EU signs orders for eight new Galileo space satellites
The EU on Thursday signed contracts with German and French engineering firms to build and launch another eight satellites for its Galileo geopositioning system.
Aiming to provide rival global satellite navigation services from 2014, the contract with Germany’s OHB System AG is for 250 million euros, with France’s Arianespace and Astrium SAS sharing launch orders worth another 60 million euros.
“For Galileo, today’s signing signifies the concrete roll-out of the programme is on time and within budget,” Antonio Tajani, European Union industry commissioner, said in a statement.
The signings were in London.
Galileo satellites are currently launched in pairs aboard the Russian Soyuz rocket and the first two went up in October from the Kourou space base in EU French Guiana, South America.
That was the first time that Soyuz — a national treasure for Russia — had launched other than from Russia’s bases at Plesetsk and Baikonur.
Galileo, budgeted at 5.4 billion euros (7.2 billion dollars), is intended to give Europe independence in satellite navigation, a vital component of the 21st-century economy, from the US Global Positioning System (GPS).
When completed in 2020, the EU-funded system will comprise 27 operational satellites and three spares.
They will orbit at a height of 23,200 kilometres (14,400 miles) in three orbital planes, providing accuracy to within a metre (3.25 feet), compared to three to eight metres (10 and 26 feet) for GPS, according to official websites.
According to the European Commission, the market for geopositioning services will grow from 130 billion euros ($180 billion) in 2010 to 240 billion euros by 2020.
http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-02-eu-galileo-space-satellites.html
New super-earth detected within the habitable zone of a nearby star
An international team of scientists has discovered a potentially habitable super-Earth orbiting a nearby star. With an orbital period of about 28 days and a minimum mass 4.5 times that of the Earth, the planet orbits within the star’s “habitable zone,” where temperatures are neither too hot nor too cold for liquid water to exist on the planet’s surface. The researchers found evidence of at least one and possibly two or three additional planets orbiting the star, which is about 22 light-years from Earth.
http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-02-super-earth-habitable-zone-nearby-star.html
Self-steering bullet researched by US weapons experts
The bullet uses tiny fins to correct the course of its flight allowing it to hit laser-illuminated targets.
It is designed to be capable of hitting objects at distances of about 2km (1.24 miles). Work on a prototype suggests that accuracy is best at longer ranges.
A think tank says the tech is well-suited to snipers, but worries about it being marketed to the public.
Work on the project is being carried out by an Albuquerque-based subsidiary of defence contractor Lockheed Martin on behalf of the US government.
The current prototype involves a 4in (10cm) bullet which includes an optical sensor in its nose to detect the laser. This information is then processed and used to move motors within the bullet which steer tiny fins, altering the ammunition’s path.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16810107
‘Supergiant’ crustacean found in deepest ocean
A huge crustacean has been found lurking 7km down in the waters off the coast of New Zealand.
The creature – called a supergiant – is a type of amphipod, which are normally around 2-3cm long.
But these beasts, discovered in the Kermadec Trench, were more than 10 times bigger: the largest found measured in at 34cm.
Alan Jamieson, from the University of Aberdeen’s Oceanlab, said: “It’s a bit like finding a foot-long cockroach.”
“I stopped and thought: ‘What on Earth was that?’ This amphipod was far bigger than I ever thought possible.”
The strange animals were found using a large metal trap, which had been equipped with a camera, housed in sapphire glass to keep it safe from the high pressures of the deep sea.
