Shuttle Endeavor lands safely after 16 days in Space
The Space Shuttle Endeavour and its crew landed at 1:25 p.m. PST (21:25 GMT) on Sunday, 30 November 2008 at Edwards Air Force Base in California, completing a 16-day journey of more than 6.6 million miles.
The STS-126 mission included important repair work on the International Space Station and preparations for the station to house six crew members on long-duration missions beginning next year. The new station equipment includes a water recovery system, additional sleeping quarters, a second toilet and an exercise device. During four spacewalks, the crew also serviced the station's two Solar Alpha Rotary Joints, which allow its solar arrays to track the sun, and installed new hardware to support future assembly missions.
Chris Ferguson commanded the flight and was joined by Pilot Eric Boe and Mission Specialists Donald Pettit, Steve Bowen, Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper, Shane Kimbrough and Sandra Magnus. Magnus remained aboard the station, replacing Expedition 18 Flight Engineer Greg Chamitoff, who returned to Earth on Endeavour after more than five months on the station.
According to NASA, weather concerns prevented the crew from returning to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the primary end-of-mission landing site. In 7-10 days, Endeavour will be transported approximately 2,500 miles from California to Florida on the back of a modified 747 jumbo jet. Once at Kennedy, Endeavour will be separated from the aircraft to begin immediate processing for its next flight, targeted for May 2009.
STS-126 was the 124th space shuttle mission, the 22nd flight for Endeavour and the 27th shuttle visit to the station. With Endeavour and its crew safely home, the next shuttle launch will be the Discovery on mission STS-119, targeted for Feb. 12, 2009. Discovery will deliver the final pair of U.S. solar arrays, to be installed on the starboard end of the station's truss.
For more about the STS-126 mission and the upcoming STS-119 mission,visit: http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle.
Created in 1958, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is America’s focal point for research, development and exploration of outer space. In 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 over 50 years, NASA has been leading the world in the usage of advanced program and project management. Additional information about NASA can be found at www.nasa.gov. To learn more about NASA's space exploration plans, visit: www.nasa.gov/exploration
Source: NASA news release on 30 November 2008.
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Early Completion of 2012 Olympic Venue Shows
Programme on Track
Reported by Miles Shepherd in the UK
The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) announced the completion of the first venue project for the 2012 Games this week. The enhanced sailing facilities at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy (WPNNSA) were completed ahead of schedule and to budget.
The Olympic and Paralympic sailing events in 2012 will be hosted at the WPNSA, and the adjoining Portland Marina, which offers world-class facilities and some of the best small boat sailing conditions in the world. The ODA has now completed work to enhance the existing sailing facilities at WPNSA with the construction of a new permanent 250m slipway and new race-boat parking, lifting and mooring facilities. The completion of the project delivers an early legacy of world-class facilities for elite athletes and the local Dorset community to use.
Works on Portland Marina, which will be used alongside the Sailing Academy to provide berthing and land based facilities at Games time is progressing ahead of schedule, meaning all key facilities will be ready more than three years ahead of the start of the Games.
Paul Goodison (below, right), the World number one Laser sailor and Weymouth local who won Gold in the Laser class at the Beijing Games, said: 'Winning gold in Qingdao was an amazing experience - I am now looking forward to 2012, training and competing out of the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy on my home waters.'
ODA Director Ralph Luck said: 'Completing our construction works for the first venue for 2012 is a huge milestone and delivers an early legacy of world-class facilities in Weymouth & Portland for sailors of all ages and abilities to use well ahead of 2012. Delivering the first venue on time and to budget keeps us firmly on track as work accelerates on this unprecedented project.
The completion of these works is only the start for Weymouth & Portland and the huge investment going into the area shows how the Games can act as a catalyst for regeneration, delivering sporting and economic benefits before, during and long after 2012.'
John Tweed, chief executive of Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy, said: ‘With these enhanced facilities they [sailors] will really be able to hone their skills before the 2012 games. It is just a fantastic upgrade to what is already here.’ A 656ft (200m) breakwater protects the new facilities with a new pier offering two yacht-lifting cranes and a pontoon providing 70 berths for race boats. The start of construction, using 70,000 tonnes of Portland stone, was delayed to avoid disrupting the nesting season of over-wintering birds around the local coastline.
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NASA and USAID inaugurate SERVIR-Africa
Earth Observation system in Kenya
NASA, the U.S. Agency for International Development(USAID) and their international partners cut the ribbon on Friday 21 November in Nairobi, Kenya, for SERVIR-Africa. The SERVIR-Africa system integrates satellite resources of the United States and other countries into a Web-based Earth information system. The new system will make previously inaccessible information available to local scientists, government leaders and communities to help address concerns related to natural disasters, disease outbreaks, biodiversity and climate change.
SERVIR, Spanish for "to serve," has been in operation in Central America, the Caribbean and southern Mexico since 2005. Now, through the support of multiple government agencies and other organizations, NASA and USAID are expanding the system to Africa in partnership with the Regional Center for Mapping of Resources for Development in Nairobi. The Nairobi center is an intergovernmental organization with 15 member states in eastern and southern Africa and is a leader in geospatial mapping in the region.
"A satellite birds-eye view can provide an overall picture of a natural disaster, such as a flood, and its consequences," said Tesfaye Korme, director of remote sensing and geographic information systems at the center. "Using the SERVIR-Africa platform, we will be able to develop near-real time maps of flood-affected areas to estimate the number of displaced people and locate potential transportation disruptions."
SERVIR-Africa will use Earth science satellite data from NASA missions and other information to better predict areas at risk for severe flooding, and for mapping regions hit by floods. It also will develop an early-warning tool to predict the distribution of vector-borne diseases such as Rift Valley Fever. By mapping the location of climate change projections, the system will allow people to see impacts on such things as Africa's diverse ecosystems.
(Photo: Alexis Garcia from CATHALAC and Lawrence Okello from RCMRD jointly install equipment in the SERVIR-Africa offices in Nairobi, Kenya. Photo credit: RCMRD, courtesy of NASA.)
SERVIR-Africa's information technology team will use the Internet to acquire and distribute satellite and ground-based Earth observations, map data, and geospatial analyses that target issues such as urbanization, biodiversity threats, and management of natural resources.
"SERVIR-Africa will benefit from the breadth and depth of valuable NASA Earth science satellite and model analyses," said Dan Irwin, SERVIR project director at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. "Science and technology are key, but ultimately it is the combination of local knowledge along with space-based observations that makes real time monitoring of Africa's environment effective."
The SERVIR system has a diverse international team of scientists, developers and researchers. SERVIR-Africa builds on existing capacity at the mapping center in Nairobi. The center, together with SERVIR's lead partner in Central America, the Water Center for the Humid Tropics of Latin America and the Caribbean, are jointly developing an integrated system.
The SERVIR system was developed with USAID by researchers at a global coordination office and rapid prototyping facility at Marshall. Three other NASA centers -- NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffet Field, Calif., and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. -- partnered with Marshall on the system. Also participating in the implementation of SERVIR-Africa is the Institute for the Application of Geospatial Technology in Auburn, N.Y. For information about SERVIR, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/servir
Source: NASA news release on 21 November 2008.
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Lesotho Highlands Phase II is on!
Reported by Jaycee Krüger in South Africa
The South African Water Affairs and Forestry Minister Lindiwe Hendricks announced the approval of a new water infrastructure project - phase two of the Lesotho Highlands project which will boost water supply into the Vaal river system.
The Vaal river is considered the most important water resource in South Africa, as it supplies water to 60% of the country’s economy, to 45% of the country’s population, the whole of Gauteng province and the Northern Cape province, mines and industries on the Western Mpumalanga province Highveld, and the bulk of State-owned power utility Eskom’s coal-fired power stations.
There were two potential sources of additional water for the Vaal: Either continued extraction from the Thukela River flowing through the Natal province pumping water across the watershed into the Vaal catchment area, or the Lesotho Highlands Phase II, drawing from the upper regions of the Orange River and gravity feed the Vaal system through existing tunnels. What clinched the Lesotho Highlands Water Project Phase II was that the project had a low energy requirement in that water could be transferred under gravity to South Africa, without pumping.
Said Minister Hendricks: “Furthermore, the existing hydro-power generation capacity of the Lesotho Highlands water project phase one can be increased. The project would bring substantial benefits to Lesotho, as well as a regional benefit, as it will mean the prevention of increased carbon emissions. We have been in discussions with the government of Lesotho who are strongly in favor of the project.”
The project would cost some $1billion, and would entail the construction of a new dam in Lesotho, the Polihali Dam. As with phase one of the project, the new phase would be funded off-budget, meaning funds would be borrowed from capital markets.
The next steps to further the project would require the development of a detailed project implementation plan, to be approved by South Africa and Lesotho, and to have the necessary protocols between the two countries concluded.
Hendricks noted that the construction of the dam and other infrastructure would take place alongside water conservation measures in the Vaal River, improving water quality and the curbing of illegal water use. “A well structured water conservation and water demand management programme will also be implemented in the Vaal area, with a focus on water losses in the system, as well as in individual households, with a target to reduce losses by 15%. It will start before the middle of 2009, with completion by mid-2013.”
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Project Progress Reports on iTunes from NASA
NASA has announced that video updates reporting progress on NASA's newest family of exploration vehicles -- the Ares I crew launch vehicle and Ares V heavy cargo launch vehicle -- are now featured on iTunes. The Ares Projects quarterly progress reports offer viewers a glimpse at on-going development work on the next-generation launch vehicles that will take explorers to the moon and beyond in coming decades. Beginning in 2015, the Ares I rocket will launch the Orion crew capsule, carrying astronauts and payloads to the International Space Station.
iTunes now provides a place to get an up-close look at the Ares rockets and to learn more about key engine, hardware and system milestones as the rockets proceed through the design, review and development processes that will take them -- and their future crews -- to launch.
The video progress reports, which have been produced quarterly beginning in August 2006, have been used to visually share progress with the NASA team at all levels and to record the historical work being completed on America's newest fleet of spacecraft for future generations. Now, in an effort to share the Ares development with a broader audience, NASA is posting the full library of reports on iTunes. The programs range in length from 5-15 minutes.
The 10 quarterly reports produced to date spotlight the detailed evolution of the Ares vehicles, from earliest conception through various design phases and the most recent testing. The latest report in the series -- Ares quarterly progress report number 10 -- includes video segments about:
Wind tunnel testing of scale models of the Ares I test vehicle, known as Ares I-X, and the Ares V rocket. The testing aids engineers in designing aerodynamic vehicles.
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Disassembly and inspection of part of the J-2X engine -- known as the powerpack -- that will produce the thrust needed to power the Ares I rocket to orbit. The powerpack pushes liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen into the engine's main combustion chamber. This test series helped address early design risks. Engineers are now evaluating hardware used as part of the recent testing.
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The first tests to weld together pieces of the rockets being developed. NASA recently tested a new robotic friction stir welding facility by fusing space shuttle fuel tank panels. Friction stir welding is an innovative technique invented in 1991 that uses forging pressure and frictional heating to produce high-strength bonds virtually free of defects.
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A test of a parachute for the Ares I rocket. The parachute will slow the rapid descent of the rocket's reusable first-stage motor as it falls back to Earth after detaching from the rocket during its climb to space. The parachute permits recovery of the motor for use on future Ares I flights.
The Ares Projects team at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages the development of the Ares rockets. NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston manages the Constellation Program, which includes the Ares I and Ares V rockets, the Orion crew module and the Altair lunar lander.
To view the Ares quarterly progress reports on iTunes, visit: http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=296275310
To learn more about the Ares rockets and view the Ares quarterly progress reports on NASA's Ares web site, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ares.
For more information about NASA's Constellation Program, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/constellation
Source: NASA News Release on 26 November 2008.
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Project Success in Kenya - Geothermal Steam to provide
East Africa with Electricity
According to the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) on 9 December, East Africa is expected to get a natural boost next year by tapping into the sizeable reservoir of geothermal energy in its Rift Valley. The agency announced that its project in Kenya testing new seismic and drilling technology has exceeded all expectations by hitting wells of steam able to generate four to five megawatts, and in one case a massive eight megawatts, of electricity.
This could lead to an estimated saving of as much as $75 million for the developer of a 70 megawatt installation as well as reduced electricity costs for generators and consumers, UNEP said in a press release.
Speaking at the latest round of UN climate change talks under way in Poznan, Poland, UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner (pictured left) noted that “delivering electricity to the two billion people without access, while at the same time combating global warming, is a critical challenge facing the world.” Geothermal energy is “100 per cent indigenous, environmentally-friendly and a technology that has been under-utilized for too long,” he added.
The results of the project backed by the UN and funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) have paved the way for an international effort next year to expand geothermal operations up and down the Rift which runs from Mozambique in the South to Djibouti in the North.
With at least 4,000 megawatts of electricity ready to be harvested along the Rift Valley, “it is time to take this technology off the back burner in order to power livelihoods, fuel development and reduce dependence on polluting and unpredictable fossil fuels,” Mr. Steiner noted. “From the place where human-kind took its first faltering steps is emerging one of the answers to its continued survival on this planet.”
As a result of the almost $1 million UNEP-GEF project, the number of wells likely to be needed to achieve 70 megawatts could be 15 versus over 30 using the previous technology, potentially saving as much as $5 million for each well drilled. Kenya has set a goal of generating 1,200 megawatts from geothermal energy by 2015.
U.S. DOE announced $500 million new Isotope Beam Project
at Michigan State University
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced that Michigan State University (MSU) in East Lansing, Michigan, USA has been selected for the design and construction of a Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) project. This cutting-edge research facility will advance understanding of rare nuclear isotopes and the evolution of the cosmos. The new facility, expected to take about a decade to design and build and to cost an estimated $550 million, will provide research opportunities for an international community of approximately 1,000 university and laboratory scientists, post-doctoral associates, and graduate students.
“The Department of Energy’s new Facility for Rare Isotope Beams at Michigan State University promises to vastly expand our understanding of nuclear astrophysics and nuclear structure,” said Acting Associate Director of the Office of Science for Nuclear Physics Eugene Henry. “This capability will allow physicists to study the nuclear reactions that power stars and stellar explosions, explore the structure of the nuclei of atoms and the forces that bind them together, test current theories about the fundamental nature of matter, and play a role in developing new nuclear medicines and techniques.”
The research conducted at FRIB will involve experimentation with intense beams of rare isotopes—short-lived nuclei not normally found on earth—and is expected to advance critical applications in the areas of materials science, medicine, and stockpile stewardship.
The selection is the culmination of studies, analyses, and recommendations conducted since the 1996 NSAC Long Range Plan first recommended the development of a next generation nuclear structure and astrophysics facility as a high priority.
MSU currently hosts the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL) led by Professor C. Konrad Gelbke (pictured) and supported by NSF. Dr. Gelbke will lead the MSU team to establish FRIB on the MSU campus. The NSCL can continue operations during construction, which will allow compelling scientific opportunities to continue to be pursued.
The selection is subject to the successful negotiation of a Cooperative Agreement with MSU and a National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review of the proposed site. Funding is subject to annual appropriations by Congress. For more information on the FRIB project, visit: http://www.sc.doe.gov/np/program/FRIB.html
Major International Financial Institutions sign US$2.3 billion loan
for Panama Canal Expansion
Reported by Antonello Bove in Washington, DC
The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) and the Inter American Development Bank (IDB) based in Washington DC, and four other international agencies have signed a US$2.3 billion loan for the expansion of the Panama Canal, the biggest ongoing infrastructure project in Latin America.
The event was presided over by Panamanian president Martín Torrijos and ACP manager Alberto Alemán (pictured). Representatives of the agencies participating in the financing are: Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Andean Development Corporation (CAF),International Financial Corporation (ICF), the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and the European Investment Bank (EIB).
"Our loans to support the expansion of the canal are in line with our collective objectives of supporting economic growth, facilitate world trade, build infrastructure with a solid environmental focus and create employment opportunities," IDB president Luis Alberto Moreno said, speaking on behalf of all the lending agencies.
"It’s an uncommon opportunity to participate in a transaction that involves all these elements at the same time, and above all, with a scope that will bring benefits not only to Panama but to the entire region and beyond," Moreno added.
The IDB will contribute US$400 million of the US$2.3 million total financing of the expansion program.
The total cost of the expansion program has been estimated at approximately US$5.25 billion. The rest will be covered with resources generated by the operation of the canal, which annually serves around 5% of the global maritime freight.
"I am convinced that besides being a viable project from a necessary point of view to global trade and transcendental to Panama’s future, the expansion of the Canal will contribute to the economies in the region," Panamanian president Martín Torrejos said. "A more efficient Canal, capable of handling bigger ships and facilitate transits in less time will expedite the international trade that passes through it, especially from the Americas."
The Panama Canal, operative since 1914, is close to reaching its maximum capacity. The expansion works, scheduled to finish in 2014, will ensure its long-term competitiveness. The program has four principal components:
Building a third set of floodgates, including two floodgates complexes and recycle tubs on both ends of the canal.
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Dredging the access channels in the Atlantic and the Pacific.
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Expansion and deepening of the existing navigation channels.
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Increase the maximum functioning level of the Gatún Lake that provides fresh water to the canal.
The current floodgates can accommodate container ships with a maximum capacity of 4,500 TEU (a metric unit of freight). The new floodgates, as big as four football fields, can be used for ships of up to 12,600 TEU. The new floodgates will use less water, since most of the flood will be recycled in the adjacent tubs.
During the construction phase, which started last year, the expansion program could create up to 7,000 direct jobs and 3,000 indirect ones. Once the works are concluded, the canal will generate more income for Panama and will maintain its status as a secure, efficient and trustworthy waterway for international maritime trade.
Panama's president stated that the Canal will generate enough wealth to transform Panama into a first world country. The president also announced that the canal will also help industrialize the country. The project is also expected to reduce poverty by about 30%, resulting in an 8% poverty rate in Panama afterwards. Two major contractors are the United States Army Corps of Engineers, an American federal agency specialized in public engineering, design and construction management and which built the existing Panama Canal, and a European consortium.
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