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cool number 9 is correct, NASA is working on these types of projects.

The idea is to build smaller telescopes, or hypertelescopes, and link them together using interferometry (defined).

I agree... it will be very expensive, however this website about the Darwin mission at ESA suggests that they're seriously assessing the possibility and they're aiming for a launch in 2015.

Why not try.. the ESA.

To be even more specific to this study it's important for casual observers to understand that this data has only been collected since 1995. It's much sexier in a news report to say that, "This is one of the largest ozone holes in the past decade". That sells papers, gets people to pay attention to your news broadcast etc... It's less provocative to say that since 1995 only two other measured ozone holes have exceeded the size of the one measured today (1996 and 2000, which oddly enough is conflicting information with the BBC report but I find the European Space Agency a little more reliable than the BBC personally).

I think it's important for people to understand that the ozone hole flutuates in size, we have no data on how big it's supposed to be and while 1996 and 2000 ozone holes were the largest we've measured, they could be significantly smaller (or larger) than those same holes 30 years ago. There's simply not enough data to make any kind of conclusion and scientists that reach such conclusions are simply pandering for their next government grant rather than delivering accurate evaluations in my opinion.

http://www.esa.int/esaEO/SEM712A5QCE_environment_0 .html

Sounds of an alien world

from http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Rosetta/ESA38F7708D_0. html:

"Unfortunately, no existing rocket, not even the powerful European-built Ariane-5, has the capability to send such a large spacecraft directly to Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

Instead, Rosetta will bounce around the inner Solar System like a 'cosmic billiard ball', circling the Sun almost four times during its ten-year trek to Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

Along this roundabout route, Rosetta will enter the asteroid belt twice and gain velocity from gravitational 'kicks' provided by close fly-bys of Mars (2007) and Earth (2005, 2007 and 2009)."

Hey Goatman, ever see a WEATHERTROLL????

"Water ice in crater at Martian north pole" @

http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/SEMGKA808 BE_0.html

So, what's the "Stuff that matters" part of an article that says water flowed on the surface? Or, is the Mars Express photo being disputed and we're back to speculation?

And, no - I'm not bitter that all my slashdot submissions have been rejected ... well, maybe a little ...

Sorry, I forgot to include a link for the solar system exploration programme, Aurora.

Well, Canada does have a strong partnership agreement with ESA, so I wouldn't be surprised. I imagine that we're as frustated as all the other nations (including, most significantly, the States) investing in the ISS with the lack of process on the station to this point.

A mission scenario for a human mission to Mars from the European Space Agency: includes a detailed analysis of advantages and problems for the three typical trajectory solutions.

Count on 100 Mbit/s per channel. Current comsats provide up to 45 Gbit/s total throughput.

The space shuttle is not the only game in town. As a matter of fact, ESA's Ariane 5 launched the heaviest telco sat in history today. It's the only rocket capable of lifting such loads.

Cheers

Another twist to the story: http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEM9YN7O0MD_index_0.html

More information of hidden black holes and their discovery.

Hopefully, the fact that we just discovered an ice lake in Mars should provide NASA its much needed funding. On a slightly different note, why can't NASA work with private contractors to outsource their delivery vehicle research? I can understand their concerns of technology getting leaked, but don't the defense departments do it all the time? This can only benefit space research, right?

Like Galileo or Mars Express?

Mildly funny, but I will point out for the more serious NASA-haters that the rovers have been going for over a year and a half (6 times their "warranty"), discovered quite a bit about Martian geology and weather, provided a strong PR boost through the quality of their images, and are still going. Meanwhile, piggybacked Beagle crashed, and the Mars Express itself, which entered orbit around the same time the rovers landed, is still practically pulling it's pants on.

Not to undermine the ESA's achievements of course. Express is a completely different mission and it's data will be equally as valuable as the rovers in the long run. ESA also did a great job with the Hguyen's probe.

I wonder how comes no one built a software to look for patterns such as those that could resemble ice in the collection of images. Making the difference between a lot of red and a lot of blue shouldn't be THAT hard.

They presumably *did* do this with software, although probably through something more sophisticated than simply looking for visible blue or red. Several of the instruments on the orbiter are specifically intended to help look for water.

What I find amusing is how they provided a picture for those of you with oldskool 3d glasses:

http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/SEMGKA808 BE_1.html#subhead4

And they include a super-high-res version of that too.

> The EU has no manned program

Half right: we have astronauts but no launch capabilites ! (http://www.esa.int/esaHS/astronauts.html)

Then write in. Nothing's stopping you. Even if you don't contribute to the budget of the space program, you still have a voice. Not every government flunky only takes mail from its "constituents". It can't hurt to try. (And I'd like to know why Beagle 2 crashed...) But you might be doing more than you think; look at http://www.esa.int./

Change comes about because people work for it.

As for the scifi writers -- well, some can't write, but many of them can and are very good at it. A lot of the books that are called "classics" aren't that good either. It just depends on your preferences. I've read horrid scifi and I've read good scifi. But scifi is important because it inspires these things to actually happen; Star Trek inspired a lot of people to actually build spacecraft (like the Apollo vehicles), for instance. Some of the ideas that were created for, or popularized by, Trek are becoming a reality, like voice-controlled computers. Same true for Star Wars (assistive robots that will work with humans to get jobs done).

Actually for mars.google.com you'd probably prefer the ESA images: http://mars.esa.int/

It's not easy to land on a comet or asteroid. The gravity's quite weak, and not regular either. Especially as you don't know the composition or internal structure.

Europe will try it with its Rosetta spacecraft. It will arrive in the year 2014.
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Rosetta/SEMYMF374OD_0. html

You mean the Rosetta mission?

Currently en route to a close rendezvous with comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko, to be followed by releasing a lander (which will use a harpoon to cling to the surface). It was in a position to make distant observations of comet Tempel for the current fireworks show.

It won't do what you describe but will instead take a roundabout route that will allow it to basically sneak up on the comet.

Oh, and it's European, not American :-)

Not for too much longer now hopefully.
Nice thing is that the accuracy won't go to crap should another war start.

/. posted a story awhile back about the European Space Agency using one of it's satellites to monitor the ocean surface. Here are the images from the article: rogue waves. Pretty scary stuff.

'Haute Cuisine' on Mars?

If you're lucky enough to be a crew member of one of the next European Space Agency (ESA) long-term missions, you will have the choice between eleven new delicious recipes, such as 'martian bread and green tomato jam' or 'potato and tomato mille-feuilles' when it's time for dinner. In 'Ready for dinner on Mars?,' ESA says that these recipes will use fresh ingredients grown in greenhouses built on Mars colonies or other planets. The future astronauts -- should I write 'farmonauts'? -- will grow potatoes, onions, rice, soya or lettuce. And it's interesting to note that the new menus were elaborated with the help of Alain Ducasse, the French chef who has almost as many stars in the 'Guide Michelin' as there are planets in our Solar system. Read more...

Below is a picture showing a 'potato and tomato mille-feuilles,' a recipe prepared for ESA (Credit: ADF - Alain Ducasse Formation -- site in French). Here is a link to a larger version (283 KB).

A 'Potato and tomato mille-feuilles' for Mars astronauts

The thin slices of potato, tomatoes and onion are cooked one by one, for a homogeneous colour and a melting and crispy sensation in the mouth. The basic ingredients are potatoes and tomatoes, both thought to be easy to to grow in space, on Mars or other planets.

So, what kind of vegetables will the 'farmonauts' be able to grow?

The menus were all based on nine main ingredients that ESA envisions could be grown in greenhouses of future colonies on Mars or other planets. These nine ingredients must comprise at least 40% of the final diet, while the remaining (up to) 60% could be additional vegetables, herbs, oil, butter, salt, pepper, sugar and other seasoning brought from Earth.

The nine basic ingredients that Christophe Lasseur, [ESA's biological life-support coordinator,] plans to grow on other planets are: rice, onions, tomatoes, soya, potatoes, lettuce, spinach, wheat and spirulina -- all common ingredients except the last. Spirulina is a blue-green algae, a very rich source of nutrition with lots of protein (65% by weight), calcium, carbohydrates, lipids and various vitamins that cover essential nutritional needs for energy in extreme environments.

Besides the fact that astronauts will have better food than today, this will have additional benefits.

Today all the food for astronauts in space is brought from Earth, but this will not be possible for longer missions. Although still on the drawing board, ESA has already started research to see what could be grown on other planets -- and what a self-supporting eco-system might look like on Mars.

"In addition to being healthy and sufficiently nutritious for survival, good food could potentially provide psychological support for the crew, away from Earth for years," emphasises Lasseur.

It is extremely difficult today to be selected as an astronaut. But tomorrow, when a candidate needs to show additional qualifications in farming and in cooking, it will become almost impossible...

Anyway, for other stories about space food, you also can read two previous posts, "Eating in Space" or "Astronauts To Eat Italian-Style."

Sources: ESA, June 13, 2005; and various sites

'Haute Cuisine' on Mars?

If you're lucky enough to be a crew member of one of the next European Space Agency (ESA) long-term missions, you will have the choice between eleven new delicious recipes, such as 'martian bread and green tomato jam' or 'potato and tomato mille-feuilles' when it's time for dinner. In 'Ready for dinner on Mars?,' ESA says that these recipes will use fresh ingredients grown in greenhouses built on Mars colonies or other planets. The future astronauts -- should I write 'farmonauts'? -- will grow potatoes, onions, rice, soya or lettuce. And it's interesting to note that the new menus were elaborated with the help of Alain Ducasse, the French chef who has almost as many stars in the 'Guide Michelin' as there are planets in our Solar system. Read more...

Below is a picture showing a 'potato and tomato mille-feuilles,' a recipe prepared for ESA (Credit: ADF - Alain Ducasse Formation -- site in French). Here is a link to a larger version (283 KB).

A 'Potato and tomato mille-feuilles' for Mars astronauts

The thin slices of potato, tomatoes and onion are cooked one by one, for a homogeneous colour and a melting and crispy sensation in the mouth. The basic ingredients are potatoes and tomatoes, both thought to be easy to to grow in space, on Mars or other planets.

So, what kind of vegetables will the 'farmonauts' be able to grow?

The menus were all based on nine main ingredients that ESA envisions could be grown in greenhouses of future colonies on Mars or other planets. These nine ingredients must comprise at least 40% of the final diet, while the remaining (up to) 60% could be additional vegetables, herbs, oil, butter, salt, pepper, sugar and other seasoning brought from Earth.

The nine basic ingredients that Christophe Lasseur, [ESA's biological life-support coordinator,] plans to grow on other planets are: rice, onions, tomatoes, soya, potatoes, lettuce, spinach, wheat and spirulina -- all common ingredients except the last. Spirulina is a blue-green algae, a very rich source of nutrition with lots of protein (65% by weight), calcium, carbohydrates, lipids and various vitamins that cover essential nutritional needs for energy in extreme environments.

Besides the fact that astronauts will have better food than today, this will have additional benefits.

Today all the food for astronauts in space is brought from Earth, but this will not be possible for longer missions. Although still on the drawing board, ESA has already started research to see what could be grown on other planets -- and what a self-supporting eco-system might look like on Mars.

"In addition to being healthy and sufficiently nutritious for survival, good food could potentially provide psychological support for the crew, away from Earth for years," emphasises Lasseur.

It is extremely difficult today to be selected as an astronaut. But tomorrow, when a candidate needs to show additional qualifications in farming and in cooking, it will become almost impossible...

Anyway, for other stories about space food, you also can read two previous posts, "Eating in Space" or "Astronauts To Eat Italian-Style."

Sources: ESA, June 13, 2005; and various sites

Your ignorance is ... sigh
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ESA#Current_projects_ already_launched
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/index.html

1919.

OK, he didn't build it, but his ideas were *tested*, which is equally important.

Fully agreed, it is nice to see someone articulate this so clearly on Slashdot. All countries contain a wide range of contradictory trends in their societies but the space program stands as a lasting achievment for all of mankind and one we have to thank the US for pouring so much of it's investment into.

The nearest we have in Europe is the European Space Agency. Now celebrating thirty years this has run some major programs and developed some excellent lauchers. Although it has a European Branding, my impression is that almost half the funding and most of the political drive has come from France, with very little in the way of contribution from the UK. If you ever get the chance and find yourself in South West France, check out the excellent Cité de l'Espace museum near Toulouse. This is easily Europe's finest space museum with a wide range of information on space exploration and the European Space Program, inclding two Skylabs to walk through and a full size Ariane 5 rocket which dominates the skyline as you approach.

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMY3R5TI8E_index_0.html

Of course this isn't newsworthy on US-centric slashdot.

You mean like this?

http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/SEMH4Q2IU 7E_1.html#subhead1

open4free ©

According to TFA, 20 TB is the amount of data that will be analysed to create the 17 GB (or whatever) mosaic image. Most places have been photographed more than once.

You got your calculation wrong because you don't get the operating principle of the MERIS instrument. It is not a half megapixel ordinary camera that with some magic collects 15*16 bit per pixel (e.g. by taking 15 images in close succession with a changing filter wheel).

As the page on MERIS says, it is a 'pushbroom imaging spectrometer'. 'Pushbroom' means that instead of a rectangular field of view like a normal camera, it has a line-shaped field of view. An image is formed by continuously observing the single line and wait for the the satellite to 'sweep' the whole planet. 'Imaging spectrograph' means that the previously mentioned line is spectrally separated (with a prism or a grating) perpendicular to the line. You then get an image on your CCD where one direction corresponds to the distance along the line and the other is formed by the different colors.

The optics details of the system are here, an description of the CCD is here. If I understand it correctly, one line is 740 pixels wide and the colors are 'binned' in 15 different spectral bands. That gives you 740*15*2=22200 bytes per line. How much that would be per picture depends on the height of the image, which depends on how long you collect data. In principle you could have it sweep the whole planet non-stop.

You got your calculation wrong because you don't get the operating principle of the MERIS instrument. It is not a half megapixel ordinary camera that with some magic collects 15*16 bit per pixel (e.g. by taking 15 images in close succession with a changing filter wheel).

As the page on MERIS says, it is a 'pushbroom imaging spectrometer'. 'Pushbroom' means that instead of a rectangular field of view like a normal camera, it has a line-shaped field of view. An image is formed by continuously observing the single line and wait for the the satellite to 'sweep' the whole planet. 'Imaging spectrograph' means that the previously mentioned line is spectrally separated (with a prism or a grating) perpendicular to the line. You then get an image on your CCD where one direction corresponds to the distance along the line and the other is formed by the different colors.

The optics details of the system are here, an description of the CCD is here. If I understand it correctly, one line is 740 pixels wide and the colors are 'binned' in 15 different spectral bands. That gives you 740*15*2=22200 bytes per line. How much that would be per picture depends on the height of the image, which depends on how long you collect data. In principle you could have it sweep the whole planet non-stop.

You got your calculation wrong because you don't get the operating principle of the MERIS instrument. It is not a half megapixel ordinary camera that with some magic collects 15*16 bit per pixel (e.g. by taking 15 images in close succession with a changing filter wheel).

As the page on MERIS says, it is a 'pushbroom imaging spectrometer'. 'Pushbroom' means that instead of a rectangular field of view like a normal camera, it has a line-shaped field of view. An image is formed by continuously observing the single line and wait for the the satellite to 'sweep' the whole planet. 'Imaging spectrograph' means that the previously mentioned line is spectrally separated (with a prism or a grating) perpendicular to the line. You then get an image on your CCD where one direction corresponds to the distance along the line and the other is formed by the different colors.

The optics details of the system are here, an description of the CCD is here. If I understand it correctly, one line is 740 pixels wide and the colors are 'binned' in 15 different spectral bands. That gives you 740*15*2=22200 bytes per line. How much that would be per picture depends on the height of the image, which depends on how long you collect data. In principle you could have it sweep the whole planet non-stop.

I think I have figured out what they mean, though. They claim the sharpest ever *map*, not image. I guess that means they are going to be creating a map of the globe with zones classified into different land cover types, something like this, not necessarily a global image. However the line between a "map" and a "false color image" is being blurred here. That makes their press release rather misleading; far higher resolution global image data already exists and can be downloaded for free.

It's not a typo. Here is a description of the MERIS instrument. I suspect it will be the highest resolution image which is not just covering the visible bands.

If you would have read the article and looked at the comparision image you would see the resulting image is better. See for yourself here

Well but isn't this data for which I've paid with my tax euros already? Why does the public who financed it not get free access to that data?

While we're at it, can other Slashdotters perhaps point to links of freely available satellite imagery? Is there any kind of systematic coverage of the planet we live on which is freely available to everyone who does happen to live here?

It's true! Just look here.

Let's hope a vessel doesn't go too far west of North America.

THey moved to wings because the military insisted on it.
What's the point of having a reusable vehicle if it's far more expensive to operate than a one-time-use capsule?? The effort in going through the shuttle inbetween launches cost an enormous amount of money! Mind you, *cheap* reusable vehicles would be good (and nothing stops a capsule from being reusable, russia was building one until lack of cash stopped them)
You can actually land a capsule fairly accurate, within 5 - 10 km^2 IIRC. I assume you think of the soyuz capsule a while ago wich deviated far from it's landing zone. The reason for this was a computer error which stopped the capsule from trying to 'glide' (yes you can steer them a bit!) and it then automatically went for the safest option which was a ballistic trajectory. Lots of G's for the crew, but they were unharmed in the end.

First Stereo Imaging satellite?

ESA presently has a stereo camera orbiting Mars on Mars Express:

http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/SEMUC75V9 ED_0.html

See the following URL's for images/movies:

http://search.esa.int/queryIG.html?rf=3&searchType =general&tipo=Image&tx0=Image&tx1=&col=mmg&qp=&qs= &qc=&ws=1&nh=12&lk=1&vf=0&ql=a&op0=%2B&fl0=Content Type%3A&ty0=p&op1=%2B&fl1=category%3A&ty1=p&op2=%2 B&fl2=showcase%3A&ty2=p&tx2=SEMU775V9ED&showcase=M ars+Express
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/SEMCAE474 OD_0.html

First Stereo Imaging satellite?

ESA presently has a stereo camera orbiting Mars on Mars Express:

http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/SEMUC75V9 ED_0.html

See the following URL's for images/movies:

http://search.esa.int/queryIG.html?rf=3&searchType =general&tipo=Image&tx0=Image&tx1=&col=mmg&qp=&qs= &qc=&ws=1&nh=12&lk=1&vf=0&ql=a&op0=%2B&fl0=Content Type%3A&ty0=p&op1=%2B&fl1=category%3A&ty1=p&op2=%2 B&fl2=showcase%3A&ty2=p&tx2=SEMU775V9ED&showcase=M ars+Express
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/SEMCAE474 OD_0.html

First Stereo Imaging satellite?

ESA presently has a stereo camera orbiting Mars on Mars Express:

http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/SEMUC75V9 ED_0.html

See the following URL's for images/movies:

http://search.esa.int/queryIG.html?rf=3&searchType =general&tipo=Image&tx0=Image&tx1=&col=mmg&qp=&qs= &qc=&ws=1&nh=12&lk=1&vf=0&ql=a&op0=%2B&fl0=Content Type%3A&ty0=p&op1=%2B&fl1=category%3A&ty1=p&op2=%2 B&fl2=showcase%3A&ty2=p&tx2=SEMU775V9ED&showcase=M ars+Express
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/SEMCAE474 OD_0.html

You are much more likely to see Soyuz launch from Kourou than from KSC. That launch site is better positioned, and French food is better too :-) Russia already signed several agreements with ESA, as I understand, and will begin construction of the Soyuz launch complex there.

I once read in an older post on /. (sorry can't find it) that the European Space Agency has implemented a hardened Sparc implementation based on the standard. Sad that the article fails to mention it completely. Here is an interesting link though. I heard those puppies can work under radiation levels that would fry a normal UltraSparc. If anyone has more information that would be very nice.

[rant]And what's more sad is that we are getting to the point where the x86 has become almost a monoculture, which is way very bad. Apparently there are lots of folks who think that the only processors around are named "pentiums". [/rant]