The news that Beagle 2 may have been spotted on the surface of Mars in the immediate vicinity of where it was expected to land was welcomed by the European Space Agency.
ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft had delivered the Beagle 2 lander to Mars on 25 December 2003.
ESA’s Director of Science David Southwood said, “If this turns out to be a definitive sighting then we can feel very pleased not only for the Beagle 2 team but also for everyone else involved in getting the pro
Cidetec Technology Centre’s Energy Department has designed a prototype for a motorised bicycle that works off fuel cells. The project, financed by the Gipuzkoa Provincial Government, involved using a bicycle kindly provided by the ORBEA bicycle manufacturing company and the pedalling action of which is assisted by a motor. The novelty lies in that the battery power source for the motor is substituted by a fuel cell which, for its operation, only needs oxygen from the air and hydrogen contained un
Flames, smoke and a deafening noise accompanied the first firing test of Vega’s Zefiro 9 third-stage solid rocket motor. A first examination of the data indicates that everything went well at the test carried out yesterday at Salto de Quirra in southeast Sardinia.
The Zefiro 9 motor, with an overall height of 3.17 meters and a diameter of 1.92 metres, contains a propellant mass of 10 tonnes and provides a maximum thrust of 305 kN (in vacuum). For yesterday’s test the nozzle was
A few weeks before leaving for the Antarctic Concordia Station, the Italian-French crew that will spend over one year in one of the harshest, isolated environments on Earth, attended two days of preparatory training at ESA’s Headquarters in Paris, France. During their stay at the research station the crew will participate in a number of ESA experiments – the outcome of which will help prepare for long-term missions to Mars.
As part of the Aurora Exploration Programme, ESA is c
Researchers at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch (Germany) and the Charité University Medicine Berlin (Campus Virchow and Campus Buch) have discovered a molecular mechanism which explains why the cells of Hodgkin lymphoma, a malignancy affecting the lymph nodes, can change their appearance and take on characteristics of other cell lineages. “This is a perfect example of the ability of the B cells, a specific type of human immune cells affected by Hodgkin lymphoma, t
VLT Helps Measuring Tortoise-like Motion
Astronomers have used ESO’s Very Large Telescope in Chile and the Anglo-Australian Telescope in eastern Australia as a ‘stellar stethoscope’ to listen to the internal rumblings of a nearby star. The data collected with the VLT have a precision better than 1.5 cm/s, or less than 0.06 km per hour!
By observing the star with two telescopes at the same time, the astronomers have made the most precise and detailed measurements to date of
Entrepreneurial British satellite manufacturer to launch GIOVE-A micro-satellite from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan
It will be business as usual for the dedicated engineering team at Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) in Guildford, UK over the Christmas break as they celebrate the launch of their 26th satellite on 28th December.
GIOVE-A is the first satellite of the Galileo project, a £ multi-billion satellite navigation system initiative co-ordinated by
Psychologists at the University of Liverpool have found that people still find it difficult to understand how mirrors work.
Dr Marco Bertamini, from the University’s School of Psychology, conducted a number of experiments by covering a mirror on a wall and inviting participants to walk along a line parallel to the mirror.
He asked them to guess the point at which they would be able to see their reflection. Results showed that people believe they can see themselves even b
Dr. Gema Frühbeck, director of the Metabolic Research Laboratory of the University Hospital of the University of Navarra, has published a commentary in the latest issue of Nature. The article presents aquaporin as a new modulator of the biology of the adipocyte. It is a new concept concerning how the permeability of glycerol in fat cells is able to modulate the size of the adipocyte and, as a result, can contribute to the development of obesity.
Aquaporins are related to the tra
Scientists at the Technische Universität Dresden/Germany have been developing an innovative composite material – “textile reinforced concrete“ – which is to serve for the structural reinforcement of buildings. For seven years now, more than 50 scientists from eight institutes have been collaborating in a research project entitled “Textile Reinforcements for Structural Strengthening and Repair“. The project has been funded by the German Research Foundation which has approved of the project’s t
Preparations for the launch of GIOVE-A, the first Galileo satellite, are continuing at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The spacecraft has been mated with the Fregat upper stage of the launch vehicle and a revised launch date of 28 December has been agreed.
After its transfer to the Upper Composite Integration Facility (UCIF), GIOVE-A was removed from its transport container and mated with the Launch Vehicle Adapter (LVA) which connects it to the Soyuz/Fregat launcher. The clamp band that secur
A novel astronaut training system, innovative planetary landing technology and hydrogen gas storage in 0.1-mm micro-spheres are just some of the innovative ideas presented during the first Innovation Triangle Initiative (ITI) Final Presentation Day (FPD) at ESTEC.
Stephane Lascar, Head of ESA’s Technology Harmonisation and Strategy Division, opened the ITI FPD event: “We received more than 200 proposals of which 37 were selected and kicked-off. After 18 months of work 16 have
The European Commission today presents “100 Technology offers stemming from EU Biotechnology RTD results”, a catalogue of biotechnology developments arising from EU-funded research projects over the last 10 years. This guide will help to put researchers and companies in contact, hopefully leading to new and innovative products and processes based on this research. Examples featured in the catalogue include applications for food and plant biotechnology, biopharmaceuticals and biomedical technolo
People who have a specific genetic variant of the PTPN22 gene and test positive for antibodies against cyclic citrullinated peptide are much more at risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis than people who only have one of these markers.
A study published today in the journal Arthritis Research & Therapy reveals that a group of people who have a specific genetic variant, or polymorphism, of PTPN22, a gene that encodes a tyrosine phosphatase protein, and tested positive for anti-
Researchers in the Department of Pathology at Yale University School of Medicine report that when using current pathology methods of biomarker detection, the concentration of antibodies used dramatically alters the apparent relationship of biomarker level to clinical outcome. The paper appears in the December issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
The study, led by David L. Rimm, M.D., associate professor of pathology and member of the Yale Cancer Center, was des
A powerful new tool for probing molecular structure on surfaces has been developed by researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Single molecule absorption spectroscopy can enhance molecular analysis, surface manipulation and studies of molecular energy and reactivity at the atomic level.
“This new measurement method combines the chemical selectivity of optical absorption spectroscopy with the atomic-scale resolution of scanning tunneling microscopy,” said Martin
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