jTYPE[1] = "IN"; jID[1] = "INF 1-2003"; jTITLE[1] = "Rosetta – a comet ride to solve planetary mysteries"; jDATE[1] = "7 January 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[1] = ""; jPORTRAIT1[1] = ""; jPORTRAIT2[1] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[1] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[1] = ""; jLANDSCAPE1[1] = ""; jLANDSCAPE2[1] = ""; jLANDSCAPE3[1] = ""; jPHOTOURL0[1] = ""; jPHOTOURL1[1] = ""; jPHOTOURL2[1] = ""; jPHOTOURL3[1] = ""; jPARAGRAPH0[1] = "ESA's Rosetta will be the first mission to orbit and land on a comet in 2011, one of the icy bodies that travel throughout the Solar System and develop a characteristic tail when they approach the Sun. Rosetta is scheduled to be launched on-board an Ariane-5 rocket in January 2003 from Kourou, French Guiana. A decision on the launch date will be taken by Tuesday 14 January (see Arianespace press release N° 03/02 of 7 January 2003 or at http:www.arianespace.com). The mission's target is Comet Wirtanen and the encounter will occur in 2011. Rosetta's name comes from the famous Rosetta stone, that almost 200 years ago led to the deciphering of Egyptian hieroglyphics. In a similar way, scientists hope that the Rosetta spacecraft will unlock the mysteries of the Solar System."; jPARAGRAPH1[1] = "Comets are very interesting objects for scientists, since their composition reflects how the Solar System was when it was very young and still 'unfinished', more than 4600 million years ago. Comets have not changed much since then. By orbiting Comet Wirtanen and landing on it, Rosetta will collect essential information to understand the origin and evolution of our Solar System. It will also help discover whether comets contributed to the beginnings of life on Earth. In fact comets are carriers of complex organic molecules, that - delivered to Earth through impacts – perhaps played a role in the origin of living forms. Furthermore, \"volatile\" light elements carried by comets may have also played an important role in forming the Earth's oceans and atmopshere."; jPARAGRAPH2[1] = "\"Rosetta is one of the most challenging missions ever undertaken so far\", says Prof. David Southwood, ESA Director of Science, \"No one before attempted a similar mission, unique for its scientific implications as well as for its complex and spectacular interplanetary space manoeuvres\". Before reaching its target in 2011, Rosetta will circle the Sun almost four times on wide loops in the inner Solar System. During its long trek, the spacecraft will have to endure some extreme thermal conditions. Once it is close to Comet Wirtanen, scientists will take it through a delicate braking manoeuvre; then the spacecraft will closely orbit the comet, and gently drop a lander on it. It will be like landing on a small, fast-moving cosmic bullet that still has – at present - an almost unknown 'geography'."; jPARAGRAPH3[1] = "An amazing 8-year interplanetary trek

Rosetta is a 3-tonne box-type spacecraft about 3 metres high, with two 14-metre long solar panels. It consists of an orbiter and a lander. The lander is approximately 1 metre across and 80 centimetres high. It will be attached to the side of the Rosetta orbiter during the journey to Comet Wirtanen. Rosetta carries 21 experiments in total, 10 of them on the lander. They will be kept in hibernation during most of its 8-year trek towards Wirtanen."; jPARAGRAPH4[1] = "What makes Rosetta's cruise so long? To reach Comet Wirtanen, the spacecraft needs to go out in deep space as far from the Sun as Jupiter is. No launcher could possibly get Rosetta there directly. ESA's spacecraft will gather speed from gravitational 'kicks' provided by three planetary fly-bys: one of Mars in 2005 and two of Earth in 2005 and 2007. During the trip, Rosetta will also visit two asteroids, Otawara (in 2006) and Siwa (in 2008). During these encounters, scientists will switch on Rosetta's instruments for calibration and scientific studies."; jPARAGRAPH5[1] = "Long trips in deep space include many hazards, such as extreme changes in temperature. Rosetta will leave the benign environment of near-Earth space to the dark, frigid regions beyond the asteroid belt. To manage these thermal loads, experts have done very tough pre-launch tests to study Rosetta's endurance. For example, they have heated its external surfaces to more than 150°C, then quickly cooled it to -180°C in the next test."; jPARAGRAPH6[1] = "The spacecraft will be fully reactivated prior to the comet rendezvous manoeuvre in 2011. Then, Rosetta will orbit the comet – an object only 1.2 km wide - while it cruises through the inner Solar System at 135 000 kilometres per hour. At that time of the rendezvous – around 675 million km from the Sun – Wirtanen will hardly show any surface activity. It means that the carachteristic coma (the comet's 'atmosphere') and the tail will not be formed yet, because of the large distance from the Sun. The comet's tail is in fact made of dust grains and frozen gases from the comet's surface that vapourise because of the Sun's heat. During 6-month, Rosetta will extensively map the comet surface, prior to selecting a landing site. In July 2012, the lander will self-eject from the spacecraft from a height of just one kilometre. Touchdown will take place at walking speed - less than 1 metre per second. Immediately after touchdown, the lander will fire a harpoon into the ground to avoid bouncing off the surface back into space, since the extremely weak comet's gravity alone would not hold onto the lander. Operations and scientific observations on the comet surface will last 65 hours as a minimum, but may continue for many months."; jPARAGRAPH7[1] = "During and after the lander operations, Rosetta will continue orbiting and studying the comet: Rosetta will be the first spacecraft to witness at close quarters the changes taking place in a comet when the comet approaches the Sun and grows its coma and tail. The trip will end in July 2013, after 10.5 years of adventure, when the comet is closest to the Sun."; jPARAGRAPH8[1] = "Studying a comet on the spot

Rosetta's goal is to examine the comet in great detail. The instruments on Rosetta orbiter include several cameras, spectrometers, and experiments that work at different wavelengths --infrared, ultraviolet, microwave, radio and a number of sensors. They will provide, among other things, very high-resolution images and information about the shape, density, temperature, and chemical composition of the comet. Rosetta's instruments will analyse the gases and dust grains in the so-called \"coma\" that forms when the comet becomes active, as well as the interaction with the solar wind."; jPARAGRAPH9[1] = "The 10 instruments on board the lander will do an on-the-spot analysis of the composition and structure of the comet's surface and subsurface material. A drilling system will take samples down to 30 centimetres below the surface and will feed these to the 'composition analysers'. Other instruments will measure properties such as near-surface strength, density, texture, porosity, ice phases, and thermal properties. Microscopic studies of individual grains will tell us about the texture.

In addition, instruments on the lander will study how the comet changes during the day-night cycle, and while it approaches the Sun.

Ground operations

Data from the lander are relayed to the orbiter, which stores them for downlink to Earth at the next ground station contact. ESA has installed a new deep-space antenna at New Norcia, near Perth in Western Australia, as the main communications link between the spacecraft and the ESOC Mission Control in Darmstadt, Germany. This 35-metre diameter parabolic antenna allows the radio signal to reach distances of more than 1 million kilometres from Earth. The radio signals, travelling at the speed of light, will take up to 50 minutes to cover the distance between the spacecraft and Earth.

Rosetta's Science Operations Centre, which is responsible for collecting and distributing the scientific data, will share a location at ESOC and ESTEC in Noordwijk, The Netherlands. The Lander Control Centre is located in DLR in Cologne, Germany, and the Lander Science Centre in CNES in Toulouse, France.

Building Rosetta

Rosetta was selected as a mission in 1993. The spacecraft has been built by Astrium Germany as prime contractor. Major subcontractors are Astrium UK (spacecraft platform), Astrium France (spacecraft avionics), and Alenia Spazio (assembly, integration, and verification). Rosetta's industrial team involves more than 50 contractors from 14 European countries, Canada and the United States.

Scientific consortia from institutes across Europe and the United States have provided the instruments on the orbiter. A European consortium under the leadership of the German Aerospace Research Institute (DLR) has provided the lander. Rosetta has cost ESA Euro 701 million at 2000 economic conditions. This amount includes the launch and the entire period of development and mission operations from 1996 to 2013. The lander and the experiments, the so-called 'payload', are not included since they are funded by the member states through the scientific institutes.

Note to editors

Europe is certainly a pioneer in comet exploration. In 1986, ESA's spacecraft Giotto performed the closest comet fly-by ever achieved by any spacecraft (at a distance of 600 kilometres of Halley). It sent back wonderful pictures and data that showed that comets contain complex organic molecules. These kinds of compounds are rich in carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. Intriguingly, these are the elements which make up nucleic acids and amino acids, which are essential ingredients for life as we know it. Giotto continued its successful journey and flew by Comet Grigg-Skjellerup in 1992 within about 200 km distance. Now scientists will be eagerly waiting to be able to answer some of the new intriguing questions that arose from analysing the exciting results from Giotto.

Other past missions that have flown by a comet were: NASA's ICE mission in 1985, the two Russian VEGA spacecraft and the two Japanese spacecraft Suisei and Sakigake that were part of the armada that visited comet Halley in 1986; NASA's Deep Space 1 flew-by comet Borelly in 2001 and NASA's Stardust will fly-by comet Wild 2 in early 2004 and will return samples of the comet's coma in 2006. Unfortunately NASA's Contour launched in Summer 2002 failed when it was inserted onto its interplanetary trajectory. In 2004 we will see the launch of Deep Impact, a spacecraft that will shoot a massive block of copper into a comet nucleus."; jFULL[1] = "http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/ESAJ898708D_index_0.html"; jFRENCH[1] = "http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/Pr_1_2003_i_FR.html"; jGERMAN[1] = "http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/Pr_1_2003_i_GE.html"; jFURTHERINFO[1] = true; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[2] = "PR"; jID[2] = "PR 2-2003"; jTITLE[2] = "Call for press: Status of the Rosetta mission"; jDATE[2] = "10 January 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[2] = ""; jPORTRAIT1[2] = ""; jPORTRAIT2[2] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[2] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[2] = ""; jLANDSCAPE1[2] = ""; jLANDSCAPE2[2] = ""; jLANDSCAPE3[2] = ""; jPHOTOURL0[2] = ""; jPHOTOURL1[2] = ""; jPHOTOURL2[2] = ""; jPHOTOURL3[2] = ""; jPARAGRAPH0[2] = "As already indicated in previous information to the press from both Arianespace and ESA, a final decision on the launch of ESA's Rosetta mission will be known on Tuesday 14 January."; jPARAGRAPH1[2] = "The following day, Wednesday 15 January at 8:30 hrs (doors open at 08h15), Prof. David Southwood, Director of Science at ESA, will meet the press to take stock of the status of this mission, one of the most complex and ambitious space science missions ever undertaken."; jPARAGRAPH2[2] = "You are cordially invited to attend this press conference at ESA Head Office in Paris or to follow it remotely in one of the ESA Establishments listed in the attached form which you are kindly requested to fax back to the establishment of your choice."; jPARAGRAPH3[2] = ""; jPARAGRAPH4[2] = ""; jPARAGRAPH5[2] = ""; jPARAGRAPH6[2] = ""; jPARAGRAPH7[2] = ""; jPARAGRAPH8[2] = ""; jPARAGRAPH9[2] = ""; jFULL[2] = ""; jFRENCH[2] = "http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/Pr_2_2003_p_FR.html"; jGERMAN[2] = "http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/Pr_2_2003_p_GE.html"; jFURTHERINFO[2] = true; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[3] = "PR"; jID[3] = "PR 4-2003"; jTITLE[3] = "Rosetta launch postponed"; jDATE[3] = "14 January 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[3] = ""; jPORTRAIT1[3] = ""; jPORTRAIT2[3] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[3] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[3] = ""; jLANDSCAPE1[3] = ""; jLANDSCAPE2[3] = ""; jLANDSCAPE3[3] = ""; jPHOTOURL0[3] = ""; jPHOTOURL1[3] = ""; jPHOTOURL2[3] = ""; jPHOTOURL3[3] = ""; jPARAGRAPH0[3] = "Having considered the conclusions of the Review Board set up to advise on the launch of Rosetta, Arianespace and the European Space Agency have decided on a postponement."; jPARAGRAPH1[3] = "The Review Board called for Arianespace and all its partners to make sure, in the framework of a programme for the resumption of Ariane 5 flights, that all Ariane 5 system qualification and review processes have been checked."; jPARAGRAPH2[3] = "Arianespace and the European Space Agency, together with all interested parties, are now going to consult each other in order to determine arrangements for the soonest possible launch of Rosetta."; jPARAGRAPH3[3] = ""; jPARAGRAPH4[3] = ""; jPARAGRAPH5[3] = ""; jPARAGRAPH6[3] = ""; jPARAGRAPH7[3] = ""; jPARAGRAPH8[3] = ""; jPARAGRAPH9[3] = ""; jFULL[3] = "http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/SEMIAWZKQAD_index_0.html"; jFRENCH[3] = "http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/Pr_4_2003_p_FR.html"; jGERMAN[3] = "http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/Pr_4_2003_p_GE.html"; jFURTHERINFO[3] = true; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[4] = "SN"; jID[4] = "SNR 1-2003"; jTITLE[4] = "Vital signs of life on distant worlds"; jDATE[4] = "16 January 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[4] = ""; jPORTRAIT1[4] = ""; jPORTRAIT2[4] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[4] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[4] = ""; jLANDSCAPE1[4] = ""; jLANDSCAPE2[4] = ""; jLANDSCAPE3[4] = ""; jPHOTOURL0[4] = ""; jPHOTOURL1[4] = ""; jPHOTOURL2[4] = ""; jPHOTOURL3[4] = ""; jPARAGRAPH0[4] = "Detecting Earth-sized planets is hard enough but how does an astrobiologist decide which of them are inhabited? Scientists are now working to understand what signals life might give off into space, so that when they do detect Earth-like planets they know what to look for."; jPARAGRAPH1[4] = ""; jPARAGRAPH2[4] = ""; jPARAGRAPH3[4] = ""; jPARAGRAPH4[4] = ""; jPARAGRAPH5[4] = ""; jPARAGRAPH6[4] = ""; jPARAGRAPH7[4] = ""; jPARAGRAPH8[4] = ""; jPARAGRAPH9[4] = ""; jFULL[4] = "http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/SEM7QR39ZAD_Life_0.html"; jFRENCH[4] = ""; jGERMAN[4] = ""; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[5] = "SN"; jID[5] = "SNR 2-2003"; jTITLE[5] = "ESA on the trail of the earliest stars"; jDATE[5] = "27 January 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[5] = ""; jPORTRAIT1[5] = ""; jPORTRAIT2[5] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[5] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[5] = ""; jLANDSCAPE1[5] = ""; jLANDSCAPE2[5] = ""; jLANDSCAPE3[5] = ""; jPHOTOURL0[5] = ""; jPHOTOURL1[5] = ""; jPHOTOURL2[5] = ""; jPHOTOURL3[5] = ""; jPARAGRAPH0[5] = "Somewhere in the distant, old Universe, a population of stars hide undetected. They were the first to form after the birth of the Universe and are supposed to be far bigger in mass than any star visible today."; jPARAGRAPH1[5] = ""; jPARAGRAPH2[5] = ""; jPARAGRAPH3[5] = ""; jPARAGRAPH4[5] = ""; jPARAGRAPH5[5] = ""; jPARAGRAPH6[5] = ""; jPARAGRAPH7[5] = ""; jPARAGRAPH8[5] = ""; jPARAGRAPH9[5] = ""; jFULL[5] = "http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/SEM99G1A6BD_index_0.html"; jFRENCH[5] = ""; jGERMAN[5] = ""; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[6] = "PH"; jID[6] = "PhR 1-2003"; jTITLE[6] = "The Boomerang Nebula - the coolest place in the Universe?"; jDATE[6] = "20 February 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[6] = "http://www.esa.int/export/images/boomerang_nebula_s.jpg"; jPORTRAIT1[6] = ""; jPORTRAIT2[6] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[6] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[6] = ""; jLANDSCAPE1[6] = ""; jLANDSCAPE2[6] = ""; jLANDSCAPE3[6] = ""; jPHOTOURL0[6] = "http://esamultimedia.esa.int/images/spcs/hubble/hst_heic0301_high.jpg"; jPHOTOURL1[6] = ""; jPHOTOURL2[6] = ""; jPHOTOURL3[6] = ""; jPARAGRAPH0[6] = "The Boomerang Nebula is a young planetary nebula and the coldest object found in the Universe so far. The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image illustrates how Hubble's keen vision reveals surprises in celestial objects."; jPARAGRAPH1[6] = "This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows a young planetary nebula known (rather curiously) as the Boomerang Nebula. It is in the constellation of Centaurus, 5000 light-years from Earth. Planetary nebulae form around a bright, central star when it expels gas in the last stages of its life."; jPARAGRAPH2[6] = "The Boomerang Nebula is one of the Universe's peculiar places. In 1995, using the 15-metre Swedish ESO Submillimetre Telescope in Chile, astronomers Sahai and Nyman revealed that it is the coldest place in the Universe found so far. With a temperature of -272°C, it is only 1 degree warmer than absolute zero (the lowest limit for all temperatures). Even the -270°C background glow from the Big Bang is warmer than this nebula. It is the only object found so far that has a temperature lower than the background radiation."; jPARAGRAPH3[6] = "Keith Taylor and Mike Scarrott called it the Boomerang Nebula in 1980 after observing it with a large ground-based telescope in Australia. Unable to see the detail that only Hubble can reveal, the astronomers saw merely a slight asymmetry in the nebula's lobes suggesting a curved shape like a boomerang. The high-resolution Hubble images indicate that 'the Bow tie Nebula' would perhaps have been a better name."; jPARAGRAPH4[6] = "The Hubble telescope took this image in 1998. It shows faint arcs and ghostly filaments embedded within the diffuse gas of the nebula's smooth 'bow tie' lobes. The diffuse bow-tie shape of this nebula makes it quite different from other observed planetary nebulae, which normally have lobes that look more like 'bubbles' blown in the gas. However, the Boomerang Nebula is so young that it may not have had time to develop these structures. Why planetary nebulae have so many different shapes is still a mystery."; jPARAGRAPH5[6] = "The general bow-tie shape of the Boomerang appears to have been created by a very fierce 500 000 kilometre-per-hour wind blowing ultracold gas away from the dying central star. The star has been losing as much as one-thousandth of a solar mass of material per year for 1500 years. This is 10-100 times more than in other similar objects. The rapid expansion of the nebula has enabled it to become the coldest known region in the Universe."; jPARAGRAPH6[6] = "The image was exposed for 1000 seconds through a green-yellow filter. The light in the image comes from starlight from the central star reflected by dust particles."; jPARAGRAPH7[6] = "Notes for editors"; jPARAGRAPH8[6] = "The Hubble Space Telescope project is an international cooperation between ESA and NASA.

The original Hubble image was obtained by R. Sahai and J. Trauger (Jet Propulsion Laboratory, United States) and the WFPC2 Science Team."; jPARAGRAPH9[6] = "Additional info"; jFULL[6] = ""; jFRENCH[6] = ""; jGERMAN[6] = ""; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[7] = "PR"; jID[7] = "PR 10-2003"; jTITLE[7] = "ESA chairs the International Living With a Star programme"; jDATE[7] = "20 February 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[7] = ""; jPORTRAIT1[7] = ""; jPORTRAIT2[7] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[7] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[7] = ""; jLANDSCAPE1[7] = ""; jLANDSCAPE2[7] = ""; jLANDSCAPE3[7] = ""; jPHOTOURL0[7] = ""; jPHOTOURL1[7] = ""; jPHOTOURL2[7] = ""; jPHOTOURL3[7] = ""; jPARAGRAPH0[7] = "ESA is providing the first chairman for the International Living With A Star (ILWS) programme. ILWS is an unprecedented initiative in which space agencies worldwide are getting together to investigate how variations in the Sun affect the environment of Earth and the other planets, in the short and long term. In particular, ILWS will concentrate on those aspects of the Sun-Earth system that may affect mankind and society. It is a major collaborative initiative between Europe, the United States, Russia, Japan, and Canada."; jPARAGRAPH1[7] = "The Sun is a variable star. The amount of radiation it releases changes constantly, especially at wavelengths that we cannot see, such as ultraviolet. It also releases a stormy 'wind' of particles known as the solar wind that buffets the Earth's magnetic field. Sudden changes in the solar wind can disable communications satellites, disrupt power stations on Earth, and affect passengers in high-flying aircraft. Slow variation in the solar output and even in the solar wind could contribute to climatic changes. Knowing more about these phenomena is therefore very important in different and sometimes unexpected ways."; jPARAGRAPH2[7] = "There will be various ILWS mission launches over an approximately ten-year period, starting in 2003. Pooling the resources of the largest fleet of spacecraft in history, the ILWS programme will provide a first global view of the Sun-Earth interaction and lead to a real understanding of it. It will look at the Sun's effects on other planets also."; jPARAGRAPH3[7] = "ESA's missions form a vital part of ILWS. SOHO and Cluster are leading the way. In 2003, in collaboration with China, a space mission called Double Star will be launched to complement Cluster. In a decade's time, ESA's Solar Orbiter will be the centre of interest. It will go closer to the Sun than any solar mission ever before. In between, ESA will assist in exploiting other agency's missions to the full; it is also currently negotiating to provide ground stations for Japan's Solar-B mission (launch 2005), and is considering the part it may play in NASA's STEREO (launch 2005) and Solar Dynamics Orbiter (launch 2007) missions."; jPARAGRAPH4[7] = "In addition, ESA's missions to the other terrestrial planets, Mars Express (launching 2003), Venus Express (launching 2005), and the mission to Mercury, BepiColombo (launching 2011/2012), will carry experiments that look at solar-wind interactions with their respective planets."; jPARAGRAPH5[7] = "Hermann Opgenoorth, ESA's newly appointed Head of Solar and Solar-Terrestrial Missions, is chairing the ILWS steering committee for the first two years. \"There is a clear need to study the Sun and its interaction with the Earth\" he says, \"and it is too big a job for a single space agency to cope with.\""; jPARAGRAPH6[7] = "Notes to editors"; jPARAGRAPH7[7] = "The new International Living With a Star (ILWS) programme builds upon a previous international framework between Europe, Japan, Russia (formerly the Soviet Union), and the United States to study the Sun and its effects on Earth. That framework was the International Solar Terrestrial Physics (ISTP) programme. The SOHO and Cluster missions were part of ESA's contribution. For ILWS, the Canadian Space Agency has joined the collaboration."; jPARAGRAPH8[7] = "A 'kick-off' meeting between the space agencies involved in ILWS was held on 4-6 September 2002 in Washington DC, United States. An international steering committee of representatives from those agencies will now supervise the programme. The committee comprises five space agencies: the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the European Space Agency (ESA), Japan's Institute for Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), the Russian Aviation and Space Agency (Rosaviacosmos), and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA)."; jPARAGRAPH9[7] = "There will be an ILWS Working Group to coordinate special projects. More than 20 space agencies have announced their participation in the first Working Group meeting, scheduled to take place in Nice, France, on 14 -15 April 2003. Contributions from the various space agencies include missions, payloads, subsystems, launch or tracking services, rockets, balloons, and open access to data sources."; jFULL[7] = ""; jFRENCH[7] = "http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/Pr_10_2003_p_FR.html"; jGERMAN[7] = "http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/Pr_10_2003_p_GE.html"; jFURTHERINFO[7] = true; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[8] = "PH"; jID[8] = "PhR 2-2003"; jTITLE[8] = "Hubble resolves a blaze of stars in galaxy's core"; jDATE[8] = "6 March 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[8] = "http://www.esa.int/export/images/hst_ngc1705_s .jpg"; jPORTRAIT1[8] = ""; jPORTRAIT2[8] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[8] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[8] = ""; jLANDSCAPE1[8] = ""; jLANDSCAPE2[8] = ""; jLANDSCAPE3[8] = ""; jPHOTOURL0[8] = "http://esamultimedia.esa.int/images/spcs/hubble/ngc1705_high.jpg"; jPHOTOURL1[8] = ""; jPHOTOURL2[8] = ""; jPHOTOURL3[8] = ""; jPARAGRAPH0[8] = "The central region of the small galaxy NGC 1705 blazes with the light of thousands of young and old stars. Astronomers call NGC 1705 a dwarf irregular, that is, a small galaxy lacking regular structure. Knowing how dwarf irregular galaxies evolve tells us a lot about galaxy formation and evolution."; jPARAGRAPH1[8] = "At 17 million light-years away, the individual stars of the galaxy NGC 1705 are out of range of all but the sharp eyes of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. NGC 1705 is an ideal laboratory to conduct investigations on the history of star formation. Young, blue, hot stars are strongly concentrated toward the galaxy's centre. Older, red, cooler stars are more spread out. This galaxy has been forming new stars throughout its lifetime, but a burst of star-formation activity occurred as recently as 26 to 31 million years ago. This 'starburst' is responsible for many of the young stars on the outskirts of this galaxy's core as well as the central giant star cluster."; jPARAGRAPH2[8] = "Many astronomers now believe that dwarf galaxies were the first galaxies to collapse and start forming stars in the early Universe. They represent the building blocks from which more massive objects (spiral and elliptical galaxies) later formed. Nearby small galaxies are thought to be the leftovers of the galaxy-formation process. Dwarf irregular galaxies are probably fairly old stellar systems whose chemical and physical properties may be the result of the process of slow evolution. The Hubble observations of the stars in NGC 1705 and other close irregulars show that these galaxies are several thousand million years old. NGC 1705 could be as old as 13.5 thousand million years."; jPARAGRAPH3[8] = "Dwarf irregulars are similar in many ways to very young galaxies, but they are much nearer and easier to study. These galaxies seem to have consumed only a tiny part of their reservoir of gas. Their stars have a much lower fraction of heavy elements than does the Sun. Astronomers therefore think that only a few generations of stars have formed there over time. NGC 1705's age, its irregular shape, and proximity all make it an excellent source of knowledge about galaxy formation and evolution."; jPARAGRAPH4[8] = "This image was taken in March 1999 and November 2000 by an international science team led by Monica Tosi at Italy's National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF) at the Osservatorio Astronomico di Bologna. Other team members include Alessandra Aloisi (JHU), Mark Clampin (STScI), Laura Greggio (INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova), Claus Leitherer and Antonella Nota (STScI). Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 observed the galaxy in ultraviolet, blue, visible, and infrared light. Although not included in this image, NICMOS (Near Infrared Camera and Multi Object Spectrometer) observations were also made of the galaxy's central core."; jPARAGRAPH5[8] = "Notes for editors"; jPARAGRAPH6[8] = "The Hubble Space Telescope project is an international cooperation between ESA and NASA."; jPARAGRAPH7[8] = "This material is being co-released with NASA/STScI/OPO."; jPARAGRAPH8[8] = "Acknowledgment: M. Tosi (INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Bologna)

Image credit: NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)"; jPARAGRAPH9[8] = "Additional info"; jFULL[8] = ""; jFRENCH[8] = ""; jGERMAN[8] = ""; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[9] = "PR"; jID[9] = "PR 15-2003"; jTITLE[9] = "European astronomers observe first evaporating planet"; jDATE[9] = "12 March 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[9] = ""; jPORTRAIT1[9] = ""; jPORTRAIT2[9] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[9] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[9] = ""; jLANDSCAPE1[9] = ""; jLANDSCAPE2[9] = ""; jLANDSCAPE3[9] = ""; jPHOTOURL0[9] = ""; jPHOTOURL1[9] = ""; jPHOTOURL2[9] = ""; jPHOTOURL3[9] = ""; jPARAGRAPH0[9] = "Using the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have, for the first time, observed the atmosphere of an extrasolar planet evaporating into space. Much of this planet may eventually disappear, leaving only a dense core. It is a type of extrasolar planet known as a 'hot Jupiter'. These giant gaseous planets orbit their stars very closely, drawn to them like moths to a flame."; jPARAGRAPH1[9] = "The scorched planet called HD 209458b orbits 'only' 7 million kilometres from its yellow Sun-like star. By comparison, Jupiter, the closest gas giant in our Solar System, orbits 780 million kilometres from our Sun. NASA/ESA Hubble Space telescope observations reveal a hot and puffed-up evaporating hydrogen atmosphere surrounding the planet. This huge envelope of hydrogen resembles a comet with a tail trailing behind the planet. The planet circles the parent star in a tight 3.5-day orbit. Earth also has an extended atmosphere of escaping hydrogen gas, but the loss rate is much lower."; jPARAGRAPH2[9] = "A mainly European team led by Alfred Vidal-Madjar (Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris, CNRS, France) reports this discovery in the 13 March edition of Nature. \"We were astonished to see that the hydrogen atmosphere of this planet extends over 200 000 kilometres,\" says Vidal-Madjar."; jPARAGRAPH3[9] = "Studying extrasolar planets, especially if they are very close to their parent stars, is not easy because the starlight is usually too blinding. The planet was also too close to the star for Hubble to photograph directly in this case. However, astronomers were able to observe the planet indirectly since it blocks light from a small part of the star during transits across the disc of the star, thereby dimming it slightly. Light passing through the atmosphere around the planet is scattered and acquires a signature from the atmosphere. In a similar way, the Sun's light is reddened as it passes obliquely through the Earth's atmosphere at sunset. Astronomers used Hubble's space telescope imaging spectrograph (STIS) to measure how much of the planet's atmosphere filters light from the star. They saw a startling drop in the star's hydrogen emission. A huge, puffed-up atmosphere can best explain this result."; jPARAGRAPH4[9] = "What is causing the atmosphere to escape? The planet's outer atmosphere is extended and heated so much by the nearby star that it starts to escape the planet's gravity. Hydrogen boils off in the planet's upper atmosphere under the searing heat from the star. \"The atmosphere is heated, the hydrogen escapes the planet's gravitational pull and is pushed away by the starlight, fanning out in a large tail behind the planet - like that of a comet,\" says Alain Lecavelier des Etangs, of the Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris. Astronomers estimate the amount of hydrogen gas escaping from HD 209458b to be at least 10 000 tonnes per second, but possibly much more. The planet may therefore already have lost quite a lot of its mass."; jPARAGRAPH5[9] = "HD 209458b belongs to a type of extrasolar planet known as 'hot Jupiters'. These planets orbit precariously close to their stars. They are giant gaseous planets that must have formed in the cold outer reaches of the star system and then spiralled into their close orbits. This new discovery might help explain why 'hot Jupiters' so often orbit a few million kilometres from their parent stars. They are not usually found much closer than 7 million kilometres, the distance in the case of HD 209458b. Currently, the closest is 5.7 million kilometres. Hot Jupiters have orbits as brief as 3 days, but no less. Perhaps the evaporation of the atmosphere plays a role in setting an inner boundary for orbits of hot Jupiters."; jPARAGRAPH6[9] = "Notes for editors"; jPARAGRAPH7[9] = "HD 209458b has a diameter 1.3 times that of Jupiter, and two-thirds the mass. Its orbit is one-eighth the size of Mercury's orbit around the Sun. The parent star is similar to our Sun and lies 150 light-years from Earth. It is visible with binoculars as a seventh magnitude star in the constellation of Pegasus. In 1999, this star suddenly entered the astronomical Hall of Fame when the extrasolar planet HD 209458b passed in front of it and partly eclipsed it. This was the first confirmed transiting extrasolar planet ever discovered. In 2001, Hubble detected the element sodium in the lower part of HD 209458b's atmosphere, the first signature of an atmosphere on any extrasolar planet."; jPARAGRAPH8[9] = "The team is composed of A. Vidal-Madjar, lead author of the discovery (Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris, CNRS, France) A. Lecavelier des Etangs and J.-M. Désert (Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris, CNRS, France), G. Ballester (University of Arizona, United States), R. Ferlet and G. Hébrard (Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris, France), and M. Mayor (Geneva Observatory, Switzerland). With Hubble they observed three transits of the planet in front of the star. The observations of the atomic hydrogen envelope were made in ultraviolet (Lyman-alpha) light, using Hubble's STIS spectrograph. Hubble's position above the atmosphere makes it the only telescope currently able to perform this type of ultraviolet study."; jPARAGRAPH9[9] = "Searching for and studying extrasolar planets is the aim of several of ESA's scientific missions. Eddington, for instance, due for launch in 2007, will discover large numbers of transiting planets of all types, including many transiting 'hot Jupiters' similar to HD 209458b. These will be ideal targets for the same type of detailed follow-up studies with large space- and ground-based telescopes."; jFULL[9] = "http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/SEMD5P2A6BD_index_0.html"; jFRENCH[9] = "http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/Pr_15_2003_p_FR.html"; jGERMAN[9] = "http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/Pr_15_2003_p_GE.html"; jFURTHERINFO[9] = true; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[10] = "PR"; jID[10] = "PR 17-2003"; jTITLE[10] = "ESA presents SMART-1 - Europe to the Moon, the Moon for Europe"; jDATE[10] = "19 March 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[10] = ""; jPORTRAIT1[10] = ""; jPORTRAIT2[10] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[10] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[10] = ""; jLANDSCAPE1[10] = ""; jLANDSCAPE2[10] = ""; jLANDSCAPE3[10] = ""; jPHOTOURL0[10] = ""; jPHOTOURL1[10] = ""; jPHOTOURL2[10] = ""; jPHOTOURL3[10] = ""; jPARAGRAPH0[10] = "The European Space Agency will present its SMART-1 lunar mission to the press on 3 April 2003. The event will take place at the European Space Technology Research Centre (ESTEC), Noordwijk, The Netherlands and will place the mission in its correct scientific, technological and European framework."; jPARAGRAPH1[10] = "SMART-1 is a prototype for space missions of the future. It is a small, low-cost mission that emphasises miniaturisation. It carries ten experiments that will test a host of technological innovations in the context of the first European scientific mission to the Moon."; jPARAGRAPH2[10] = "SMART-1 is the first in a series of \"Small Missions for Advanced Research and Technology\". The programme is dedicated to finding new solutions that can bring down the cost of space missions and allow more space science to be done for the money. SMART-1 is a precursor of a new philosophy, based on developing lightweight technologies for spacecraft. Accordingly the benefits are not only for space science but the mission technology is also aimed to help maintain the European space industry at the forefront of commercial competitiveness and technological know-how."; jPARAGRAPH3[10] = "The centrepiece of the SMART-1 mission is the testing of solar electric propulsion (SEP), commonly referred to as an ion engine. This is a key technology that will make possible future missions such as Bepi-Colombo to Mercury and the Solar Orbiter. However the use will not just be limited to science; the telecommunications industry is being very attentive, too."; jPARAGRAPH4[10] = "The technology preparation for SMART-1 will be presented at the event. At the same time, SMART-1 is far more than just a technology demonstrator. Although astronauts long ago walked on the Moon, there are many science problems that can only be tackled by global surveying of the kind SMART-1 will do. Its new science instruments will attack some of the most perplexing lunar mysteries, including the formation of the Moon, the search for water ice and the analysis of the lunar crust's mineral composition."; jPARAGRAPH5[10] = "The SMART-1 day at ESTEC will take the form of a series of presentations by relevant project leaders, and offer the chance to actually view the spacecraft in the test facilities."; jPARAGRAPH6[10] = ""; jPARAGRAPH7[10] = ""; jPARAGRAPH8[10] = ""; jPARAGRAPH9[10] = ""; jFULL[10] = "http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/SEMKKO8YFDD_index_0.html"; jFRENCH[10] = "http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/Pr_17_2003_p_FR.html"; jGERMAN[10] = "http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/Pr_17_2003_p_GE.html"; jFURTHERINFO[10] = true; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[11] = "IN"; jID[11] = "INF 6-2003"; jTITLE[11] = "ESA's Rosetta mission, a status report"; jDATE[11] = "20 March 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[11] = ""; jPORTRAIT1[11] = ""; jPORTRAIT2[11] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[11] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[11] = ""; jLANDSCAPE1[11] = ""; jLANDSCAPE2[11] = ""; jLANDSCAPE3[11] = ""; jPHOTOURL0[11] = ""; jPHOTOURL1[11] = ""; jPHOTOURL2[11] = ""; jPHOTOURL3[11] = ""; jPARAGRAPH0[11] = "Following the decision not to launch Europe's comet chaser, Rosetta, in January, scientists and engineers in the programme have been examining several alternative mission scenarios."; jPARAGRAPH1[11] = "Each has been looked at on the basis of the expected scientific return, the technical risks related to using the Rosetta design in the new mission, and the containment of costs."; jPARAGRAPH2[11] = "Of the nine mission scenarios studied by the Rosetta Science Working Team, three have survived to this point and were presented to the delegations of the ESA Member States through the Science Programme Committee at its meeting on 25/26 February. Two mission scenarios (in February 2004 and 2005 respectively) would take Rosetta to a new target comet, Churyumov-Gerasimenko, while another (in January 2004) would take it to its original target, Comet Wirtanen."; jPARAGRAPH3[11] = "All three options are now being studied in detail so that the final decision can be made. A campaign of observations using both the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and the instruments of the European Southern Observatory is under way to study Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko. In this way, astronomers will be able to characterise the comet and perform a mission analysis, also to identify landing scenarios and make a thorough assessment of any hardware modification that would be necessary."; jPARAGRAPH4[11] = "In parallel, ESA is assessing the launch requirements for the various mission scenarios. This will include looking at alternatives to Ariane as back-up options, such as the Russian Proton rocket."; jPARAGRAPH5[11] = "The final decision on Rosetta's new mission scenario will be made by the ESA Science Programme Committee in May."; jPARAGRAPH6[11] = "* * * *"; jPARAGRAPH7[11] = "Note to editors"; jPARAGRAPH8[11] = "Following the failure of Ariane Flight 157 in December, with the loss of two spacecraft, ESA and Arianespace took the joint decision not to launch Rosetta during its January launch window. This meant that Rosetta's originally intended mission to Comet Wirtanen had to be abandoned."; jPARAGRAPH9[11] = ""; jFULL[11] = "http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/Pr_6_2003_i_EN.html"; jFRENCH[11] = "http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/Pr_6_2003_i_FR.html"; jGERMAN[11] = "http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/Pr_6_2003_i_GE.html"; jFURTHERINFO[11] = true; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[12] = "PH"; jID[12] = "PhR 3-2003"; jTITLE[12] = "A perfect storm of turbulent gases"; jDATE[12] = "24 April 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[12] = ""; jPORTRAIT1[12] = ""; jPORTRAIT2[12] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[12] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[12] = "http://www.esa.int/export/images/38331_120.jpg"; jLANDSCAPE1[12] = "http://www.esa.int/export/images/38340_120.jpg"; jLANDSCAPE2[12] = "http://www.esa.int/export/images/38325_120.jpg"; jLANDSCAPE3[12] = ""; jPHOTOURL0[12] = "http://esamultimedia.esa.int/images/38331.jpg"; jPHOTOURL1[12] = "http://esamultimedia.esa.int/images/38340.jpg"; jPHOTOURL2[12] = "http://esamultimedia.esa.int/images/38325.jpg"; jPHOTOURL3[12] = ""; jPARAGRAPH0[12] = "Like the fury of a raging sea, this anniversary image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows a bubbly ocean of glowing hydrogen, oxygen, and sulphur gas in the extremely massive and luminous molecular nebula Messier 17."; jPARAGRAPH1[12] = "This Hubble photograph captures a small region within Messier 17 (M17), a hotbed of star formation. M17, also known as the Omega or Swan Nebula, is located about 5500 light-years away in the Sagittarius constellation. The release of this image commemorates the thirteenth anniversary of Hubble's launch on 24 April 1990"; jPARAGRAPH2[12] = "The wave-like patterns of gas have been sculpted and illuminated by a torrent of ultraviolet radiation from young, massive stars (which lie outside the picture to the upper left). The glow of these patterns highlights the 3D structure of the gases. The ultraviolet radiation is carving and heating the surfaces of cold hydrogen gas clouds."; jPARAGRAPH3[12] = "The warmed surfaces glow orange and red in this image. The intense heat and pressure cause some material to stream away from the surface, creating the glowing veil of even hotter green-coloured gas that masks background structures. The pressure on the tips of the waves may trigger new star formation within them."; jPARAGRAPH4[12] = "The image, roughly 3 light-years across, was taken on 29-30 May 1999, with Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2. The colours in the image represent various gases. Red represents sulphur; green, hydrogen; and blue, oxygen."; jPARAGRAPH5[12] = "Notes for editors"; jPARAGRAPH6[12] = "The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA).

This material is being co-released with NASA (STScI/OPO).

Image credit: European Space Agency, NASA, and J. Hester (Arizona State University, United States)"; jPARAGRAPH7[12] = ""; jPARAGRAPH8[12] = ""; jPARAGRAPH9[12] = "Additional info"; jFULL[12] = ""; jFRENCH[12] = ""; jGERMAN[12] = ""; jFURTHERINFO[12] = true; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[13] = "PR"; jID[13] = "PR 28-2003"; jTITLE[13] = "ESA's Mars Express ready for launch"; jDATE[13] = "5 May 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[13] = ""; jPORTRAIT1[13] = ""; jPORTRAIT2[13] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[13] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[13] = ""; jLANDSCAPE1[13] = ""; jLANDSCAPE2[13] = ""; jLANDSCAPE3[13] = ""; jPHOTOURL0[13] = ""; jPHOTOURL1[13] = ""; jPHOTOURL2[13] = ""; jPHOTOURL3[13] = ""; jPARAGRAPH0[13] = "Just before midnight on 2 June (23:45 local time, 19:45 CEST) a Soyuz rocket operated by Starsem will lift off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, and Mars Express will be on its way. The spacecraft was given the green light to launch following completion of a successful flight readiness review on 3 May."; jPARAGRAPH1[13] = "The Mars Express launch window opens on 23 May and lasts only four weeks. However, just before the spacecraft was due to leave Toulouse, France, for its trip to Baikonur in Kazakhstan, engineers discovered a fault in one of the electronics modules. \"Of course, it was the most difficult box to remove from the spacecraft,\" says with a smile Rudi Schmidt, Mars Express Project Manager."; jPARAGRAPH2[13] = "In view of the estimated time needed to correct the fault, the launch date was initially put back from 23 May to 6 June, still within the launch window. However, thanks to the skill and dedication of the engineering team, the job was completed sooner than expected and the launch date was brought forward."; jPARAGRAPH3[13] = "Mars Express is currently being fuelled, an operation that takes about a week. It will then be attached to Fregat, the Soyuz upper stage rocket booster, and mated with the Soyuz rocket. The whole system will be rolled out to the pad four days before launch. The journey to Mars will take six months and the spacecraft should enter its Martian orbit on 26 December."; jPARAGRAPH4[13] = "Europe's contribution to the exploration of the Red Planet will begin soon. "; jPARAGRAPH5[13] = ""; jPARAGRAPH6[13] = ""; jPARAGRAPH7[13] = ""; jPARAGRAPH8[13] = ""; jPARAGRAPH9[13] = ""; jFULL[13] = "http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/SEML5JR1VED_index_0.html"; jFRENCH[13] = "http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/Pr_28_2003_p_FR.html"; jGERMAN[13] = "http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/Pr_28_2003_p_GE.html"; jFURTHERINFO[13] = true; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[14] = "PH"; jID[14] = "PhR 4-2003"; jTITLE[14] = "Eye-catching celestial helix "; jDATE[14] = "9 May 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[14] = ""; jPORTRAIT1[14] = ""; jPORTRAIT2[14] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[14] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[14] = "http://www.esa.int/export/images/hubble_38418_S.jpg"; jLANDSCAPE1[14] = ""; jLANDSCAPE2[14] = ""; jLANDSCAPE3[14] = ""; jPHOTOURL0[14] = "http://esamultimedia.esa.int/images/Science/hubble_38418.jpg"; jPHOTOURL1[14] = ""; jPHOTOURL2[14] = ""; jPHOTOURL3[14] = ""; jPARAGRAPH0[14] = "In one of the largest and most detailed celestial images ever, astronomers today unveil the coil-shaped Helix Nebula to celebrate Astronomy Day."; jPARAGRAPH1[14] = ""; jPARAGRAPH2[14] = "This ESA/NASA Hubble Space Telescope image shows a fine web of filamentary 'bicycle-spoke' features embedded in the colourful red and blue gas ring, which is one of the nearest planetary nebulae to Earth. The nebula is nearby so it is nearly half the size of the diameter of the full Moon. Hubble astronomers took several exposures with the Advanced Camera for Surveys to capture most of it. They then combined Hubble views with a wider photo taken by Kitt Peak's Mosaic Camera."; jPARAGRAPH3[14] = "The result is a breathtaking look down a tunnel of glowing gases that is a million million kilometres long. The fluorescing tube is pointed nearly directly at Earth, so it looks more like a bubble than a cylinder. Thousands of comet-like filaments embedded along the inner rim of the nebula point back toward the central star, which is a small but superhot white dwarf. These tentacles formed when a hot stellar 'wind' of gas ploughed into colder shells of dust and gas previously ejected by the doomed star. Astronomers have known about these comet-like filaments from ground-based telescopes for decades but have never before seen them in so much detail. The filaments may lie in a disc around the hot star, like a collar."; jPARAGRAPH4[14] = "During the November 2002 Leonid meteor storm, to protect the spacecraft and Hubble's precise mirror, controllers turned Hubble's tail end towards the meteor stream for about half a day. Fortunately, the Helix Nebula was almost exactly in the opposite direction of the meteor stream, so Hubble used nine orbits to photograph the nebula while it waited out the storm. To capture the nebula, Hubble had to take nine separate snapshots. Astronomers at the Space Telescope Science Institute assembled these images into a mosaic. Experts then blended the mosaic with a wider photograph taken by the Mosaic Camera on the National Science Foundation's 0.9-metre telescope at Kitt Peak National Optical Astronomy Observatory, United States. The radiant colours correspond to glowing hydrogen and nitrogen (red) and oxygen (blue)."; jPARAGRAPH5[14] = "Planetary nebulae like the Helix are sculpted late in a Sun-like star's life by a torrential gush of gases escaping from the dying star. They have nothing to do with planet formation, but get their name because they look like planetary disks in a small telescope. With higher magnification, astronomers can resolve the classic 'doughnut-hole' in the middle of a planetary nebula. Given the nebula's distance of 650 light-years, its angular size corresponds to a huge ring diameter of nearly 3 light-years across. This distance is approximately three-quarters of the distance between our Sun and the nearest star."; jPARAGRAPH6[14] = "The Helix Nebula is a popular target for amateur astronomers. Viewed through binoculars, it appears as a ghostly, green-coloured cloud in the constellation Aquarius. Larger amateur telescopes can resolve the ring-shaped nebula, but only the largest ground-based telescopes can resolve the radial streaks. After careful analysis, astronomers conclude that this nebula is a cylinder that happens to be pointed toward Earth, rather than a bubble."; jPARAGRAPH7[14] = "Notes for editors"; jPARAGRAPH8[14] = "For broadcasters, animations of the Helix Nebula are available from http://www.spacetelescope.org/video/releases.html

This image is a seamless blend of ultrasharp Hubble images combined with the wide view of the Mosaic Camera on the National Science Foundation's 0.9-metre telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, Arizona, United States

Image credit: NASA, NOAO, ESA, the Hubble Helix Nebula Team, M. Meixner (STScI), and T.A. Rector (NRAO).

This material is being co-released with NASA (STScI/OPO).

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA."; jPARAGRAPH9[14] = "Additional info"; jFULL[14] = ""; jFRENCH[14] = ""; jGERMAN[14] = ""; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[15] = "PR"; jID[15] = "PR 31-2003"; jTITLE[15] = "ESA's Cluster solved an auroral puzzle"; jDATE[15] = "20 May 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[15] = ""; jPORTRAIT1[15] = ""; jPORTRAIT2[15] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[15] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[15] = ""; jLANDSCAPE1[15] = ""; jLANDSCAPE2[15] = ""; jLANDSCAPE3[15] = ""; jPHOTOURL0[15] = ""; jPHOTOURL1[15] = ""; jPHOTOURL2[15] = ""; jPHOTOURL3[15] = ""; jPARAGRAPH0[15] = "ESA's four Cluster spacecraft have made a remarkable set of observations that has led to a breakthrough in understanding the origin of a peculiar and puzzling type of aurora."; jPARAGRAPH1[15] = "These aurorae - seen as bright spots in Earth's atmosphere and called 'dayside proton auroral spots' - occur when fractures appear in the Earth's magnetic field, allowing particles given out from the Sun to squirt through and collide with the molecules in our atmosphere. This is the first time that a precise and direct connection between the two events has been made."; jPARAGRAPH2[15] = "The Earth's magnetic field acts like a shield, protecting Earth from the constant stream of tiny particles ejected by the Sun and known as the 'solar wind'. The solar wind itself is made of hydrogen atoms, broken into their constituent pieces: protons and electrons. When electrons find routes into our atmosphere, they collide with and excite the atoms in the air. When these excited atoms release their energy, it is given out as light, creating the glowing 'curtains' we see as the aurora borealis (or the aurora australis in the southern hemisphere). Dayside proton auroral spots are caused by protons 'stealing' electrons from the atoms in our atmosphere."; jPARAGRAPH3[15] = "On 18 March last year, a jet of energetic solar protons collided with the Earth's atmosphere and created a bright 'spot' seen by NASA's IMAGE spacecraft, just as Cluster passed overhead and straight through the region where the proton jet was emanating. An extensive analysis of the Cluster results has now shown that the region was experiencing a turbulent event known as 'magnetic reconnection'. Such a phenomenon takes place when the Earth's usually impenetrable magnetic field fractures and has to find a new stable configuration. Until the field mends itself, solar protons leak through the gap and jet into Earth's atmosphere creating the dayside proton aurora. "; jPARAGRAPH4[15] = "Philippe Escoubet, ESA's Cluster Project Scientist, comments, \"Thanks to Cluster's observations scientists can directly and firmly link for the first time a dayside proton auroral spot and a magnetic reconnection event.\""; jPARAGRAPH5[15] = "Tai Phan, leading the investigation at the University of California, Berkeley, United States, now looks forward to a new way of studying the Earth's protective shield. He says, \"This result has opened up a new area of research. We can now watch dayside proton aurorae and use those observations to know where and how the cracks in the magnetic field are formed and how long the cracks remain open. That makes it a powerful tool to study the entry of the solar wind into the Earth's magnetosphere.\""; jPARAGRAPH6[15] = "The Earth's interaction with the Sun is a current focus of scientific attention because of its importance in knowing how the Sun affects the Earth, most notably our climate. Also, while not immediately dangerous to us on Earth, it is also important for quantifying the danger to satellites, which can be damaged or destroyed by powerful solar flares."; jPARAGRAPH7[15] = "Note to Editors:

Proton aurorae were globally imaged for the first time by NASA's IMAGE spacecraft. The images revealed the presence of the 'dayside proton auroral spots'. By a fortunate coincidence, IMAGE and Cluster both spotted the event on 18 March 2002. Combining with IMAGE's observations, Cluster made it possible to establish the ground truth of the phenomenon.

The paper on these results, Simultaneous Cluster and IMAGE Observations of Cusp Reconnection and Auroral Spot for Northward IMF by Tai Phan and 24 other authors will be published in Geophysical Research Letters, 21 May 2003, Vol. 30, No. 10.

The principal investigators responsible for the instruments that made these results possible are: Henri Rème of CESR/Toulouse, France (Cluster Proton Detectors), Andre Balogh of Imperial College, London, United Kingdom (Cluster Magnetic Field Instrument) and Stephen Mende of University of California, Berkeley, United States (IMAGE/FUV)."; jPARAGRAPH8[15] = "More about Cluster"; jPARAGRAPH9[15] = "ESA's Cluster is a collection of four spacecraft, launched on two Russian rockets during the summer of 2000. They are now flying in formation around the Earth, relaying the most detailed ever information about how the solar wind affects our planet in 3D. The solar wind is the perpetual stream of subatomic particles given out by the Sun and it can damage communications satellites and power stations on the Earth. The Cluster mission is expected to continue until at least 2005.

Cluster is part of the International Living with a Star programme (ILWS), in which space agencies worldwide get together to investigate how variations in the Sun affect the environment of Earth and the other planets. In particular, ILWS concentrate on those aspects of the Sun-Earth system that may affect mankind and society. ILWS is a collaborative initiative between Europe, the United States, Russia, Japan and Canada."; jFULL[15] = "http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/SEML43S1VED_index_0.html"; jFRENCH[15] = "http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/Pr_31_2003_p_FR.html"; jGERMAN[15] = "http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/Pr_31_2003_p_GE.html"; jFURTHERINFO[15] = true; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[16] = "IN"; jID[16] = "INF 11-2003"; jTITLE[16] = "Mars Express – ESA sets ambitious goals for the first European mission to Mars"; jDATE[16] = "20 May 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[16] = ""; jPORTRAIT1[16] = ""; jPORTRAIT2[16] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[16] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[16] = ""; jLANDSCAPE1[16] = ""; jLANDSCAPE2[16] = ""; jLANDSCAPE3[16] = ""; jPHOTOURL0[16] = ""; jPHOTOURL1[16] = ""; jPHOTOURL2[16] = ""; jPHOTOURL3[16] = ""; jPARAGRAPH0[16] = "On 2 June 2003, the first European mission to Mars will be launched. It will also be the first fully European mission to any planet. Mars Express has been designed to perform the most thorough exploration ever of the Red Planet. It has the ambitious aim of not only searching for water, but also understanding the 'behaviour' of the planet as a whole. But maybe the most ambitious aim of all - Mars Express is the only mission in more than 25 years that dares to search for life. "; jPARAGRAPH1[16] = "Mars has always fascinated human beings. No other planet has been visited so many times by spacecraft. And still, it has not been easy to unveil its secrets. Martian mysteries seem to have increased in quantity and complexity with every mission. When the first spacecraft were sent - the Mariner series in 1960s - the public was expecting an Earth 'twin', a green, inhabited planet full of oceans. Mariner shattered this dream by showing a barren surface. This was followed by the Viking probes which searched for life unsuccessfully in 1976. Mars appeared dry, cold and uninhabited: the Earth's opposite."; jPARAGRAPH2[16] = "Now, two decades later, modern spacecraft have changed that view, but they have also returned more questions. Current data show that Mars was probably much warmer in the past. Scientists now think that Mars had oceans, so it could have been a suitable place for life in the past."; jPARAGRAPH3[16] = "\"We do not know what happened to the planet in the past. Which process turned Mars into the dry, cold world we see today?\" says Agustin Chicarro, ESA's Mars Express project scientist. \"With Mars Express, we will find out. Above all, we aim to obtain a complete global view of the planet - its history, its geology, how it has evolved. Real planetology!\""; jPARAGRAPH4[16] = "Mars Express will reach the Red Planet by the end of December 2003, after a trip of just over six months. Six days before injection into its final orbit, Mars Express will eject the lander, Beagle 2, named after the ship on which Charles Darwin found inspiration to formulate his theory of evolution. The Mars Express orbiter will observe the planet and its atmosphere from a near-polar orbit, and will remain in operation for at least a whole Martian year (687 Earth days). Beagle 2 will land in an equatorial region that was probably flooded in the past, and where traces of life may have been preserved."; jPARAGRAPH5[16] = "The Mars Express orbiter carries seven advanced experiments, in addition to the Beagle 2 lander. The orbiter's instruments have been built by group of scientific institutes from all over Europe, plus Russia, the United States, Japan and China. These instruments are a subsurface sounding radar; a high-resolution camera, several surface and atmospheric spectrometers, a plasma analyzer and a radio science experiment.

The high-resolution camera will image the entire planet in full colour, in 3D, at a resolution of up to 2 metres in selected areas. One of the spectrometers will map the mineral composition of the surface with great accuracy."; jPARAGRAPH6[16] = "The missing water

Data from some of the instruments will be key to finding out what happened with the water which was apparently so abundant in the past. For instance, the radar altimeter will search for subsurface water and ice, down to a depth of a few kilometres. Scientists expect to find a layer of ice or permafrost, and to measure its thickness."; jPARAGRAPH7[16] = "Other observations with the spectrometers will determine the amount of water remaining in the atmosphere. They will also tell whether there is a still a full 'water cycle' on Mars, for example how water is deposited in the poles and how it evaporates, depending on the seasons."; jPARAGRAPH8[16] = "\"These data will determine how much water there is left. We have clear evidence for the presence of water in the past, we have seen dry river beds and sedimentary layers, and there is also evidence for water on present-day Mars. But we do not know how much water there is. Mars Express will tell us,\" says Chicarro."; jPARAGRAPH9[16] = "The search for life

The instruments on board Beagle 2 will investigate the geology and the climate of the landing site. But, above all, it will look for signs of life.

Contrary to the Viking missions, Mars Express will search for evidence for both present and past life. Scientists are now more aware that a few biological experiments are not enough to search for life - they will combine many different types of tests to help discard contradictory results.

To 'sniff' out direct evidence of past or present biological activity, Beagle 2's 'nose' is a gas analysis package. This will determine whether carbonate minerals, if they exist on Mars, have been involved in biological processes. Beagle's nose will also detect gases such as methane, which scientists believe can only be produced by living organisms.

Beagle 2 will also be able to collect samples from below the surface, whether under large boulders or within the interiors of rocks - places that the life-killing ultraviolet radiation from the Sun cannot reach. These samples will be collected with a probe called the 'mole', which is able to crawl short distances across the surface, at about 1 centimetre every six seconds, and to dig down to 2 metres deep.

Mars Express will add substantial information to the international effort to explore Mars. \"Mars Express is crucial for providing the framework within which all further Mars observations will be understood,\" says Chicarro.

The Mars Express spacecraft is now in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, being prepared for its launch in early June 2003."; jFULL[16] = "http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/SEMV72S1VED_index_0.html"; jFRENCH[16] = "http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/Pr_11_2003_i_FR.html"; jGERMAN[16] = "http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/Pr_11_2003_i_GE.html"; jFURTHERINFO[2] = true; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[17] = "PH"; jID[17] = "PhR 5-2003"; jTITLE[17] = "The mysterious 'Garden-sprinkler' nebula"; jDATE[17] = "22 May 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[17] = ""; jPORTRAIT1[17] = ""; jPORTRAIT2[17] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[17] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[17] = "http://esamultimedia.esa.int/images/Science/SCI_heic0308_orig.jpg"; jLANDSCAPE1[17] = ""; jLANDSCAPE2[17] = ""; jLANDSCAPE3[17] = ""; jPHOTOURL0[17] = "http://esamultimedia.esa.int/images/Science/SCI_heic0308_orig.jpg"; jPHOTOURL1[17] = ""; jPHOTOURL2[17] = ""; jPHOTOURL3[17] = ""; jPARAGRAPH0[17] = "There are many mysterious objects seen in the night sky which are not really well understood. For example, astronomers are puzzled by the 'jets' emerging from planetary nebulae. However, the S-shaped jet from Henize 3-1475 is the most perplexing of all."; jPARAGRAPH1[17] = "'Jets' are long outflows of fast-moving gas found near many objects in the Universe, such as around young stars, or coming from black holes, neutron stars, and planetary nebulae, for example. The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has imaged the young planetary nebula Henize 3-1475 and its bizarre jet. Astronomers have nicknamed it the 'Garden-sprinkler' Nebula."; jPARAGRAPH2[17] = "The origin of jets in the Universe is unclear, but they appear to originate in small regions of space where even Hubble's sharp vision cannot penetrate. To produce a jet, you require some sort of nozzle mechanism. So far, these theoretical 'nozzles' remain hidden by dust that obscures our view of the centres of planetary nebulae. "; jPARAGRAPH3[17] = "Despite decades of intense effort, there is no single example of a jet whose origin is clearly understood. The curious S-shape and extreme high speed of its gaseous outflow gives Henize 3-1475 a special place in the study of planetary nebulae. "; jPARAGRAPH4[17] = "Henize 3-1475 is located in the constellation of Sagittarius around 18 000 light-years away from us. The central star is more than 12 000 times as luminous as our Sun and weighs three to five times as much. With a velocity of around 4 million kilometres per hour, the jets are the fastest ever discovered. Scientists are also intrigued by the converging, funnel-shaped structures that connect the innermost 'knots' and the core region. "; jPARAGRAPH5[17] = "A group of international astronomers led by Angels Riera from Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain, have combined observations from Hubble's Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2, the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph and ground-based telescopes. Their work suggests that the nebula's S-shape and hypervelocity outflow is created by a central source that ejects streams of gas in opposite directions and precesses once every 1500 years. It is like an enormous, slowly rotating garden sprinkler. "; jPARAGRAPH6[17] = "The flow is not smooth, but rather episodic with an interval of about 100 years, creating clumps of gas moving away at velocities up to 4 million kilometres per hour. The reason for these intermittent ejections of gas is not known. It may be due to either cyclic magnetic processes in the central star (similar to the Sun's 22-year magnetic cycle), or to interactions with a companion star."; jPARAGRAPH7[17] = "Notes for editors"; jPARAGRAPH8[17] = "For broadcasters, animations of Henize 3-1475 are available from http://www.spacetelescope.org/video/heic0308_vnr.html

More info about Henize 3-1475

The colour image is composed of five different exposures with Hubble's Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 through the following filters: a wide blue filter (500 seconds), oxygen (800 seconds) shown in green, hydrogen-alpha (830 seconds) shown in yellow-orange, a singly ionised sulphur filter (1200 seconds) shown in orange-red and a wide red filter shown in red.

Image credit: European Space Agency, A. Riera (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Spain) and P. García-Lario (European Space Agency ISO Data Centre, Spain)

The composite image was constructed with data from the ESO/ST-ECF Science Archive. The original Hubble exposures were obtained by J. Borkowski, (North Carolina State University, United States), J. Harrington, (University of Maryland, United States), J. Blondin (North Carolina State University, United States), M. Bobrowsky (Challenger Center for Space Science, United States), M. Meixner (Space Telescope Science Institute, United States), and C. Skinner (Space Telescope Science Institute, United States).

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA."; jPARAGRAPH9[17] = "Additional info"; jFULL[17] = ""; jFRENCH[17] = ""; jGERMAN[17] = ""; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[18] = "IN"; jID[18] = "INF 12-2003"; jTITLE[18] = "Mars Express — how to be fastest to the Red Planet"; jDATE[18] = "30 May 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[18] = ""; jPORTRAIT1[18] = ""; jPORTRAIT2[18] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[18] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[18] = ""; jLANDSCAPE1[18] = ""; jLANDSCAPE2[18] = ""; jLANDSCAPE3[18] = ""; jPHOTOURL0[18] = ""; jPHOTOURL1[18] = ""; jPHOTOURL2[18] = ""; jPHOTOURL3[18] = ""; jPARAGRAPH0[18] = "ESA's Mars Express is a pioneering mission for several reasons. It is the first European voyage to Mars, it has been built at much less than the usual cost, and in record time."; jPARAGRAPH1[18] = "Mars Express is the first example of ESA's new style of developing scientific missions: faster, smarter and more cost-effective, but without compromising reliability and quality - there have been no cuts in tests or pre-launch preparations. Mars Express will face demanding technical challenges during its trip to the Red Planet and ESA engineers have worked hard to make sure it meets them. "; jPARAGRAPH2[18] = "\"With Mars Express, Europe is building its own expertise in many fields. This ranges from the development of science experiments and new technologies - new for European industry - to the control of a mission that includes landing on another planet. We have never done this before,\" says Rudi Schmidt, Mars Express Project Manager."; jPARAGRAPH3[18] = "Quicker, smarter…safe!

Mars Express's design and development phase has taken about four years, compared with about six years for previous similar missions. And its cost, 300 million euros, is much less than other comparable planetary missions. The 'magic' lies in the new managerial approach being used.

This new approach includes the reuse of existing hardware and instruments. Also, the mission was developed by a smaller ESA team, who gave more responsibility to industry. Mars Express has been built by a consortium of 24 companies from ESA's 15 Member States and the United States, led by Astrium as prime contractor.

However, mission safety was never compromised. \"Although we were under heavy pressure towards the end of the project, we did not drop any of the planned tests to save time. I call this a fast design phase, followed by thorough testing activity,\" says Schmidt.

This new streamlined development method will continue with Venus Express and probably other future missions."; jPARAGRAPH4[18] = "Launch

Mars Express will be launched on 2 June on board a Soyuz-Fregat rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The mission consists of an orbiter and a lander, called Beagle 2. In its launch configuration, Mars Express is a honeycombed aluminium box that measures 1.5 by 1.8 by 1.4 metres (excluding solar panels), and weighs 1223 kilograms in total. The Beagle-2 lander travels attached to one side of the spacecraft, folded up rather like a very large pocket watch. Arrival at Mars is scheduled for late December this year, when Beagle 2 will land while the orbiter is entering its orbit around Mars.

The last activities of an intense launch campaign are taking place in Baikonur at this very moment. Mars Express arrived at the Cosmodrome on 20 March. The spacecraft, fuelled with 457 kilograms of propellant, was mounted on the Soyuz launcher on 24 May in a process that the Russians call 'marriage'. The whole structure was rolled out to the launch pad on 29 May, four days before launch."; jPARAGRAPH5[18] = "The fastest possible trip to Mars

One of the reasons scientists had to develop Mars Express so quickly arises from the fact that, this summer, Mars and the Earth will be especially close to each other. Although launch opportunities to go to Mars occur every 26 months - when the Sun, Earth and Mars form a straight line - this year the planets will be at their closest, which happens every 15 to 17 years. On top of that, calculations had shown that the best combination of fuel expenditure and travel time could only be achieved by launching in the period between 23 May and 21 June. The Mars Express team had to work very hard to meet this launch window.

As a tribute from one European high-tech organisation to another, Mars Express is carrying a small container of Ferrari red paint to the Red Planet."; jPARAGRAPH6[18] = "After the launch

Mars Express will separate from the Soyuz Fregat upper stage 90 minutes after liftoff. Then the solar arrays will open and the spacecraft will make contact with ESA's ground station in New Norcia, Western Australia.

Mars Express will be travelling away from Earth at a speed of 3 kilometres per second. A crucial operation at this early stage of the trip will be to release the Beagle-2 launch clamps three days after launch. These clamps are extra gears to make sure that the lander stays securely attached to the spacecraft during the launch, but once in space they are not needed any more. A pyrotechnic device will be activated to release them. This will be a key step, necessary so that Beagle 2 can be ejected when the spacecraft arrives at Mars.

Every effort has been made to ensure that things go smoothly. Schmidt says: \"We have tested all aspects of the mission well enough to be confident that there will be no errors or trivial mistakes. Mars Express has been developed in record time, but there have been no compromises on testing, including the ground segment.\""; jPARAGRAPH7[18] = "Orbiting and landing on Mars

Six days before arrival at Mars, the lander will be released. This operation is regarded as one of the most complex of the Mars Express mission. Beagle 2, which weighs only 65 kilograms, is too light to carry a steering mechanism and is not designed to receive commands during cruise and landing. So Beagle 2 can only reach its planned landing site by relying on the orbiter to put it into the correct trajectory and drop it at a very precise point in space and at a specified speed. The ground control team at the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany, will guide this manoeuvre. To be ready for the approach to Mars and the ejection operations, engineers have been training for months with simulators that resemble sophisticated computer games. Tests will continue after Mars Express's launch.

Approaching Mars, the orbiter will eject the lander and then be left on a collision course with the planet. In another key manoeuvre, ground controllers will have to adjust its trajectory, reducing its speed to 1.8 kilometres per second. At that speed, the planet's gravity will be able to 'capture' the Mars Express orbiter and put it into Mars orbit. Ground controllers will still have to perform several manoeuvres to get the spacecraft into its final operational state - a highly elliptical polar orbit - from where the scientific observations can begin.

In the meantime, Beagle 2 will have landed on Mars. The landing area covers a large ellipsis, 300 kilometres long and 150 kilometres wide, on an equatorial region called Isidis Planitia. It was chosen in the light of the strong Martian winds and the relatively smooth surface of the site. The lander will deploy parachutes, and then large gas-filled bags will protect it as it bounces to a halt on the surface. Once landed, Beagle 2 will emit a 'beep', a signal that will tell operators at the United Kingdom's Jodrell Bank radio telescope station that it has touched down safely. This 9-note call sign was composed for the Beagle-2 team by the British pop group, Blur.

Mars Express will investigate the Martian surface, subsurface, and atmosphere for at least two years. The lander will operate on the surface for about six Earth months, relaying its data to Earth through the orbiter.

Mars Express will help answer fundamental questions about Mars, such as the presence and quantity of water, and possible signs of present or past life. In the worldwide effort to explore the Red Planet in recent years, the European Mars Express mission represents the most thorough investigation of Mars attempted so far."; jPARAGRAPH8[18] = ""; jPARAGRAPH9[18] = ""; jFULL[18] = "http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/SEMAAKS1VED_index_0.html"; jFRENCH[18] = "http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/Pr_12_2003_i_FR.html"; jGERMAN[18] = "http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/Pr_12_2003_i_GE.html"; jFURTHERINFO[18] = true; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[19] = "PR"; jID[19] = "PR 36-2003"; jTITLE[19] = "Mars Express en route for the Red Planet"; jDATE[19] = "2 June 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[19] = ""; jPORTRAIT1[19] = ""; jPORTRAIT2[19] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[19] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[19] = ""; jLANDSCAPE1[19] = ""; jLANDSCAPE2[19] = ""; jLANDSCAPE3[19] = ""; jPARAGRAPH0[19] = "The European Mars Express spaceprobe has been placed successfully in a trajectory that will take it beyond the terrestrial environment and on the way to Mars – getting there in late December. This first European Space Agency probe to head for another planet will enter an orbit around Mars, from where it will perform detailed studies of the planet's surface, its subsurface structures and its atmosphere. It will also deploy Beagle 2, a small autonomous station which will land on the planet, studying its surface and looking for possible signs of life, past or present. "; jPARAGRAPH1[19] = "The probe, weighing in at 1 120 kg, was built on ESA's behalf by a European team led by Astrium. It set out on its journey to Mars aboard a Soyuz-Fregat launcher, under Starsem operational management. The launcher lifted off from Baïkonur in Kazakhstan on 2 June at 23.45 local time (17:45 GMT). An interim orbit around the Earth was reached following a first firing of the Fregat upper stage. One hour and thirty-two minutes after lift off the probe was injected into its interplanetary orbit."; jPARAGRAPH2[19] = "\"Europe is on its way to Mars to stake its claim in the most detailed and complete exploration ever done of the Red Planet. We can be very proud of this and of the speed with which have achieved this goal\", said David Southwood, ESA's Director of Science witnessing the launch from Baikonur. Contact with Mars Express has been established by ESOC, ESA's satellite control centre, located in Darmstadt, Germany. The probe is pointing correctly towards the Sun and has deployed its solar panels. All on-board systems are operating faultlessly. Two days from now, the probe will perform a corrective manœuvre that will place it in a Mars-bound trajectory, while the Fregat stage, trailing behind, will vanish into space – there will be no risk of it crashing into and contaminating the Red Planet."; jPARAGRAPH3[19] = "Mars Express will then travel away from Earth at a speed exceeding 30 km/s (3 km/s in relation to the Earth), on a six-month and 400 million kilometre journey through the solar system. Once all payload operations have been checked out, the probe will be largely deactivated. During this period, the spacecraft will contact Earth only once a day. Mid-journey correction of its trajectory is scheduled for September."; jPARAGRAPH4[19] = "There in time for Christmas"; jPARAGRAPH5[19] = "Following reactivation of its systems at the end of November, Mars Express will get ready to release Beagle 2. The 60 kg capsule containing the tiny lander does not incorporate its own propulsion and steering system and will be released into a collision trajectory with Mars, on 20 December. It will enter the Martian atmosphere on Christmas day, after five days' ballistic flight. As it descends, the lander will be protected in the first instance by a heat-shield; two parachutes will then open to provide further deceleration. With its weight down to 30 kg at most, it will land in an equatorial region known as Isidis Planitia. Three airbags will soften the final impact. This crucial phase in the mission will last just ten minutes, from entry into the atmosphere to landing."; jPARAGRAPH6[19] = "Meanwhile, the Mars Express probe proper will have performed a series of manœuvres through to a capture orbit. At this point its main motor will fire, providing the deceleration needed to acquire a highly elliptical transition orbit. Attaining the final operational orbit will call for four more firings. This 7.5 hour quasi-polar orbit will take the probe to within 250 km of the planet."; jPARAGRAPH7[19] = "Getting to know Mars – inside and out"; jPARAGRAPH8[19] = "Having landed on Mars, Beagle 2 – named after HMS Beagle, on which Charles Darwin voyaged round the world, developing his evolutionary theory – will deploy its solar panels and the payload adjustable workbench, a set of instruments (two cameras, a microscope and two spectrometers) mounted on the end of a robot arm. It will proceed to explore its new environment, gathering geological and mineralogical data that should, for the first time, allow rock samples to be dated with absolute accuracy. Using a grinder and corer, and the \"mole\", a wire-guided mini-robot able to borrow its way under rocks and dig the ground to a depth of 2 m, samples will be collected and then examined in the GAP automated mini-laboratory, equipped with 12 furnaces and a mass spectrometer. The spectrometer will have the job of detecting possible signs of life and dating rock samples."; jPARAGRAPH9[19] = "The Mars Express orbiter will carry out a detailed investigation of the planet, pointing its instruments at Mars for between half-an-hour and an hour per orbit and then, for the remainder of the time, at Earth to relay the information collected in this way and the data transmitted by Beagle 2.

The orbiter's seven on-board instruments are expected to provide considerable information about the structure and evolution of Mars. A very high resolution stereo camera, the HRSC, will perform comprehensive mapping of the planet at 10 m resolution and will even be capable of photographing some areas to a precision of barely 2 m. The OMEGA spectrometer will draw up the first mineralogical map of the planet to 100 m precision. This mineralogical study will be taken further by the PFS spectrometer – which will also chart the composition of the Martian atmosphere, a prerequisite for investigation of atmospheric dynamics. The MARSIS radar instrument, with its 40 m antenna, will sound the surface to a depth of 2 km, exploring its structure and above all searching for pockets of water. Another instrument, ASPERA, will be tasked with investigating interaction between the upper atmosphere and the interplanetary medium. The focus here will be on determining how and at what rate the solar wind, in the absence of a magnetic field capable of deflecting it, scattered the bulk of the Martian atmosphere into space. Atmospheric investigation will also be performed by the SPICAM spectrometer and the MaRS experiment, with special emphasis on stellar occultation and radio signal propagation phenomena.

The orbiter mission should last at least one Martian year (687 days), while Beagle 2 is expected to operate on the planet's surface for 180 days.

Only a start to exploration

This first European mission to Mars incorporates some of the objectives of the Euro-Russian Mars 96 mission, which came to grief when the Proton launcher failed. And indeed a Russian partner is cooperating on each of the orbiter's instruments. Mars Express forms part of an international Mars exploration programme, featuring also the US probes Mars Surveyor and Mars Odyssey, the two Mars Exploration Rovers and the Japanese probe Nozomi. Mars Express may perhaps, within this partnership, relay data from the NASA rovers while Mars Odyssey may, if required, relay data from Beagle 2.

The mission's scientific goals are of outstanding importance. Mars Express will, it is hoped, supply answers to the many questions raised by earlier missions – questions concerning the planet's evolution, the history of its internal activity, the presence of water below its surface, the possibility that Mars may at one time have been covered by oceans and thus have offered an environment conducive to the emergence of some form of life, and even the possibility that life may still be present, somewhere in putative subterranean aquifers. In addition the lander doing direct analysis of the soil and the environment comprises a truly unique mission.

Mars Express, drawing heavily on elements of the Rosetta spacecraft awaiting to be launched to a comet next year, paves the way for other ESA-led planetary missions, with Venus Express planned for 2005 and the BepiColombo mission to Mercury at the end of the decade. It is a precursor too for continuing Mars mission activity under Aurora, the programme of exploration of our solar system."; jFULL[19] = "http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/SEMIKNS1VED_index_0.html"; jFRENCH[19] = "http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/Pr_36_2003_p_FR.html"; jGERMAN[19] = "http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/Pr_36_2003_p_GE.html"; jFURTHERINFO[19] = true; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[20] = "PR"; jID[20] = "PR 38-2003"; jTITLE[20] = "ESA's XMM-Newton makes the first measurement of a dead star's magnetism"; jDATE[20] = "11 June 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[20] = ""; jPORTRAIT1[20] = ""; jPORTRAIT2[20] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[20] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[20] = ""; jLANDSCAPE1[20] = ""; jLANDSCAPE2[20] = ""; jLANDSCAPE3[20] = ""; jPARAGRAPH0[20] = "Using the superior sensitivity of ESA's X-ray observatory, XMM-Newton, a team of European astronomers has made the first direct measurement of a neutron star's magnetic field. The results provide deep insights into the extreme physics of neutron stars and reveal a new mystery yet to be solved about the end of this star's life."; jPARAGRAPH1[20] = "A neutron star is very dense celestial object that usually has something like the mass of our Sun packed into a tiny sphere only 20–30 km across. It is the product of a stellar explosion, known as a supernova, in which most of the star is blasted into space, but its collapsed heart remains in the form of a super-dense, hot ball of neutrons that spins at a incredible rate.

Despite being a familiar class of object, individual neutron stars themselves remain mysterious. Neutron stars are extremely hot when they are born, but cool down very rapidly. Therefore, only few of them emit highly energetic radiation, such as X-rays. This is why they are traditionally studied via their radio emissions, which are less energetic than X-rays and which usually appear to pulse on and off. Therefore, the few neutron stars which are hot enough to emit X-rays can be seen by X-ray telescopes, such as ESA's XMM-Newton.

One such neutron star is 1E1207.4-5209. Using the longest ever XMM-Newton observation of a galactic source (72 hours), Professor Giovanni Bignami of the Centre d'Etude Spatiale des Rayonnements (CESR) and his team have directly measured the strength of its magnetic field. This makes it the first ever isolated neutron star where this could be achieved. All previous values of neutron star magnetic fields could only be estimated indirectly. This is done by theoretical assumptions based on models that describe the gravitational collapse of massive stars, like those which lead to the formation of neutron stars. A second indirect method is to estimate the magnetic field by studying how the neutron star's rotation slows down, using radio astronomy data.

In the case of 1E1207.4-5209, this direct measurement using XMM-Newton reveals that the neutron star's magnetic field is 30 times weaker than predictions based on the indirect methods.

How can this be explained? Astronomers can measure the rate at which individual neutron stars decelerate. They have always assumed that 'friction' between its magnetic field and its surroundings was the cause. In this case, the only conclusion is that something else is pulling on the neutron star, but what? We can speculate that it may be a small disc of supernova debris surrounding the neutron star, creating an additional drag factor.

The result raises the question of whether 1E1207.4-5209 is unique among neutron stars, or it is the first of its kind. The astronomers hope to target other neutron stars with XMM-Newton to find out.

Note to editors

X-rays emitted by a neutron star like 1E1207.4-5209, have to pass through the neutron star's magnetic field before escaping into space. En route, particles in the star's magnetic field can steal some of the outgoing X-rays, imparting on their spectrum tell-tale marks, known as 'cyclotron resonance absorption lines'. It is this fingerprint that allowed Prof. Bignami and his team to measure the strength of the neutron star's magnetic field.

These results are being published in this week's issue of Nature."; jPARAGRAPH2[20] = "For more information, please contact:

ESA Communication Department
Media Relations Office
Paris, France
Tel: +33 (0)15369 7155
Fax: +33 (0)15369 7690

Prof. Giovanni Bignami

Director of Centre d'Etude Spatiale des Rayonnements (CESR)

Tel: +33 561 556666

Email: bignami@CESR.fr

Dr Fred Jansen - ESA
XMM-Newton Project Scientist
Tel: +31 71 565 4426
Email: fjansen@rssd.esa.int

For more information about XMM-Newton and the ESA Science Programme, visit:
http://sci.esa.int

For more information about the ESA visit:

http://www.esa.int"; jPARAGRAPH3[20] = ""; jPARAGRAPH4[20] = ""; jPARAGRAPH5[20] = ""; jPARAGRAPH6[20] = ""; jPARAGRAPH7[20] = ""; jPARAGRAPH8[20] = ""; jPARAGRAPH9[20] = ""; jFULL[20] = "http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/SEM1E0T1VED_index_0.html"; jFRENCH[20] = "http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/Pr_38_2003_p_FR.html"; jGERMAN[20] = "http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/Pr_38_2003_p_GE.html"; jFURTHERINFO[20] = false; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[21] = "PR"; jID[21] = "PR 42-2003"; jTITLE[21] = "Antenna anomaly may affect SOHO scientific data transmission"; jDATE[21] = "24 June 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[21] = ""; jPORTRAIT1[21] = ""; jPORTRAIT2[21] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[21] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[21] = ""; jLANDSCAPE1[21] = ""; jLANDSCAPE2[21] = ""; jLANDSCAPE3[21] = ""; jPARAGRAPH0[21] = "The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft expects to experience a blackout in the transmission of its scientific data during the week of 22 June 2003. This is estimated to last for about two and a half to three weeks."; jPARAGRAPH1[21] = "Engineers are predicting this problem after detecting a malfunction in the pointing mechanism of the satellite's high-gain antenna (HGA), which is used to transmit the large amounts of data from SOHO's scientific observations to Earth.

The SOHO spacecraft is operating as safely as before the problem occurred. Its low gain antenna, which does not need to be pointed in a specific direction (omni-directional), will be used to control the spacecraft and monitor both spacecraft and instrument health and safety.

The anomaly in pointing the high-gain antenna was recently discovered when engineers detected a discrepancy between the commanded and measured antenna position. In normal conditions, the antenna must be able to move along two axes, vertical and horizontal. The horizontal movement was no longer taking place properly. The problem is probably due to a malfunction in the motor or gear assembly that steers the antenna.

SOHO is located 1.5 million kilometers (one million miles) from Earth, slowly orbiting around the First Lagrangian point, where the combined gravity of the Earth and the Sun keep SOHO in an orbit locked to the Sun-Earth line. To transmit data, the SOHO high-gain antenna must rotate to have the Earth constantly in its field of view as the spacecraft and the Earth progress in their respective orbits.

If the problem is not solved, the Earth will be left outside the HGA beam on a periodic basis, with similar blackouts occurring every three months.

ESA and NASA engineers are currently assessing several options to recover the situation, or minimize the scientific data loss.

Note to editors: more about SOHO

SOHO is a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA to study the Sun, from its deep core to the outer corona, and the solar wind. It was launched in December 1995 on an Atlas IIAS/Centaur rocket.

SOHO moves around the Sun in step with the Earth, by slowly orbiting around the First Lagrangian Point (L1), where the combined gravity of the Earth and Sun keep SOHO in an orbit locked to the Earth-Sun line.

The L1 point is approximately 1.5 million kilometres away from Earth (about four times the distance of the Moon), in the direction of the Sun. There, SOHO enjoys an uninterrupted view of our daylight star.

Besides watching the sun, SOHO has become the most prolific discoverer of comets in astronomical history: as at May 2003, more than 620 comets had been found by SOHO and now carry its name. SOHO's easily accessible, spectacular data and basic science results have captured the imagination of the space science community and the general public alike.

For more information please contact:

ESA Communication Department
Media Relations Service
Paris, France
Tel: +33 (0)1.5369.7155
Fax: +33 (0)1.5369.7690

Dr Bernhard Fleck, ESA SOHO Project Scientist
c/o NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, USA
Tel: (1) 301.286.4098
e-mail: bfleck@esa.nascom.nasa.gov"; jPARAGRAPH2[21] = ""; jPARAGRAPH3[21] = ""; jPARAGRAPH4[21] = ""; jPARAGRAPH5[21] = ""; jPARAGRAPH6[21] = ""; jPARAGRAPH7[21] = ""; jPARAGRAPH8[21] = ""; jPARAGRAPH9[21] = ""; jFULL[21] = ""; jFRENCH[21] = "http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/Pr_42_2003_p_FR.html"; jGERMAN[21] = "http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/Pr_42_2003_p_GE.html"; jFURTHERINFO[21] = false; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[22] = "SN"; jID[22] = "SNR 3-2003"; jTITLE[22] = "Rescheduling of some Beagle 2 'cruise check-out' tests"; jDATE[22] = "24 June 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[22] = ""; jPORTRAIT1[22] = ""; jPORTRAIT2[22] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[22] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[22] = ""; jLANDSCAPE1[22] = ""; jLANDSCAPE2[22] = ""; jLANDSCAPE3[22] = ""; jPHOTOURL0[22] = ""; jPHOTOURL1[22] = ""; jPHOTOURL2[22] = ""; jPHOTOURL3[22] = ""; jPARAGRAPH0[22] = "The instruments on board ESA's mission to Mars, Mars Express, are in the process of being tested to verify that they have survived the launch successfully and will work properly. One of these tests on the Mars Express lander, Beagle 2, has been postponed to the first week of July 2003."; jPARAGRAPH1[22] = "This will give engineers extra time to investigate a temporary anomaly that occurred in a memory unit, the so-called Solid State Mass Memory (SSMM). The SSMM stores data from the instruments before sending them to Earth."; jPARAGRAPH2[22] = "This anomaly happened last week during the test of OMEGA, one of Mars Express instruments. For a short period of time, the output of one part of the SSMM contained errors. The problem disappeared spontaneously. The affected memory unit is now working properly. To preserve the data which are stored in this part of the memory, while trying to understand why it occurred, the instrument checks have been rescheduled."; jPARAGRAPH3[22] = "These kind of events are considered routine in a space mission, but engineers would like to understand the causes before restarting the instrument tests."; jPARAGRAPH4[22] = ""; jPARAGRAPH5[22] = ""; jPARAGRAPH6[22] = ""; jPARAGRAPH7[22] = ""; jPARAGRAPH8[22] = ""; jPARAGRAPH9[22] = ""; jFULL[22] = ""; jFRENCH[22] = ""; jGERMAN[22] = ""; jFURTHERINFO[22] = true; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[23] = "SN"; jID[23] = "SNR 4-2003"; jTITLE[23] = "ESA's Mars Express first check-out nearly complete"; jDATE[23] = "2 July 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[23] = ""; jPORTRAIT1[23] = ""; jPORTRAIT2[23] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[23] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[23] = ""; jLANDSCAPE1[23] = ""; jLANDSCAPE2[23] = ""; jLANDSCAPE3[23] = ""; jPARAGRAPH0[23] = "ESA's Mars Express spacecraft is progressing further every day on its journey to the Red Planet. Everything is set for arrival at Mars on the night of 25 December 2003, after a journey of about 400 million kilometres. In the weeks since its launch, engineers have started to thoroughly test the spacecraft and its equipment."; jPARAGRAPH1[23] = "This testing phase is standard for all spacecraft on the way to their destination. Known as commissioning, it began in 3 weeks after the launch. During this time, ground controllers sent signals to each of the orbiter's seven instruments to switch them on them and verify their health status."; jPARAGRAPH2[23] = "As well as commissioning the instruments, the ground controllers also tested each of the spacecraft's subsystems. There was a thrilling moment when one of the on-board computer memory units, known as the Solid State Mass Memory (SSMM), seemed to not respond properly during the instruments check-out. Good progress has been made on this issue in the last few days: a test involving all instruments was completed successfully by recording and recovering the data through the SSMM."; jPARAGRAPH3[23] = "Unfortunately, during the commissioning of the power subsystem, ground engineers recorded an interconnection problem between the solar arrays and the power conditioning unit on board the spacecraft. This means approximately 70% of the power generated by the solar arrays is available for the satellite and its payload to use. This anomaly has no effect on the state of the spacecraft and has no impact on the mission during the whole trip to Mars, including the orbit insertion phase once at destination."; jPARAGRAPH4[23] = "Despite this, the experts analysing the anomaly believe that even with this power shortage, the nominal Mars observation mission will be achievable. However satellite payload operations may have to be reviewed for certain short periods of the mission."; jPARAGRAPH5[23] = "Ground engineers are now preparing for the last of the payload/'s tests: the Beagle-2 lander will undergo its check-out on 4-5 July 2003. The experts are looking confidently to it.\"In fact,\" says Rudolf Schmidt, Mars Express Project Manager,\"overall, the spacecraft is in good shape. We are simply getting to know its personality.\""; jPARAGRAPH6[23] = "For more information, please contact:

Rudi Schmidt, ESA Mars Express Project Manager
ESA-ESTEC
Tel: +31 (0)71 565 3603
E-mail: rudolf.schmidt@esa.int"; jPARAGRAPH7[23] = ""; jPARAGRAPH8[23] = ""; jPARAGRAPH9[23] = ""; jFULL[23] = ""; jFRENCH[23] = ""; jGERMAN[23] = ""; jFURTHERINFO[23] = false; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[24] = "SN"; jID[24] = "SNR 5-2003"; jTITLE[24] = "SOHO's antenna anomaly: things are much better than expected"; jDATE[24] = "2 July 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[24] = ""; jPORTRAIT1[24] = ""; jPORTRAIT2[24] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[24] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[24] = ""; jLANDSCAPE1[24] = ""; jLANDSCAPE2[24] = ""; jLANDSCAPE3[24] = ""; jPARAGRAPH0[24] = "After a number of tests and new insights, SOHO engineers now say there will be no 'blackout' periods for SOHO science data. \"We're now talking only moderate fractions per day every day during the 2-3 week periods,\" says Bernhard Fleck, ESA's SOHO Project Scientist."; jPARAGRAPH1[24] = "High-rate transmissions from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) were initially interrupted on 27 June 2003. The interruption was expected due to a recent malfunction in the pointing mechanism of the spacecraft's high-gain antenna (HGA). The loss of signal occurred on a 26-metre station of NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN). Until 30 June 2003, however, the spacecraft continued beaming down its science data, which were successfully picked up by larger 34-metre DSN stations (when available). In addition, dumping on-board recorder data during these contacts has further reduced data losses so far."; jPARAGRAPH2[24] = "On 30 June 2003, the 70-metre DSN station in Madrid, Spain, successfully received high-rate science data through SOHO's omnidirectional on-board low-gain antenna. SOHO normally uses this antenna only for low-rate telemetry in emergencies, and the antenna does not need to be repointed."; jPARAGRAPH3[24] = "Even better, when high-rate telemetry was lost on 1 July 2003, during a 34-metre station pass, engineers successfully switched SOHO into a medium-rate telemetry mode, using the low-gain antenna. In medium rate, all real-time science telemetry can be downlinked during station passes. However, on-board recorder dumps are not possible in this mode."; jPARAGRAPH4[24] = "The relatively late occurrence of the initial loss of contact means that the effective SOHO's HGA antenna beam width is larger than anticipated. Also, since the 34-metre stations are much quieter than the smaller stations, you can use them for longer time periods than expected. Being able to transmit science data through the on-board low-gain antenna using 70- and 34-metre stations therefore means that there will be no hard blackout periods for SOHO science data, given sufficient ground station resources. However, 34- and 70-metre stations are in higher demand than the 26-metre stations that SOHO normally relies on. Some data losses are therefore expected every day during the 2-3 week periods."; jPARAGRAPH5[24] = "SOHO scientists expect full high-rate telemetry coverage, even on 26-metre stations, to resume on or about 14 July 2003. To achieve this, they will make the spacecraft roll 180° around its Sun-pointing axis in a manoeuvre currently planned for 8 July 2003."; jPARAGRAPH6[24] = "The previous report about the SOHO HGA antenna anomaly is available at: http://www.esa.int/sci_mediacentre/release2003.html?release=21"; jPARAGRAPH7[24] = "For more information, please contact:

Dr. Bernhard Fleck, ESA SOHO Project Scientist
Tel: +1 301 286 4098
Fax: +1 301 286 0264
E-mail: bfleck@esa.nascom.nasa.gov"; jPARAGRAPH8[24] = ""; jPARAGRAPH9[24] = ""; jFULL[24] = ""; jFRENCH[24] = ""; jGERMAN[24] = ""; jFURTHERINFO[24] = false; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[25] = "SN"; jID[25] = "SNR 6-2003"; jTITLE[25] = "Beagle 2 tests successfully completed"; jDATE[25] = "8 July 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[25] = ""; jPORTRAIT1[25] = ""; jPORTRAIT2[25] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[25] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[25] = ""; jLANDSCAPE1[25] = ""; jLANDSCAPE2[25] = ""; jLANDSCAPE3[25] = ""; jPARAGRAPH0[25] = "On Friday, 4 July, and Saturday, 5 July 2003, engineers successfully carried out overnight tests on the Mars Express lander, Beagle 2."; jPARAGRAPH1[25] = "Ground controllers at the European Space Agency's Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany, contacted Mars Express at the weekend to carry out the tests on the lander, which were rescheduled from two weeks ago. These functional tests included uploading software and switching units on and off."; jPARAGRAPH2[25] = "With these tests, the near-Earth phase of the Mars Express payload check-outs is almost complete. All instruments, including the lander, have performed as expected. Star calibration of some instruments is scheduled for mid-July, which marks the first attempt to make scientific measurements. This will also be done in the same way when nearer to Mars."; jPARAGRAPH3[25] = "Rudi Schmidt, ESA Mars Express Project Manager, said: \"This check-out was a marvellous example of complete cooperation between ESA's Mars Express and the Beagle lander teams Another major milestone has been achieved successfully. What a fantastic feeling!\""; jPARAGRAPH4[25] = "For further information please contact:

Rudolf Schmidt, ESA Mars Express Project Manager
ESA-ESTEC
Tel: +31 (0)71 565 3603
E-mail: rudolf.schmidt@esa.int"; jPARAGRAPH5[25] = ""; jPARAGRAPH6[25] = ""; jPARAGRAPH7[25] = ""; jPARAGRAPH8[25] = ""; jPARAGRAPH9[25] = ""; jFULL[25] = ""; jFRENCH[25] = ""; jGERMAN[25] = ""; jFURTHERINFO[25] = false; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[26] = "SN"; jID[26] = "SNR 7-2003"; jTITLE[26] = "ESA\'s SMART-1 ready to fly"; jDATE[26] = "11 July 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[26] = ""; jPORTRAIT1[26] = ""; jPORTRAIT2[26] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[26] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[26] = ""; jLANDSCAPE1[26] = ""; jLANDSCAPE2[26] = ""; jLANDSCAPE3[26] = ""; jPARAGRAPH0[26] = "After the completion of all mechanical and electrical verifications, ESA\'s SMART-1 passed its flight readiness review successfully on Tuesday, 8 July 2003."; jPARAGRAPH1[26] = "SMART-1, Europe\'s first mission to the moon, will be sent to the ESA launch site at Kourou in French Guiana at the beginning of next week. The last electrical checks and fuelling will take place here before the spacecraft is mated with its Ariane 5 launcher. SMART-1 will be a co-passenger together with two other satellites on board this launcher. The launch is currently scheduled for 28 August 2003 (Kourou time)."; jPARAGRAPH2[26] = "SMART-1 will be the first ESA mission to test solar-electric propulsion as a main propulsion system. It will also test advanced miniaturisation technology which will pave the way for future planetary missions."; jPARAGRAPH3[26] = "Giuseppe Racca, ESA\'s SMART-1 Project Manager, said: \"Everything has gone as expected. We\'re proud of the work done and we are looking forward to sending SMART-1 to the Moon.\""; jPARAGRAPH4[26] = "For more information, please contact:

ESA Media Relations Service
Tel: + 33 15369 7155
Fax: + 33 15369 7690

ESA Science Programme Communication Service
Tel: + 31 71 565 3273
Fax: + 31 71 565 4101"; jPARAGRAPH5[26] = "SMART-1 Press kit \>\>"; jPARAGRAPH6[26] = ""; jPARAGRAPH7[26] = ""; jPARAGRAPH8[26] = ""; jPARAGRAPH9[26] = ""; jFULL[26] = ""; jFRENCH[26] = ""; jGERMAN[26] = ""; jFURTHERINFO[26] = false; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[27] = "SN"; jID[27] = "SNR 8-2003"; jTITLE[27] = "ESA\'s XMM-Newton gains deep insights into the distant Universe"; jDATE[27] = "14 July 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[27] = ""; jPORTRAIT1[27] = ""; jPORTRAIT2[27] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[27] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[27] = "http://www.esa.int/export/images/Mosaic5_s.jpg"; jLANDSCAPE1[27] = "http://www.esa.int/export/images/B15_xlss_003_s.jpg"; jLANDSCAPE2[27] = "http://www.esa.int/export/images/xlss_003-image_s.jpg"; jLANDSCAPE3[27] = ""; jPHOTOURL0[27] = "http://asimov.esrin.esa.it:8766/queryIG.html?col=mmg&ht=0&qp=&qs=&qc=&pw=100%25&ws=1&la=en&si=1&fs=&op0=&fl0=ContentType%3A&ty0=w&tx0=&op1=&fl1=ContentType%3A&ty1=w&tx1=+Image&op2=&fl2=ContentType%3A&ty2=w&tx2=+Video&op3=|%2B&fl3=topica%3A&ty3=w&tx3=&op4=|%2B&fl4=subtopic%3A&ty4=w&tx4=&op5=|%2B&fl5=&ty5=p&tx5=&op6=|%2B&fl6=program%3A&ty6=p&tx6=&op7=|%2B&fl7=mission%3A&ty7=p&tx7=XMM-Newton&op8=|%2B&fl8=month%3A&ty8=p&tx8=&op9=|%2B&fl9=year%3A&ty9=p&tx9=&op10=|%2B&fl10=id%3A&ty10=p&tx10=&op11=|%2B&fl11=showcase%3A&ty11=p&tx11=esa00000000&qt=&ex=&rq=0&oq=&searchType=keyword&qm=0&ql=a&tipo=All&showcase=&st=5&nh=1&lk=9&rf=3"; jPHOTOURL1[27] = "http://asimov.esrin.esa.it:8766/queryIG.html?col=mmg&ht=0&qp=&qs=&qc=&pw=100%25&ws=1&la=en&si=1&fs=&op0=&fl0=ContentType%3A&ty0=w&tx0=&op1=&fl1=ContentType%3A&ty1=w&tx1=+Image&op2=&fl2=ContentType%3A&ty2=w&tx2=+Video&op3=|%2B&fl3=topica%3A&ty3=w&tx3=&op4=|%2B&fl4=subtopic%3A&ty4=w&tx4=&op5=|%2B&fl5=&ty5=p&tx5=&op6=|%2B&fl6=program%3A&ty6=p&tx6=&op7=|%2B&fl7=mission%3A&ty7=p&tx7=XMM-Newton&op8=|%2B&fl8=month%3A&ty8=p&tx8=&op9=|%2B&fl9=year%3A&ty9=p&tx9=&op10=|%2B&fl10=id%3A&ty10=p&tx10=&op11=|%2B&fl11=showcase%3A&ty11=p&tx11=esa00000000&qt=&ex=&rq=0&oq=&searchType=keyword&qm=0&ql=a&tipo=All&showcase=&st=6&nh=1&lk=9&rf=3"; jPHOTOURL2[27] = "http:\/\/asimov.esrin.esa.it:8766\/queryIG.html?col=mmg&ht=0&qp=&qs=&qc=&pw=100%25&ws=1&la=en&si=1&fs=&op0=&fl0=ContentType%3A&ty0=w&tx0=&op1=&fl1=ContentType%3A&ty1=w&tx1=+Image&op2=&fl2=ContentType%3A&ty2=w&tx2=+Video&op3=|%2B&fl3=topica%3A&ty3=w&tx3=&op4=|%2B&fl4=subtopic%3A&ty4=w&tx4=&op5=|%2B&fl5=&ty5=p&tx5=&op6=|%2B&fl6=program%3A&ty6=p&tx6=&op7=|%2B&fl7=mission%3A&ty7=p&tx7=XMM-Newton&op8=|%2B&fl8=month%3A&ty8=p&tx8=&op9=|%2B&fl9=year%3A&ty9=p&tx9=&op10=|%2B&fl10=id%3A&ty10=p&tx10=&op11=|%2B&fl11=showcase%3A&ty11=p&tx11=esa00000000&qt=&ex=&rq=0&oq=&searchType=keyword&qm=0&ql=a&tipo=All&showcase=&st=4&nh=1&lk=9&rf=3"; jPARAGRAPH0[27] = "Using XMM-Newton, astronomers have obtained the world\'s deepest \'wide screen\' X-ray image of the cosmos to date. Their observations show newly discovered clusters of galaxies and provide insights into the structure of the distant Universe…"; jPARAGRAPH1[27] = "Click on the images above for high-resolution images and captions

Unlike grains of sand on a beach, matter is not uniformly spread throughout the Universe. Instead, it is concentrated into galaxies like our own which themselves congregate into clusters. These clusters are \'strung\' throughout the Universe in a web-like structure. Astronomers have studied this large-scale structure of the nearby Universe but have lacked the instruments to extend the search to the large volumes of the distant Universe."; jPARAGRAPH2[27] = "Thanks to its unrivalled sensitivity, in less than three hours, ESA's X-ray observatory XMM-Newton can see back about 7000 million years to a cosmological era when the Universe was about half its present size, and clusters of galaxies more tightly packed. Marguerite Pierre, CEA Saclay, France, with a European and Chilean team, used this ability to search for remote clusters of galaxies and map out their distribution.

The work heralds a new era of studying the distant Universe. The optical identification of clusters shows only the galaxies themselves. However, X-rays show the gas in between the galaxies – which is where most of the matter in a cluster resides. This is like going from seeing a city at night, where you only see the lighted windows, to seeing it during the daytime, when you finally get to see the buildings themselves."; jPARAGRAPH3[27] = "Tracking down the clusters is a painstaking, multi-step process. In tandem with XMM-Newton, the team uses the four-metre Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT), on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, to take an optical snapshot of the same region of space. A tailor-made computer programme combs the XMM-Newton data looking for concentrations of X-rays that suggest large, extended structures. These are the clusters and they represent only about 10\% of the detected X-ray sources (the others are mostly distant active galaxies).

When the program finds a cluster, it zooms in on that region and converts the XMM-Newton data into a contour map of X-ray intensity, which it then superimposes on the CFHT optical image. The astronomers use this to check if anything is visible within the X-ray emission. If it is, the work then shifts to one of the world's largest telescopes, the European Southern Observatory (ESO) Very Large Telescope where the astronomers identify the individual galaxies in the cluster and take \'redshift\' measurements. These give a measurement of the cluster\'s distance."; jPARAGRAPH4[27] = "In this way, Pierre and colleagues are mapping the distribution of galaxy clusters of the distant Universe, for the first time in astronomy.

\"Galaxy clusters are the largest concentrations of matter in the Universe and XMM-Newton is extremely efficient at finding them,\" says Pierre."; jPARAGRAPH5[27] = "Although the task is still a work in progress, first results seem to confirm that the number of clusters 7000 million years ago is little different from that of today. This behaviour is predicted by models of the Universe that expand forever and drive the galaxy clusters further and further apart.

Eventually, it will be possible for the team to use their results to determine whether the expansion of the Universe is accelerating, as indicated by some other recent observations, or decelerating, as traditionally thought."; jPARAGRAPH6[27] = "Note to Editors:

This is a coordinated ESA/ESO release.
The presented results have been obtained by the XMM-LSS consortium, led by Service d\'Astrophysique du CEA (France) and consisting of Co-I institutes from the United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark, The Netherlands, Belgium, France, Italy, Germany, Spain and Chile. The home page of the XMM-LSS project can be found at: http:\/\/vela.astro.ulg.ac.be/themes/spatial/xmm/LSS/index_e.html

This work is based on two papers to be published in the professional astronomy journal, Astronomy and Astrophysics (The XMM-LSS survey:I. Scientific motivations, design and first results by Marguerite Pierre et al., astro-ph\/0305191 and The XMM-LSS survey:II. First high redshift galaxy clusters: relaxed and collapsing systems by Ivan Valtchanov et al.,astro-ph/0305192)."; jPARAGRAPH7[27] = "More about XMM-Newton
XMM-Newton can detect more X-ray sources than any previous satellite and is helping to solve many cosmic mysteries of the violent Universe, from black holes to the formation of galaxies. It was launched on 10 December 1999, using an Ariane-5 rocket from French Guiana. It is expected to return data for a decade. XMM-Newton's high-tech design uses over 170 wafer-thin cylindrical mirrors spread over three telescopes. Its orbit takes it almost a third of the way to the Moon, so that astronomers can enjoy long, uninterrupted views of celestial objects."; jPARAGRAPH8[27] = "For more information please contact:

Monica Talevi
Information Manager
ESA Science Programme Communication Service
Tel: +31 (0)71 565 3223
Fax: +31 (0)71 565 4101
E-mail: Monica.Talevi@esa.int

ESA Communication Department
Media Relations Office
Paris, France
Tel: +33 (0)15369 7155
Fax: +33 (0)15369 7690

Dr Marguerite Pierre, CEA Saclay, France
Tel: +33 (0)169 08 34 92
E-mail: mpierre@discovery.saclay.cea.fr
"; jPARAGRAPH9[27] = ""; jFULL[27] = ""; jFULL[27] = ""; jFRENCH[27] = ""; jGERMAN[27] = ""; jFURTHERINFO[27] = false; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[28] = "SN"; jID[28] = "SNR 9-2003"; jTITLE[28] = "SOHO Resumes Full Operation"; jDATE[28] = "16 July 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[28] = ""; jPORTRAIT1[28] = ""; jPORTRAIT2[28] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[28] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[28] = "http://asimov.esrin.esa.it/export/images/sohoorbit_s_1.jpg"; jLANDSCAPE1[28] = ""; jLANDSCAPE2[28] = ""; jLANDSCAPE3[28] = ""; jPHOTOURL0[28] = "http:\/\/asimov.esrin.esa.it:8766\/queryIG.html?searchType=keyword&col=mmg&ql=a&lk=2&tipo=Image&fl1=ContentType%3A&ty1=w&op1=&tx1=Image&fl10=id%3A&ty10=w&op10=%7C%2B&tx10=SEMTWLXO4HD&fl11=showcase%3A&ty11=w&op11=%7C%2B&tx11=esa00000000&fl0=&ty0=&op0=&tx0=&fl2=&ty2=&op2=&tx2=&fl3=&ty3=&op3=&tx3=&fl4=&ty4=&op4=&tx4=&fl5=&ty5=&op5=&tx5=&fl6=&ty6=&op6=&tx6=&fl7=&ty7&op7=&tx7=&fl8=&ty8=&op8=&tx8=&fl9=&ty9=&op9=&tx9="; jPHOTOURL1[28] = ""; jPHOTOURL2[28] = ""; jPHOTOURL3[28] = ""; jPARAGRAPH0[28] = "ESA/NASA\'s solar watchdog, SOHO, is back to full operation after its predicted 9-day-long high-gain antenna blackout. Engineers and scientists are now confident that they understand the situation and can work around it in the future to minimise the data losses."; jPARAGRAPH1[28] = "Click on the image above for a high-resolution image and caption

Since 19 June 2003, SOHO\'s high-gain antenna (HGA), which transmits high-speed data to Earth, has been fixed in position following the discovery of a malfunction in its pointing mechanism. This resulted in a loss of signal through SOHO\'s usual 26-metre ground stations on 27 June 2003. However, 34-metre radio dishes continued to receive high-speed transmissions from the HGA until 1 July 2003."; jPARAGRAPH2[28] = "Since then, astronomers have been relying primarily on a slower transmission rate signal, sent through SOHO\'s backup antenna. It can be picked up whenever a 34-metre dish is available. However, this signal could not transmit all of SOHO\'s data. Some data was recorded on board, however, and downloaded using high-speed transmissions through the backup antenna when time on the largest, 70-metre dishes could be spared."; jPARAGRAPH3[28] = "SOHO itself orbits a point in space, 1.5 million kilometres closer to the Sun than the Earth, once every 6 months. To reorient the HGA for the next half of this orbit, engineers rolled the spacecraft through a half-circle on 8 July 2003. On 10 July, the 34-metre radio dish in Madrid re-established contact with SOHO's HGA. Then on the morning of 14 July 2003, normal operations with the spacecraft resumed through its usual 26-metre ground stations, as predicted."; jPARAGRAPH4[28] = "With the HGA now static, the blackouts, lasting between 9 and 16 days, will continue to occur every 3 months. Engineers will rotate SOHO by 180 degrees every time this occurs. This manoeuvre will minimise data losses. Stein Haugan, acting SOHO project scientist, says \"It is good to welcome SOHO back to normal operations, as it proves that we have a good understanding of the situation and can confidently work around it.\""; jPARAGRAPH5[28] = "Note to editors:"; jPARAGRAPH6[28] = "For previous reports about the SOHO high-gain antenna anomaly please see:
SNR-5 2003 at http://www.esa.int/sci_mediacentre/release2003.html?release=24
PR 42-2003 at http://www.esa.int/sci_mediacentre/release2003.html?release=21"; jPARAGRAPH7[28] = "For more information, please contact:

Stein Vidar Hagfors Haugan, acting ESA SOHO project scientist
Tel.: +1-301-286-9028
Fax: +1-301-286-0264
E-mail: shaugan@esa.nascom.nasa.gov

ESA Communication Department
Media Relations Office
Paris, France
Tel: +33 (0)15369 7155
Fax: +33 (0)15369 7690
"; jPARAGRAPH8[28] = ""; jPARAGRAPH9[28] = ""; jFULL[28] = ""; jFULL[28] = ""; jFRENCH[28] = ""; jGERMAN[28] = ""; jFURTHERINFO[28] = false; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[29] = "SN"; jID[29] = "SNR 10-2003"; jTITLE[29] = "Hubble tracks down a galaxy cluster\'s dark matter"; jDATE[29] = "17 July 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[29] = ""; jPORTRAIT1[29] = ""; jPORTRAIT2[29] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[29] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[29] = "http://asimov.esrin.esa.it/export/images/heic0309_s.jpg"; jLANDSCAPE1[29] = "http://asimov.esrin.esa.it/export/images/heic0309b_s.jpg"; jLANDSCAPE2[29] = "http://asimov.esrin.esa.it/export/images/heic0309c_s.jpg"; jLANDSCAPE3[29] = "http://asimov.esrin.esa.it/export/images/heic0309d_s.jpg"; jPHOTOURL0[29]="http:\/\/asimov.esrin.esa.it:8766\/queryIG.html?searchType=keyword&col=mmg&ql=a&lk=2&tipo=Image&fl1=ContentType%3A&ty1=w&op1=&tx1=Image&fl10=id%3A&ty10=w&op10=%7C%2B&tx10=SEMUWEXO4HD&fl11=showcase%3A&ty11=w&op11=%7C%2B&tx11=esa00000000&fl0=&ty0=&op0=&tx0=&fl2=&ty2=&op2=&tx2=&fl3=&ty3=&op3=&tx3=&fl4=&ty4=&op4=&tx4=&fl5=&ty5=&op5=&tx5=&fl6=&ty6=&op6=&tx6=&fl7=&ty7&op7=&tx7=&fl8=&ty8=&op8=&tx8=&fl9=&ty9=&op9=&tx9="; jPHOTOURL1[29]="http:\/\/asimov.esrin.esa.it:8766\/queryIG.html?searchType=keyword&col=mmg&ql=a&lk=2&tipo=Image&fl1=ContentType%3A&ty1=w&op1=&tx1=Image&fl10=id%3A&ty10=w&op10=%7C%2B&tx10=SEMKAFXO4HD&fl11=showcase%3A&ty11=w&op11=%7C%2B&tx11=esa00000000&fl0=&ty0=&op0=&tx0=&fl2=&ty2=&op2=&tx2=&fl3=&ty3=&op3=&tx3=&fl4=&ty4=&op4=&tx4=&fl5=&ty5=&op5=&tx5=&fl6=&ty6=&op6=&tx6=&fl7=&ty7&op7=&tx7=&fl8=&ty8=&op8=&tx8=&fl9=&ty9=&op9=&tx9="; jPHOTOURL2[29]="http:\/\/asimov.esrin.esa.it:8766\/queryIG.html?searchType=keyword&col=mmg&ql=a&lk=2&tipo=Image&fl1=ContentType%3A&ty1=w&op1=&tx1=Image&fl10=id%3A&ty10=w&op10=%7C%2B&tx10=SEMO7FXO4HD&fl11=showcase%3A&ty11=w&op11=%7C%2B&tx11=esa00000000&fl0=&ty0=&op0=&tx0=&fl2=&ty2=&op2=&tx2=&fl3=&ty3=&op3=&tx3=&fl4=&ty4=&op4=&tx4=&fl5=&ty5=&op5=&tx5=&fl6=&ty6=&op6=&tx6=&fl7=&ty7&op7=&tx7=&fl8=&ty8=&op8=&tx8=&fl9=&ty9=&op9=&tx9="; jPHOTOURL3[29]="http:\/\/asimov.esrin.esa.it:8766\/queryIG.html?searchType=keyword&col=mmg&ql=a&lk=2&tipo=Image&fl1=ContentType%3A&ty1=w&op1=&tx1=Image&fl10=id%3A&ty10=w&op10=%7C%2B&tx10=SEMR0FXO4HD&fl11=showcase%3A&ty11=w&op11=%7C%2B&tx11=esa00000000&fl0=&ty0=&op0=&tx0=&fl2=&ty2=&op2=&tx2=&fl3=&ty3=&op3=&tx3=&fl4=&ty4=&op4=&tx4=&fl5=&ty5=&op5=&tx5=&fl6=&ty6=&op6=&tx6=&fl7=&ty7&op7=&tx7=&fl8=&ty8=&op8=&tx8=&fl9=&ty9=&op9=&tx9="; jPARAGRAPH0[29] = "Using the powerful trick of gravitational lensing, a European and American team of astronomers have constructed an extensive \'mass map\' of one of the most massive structures in our Universe. They believe that it will lead to a better understanding of how such systems assembled and the key role of dark matter."; jPARAGRAPH1[29] = "Click on the images above for high-resolution images and captions"; jPARAGRAPH2[29] = "Clusters of galaxies are the largest stable systems in the Universe. They are like laboratories for studying the relationship between the distributions of dark and visible matter. In 1937, Fritz Zwicky realised that the visible component of a cluster (the thousands of millions of stars in each of the thousands of galaxies) represents only a tiny fraction of the total mass. About 80-85% of the matter is invisible, the so-called \'dark matter\'. Although astronomers have known about the presence of dark matter for many decades, finding a technique to view its distribution is a much more recent development."; jPARAGRAPH3[29] = "Led by Drs Jean-Paul Kneib (from the Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées, France\/Caltech, United States), Richard Ellis and Tommaso Treu (both Caltech, United States), the team used the NASA\/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to reconstruct a unique \'mass map\' of the galaxy cluster CL0024+1654. It enabled them to see for the first time on such large scales how mysterious dark matter is distributed with respect to galaxies. This comparison gives new clues on how such large clusters assemble and which role dark matter plays in cosmic evolution."; jPARAGRAPH4[29] = "Tracing dark matter is not an easy task because it does not shine. To make a map, astronomers must focus on much fainter, more distant galaxies behind the cluster. The shapes of these distant systems are distorted by the gravity of the foreground cluster. This distortion provides a measure of the cluster mass, a phenomenon known as \'weak gravitational lensing\'."; jPARAGRAPH5[29] = "To map the dark matter of CL0024+1654, more than 120 hours observing time was dedicated to the team. This is the largest amount of Hubble time ever devoted to studying a galaxy cluster. Despite its distance of 4.5 thousand million light-years (about one third of the look-back time to the Big Bang) from Earth, this massive cluster is wide enough to equal the angular size of the full Moon. To make a mass map that covers the entire cluster required observations that probed 39 regions of the galaxy cluster."; jPARAGRAPH6[29] = "The investigation has resulted in the most comprehensive study of the distribution of dark matter in a galaxy cluster so far and extends more than 20 million light-years from its centre, much further than previous investigations. Many groups of researchers have tried to perform these types of measurements with ground-based telescopes. However, the technique relies heavily on finding the exact shapes of distant galaxies behind the cluster. The sharp vision of a space telescope such as NASA-ESA's Hubble is superior."; jPARAGRAPH7[29] = "The study reveals that the density of dark matter on large scales drops sharply with distance from the cluster centre. This confirms a picture that has emerged from recent detailed computer simulations.

As Richard Ellis says: \"Although theorists have predicted the form of dark matter in galaxy clusters from numerical simulations based on the effects of gravity alone, this is the first time we have convincing observations to back them up. Some astronomers had speculated clusters might contain large reservoirs of dark matter in their outermost regions. Assuming our cluster is representative, this is not the case.\""; jPARAGRAPH8[29] = "The team noticed that dark matter appears to clump together in their map. For example, they found concentrations of dark matter associated with galaxies known to be slowly falling into the system. Generally, the researchers found that the dark matter traces the cluster galaxies remarkably well and over an unprecedented range of physical scales.

\"When a cluster is being assembled, the dark matter will be smeared out between the galaxies where it acts like a glue,\" says Jean-Paul Kneib.\"The overall association of dark matter and \'glowing matter\' is very convincing evidence that structures like CL0024+1654 grow by merging of smaller groups of galaxies that were already bound by their own dark matter components.\"

Future investigations using Hubble\'s new camera, the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), will extend this work when Hubble is trained on a second galaxy cluster later this year. ACS is 10 times more efficient than the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 used for this investigation, making it possible to study finer mass clumps in galaxy clusters and help work out how the clusters are assembled."; jPARAGRAPH9[29] = "Notes for editors

The team is composed of Jean-Paul Kneib (Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées, France/Caltech, United States), Patrick Hudelot (Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées, France),Richard S. Ellis (Caltech, United States), Tommaso Treu (Caltech, United States), Graham P. Smith (Caltech, United States), Phil Marshall (MRAO, United Kingdom), Oliver Czoske (Institut für Astrophysik und Extraterrestrische Forschung, Germany), Ian Smail (University of Durham, United Kingdom) and Priya Natarajan (Yale University, United States).

The ground-based observations were done with the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) using the CFHT12k camera, the Keck telescopes, and the Hale 5-metre telescope at Palomar, United States, using the WIRC camera.

The team will present their study at the General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union. They will also publish their results in a forthcoming issue of Astrophysical Journal.

For broadcasters, animations of the discovery and general Hubble Space Telescope background footage is available from http://www.spacetelescope.org/video/releases.html

Image credit: European Space Agency, NASA and Jean-Paul Kneib (Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées, France/Caltech, United States)

For more information, please contact:
Jean-Paul Kneib
Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées, France\/Caltech, United States
Tel: +1-808-881-3865 (visiting Hawaii, 12 h time diff.)
E-mail: jean-paul.kneib@ast.obs-mip.fr

Richard Ellis
Caltech, United States
Tel: +1-626-395-2598
Cellular: +1-626-676-5530 (United States)/+44-7768-923244 (Australia time zone)
E-mail: rse@astro.caltech.edu

Lars Lindberg Christensen
Hubble European Space Agency Information Centre, Garching, Germany
Tel: +49-89-3200-6306 (089 within Germany)
Cellular (24 hr): +49-173-3872-621 (0173 within Germany)
E-mail: lars@eso.org"; jFULL[29] = ""; jFRENCH[29] = ""; jGERMAN[29] = ""; jFURTHERINFO[29] = false; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[30] = "PR"; jID[30] = "PR 44-2003"; jTITLE[30] = "Farewell to the Earth and the Moon - ESA\'s Mars Express successfully tests its instruments"; jDATE[30] = "17 July 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[30] = ""; jPORTRAIT1[30] = ""; jPORTRAIT2[30] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[30] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[30] = "http://www.esa.int/export/images/Erde_Mond_PR_030707f_S.jpg"; jLANDSCAPE1[30] = "http://www.esa.int/export/images/SPSC_MEXomega03072003-003_S.gif"; jLANDSCAPE2[30] = ""; jLANDSCAPE3[30] = ""; jPHOTOURL0[30]="http:\/\/asimov.esrin.esa.it:8766\/queryIG.html?searchType=keyword&col=mmg&ql=a&lk=2&tipo=Image&fl1=ContentType%3A&ty1=w&op1=&tx1=Image&fl10=id%3A&ty10=w&op10=%7C%2B&tx10=SEMA0OXO4HD&fl11=showcase%3A&ty11=w&op11=%7C%2B&tx11=esa00000000&fl0=&ty0=&op0=&tx0=&fl2=&ty2=&op2=&tx2=&fl3=&ty3=&op3=&tx3=&fl4=&ty4=&op4=&tx4=&fl5=&ty5=&op5=&tx5=&fl6=&ty6=&op6=&tx6=&fl7=&ty7&op7=&tx7=&fl8=&ty8=&op8=&tx8=&fl9=&ty9=&op9=&tx9="; jPHOTOURL1[30]="http:\/\/asimov.esrin.esa.it:8766\/queryIG.html?searchType=keyword&col=mmg&ql=a&lk=2&tipo=Image&fl1=ContentType%3A&ty1=w&op1=&tx1=Image&fl10=id%3A&ty10=w&op10=%7C%2B&tx10=SEMK0OXO4HD&fl11=showcase%3A&ty11=w&op11=%7C%2B&tx11=esa00000000&fl0=&ty0=&op0=&tx0=&fl2=&ty2=&op2=&tx2=&fl3=&ty3=&op3=&tx3=&fl4=&ty4=&op4=&tx4=&fl5=&ty5=&op5=&tx5=&fl6=&ty6=&op6=&tx6=&fl7=&ty7&op7=&tx7=&fl8=&ty8=&op8=&tx8=&fl9=&ty9=&op9=&tx9="; jPARAGRAPH0[30] = "A unique view of our home planet and its natural satellite — the Moon — is one of the first data sets coming from ESA\'s Mars Express."; jPARAGRAPH1[30] = "Click on the images above for high-resolution images and captions

\"It is very good news for the mission,\" says ESA's Mars Express Project Scientist, Agustin Chicarro. These and other data, such as those recording the major constituents of Earth as seen from space, are the actual proof that the instruments on board Mars Express, launched 2 June 2003, are working perfectly.

The routine check-outs of Mars Express\'s instruments and of the Beagle 2 lander, performed during the last weeks, have been very successful. \"As in all space missions little problems have arisen, but they have been carefully evaluated and solved. Mars Express continues on its way to Mars performing beautifully,\" comments Chicarro."; jPARAGRAPH2[30] = "The views of the Earth/Moon system were taken on 3 July 2003 by Mars Express\'s High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC), when the spacecraft was 8 million kilometres from Earth. The image taken shows true colours; the Pacific Ocean appears in blue, and the clouds near the Equator and in mid to northern latitudes in white to light grey. The image was processed by the Instrument Team at the Institute of Planetary Research of DLR, Berlin (Germany). It was built by combining a super resolution black-and-white HRSC snapshot image of the Earth and the Moon with colour information obtained by the blue, green, and red sensors of the instrument."; jPARAGRAPH3[30] = "\"The pictures and the information provided by the data prove the camera is working very well. They provide a good indication of what to expect once the spacecraft is in its orbit around Mars, at altitudes of only 250–300 kilometres: very high resolution images with brilliant true colour and in 3D,\" says the Principal Investigator of the HRSC, Gerhard Neukum, of the Freie Universität of Berlin (Germany). This camera will be able to distinguish details of up to two metres on the Martian surface.

nother striking demonstration of Mars Express\'s instruments high performance are the data taken by the OMEGA spectrometer. Once at Mars, this instrument will provide the best map of the molecular and mineralogical composition of the whole planet, with 5% of the planetary surface in high resolution. Minerals and other compounds such as water will be charted as never before. As the Red Planet is still too far away, the OMEGA team devised an ingenious test for their instrument: to detect the Earth's surface components."; jPARAGRAPH4[30] = "As expected, OMEGA made a direct and unambiguous detection of major and minor constituents of the Earth\'s atmosphere, such as molecular oxygen, water and carbon dioxide, ozone and methane, among other molecules. \"The sensitivity demonstrated by OMEGA on these Earth spectra should reveal really minute amounts of water in both Martian surface materials and atmosphere,\" says the Principal Investigator of OMEGA, Jean Pierre Bibring , from the Institut d\'Astrophysique Spatiale, Orsay, France.

The experts will carry on testing Mars Express\'s instruments up till the arrival to the Red Planet, next December. The scientists agree on the fact that these instruments will enormously increase our understanding of the morphology and topography of the Martian surface, of the geological structures and processes — active now and in the past, and eventually of Mars's geological evolution. With such tools, Mars Express is also able to address the important \'water\' question, namely how much water there is today and how much there was in the past. Ultimately, this will also tell us whether Mars had environmental conditions that could favour the evolution of life."; jPARAGRAPH5[30] = "Note to editors

The Mars Express High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) was developed by the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) and built by EADS-Astrium GmbH in Friedrichshafen, Germany.

The Mars Express OMEGA spectrometer was developed and built by the Institut d\'Astrophysique Spatiale, Orsay, France, in cooperation with LESIA at Meudon\/Paris Observatory, France, IFSI in Frascati, Italy, and IKI in Moscow, Russia.

For more information about Mars Express visit: http:\/\/www.esa.int\/science\/marsexpress
For more information about the ESA Science Programme visit: http:\/\/www.esa.int\/science

For more information, please contact:

ESA – Communication Department
Media Relations Office
Tel: +33(0)1 5369 7155
Fax: +33(0)1 5369 7690

Dr Agustin Chicarro, ESA Mars Express Project Scientist
ESA-ESTEC – Noordwijk, The Netherlands
Tel: +31 71 565 3613
E-mail: Agustin.Chicarro@esa.int

Prof. Dr Gerhard Neukum, Mars Express HRSC Principal Investigator
Freie Universität Berlin, Earth Sciences Dept., Germany
Tel: +49 30 8387 0579 (secretary: -575)
E-mail:gneukum@zedat.fu-berlin.de

Dr Jean-Pierre Bibring, Mars Express OMEGA Principal Investigator
Institut d\'Astrophysique Spatiale, Orsay, France
Tel: +33 1 6985 8686
E-mail: bibring@ias.u-psud.fr"; jPARAGRAPH6[30] = ""; jPARAGRAPH7[30] = ""; jPARAGRAPH8[30] = ""; jPARAGRAPH9[30] = ""; jFULL[30] = ""; jFRENCH[30] = ""; jGERMAN[30] = ""; jFURTHERINFO[30] = false; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[31] = "PR"; jID[31] = "PR 46-2003"; jTITLE[31] = "Golden legacy for ESA's observatory"; jDATE[31] = "22 July 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[31] = ""; jPORTRAIT1[31] = ""; jPORTRAIT2[31] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[31] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[31] = ""; jLANDSCAPE1[31] = ""; jLANDSCAPE2[31] = ""; jLANDSCAPE3[31] = ""; jPHOTOURL0[31] = ""; jPHOTOURL1[31] = ""; jPHOTOURL2[31] = ""; jPHOTOURL3[31] = ""; jPARAGRAPH0[31] = "Scientists are celebrating the thousandth scientific publication from ESA's Infrared Space Observatory (ISO). ISO is fast becoming one of the world's most productive space missions, even though its operational life ended in 1998."; jPARAGRAPH1[31] = "ISO was the world's first space observatory able to see the sky in infrared light. Using its eyes, we have discovered many new phenomena that have radically changed our view of the Universe. "; jPARAGRAPH2[31] = "Everybody knows that when something is heated it glows. However things also glow with a light our eyes do not detect at room temperature, this is infrared light. Infrared telescopes do not work well on the Earth's surface because such light is absorbed by the atmosphere."; jPARAGRAPH3[31] = "ISO looks at the cold parts of the universe, usually the 'cold and dusty' parts. ISO peered into clouds of dust and gas where stars are being born, observing for the first time the earliest steps of star formation. It discovered, for example, that stars begin to form at temperatures as low as -250°C or less. Scientists were able to follow the evolution of dust from where it is produced (that is, old stars - the massive 'dust factories'), to the regions where it forms new planetary systems. ISO found that most young stars are surrounded by discs of dust that could harbour planets. The observatory also analysed the chemical composition of the cosmic dust, thereby opening up a new field of research, 'astromineralogy'."; jPARAGRAPH4[31] = "With ISO we have been able to discover the presence of water in many different regions in space. Another new discipline, 'astrochemistry', was boosted when ISO discovered that the water molecule is common in the Universe, even in distant galaxies, and complex organic molecules like benzene form easily in the surroundings of some stars. "; jPARAGRAPH5[31] = "\"ISO results are impacting most fields of astronomical research, almost literally from comets to cosmology,\" explains Alberto Salama, ISO Project Scientist. \"Some results answer questions. Others open new fields. Some are already being followed up by existing telescopes; others have to await future facilities.\" "; jPARAGRAPH6[31] = "When ISO's operational life finished, in 1998, its observations became freely available to the world scientific community via ISO's data archive. In May 2003, the 'milestone number' of 1000 scientific papers was reached. Even now, ISO's data archive remains a valuable source of new results. For example, some of the latest papers describe the detection of water in 'protostars', which are stars in the process of being born, and studies of numerous close-by galaxies."; jPARAGRAPH7[31] = "\"Of course we were confident ISO was going to do very well, but its actual productivity is well beyond our expectations. The publication rate does not even seem to have peaked yet! We expect many more results.\" Salama says."; jPARAGRAPH8[31] = "Note for editors

ISO's data archive contains scientific data from about 30 000 observations. Astronomers from all over the world have downloaded almost eight times the equivalent of the entire scientific archive. As much as 35% of all ISO observations have already been published at least once in prestigious scientific journals.

ESA is already preparing to continue its infrared investigation of the Universe. The next generation of infrared space observatories is already in the pipeline: ISO should be followed by the NASA SIRTF observatory to be launched later this year. Then in 2007, ESA will follow up the pioneering work of ISO with the Herschel Space Observatory, which will become the largest imaging space telescope ever put into space.

ISO
The Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) was launched in 1995 and operated from November that year to May 1998, when it ran out of the coolant needed to keep its detectors working. By that time, it was the most sensitive infrared satellite ever launched and made particularly important studies of the dusty regions of the Universe, where visible light telescopes can see nothing. ESA will reopen its examination of the infrared Universe when Herschel is launched in 2007.

Herschel
Herschel will be the largest space telescope when, in 2007, it is launched on an Ariane-5 rocket, together with ESA's cosmology mission, Planck. Herschel's 3.5-metre diameter mirror will collect long-wavelength infrared radiation from some of the coolest and most distant objects in the Universe. These include forming stars and galaxies."; jPARAGRAPH9[31] = "For more information, contact:

Dr. Alberto Salama, ESA - ISO Project Scientist
VILSPA - Villafranca, Spain
Tel : + 34 91 8131374"; jFULL[31] = ""; jFRENCH[31] = ""; jGERMAN[31] = ""; jFURTHERINFO[31] = true; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[32] = "SN"; jID[32] = "SNR 11-2003"; jTITLE[32] = "ESA is hot on the trail of Geminga"; jDATE[32] = "25 July 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[32] = "http://asimov.esrin.esa.it/export/images/mime002_th.jpg"; jPORTRAIT1[32] = "http://asimov.esrin.esa.it/export/images/mime001_th.jpg"; jPORTRAIT2[32] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[32] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[32] = ""; jLANDSCAPE1[32] = ""; jLANDSCAPE2[32] = ""; jLANDSCAPE3[32] = ""; jPHOTOURL0[32]="http:\/\/asimov.esrin.esa.it:8766\/queryIG.html?searchType=keyword&col=mmg&ql=a&lk=2&tipo=Image&fl1=ContentType%3A&ty1=w&op1=&tx1=Image&fl10=id%3A&ty10=w&op10=%7C%2B&tx10=SEMU7XXO4HD&fl11=showcase%3A&ty11=w&op11=%7C%2B&tx11=esa00000000&fl0=&ty0=&op0=&tx0=&fl2=&ty2=&op2=&tx2=&fl3=&ty3=&op3=&tx3=&fl4=&ty4=&op4=&tx4=&fl5=&ty5=&op5=&tx5=&fl6=&ty6=&op6=&tx6=&fl7=&ty7&op7=&tx7=&fl8=&ty8=&op8=&tx8=&fl9=&ty9=&op9=&tx9="; jPHOTOURL1[32]="http:\/\/asimov.esrin.esa.it:8766\/queryIG.html?searchType=keyword&col=mmg&ql=a&lk=2&tipo=Image&fl1=ContentType%3A&ty1=w&op1=&tx1=Image&fl10=id%3A&ty10=w&op10=%7C%2B&tx10=SEMXXWXO4HD&fl11=showcase%3A&ty11=w&op11=%7C%2B&tx11=esa00000000&fl0=&ty0=&op0=&tx0=&fl2=&ty2=&op2=&tx2=&fl3=&ty3=&op3=&tx3=&fl4=&ty4=&op4=&tx4=&fl5=&ty5=&op5=&tx5=&fl6=&ty6=&op6=&tx6=&fl7=&ty7&op7=&tx7=&fl8=&ty8=&op8=&tx8=&fl9=&ty9=&op9=&tx9="; jPHOTOURL2[32] = ""; jPHOTOURL3[32] = ""; jPARAGRAPH0[32] = "Astronomers using ESA's X-ray observatory, XMM-Newton, have discovered a pair of X-ray tails, stretching 3 million million kilometres across the sky. They emanate from the mysterious neutron star known as Geminga. The discovery gives astronomers new insight into the extraordinary conditions around the neutron star."; jPARAGRAPH1[32] = "A neutron star measures only 20-30 kilometres across and is the dense remnant of an exploded star. Geminga is one of the closest to Earth, at a distance of about 500 light-years. Most neutron stars emit radio emissions, appearing to pulsate like a lighthouse, but Geminga is 'radio-quiet'. It does, however, emit huge quantities of pulsating gamma rays making it one of the brightest gamma-ray sources in the sky. Geminga is the only example of a successfully identified gamma-ray source from which astronomers have gained significant knowledge."; jPARAGRAPH2[32] = "It is 350 000 years old and ploughs through space at 120 kilometres per second. Its route creates a shockwave that compresses the gas of the interstellar medium and its naturally embedded magnetic field by a factor of four."; jPARAGRAPH3[32] = "Patrizia Caraveo, Instituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica, Milano, Italy, and her colleagues (at CESR, France, ESO and MPE, Germany) have calculated that the tails are produced because highly energetic electrons become trapped in this enhanced magnetic field. As the electrons spiral inside the magnetic field, they emit the X-rays seen by XMM-Newton."; jPARAGRAPH4[32] = "The electrons themselves are created close to the neutron star. Geminga's breathless rotation rate - once every quarter of a second - creates an extraordinary environment in which electrons and positrons, their antimatter counterparts, can be accelerated to extraordinarily high energies. At such energies, they become powerful high-energy gamma-ray producers. Astronomers had assumed that all the electrons would be converted into gamma rays. However, the discovery of the tails proves that some do find escape routes from the maelstrom."; jPARAGRAPH5[32] = "\"It is astonishing that such energetic electrons succeed in escaping to create these tails,\" says Caraveo, \"The tail electrons have an energy very near to the maximum energy achievable in the environment of Geminga.\""; jPARAGRAPH6[32] = "The tails themselves are the bright edges of the three-dimensional shockwave sculpted by Geminga. Such shockwaves are a bit like the wake of a ship travelling across the ocean. Using a computer model, the team has estimated that Geminga is travelling almost directly across our line of sight."; jPARAGRAPH7[32] = "Studies of Geminga could not be more important. The majority of known gamma-ray sources in the Universe have yet to be identified with known classes of celestial objects. Some astronomers believe that a sizeable fraction of them may be Geminga-like radio-quiet neutron stars. Certainly, the family of radio-quiet neutron stars, discovered through their X-ray emission, is continuously growing. Currently, about a dozen objects are known but only Geminga has a pair of tails!"; jPARAGRAPH8[32] = "Note for editors

During the search to track down this elusive celestial object, a co-author on the paper, Giovanni Bignami, named Geminga almost 30 years ago. He was Principal Investigator of XMM-Newton's EPIC camera from 1987 to1997 and is now Director of the Centre d'Etude Spatiale des Rayonnements (CESR). Geminga was first glimpsed as a mysterious source of gamma rays, coming from somewhere in the constellation Gemini by NASA's SAS-2 spacecraft in 1973.

While searching to pin down its exact location and nature, Bignami named it Geminga because it was a 'Gemini gamma-ray source'. As an astronomer in Milan, Italy, he was also aware that in his native dialect 'gh'è minga' means 'it is not there', which he found amusing. It was also remarkably apt, for it was not until 1993 that he succeeded in finally 'seeing' and therefore pinpointing Geminga, using optical wavelengths. While it lacked radio emissions, the pulsating X-ray and gamma-ray emissions meant Geminga could only be a new class of radio-quiet neutron star.

The original paper was published yesterday, 24 July 2003, on Science Express, a feature of Science Online."; jPARAGRAPH9[32] = "For more information, contact:

Dr. Patrizia Caraveo
Instituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica, CNR (Milano, Italy)
E-mail: pat@mi.iasf.cnr.it"; jFULL[32] = ""; jFRENCH[32] = ""; jGERMAN[32] = ""; jFURTHERINFO[32] = true; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[33] = "IN"; jID[33] = "INF 14-2003"; jTITLE[33] = "SMART-1 - the lunar adventure begins"; jDATE[33] = "5 August 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[33] = ""; jPORTRAIT1[33] = ""; jPORTRAIT2[33] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[33] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[33] = ""; jLANDSCAPE1[33] = ""; jLANDSCAPE2[33] = ""; jLANDSCAPE3[33] = ""; jPHOTOURL0[33]=""; jPHOTOURL1[33]=""; jPHOTOURL2[33] = ""; jPHOTOURL3[33] = ""; jPARAGRAPH0[33] = "This is clearly Europe\'s time for interplanetary exploration. Having sent the first European mission to Mars, ESA is about to launch its first probe to the Moon. It is called SMART-1 and its goals are both technological and scientific. It is the first of a series of \'Small Missions for Advanced Research in Technology\'."; jPARAGRAPH1[33] = "On the one hand, SMART-1 will test new state-of-the art instruments and techniques essential to ambitious future interplanetary missions, such as a solar-electric primary propulsion system. On the other, SMART-1 will answer pending scientific questions, addressing key issues such as the Moon\'s formation, its precise mineralogical composition, and the presence and quantity of water. These data will help scientists to understand the Earth-Moon system and Earth-like planets, and will also provide invaluable information when considering a long-lasting human presence on the Moon.

On 15 July 2003, SMART-1 was shipped to the European launch base in Kourou, French Guiana, where it is being prepared for its launch, due to take place on an Ariane-5 rocket on 29 August 2003 (Central European Summer Time).

For the first time, SMART-1 will combine the power obtained by solar-electric propulsion - never used before by Europe as a main propulsion system - with lunar gravity. It will not follow a direct path to cross the 400 000 kilometres distance between the Earth and the Moon. Instead, from an elliptical orbit around the Earth where it is placed by the rocket, SMART-1 will gradually expand the orbit in a spiral pathway that will bring it closer to the Moon every month. Finally, the Moon\'s gravitational field will capture the spacecraft. SMART-1 will not land on the Moon, but will make its observations from orbit, obtaining a global view. When it reaches its destination, in December 2004, it will enter orbit around the Moon and make measurements for a period of six months possibly extended to one year."; jPARAGRAPH2[33] = "Why the Moon? Water, minerals, and a violent origin

\"Our knowledge of the Moon is still surprisingly incomplete,\" says Bernard Foing, ESA\'s SMART-1 Project Scientist. \"We still want to know how the Earth-Moon system formed and evolved, as well as the role of geophysical processes such as volcanism, tectonics, cratering, or erosion in shaping the Moon. And, of course, in preparation for future lunar and planetary exploration, we need to find resources and landing sites.\"

So, there are many unsolved questions about the Moon, even though six NASA Apollo missions and three unmanned Soviet spacecraft have landed on it and brought back rock samples. The far side of the Moon --the one that never faces Earth-- and the polar regions remain fairly unexplored. The existence of water on the Moon has also never been confirmed, although two orbiters in the 1990s found indirect evidence. We are not even sure how the Moon was formed. According to the most accepted theory, 4500 million years ago an asteroid the size of Mars collided with our planet, and the vapourised debris that went into space condensed to form the Moon.

SMART-1 will map the Moon\'s topography, as well as the surface distribution of minerals such as pyroxenes, olivines, and feldspars. Also, an X-ray detector will identify key chemical elements in the lunar surface. These data will allow scientists to reconstruct the geological evolution of the Moon, and to search for traces of the impact with the giant asteroid. If the collision theory is right, the Moon should contain less iron than the Earth, in proportion to lighter elements such as magnesium and aluminium. By gauging the relative amounts of chemical elements comprehensively for the very first time, SMART-1 can make a significant contribution in resolving this issue.

As for water, if it exists, it must be in the form of ice in places always hidden from the Sun. In such places, the temperature will never rise above -170 °C. Dark places like that could exist in the bottoms of small craters in the polar regions. Peering into these craters is maybe the trickiest task that the SMART-1 scientists have set themselves. They will look for the infrared signature of water- ice. It will be difficult because no direct light falls in those areas, but rays from nearby crater rims, catching the sunshine, may light the ice sufficiently for SMART-1 instruments to see it."; jPARAGRAPH3[33] = "New technologies to prepare for future interplanetary missions

Future scientific missions will greatly profit from the technologies being tested on SMART-1. Solar-electric primary propulsion is a new propulsion technique based on so-called \'ion engines\' that feed on electricity derived from solar panels. It is a technique that has only ever been used once before. These engines provide a very gentle thrust, but they work for years while conventional, more powerful chemical rockets burn for only a few minutes.

Ion engines offer key advantages. They need considerably less propellant than chemical propulsion, which means less weight at launch and more mass available for scientific instruments and payload. Ion engines open the door to truly deep space exploration. They slash the time for interplanetary flight: although they provide less thrust they can last for years. The ion tortoise will therefore eventually overtake the chemical hare. Moreover, another application of the gentle thrust provided by electric propulsion allows very accurate spacecraft attitude control, a skill that will be useful for scientific missions that require highly precise and undisturbed pointing. Future ESA science missions will rely on ion engines.

SMART-1 will also test new miniaturisation techniques that save space and economise on mass: in space, less mass per instrument enables scientists to have more instruments on board, so more science. The SMART-1 payload consists of a dozen technological and scientific investigations performed by seven instruments weighing only 19 kilograms in total. For example, the X-ray telescope D-CIXS, consists of a cube just 15 centimetres wide and weighing less than 5 kilograms. The ultra-compact electronic camera, AMIE, weighs no more than an amateur's camera."; jPARAGRAPH4[33] = "New navigation and space-communication techniques will also be tested. An experiment called OBAN, based on images from the miniature camera AMIE and the star trackers, is the first step towards future \'autonomous\' spacecraft. In a not-too-distant future, scientific satellites will be able to \'find their way\' with a minimum of ground control, just by using stars and other celestial objects to guide themselves along predefined paths.

As for communications, engineers need to develop new and efficient ways to communicate with Earth from deep space, for interplanetary missions that are long or go far. SMART-1 will test both very short radio waves (called Ka band, with the instrument KaTE) and a laser experiment to try to communicate with the Earth using a laser beam, instead of traditional radio frequencies. ESA already has laser links with telecommunications satellites from an optical ground station on Tenerife, in Spain\'s Canary Islands. Aiming the beam becomes much more difficult if, like SMART-1, the spacecraft is far away and moving rapidly. Scientists hope that the on-board camera AMIE will see Tenerife aglow with laser light."; jPARAGRAPH5[33] = "For more information, please contact:

ESA Communication Department
Media Relations Office, Paris, France
Tel: +33 (0)15369 7155
Fax: +33 (0)15369 7690"; jPARAGRAPH6[33] = "For more information about SMART-1 and the ESA Science Programme visit: http:\/\/www.esa.int\/science
For more information about ESA visit: http:\/\/www.esa.int"; jPARAGRAPH7[33] = ""; jPARAGRAPH8[33] = ""; jPARAGRAPH9[33] = ""; jFULL[33] = ""; jFRENCH[33] = ""; jGERMAN[33] = ""; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[34] = "PR"; jID[34] = "PR 50-2003"; jTITLE[34] = "Europe\'s first Moon probe prepares for launch "; jDATE[34] = "8 August 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[34] = ""; jPORTRAIT1[34] = ""; jPORTRAIT2[34] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[34] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[34] = ""; jLANDSCAPE1[34] = ""; jLANDSCAPE2[34] = ""; jLANDSCAPE3[34] = ""; jPHOTOURL0[34] = ""; jPHOTOURL1[34] = ""; jPHOTOURL2[34] = ""; jPHOTOURL3[34] = ""; jPARAGRAPH0[34] = "Europe\'s first probe to the Moon, SMART-1, is about to begin a unique journey that will take it into orbit around our closest neighbour — powered only by an ion engine, which Europe will be testing for the first time as main spacecraft propulsion."; jPARAGRAPH1[34] = "The European Space Agency\'s SMART-1 spacecraft was delivered to Kourou, French Guiana, on 15 July 2003 and is currently being prepared for launch on an Ariane 5 rocket during the night of 28/29 August. The launch window will open at 8.04 p.m. local time (1.04 a.m. on 29 August CEST) and will remain open for 26 minutes.

The 367 kg spacecraft will share Ariane\'s V162 launch with two commercial payloads: the Indian Space Research Organisation\'s Insat 3E and Eutelsat\'s e-Bird communication satellites. As the smallest spacecraft in the trio, SMART-1 will travel in the lower position, inside a cylindrical adapter, and will be the last to be released.

The generic Ariane 5 launcher will place these three payloads in a standard geostationary transfer orbit from which each will begin its own journey towards its final operational orbit. SMART-1, powered by its ion engine, will reach its destination in about 16 months, having followed a long, spiralling trajectory.

SMART-1\'s ion engine will be used to accelerate the probe and raise its orbit until it reaches the vicinity of the Moon, some 350,000 to 400,000 km from Earth. Then there will be a series of gravity-assisted lunar swing-bys in late September, late October and late November 2004. SMART-1 will then be \'captured\' by the Moon\'s gravity in December 2004 and will begin using its engine to slow down and reduce the altitude of its lunar orbit."; jPARAGRAPH2[34] = "Testing breakthrough technologies and studying the Moon

SMART-1 is not a standard space probe. As ESA\'s first Small Mission for Advanced Research in Technology, it is primarily designed to demonstrate innovative and key technologies for future deep-space science missions. However, once it has arrived at its destination, it will also perform an unprecedented scientific study of the Moon. SMART-1 is a very small spacecraft (measuring just one cubic metre). Its solar arrays, spanning 14 metres, will deliver 1.9 kilowatts of power, about 75% of which will be used for the probe\'s \'solar-electric\' propulsion system."; jPARAGRAPH3[34] = "In its role as technological demonstrator, SMART-1\'s primary goal is to test this new solar-electric propulsion system. This is a form of continuous low-thrust engine that uses electricity derived from solar panels to produce a beam of charged particles that pushes the spacecraft forward. Such engines are commonly called \'ion engines\', and engineers consider them essential for future, long-range space missions. SMART-1 will also test miniaturised spacecraft equipment and instruments, and a navigation system that, in the future, will allow spacecraft to autonomously navigate through the solar system. In addition, it will also test a new short-wavelength communication system, and a space communication technique by means of which SMART-1 will try to establish a link with the Earth using a laser beam."; jPARAGRAPH4[34] = "Once it enters into a near-polar orbit around the Moon in January 2005, SMART-1 will also become a science platform for lunar observation. SMART-1 will search for signs of water ice in craters near the Moon\'s poles and provide data to shed light on the still uncertain origin of the Moon. It will reconstruct its evolution by mapping its topography and the surface distribution of minerals and key chemical elements.

SMART-1 will be the second ESA-led planetary mission to be launched in 2003 after Mars Express in June"; jPARAGRAPH5[34] = "For more information, please contact:

ESA Communication Department
Media Relations Office, Paris, France
Tel: +33 (0)15369 7155
Fax: +33 (0)15369 7690"; jPARAGRAPH6[34] = "For more information about SMART-1 and the ESA Science Programme visit: http:\/\/www.esa.int\/science
For more information about ESA visit: http:\/\/www.esa.int"; jPARAGRAPH7[34] = ""; jPARAGRAPH8[34] = ""; jPARAGRAPH9[34] = ""; jFULL[34] = ""; jFRENCH[34] = "http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/Pr_50_2003_p_FR.html"; jGERMAN[34] = "http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/Pr_50_2003_p_GE.html"; jFURTHERINFO[34] = false; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[35] = "SN"; jID[35] = "SNR 12-2003"; jTITLE[35] = "SMART-1 to be launched on 4 September 2003"; jDATE[35] = "14 August 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[35] = "http://asimov.esrin.esa.it/export/images/smaert1_arrival_spaceport_4_m.jpg"; jPORTRAIT1[35] = ""; jPORTRAIT2[35] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[35] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[35] = ""; jLANDSCAPE1[35] = ""; jLANDSCAPE2[35] = ""; jLANDSCAPE3[35] = ""; jPHOTOURL0[35]="http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/SEM3ITYO4HD_index_1.html"; jPHOTOURL1[35] = ""; jPHOTOURL2[35] = ""; jPHOTOURL3[35] = ""; jPARAGRAPH0[35] = "The Ariane-5 launch, with SMART-1 and two commercial satellites on board, was planned to take place on Thursday 28 August from Europe's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. The launch has now been put back to 4 September, 1:04 CEST."; jPARAGRAPH1[35] = "The Ariane 5 launcher and the SMART-1 spacecraft are in perfect shape, ready for the new launch date."; jPARAGRAPH2[35] = "ESA's SMART-1 spacecraft, Europe's first probe to the Moon, will take around 16 months to reach its destination where it is expected to carry out a number of unprecedented studies of the Moon, and demonstrate innovate and key technologies for future deep space science missions."; jPARAGRAPH3[35] = ""; jPARAGRAPH4[35] = ""; jPARAGRAPH5[35] = ""; jPARAGRAPH6[35] = ""; jPARAGRAPH7[35] = ""; jPARAGRAPH8[35] = ""; jPARAGRAPH9[35] = ""; jFULL[35] = "http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/SEM3ITYO4HD_index_0.html"; jFRENCH[35] = ""; jGERMAN[35] = ""; jFURTHERINFO[35] = true; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[36] = "SN"; jID[36] = "SNR 13-2003"; jTITLE[36] = "ESA sees stardust storms heading for Solar System"; jDATE[36] = "18 August 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[36] = "http://nut.esrin.esa.it/Xcel_export/images/suns_galactic_environment_s.jpg"; jPORTRAIT1[36] = "http://nut.esrin.esa.it/Xcel_export/images/ulysses_s.jpg"; jPORTRAIT2[36] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[36] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[36] = ""; jLANDSCAPE1[36] = ""; jLANDSCAPE2[36] = ""; jLANDSCAPE3[36] = ""; jPHOTOURL0[36]="http:\/\/asimov.esrin.esa.it:8766\/queryIG.html?searchType=keyword&col=mmg&ql=a&lk=2&tipo=Image&fl1=ContentType%3A&ty1=w&op1=&tx1=Image&fl10=id%3A&ty10=w&op10=%7C%2B&tx10=SEMOLXYO4HD&fl11=showcase%3A&ty11=w&op11=%7C%2B&tx11=esa00000000&fl0=&ty0=&op0=&tx0=&fl2=&ty2=&op2=&tx2=&fl3=&ty3=&op3=&tx3=&fl4=&ty4=&op4=&tx4=&fl5=&ty5=&op5=&tx5=&fl6=&ty6=&op6=&tx6=&fl7=&ty7&op7=&tx7=&fl8=&ty8=&op8=&tx8=&fl9=&ty9=&op9=&tx9="; jPHOTOURL1[36] = "http:\/\/asimov.esrin.esa.it:8766\/queryIG.html?searchType=keyword&col=mmg&ql=a&lk=2&tipo=Image&fl1=ContentType%3A&ty1=w&op1=&tx1=Image&fl10=id%3A&ty10=w&op10=%7C%2B&tx10=SEMFSXYO4HD&fl11=showcase%3A&ty11=w&op11=%7C%2B&tx11=esa00000000&fl0=&ty0=&op0=&tx0=&fl2=&ty2=&op2=&tx2=&fl3=&ty3=&op3=&tx3=&fl4=&ty4=&op4=&tx4=&fl5=&ty5=&op5=&tx5=&fl6=&ty6=&op6=&tx6=&fl7=&ty7&op7=&tx7=&fl8=&ty8=&op8=&tx8=&fl9=&ty9=&op9=&tx9="; jPHOTOURL2[36] = ""; jPHOTOURL3[36] = ""; jPARAGRAPH0[36] = "Until ten years ago, most astronomers did not believe stardust could enter our Solar System. Then ESA's Ulysses spaceprobe discovered minute stardust particles leaking through the Sun's magnetic shield, into the realm of Earth and the other planets. Now, the same spaceprobe has shown that a flood of dusty particles is heading our way."; jPARAGRAPH1[36] = "Since its launch in 1990, Ulysses has constantly monitored how much stardust enters the Solar System from the interstellar space around it. Using an on-board instrument called DUST, scientists have discovered that stardust can actually approach the Earth and other planets, but its flow is governed by the Sun's magnetic field, which behaves as a powerful gate-keeper bouncing most of it back. However, during solar maximum - a phase of intense activity inside the Sun that marks the end of each 11-year solar cycle - the magnetic field becomes disordered as its polarity reverses. As a result, the Sun's shielding power weakens and more stardust can sneak in. "; jPARAGRAPH2[36] = "What is surprising in this new Ulysses discovery is that the amount of stardust has continued to increase even after the solar activity calmed down and the magnetic field resumed its ordered shape in 2001. "; jPARAGRAPH3[36] = "Scientists believe that this is due to the way in which the polarity changed during solar maximum. Instead of reversing completely, flipping north to south, the Sun's magnetic poles have only rotated at halfway and are now more or less lying sideways along the Sun's equator. This weaker configuration of the magnetic shield is letting in two to three times more stardust than at the end of the 1990s. Moreover, this influx could increase by as much as ten times until the end of the current solar cycle in 2012."; jPARAGRAPH4[36] = "The stardust itself is very fine - just one-hundredth of the width of a human hair. It is unlikely to have much effect on the planets but it is bound to collide with asteroids, chipping off larger dust particles, again increasing the amount of dust in the inner Solar System. On the one hand, this means that the solar panels of spacecraft may be struck more frequently by dust, eventually causing a gradual loss of power, and that space observatories looking in the plane of the planets may have to cope with the haze of more sunlight diffused by the dust. "; jPARAGRAPH5[36] = "On the other hand, this astronomical occurrence could offer a powerful new way to look at the icy comets in the Kuiper Belt region of the outer Solar System. Stardust colliding with them will chip off fragments that can be studied collectively with ESA's forthcoming infrared space telescope, Herschel. This might provide vital insight into a poorly understood region of the Solar System, where the debris from the formation of the planets has accumulated. "; jPARAGRAPH6[36] = "Back down on Earth, everyone may notice an increase in the number of sporadic meteors that fall from the sky every night. These meteors, however, will be rather faint."; jPARAGRAPH7[36] = "Astronomers still do not know whether the current stardust influx, apart from being favoured by the particular configuration of the Sun's magnetic field, is also enhanced by the thickness of the interstellar clouds into which the Solar System is moving. Currently located at the edge of what astronomers call the local interstellar cloud, our Sun is about to join our closest stellar neighbour Alpha Centauri in its cloud, which is less hot but denser. "; jPARAGRAPH8[36] = "ESA's Ulysses data make it finally possible to study how stardust is distributed along the path of the Solar System through the local galactic environment. However, as it takes over 70 thousand years to traverse a typical galactic cloud, no abrupt changes are expected in the short term."; jPARAGRAPH9[36] = "Notes to editors

The results of this investigation will appear in the October 2003 issue of Journal of Geophysical Research. The investigation has been conducted by a team lead by Markus Landgraf of ESA's European Space Operation Centre in Darmstadt (Germany) and including Harald Krüger, Nicolas Altobelli, and Eberhard Grün of the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg (Germany).

Ulysses is the first mission to study the environment of space above and below the Sun's poles. It is a joint mission with NASA and has been in space since 1990, after a mission extension agreed in 2000. Launched from the Space Shuttle Discovery in October 1990, Ulysses has now completed two orbits, passing both the Sun's north and south pole on each occasion. Its data gave scientists their first look at the variable effect that the Sun has on the space that surrounds it.

The Ulysses DUST experiment provides direct observations of dust grains weighing less than a millionth of a gram in interplanetary space as Ulysses moves along an orbit that takes it periodically away from the Sun and from the plane of the planets - a disc known as the ecliptic. DUST measures the mass, speed, flight direction, and electric charge of individual dust particles.

Astronomers wanted to know what portion of dust is provided by comets and asteroids and what, instead, comes directly from interstellar space. By taking measurements when Ulysses was farthest from the Sun and high above the ecliptic, in regions where cometary dust can hardly reach, scientists were able to detect and isolate particles of stardust entering the Solar System from the outer space. To confirm that these dust grains are indeed of interstellar origin, Landgraf and his collaborators verified that the dust had the same flight direction and speed as the atoms of helium which are known to come exclusively from interstellar space.

For further information, please contact:

Markus Landgraf, Mission Analyst
ESA - ESOC (European Space Operations Centre, Germany)
Tel: + 49 6151 90 3627
Fax: + 49 6151 90 2625
E-mail: markus.landgraf@esa.int

ESA Science Programme Communication Service
Tel: + 31 71 565 3273
Fax: + 31 71 565 4101

ESA Media Relations Service
Tel: + 33 1 5369 7155
Fax: + 33 1 5369 7690"; jFULL[36] = ""; jFRENCH[36] = ""; jGERMAN[36] = ""; jFURTHERINFO[36] = false; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[37] = "SN"; jID[37] = "SNR 14-2003"; jTITLE[37] = "New date awaited for SMART-1 launch"; jDATE[37] = "18 August 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[37] = ""; jPORTRAIT1[37] = ""; jPORTRAIT2[37] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[37] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[37] = ""; jLANDSCAPE1[37] = ""; jLANDSCAPE2[37] = ""; jLANDSCAPE3[37] = ""; jPHOTOURL0[37]=""; jPHOTOURL1[37] = ""; jPHOTOURL2[37] = ""; jPHOTOURL3[37] = ""; jPARAGRAPH0[37] = "Arianespace has announced that the Ariane-5 launch, with SMART-1 and two commercial satellites on board, has been postponed. A new launch date is expected to be announced soon."; jPARAGRAPH1[37] = "ESA officials confirmed that the Ariane-5 launcher and the SMART-1 spacecraft are in perfect shape, ready for the new launch date."; jPARAGRAPH2[37] = "
Arainespace mission update site"; jPARAGRAPH3[37] = ""; jPARAGRAPH4[37] = ""; jPARAGRAPH5[37] = ""; jPARAGRAPH6[37] = ""; jPARAGRAPH7[37] = ""; jPARAGRAPH8[37] = ""; jPARAGRAPH9[37] = ""; jFULL[37] = ""; jFRENCH[37] = ""; jGERMAN[37] = ""; jFURTHERINFO[37] = true; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[38] = "PR"; jID[38] = "PR 55-2003"; jTITLE[38] = "Hubble assists Rosetta comet mission"; jDATE[38] = "5 September 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[38] = ""; jPORTRAIT1[38] = ""; jPORTRAIT2[38] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[38] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[38] = "http://asimov.esrin.esa.it/export/images/heic0310_m.jpg"; jLANDSCAPE1[38] = ""; jLANDSCAPE2[38] = ""; jLANDSCAPE3[38] = ""; jPHOTOURL0[38] = "http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/SEMB8SZO4HD_index_1.html"; jPHOTOURL1[38] = ""; jPHOTOURL2[38] = ""; jPHOTOURL3[38] = ""; jPARAGRAPH0[38] = "Results from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have played a major role in preparing ESA's ambitious Rosetta mission for its new target, comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko."; jPARAGRAPH1[38] = "Hubble has been used to make precise measurements of the size, shape and rotational period of the comet. Information that is essential if Rosetta is to rendezvous with the comet and then drop down a probe, something never before attempted and yet a major step towards elucidating the origins of the solar system."; jPARAGRAPH2[38] = "Hubble's observations from March 2003 revealed that comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (67P/C-G) is approximately five-by-three kilometres, and shaped like a rugby ball on which it is possible to land. ESA Mission scientists needed to know the exact size of the solid nucleus to adapt the mission to the comet's gravity."; jPARAGRAPH3[38] = "\"Although 67P/C-G is roughly three times larger than the original Rosetta target, its highly elongated shape should make landing on its nucleus feasible, now that measures are in place to adapt the lander package to the new scenario,\" says Dr Philippe Lamy of the Laboratoire d'Astronomie Spatiale in France, who is presenting the Hubble results on comet 67P/C-G today at the annual meeting of the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society in California, USA."; jPARAGRAPH4[38] = "Mission scientists began looking for an alternative target when the Rosetta mission's launch date was postponed. The delay meant that the original target comet, 46P/Wirtanen, was no longer easily reachable. But scientists did not have enough information on the back-up comet, 67P/C-G, and sought data from the largest telescopes. "; jPARAGRAPH5[38] = "Using a technique developed over the past decade by Lamy, Imre Toth (Konkoly Observatory, Hungary), and Harold Weaver (Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, USA), the team snapped 61 Hubble images of comet 67P/C-G over an interval of 21 hours between March 11 and 12, 2003. Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 isolated the comet's nucleus from the coma, the diffuse cloud of gas and dust surrounding it, and quickly provided the missing figures. The telescope showed that the nucleus is ellipsoidal and also measured its rotation rate of approximately 12 hours."; jPARAGRAPH6[38] = "Rosetta's launch is currently planned for February 2004, with a rendezvous with the comet about 10 years later."; jPARAGRAPH7[38] = "Notes for editors:

The team is composed of P.L. Lamy and L. Jorda (Laboratoire d'Astronomie Spatiale, France), I. Toth (Konkoly Observatory, Hungary), and H.A. Weaver (Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory). The movie simulation of the Hubble results is provided by Mikko Kaasalainen (University of Helsinki, Finland) and Pedro Gutierrez (Laboratoire d'Astronomie Spatiale, France)."; jPARAGRAPH8[38] = "For more information, please contact:

Philippe Lamy
Laboratoire d'Astronomie Spatiale, France
Mobile: +33-630-14-92-33 (Californian time zone)
E-mail: lamy@astrsp-mrs.fr

Lars Lindberg Christensen
Hubble European Space Agency Information Centre, Garching, Germany
Tel: +49-89-3200-6306
Mobile: (24 hr): +49-173-3872-621
E-mail: lars@eso.org

Ray Villard
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA
Tel: +1-410-338-4514)
E-mail: villard@stsci.edu

Michael Buckley
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD, USA
Tel: +1-443-778-7536
E-mail: michael.buckley@jhuapl.edu"; jPARAGRAPH9[38] = ""; jFULL[38] = ""; jFRENCH[38] = ""; jGERMAN[38] = ""; jFURTHERINFO[38] = false; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[39] = "SN"; jID[39] = "SNR 15-2003"; jTITLE[39] = "European astronomers' wish granted by GENIE"; jDATE[39] = "11 September 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[39] = ""; jPORTRAIT1[39] = ""; jPORTRAIT2[39] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[39] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[39] = ""; jLANDSCAPE1[39] = ""; jLANDSCAPE2[39] = ""; jLANDSCAPE3[39] = ""; jPHOTOURL0[39]=""; jPHOTOURL1[39] = ""; jPHOTOURL2[39] = ""; jPHOTOURL3[39] = ""; jPARAGRAPH0[39] = "Europe's premier planet-hunting team has given ESA scientists and their colleagues at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) a new prize to chase: a planet whose entire year lasts just two and a half days. The Jupiter-sized world is perfectly placed for study using ESA/ESO's forthcoming GENIE instrument and could provide the first direct look at a planet around another star."; jPARAGRAPH1[39] = "The Ground-based European Nulling Interferometer Experiment (GENIE) is a collaboration between ESA and ESO. It plans to turn ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) into a working model of ESA's planned Earth-like world finder, Darwin."; jPARAGRAPH2[39] = "Nulling interferometry allows bright stars to be filtered out, leaving fainter surrounding objects visible. GENIE will allow the detection and study of a number of celestial objects; among them, the dust clouds that are expected to surround other planetary systems and failed stars, known as 'brown dwarfs'. However, although its space-based cousin Darwin will be able to clearly see Earth-sized worlds, from the ground GENIE will struggle to see even the giant planets that are known to exist around approximately 100 Sun-like stars."; jPARAGRAPH3[39] = "\"The problem is the atmosphere,\" explains Malcolm Fridlund, study scientist for both GENIE and Darwin, \"It corrugates the light rays as they pass through.\" This effectively blurs the images and washes out faint signals - such as those coming from even large planets - making them extremely difficult to see. One of the recent planetary discoveries, however, is the most significant yet for the GENIE scientists, as it may just be visible to their instrument."; jPARAGRAPH4[39] = "Stephane Udry, from the Observatoire de Genève, and his collaborators report in the latest issue of Astronomy and Astrophysics that the star HD73256 has a Jupiter-sized planet orbiting its parent star in just 2.54 days. The short orbital period indicates that the planet is very close to its parent star. In fact, it orbits just 5.5 million kilometres above the surface of the star - ten times closer to its star than Mercury gets to our Sun."; jPARAGRAPH5[39] = "Being this close means that it will become very hot and emit so much infrared radiation that estimates suggest it might be bright enough for GENIE to see."; jPARAGRAPH6[39] = "\"GENIE is really designed to test the techniques we will use on Darwin but if we can actually see some giant planets as well, that will be a bonus,\" says Fridlund."; jPARAGRAPH7[39] = "GENIE will be biggest investigation of nulling interferometry to date. This autumn, industrial partners will begin work on its design and it could be collecting science data by 2008."; jPARAGRAPH8[39] = "At that time, HD73256's planet will hopefully be revealed for the world to see."; jPARAGRAPH9[39] = "Note to editors:
- The team at the Observatoire de Genève, led by Michel Mayor, found the first planet around a Sun-like star in 1995 and have since added over 50 more to the list.
- The article reporting the discovery of a planet around HD73256, by Stephane Udry and his collaborators, appeared in the August 15th issue of Astronomy and Astrophysics (vol. 407, p679-684)

Contacts:
Malcolm Fridlund
ESA-ESTEC
Tel: +31 71 565 4768
E-mail: malcolm.fridlund@esa.int

Stephane Udry
Observatoire de Genève
Tel: +41 22 755 2611
E-mail: Stephane.Udry@obs.unige.ch"; jFULL[39] = ""; jFRENCH[39] = ""; jGERMAN[39] = ""; jFURTHERINFO[39] = false; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[40] = "SN"; jID[40] = "SNR 16-2003"; jTITLE[40] = "SMART-1 launch date confirmed"; jDATE[40] = "19 September 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[40] = ""; jPORTRAIT1[40] = ""; jPORTRAIT2[40] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[40] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[40] = ""; jLANDSCAPE1[40] = ""; jLANDSCAPE2[40] = ""; jLANDSCAPE3[40] = ""; jPHOTOURL0[40]= ""; jPHOTOURL1[40] = ""; jPHOTOURL2[40] = ""; jPHOTOURL3[40] = ""; jPARAGRAPH0[40] = "The launch date for ESA's SMART-1 mission to the Moon is confirmed as during the night of 27-28 September 2003."; jPARAGRAPH1[40] = "The 'launch window' will be 8:02 p.m. to 8:21 p.m. on Saturday, 27 September, local time in Kourou, French Guiana, and 1:02 a.m. to 1:21 a.m. on Sunday, 28 September, CEST."; jPARAGRAPH2[40] = "The SMART-1 spacecraft is now on board its Ariane 5 launcher inside the Final Assembly Building (BAF) at the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana."; jPARAGRAPH3[40] = ""; jPARAGRAPH4[40] = ""; jPARAGRAPH5[40] = ""; jPARAGRAPH6[40] = ""; jPARAGRAPH7[40] = ""; jPARAGRAPH8[40] = ""; jPARAGRAPH9[40] = ""; jFULL[40] = ""; jFRENCH[40] = ""; jGERMAN[40] = ""; jFURTHERINFO[40] = true; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[41] = "PR"; jID[41] = "PR 58-2003"; jTITLE[41] = "ESA's SMART-1 satellite ready for lift-off"; jDATE[41] = "24 September 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[41] = ""; jPORTRAIT1[41] = ""; jPORTRAIT2[41] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[41] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[41] = "http://asimov.esrin.esa.it/export/images/smart1_9_m.jpg"; jLANDSCAPE1[41] = ""; jLANDSCAPE2[41] = ""; jLANDSCAPE3[41] = ""; jPHOTOURL0[41] = "http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/SEMU1E0P4HD_index_1.html"; jPHOTOURL1[41] = ""; jPHOTOURL2[41] = ""; jPHOTOURL3[41] = ""; jPARAGRAPH0[41] = "Follow the SMART-1 launch from an ESA or Arianespace establishment."; jPARAGRAPH1[41] = "During the night of Saturday 27/Sunday 28 September, ESA's SMART-1 satellite will be launched by an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe's spaceport at Kourou at 20:02 hrs local time (01:02 hrs Central European Summer Time, 23:02 hrs GMT)."; jPARAGRAPH2[41] = "SMART-1 is the first of a series of 'Small Missions for Advanced Research in Technology' designed to test key technologies for future spacecraft. It is Europe's first mission to the Moon. Among the new technologies to be tested is the solar-electric propulsion which will power the spacecraft to its target. SMART-1 will help solve such questions as how the Moon came into being and whether there is water there."; jPARAGRAPH3[41] = "Media representatives in Europe can follow the launch and initial orbital operations at ESA/Darmstadt (ESOC) in Germany, which will be acting as the main European press centre, ESA/Noordwijk (ESTEC) in the Netherlands or ESA/Frascati (ESRIN) in Italy. At each site ESA specialists will be available for interviews."; jPARAGRAPH4[41] = "Media representatives wishing to attend are asked to contact the Communication Office at the establishment of their choice."; jPARAGRAPH5[41] = "The ESA TV Service will provide live televised coverage of the launch and initial orbital operations with English commentary, between 00:40 and 02:00 CEST."; jPARAGRAPH6[41] = "Satellite: Astra 2C at 19 degrees East
Transponder 57, horizontal, MPEG-2, MCPC
Reception frequency: 10832 MHz
Polarisation: Horizontal
Symbol rate: 22000 MS/sec
FEC: 5/6
Service name: ESA"; jPARAGRAPH7[41] = "Details of the transmission schedule and the various pre-launch Video News Releases can be found on http://television.esa.int."; jPARAGRAPH8[41] = "On the ESA SMART-1 special website at http://www.esa.int/smart1 you can also find news, press releases, videos, images and more about the mission."; jPARAGRAPH9[41] = ""; jFULL[41] = ""; jFRENCH[41] = ""; jGERMAN[41] = ""; jFURTHERINFO[41] = true; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[42] = "PH"; jID[42] = "PhR 6-2003"; jTITLE[42] = "Waiting for a supernova"; jDATE[42] = "24 September 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[42] = ""; jPORTRAIT1[42] = ""; jPORTRAIT2[42] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[42] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[42] = "hst1.jpg"; jLANDSCAPE1[42] = ""; jLANDSCAPE2[42] = ""; jLANDSCAPE3[42] = ""; jPHOTOURL0[42] = "hst1.jpg"; jPHOTOURL1[42] = ""; jPHOTOURL2[42] = ""; jPHOTOURL3[42] = ""; jPARAGRAPH0[42] = "A team of European astronomers is using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to look back in time. They have imaged the spiral galaxy NGC 3982 and hundreds of other galaxies in the hope that one of the millions of stars in these images will some day explode as a supernova. They can then look back and pinpoint the exact star that has exploded. Only two such supernova 'mother stars' have ever been identified."; jPARAGRAPH1[42] = "The fantastic resolution of the Hubble Space Telescope allows individual massive stars in other galaxies to be detected. A team from Cambridge and Trieste have used Hubble and ESO's Very Large Telescope to image NGC 3982 and several hundred other nearby galaxies in the hope that a few of the stars in these images will explode as supernovae in the future."; jPARAGRAPH2[42] = "When a star of more than 10 times the mass of our Sun reaches the end of its nuclear fuel reserve, it can no longer produce enough energy to keep it from collapsing under its own immense weight. The core of the star collapses, and the outer layers are ejected in a fast-moving shock wave. These supernova explosions are at the heart of our understanding of the evolution of galaxies and the formation of the chemical elements in the Universe. Yet astronomers have been able to identify only two stars that later exploded as supernovae with any confidence."; jPARAGRAPH3[42] = "Supernovae have many different characteristics and understanding exactly which type of star produces which kind of supernova is a fundamental challenge. To find these supernova 'mother stars', the team has undertaken this intensive study of the nearby Universe and is now playing a waiting game. "; jPARAGRAPH4[42] = "It appears that typical spiral galaxies produce one supernova roughly every 100 years and so the team has to study a large number of galaxies to stand a chance of being lucky enough to catch a star before it destroys itself and becomes either a neutron star or a black hole. "; jPARAGRAPH5[42] = "By using the most powerful telescopes both in space and on the ground to take images at different optical and infrared wavelengths, the temperature, luminosity, radius and mass of the stars that later explode can be estimated. This will allow astronomers to see exactly which types of stars produce supernovae and to test if their theories for the origins of these cosmic explosions are correct."; jPARAGRAPH6[42] = "The beautiful galaxy NGC 3982 is a typical spiral galaxy and looks just as our own galaxy, the Milky Way, would if we could view it face on. It harbours a huge black hole at its core and has massive regions of star formation in the bright blue knots in the spiral arms. Supernovae are most likely to be found within these energetic regions."; jPARAGRAPH7[42] = "Notes for editors"; jPARAGRAPH8[42] = "This colour image is composed of three different exposures with Hubble's Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 through a wide blue filter (450 seconds), a wide green filter (55 000 seconds) and a wide red filter (25 000 seconds).

The team is composed of Stephen J. Smartt, Justyn R. Maund, Gerry F. Gilmore (all University of Cambridge) and John Danziger (Trieste Observatory).

Image credit: European Space Agency and Stephen Smartt (University of Cambridge)

The composite image was constructed with data from the ESO/ST-ECF Science Archive. Additional Hubble exposures were obtained by A. Saha (National Optical Astronomy Observatories), L. Labhardt (Universität Basel), F. Macchetto, N. Panagia (both Space Telescope Science Institute) A. Sandage (Carnegie Institution of Washington) and G. Tammann (Universität Basel)."; jPARAGRAPH9[42] = "For more information, please contact:
Stephen Smartt
University of Cambridge
Tel: +44 (0)1223 766 651

E-mail: sjs@ast.cam.ac.uk

Lars Lindberg Christensen
Hubble European Space Agency Information Centre, Garching, Germany
Tel: +49 -89 -3200 6306 (089 within Germany)
Mobile (24 hr): +49 173 3872 621 (0173 within Germany)
E-mail: lars@eso.org"; jFULL[42] = ""; jFRENCH[42] = ""; jGERMAN[42] = ""; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[43] = "SN"; jID[43] = "SNR 17-2003"; jTITLE[43] = "SMART-1 sets off for the Moon"; jDATE[43] = "29 September 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[43] = ""; jPORTRAIT1[43] = ""; jPORTRAIT2[43] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[43] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[43] = "http://asimov.esrin.esa.it/export/images/V162_Dec_m.jpg"; jLANDSCAPE1[43] = ""; jLANDSCAPE2[43] = ""; jLANDSCAPE3[43] = ""; jPHOTOURL0[43] = "http://www.esa.int/export/esaSC/SEMW2Q0P4HD_exploring_1.html"; jPHOTOURL1[43] = ""; jPHOTOURL2[43] = ""; jPHOTOURL3[43] = ""; jPARAGRAPH0[43] = "SMART-1, Europe's first science spacecraft to be sent to the Moon, was flawlessly launched during the night of 27/28 September 2003."; jPARAGRAPH1[43] = "The Ariane-5 launcher lifted off from Europe's spaceport at Kourou, French Guiana, at 8.14 p.m. local time (1.14 a.m. CEST on 28 September), with three spacecraft on board, including ESA's SMART-1."; jPARAGRAPH2[43] = "At 42 minutes after launch, all three satellites were released. While the other two satellites move into geostationary orbit high above the Earth, SMART-1 begins its much longer journey to the Moon. The spacecraft has deployed its solar arrays and is currently undergoing initial check-out of its systems by the ESA Space Operations Centre (ESOC). "; jPARAGRAPH3[43] = "Next key steps"; jPARAGRAPH4[43] = "30 September - First firing of the ion engine. This will raise the lowest point of its orbit from 750 to 20 000 kilometres above the Earth, taking about 80 days to complete.

October 2003 - Check-out of systems complete. ESOC will be in contact with SMART-1 for two 8-hour periods every week.

November 2003 – Over the next few months, the ion engine fires to raise the highest point of its orbit to match the orbit of the Moon.

December 2004 - February 2005 – SMART-1 performs three gravity-assist manoeuvres while flying by the Moon.

March 2005 - SMART-1 'captured' by the Moon's gravity, entering a near-polar elliptical lunar orbit.

April 2005 - Second phase of the mission begins, the six-month study of the Moon."; jPARAGRAPH5[43] = "(These dates are highly dependent on the actual conditions of flight, and may change.)"; jPARAGRAPH6[43] = ""; jPARAGRAPH7[43] = ""; jPARAGRAPH8[43] = ""; jPARAGRAPH9[43] = ""; jFULL[43] = ""; jFRENCH[43] = ""; jGERMAN[43] = ""; jFURTHERINFO[43] = true; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[44] = "SN"; jID[44] = "SNR 18-2003"; jTITLE[44] = "Prestigious award for SOHO"; jDATE[44] = "29 September 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[44] = ""; jPORTRAIT1[44] = ""; jPORTRAIT2[44] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[44] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[44] = ""; jLANDSCAPE1[44] = ""; jLANDSCAPE2[44] = ""; jLANDSCAPE3[44] = ""; jPHOTOURL0[44] = ""; jPHOTOURL1[44] = ""; jPHOTOURL2[44] = ""; jPHOTOURL3[44] = ""; jPARAGRAPH0[44] = "The SOHO team has been presented with the prestigious Laurels for Team Achievement Award of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA)."; jPARAGRAPH1[44] = "The award recognises both the outstanding achievements in designing, building and operating the mission, as well as the science it has performed. It is a tribute to a team that has contributed to one of the most successful space missions in history."; jPARAGRAPH2[44] = "The International Academy of Astronautics presents this award in recognition of extraordinary performance and achievement by teams of scientists, engineers and managers in the field of astronautics. This honour has been awarded only twice before - to the Russian Mir Space Station Team and the US Space Shuttle Team. Now the SOHO team joins this select group."; jPARAGRAPH3[44] = "The citation of the award for the SOHO team reads: \"To the team of scientists, engineers and managers for the development and operation of a world-class mission leading to substantial advancements in understanding the Sun and the solar-terrestrial relationship.\""; jPARAGRAPH4[44] = "SOHO has an impressive and unique list of achievements. For instance, it produced the first ever images of the turbulent outer shell of the Sun and of the structure below sunspots. It gave the most precise measurements of the solar temperature structure, the interior rotation and the gas flows inside the Sun. It measured the acceleration of the fast and slow solar winds and discovered new solar phenomena, such as solar tornadoes. It revolutionised our ability to forecast space weather, and helped our understanding of the impact of solar variability on Earth's climate."; jPARAGRAPH5[44] = "During eight years of operation, the team has had to face several heart-stopping moments, but with extraordinary team spirit, skill and competence, they turned these episodes into remarkable success stories. In June 1998, control of the spacecraft was lost and the team fought for three months before regaining contact with the spacecraft. Then all three on-board gyroscopes failed. Again, the team rose to the challenge by reprogramming the spacecraft to eliminate completely the reliance on gyroscopes. In doing so, they crossed another frontier in space - SOHO became the first three-axis stabilised spacecraft to be operated without gyroscopes."; jPARAGRAPH6[44] = "Most recently, in May 2003, the SOHO team recorded signs of a possible breakdown in the east-west pointing mechanism of the high-gain antenna. They feared that the mission was again in danger. After a long and careful analysis of all options, the team once more found a solution. They decided to 'park' the antenna in an ideal position (where data losses are minimised), by rotating the spacecraft 180 degrees every three months. In addition, they established new procedures and the use of larger ground antennae (when available) to all but eliminate the impacts to normal science operations. "; jPARAGRAPH7[44] = "At all times of the mission, the team continued to produce excellent science, and SOHO has revolutionised the way scientists think about the Sun and how it might affect the Earth's environment. More than 1500 papers, representing the work of more than 1500 scientists, have been published based on SOHO data. With SOHO still going strong, the success story is set to continue."; jPARAGRAPH8[44] = "Bernhard Fleck and Pål Brekke, ESA's SOHO Project Scientist and Deputy Project Scientist, said: \"We feel very honoured to receive this award on behalf of the SOHO science teams, especially considering the prestigious teams that have won before. It is a boost for all of us involved in this mission to know that our work has been recognised in this way.\""; jPARAGRAPH9[44] = "Note to editors

The award ceremony took place on 28 September 2003, the opening day of the 54th International Astronautical Congress, in Bremen, Germany (see http://www.iaanet.org/awards/laurels.html).

The International Academy of Astronautics was founded in 1960, in Stockholm, Sweden, to foster the development of astronautics for peaceful purposes. Its current membership includes individuals from 68 countries.

SOHO is a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA to study the Sun, from its deep core to the outer corona, and the solar wind. Fourteen European countries, led by the European Space Agency and prime contractor Astrium (formerly Matra-Marconi), built the SOHO spacecraft. It carries twelve instruments (nine European-led and three American-led) and was launched by an NASA's Atlas II-AS rocket on 2 December 1995. Mission operations are coordinated at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre. The spacecraft was designed for a two-year-mission but its spectacular success has led to two extensions of the mission, the first until 2003, and then again until March 2007.

For more information, contact:
ESA Communication Department
Media Relations Office
Paris, France
Tel: +33 (0)153 69 71 55
Fax: +33 (0)153 69 76 90

Bernhard Fleck, ESA SOHO Project Scientist

c/o NASA Goddard Space Flight Center , Greenbelt, Maryland, USA

Tel: +1 301 286 4098
E-mail: bfleck@esa.nascom.nasa.gov

Pål Brekke, ESA SOHO Deputy Project Scientist
c/o NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, USA
Tel: +1 301 286 6983
Mobile: +47 9087 1961
E-mail: pbrekke@esa.nascom.nasa.gov

For more information about SOHO visit:
http://soho.estec.esa.nl/

For more information about the ESA Science Programme visit:
http://www.esa.int/science

For more information about ESA visit:
http://www.esa.int"; jFULL[44] = ""; jFRENCH[44] = ""; jGERMAN[44] = ""; jFURTHERINFO[44] = false; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[45] = "SN"; jID[45] = "SNR 19-2003"; jTITLE[45] = "SMART-1 ion engine fired successfully"; jDATE[45] = "1 October 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[45] = ""; jPORTRAIT1[45] = ""; jPORTRAIT2[45] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[45] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[45] = "http://asimov.esrin.esa.it/export/images/img11_S.jpg"; jLANDSCAPE1[45] = ""; jLANDSCAPE2[45] = ""; jLANDSCAPE3[45] = ""; jPHOTOURL0[45] = "http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/SEMOJN0P4HD_index_1.html#subhead1"; jPHOTOURL1[45] = ""; jPHOTOURL2[45] = ""; jPHOTOURL3[45] = ""; jPARAGRAPH0[45] = "SMART-1's revolutionary propulsion system was successfully fired at 12.25 GMT on 30 September, 2003, in orbit around the Earth."; jPARAGRAPH1[45] = "Engineers at ESOC, the European Space Agency's control centre in Darmstadt, Germany, sent a command to begin the firing test, which lasted for one hour. This was similar to a trial performed on the Earth before SMART-1 was launched."; jPARAGRAPH2[45] = "Several months ago, the ion engine, or Solar Electric Primary Propulsion (SEPP) system, had been placed in a vacuum chamber on the ground and its functions and operation were measured. Now in space and in a true vacuum, the ion engine actually worked better than in the test on ground and has nudged SMART-1 a little closer to the Moon."; jPARAGRAPH3[45] = "This is the first time that Europe flies an electric primary propulsion in space, and also the first European use of this particular type of ion engine, called a 'Hall-effect' thruster."; jPARAGRAPH4[45] = "The SEPP consists of a single ion engine fuelled by xenon gas and powered by solar energy. The ion engine will accelerate SMART-1 very gradually to cause the spacecraft to travel in a series of spiralling orbits - each revolution slightly further away from the Earth - towards the Moon. Once captured by the Moon's gravity, SMART-1 will move into ever-closer orbits of the Moon."; jPARAGRAPH5[45] = "As part of one of the overall mission objectives to test this new SEPP technology, the data will now be analysed to see how much acceleration was achieved and how smoothly the spacecraft travelled. If the ion engine is performing to expectations, ESA engineers will regularly power up the SEPP to send SMART-1 on its way."; jPARAGRAPH6[45] = ""; jPARAGRAPH7[45] = ""; jPARAGRAPH8[45] = ""; jPARAGRAPH9[45] = ""; jFULL[45] = ""; jFRENCH[45] = ""; jGERMAN[45] = ""; jFURTHERINFO[45] = true; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[46] = "SN"; jID[46] = "SNR 20-2003"; jTITLE[46] = "Successful communications test for ESA's Mars Express"; jDATE[46] = "2 October 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[46] = ""; jPORTRAIT1[46] = ""; jPORTRAIT2[46] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[46] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[46] = "http://asimov.esrin.esa.it/export/images/X_orbit_1_L.jpg"; jLANDSCAPE1[46] = ""; jLANDSCAPE2[46] = ""; jLANDSCAPE3[46] = ""; jPHOTOURL0[46] = "http://asimov.esrin.esa.it/export/images/X_orbit_1_L.jpg"; jPHOTOURL1[46] = ""; jPHOTOURL2[46] = ""; jPHOTOURL3[46] = ""; jPARAGRAPH0[46] = "Engineers working on ESA's Mars Express have successfully tested the Mars Express Lander Communications (MELACOM) receiver and transmitter subsystem . The Mars Express engineers also report about an ingenious solution they have found to overcome the partial power loss on the spacecraft, reported in July."; jPARAGRAPH1[46] = "The MELACOM system is designed to communicate with Beagle 2, passing the lander's data to Mars Express's main antenna for relaying to Earth. The MELACOM test was done in collaboration between sites at Stanford (USA), New Norcia (Australia) and ESA's Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany. The 34-metre dish at Stanford pretended to be Beagle 2, using its greater size to overcome the large distance between Earth and the spacecraft."; jPARAGRAPH2[46] = "The test consisted of two sessions, a first one in which the Stanford's signal was sent to Mars Express's MELACOM, and a second one in which MELACOM sent a signal back to Stanford. Con McCarthy, ESA's Beagle 2 manager, who supervised the operation, said: \"We were on a hilltop, outside San Francisco. It was 4:10 UT and Mars was clearly visible in the sky. The Stanford dish tracked Mars Express slowly, transmitting to it for 40 minutes.\" Then the spacecraft re-oriented itself to point its main antenna to Earth to confirm it had received the signal. The confirmation was received by ESA's New Norcia ground station and relayed to ESOC. Following this, at 6:10 UT, it was the Stanford dish's turn to listen, as Mars Express had been programmed to turn MELACOM back towards Earth and begin transmitting. A faint but clear signal was heard proving MELACOM was ready to talk to Beagle 2."; jPARAGRAPH3[46] = "A way to overcome the under-performance of the spacecraft's power systems has been found. This was due to some intensive and creative thinking by ESA engineers and the team from Astrium Toulouse, led by Mars Express Project Manager Rudi Schmidt. Although only up to 70% of the spacecraft's expected power is available, all of its instruments can be switched on without any restrictions for 85% of the time. The remaining 15% of the time, some compromises need to be made, including optimising the power dissipation within the spacecraft subsystems. Most importantly, power will be saved by tilting the spacecraft to gain heating from the Sun. On its bottom surface the spacecraft has a silvered ring that attached the spacecraft to its rocket during launch. It has been found that if sunlight falls on the ring, it will conduct some heat inside Mars Express, allowing some of the heaters to be turned off thus saving electricity. The instruments can then use this extra power."; jPARAGRAPH4[46] = "\"In the current situation, I am confident that we can achieve all mission goals.\" says Schmidt."; jPARAGRAPH5[46] = "The Mars Express team is now preparing for a series of Mars orbit insertion and Beagle 2 landing simulations to take place at ESOC during October and November."; jPARAGRAPH6[46] = "Meanwhile, Mars Express is safely continuing its journey to Mars, getting closer every day to the time of arrival, due in late December this year."; jPARAGRAPH7[46] = ""; jPARAGRAPH8[46] = ""; jPARAGRAPH9[46] = ""; jFULL[46] = ""; jFRENCH[46] = ""; jGERMAN[46] = ""; jFURTHERINFO[46] = true; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[47] = "SN"; jID[47] = "SNR 21-2003"; jTITLE[47] = "ESA's Integral discovers hidden black holes"; jDATE[47] = "17 October 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[47] = ""; jPORTRAIT1[47] = ""; jPORTRAIT2[47] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[47] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[47] = "snr21_t.jpg"; jLANDSCAPE1[47] = ""; jLANDSCAPE2[47] = ""; jLANDSCAPE3[47] = ""; jPHOTOURL0[47] = "snr21.tif"; jPHOTOURL1[47] = ""; jPHOTOURL2[47] = ""; jPHOTOURL3[47] = ""; jPARAGRAPH0[47] = "Integral, ESA's powerful gamma-ray space telescope, has discovered what seems to be a new class of astronomical objects. These are binary systems, probably including a black hole or a neutron star, embedded in a thick cocoon of cold gas. They have remained invisible so far to all other telescopes. Integral was launched exactly one year ago today to study the most energetic phenomena in the universe."; jPARAGRAPH1[47] = "

CAPTION: An artist's impression of the mechanisms in an interacting binary system. The supermassive companion star (on the right-hand side) ejects a lot of gas in the form of 'stellar wind'. The compact black hole orbits the star and, due to its strong gravitational attraction, collects a lot of the gas. Some of it is funnelled and accelerated into a hot disc. This releases a large amount of energy in all spectral bands, from gamma rays through to visible and infrared. However, the remaining gas surrounding the black hole forms a thick cloud which blocks most of the radiation. Only the very energetic gamma rays can escape and be detected by Integral.
"; jPARAGRAPH2[47] = "Integral detected the first of these objects, called IGRJ16318-4848, on 29 January 2003. Although astronomers did not know its distance, they were sure it was in our Galaxy. Also, after some analysis, researchers concluded that the new object could be a binary system comprising a compact object, such as a neutron star or a black hole, and a very massive companion star. "; jPARAGRAPH3[47] = "When gas from the companion star is accelerated and swallowed by the more compact object, energy is released at all wavelengths, from the gamma rays through to visible and infrared light. About 300 binary systems like those are known to exist in our galactic neighbourhood and IGRJ16318-4848 could simply have been one more. But something did not fit: why this particular object had not been discovered so far?"; jPARAGRAPH4[47] = "Astronomers, who have been observing the object regularly, guess that it had remained invisible because there must be a very thick shell of obscuring material surrounding it. If that was the case, only the most energetic radiation from the object could get through the shell; less-energetic radiation would be blocked. That could explain why space telescopes that are sensitive only to low-energy radiation had overlooked the object, while Integral, specialised in detecting very energetic emissions, did see it. "; jPARAGRAPH5[47] = "To test their theory, astronomers turned to ESA's XMM-Newton space observatory, which observes the sky in the X-ray wavelengths. As well as being sensitive to high-energy radiation, XMM-Newton is also able to check for the presence of obscuring material. Indeed, XMM-Newton detected this object last February, as well as the existence of a dense 'cocoon' of cold gas with a diameter of similar size to that of the Earth's orbit around the Sun."; jPARAGRAPH6[47] = "This obscuring material forming the cocoon is probably 'stellar wind', namely gas ejected by the supermassive companion star. Astronomers think that this gas may be accreted by the compact black hole, forming a dense shell around it. This obscuring cloud traps most of the energy produced inside it."; jPARAGRAPH7[47] = "The main author of these results, Roland Walter of the Integral Science Data Centre, Switzerland, explained: \"Only photons with the highest energies [above 10 keV] could escape from that cocoon. IGR J16318-4848 has therefore not been detected by surveys performed at lower energies, nor by previous gamma-ray missions that were much less sensitive than Integral.\""; jPARAGRAPH8[47] = "The question now is to find out how many of these objects lurk in the Galaxy. XMM-Newton and Integral together are the perfect tools to do the job. They have already discovered two more new sources embedded in obscuring material. Future observations are planned."; jPARAGRAPH9[47] = "Christoph Winkler, ESA Project Scientist for Integral, said: \"These early examples of using two complementary ESA high-energy missions, Integral and XMM-Newton, shows the potential for future discoveries in high-energy astrophysics.\"

Notes to Editors:

The paper explaining these results will be published in November in a special issue of Astronomy and Astrophysics dedicated to Integral, on the occasion of its first anniversary.

Integral
The International Gamma Ray Astrophysics Laboratory (Integral) is the first space observatory that can simultaneously observe celestial objects in gamma rays, X-rays and visible light. Integral was launched on a Russian Proton rocket on 17 October 2002 into a highly elliptical orbit around Earth. Its principal targets include regions of the galaxy where chemical elements are being produced and compact objects, such as black holes.

XMM-Newton
XMM-Newton can detect more X-ray sources than any previous satellite and is helping to solve many cosmic mysteries of the violent Universe, from black holes to the formation of galaxies. It was launched on 10 December 1999, using an Ariane-5 rocket from French Guiana. It is expected to return data for a decade. XMM-Newton's high-tech design uses over 170 wafer-thin cylindrical mirrors spread over three telescopes. Its orbit takes it almost a third of the way to the Moon, so that astronomers can enjoy long, uninterrupted views of celestial objects.

Contacts:

Christoph Winkler
ESA ESTEC, The Netherlands
Tel: + 31 71 565 3591
E-mail: Christoph.Winkler@rssd.esa.int

Roland Walter
Integral Science Data Centre, Switzerland
Tel: + 41 22 950 91 28
E-mail: Roland.Walter@obs.unige.ch"; jFULL[47] = ""; jFRENCH[47] = ""; jGERMAN[47] = ""; jFURTHERINFO[47] = true; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[48] = "SN"; jID[48] = "SNR 22-2003"; jTITLE[48] = "Mega starbirth cluster is biggest, brightest and hottest ever seen"; jDATE[48] = "30 October 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[48] = "h1.jpg"; jPORTRAIT1[48] = "h2.jpg"; jPORTRAIT2[48] = "h3.jpg"; jPORTRAIT3[48] = "h4.jpg"; jLANDSCAPE0[48] = ""; jLANDSCAPE1[48] = ""; jLANDSCAPE2[48] = ""; jLANDSCAPE3[48] = ""; jPHOTOURL0[48] = "heic0312_orig.tif"; jPHOTOURL1[48] = "heic0312a_orig.tif"; jPHOTOURL2[48] = "heic0312b_orig.tif"; jPHOTOURL3[48] = "heic0312c_orig.tif"; jPARAGRAPH0[48] = "A mysterious arc of light found behind a distant cluster of galaxies has turned out to be the biggest, brightest and hottest star-forming region ever seen in space."; jPARAGRAPH1[48] = "The so-called Lynx Arc is one million times brighter than the well-known Orion Nebula, a nearby prototypical 'starbirth' region visible with small telescopes. The newly identified super-cluster contains a million blue-white stars that are twice as hot as similar stars in our Milky Way galaxy. It is a rarely glimpsed example of the early days of the Universe where furious firestorms of starbirth blazed across the skies. The spectacular cluster's opulence is dimmed when seen from Earth only by the fact that it is 12 000 million light years away."; jPARAGRAPH2[48] = "The discovery of this unique and tantalising object was the result of a systematic study of distant clusters of galaxies carried out with major X-ray, optical and infrared telescopes, including the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, ROSAT and the Keck Telescopes. Bob Fosbury, of the European Space Agency's Space Telescope-European Coordinating Facility in Germany, and a team of international co-authors report the discovery in the 20 October 2003 issue of the Astrophysical Journal."; jPARAGRAPH3[48] = "The mega-cluster of stars appears as a puzzling red arc behind a distant galaxy cluster 5400 million light-years away in the northern constellation of Lynx. The arc is the stretched and magnified image of a mysterious celestial object about 12 000 million light-years away (at a redshift of 3.36), far beyond the cluster of galaxies. This means that the remote source existed when the Universe was less than 2000 million years old."; jPARAGRAPH4[48] = "Fosbury and colleagues first tried to identify the arc by analysing the light from the object, but the team was not able to recognise the pattern of colours in the spectral signature of the remote object. While looking for matches with the colour spectrum, Fosbury realised that the light was related to that of the nearby Orion Nebula, a star-forming region in our own Milky Way. However where the Orion Nebula is powered by only four hot and bright blue stars, the Lynx Arc must contain around a million such stars!"; jPARAGRAPH5[48] = "Furthermore, the spectrum shows that the stars in the Lynx Arc are more than twice as hot as the Orion Nebula's central stars, with surface temperatures up to 80 000°C. Though there are much bigger and brighter star-forming regions than the Orion Nebula in our local Universe, none are as bright as the Lynx Arc, nor do they contain such large numbers of hot stars."; jPARAGRAPH6[48] = "Even the most massive, normal nearby stars are no hotter than around 40 000°C. However, stars forming from the original, pristine gas in the early Universe can be more massive and consequently much hotter - perhaps up to 120 000°C. The earliest stars may have been as much as several hundred solar masses, but the chemical make-up of the Universe today prevents stars from forming beyond about 100 solar masses. Such 'primordial' super-hot stars are thought to be the first luminous objects to condense after the Big Bang cooled. Astronomers believe that these first 'monster' stars formed considerably earlier than the Lynx Arc - up to 1800 million years earlier. \"This remarkable object is the closest we have come so far to seeing what such primordial objects might look like when our telescopes become powerful enough to see them,\" says Fosbury. The desire to find and study the first luminous objects in the Universe is the main scientific drive behind the construction of the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, scheduled for launch in 2011."; jPARAGRAPH7[48] = "Notes for editors

The team is composed of R. A. E. Fosbury (European Space Agency/Space Telescope-European Coordinating Facility, Germany), M. Villar-Martín and A. Humphrey (University of Hertfordshire, UK), M. Lombardi and P. Rosati (European Southern Observatory, Germany), D. Stern (Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, USA), R. N. Hook (ST-ECF/STScI, USA), B. P. Holden and S. A. Stanford (University of California, USA), G. K. Squires (SIRTF Science Center, USA), M. Rauch (The Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, USA) and W. L. W. Sargent (California Institute of Technology, USA)."; jPARAGRAPH8[48] = "For broadcasters, animations of the discovery, interviews and general Hubble Space Telescope background footage are available from the ESA Television Service, see http://television.esa.int, and from http://www.spacetelescope.org/video/heic0312_vnr.html

Image credit: European Space Agency, NASA and Robert A.E. Fosbury (European Space Agency/Space Telescope-European Coordinating Facility, Germany)

Image Captions (left to right)

Left: This illustration shows an artist's impression of the so-called Lynx arc, a newly identified distant super-cluster that contains a million blue-white stars twice as hot as similar stars in our Milky Way galaxy.

The Lynx arc is one million times brighter than the well-known Orion Nebula, a nearby prototypical 'starbirth' region visible with small telescopes. The stars in the Lynx arc are more than twice as hot as the Orion Nebula's central stars, with surface temperatures up to 80 000°C. Though there are much bigger and brighter star-forming regions than the Orion Nebula in our local Universe, none are as bright as the Lynx arc, nor do they contain such large numbers of hot stars.

The stars are so hot that a very large fraction of their light is emitted in the ultraviolet that makes the gas glow with the green and red colours illustrated here.

Image credit: European Space Agency, NASA and Robert A.E. Fosbury (European Space Agency/Space Telescope-European Coordinating Facility, Germany)

Middle Left: This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image of the Lynx cluster of galaxies shows the doubled image of the red Lynx Arc (just right of the centre). The puzzling arc is in reality a distant mega-cluster of stars far behind the galaxy cluster in the northern constellation of Lynx.

The arc is the stretched and magnified image of 12 000 million light-year distant star-forming region. This remote source existed when the Universe was less than 2000 million years old.

The discovery of this unique and tantalising object was the result of a systematic study of distant clusters of galaxies carried out with major X-ray, optical and infrared telescopes, including the Hubble Space Telescope, ROSAT and the Keck Telescopes. Bob Fosbury, of the European Space Agency's Space Telescope-European Coordinating Facility in Germany, and a team of international co-authors report the discovery in the 20 October 2003 issue of the Astrophysical Journal.

The Hubble image, taken in deep red light with the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2, has been coloured using six ground-based images from the blue to the infrared. These images were taken with the Mayall 4-m Telescope at NOAO's Kitt Peak Observatory in Arizona, USA.

Image credit: European Space Agency, NASA, Robert A.E. Fosbury (European Space Agency/Space Telescope-European Coordinating Facility, Germany) and NOAO

Middle Right: This ground-based view shows a 0.09 x 0.07 degree field around the Lynx cluster of galaxies (the yellow galaxies above and to the left of the centre). The Lynx Arc is visible as a red object.

This image was composed from six ground-based images (BRIzJK) from the blue to the infrared taken with the Mayall 4-m Telescope at NOAO's Kitt Peak Observatory in Arizona, USA.

Image credit: European Space Agency, NASA, Robert A.E. Fosbury (European Space Agency/Space Telescope-European Coordinating Facility, Germany) and NOAO

Right: This is a 2.5 degree three colour composite from the Digitized Sky Survey 2 centred on the Lynx galaxy cluster. The blue plate (B) is shown in blue, the red plate (R) in green and the infrared plate (I) in red.

The frame shows the outline of the Kitt Peak Mayall 4-m Telescope image.

Image credit: European Space Agency, NASA, Robert A.E. Fosbury (European Space Agency/Space Telescope-European Coordinating Facility, Germany) and the Digitized Sky Survey

"; jPARAGRAPH9[48] = "For more information, please contact:

Robert A.E. Fosbury
European Space Agency/Space Telescope-European Coordinating Facility, Germany
Tel: +49(0)89 3200 6235
Cellular: +49(0)162 63 59 949
E-mail: rfosbury@eso.org

Lars Lindberg Christensen
Hubble European Space Agency Information Centre, Garching, Germany
Tel: +49-89-3200-6306 (089 within Germany)
Cellular (24 hr): +49-173-3872-621 (0173 within Germany)
E-mail: lars@eso.org

Ray Villard
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA
Tel: +1-410-338-4514
E-mail: villard@stsci.edu"; jFULL[48] = ""; jFRENCH[48] = ""; jGERMAN[48] = ""; jFURTHERINFO[48] = false; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[49] = "PR"; jID[49] = "PR 74-2003"; jTITLE[49] = "Are you ready for Mars?"; jDATE[49] = "6 November 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[49] = ""; jPORTRAIT1[49] = ""; jPORTRAIT2[49] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[49] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[49] = ""; jLANDSCAPE1[49] = ""; jLANDSCAPE2[49] = ""; jLANDSCAPE3[49] = ""; jPHOTOURL0[49] = ""; jPHOTOURL1[49] = ""; jPHOTOURL2[49] = ""; jPHOTOURL3[49] = ""; jPARAGRAPH0[49] = "Main media events surrounding the arrival of ESA's Mars Express at Mars."; jPARAGRAPH1[49] = "ESA's Mars Express probe is scheduled to arrive at Mars at Christmas: the Beagle 2 lander is expected to touch down on the surface of the Red Planet on the night of 24 to 25 December."; jPARAGRAPH2[49] = "Launched on 2 June 2003 from Baikonur (Kazakhstan) on board a Russian Soyuz launcher operated by Starsem, the European probe – built for ESA by a European team of industrial companies led by Astrium – carries seven scientific instruments that will perform a series of remote-sensing experiments designed to shed new light on the Martian atmosphere, the planet's structure and its geology. In particular, the British-made Beagle 2 lander, named after the ship on which Charles Darwin explored uncharted areas of the Earth in 1830, will contribute to the search for traces of life on Mars through exobiology experiments and geochemistry research."; jPARAGRAPH3[49] = "On Christmas Eve the Mars Express orbiter will be steered on a course taking it into an elliptical orbit, where it will safely circle the planet for a minimum of almost 2 Earth years. The Beagle 2 lander - which will have been released from the mother craft a few days earlier (on 19 December) – instead will stay on a collision course with the planet. It too should also be safe, being designed for atmospheric entry and geared for a final soft landing due to a sophisticated system of parachutes and airbags."; jPARAGRAPH4[49] = "On arrival, the Mars Express mission control team will report on the outcome of the spacecraft's delicate orbital insertion manoeuvre. It will take some time for Mars Express to manoeuvre into position to pick communications from Beagle 2. Hence, initially, other means will be used to check that Beagle 2 has landed: first signals from the Beagle 2 landing are expected to be available throughout Christmas Day, either through pick-up and relay of Beagle 2 radio signals by NASA's Mars Odyssey, or by direct pick-up by the Jodrell Bank radio telescope in the UK. Mars Express will then pass over Beagle 2 in early January 2004, relaying data and images back to Earth. The first images from the cameras of Beagle 2 and Mars Express are expected to be available between the end of the year and the beginning of January 2004."; jPARAGRAPH5[49] = "The key dates relating to the arrival of Mars Express at its destination will be marked by several media events not to be missed. Pencil them into your diaries so as not to miss one of the most exciting events of the year."; jPARAGRAPH6[49] = "Click here for the complete list of events."; jPARAGRAPH7[49] = ""; jPARAGRAPH8[49] = ""; jPARAGRAPH9[49] = ""; jFULL[49] = "http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/SEMTERWLDMD_index_0.html"; jFRENCH[49] = ""; jGERMAN[49] = ""; jFURTHERINFO[49] = true; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[50] = "PR"; jID[50] = "PR 75-2003"; jTITLE[50] = "Critical decisions on Cosmic Vision"; jDATE[50] = "7 November 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[50] = ""; jPORTRAIT1[50] = ""; jPORTRAIT2[50] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[50] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[50] = ""; jLANDSCAPE1[50] = ""; jLANDSCAPE2[50] = ""; jLANDSCAPE3[50] = ""; jPHOTOURL0[50] = ""; jPHOTOURL1[50] = ""; jPHOTOURL2[50] = ""; jPHOTOURL3[50] = ""; jPARAGRAPH0[50] = "At its 105th meeting, on 5/6 November, ESA's Science Programme Committee (SPC) made important decisions concerning the Cosmic Vision programme. Due to the current financial exigencies and an outlook with no budget increase or other relief, the SPC was forced to cancel the Eddington mission and rescope the BepiColombo mission."; jPARAGRAPH1[50] = "Eddington had two aims, both remarkable and very pertinent to front-line astronomical interests. The first was to look for Earth-like planets outside our solar system - one of the key goals in the search to understand how life came to be, how it is that we live where we do in the universe and whether there are other potential life-supporting environments 'out there'. At the same time it was going to follow the path that the ESA-NASA mission SOHO had taken with the Sun of using astroseismology to look 'inside' stars. In the longer term, the loss of this one mission will not stop ESA and the scientific community pursuing the grand quests to which it would have contributed."; jPARAGRAPH2[50] = "The loss of the BepiColombo lander is also hard to take scientifically. ESA, in conjunction with the Japanese space agency, JAXA, will still put two orbiters around Mercury but the 'ground truth' provided by the lander is a big loss. However, to land on a planet so near the Sun is no small matter and was a bridge too far in present circumstances, and this chance for Europe to be first has probably been lost. "; jPARAGRAPH3[50] = "The origins of the problems were recognised at the ESA Council meeting held in June. Several sudden demands on finance occurred in the spring, the most obvious and public being the unforeseen Ariane 5 grounding in January, delaying the launches of Rosetta and Smart-1. A temporary loan of EUR 100 million was granted, but must be paid back out of present resources by the end of 2006."; jPARAGRAPH4[50] = "ESA's SPC was therefore caught in a vice. Immediate mission starts had to be severely limited and the overall envelope of the programme contained."; jPARAGRAPH5[50] = "With this week's decisions, the SPC has brought the scope of the Cosmic Vision programme down to a level that necessarily reflects the financial conditions rather than the ambitions of the scientific community. At its 105th meeting, on 5/6 November, ESA's Science Programme Committee (SPC) made important decisions concerning the Cosmic Vision programme. Due to the current financial exigencies and an outlook with no budget increase or other relief, the SPC was forced to cancel the Eddington mission and rescope the BepiColombo mission. "; jPARAGRAPH6[50] = "A long and painful discussion during the SPC meeting resulted in the conclusion that only one new mission can be started at this time, namely LISA Pathfinder, the technical precursor to the world's first gravitational wave astronomical observatory, LISA. The LISA mission itself (to be carried out in cooperation with the United States) is scheduled for launch in 2012. At its 105th meeting, on 5/6 November, ESA's Science Programme Committee (SPC) made important decisions concerning the Cosmic Vision programme. Due to the current financial exigencies and an outlook with no budget increase or other relief, the SPC was forced to cancel the Eddington mission and rescope the BepiColombo mission. "; jPARAGRAPH7[50] = "ESA's Cosmic Vision, set to last until 2012, is a living programme. It has to adapt constantly to the available funding as well as respond to the expectations of the scientific community, and to technological developments. Within these boundaries, the decisions made by the SPC try to maximise the outcome of Cosmic Vision across disciplines, keeping it challenging and at the same time affordable. Nonetheless, there are many European scientists with ambitions that exceed the programme's ability to respond."; jPARAGRAPH8[50] = ""; jPARAGRAPH9[50] = ""; jFULL[50] = ""; jFRENCH[50] = ""; jGERMAN[50] = ""; jFURTHERINFO[50] = true; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[51] = "SN"; jID[51] = "SNR 23-2003"; jTITLE[51] = "ESA's new view of the Milky Way - in gamma rays!"; jDATE[51] = "10 November 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[51] = "snr23_t.jpg"; jPORTRAIT1[51] = ""; jPORTRAIT2[51] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[51] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[51] = ""; jLANDSCAPE1[51] = ""; jLANDSCAPE2[51] = ""; jLANDSCAPE3[51] = ""; jPHOTOURL0[51] = "snr23.tif"; jPHOTOURL1[51] = ""; jPHOTOURL2[51] = ""; jPHOTOURL3[51] = ""; jPARAGRAPH0[51] = "ESA's gamma-ray observatory Integral is making excellent progress, mapping the Galaxy at key gamma-ray wavelengths. It is now poised to give astronomers their truest picture yet of recent changes in the Milky Way's chemical composition. At the same time, it has confirmed an 'antimatter' mystery at the centre of the Galaxy."; jPARAGRAPH1[51] = "
CAPTION: A portion of Integral's gamma-ray map of the galaxy. This false colour picture was taken by the spectrometer on board Integral (SPI) between December 2002 and March 2003. The yellow dots correspond to bright known gamma-rays sources, whilst blue areas indicate regions of low emission. (To see the names of the sources and the grid of galactic co-ordinates, click on the image.) Data similar to these, but in a higher energy range, have been used to study where aluminium and iron are produced in the Galaxy. Credit: ESA/SPI team
"; jPARAGRAPH2[51] = "Since its formation from a cloud of hydrogen and helium gas, around 12 000 million years ago, the Milky Way has gradually been enriched with heavier chemical elements. This has allowed planets and, indeed, life on Earth to form."; jPARAGRAPH3[51] = "Today, one of those heavier elements - radioactive aluminium - is spread throughout the Galaxy and, as it decays into magnesium, gives out gamma rays with a wavelength known as the '1809 keV line.' Integral has been mapping this emission with the aim of understanding exactly what is producing all this aluminium."; jPARAGRAPH4[51] = "In particular, Integral is looking at the aluminium 'hot spots' that dot the Galaxy to determine whether these are caused by individual celestial objects or the chance alignment of many objects.

Astronomers believe that the most likely sources of the aluminium are supernovae (exploding high-mass stars) and, since the decay time of the aluminium is around one million years, Integral's map shows how many stars have died in recent celestial history. Other possible sources of the aluminium include 'red giant' stars or hot blue stars that give out the element naturally."; jPARAGRAPH5[51] = "To decide between these options, Integral is also mapping radioactive iron, which is only produced in supernovae. Theories suggest that, during a supernova blast, aluminium and iron should be produced together in the same region of the exploding star. Thus, if the iron's distribution coincides with that of the aluminium, it will prove that the overwhelming majority of aluminium comes indeed from supernovae."; jPARAGRAPH6[51] = "These measurements are difficult and have not been possible so far, since the gamma-ray signature of radioactive iron is about six times fainter than that of the aluminium. However, as ESA's powerful Integral observatory accumulates more data in the course of the next year, it will finally be possible to reveal the signature of radioactive iron. This test will tell astronomers whether their theories of how elements form are correct.

In addition to these maps, Integral is also looking deeply into the centre of the Galaxy, to make the most detailed map ever of 'antimatter' there."; jPARAGRAPH7[51] = "Antimatter is like a mirror image to normal matter and is produced during extremely energetic atomic processes: for example, the radioactive decay of aluminium. Its signature is known as the '511 keV line.' Even though Integral's observations are not yet complete, they show that there is too much antimatter in the centre of the Galaxy to be coming from aluminium decay alone. They also show clearly that there must be many sources of antimatter because it is not concentrated around a single point.

There are many possible sources for this antimatter. As well as supernovae, old red stars and hot blue stars, there are jets from neutron stars and black holes, stellar flares, gamma-ray bursts and interaction between cosmic rays and the dusty gas clouds of interstellar space."; jPARAGRAPH8[51] = "Chris Winkler, Integral's Project Scientist, says: \"We have collected excellent data in the first few months of activity but we can and will do much more in the next year. Integral's accuracy and sensitivity have already exceeded our expectations and, in the months to come, we could get the answers to some of astronomy's most intriguing questions.\""; jPARAGRAPH9[51] = "Note to Editors: These and other preliminary results, plus a thorough description of the Integral spacecraft and mission are published this month in a dedicated issue of the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.

At its 105th meeting on 6 October 2003, ESA's Science Programme Committee unanimously decided to extend the Integral mission until December 2008.

The International Gamma Ray Astrophysics Laboratory (Integral) is the first space observatory that can simultaneously observe celestial objects in gamma rays, X-rays and visible light. Integral was launched on a Russian Proton rocket on 17 October 2002 into a highly elliptical orbit around Earth. Its principal targets include regions of the galaxy where chemical elements are being produced and compact objects, such as black holes.

SPI measures the energy of incoming gamma rays with extraordinary accuracy. It is more sensitive to faint radiation than any previous gamma ray instrument and allows the precise nature of gamma ray sources to be determined. SPI's Principal Investigators are: J.-P. Roques, (CESR Toulouse, France), V. Schönfelder (MPE Garching, Germany).

Please contact:

Christoph Winkler
ESA - ESTEC, The Netherlands
Tel: + 31 71 565 3591
E-mail: Christoph.Winkler@rssd.esa.int"; jFULL[51] = ""; jFRENCH[51] = ""; jGERMAN[51] = ""; jFURTHERINFO[51] = true //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[52] = "PR"; jID[52] = "PR 79-2003"; jTITLE[52] = "\"Europe lands on Mars\" - Media event at ESA/ESOC"; jDATE[52] = "25 November 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[52] = ""; jPORTRAIT1[52] = ""; jPORTRAIT2[52] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[52] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[52] = ""; jLANDSCAPE1[52] = ""; jLANDSCAPE2[52] = ""; jLANDSCAPE3[52] = ""; jPHOTOURL0[52] = ""; jPHOTOURL1[52] = ""; jPHOTOURL2[52] = ""; jPHOTOURL3[52] = ""; jPARAGRAPH0[52] = "ESA Mars Express probe is scheduled to arrive at Mars at Christmas : the Beagle 2 lander is expected to touch down on the surface of the Red Planet during the night of 24 to 25 December."; jPARAGRAPH1[52] = "

Launched on 2 June 2003 from Baikonur (Kazakhstan) on board a Russian Soyuz operated by Starsem, the European probe - built for ESA by a European team of industrial companies led by Astrium - carries seven scientific instruments that will perform a series of remote-sensing experiments designed to shed new light on the Martian atmosphere, the planet's structure and its geology. In particular, the British-made Beagle 2 lander will contribute to the search for traces of life on Mars through exobiology experiments and geochemistry research.

On board Mars Express tests have been run to check that the instruments are functioning correctly. Mars Express has successfully come through its first power test on the whole spacecraft after the gigantic solar flare on 28 October. Since 17 November the onboard software has been 'frozen' after several updates and the spacecraft is now quietly proceeding to its destination.

Before even entering into Martian orbit to perform its mission, Mars Express has to face another challenge: safely delivering the Beagle 2 lander to its destination. This task, starting on 19 December, will not be without risk.

First of all, to deliver the lander where planned, Mars Express has been put on a collision course with Mars, since Beagle 2 does not have a propulsion system of its own and must therefore be 'carried' precisely to its destination. This means that after separation, Mars Express has to veer away quickly to avoid crashing onto the planet.

During the cruise Beagle 2 will take its power from the mother spacecraft, Mars Express. After separation and until its solar arrays are fully deployed on the surface, Beagle 2 must rely on its own battery, which cannot last beyond 6 days. So, like a caring parent, Mars Express must release Beagle 2 at the last possible moment to ensure that the lander has enough power for the rest of its journey to the surface.

Only then can Mars Express change its orientation and rapidly fire the thrusters to get away from the collision course and enter into orbit around Mars. This will be the first time that an orbiter delivers a lander without its own propulsion onto a planet and attempts orbit insertion immediately afterwards.

Since all these manoeuvres are time-critical and allow little margin of error, the ground control team has had to simulate all possible scenarios (including glitches and problems, on board and on the ground) to make sure that nothing is left to chance.

The team has been training since September in a very realistic setting, using the same computers and equipment that will be employed during this mission phase. Although the real spacecraft cannot be directly involved, its behaviour is simulated via a sophisticated computer programme, using the actual flight software. These rehearsals, each lasting a day or more, cover all possible situations from the failure of an onboard instrument to the outbreak of a fire in the control room. One of these simulations will take place during the press conference on 3 December.

ESA's ground control team at ESOC, on the other hand, are having a very busy time. They are actively rehearsing responses to any situation that might arise when Mars Express releases Beagle 2 and enters into orbit around Mars. \"The Mars Express mission is pushing the operations staff to extremes. Over the years, the experience acquired with experimental missions has provided a solid basis on which to prepare for the unexpected. The satellite controllers will rise to this new challenge\", Gaele Winters, ESA Director of Technical and Operational Support, said.

Four media events have been scheduled relating to the arrival of Mars Express at its destination (see our press release N° 74-2003). The next event is scheduled on Wednesday 3 December at ESA/ESOC, Darmstadt, Germany and will possibly include the presentation of the first HRSC image and further information about scientific expectations of the mission. Several Principal Investigators will present their instruments and early results of testing and operations (see programme attached).

A videoconference of this ESA media briefing will be organised at ESA/Headquarters, Paris (F), ESA/ESTEC, Noordwijk (NL) and ESA/ESRIN, Frascati (I). Media wishing to attend are asked to complete the attached reply form and fax it to the Communication Office at the establishment of their choice.

Throughout December you can follow daily the countdown to arrival at Mars on the web at : http://mars.esa.int

Here you will find live streaming of key events, news, features, images, videos and more."; jPARAGRAPH2[52] = "For further information, please contact :
ESA Media Relations Service
Tel: +33(0)1.53.69.7155
Fax: +33(0)1.53.69.7690"; jPARAGRAPH3[52] = "

\"Europe lands on Mars\"

Press Programme
"; jPARAGRAPH4[52] = "
10:30Welcome by Gaele Winters, ESA Director of Technical & Operational Support
Mars Express flight operations : a great challenge for an experienced team
10:40Dr Rudolf Schmidt, Mars Express Project Manager
Global mission objectives : Why is Europe flying to Mars?
10:50Mr Michael McKay, Flight Operations Director
Status of the spacecraft, latest and upcoming manoeuvres
11:00Question & Answer session for the \"operations\" part
11:10Dr Augustin Chicarro, Mars Express Project Scientist
The mission's key scientific objectives : an introduction
11:20Prof. Gerhard Neukum, Principal Investigator, Free University of Berlin (D)
The high-resolution stereo camera HRSC, on board the orbiter, takes a sharp look at Mars
11:30Dr Martin Pätzold, Principal Investigator, University of Cologne, Institute for Geophysics and Meteorology (D)
Preparing for Mars with MaRS (Mars Radio Science experiment)
11:40Prof. Colin Pillinger, Principal Investigator, Planetary Sciences Research Institute (UK)
Beagle 2 landing on Mars : its instruments and scientific objectives
11:50Dr Lutz Richter, Co- Principal Investigator, German Aerospace Center DLR, Cologne (D)
The operations of the \"Mole\" instrument on board Beagle-2
12:00Question & Answer session on \"science\" and the mission as a whole
12:10Conclusions by Gaele Winters
12:15Filming opportunities at the ESOC Main Control Room, MCR
12:30 - 12.45Opportunity for individual interviews with scientific and operations experts


"; jPARAGRAPH5[52] = "
 
\"Europe lands on Mars\"

Media Event ESA/ESOC - Wednesday 3 December 2003 - 10h30 - 12h30

First Name :___________________ Surname : ___________________

Media :______________________________________________________

Address :____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

Tel: _______________________ Fax : __________________________

Mobile : ___________________ E-mail : ______________________

[ ] I will be attending the media event at the following establishment

[ ]I will not be attending

[ ] Germany

Location : ESA/ESOC

Address : Robert-Bosch-Strasse 5, Darmstadt

Opening hours : 10h00 - 13h00

Contact : Jocelyne Landeau- Constantin, Tel: +49.6151.90.2696 - Fax: +49.6151.90.2961

[ ]France

Location : ESA HQ

Address : 8/10, rue Mario Nikis, Paris - Salle VIP

Opening hours : 10h00 - 13h00

Contact : Anne-Marie Rémondin, Tel: +33(0)1.53.69.7155 - Fax: +33(0)1.53.69.7690

[ ]The Netherlands

Location : ESA/ESTEC

Address : Keplerlaan 1, Noordwijk - Conference Room Ba 024

Opening hours : 10h00 - 13h00

Contact : Heidi Graf, Tel : +31(0)71.565.2696 - Fax: +31(0)71.565.5728

[ ] Italy

Location : ESA/ESRIN
Address : Via Galileo Galilei, Frascati,Ada Byron Room (ex-cinema room)

Opening hours : 10h00 - 13h00

Contact : Simonetta Cheli, Tel: +39.06.9418.0951 - Fax: +39.06.9418.0952"; jPARAGRAPH6[52] = ""; jPARAGRAPH7[52] = ""; jPARAGRAPH8[52] = ""; jPARAGRAPH9[52] = ""; jFULL[52] = ""; jFRENCH[52] = ""; jGERMAN[52] = ""; jFURTHERINFO[52] = false; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[53] = "PR"; jID[53] = "PR 81-2003"; jTITLE[53] = "Mars is just around the corner"; jDATE[53] = "9 December 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[53] = ""; jPORTRAIT1[53] = ""; jPORTRAIT2[53] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[53] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[53] = ""; jLANDSCAPE1[53] = ""; jLANDSCAPE2[53] = ""; jLANDSCAPE3[53] = ""; jPHOTOURL0[53] = ""; jPHOTOURL1[53] = ""; jPHOTOURL2[53] = ""; jPHOTOURL3[53] = ""; jPARAGRAPH0[53] = "After a journey of 400 million km, ESA's Mars Express is now approaching its final destination. On 19 December, the spacecraft is scheduled to release the Beagle 2 lander it has been carrying since its launch on 2 June."; jPARAGRAPH1[53] = "At 9:31 CET, ESA's ground control team at Darmstadt (Germany) will send the command for the Beagle 2 lander to separate from Mars Express. A pyrotechnic device will be fired to slowly release a loaded spring, which will gently push Beagle 2 away from the mother spacecraft."; jPARAGRAPH2[53] = "Data on the spacecraft's position and speed will be used by mission engineers to assess whether the lander was successfully released. In addition, the onboard Visual Monitoring Camera (VMC) should provide an image showing the lander slowly moving away. The image is expected to be available mid-afternoon."; jPARAGRAPH3[53] = "Beagle 2 will then continue its journey towards the surface of Mars, where it is expected to land on 25 December, early in the morning. At the same time, the Mars Express orbiter should be manoeuvring to enter into orbit around Mars."; jPARAGRAPH4[53] = "In view of the complexity of this operation, the Mars Express control team has been trained to deal with the eventuality that separation might not be achieved at the first attempt. If that did turn out to be the case, there is a series of procedures that has already been set up and tested for completing the manoeuvre successfully within the subsequent 40 hours."; jPARAGRAPH5[53] = "The \"separation\" event can be followed live at ESA/ESOC on Friday 19 December from 8:30 to 15:00. A videoconference will link the control centre at Darmstadt with ESA Headquarters in Paris (F), and ESA/ESRIN at Frascati (I). Media wishing to attend are asked to complete the attached reply form and fax it to the Communication Office at the establishment of their choice."; jPARAGRAPH6[53] = "Every day throughout December, you can follow the countdown to arrival at Mars at: http://mars.esa.int."; jPARAGRAPH7[53] = "Here you will find live streaming of key events, news, features, images, videos and more."; jPARAGRAPH8[53] = "
 
PRESS PROGRAMME at ESA/ESOC

Mars is just around the corner

Opening of doors: 7:00

Possibility of filming in the Main Control Room until 8:00

8:30-9:00 - Local programme at ESA/ESOC

9:00-9:35 - ESA TV programme (9:31 CET Beagle-2 ejection)

9:35-10:15 - Local programme at ESA/ESOC

10:15-11:30 - Coffee break and interview opportunities

11:30-11:50 - ESA TV programme (11:31 CET Beagle-2 ejection results)

12:00-12:30 - Questions & Answers

The picture of Beagle-2 being released will only be available in the afternoon around 15:00 CET.

For other ESA establishments, opening hours are specified on the reply form.

"; jPARAGRAPH9[53] = "
 
\"Mars is just around the corner\"

ESA/ESOC Media Event - Robert-Bosch-Str. 5 - Darmstadt (G)

Friday 19 December 2003 – 7:00-15:00

First Name: ___________________ Surname: ____________________

Media:_______________________________________________________

Address: ____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

Tel: _________________________ Fax:__________________________

Mobile: ______________________ E-mail: ______________________

[ ] I will be attending the media event at the following establishment

[ ] I will not be attending

[ ]Germany

Location: ESA/ESOCAddress: Robert-Bosch-Strasse 5, Darmstadt

Opening hours: 07:00 - 15:00

Contact: Jocelyne Landeau-Constantin, Tel: +49.6151.90.2696 - Fax: +49.6151.90.2961

[ ]France

Location: ESA HQ

Address: 8/10, rue Mario Nikis, Paris - Salle 137
Opening hours: 08:30 - 14:00

Contact: Anne-Marie Rémondin, Tel: +33(0)1.53.69.7155 - Fax: +33(0)1.53.69.7690

[ ]Italy

Location: ESA/ESRIN

Address: Via Galileo Galilei, Frascati, Ada Byron Room (ex-cinema)

Opening hours: 08:30 – 14:00

Contact: Franca Morgia, Tel: +39.06.9418.0951 - Fax: +39.06.9418.0953"; jFULL[53] = ""; jFRENCH[53] = ""; jGERMAN[53] = ""; jFURTHERINFO[53] = true; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[54] = "SN"; jID[54] = "SNR 24-2003"; jTITLE[54] = "Has ESA's XMM-Newton cast doubt over dark energy?"; jDATE[54] = "12 December 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[54] = "snr24_t.jpg"; jPORTRAIT1[54] = ""; jPORTRAIT2[54] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[54] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[54] = ""; jLANDSCAPE1[54] = ""; jLANDSCAPE2[54] = ""; jLANDSCAPE3[54] = ""; jPHOTOURL0[54] = "RXJ0847.tif"; jPHOTOURL1[54] = ""; jPHOTOURL2[54] = ""; jPHOTOURL3[54] = ""; jPARAGRAPH0[54] = "ESA's X-ray observatory, XMM-Newton, has returned tantalising new data about the nature of the Universe. In a survey of distant clusters of galaxies, XMM-Newton has found puzzling differences between today's clusters of galaxies and those present in the Universe around seven thousand million years ago. Some scientists claim that this can be interpreted to mean that the 'dark energy' which most astronomers now believe dominates the Universe simply does not exist…"; jPARAGRAPH1[54] = "

CAPTION: The fuzzy object at the centre of the frame is one of the galaxy clusters observed by XMM-Newton in its investigation of the distant Universe. The cluster, designated RXJ0847.2+3449, is about 7 000 million light years away, so we see it here as it was 7 000 million years ago, when the Universe was only about half of its present age. This cluster is made up of several dozen galaxies. Credits: ESA
"; jPARAGRAPH2[54] = "Observations of eight distant clusters of galaxies, the furthest of which is around 10 thousand million light years away, were studied by an international group of astronomers led by David Lumb of ESA's Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in the Netherlands. They compared these clusters to those found in the nearby Universe. This study was conducted as part of the larger XMM-Newton Omega Project, which investigates the density of matter in the Universe under the lead of Jim Bartlett of the College de France."; jPARAGRAPH3[54] = "Clusters of galaxies are prodigious emitters of X-rays because they contain a large quantity of high-temperature gas. This gas surrounds galaxies in the same way as steam surrounds people in a sauna. By measuring the quantity and energy of X-rays from a cluster, astronomers can work out both the temperature of the cluster gas and also the mass of the cluster."; jPARAGRAPH4[54] = "Theoretically, in a Universe where the density of matter is high, clusters of galaxies would continue to grow with time and so, on average, should contain more mass now than in the past."; jPARAGRAPH5[54] = "Most astronomers believe that we live in a low-density Universe in which a mysterious substance known as 'dark energy' accounts for 70% of the content of the cosmos and, therefore, pervades everything. In this scenario, clusters of galaxies should stop growing early in the history of the Universe and look virtually indistinguishable from those of today."; jPARAGRAPH6[54] = "In a paper soon to be published by the European journal Astronomy and Astrophysics, astronomers from the XMM-Newton Omega Project present results showing that clusters of galaxies in the distant Universe are not like those of today. They seem to give out more X-rays than today. So clearly, clusters of galaxies have changed their appearance with time."; jPARAGRAPH7[54] = "In an accompanying paper, Alain Blanchard of the Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de l'Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées and his team use the results to calculate how the abundance of galaxy clusters changes with time. Blanchard says, \"There were fewer galaxy clusters in the past.\"

Such a result indicates that the Universe must be a high-density environment, in clear contradiction to the 'concordance model,' which postulates a Universe with up to 70% dark energy and a very low density of matter. Blanchard knows that this conclusion will be highly controversial, saying, \"To account for these results you have to have a lot of matter in the Universe and that leaves little room for dark energy.\"

To reconcile the new XMM-Newton observations with the concordance models, astronomers would have to admit a fundamental gap in their knowledge about the behaviour of the clusters and, possibly, of the galaxies within them. For instance, galaxies in the faraway clusters would have to be injecting more energy into their surrounding gas than is currently understood. That process should then gradually taper off as the cluster and the galaxies within it grow older.

No matter which way the results are interpreted, XMM-Newton has given astronomers a new insight into the Universe and a new mystery to puzzle over. As for the possibility that the XMM-Newton results are simply wrong, they are in the process of being confirmed by other X-ray observations. Should these return the same answer, we might have to rethink our understanding of the Universe."; jPARAGRAPH8[54] = "Note to editors:

The two papers, The XMM-Newton Omega Project: I. The X-ray Luminosity-Temperature Relationship at z>0.4 by D.H. Lumb et al. and The XMM-Newton Omega Project: II. Cosmological implications from the high redshift L-T relation of X-ray clusters by S.C. Vauclair, A. Blanchard et al. will be published shortly in Astronomy and Astrophysics.

The contents of the Universe

The content of the Universe is widely thought to consist of three types of substance: normal matter, dark matter and dark energy. Normal matter consists of the atoms that make up stars, planets, human beings and every other visible object in the Universe. As humbling as it sounds, normal matter almost certainly accounts for a small proportion of the Universe, somewhere between 1% and 10%.

The more astronomers observed the Universe, the more matter they needed to find to explain it all. This matter could not be made of normal atoms, however, otherwise there would be more stars and galaxies to be seen. Instead, they coined the term dark matter for this peculiar substance precisely because it escapes our detection. At the same time, physicists trying to further the understanding of the forces of nature were starting to believe that new and exotic particles of matter must be abundant in the Universe. These would hardly ever interact with normal matter and many now believe that these particles are the dark matter. At the present time, even though many experiments are underway to detect dark matter particles, none have been successful. Nevertheless, astronomers still believe that somewhere between 30% and 99% of the Universe may consist of dark matter.

Dark energy is the latest addition to the contents of the Universe. Originally, Albert Einstein introduced the idea of an all-pervading 'cosmic energy' before he knew that the Universe is expanding. The expanding Universe did not need a 'cosmological constant' as Einstein had called his energy. However, in the 1990s observations of exploding stars in the distant Universe suggested that the Universe was not just expanding but accelerating as well. The only way to explain this was to reintroduce Einstein's cosmic energy in a slightly altered form, called dark energy. No one knows what the dark energy might be.

In the currently popular 'concordance model' of the Universe, 70% of the cosmos is thought to be dark energy, 25% dark matter and 5% normal matter."; jPARAGRAPH9[54] = "XMM-Newton

XMM-Newton can detect more X-ray sources than any previous satellite and is helping to solve many cosmic mysteries of the violent Universe, from black holes to the formation of galaxies. It was launched on 10 December 1999, using an Ariane-5 rocket from French Guiana. It is expected to return data for a decade. XMM-Newton's high-tech design uses over 170 wafer-thin cylindrical mirrors spread over three telescopes. Its orbit takes it almost a third of the way to the Moon, so that astronomers can enjoy long, uninterrupted views of celestial objects.

For further information, please contact:

Fred Jansen, ESA XMM Project scientist
ESA ESTEC, The Netherlands
Tel: + 31 71 565 4426
E-mail: Fred.Jansen@esa.int

Alain Blanchard
Laboratoire d'Astrophysique
Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées, France
Tel: + 33 5 61 33 2842
E-mail: alain.blanchard@ast.obs-mip.fr

ESA Media Relations Service
Tel: +33 1.53.69.71.55
Fax: +331.53.69.76.90"; jFULL[54] = ""; jFRENCH[54] = ""; jGERMAN[54] = ""; jFURTHERINFO[54] = false; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[55] = "PR"; jID[55] = "PR 82-2003"; jTITLE[55] = "Christmas on Mars: be there with ESA"; jDATE[55] = "15 December 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[55] = ""; jPORTRAIT1[55] = ""; jPORTRAIT2[55] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[55] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[55] = ""; jLANDSCAPE1[55] = ""; jLANDSCAPE2[55] = ""; jLANDSCAPE3[55] = ""; jPHOTOURL0[55] = ""; jPHOTOURL1[55] = ""; jPHOTOURL2[55] = ""; jPHOTOURL3[55] = ""; jPARAGRAPH0[55] = "Launched on 2 June 2003, after a six-month cruise at an average speed of about 10 kilometres per second and covering a distance of about 400 million kilometres, ESA's Mars Express will arrive at Mars on Christmas Day. After a very complicated and challenging series of operations during the night of 24/25 December 2003, the probe will be injected into an elliptical orbit near the poles of the Red Planet, while the Beagle 2 lander - released from the mother craft six days earlier - is expected to touchdown on the surface of Mars."; jPARAGRAPH1[55] = "The exciting event can be followed at ESA's European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany, on Thursday, 25 December, from 01:30 to 14:00 , together with the mission managers, the operation teams, scientists and top ESA management, including ESA's Director-General Jean-Jacques Dordain, ESA's Director of Science David Southwood and ESA's Director of Technical and Operational Support Gaele Winters. The highlights of the night will be also webcast over the internet at http://mars.esa.int"; jPARAGRAPH2[55] = "As well as live streaming of key events, the Mars Express site will have daily news, features, images, videos and more."; jPARAGRAPH3[55] = "The ESA TV Service will provide live coverage of operations, from the Operations Control Centre at ESOC. All transmission and satellite details are published online at http://television.esa.int"; jPARAGRAPH4[55] = "All live transmissions are also carried free-to-air on Astra 2 C at 19 degrees East, transponder 57, horizontal, (DVB-MPEG-2), frequency 10832 MHz, Symbol Rate 22000 MS/sec, FEC 5/6. The service name is ESA"; jPARAGRAPH5[55] = "Media wishing to attend are asked to complete the attached reply form and fax it back to ESA Media Relations Service: +33 (0)1 53 69 76 90."; jPARAGRAPH6[55] = "Mars Express Media Event - 25 December 2003


Programme

01:00 (CET)Door open for media
01:30 - 02:15Opportunity for individual interviews and filming in main control room
02:25 - 02:40ESA TV programme part 1. Opening/welcome.
03:40 - 03:56ESA TV programme part 2. Animation/graphics of upcoming milestones:
03:45Expected landing of Beagle 2
03:47 - 04:18Mars Express Orbit Insertion - main engine burn
04:15 - 04:20ESA TV programme part 3
04:30 - 07:00Early breakfast and possibility of interviews
05:30 - 05:40ESA TV programme part 4. Mission update
07:30Expected Mars Odyssey overfly results (overfly at 06:15). Possible first signals from Beagle 2.
08:45 - 09:20ESA TV programme part 5. Confirmation of Mars Express Mars Orbit Injection and Beagle 2 landing. Mission results/official statements.
09:30 - 10:00Press conference at ESOC (not televised, audio can be followed on phone link by dialling + 49 69 40 35 96 81).
10:30 - 13:00Christmas brunch
14:00End of the event
Press Center at ESA/ESOC : +49.6151.90.22.66"; jPARAGRAPH7[55] = ""; jPARAGRAPH8[55] = ""; jPARAGRAPH9[55] = ""; jFULL[55] = ""; jFRENCH[55] = ""; jGERMAN[55] = ""; jFURTHERINFO[55] = true; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[56] = "PR"; jID[56] = "PR 83-2003"; jTITLE[56] = "Mars Express releases Beagle 2"; jDATE[56] = "19 December 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[56] = ""; jPORTRAIT1[56] = ""; jPORTRAIT2[56] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[56] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[56] = ""; jLANDSCAPE1[56] = ""; jLANDSCAPE2[56] = ""; jLANDSCAPE3[56] = ""; jPHOTOURL0[56] = ""; jPHOTOURL1[56] = ""; jPHOTOURL2[56] = ""; jPHOTOURL3[56] = ""; jPARAGRAPH0[56] = "This morning, ESA's Mars Express flawlessly released the Beagle 2 lander that it has been carrying since its launch on 2 June this year. Beagle 2 is now on its journey towards the surface of Mars, where it is expected to land early in the morning of 25 December. Mars Express, Europe's first mission to Mars, has passed another challenging milestone on its way towards its final destination."; jPARAGRAPH1[56] = "At 9:31 CET, the crucial sequence started to separate the Beagle 2 lander from Mars Express. As data from Mars Express confirm, the pyrotechnic device was fired to slowly release a loaded spring, which gently pushed Beagle 2 away from the mother spacecraft. An image from the onboard visual monitoring camera (VMC) showing the lander drifting away is expected to be available later today."; jPARAGRAPH2[56] = "Since the Beagle 2 lander has no propulsion system of its own, it had to be put on the correct course for its descent before it was released. For this reason, on 16 December the trajectory of the whole Mars Express spacecraft had to be adjusted to ensure that Beagle 2 would be on course to enter the atmosphere of Mars. This manoeuvre, called \"retargeting\" was critical: if the entry angle is too steep, the lander could overheat and burn up in the atmosphere; if the angle is too shallow, the lander might skim like a pebble on the surface of a lake and miss its target."; jPARAGRAPH3[56] = "This fine targeting and today's release were crucial manoeuvres for which ESA's Ground Control Team at ESOC (European Space Operations Centre) had trained over the past several months. The next major milestone for Mars Express will be the manoeuvre to enter into orbit around Mars. This will happen at 2:52 CET on Christmas morning, when Beagle 2 is expected to land on the surface of Mars."; jPARAGRAPH4[56] = "\"Good teamwork by everybody - ESA, industry and the Beagle 2 team - has got one more critical step accomplished. Mars, here comes Europe!\" said David Southwood, ESA Director of Science. "; jPARAGRAPH5[56] = ""; jPARAGRAPH6[56] = ""; jPARAGRAPH7[56] = ""; jPARAGRAPH8[56] = ""; jPARAGRAPH9[56] = ""; jFULL[56] = "http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/SEMSSY274OD_index_0.html"; jFRENCH[56] = "http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/Pr_83_2003_p_FR.html"; jGERMAN[56] = "http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/Pr_83_2003_p_GE.html"; jFURTHERINFO[56] = true; //--------------------------------------------------------------------- jTYPE[57] = "PR"; jID[57] = "PR 84-2003"; jTITLE[57] = "Merry Christmas from Mars"; jDATE[57] = "25 December 2003"; jPORTRAIT0[57] = ""; jPORTRAIT1[57] = ""; jPORTRAIT2[57] = ""; jPORTRAIT3[57] = ""; jLANDSCAPE0[57] = ""; jLANDSCAPE1[57] = ""; jLANDSCAPE2[57] = ""; jLANDSCAPE3[57] = ""; jPHOTOURL0[57] = ""; jPHOTOURL1[57] = ""; jPHOTOURL2[57] = ""; jPHOTOURL3[57] = ""; jPARAGRAPH0[57] = "This morning, after a journey lasting 205 days and covering 400 million kilometres, the European Mars Express space probe fired its main engine at 03:47 CET for a 37-minute burn in order to enter an orbit around Mars. This firing gave the probe a boost so that it could match the higher speed of the planet on its orbit around the Sun and be captured by its gravity field, like climbing in a spinning merry-go-round. This orbit insertion manoeuvre was a complete success."; jPARAGRAPH1[57] = "This is a great achievement for Europe on its first attempt to send a space probe into orbit around another planet."; jPARAGRAPH2[57] = "At approximately the same time, the Beagle 2 lander, protected by a thermal shield, entered the Martian atmosphere at high velocity and is expected to have reached the surface at about 03:52 CET. However, the first attempt to communicate with Beagle 2, three hours after landing, via NASA’s Mars Odyssey orbiter, did not establish radio contact. The next contact opportunity will be tonight at 23:45 CET."; jPARAGRAPH3[57] = "The tiny lander was released from the orbiter six days ago on a collision course towards the planet. Before separation, its on-board computer was programmed to operate the lander on its arrival at the surface, by late afternoon (Martian time). According to the schedule, the solar panels must deploy to recharge the on-board batteries before sunset. The same sequence also tells Beagle 2 to emit a signal at a specific frequency for which the Jodrell Bank Telescope, UK, will be listening later tonight. Further radio contacts are scheduled in the days to come."; jPARAGRAPH4[57] = "In the course of the coming week, the orbit of Mars Express will be gradually adjusted in order to prepare for its scientific mission. Mars Express is currently several thousand kilometres away from Mars, in a very elongated equatorial orbit. On 30 December, ESA's ground control team will send commands to fire the spacecraft's engines and place it in a polar, less-elongated orbit (about 300 kilometres pericentre, 10000 apocentre, 86° inclination). From there, ESA's spacecraft will perform detailed studies of the planet's surface, subsurface structures and atmosphere. Commissioning of some of the on-board scientific instruments will begin towards mid-January and the first scientific data are expected later in the month."; jPARAGRAPH5[57] = "\"The arrival of Mars Express is a great success for Europe and for the international science community. Now, we are just waiting for a signal from Beagle 2 to make this Christmas the best we could hope for!\" said David Southwood, head of ESA’s Science Directorate. \"With Mars Express, we have a very powerful observatory in orbit around Mars and we look forward to receiving its first results. Its instruments will be able to probe the planet from its upper atmosphere down to a few kilometres below the surface, where we hope to find critical clues concerning the conditions for life, in particular traces of water. We expect this mission to give us a better understanding of our neighbour planet, of its past and its present, answering many questions for the science community and probably raising an even greater number of fascinating new ones. I hope we can see it as opening up a new era of European exploration\"."; jPARAGRAPH6[57] = ""; jPARAGRAPH7[57] = ""; jPARAGRAPH8[57] = ""; jPARAGRAPH9[57] = ""; jFULL[57] = ""; jFRENCH[57] = ""; jGERMAN[57] = ""; jFURTHERINFO[57] = true;