NASA has unveiled the initial elements of a Global Exploration Strategy for returning humans to the moon and a proposed lunar architecture. The Strategy focuses on why return to the moon and what to do there, and includes a comprehensive set of reasons for embarking on human and robotic exploration of the moon. NASA's proposed lunar architecture focuses on how humans might accomplish the mission of exploring the moon.

NASA's Lunar Architecture Team, chartered in May 2006, has concluded that the most advantageous approach is to develop a solar-powered lunar base and to locate it near one of the poles of the moon. With such an outpost, NASA can learn to use more of the moon's natural resources, make preparations for a journey to Mars, conduct scientific investigations and encourage international participation.

In April 2006, NASA initiated development of the Global Exploration Strategy in order to meet a congressional mandate, as well as to accomplish goals outlined in the agency's strategic plan and Vision for Space Exploration. The strategy is evolving from a lengthy dialogue among more than 1,000 individuals, including experts from NASA and 13 other space agencies, as well as non-governmental organizations and commercial interests.

Experts from the Australian, Canadian, Chinese, European, French, German, British, Indian, Italian, Japanese, Russian, South Korean and Ukrainian space agencies participated. NASA planners used the international group's deliberations as well as input from academia, private sector and private citizens as the basis for sketching a U.S. blueprint for a return to the moon.

As currently envisioned, an incremental buildup would begin with four-person crews making several seven-day visits to the moon until their power supplies, rovers and living quarters are operational. The first mission would begin by 2020. These would be followed by 180-day missions to prepare for journeys to Mars.

The proposed lunar architecture calls for robotic precursor missions designed to support the human mission. These precursors include landing site reconnaissance, natural resource assays and technology risk reduction for the human landers.

NASA will continue to refine its lunar architecture during 2007, maintaining the open dialogue initiated in 2006, to enhance further the Global Exploration Strategy. NASA's goal is to enable a sustainable space exploration effort in which participating organizations can achieve individual goals with mutually beneficial results.

According to NASA Deputy Administrator Shana Dale, who is guiding the long-term strategy development effort among 14 of the world's space agencies, "This strategy will enable interested nations to leverage their capabilities and financial and technical contributions, making optimum use of globally available knowledge and resources to help energize a coordinated effort that will propel us into this new age of discovery and exploration."

For more on NASA's exploration plans: http://www.nasa.gov/exploration

Created by The National Aeronautics and Space Act in 1958, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is America’s focal point for research, development and exploration of outer space. On January 14, 2004, President Bush announced “A Renewed Spirit of Discovery: The President’s Vision for U.S. Space Exploration”, a new directive for the USA’s space exploration program. In accordance with that directive and the NASA Authorization Act of 2005, the US President and Congress committed the United States to exploring the solar system and beyond: completing assembly of the International Space Station, flying the new Crew Exploration Vehicle no later than 2014, returning astronauts to the moon by the end of the next decade, and sending human missions to Mars and beyond. For nearly 50 years, NASA has been leading the world in the development and usage of advanced program and project management. Additional information about NASA can be found at www.nasa.gov.

 

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The COROT satellite was successfully launched into space on Wednesday, 27 December 2006 on a unique astronomy mission: to detect exoplanets orbiting other stars and to probe the mysteries of stellar interiors as never before. COROT is a French national space agency (CNES)-led mission to which the European Space Agency (ESA) and European partners are adding strong international participation. COROT was launched by a Soyuz-Fregat rocket from the Baikonur Space Port in Kazakhstan at 15:23 CET.

The primary mission is to detect other planets in outer space. COROT stands for “Convection Rotation and planetary Transits”. The name describes the mission’s scientific goals. “Convection and rotation” refer to the satellite’s capability to probe stellar interiors, studying the acoustic waves that ripple across the surface of stars, a technique called asteroseismology. “Transit” refers to the technique whereby the presence of a planet orbiting a star can be inferred from the dimming starlight caused when the planet passes in front of it. To achieve its twin scientific objectives, COROT will monitor some 120,000 stars with its 30-centimetre telescope.

COROT will lead a bold new search for planets around other stars. In the decade since the first discovery in 1995 of an exoplanet (51 Pegasi b), more than 200 other such planets outside our solar system have been detected using ground-based observatories. The COROT space telescope promises to find many more during its two-and-a-half-year mission, expanding the frontiers of our knowledge towards ever-smaller planets.

Many of the planets COROT will detect are expected to be 'hot Jupiters', gaseous worlds. An unknown percentage of those detected are expected to be rocky planets, maybe just a few times larger than the Earth (or smaller, even). If COROT finds such planets, they will constitute a new class of planet altogether. While it is looking at a star, COROT will also be able to detect 'starquakes', acoustic waves generated deep inside a star that send ripples across its surface, altering its brightness. The exact nature of the ripples allows astronomers to calculate the star's precise mass, age and chemical composition. The COROT data will therefore be useful for comparing the Sun with other stars.

The COROT mission was first proposed by CNES in 1996. A call for potential European partners was issued in 1999. CNES gave the green light to build the spacecraft in 2000 and is now leading the mission. Its international partners are ESA, Austria, Belgium, Germany, Spain and Brazil. CNES is responsible for the overall system and for the launch contract with Franco-Russian company Starsem, which is providing the Soyuz launch service. The contributions of the other international partners range from the provision of hardware items to ground stations, complementary ground-based observation of targets to be studied by COROT and analysis of the scientific data to come. ESA is playing a crucial role in the mission, contributing the optics for the telescope at the heart of the spacecraft and conducting payload testing.

The telescope’s baffle was developed by a team at ESA’s technical centre ESTEC. ESA has also provided the onboard data processing units. And under this truly collaborative effort, a number of scientists from various European countries - Denmark, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Portugal - have been selected as Co-Investigators following open competition. As a result of ESA’s participation, scientists from its Member States will also be given access to COROT data. COROT will be the first mission capable of detecting rocky planets, several times larger than Earth, around nearby stars (planets outside our Solar System are referred to as ‘exoplanets’).

From the ground, the only planets detected around other stars have been giant gaseous worlds (Jupiter-like planets), over 10 times the diameter of the Earth. Not affected by the distorting effects of the atmosphere, COROT will be the first spacecraft capable of finding worlds made of rocks. Such rocky worlds are smaller than the gas giants but several times larger than the Earth, itself the biggest rocky planet in the Solar System. Such planets would represent a new, as yet undiscovered, class of world that astronomers believe exists. With COROT, astronomers expect to find between 10-40 of them, together with tens of new gas giants, in each star field that COROT will observe. Every 150 days COROT will move to a new field and begin observing again.

The payload of the COROT satellite consists of a telescope, two cameras - one for each of the two mission objectives (exoplanet search and asteroseismology), and the on-board computer processors. The latter were manufactured in ESA's European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) by the Research and Scientific Support Department as one contribution of ESA to the COROT mission.

COROT will be placed on a circular, polar orbit that will allow for continuous observations of two large and opposite regions in the sky for more than 150 days each. Within each region there are many selected fields that will be monitored in turn. The reason for the oppositely sited regions is that, because of the Earth’s movement around the Sun, the sun’s rays start to interfere with the observations after 150 days. COROT then rotates by 180 degrees and start observing the other region.

The ground stations used for COROT are located in Kiruna (S), Aussaguel (F) Hartebeesthoek (South Africa), Kourou (French Guyana), with mission-specific ground stations in Alcantara (Brazil) and Vienna (A). Additional information about the COROT mission can be found at:

www.esa.int/SPECIALS/COROT or
http://www.cnes.fr/corot_en/.

 

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Largest Environmental Project in Romanian History
Launched on 27 December

 

The merger consolidates ownership and management of Cingular Wireless, the No. 1 provider of wireless voice and data services in the USA, and YELLOWPAGES.COM, a leading Internet Yellow Pages and local search site. The $86-billion deal, the largest in US telecoms history, gives San Antonio-based AT&T a third of the nation's land lines, dominating local phone service in California and 21 other states. AT&T also becomes the nation's largest provider of high-speed Internet access and gains full control of Cingular Wireless, the country's biggest cellphone company, which was 40% owned by Atlanta-based BellSouth.

According to press releases issued by the company, the new AT&T will be better able to deliver innovative integrated services, streamlined customer care and greater convenience in buying communications and entertainment services, as the combined company integrates its wireless and wireline Internet Protocol (IP) networks. With the close of the merger, the new AT&T will begin an extensive rebranding initiative related to BellSouth and Cingular as the company moves to eventually market all of its services under the AT&T brand. The BellSouth rebranding transition will start immediately while the Cingular rebranding transition will begin in early 2007.

Marketing under a single brand will provide benefits to the company as it helps avoid customer confusion, streamlines advertising and marketing efforts, and generates financial synergies for the business. AT&T estimates that a significant portion of merger synergies will come from advertising as all operations are moved under a single brand. While part of the new AT&T, the YELLOWPAGES.com brand will continue to be an online source for comprehensive national and local business information.

AT&T Inc. is a communications holding company in the United States and worldwide. According to AT&T’s website, when combined with BellSouth and Cingular the company will have: Annual revenues of $29.3 billion, 58.7 million wireless subscribers, 67.5 million access lines for voice services, business customers including all of the Fortune 1000, $5.86 billion in data revenues ($5.86 billion, more than 11.5 million High Speed Internet connections (more than 11.5 million, more than 1,200 Yellow Pages titled in print directory publishing, and extensive transport and termination of wholesale traffic.

In the United States, the company serves millions of customers, with a concentration in 22 states. AT&T delivers a range of wireless voice and data services to 58.7 million wireless subscribers across the United States and globally. AT&T's portfolio of services includes wireless voice and data services under the Cingular brand; High Speed Internet connections; more than 35,000 Wi-Fi hot spots in more than 70 countries; home and small business networking; entertainment services including AT&T U-VerseSM TV, AT&T HomezoneSM, and satellite television services through AT&T | Dish Network; local and long distance voice; messaging services and call management features; and print and online directory services and advertising under the Yellow Pages brand.

AT&T provides communications services to customers in virtually every country and territory in the world. Remote access solutions are provided from more than 45,000 points of presence in 149 countries. Through its Cingular brand, AT&T will provide services to customers in virtually every country and territory in the world. It is expected to deliver the widest international coverage of any U.S.-based wireless carrier, offering service on six continents and in 190 countries.

Additional information can be found at http://www.corp.att.com/merger/.

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Editor’s note: The completion of the AT&T mega-merger with BellSouth & Cingular in the USA concluded another record setting year in financial markets worldwide. Like other significant consolidations, this merger should result in hundreds of major projects within AT&T and its subsidiaries, with an obvious increased demand for professional project management. We hope those needs are recognized at the top of these organizations. We also believe that the market for PM services will continue to grow among financial institutions, investment banking organizations, and large global enterprises engaged in growth and change via mergers and acquisitions.

 

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