New Israeli anti-drone counter-measure makes debut

by Richard Tomkins
Ben Gurion International Airport, Israel (UPI)
Oct 23, 2015

A counter-measure system that detects, identifies and disrupts small drones has been debuted by Israel Aerospace Industries.

Drone Guard, displayed at an aerospace exhibition in South Korea this week, combines adapted 3-D radars, electro-optical sensors and dedicated electronic attack jamming systems and comes from IAI subsidiary Elta Systems Ltd.

"We have begun demonstrating these novel capabilities to potential customers, in response to this new threat (from small drones)," said Nissim Hadas, IAI executive vice president and president of Elta Systems. "We believe that in the near future every critical asset and public site will require these safety measures for protection against hostile drones."

Drone Guard uses 3D radars -- including Elta's ELM-2026D, ELM-2026B and ELM-2026BF -- for short, medium and long-range detection of drones, coupled with special detection and tracking algorithms. EO sensors for visual identification of the target are also used.

The systems' jamming systems, which can be used as a standalone system, disrupts the drone's flight and can either cause the drone to return to its point of origin or shut down and crash, IAI said.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/New_Israeli_anti-drone_counter-measure_makes_debut_999.html.

Russian women on space test unworried about absence of men

October 30, 2015

MOSCOW (AP) — Before six Russian women began an eight-day simulation of a voyage to the moon, they had to answer a key question: How could they cope for such a long time without men or makeup?

The six women climbed into a mock-up spaceship Wednesday to imitate a lunar flight — an experiment to assess the effects of the confinement and stress of long space travel. Russia's space medicine center has conducted previous isolation experiments, including one in which six males spent 500 days in a cramped, windowless module to imitate a Mars mission.

Journalists asked the women if they were concerned about being away from men and cosmetics. Participant Anna Kussmaul said "we're working on fulfilling our tasks, and when you're doing your work, you don't think about men."

CIS Countries Plan to Create Joint Institute for Space Research

Moscow (Sputnik)
Oct 26, 2015

The representatives of Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine and Azerbaijan agreed on multilateral cooperation, an interstate system for space monitoring of emergency situations, as well as an interregional satellite communication system, according to Roscosmos.

A protocol on CIS countries cooperation that includes an agreement to establish a Joint Institute for Space Research, was signed on Friday, Russia's Federal Space Agency Roscosmos said.

"One of the key decisions is the agreement of the partners to start preparing a project on the establishment of an international intergovernmental research organization [called the] Joint Institute for Space Research," the statement reads.

The space agency noted that the final protocol was signed in Minsk, Belarus, following a two-day meeting of representatives from the CIS countries' executive authorities devoted to the cooperation in space.

According to Roskosmos, the representatives of Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine and Azerbaijan agreed to create a new contract-legal basis for multilateral cooperation, an interstate system for space monitoring of emergency situations, as well as an interregional satellite communication system.

On Thursday, the sixth conference devoted to cooperation in space for CIS countries opened in Minsk. The main objective of the event is to discuss acute issues of multilateral interaction in the sphere of research and how space can be used in the interest of CIS member states.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/CIS_Countries_Plan_to_Create_Joint_Institute_for_Space_Research_999.html.

NASA Calls for American Industry Ideas on ARM Spacecraft Development

Washington DC (SPX)
Oct 26, 2015

NASA, through its Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, has issued a callo American industry for innovative ideas on how the agency could obtain a core advanced solar electric propulsion-based spacecraft to support the Asteroid Redirect Robotic Mission (ARRM).

Part of NASA's overall Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM), this mission will use a number of important technologies to prepare for an early human exploration mission in deep space - specifically, the area around the moon known as cislunar space.

The robotic mission also will provide the first large-scale asteroid samples on which to conduct research and analysis for better understanding of the composition and nature of these primordial planetary bodies, leading to future use of in-situ resources from asteroids.

The mission both uses and expands NASA's ability to detect, characterize and mitigate the threat these space rocks pose to our home planet. The highest priority of ARM is to affordably demonstrate and prove new capabilities needed for future human missions to Mars.

"We're eager to hear from American companies on their ideas for a spacecraft design that could accommodate our advanced solar electric propulsion requirements and robotic technologies," said NASA Associate Administrator Robert Lightfoot. "We're also interested in what sorts of innovative commercial, international and academic partnerships opportunities might be practical and help reduce overall mission costs while still demonstrating the technologies we need for our journey to Mars."

NASA's ARRM is being formulated to perform a number of technology demonstrations needed for the agency's journey to Mars, including the use of a 20-fold improvement in state-of-the-art deep space solar electric propulsion capability to move and maneuver multi-ton objects.

The objective of the robotic segment of ARM is to acquire a multi-ton boulder from a large asteroid and redirect it to a crew-accessible orbit around our moon, setting the stage for future integrated crewed and robotic vehicle operations in deep space.

NASA's ARRM spacecraft will need to be able to demonstrate support of high power solar electric propulsion, with initial solar array power of approximately 50 kilowatts.

The robotics capture system planned aboard the pioneering vehicle will be capable of acquiring a 20-ton (or larger) boulder of up to about 19 feet (six meters) in width from an asteroid's surface and then returning it to an astronaut-accessible orbit near our moon.

The spacecraft is being formulated to fit atop a variety of launch vehicles - NASA's Space Launch System or a commercially provided rocket. The spacecraft will need to be ready for launch by the end of 2020.

While at a large asteroid, the spacecraft will demonstrate a "slow-push" planetary defense asteroid deflection technique during the mission. This uses the spacecraft and boulder's combined gravitational pull to attempt to change the course of an asteroid.

ARM brings together the best of NASA's science, technology and human exploration efforts to accomplish several important objectives that are critical elements during our journey to Mars.

Redirecting and "parking" a large asteroid boulder within reach of human and robotic explorers also will provide American commercial enterprises their first opportunities to investigate the viability of mining asteroids for precious metals and other resources.

NASA's Asteroid Redirect Mission and the robotic component of the overall mission will be the topic of an online Adobe Connect community update on Friday, Oct. 23 from 7 to 10 a.m. PDT (10 a.m. to 1 p.m. EDT). During the update, NASA leaders will share recent developments for the Asteroid Redirect Mission, including the recent spacecraft design study solicitation and the selection of the mission's Formulation Assessment and Support Team members. The Adobe Connect meeting is open to the public.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/NASA_Calls_for_American_Industry_Ideas_on_ARM_Spacecraft_Development_999.html.

Smallest galaxies are yielding big answers

by Jim Shelton for Yale News
New Haven CT (SPX)
Oct 23, 2015

An international research team led by Yale University postdoctoral researcher Hakim Atek recently discovered more than 250 distant galaxies, including some of the faintest, smallest galaxies in the universe. The team relied upon new images from the Hubble Space Telescope, focusing on a trio of cosmic magnifying glasses.

Scientists have long wondered how the universe pierced the heavy veil of hydrogen gas that enshrouded it for millions of years after the Big Bang. This opaque layer of hydrogen was thick enough to block ultraviolet light, and the process of clearing away the hydrogen is known as re-ionization.

Yet the universe's largest and brightest galaxies did not produce enough energy to account for re-ionization. That's where the newly discovered, faint galaxies proved crucial to understanding this cosmic phenomenon. Atek's team found that the accumulated light from these tiny galaxies - added to the other light - would be enough to cause re-ionization.

"The most exciting part of this work was the fact that we keep unveiling fainter and fainter galaxies, and they happen to be more and more abundant," said Atek, who conducted his research at Yale and the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, in Switzerland. "This raises the question: What are the faintest and smallest galaxies ever formed in the early universe?"

The research team looked at Hubble Frontier Fields images of three galaxy clusters. Powerful gravitational forces generated by these clusters magnify the faint light of galaxies located far behind them; this is called gravitational lensing.

"Hubble remains unrivaled in its ability to observe the most distant galaxies, and the sheer depth of the Hubble Frontier Fields data guarantees very precise understanding of the cluster magnification effect, allowing us to make discoveries like these," said co-author Mathilde Jauzac, of Durham University-UK and the University of KwaZulu-Natal-South Africa.

The research represents one of the largest samples of dwarf galaxies ever discovered from the early universe, just 600 to 900 million years after the Big Bang. With the new information, the researchers said, they estimate the universe became fully transparent about 700 million years after the Big Bang.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Smallest_galaxies_are_yielding_big_answers_999.html.

Victims of Soviet repressions remembered in memorial

October 29, 2015

MOSCOW (AP) — On the square outside the former headquarters of the KGB in Moscow, Russians on Thursday read the names of victims of political killings in Soviet times in a 12-hour-long ceremony.

The ceremony, organized by Russian rights group Memorial, came on the eve of the national day for remembrance of victims of political repression. Each participant was given the names of two people to read aloud. But the scale of such executions was so enormous that there wasn't enough time to read all the names.

Historians estimate a million or more were killed just in the infamous 1937-38 purges under Josef Stalin. In the past few years, there has been a push to emphasize the Soviet victory in World War II, rather than address the victims of political repression under the Communist regime.

"This isn't just a political event or a historical event. It can't be. History and politics are too intertwined," said Anna Vardiya, 53, who has attended the annual commemoration ceremony since they began 10 years ago.

Another demonstration was held in the Belorussian capital Minsk, where about 200 activists gathered and protested that repression continues under authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko. "We will continue to live under a fearsome, Stalinist government," until there is a frank discussion of Soviet history, said Vladimir Mazanki, who came to the protest with a candle and a portrait of his father in hand.

Yuras Karmanau in Minsk contributed to this story.

India paves way for women in army combat roles

New Delhi (AFP)
Oct 24, 2015

The Indian government gave its nod Saturday for women to fly fighter jets, paving the way for them to assume combat roles for the first time in one of the world's largest militaries.

The federal defense ministry gave the green light to a proposal for recruiting female fighter pilots in the Indian Air Force (IAF), where women already fly transport aircraft and helicopters.

"With this decision to open up induction of women in the fighter stream, women have become eligible for induction in all branches and streams of the IAF," a defense ministry statement published on Saturday said.

"This progressive step is in keeping with the aspirations of Indian women and is in line with contemporary trends in Armed Forces of developed nations," it said, adding that after training, selected women "would enter a fighter cockpit by June 2017".

The latest move not only marks the maiden entry of women in combat roles in the IAF but in any branch across the Indian armed forces.

Many countries like the United States, Israel and even arch-rival neighbor Pakistan already allow women as fighter pilots.

But India has kept them out of such roles, reportedly fearing women would be more vulnerable to sexual attacks, and worries over lodging and physical fitness.

Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha expressed his reluctance to change tack last year when he said "women are by nature not physically suited for flying fighters for long hours".

Since then, increasing numbers of female officers have brought court cases demanding better work conditions and permanent commissions instead of temporary terms of five to ten years.

The ministry said it had carried out a review in connection with how to increase roles of women in the forces.

"Once finalized more and more branches would be opened up for induction of women to give them the space which they deserve in the Armed Forces of the country," it said.

Women form some five percent of around 1.32 million active personnel and 2.14 million reservists in the defense forces, according to government figures.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/India_paves_way_for_women_in_army_combat_roles_999.html.