| December 15, 2006 |
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our time will build eternity |
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Charles Simonyi Eager To Hail A Soyuz Taxi To ISS Houston (AFP) Texas, Dec 13, 2006 
Hungarian-born billionaire and ex-Microsoft whiz kid Charles Simonyi sees his trip next year on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station as a chance to do some good. "I have three goals, one of them is to advance civilian space flight, assist with the ISS research to the extent I can, and I want to involve kids in science ... meanwhile I plan to have a lot of fun," he told AFP. Simonyi, 58, left his native Hungary at 17 for the United States where he made a fortune after joining in 1981 the "start up" Microsoft, for which he oversaw the development of Word and Excel and which he left in 2002 to co-found Intentional Software Corporation. |
Vietnam says parched Red River at record low
China to be world's third biggest wind power producer: media Cost-cutting NASA eyes three cheap space missions Honduras declares state of emergency amid drought Russia in secret plan to save Earth from asteroid: official Sarkozy scrambles to salvage carbon tax French carbon tax ruled illegal Brazil's Lula signs law cutting CO2 emissions 2009 a 'benign' year of natural disasters: German re-insurer Greenpeace Spain demands Denmark release its director 
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ISRO Carries Out Feasibility Study On Manned Space Mission
New Delhi, India (PTI) Dec 14, 2006Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has carried out detailed study on the feasibility of undertaking indigenous manned space mission to low earth orbit in about eight to 10 years time frame, Rajya Sabha was informed on Thursday. Discovery Astronauts Begin Spacewalk To Rewire ISS 
Houston (AFP) Texas, Dec 14, 2006Two Discovery astronauts Thursday began the second spacewalk of the 12-day space shuttle mission to rewire the International Space Station, NASA said. Mission specialist Robert Curbeam and Christer Fuglesang, Sweden's first astronaut, stepped outside the ISS at 1941 GMT, about 20 minutes ahead of time, the US space agency said. Shuttle Crew Busy Across Station With Electrical Work And Much More 
Houston TX (SPX) Dec 15, 2006STS-116 Mission Specialists Robert Curbeam and Christer Fuglesang completed their scheduled electrical work and are now concentrating on other spacewalking tasks. Shortly after the start of the spacewalk at 2:41 p.m. EST, Curbeam and Fuglesang began STS-116's work to rearrange the International Space Station's power system from a temporary status to a permanent setup by rewiring two of the station's four power channels. Systems were powered up at 4:45 p.m. following the completion of the electrical work. |
Venus Express Sees Right Down To The Hell-Hot Surface
Paris, France (ESA) Dec 15, 2006Thanks to ESA's Venus Express data, scientists obtained the first large-area temperature maps of the southern hemisphere of the inhospitable, lead-melting surface of Venus. The new data may help with searching and identifying 'hot spots' on the surface, considered to be possible signs of active volcanism on the planet. NOAA Tracking Space Weather Event 
Boulder CO (SPX) Dec 15, 2006A significant geomagnetic storm is expected to impact the Earth beginning early Thursday afternoon around 1:00 p.m. Eastern time, according to forecasters at the NOAA Space Environment Center in Boulder, Colo. Impacts from this event can cause problems with High Frequency communications, satellite operations and induce currents in power grids. Giant New Telescope Will Probe The Universe 
London, UK (SPX) Dec 15, 2006The future of European astronomy is poised to enter a new era of discovery with the decision announced today by ESO's governing body to proceed with detailed studies for the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT). This three year study, with a budget of 57 million euro, will prepare the way for construction of the world's largest optical/infrared telescope that will revolutionise ground-based astronomy. Astronomers from the UK have played crucial roles in reaching this decision. |
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Comets As Toolkits For Jump-Starting Life
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Dec 15, 2006Just as kits of little plastic bricks can be used to make everything from models of the space shuttle to the statue of liberty, comets are looking more and more like one of Nature's toolkits for creating life. These chunks of ice and dust wandering our solar system appear to be filled with organic molecules that are the building blocks of life. NASA Study Finds New Kind of Organics in Stardust Mission 
Pasadena CA (JPL) Dec 15, 2006A team of scientists found a new class of organics in comet dust captured from Comet Wild 2 in 2004 by NASA's Stardust spacecraft. The discovery is described in a technical paper, "Organics Captured from Comet Wild 2 by the Stardust Spacecraft," in the Dec. 15, 2006, issue of Science Express, the online edition of the journal Science. Fire And Ice: Comet Material Points To A Strange Birth 
Paris (AFP) Dec 14, 2006Microscopic grains recovered from a comet by a US spaceprobe in an epic voyage could revise mainstream notions about how these lonely wanderers of the Solar System are born, scientists report on Thursday. "Many people imagined that comets formed in total isolation from the rest of the Solar System," said Donald Brownlee, lead scientist in the Stardust expedition, which returned to Earth specks trailed by Comet Wild 2. |
Jules Verne Goes Hot And Cold
Paris, France (ESA) Dec 15, 2006For 21 days in a row, Jules Verne, the first Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), has not only survived the most stringent conditions of the space environment, but it has successfully tested on the ground its flight software and hardware under the toughest simulated conditions of space vacuum, freezing temperatures and burning sun radiation. China Fixes Position Of Metereological Satellite For Olympics 
Xi'an (XNA) Dec 15, 2006China on Wednesday successfully fixed the position of its second meteorological satellite, Fengyun-2D (FY-2D), which will provide weather forecasts for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. The Xi'an Satellite Control Center reported that the satellite was functioning normally. Russia Rolls Out The Red Carpet To Univeristy Students In Bid To Attract Talent 
Korolev, Moscow (SPX) Dec 15, 2006For the first time, the S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia have become the venue for a convention of students from the Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow Institute for Physics and Technology, Bauman Moscow State Technical University, Ordzhonikidze Moscow Aviation Institute, Tsiolkovsky Moscow Aviation Technology Institute, Moscow State Technical University Stankin and Moscow State Forestry Engineering University. |
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