind the proposal is the rapidly expanding capability of DNA sequencers and the associated decline in sequencing costs. "We'll soon be in a situation where it will cost only a few thousand dollars to sequence a genome," Haussler said. "At that point, most of the cost will be getting samples, managing the project, and handling data."

All living vertebrates descend from a single marine species that lived 500-600 million years ago. Paleontologists do not know much about the physical appearance of that species, but because all of its descendents share certain characteristics, they know that it had segmented muscles, a forebrain, midbrain, and hind brain attached to spinal cord structures, and a sophisticated innate immune system.

That primitive vertebrate gave rise to what Haussler calls "one of the most spectacularly malleable branches of life." Vertebrates spread throughout the oceans, conquered land, and eventually took to the air. Over the course of time they produced stunning innovations, including multichambered hearts, bones and teeth, an internal skeleton that has supported the largest aquatic and terrestrial animals on the planet, and a species of primate -- Homo sapiens -- that has produced sophisticated language, culture, and technology.

By sequencing the DNA of 10,000 vertebrates -- roughly one-sixth of the 60,000 species estimated to be living today -- biologists will be able to reconstruct the genetic changes that gave rise to this astonishing diversity. Some parts of our DNA are very similar to the DNA of other vertebrates, reflecting our descent from a common ancestor, while other parts are markedly different. "We can understand the function of elements in the human genome by seeing what parts of the genome have changed and what parts have not changed in humans and other animals," said Haussler.

The project also will help conservation efforts by documenting the genomes and genetic diversity of threatened and endangered vertebrate species. By helping scientists predict how species will respond to climate change, pollution, emerging diseases, and invasive competitors, it will support the assessment, monitoring, and management of biological diversity.

The G10KCOS consortium has been developing guidelines for the collection, preservation, and documentation of cell lines and DNA samples. It also has been discussing potential public and private sources of funding for the project -- estimated at $50 million if the price of handling and sequencing each DNA sample eventually falls to $5,000. Said Haussler: "How do you raise $50 million? Ask nicely and make a strong case."

[SOURCE: SCIENCEDAILY]

New concept may enhance Earth-Mars communication

Direct communication between Earth and Mars can be strongly disturbed and even blocked by the Sun for weeks at a time, cutting off any future human mission to the Red Planet. An ESA engineer working with engineers in the UK may have found a solution using a new type of orbit combined with continuous-thrust ion propulsion.
 
The European researchers studied a possible solution to a crucial problem affecting future human missions to Mars: how to ensure reliable radio communication even when Mars and Earth line up at opposite sides of the Sun, which then blocks any signal between mission controllers on Earth and astronauts on the red surface. The natural alignment, known as a conjunction, happens approximately every 780 days, and would seriously degrade and even block transmission of voice, data and video signals.

The research findings were released this week at the 60th International Astronautical Congress (IAC), the world's biggest space event, being held in Daejeon, South Korea. This new solution is one result of a €100 000 study funded by ESA's General Studies Programme to catalogue non-traditional orbital zones throughout the Solar System that could be exploited thanks to emerging propulsion technologies.  
 
According to the paper, "Non-Keplerian Orbits Using Low Thrust, High ISP Propulsion Systems," an innovative solution to the Mars communication problem may be found by placing a pair of communication relay satellites into a very special type of orbit near Mars: a so-called 'B-orbit' (in contrast to an 'A-orbit', based on natural orbital laws).

However, to counter the effects of gravity and remain in place, they would have to be equipped with cutting-edge electric ion propulsion.

The ion thrusters, powered by solar electricity and using tiny amounts of xenon gas as propellant, would hold the satellites in a B-orbit in full view of both Mars and Earth. The satellites could then relay radio signals throughout the Mars–Earth conjunction season, ensuring that astronauts at Mars were never out of touch with Earth. Check out The Interview

[SOURCE: ESA]

Europa or Mars: Where Could Extraterrestrial Life Be Found First?

 
A dusty red planet and an icy moon of Jupiter may hold the best hopes for scientists trying to track down extraterrestrial life, at least in this solar system.

Mars and Europa each hold the promise of liquid water and possibly life. Mars has a history that suggests water once flowed in rivers and lakes, and it may still harbor liquid water deep underground. The more distant Europa could hide a churning ocean filled with life forms beneath its icy surface, as the moon gets gravitationally squeezed by Jupiter.

Future space missions have targeted both destinations to send new robotic explorers. But the red planet represents a much closer and better known target for space explorers.

"We're much farther down the road with Mars than Europa," said Jack Farmer, an astrobiologist at the University of Arizona.

Mars invites a deeper look

Liquid water probably once filled the valleys and basins on Mars, but now the planet's surface resembles a barren, dusty badland. Any living organisms that may have existed must have gone extinct or underground.

"My view is that habitable environments on Mars are likely to only be found in the deeper subsurface where we might have a hydrosphere," Farmer told SPACE.com. "Liquid water is unstable at the surface of Mars today."

Some ice water or snowfall could temporarily become liquid at the surface, such as when NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander possibly found some liquefied globules clinging to its struts. Still, that would hardly last long enough under freezing or vaporizing conditions to sustain life.

Microbial life that could eke out an existence also seems unlikely to survive the cosmic radiation that scours the surface of Mars. But astrobiologists remain excited about possibly finding signs of past life on the surface, where minerals that only form in water may have preserved certain remains.

Europa's ocean: fact or fiction?

A more challenging target for astrobiologists sits farther out in the solar system, where the icy moon Europa beckons with hints of a salty ocean beneath its crusty exterior.

"Europa's a very appealing target for astrobiology, and particularly from the standpoint of what life forms might be working in a sub-surface ocean," Farmer noted. "The challenge with Europa is that we don't know for sure if there's a sub-surface ocean."

Some studies have suggested that Europa holds an ocean up to three times deeper than Earth's oceans. But other models have suggested that no such ocean exists, and that perhaps the moon only harbors pockets of ice-brine slush. The debate largely depends on how much heat Europa can generate from tidal flexing, when Jupiter squeezes the moon with its gravitational pull.

Still, Farmer suggested that life could perhaps exist even within a "snowball slush" mixture between the solid ice chunks. Such slush appears to have erupted onto the moon's surface at times due to icy volcanic eruptions, and any material that came up might have carried signs of life with it — although living organisms would perish quickly due to the harsh radiation bombardment at the moon's surface.

Send in the robots

Still other worlds may beckon just as strongly as Mars or Europa, such as Saturn's icy moon Enceladus. Yet the race to find extraterrestrial life may ultimately come down to where humans decide to send the robots.

Planned missions or mission proposals exist for the robotic exploration of both Mars and Europa. NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) is slated to put an SUV-sized rover down on the red planet after launching in late 2011, and has an onboard organic chemistry lab that can do a general assessment of surface conditions. That would represent a "baby step for an actual life detection mission," Farmer said.

The Europeans also continue to refine their ExoMars rover concept that could go a step farther and actually drill down into Martian regolith. A successful biosignature reading would likely lead to a mission to return Martian samples to Earth, where scientist could run definitive tests. Farmer sees this as a real possibility within the next decade.

Europa may ultimately lag behind Mars in the ongoing search for life, if only because it represents a greater unknown and poses steeper mission challenges.

A joint mission between NASA and the European Space Agency would likely first send an orbiter to better examine Europa, and perhaps figure out whether a sub-surface ocean truly exists to warrant deep drilling. But that won't likely launch until 2020 at the earliest. And besides, scientists may not yet have the technology to create a lander capable of surviving Europa's harsh surface environment. Read More

[SOURCE: SPACE.COM]

Interview with Prof. Rolf-Dieter Heuer, Director-General of CERN

Prof. Rolf-Dieter Heuer - Director-General of CERN

Tomorrow Today (DW-TV's Science Magazine) interviewed Prof. Rolf-Dieter Heuer, Director-General of CERN. Below is an excerpt from the Interview.


DW-TV: The 19th of September in the last year was a black day at CERN. How dramatic is actually the break.

Rolf-Dieter Heuer: The break is dramatic in terms of time because it took a bit more than one year to do everything. But it's not dramatic in the sense of spirit. The spirit is very high. But what we had to do was, first of all we had to repair the damage, secondly we had to measure all the other connections in order to be sure that something like this could be avoided again, and thirdly we had to install a lot of new electronics, cabling, et cetera. And all this together takes more than one year, but then we are pretty sure to start up safely.

DW-TV: Which is a long time: one year. Since also physicists in America, in Chicago, are also searching for the Higgs boson. Are you afraid they might outpace you?

Rolf-Dieter Heuer: No, I'm not afraid of this, because if I look only on science, I don't care where things are found first, and secondly, even if they find something, they only can find indications, and only LHD can tell you if there's really something, and thirdly, when we switch on in November, after one year we will have the same discovery potential or even better than our friendly competitors in the US.

DW-TV: But you're not only a scientist, you're also the director-general of CERN. So how important is it to find the Higgs boson if there is a Higgs boson actually here at CERN?

Rolf-Dieter Heuer: I think it would be very important, it would be a huge stimulus for CERN, that's clear. But it would be even more important of the progress of particle physics and the progress of research, fundamental research in general. So it would be very important.

DW-TV: But wouldn't it be also maybe kind of boring? Because if you find a Higgs boson, all you do is confirm the standard model of elementary particles, and so to say, you'd have no surprise.

Rolf-Dieter Heuer: I'm pretty sure that the surprise is outside the standard model, you are right. We would confirm the standard model, but the standard model can only be a model which is only valid for our energy region. If you go beyond our energy, much beyond our energy range, then there must be another model which incorporates the standard model but which goes further, like, for example, supersymmetry.

DW-TV: So physics as we think today is still correct whether we find the Higgs or whether we don't find it?

Rolf-Dieter Heuer: Yes, of course, because we have measured it, and so it's correct. And compare it to Newton's mechanics, do you feel anything from the relativistic mechanics?

DW-TV: No, not very much.

Rolf-Dieter Heuer: Because you are not in that velocity range. You can compare the standard model to a range within a certain energy limit, and then the new model beyond that, like the different between Newton and Einstein's.

DW-TV: CERN and the new collider is not only a big hit with physicists, but also with authors and film directors ... even scientist argued that the LHC might trigger a dangerous black hole, a gravitational field, so strong nothing can escape.

Rolf-Dieter Heuer: I would not be happy if we would find it in only one of the detectors, because I always need confirmation -- I need it in both detectors. I need confirmation. But these black holes have nothing to do with the black holes which you have in astronomy, in the universe. These black holes would be micro black holes, which would be produced at the LHC and then immediately decay again. This is according to all the existing theories, including the theories from Stephen Hawking.

Read the whole Interview

(Interview Ingolf Baur)

NASA Research Reveals Major Insight Into Evolution of Life on Earth

Humans might not be walking on Earth today if not for the ancient fusing of two microscopic, single-celled organisms called prokaryotes, NASA-funded research has found.

By comparing proteins present in more than 3000 different prokaryotes - a type of single-celled organism without a nucleus -- molecular biologist James A. Lake from the University of California at Los Angeles' Center for Astrobiology showed that two major classes of relatively simple microbes fused together more than 2.5 billion years ago. Lake's research reveals a new pathway for the evolution of life on Earth. These insights are published in the Aug. 20 online edition of the journal Nature.

This endosymbiosis, or merging of two cells, enabled the evolution of a highly stable and successful organism with the capacity to use energy from sunlight via photosynthesis. Further evolution led to photosynthetic organisms producing oxygen as a byproduct. The resulting oxygenation of Earth's atmosphere profoundly affected the evolution of life, leading to more complex organisms that consumed oxygen, which were the ancestors of modern oxygen-breathing creatures including humans.

"Higher life would not have happened without this event," Lake said. "These are very important organisms. At the time these two early prokaryotes were evolving, there was no oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere. Humans could not live. No oxygen-breathing organisms could live."

The genetic machinery and structural organization of these two organisms merged to produce a new class of prokaryotes, called double membrane prokaryotes. As they evolved, members of this double membrane class, called cyanobacteria, became the primary oxygen-producers on the planet, generating enough oxygen to alter the chemical composition of the atmosphere and set The stage for the evolution of more complex organisms such as animals and plants.

"This work is a major advance in our understanding of how a group of organisms came to be that learned to harness the sun and then effected the greatest environmental change Earth has ever seen, in this case with beneficial results," said Carl Pilcher, director of the NASA Astrobiology Institute at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., which co-funded the study with the National Science Foundation in Arlington, Va.

For more information about the NASA's Astrobiology Program and the
institute, visit: http://astrobiology.nasa.gov.

[SOURCE: NASA.GOV]

LHC STARTS IN NOVEMBER

When launched to great fanfare nearly a year ago, some feared the Large Hadron Collider would create a black hole that would suck in the world. It turns out the Hadron may be the black hole.

The world's largest scientific machine has cost $10 billion, has worked only nine days and has yet to smash an atom. The unique equipment in a 17-mile (27-kilometer) circular tunnel with cathedral-sized detectors deep beneath the Swiss-French border has been assembled by specialists in many countries, with 8,970 physicists eagerly awaiting the startup.

But despite the expense, thousands of physicists around the world, many of whom hope to conduct experiments here, insist that it will work and that it is crucial to mankind'sunderstanding of the universe.

The European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN, said Friday it would restart the collider in November at half power under pressure from scientists eager to conduct experiments to unlock secrets of the universe.

But spokesman James Gillies told The Associated Press they would have to shut down yet again next year to finish repairs so that the Large Hadron Collider can operate at full energy of 7 trillion electron volts — seven times higher than any other machine in the world.

CERN has been working since late last year to repair the damage caused by a faulty electrical joint. The breakdown occurred nine days after the spectacular start up of the $10 billion machine last Sept. 10 when beams of subatomic particles were sent around the accelerator in opposite directions.

Fifty-three massive electrical magnets had to be cleaned and repaired after the failure. Tons of supercold liquid helium spilled out of the system, and a sooty residue had to be cleared from the tubes that are meant to be pristine, holding a vacuum in which subatomic particles can whiz around the tunnel at near the speed of light at temperatures colder than outer space.

Michio Kaku, a physics professor at City University of New York who is an outspoken critic of waste in big science projects, defends the CERN collider as a crucial investment.

CERN expects repairs and additional safety systems to cost about 40 million Swiss francs ($37 million) over the course of several years, covered by the 20-nation organization's budget.

The collider emerged as the world's largest after the U.S. canceled the Superconducting Super Collider being built in Texas in 1993. Congress pulled the plug after costs soared, and questions were raised about the value of the science it could produce.

Gillies says all 20 of CERN's member nations have remained supportive and that four other countries — Cyprus, Israel, Serbia and Turkey — have asked to join. A fifth country — Slovenia — has expressed interest.

Japan, India, Russia and the U.S. are observer countries that have made sizable contributions to the CERN project.

CERN is now aiming to restart the machine in November with beams of subatomic particles initially running at 3.5 trillion electron volts, or TeV. That's only half the level the machine was designed for, but it's still 3 1/2 times higher than the second most powerful accelerator, the Tevatron at Fermilab outside Chicago. During last year's brief startup phase, the CERN collider only operated at half the Fermilab level.

Even as the machine is being calibrated this winter, scientists will be able to conduct experiments, collecting data on the collisions of protons and lead ions in the accelerator.

They hope the higher energy will enable them to see particles so far undetected, such as the elusive Higgs boson, which in theory gives mass to other particles — and objects and creatures — in the universe.

Physicists have used smaller, room-temperature colliders for decades to study the atom. They once thought protons and neutrons were the smallest components of the atom's nucleus, but the colliders showed that they are made of quarks and gluons and that there are other forces and particles. And they still have other questions about antimatter, dark matter and particle mass they want to answer with CERN's new collider.

They hope the fragments that come off the collisions will show on a tiny scale what happened one-trillionth of a second after the so-called Big Bang, which many scientists theorize was the massive explosion that formed the universe. The theory holds that the universe was rapidly cooling at that stage and matter was changing quickly.

Some skeptics have expressed fears the high-energy collision of protons could imperil the Earth by creating micro black holes — subatomic versions of collapsed stars whose gravity is so strong they can suck in planets and other stars.

CERN and leading physicists dismiss the fears and maintain the project is safe.

The collider's teething problems are typical of complicated accelerators, but it has been especially frustrating to physicists from around the world, who already have been waiting for years to conduct their experiments on the machine.

They decided some of the splices need to be repaired before the collider goes to full power, but that they can operate safely up to 5 TeV without further repairs now.

That has been set as the highest energy for the collider before its next shutdown for maintenance, probably in November 2010. Then the further repairs will be made so that the energy level can be ramped up.

Rolf Heuer, who has taken over as CERN's director-general since the failure, said the collider has been studied very carefully and is much better understood than a year ago.

"We can look forward with confidence and excitement to a good run through the winter and into next year," Heuer said.

Full Story

Read About CERN

Scientists Make Sperm From Stem Cells

Scientists created human sperm from stem cells for the first time in a bid to better understand the causes of male infertility.

The researchers, led by Karim Nayernia from England's Newcastle University, developed a technique to turn stem cells with male chromosomes from human embryos into reproductive cells, known as germline, and prompt them to divide, they said in a study published in the journal Stem Cells and Development today. The divided cells produced functional sperm, the Scientists said.

The research may also help scientists understand how genetic diseases are passed on, according to the statement.

The lab-created sperm won't be used for "fertilization of human eggs and implantation of embryos," the researchers said.

Stem cells, which have the power to become any type of cell in the body, are controversial when research involves human embryos, which are killed when the cells are harvested.

Read More at http://tinyurl.com/ld6obm

Astronauts Gear Up for Space Construction Marathon

Seven astronauts are gearing up for what they expect to be a grueling orbital construction mission to the International Space Station this week aboard the shuttle Endeavour.

Veteran shuttle commander Mark Polansky and six crewmates will blast off aboard Endeavour early Saturday on an ambitious mission to complete the space station's massive Japanese Kibo laboratory. Liftoff is set for 7:17 a.m. EDT (1117 GMT) from NASA's seaside spaceport in Cape Canaveral, Fla.

Endeavour is poised to fly a marathon 16-day flight packed with five spacewalks and complicated robotic arm work to install a porch-like external experiment platform, spare space station parts and perform maintenance work.

"It's complex, it's challenging, it's long," Polansky said of the mission. "It's going to be a really complicated choreography."

As planned, the mission will tie the record for longest shuttle flight to the station. It will also mark the first time 13 people have lived aboard the outpost at the same time since the station doubled its population to full six-person crew earlier this month.

Read More about the Mission and its Astronauts

ATLANTIS CREW READY FOR FIRST SPACE WALK

Space shuttle Atlantis' crew awoke today to “Stick Shifts and Safety Belts” by Cake at 4:31 a.m. EDT. The song was played for Mission Specialist Drew Feustel.

During the STS-125 mission's fourth day, astronauts Grunsfeld and Feustel are set to make the first of five Hubble servicing spacewalks. Scheduled to begin work at 8:16 a.m. EDT.

The spacewalkers will remove Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 and replace it with the new Wide Field Camera 3, which will allow Hubble to capture a wide range of images from ultraviolet to near-infrared wavelengths. They also will replace a failed science data processing computer that delayed Atlantis' launch last October and install a mechanism for a spacecraft to capture Hubble for de-orbit at the end of its life. The spacewalk is set to last six and a half hours.

HUBBLE CAPTURED
Using the shuttle's robotic arm STS-125 Mission Specialist Megan McArthur grappled the Hubble Space Telescope at 12:14 p.m. CDT Wednesday. McArthur then maneuvered the telescope onto a Flight Support System maintenance platform in Atlantis’ payload bay.

The stage is set for five spacewalks in as many days to repair and update instruments, extending Hubble's lifespan through 2014.

Astronauts John Grunsfeld and Drew Feustel conducted a final review of plans for the first spacewalk with the help of fellow spacewalkers Mike Good and Mike Massimino, and the rest of the crew. They also checked out all of the tools necessary for the mission’s spacewalks.

Mission managers declared Atlantis’ thermal protection tiles safe for reentry, but continue to examine the imagery from Tuesday’s inspection of the reinforced carbon carbon on the shuttle’s nose cap and wing leading edges.

Follow Progress of Mission
Check out The Mission Summary

EXPEDITION 19 CREW DOCK WITH ISS

The Expedition 18 and 19 crew members participate in a welcome ceremony aboard the International Space Station

Commander Gennady Padalka and Flight Engineer Michael Barratt of the 19th International Space Station crew docked their Soyuz TMA-14 to the International Space Station at 9:05 a.m. EDT Saturday.

Hatches between the two spacecraft opened at 12:36 p.m. A welcome ceremony and a safety briefing soon follow after a new crew arrives at the station.

The new crew launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 7:49 a.m. EDT Thursday to begin a six-month stay in space. With Padalka and Barratt is second-time spaceflight participant Charles Simonyi, flying under contract with the Russian Federal Space Agency.

Simonyi previously flew to the station in April 2007 as a spaceflight participant with the Expedition 15 crew. Simonyi will return to Earth with Expedition 18 crew members, Commander Mike Fincke and Flight Engineer Yury Lonchakov, in their Soyuz TMA-13 on April 7.

Expedition 18 launched to the station Oct. 12. Aboard the station to welcome Expedition 19 crew members was the Expedition 18 Commander Mike Fincke and Yury Lonchakov, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Koichi Wakata. Wakata launched to the station on the STS-119 mission of Discovery March 15. He joined Expedition 18 in progress and will provide Expedition 19 with an experienced flight engineer for its increment.

Padalka, a colonel in the Russian Air Force, will command the Expedition 19 mission and also serve as Soyuz commander. He previously served as commander of Expedition 9 in 2004. During Padalka's first stay at the International Space Station, he performed four spacewalks.

Barratt will serve as a flight engineer for Expedition 19. He served as lead crew surgeon for the first Expedition crew to the station from July 1998 until he was selected as an astronaut candidate. This is his first spaceflight. Wakata will serve as a flight engineer for Expeditions 18, 19 and 20. Wakata will be the first resident station crew member from JAXA. He will return to Earth on STS-127.

Read More

[SOURCE: NASA.GOV]

NASA SATELLITE CRASHES

Nasa's first dedicated mission to measure carbon dioxide from space has failed following a rocket malfunction.

Officials said the fairing - the part of the rocket which covers the satellite on top of the launcher - did not separate properly.

Data indicates the spacecraft crashed into the ocean near Antarctica.

The Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) was intended to help pinpoint the key locations on our planet's surface where CO2 is being emitted and absorbed.

Nasa officials confirmed the loss of the satellite at a press conference held at 1300 GMT.

John Brunschwyler, from Orbital Sciences Corporation, the rocket's manufacturer, told journalists: "Our whole team, at a very personal level, is very disappointed in the events of this morning."

He added: "The fairing has considerable weight relative to the portion of the vehicle that's flying. So when it separates off, you get a jump in acceleration. We did not have that jump in acceleration.

"As a direct result of carrying that extra weight, we could not make orbit."

The $270m (£190m) mission was launched on a Taurus XL - the smallest ground-launched rocket currently in use by the US space agency.

Since its debut in 1994, this type of rocket has flown eight times, with six successes and two failures including this launch. But this is the first time Nasa has used the Taurus XL.

The US space agency will now put together a "Mishap Investigation Board" to determine the root cause of the nose cone's failure to come off three minutes into the launch.

Onlookers watched the launcher soar into the sky from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 0955 GMT on Tuesday.

The first indication of a problem came in an announcement made by the Nasa launch commentator, George Diller.

"This is Taurus launch control. We have declared a launch contingency, meaning that we did not have a successful launch tonight," he said.

HOW SATELLITE SHOULD HAVE LAUNCHED

Separation of the fairing was one of the last technical hurdles faced by the satellite as it flew into orbit. Orbital said there had been no changes to the design of the fairing since previous launches.

Mr Brunschwyler, programme manager for the Taurus rockets, cast doubt on any suggestion of a link between the failure and a power glitch which occurred to the vehicle just prior to launch.

"That was on a separate system, so I do not believe there was any connection," Mr Brunschwyler told journalists at the Nasa press conference.

Dr Paul Palmer, a scientist from the University of Edinburgh, UK, who was collaborating on the mission, told BBC News: "I am bitterly disappointed about the loss of OCO. My thoughts go out to the science team that have dedicated the past seven years to building and testing the instrument."

Professor John Burrows, from the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, who is also collaborating on the mission, commented: "The UK and European science community is a major partner in OCO and the loss of this instrument is a serious setback."

Scientists had hoped OCO would improve models of the Earth's climate and help researchers determine where the greenhouse gas is coming from and how much is being absorbed by forests and oceans.

This would have helped scientists make more accurate predictions of future climate change.

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Read More at NASA.GOV

[SOURCE: BBC]

DISCOVERY TO LAUNCH NO EARLIER THAN FEB. 22nd

Pilot Tony Antonelli uses the virtual reality lab in the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility at NASA's Johnson Space Center to train for some of his duties aboard the space shuttle and space station.

NASA's Space Shuttle Program managers will hold a special meeting Feb. 13 to review flow control valve data and determine whether to proceed with the Joint Flight Readiness Review, or FRR, for space shuttle Discovery's STS-119 mission to the International Space Station.

The valves under assessment channel gaseous hydrogen from the shuttle's main engines to the external fuel tank. One of these valves in shuttle Endeavour was found to be damaged after its STS-126 mission in November. As a precaution, Discovery's three gaseous hydrogen valves were removed, inspected and reinstalled.

In light of a positive outcome from the special meeting, the official launch date will be set at the FRR, although for planning purposes, the liftoff currently is scheduled for no earlier than Feb. 22.

Meanwhile, STS-119 Commander Lee Archambault and Pilot Tony Antonelli will fly to White Sands Space Harbor in Las Cruces, N.M., in T-38 training jets late today for night landing practice in NASA's shuttle training aircraft.

Space shuttle Discovery's STS-119 crew is set to fly the S6 truss segment and install the final set of power-generating solar arrays to the International Space Station.

The S6 truss, with its set of large U.S. solar arrays, will complete the backbone of the station and provide one-fourth of the total power needed to support a crew of six.

The two solar array wings each have 115-foot-long arrays, for a total wing span of 240 feet. They will generate 66 kilowatts of electricity -- enough to provide about 30 2,800-square-foot homes with power.

Commander Lee Archambault will lead Discovery's crew of seven, along with Pilot Tony Antonelli, and Mission Specialists Joseph Acaba, John Phillips, Steve Swanson, Richard Arnold and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Koichi Wakata.

Wakata will replace Expedition 18 Flight Engineer Sandra Magnus, who will return to Earth with the STS-119 crew. Wakata will serve as a flight engineer for Expeditions 18 and 19, and return to Earth with the STS-127 crew.

Discovery's STS-119 mission to the International Space Station is targeted to lift off no earlier than Feb. 22.

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VOTE FOR HUBBLES NEXT TARGET

NASA is turning control of the Hubble Space Telescope over to the general public to give non-scientists a chance to choose which target the iconic observatory should turn its camera eyes on next.

The U.S. space agency is inviting the public to vote for one of six candidate astronomical objects for Hubble to observe in honor of the International Year of Astronomy, which began last month. The options, which Hubble has not previously photographed, range from far-flung galaxies to dying stars. Votes can be cast until March 1.

Hubble's camera will take a high-resolution image revealing new details about the object that receives the most votes. The image will be released during the International Year of Astronomy's "100 Hours of Astronomy" from April 2 to 5.

Everyone who votes also will be entered into a random drawing to receive one of 100 copies of the Hubble photograph made of the winning celestial body.

NASA is also inviting teachers and students to participate in a related Hubble Space Telescope classroom collage activity that integrates art, science and language arts. Students in participating classes can select their favorite Hubble images and assemble them in a collage. Students in each class will also choose their favorite object from the image voting contest and write essays about why they made their selections.

Launched in April 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope has spent 18 years peering into the depths of the cosmos to return stunning images and helping scientists better understand the history of the universe. NASA has launched four shuttle missions to fix and upgrade Hubble. The fifth and final overhaul by astronauts is due to launch on May 12 aboard the shuttle Atlantis.

Commanded by veteran spaceflyer Scott Altman, Atlantis' STS-125 Hubble servicing crew plans to fly an 11-day mission and stage five spacewalks to add new instruments, batteries, gyroscopes and other gear to extend the space telescope's mission through at least 2013.

Click here to Vote or visit the following Web site to cast your vote for Hubble's next target: http://YouDecide.Hubblesite.org

Read More at Space.com

CHANDRAYAAN PICKS UP X-RAYS

An Indian spacecraft has picked up its first X-rays from the moon with a little help from a small solar flare.

A European camera on India's Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter detected a faint X-ray signal coming from a region near one of NASA's old Apollo landing sites for a brief three seconds. But the signal was clear enough to spot traces of magnesium, aluminum and silicon making up the lunar region.

Chandrayaan-1's European-built C1XS X-ray camera caught the short X-ray burst from the moon on Dec. 12 just a small solar flare began pummeling the lunar surface to spark the fluorescence, ESA researchers said.

Scientists were surprised to pick up any X-ray signals at all since the flare was about 20 times weaker than the lowest limit the C1XS camera was designed to detect.

Chandrayaan-1 is not the first spacecraft to scour the moon for X-ray signals to uncover secrets of the lunar surface composition. The space-based Chandra X-ray Observatory and ESA's SMART-1 moon probe, for example, have also used X-ray cameras to scrutinize the lunar surface.

But Chandrayaan-1's camera may yield new insight because of its sensitivity.

India launched the Chandrayaan-1 toward the moon in October 2008 and entered orbit a month later armed with 11 scientific instruments to map the lunar surface and its composition. The spacecraft also dropped a small probe that slammed into the moon to take close-up photographs and test technologies for future landers.

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METHANE ON MARS

NEW EVIDENCE OF LIFE ON MARS

Something is happening beneath the surface of Mars that causes substantial amounts of methane gas to burst out regularly, a discovery that NASA scientists say represents the strongest indication so far that life might exist, or once existed, on the planet.

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The methane is released into the atmosphere in specific areas and at regular times, they found, in a pattern that would be consistent with the gas being a byproduct of biological activity beneath the planet's parched surface.

Principal investigator Michael Mumma, of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., said the detection does not mean that life definitely exists on Mars, because the gas can be produced by subsurface geological or chemical processes as well.

Nevertheless, "we believe this definitely increases the prospects for finding life on Mars," said Mumma, whose findings are being published online today by Science Express.

The scientists detected plumes of methane during two Martian summers, when the planet's large formations of subsurface ice might melt and release the gas.

Most of the methane in Earth's atmosphere is produced by bacteria in living creatures large and small. Even if it turns out that the Martian methane is the result of nonbiological processes, that would nonetheless reshape thinking about the planet, which scientists thought to be geologically dead and chemically unlikely to produce much of the gas.

The new data were gleaned by NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility atop Mauna Kea on Hawaii and another telescope in Chile.

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IYA2009 OPENING CEREMONY

After months of anticipation, the official launch of IYA2009 is occurring today, in Paris. Around 900 delegates are in attendance, including eminent scientists and heads of state.

Launched under the theme, 'The Universe - Yours to discover', IYA2009 involves more than one hundred countries, and will stimulate worldwide interest, especially among young people, in astronomy and science.

The official opening ceremony takes place in Paris, 15-16 January 2009, under the aegis of the United Nations (UN), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Nobel Prize winners, scientists from all over the world and government ministers are attending this prestigious event.

Check out The Opening Ceremony site
The Cosmic Diary website
The Official Website

DISCOVERY AT LAUNCH PAD

Space Shuttle Discovery on Launch Pad

NASA has moved space shuttle Discovery to its launch pad for a February supply run to the international space station.

Discovery moved out to the pad Wednesday. Seven astronauts are scheduled to blast off around sunrise Feb. 12 with the space station's final set of solar wings. The crew will conduct four spacewalks to hook up the new equipment and perform maintenance.

The space shuttle also will deliver, if it's ready, a machine designed to turn astronauts' urine into safe drinking water. A similar processor that went up in November is not working, and bringing it home could help engineers understand what's wrong.

Commander Lee Archambault will lead a crew of seven, along with Pilot Tony Antonelli, and Mission Specialists Joseph Acaba, John Phillips, Steve Swanson, Richard Arnold and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Koichi Wakata.

One of Discovery's crew — Koichi Wakata — will replace an astronaut on the orbiting outpost and become the first Japanese to live up there.

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