Ghana's Growing Economy Fails to Create Jobs

By Billie McTernan

ACCRA, Sep 19 2013 (IPS) - Ghana’s economy registered 7.1 percent growth last year but 23-year-old Jennifer Esi Avemee has had difficulty securing a permanent job since graduating in 2011. “It’s very stressful,” she laments. “It’s very hard to sustain yourself.”

Avemee studied public relations at the Ghanaian Institute of Journalism and had hoped to secure a job in the field after completing her national service at the Ghanaian Tourism Board in 2012. In previous years it was not uncommon for graduates to be kept on at the institution where they did their service.

However, in 2008 the International Monetary Fund advised the Ghanaian government to put a freeze on public sector recruitment – except in the areas of health and education – to curb the public sector wage bill, putting a strain on school-leavers and graduates looking for work. The freeze lasted two years and ended in 2011.

Avemee tells IPS that the situation has become so dire that some of her counterparts have taken to prostitution and “sakawa”, internet fraud.

Data and statistics on employment in Ghana is sparse.

In 2012 then minister of employment and social welfare Moses Asaga admitted that the government had no up-to-date or reliable data on the labor market.

Information available from the Institute of Statistical, Social, and Economic Research (ISSER) at the University of Ghana in Legon suggests that approximately 250,000 young people enter the job market annually of which two percent, or about 5,000, find employment in the formal sector.

According to research being carried out by the ISSER, 23 percent of youth aged between 15 and 24 and 28.8 percent of graduates between the ages of 25 and 35 wait two years or more before they are employed.

Dr William Baah-Boateng, one of the researchers of the ISSER study, says that over the last 20 years Ghana’s growth has averaged 5.1 percent, and this has not been reflected in an increase in employment.

According to the African Development Bank, this West African nation registered 7.1 percent growth in 2012, thanks to revenue from oil production, the services sector and export of gold and cocoa. This was a drop from the 14.4 percent growth registered in 2011, which was attributed to the start-up of oil production here.

A further report by the International Labor Organization says that the public sector accounts for six percent of employment in Ghana, and that of the informal private sector stands at 86 percent.

“You can’t manage what you can’t control,” 30-year-old Edward Tagoe, co-founder of the software company Nandimobile tells IPS.

Tagoe himself graduated in 2007 from the University of Ghana and started Nandimobile in 2010 having run a small business whilst studying. After university Tagoe completed a two-year entrepreneurship training program at Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology, a not-for-profit organization in Accra that helps to train and mentor budding Ghanaian entrepreneurs.

“I suppose I fall into the category of people [graduates] that took matters into their own hands,” he laughs.

When young people leave school or university it is likely that they have not had any kind of formal work experience.

“We don’t really have an internship [or] part-time work culture here,” says Tagoe.

For Avemee finding a job has been trying not least because many positions require five years experience, which she does not have.

Gameli Adhazo, 27, who after graduating wanted to further his studies but needed money to fund it, found himself in a similar situation.

“When I graduated in 2007 I was interested in going into health research, but with just the first degree you don’t usually get that opportunity or you would need some years of work experience…so there was a catch 22,” he tells IPS.

Adhazo has since been able to find a job as a science teacher at Keta High School in the Volta Region. In August he won a scholarship to study for an MSc in Environment and Human Health at the University of Exeter as part of a joint initiative by Tullow Oil and the British Council in Ghana. The program awards 50 young Ghanaians scholarships to study in the United Kingdom with the aim to develop a good human resource base for the oil industry and other areas of development in Ghana.

In 2006 Ghana’s previous government, the National Patriotic Party, set up the National Youth Employment Program in a bid to boost employment opportunities for young people. The program was rebranded in 2012 by the current government, the National Democratic Congress, as the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA).

GYEEDA’s reputation came into disrepute when an August report monitoring its progress revealed that funds allocated to youth job creation had been misappropriated.

During a state visit to Benin earlier this month, Ghanaian President John Mahama admitted that GYEEDA had not carried out its duties as effectively as it should.

“There have been a few problems, loopholes that people took advantage off but we are working on that,” he said.

Minister of employment and social welfare Nii Armah Ashietey, Asaga’s replacement following a cabinet reshuffle in April, has since appointed a taskforce to establish a Labor Market Information System to collate usable statistics.

In July, Ashitey urged young people to develop vocational skills and avoid relocating to the cities for white-collar jobs that do not exist. He said 92,000 dollars had been earmarked for skill development programs and that a Graduates Unemployment Support Scheme had been put in place to address issues of unemployment.

Despite such initiatives Avemee is not convinced. “They [the government] just give empty promises,” she says.

Lack of employment has left many young people questioning whether Ghana is the place for them if they want to get their foot on the job ladder.

Avemee has returned to school in the hope that it will give her a better chance when applying for a job and perhaps help her leave the country. “I would like to go to France… in the next five years,” she confesses.

But Adhazo has his sights firmly set on Ghana. “I will return after the year … I’m 100 percent committed to returning back to Ghana.”

Source: Inter-Press Service (IPS).
Link: http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/09/ghanas-growing-economy-fails-to-create-jobs/.

Experimental Spaceplane Shooting for "Aircraft-Like" Operations in Orbit

Washington DC (SPX)
Sep 19, 2013

Commercial, civilian and military satellites provide crucial real-time information essential to providing strategic national security advantages to the United States. The current generation of satellite launch vehicles, however, is expensive to operate, often costing hundreds of millions of dollars per flight.

Moreover, U.S. launch vehicles fly only a few times each year and normally require scheduling years in advance, making it extremely difficult to deploy satellites without lengthy pre-planning. Quick, affordable and routine access to space is increasingly critical for U.S. Defense Department operations.

To help address these challenges, DARPA has established the Experimental Spaceplane (XS-1) program. The program aims to develop a fully reusable unmanned vehicle that would provide aircraft-like access to space. The vehicle is envisioned to operate from a "clean pad" with a small ground crew and no need for expensive specialized infrastructure.

This setup would enable routine daily operations and flights from a wide range of locations. XS-1 seeks to deploy small satellites faster and more affordably, while demonstrating technology for next-generation space and hypersonic flight for both government and commercial users.

"We want to build off of proven technologies to create a reliable, cost-effective space delivery system with one-day turnaround," said Jess Sponable, DARPA program manager heading XS-1. "How it's configured, how it gets up and how it gets back are pretty much all on the table-we're looking for the most creative yet practical solutions possible."

DARPA seeks ideas and technical proposals for how to best develop and implement the XS-1 program. The agency has scheduled an XS-1 Proposers' Day for Monday, October 7, 2013. The agency also plans to hold 1-on-1 discussions with potential proposers on the following day, October 8, 2013...

... The DARPA Special Notice describing the specific capabilities the program seeks is available at http://go.usa.gov/DNkF. A Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for XS-1 is forthcoming and will be posted on the Federal Business Opportunities website.

XS-1 envisions that a reusable first stage would fly to hypersonic speeds at a suborbital altitude. At that point, one or more expendable upper stages would separate and deploy a satellite into Low Earth Orbit.

The reusable hypersonic aircraft would then return to earth, land and be prepared for the next flight. Modular components, durable thermal protection systems and automatic launch, flight, and recovery systems should significantly reduce logistical needs, enabling rapid turnaround between flights.

Key XS-1 technical goals include flying 10 times in 10 days, achieving speeds of Mach 10+ at least once and launching a representative payload to orbit. The program also seeks to reduce the cost of access to space for small (3,000- to 5,000-pound) payloads by at least a factor of 10, to less than $5 million per flight.

XS-1 would complement a current DARPA program already researching satellite launch systems that aim to be faster, more convenient and more affordable: Airborne Launch Assist Space Access (ALASA). ALASA seeks to propel 100-pound satellites into orbit for less than $1 million per launch using low-cost, expendable upper stages launched from conventional aircraft.

"XS-1 aims to help break the cycle of launches happening farther and farther apart and costing more and more," Sponable said. "It would also help further our progress toward practical hypersonic aircraft technologies and increase opportunities to test new satellite technologies as well."

Source: Space-Travel.
Link: http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Experimental_Spaceplane_Shooting_for_Aircraft_Like_Operations_in_Orbit_999.html.

ISS Orbit to Be Raised Ahead of Crew Arrival

Moscow (RIA Novosti)
Sep 19, 2013

The orbit of the International Space Station (ISS) will be raised on Sunday by nearly one kilometer to ensure safe docking of a Russian spacecraft with new crew members, a spokesman for the Russian space agency said.

Russia's mission control center will adjust the ISS orbit by switching on thrusters of Europe's Europe's ATV-4 "Albert Einstein" resupply spacecraft currently docked with the station.

"Thrusters of the European spacecraft will be started at 16:42 Moscow time [12:42 GMT] on Sunday and will remain switched on for 204.22 seconds, giving the station a boost of 0.5 meters per second. As a result, the average altitude of the ISS will be increased by approximately 900 meters (29.5 feet), to 418.8 kilometers (260 miles)," the spokesman said.

Such adjustments are carried out regularly to compensate for the Earth's gravity and to facilitate the successful docking and undocking of spacecraft.

Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Sergei Ryazansky and NASA astronaut Michael Hopkins will fly to the station aboard a Soyuz TMA-10M spacecraft at 00:58 Moscow time on September 26 (GMT 20:58, September 25).

They will join the current ISS crew, comprising Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin, and astronauts Karen Nyberg of NASA and Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency.

Source: Space-Travel.
Link: http://www.space-travel.com/reports/ISS_Orbit_to_Be_Raised_Ahead_of_Crew_Arrival_999.html.

Last Days for Tiangong

by Morris Jones
Sydney, Australia (SPX)
Sep 19, 2013

When the crew of Shenzhou 10 departed the Tiangong 1 space laboratory in June, Chinese officials declared that Tiangong was now a spacecraft on death row. China's first space laboratory had three months to live. At the end of its lifetime, it would be subjected to a firery re-entry.

We are now approaching the end of the projected lifespan of Tiangong 1. We still don't know the exact date of its execution, which will be carried out when thrusters aboard the module are fired to remove it from orbit. It is expected that Tiangong 1 will re-enter over the Pacific Ocean, where any fragments from the laboratory will fall harmlessly into the water.

It's entirely possible that China is playing a wait-and-see game with Tiangong's demise. The three month timeline was probably an estimate, and could be subject to change. This analyst has previously noted that it is in China's best interests to avoid de-orbiting Tiangong too soon. This will allow extended testing of the spacecraft, and also allow its interactions with the atmosphere to be explored further.

We are not sure exactly how China intends to stage the re-entry. A single re-entry burn or a short sequence of burns over a few orbits could bring the spacecraft down fairly quickly. China may wish to do this to maintain control over the descent and target a specific re-entry zone.

Alternatively, China could play daredevil and keep Tiangong at a low and unsustainable altitude for a while. This would allow Tiangong's interaction with the more dense atmosphere just above the boundary of space to be examined. But controlling a spacecraft in these badlands of the orbital realm is more difficult.

Safety in re-entry is probably the most critical factor in the de-orbit plans. China will want to bring Tiangong down in a predictable and safe manner while the spacecraft is still functional.

If this is the deciding factor, we can probably expect Tiangong to be allowed to decay naturally in its orbit for a while, followed by a short and precise de-orbit burn that targets a safe area in the Pacific.

Observers could be stationed at sea to observe the spacecraft's re-entry. The large Yuan Wang tracking vessels that China regularly deploys for some space missions would not be required for this task.

All things considered, Tiangong could spend a few more weeks aloft, depending on the fuel reserves. But don't expect Tiangong to remain aloft for too much longer. Keeping the spacecraft up for an extra month seems unlikely, and going any further seems highly improbable. One way or another, Tiangong 1 is coming home fairly soon.

The re-entry of Tiangong 1 will be interesting for observers. It is a large spacecraft that is certain to leave a visual trace in the atmosphere. It also has a low density and two large solar panels.

These complicate the physics of its journey through the atmosphere, making its behavior in the atmosphere somewhat difficult to predict. For this reason, China will need to give wide error margins in its expected splashdown zone.

This analyst predicts that no fragments of Tiangong 1 will be recovered. Only a few small fragments are likely to reach the ocean, and even locating them will be highly tricky.

The end of Tiangong 1 will close off an exciting Chapter in China's human spaceflight program. Launched in 2011, this small module was actually China's first space station. Three Shenzhou spacecraft docked with Tiangong 1. Two crews of three astronauts lived aboard the spacecraft. Tiangong 1 played host to China's first and second women in space.

Experiments with automatic and manual dockings were performed, in addition to experiments staged inside the laboratory. Tiangong 1 was also used well as a classroom in space, as a science lesson was broadcast live to Chinese school students.

That's a lot of work for a small spacecraft. Furthermore, the tasks and technologies demonstrated with Tiangong 1 are laying the foundations for China's goal of building a large space station in roughly a decade.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Last_Days_for_Tiangong_999.html.

2nd astronaut group by 2016?

19 September 2013

MALACCA: Malaysia is expected to send its second batch of astronauts to carry out research at the International Space Station (ISS) by 2016.

Deputy Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Dr Abu Bakar Mohamad Diah said agencies under the ministry were working with numerous parties on the mission and direction of the proposed program.

"We are studying various matters, including sending two astronauts and carrying out experiments that would benefit the nation at the ISS.

"All these considerations have to be looked into, as the program involves a hefty allocation and is not merely a space tour.

"We will submit a proposal to the cabinet when our research is completed," he said after opening the Science4u Carnival in Air Keroh, here yesterday.

The one-day carnival, held to foster interest in science and technology among students nationwide, is among 103 programs implemented by the ministry in schools.

On Oct 10, 2007, Malaysia sent astronaut Datuk Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor to the ISS onboard the Soyuz TMA-11 rocket, with cooperation from the Russian Federal Space Agency.

He carried out experiments, including on cancer cells and leukemia, at the space station.

Source: New Straits Times.
Link: http://www.nst.com.my/nation/general/2nd-astronaut-group-by-2016-1.358959.

Orbital Sciences' new cargo ship blasts off for space station

By Irene Klotz
WALLOPS ISLAND, Virginia | Wed Sep 18, 2013

(Reuters) - An unmanned Antares rocket blasted off from a seaside launch pad in Virginia on Wednesday, sending a cargo capsule to the International Space Station.

The 13-story rocket, developed by Orbital Sciences Corp., lifted off at 10:58 a.m. EDT from the state-owned Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island.

The two-stage booster, making its second flight, soared southeast over the Atlantic Ocean, leaving behind a pillar of smoke and flame visible from New York City to South Carolina as it headed into orbit.

Perched on top of the rocket was Orbital Sciences' new Cygnus freighter, one of two robotic spaceships developed in partnership with NASA to fly cargo to the space station following the space shuttles' retirement.

On Sunday, the capsule was expected to reach the space station, a $100 billion research complex that flies about 250 miles above Earth.

"This is a very exciting day for us," Orbital Sciences executive vice president Frank Culbertson told reporters after launch.

"It's difficult to get a rocket off of a launch pad, no matter how many times you do it," he said.

Privately owned Space Exploration Technologies, which began work about 18 months before Orbital Sciences, has made three trips to the station.

NASA invested $686 million in Orbital Sciences and SpaceX and awarded the firms contracts totaling $3.5 billion to fly cargo to the station.

This mission is intended to show Orbital Sciences' ability to transport cargo to the space station. A successful flight may boost its chances for additional NASA work, and could attract commercial and scientific customers for the Antares rocket and Cygnus capsule.

"We have a lot interest from people who are waiting to make sure we do, in fact, succeed with this before they place a firm order," Culbertson said.

Cygnus capsules are not designed to return to Earth. Since they can stay in orbit for extended periods of time, Orbital Sciences envisions secondary missions after the capsules depart the station, as well as dedicated flights for customers besides NASA.

On Wednesday, the rocket placed the Cygnus capsule, loaded with about 1,543 pounds (700 kg) of food, clothing and other supplies, into orbit about 170 miles above Earth.

The spacecraft then unfurled its solar panel wings. Data relayed from the Cygnus showed its computers and positioning system were operating as expected.

Over the next four days, the capsule will demonstrate its ability to maneuver in space and communicate with the station.

If all goes as planned, NASA would clear Orbital Sciences to maneuver Cygnus as close as about 30 feet from the station on Sunday.

Astronauts aboard the space station would use a robotic crane to pluck the capsule from orbit and attach it to a berthing port.

Cygnus is expected to remain docked at the station until October 22. About two days later, it is expected to fire braking rockets to leave orbit and fall back into Earth's atmosphere, burning up in the process.

(Editing by Doina Chiacu and Stacey Joyce)

Source: Reuters.
Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/19/us-space-launch-idUSBRE98H05820130919.

Map of galactic clouds where stars are born takes shape

Sydney, Australia (SPX)
Sep 15, 2013

A UNSW-led team of astronomers has begun to map the location of the most massive and mysterious objects in our galaxy - the giant gas clouds where new stars are born.

Using a telescope at Coonabarabran that narrowly escaped devastation in a recent bushfire, the team identifies the galactic clouds of molecular gas - which can be up to 100 light years across - from the carbon monoxide they contain.

"On Earth, carbon monoxide is poisonous - a silent killer. But in space, it is the second most abundant molecule and the easiest to see," says Professor Michael Burton, of the UNSW School of Physics, who leads the team.

"One of the largest unresolved mysteries in galactic astronomy is how these giant, diffuse clouds form in the interstellar medium. This process plays a key role in the cosmic cycle of birth and death of stars."

A research paper on the first stage of the work - covering a region of the sky about the size of four full moons - is published in the journal Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia.

The carbon monoxide survey of the Southern Milky Way is being carried out with the 22 meter Mopra millimeter wave telescope at Coonabarabran. While the adjoining workshop, office, and accommodation wing were destroyed in the bushfire in January, the telescope's control room survived because it was encased in brick.

The international team is also searching for "dark" galactic gas clouds - unseen clouds that contain very little carbon monoxide. It is assumed these clouds are mostly made up of molecular hydrogen which is too cold to detect.

The team is using telescopes in Antarctica and Chile to search for these dark clouds, based on the presence of carbon atoms, rather than carbon molecules, in the clouds.

"Taken together, these three surveys will provide us with a picture of the distribution and movement of gas clouds in our galaxy," says Professor Burton.

Dark clouds, if found, could also be the "missing" source of gamma rays, which are produced when high-energy cosmic rays interact with the nuclei of gas atoms or molecules they encounter when traveling through space.

"The source of more than 30 per cent of gamma rays remains unidentified - another big mystery our research could throw light on," says Professor Burton.

Some of the options for how large giant molecular clouds form include the gravitational collapse of an ensemble of small clouds into a larger one, or the random collision of small clouds which then agglomerate.

About one star per year, on average, is formed in the Milky Way. Stars that explode and die then replenish the gas clouds, as well as moving the gas about and mixing it up.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Map_of_galactic_clouds_where_stars_are_born_takes_shape_999.html.

ESA selects SSTL to design Exoplanet satellite mission

Guildford, UK (SPX)
Sep 15, 2013

Surrey Satellite Technology has been selected by the European Space Agency (ESA) for the competitive design phase of CHEOPS science satellite, which will improve mankind's understanding of exoplanets - planets orbiting distant stars outside our solar system. The contractor selection for the implementation phase is planned by mid-2014 and the launch is scheduled late 2017.

The Characterizing ExOPlanets Satellite (CHEOPS) will finely characterize known exoplanets and their parent stars with an unprecedented accuracy. The satellite will measure the orbit and radius of those exoplanets, enabling the scientists to assess their potential habitability.

The mission will also act as a "scout" performing preliminary observations on targets for the future European Extremely Large Telescope and James Webb Space Telescope that will be capable of more detailed analysis.

CHEOPS was selected from 25 missions proposed in response to ESA Call for Small Missions in 2012, which was targeting innovative small science missions that offer high value at low cost.

CHEOPS is jointly developed by ESA and a consortium of Member States led by Switzerland: The Swiss-built instrument using a Ritchey-Chretien optical telescope will observe the stars and their orbiting planets, while ESA is responsible for the provision of the satellite platform and the launch.

Over the next 10 months SSTL will design the satellite platform, which will host the telescope payload. To provide the mission within a short schedule and at low cost, ESA asked that any solution be based on an existing, flight-proven, satellite platform.

SSTL's solution is based on a variant of the highly successful SSTL-150 platform, which has seen recent service in Canada's Sapphire space surveillance mission and the 5-satellite RapidEye Earth observation constellation.

In awarding the contract to SSTL, Frederic Safa, Head of Future Missions Office in ESA's Science and Robotic Exploration Directorate stated: "We chose SSTL for this study for a combination of reasons such as their proven ability to build reliable low-cost missions and their past experience with satellites carrying high-performance optical telescopes."

SSTL's Head of Science, Doug Liddle, commented: "We are delighted that ESA selected SSTL to design the CHEOPS mission. We will draw on our experience to design a low cost, but high value solution that will demonstrate that ambitious science missions can be launched both quickly and economically."

CHEOPS is envisaged as the first in a series of missions in the ESA Science Program that will utilize small satellites for low cost and rapid development, in order to offer greater flexibility in response to new ideas from the scientific community and complement to the larger missions of ESA's Science Program.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/ESA_selects_SSTL_to_design_Exoplanet_satellite_mission_999.html.

Voyager 1 spacecraft reaches interstellar space

by Gary Galluzzo for UI News
Iowa City IA (SPX)
Sep 18, 2013

University of Iowa space physicist Don Gurnett says there is solid evidence that NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft has become the first manmade object to reach interstellar space, more than 11 billion miles distant and 36 years after it was launched.

The finding is reported in a paper published in the Sept. 12 online issue of the journal Science.

"On April 9, the Voyager 1 Plasma Wave instrument, built at the UI in the mid-1970s, began detecting locally generated waves, called electron plasma oscillations, at a frequency that corresponds to an electron density about 40 times greater than the density inside the heliosphere-the region of the sun's influence," says Gurnett. "The increased electron density is very close to the value scientists expected to find in the interstellar medium.

"This is the first solid evidence that Voyager 1 has crossed the heliopause, the boundary between the heliosphere, and interstellar space," says Gurnett, principal investigator for the plasma wave instrument.

For several months, the relative position of Voyager 1 has stirred something of a scientific debate because there remains some lingering evidence of the nearby heliosphere beyond the heliopause.

Even though Voyager 1 has passed into interstellar space, it does not mean that its journey is over, says Bill Kurth, UI research scientist and co-author of the Science paper.

"Now that we're on the outside, we are learning that interstellar space isn't a bland region," Kurth says. "Rather, there are variations in some of Voyager's measurements that may be due to the nearby presence of the heliosphere. So, our attention is turning from crossing the boundary to understanding what is going on outside," he says.

At age 36, Voyager 1 is the most distant human-made object at more than 11.6 billion miles from the sun, or about 125 astronomical units.

"At that distance it takes more than 17 hours for a radio signal to travel from the spacecraft to one of NASA's Deep Space Network antennas. The signal strength is so incredibly weak that it takes both a 230-foot and a 110-foot-diameter antenna to receive our highest resolution data," Gurnett says.

Launched Sept. 5, 1977, Voyager 1 completed flybys of both Jupiter and Saturn and is currently moving outward from the sun at about 3.5 AU per year. A sister spacecraft, Voyager 2 was launched Aug. 20, 1977, on a flight path that took it to encounters with Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. At present, Voyager 2 is still inside the heliosphere about 103 AU from the sun and traveling outward at about 3.3 AU per year.

The sounds of the electron plasma oscillations heralding Voyager's entry into interstellar space and other sounds of space can be heard by visiting Gurnett's website.

Source: Space-Travel.
Link: http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Voyager_1_spacecraft_reaches_interstellar_space_999.html.

Insights into evolution of life on Earth from 1 of Saturn's moons

Indianapolis IN (SPX)
Sep 18, 2013

Glimpses of the events that nurtured life on Earth more than 3.5 billion years ago are coming from an unlikely venue almost 1 billion miles away, according to the leader of an effort to understand Titan, one of the most unusual moons in the solar system.

In a talk at the 246th National Meeting and Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world's largest scientific society, Jonathan Lunine, Ph.D., said that Titan, the largest of Saturn's several dozen moons, is providing insights into the evolution of life unavailable elsewhere. The meeting, which features almost 7,000 presentations on new discoveries in science and other topics, continues through Thursday in the Indiana Convention Center and downtown hotels.

"Data sent back to Earth from space missions allow us to test an idea that underpins modern science's portrait of the origin of life on Earth," Lunine said. "We think that simple organic chemicals present on the primordial Earth, influenced by sunlight and other sources of energy, underwent reactions that produced more and more complex chemicals.

At some point, they crossed a threshold - developing the ability to reproduce themselves. Could we test this theory in the lab? These processes have been underway on Titan for billions of years. We don't have a billion years in the lab. We don't even have a thousand years."

Lunine, who is with Cornell University and is one of about 260 scientists involved with the Cassini-Huygens mission, explained that only two celestial objects in the solar system have the large amounts of organic substances on their surfaces to provide such information.

They are Titan and Earth. Organic substances on Earth, however, have been cycled through living things countless times. Titan's organic materials, which include deposits of methane and other hydrocarbons as large as some of the Great Lakes, are in pristine condition - never, so far as anyone knows, in contact with life.

Titan is the only moon in the solar system known to have an atmosphere. Like Earth, most of it consists of nitrogen, with methane the second-most abundant. Sunlight strikes Titan's upper atmosphere, breaking that compound into pieces that react with each other and nitrogen to form organic compounds. Those include ethane, acetylene, hydrogen cyanide, cyanoacetylene and others - all familiar terrestrial chemicals.

"We've got a very good inventory of what's there in the atmosphere," Lunine said. "What we've only recently begun to understand is the fate of these organics at the surface of Titan."

Lunine explained that for a long time, Mars had captured the public's and scientists' imagination as a possible location to find interesting organic chemistry and hints at life outside the Earth - and for good reason: It is an Earth-like planet relatively close to the Sun. But scientists have only found simple organic materials on the red planet.

Recent research has provided fascinating hints that liquid water may exist deep under Titan's surface. Other data suggest that areas of Titan's seafloor may be similar to areas of Earth's seafloors where hydrothermal vents exist.

These passways into Earth's interior spout hot, mineral-rich water that fosters an array of once-unknown forms of life. Lunine also cited research that has identified prime potential landing spots on Titan should the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the European Space Agency (ESA) or other space agencies decide on another mission to Titan.

Scientists now know, thanks to the joint NASA-ESA spacecraft that arrived at Saturn in 2004 after a seven-year journey through the solar system, that Titan shares a surprising number of features with Earth.

The enormous volumes of data that Cassini's 12 scientific instruments and the Huygens surface probe streamed back to Earth paint a complex picture of Titan's surface and the dense atmosphere that enshrouds it. Rivers flow into lakes. Wind sweeps across dunes. Giant storms brew, and clouds float across the hazy sky.

The catch is that Titan, nearly a billion miles from the Sun and a little larger than the Earth's own moon, is mostly frozen. It only receives about 1 percent of the sunlight that Earth gets.

As a result, it is unimaginably frigid. At minus 290 degrees Fahrenheit - that's 160 degrees colder than the coldest recorded temperature in Antarctica - its water ice is rock solid, at least on the surface. And the rivers and lakes? They are made of liquid hydrocarbons, ethane and methane, which on balmy Earth are the main components of natural gas. Titan's deposits may be 10-100 times greater than all of Earth's oil and gas reserves, estimates suggest.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Insights_into_evolution_of_life_on_Earth_from_1_of_Saturns_moons_999.html.

Chang'e-3 lunar probe sent to launch site

Beijing (XNA)
Sep 18, 2013

China's Chang'e-3 lunar probe is on its way from Beijing to the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in south west Sichuan province. It's expected to be launched at the end of this year to land on the moon.

Seven vehicles carried parts of the probe to Beijing Capital international Airport early on Thursday for their four hour journey. Workers will carry out a series of inspections and tests after they arrive. Chang'e-3 lunar probe consists of a service module and a landing module.

The craft will use a radio-controlled rover to transmit images and dig into the moon's surface to test samples.

It will also carry a near-ultraviolet astronomical telescope to observe stars, the galaxy and universe from the moon.

Source: Moon Daily.
Link: http://www.moondaily.com/reports/Change_3_lunar_probe_sent_to_launch_site_999.html.

Chocolate coming on next space station delivery

September 16, 2013

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AP) — A U.S. company makes its debut this week as a space station delivery service, and the lone American aboard the orbiting lab is counting on a fresh stash of chocolate.

In an interview Monday with The Associated Press, NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg said she can't wait for this weekend's arrival of a new cargo ship named Cygnus. It will be the first shipment by Orbital Sciences Corp. to the International Space Station.

"You know that there's something packed away in that vehicle, something special for you ... We're human beings and we get very excited about the packages from home and some of the treats that we might get," said Nyberg.

Orbital Sciences is scheduled to launch an unmanned Antares rocket containing Cygnus on Wednesday morning NASA is paying Orbital Sciences and the California-based SpaceX company to keep the space station well stocked now that the space shuttle era has ended.

Orbital Sciences conducted a practice Antares launch in April with a mock payload. This will be its first space station run, coming more than a year after the initial SpaceX delivery. Because this is considered a test flight, the Cygnus will carry up mostly food and other nonessential items. That suits Nyberg and her two male crewmates — an Italian and a Russian. They have been in orbit since the end of May, with two more months to go. Three more residents arrive later next week.

Given a Wednesday launch, the Cygnus should arrive at the space station on Sunday. Unlike the SpaceX Earth-returning Dragon, it will be filled with trash and, once cut loose, burn up during descent. Russia, Europe and Japan also send up supplies.

Putin says he may seek 4th presidential term

September 19, 2013

VALDAI, Russia (AP) — President Vladimir Putin said Thursday he may run for a fourth presidential term in 2018, confirming the expectations of most Russians and frustrating those now working to restore free elections in Russia.

If Putin runs and wins, it would keep him in power for about a quarter century and make him the nation's longest-serving leader since Soviet dictator Josef Stalin. Putin has largely rolled back on Russia's post-Soviet democratic achievements, sidelining the opposition, reducing the Parliament to a rubber stamp and establishing tight control over the media. He insisted that Russia, only two decades away from the fall of the Soviet Union, is determined to become a democracy, but would find its own path despite criticism from the West.

"The kind of government that Russia should have should be determined by Russian citizens and not by our esteemed colleagues from abroad," he said during an international conference, an annual event attended by Russia experts from the U.S. and Europe.

Putin, who served two consecutive four-year terms starting in 2000, became prime minister in 2008 to observe a constitutional limit of two consecutive terms. He remained in charge as prime minister, with his loyal associate, Dmitry Medvedev, serving as a placeholder.

Medvedev initiated a law that extended the presidential term to six years, and Putin won a third term in 2012 despite major public protests in Moscow against his rule. Putin addressed his future plans when challenged by former French Prime Minister Francois Fillon during the conference in Valdai, a wooded region in northwest Russia known for its pristine lakes. Fillon said he would not reveal whether he planned to run for president unless Putin answered the same question.

"And if I answer, will you?" Putin responded. "We'll see," Fillon said. "I don't exclude that," Putin said. To which Fillon added: "Me either." Putin also took direct questions from Russian opposition figures about the protests and the rise of political activism they ushered in. He held out the possibility of amnesty for more than two dozen people arrested after clashes broke out with police during a protest on the eve of his inauguration. They face charges of mass unrest that could send them to prison for years.

Putin said he "would not exclude" an amnesty, but said he would only act after the courts had ruled. During Wednesday's session of the four-day conference, the chief of Putin's staff and his deputy engaged in an unusual discussion with opposition politicians on whether they would be allowed not only to run in elections, but to win. It was a discussion that one of them, Ilya Ponomaryov, described as "cynical but sincere."

In response to the anti-Putin protests, which were set off by a fraud-tainted parliamentary election in late 2011, the Kremlin restored direct elections for regional leaders that Putin had abolished in 2004. This opened the way for protest leader Alexei Navalny to run in this month's Moscow mayoral race, where he finished a surprisingly strong second.

Ponomaryov, a member of the Kremlin-dominated parliament who joined the protest movement, said the message from Putin's staff was that the Kremlin would maintain a firm hold over elections for regional leaders, including for the Moscow mayoral race, but that elections for mayors of other cities would be fairly open.

"They want to create a sandbox and they consider the local level to be such a sandbox," he said in an interview on Thursday. Ponomaryov announced plans to run next year for mayor of Novosibirsk, a major city in Siberia.

Vladimir Ryzhkov, a veteran politician now in opposition, called on Putin to allow free elections across the country to promote the rise of a new generation of talented politicians. Putin said he shared this vision, while suggesting he has little confidence in the opposition. He said that while it was possible to ride the protest wave to success at the polls, this was no guarantee of bringing good government to the regions.

Iran to send second monkey into space

Tehran (XNA)
Sep 19, 2013

Iran plans to send its second monkey into space onboard the home-made rocket named Pishgam ( Pioneer) II within 45 days, Iran Space Agency director Hamid Fazeli was quoted as saying by local media on Sunday.

In January, Iran sent a capsule containing a monkey onboard Pishgam (Pioneer) I into space.

Fazeli said unlike the first rocket which was solid-fueled, the Pishgam II will use liquid propellant, according to Tehran Times daily.

The plan to send living creatures into space is part of the project to send human beings into space within a course of five to eight years, said the Iranian official.

ISA has plans to launch the Tadbir (Prudence) research satellite as well as Sharif and Nahid satellites into space by the end of the Iranian calendar year, which ends on March 20, 2014, he added.

Iran, a founding member of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, launched its first domestically-made data-processing satellite the Omid (Hope) in 2009.

Iran frequently says that it will push ahead with its space program in the coming years.

Source: Space-Travel.
Link: http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Iran_to_send_second_monkey_into_space_999.html.

South Sudanese airline starts flying to Khartoum

KHARTOUM | Sun Sep 8, 2013

(Reuters) - A commercial airline in South Sudan on Sunday began to operate flights to long-time foe Sudan, state media said, in a new sign of a thaw between the African neighbors.

Last week, at a summit of presidents, Sudan dropped its threat to stop oil exports from its landlocked neighbor, opening a new chapter in rocky bilateral ties. Oil is the lifeline for both.

Both leaders also agreed to revive trade across the border, which mostly came to a halt last year when tensions over disputed territory and oil fees escalated.

South Supreme Airlines, one of the few airlines in the new African nation, started flights from Juba to Khartoum on Sunday, Sudanese state news agency SUNA said.

Two Sudanese airlines already fly to Juba.

South Sudan seceded from Sudan in 2011 under a 2005 peace deal which ended decades of civil war. Both countries yet have to sort the ownership of several disputed border regions.

(Reporting by Ulf Laessing and Khalid Abdelaziz; editing by Andrew Roche)

Source: Reuters.
Link: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/09/08/uk-sudan-south-idUKBRE9870E620130908.