News Summaries for November 21

4Frontiers Begins Generation II Mars Settlement Study (Source: 4Frontiers)
4Frontiers Corp. has begun a new round of its intensive Mars settlement design project. Thirty researchers, scientists and engineers in a broad array of technical and social science disciplines are working together under the 4Frontiers "Generation II Programming Study" (Gen II) to advance and refine the company’s groundbreaking Mars settlement plan. The eight month Gen II project will investigate many aspects of an initial home for a dozen settlers on the Martian frontier. The Gen II study will also examine the broader issues related to a branch of human civilization on the red planet growing to more than 1000 people. Visit http://www.4FrontiersCorp.com for information.

"The Station" is the Ultimate European Adventure Gameshow (Source: Spaceport.blogspot.com)
The first European space adveture gameshow called "The Station" is now being planned to have 25 contestants from 25 countries in competition over 9 months for only one to ride a Russian Soyuz rocket to the International Space Station for 9 days. The Station will be a space-themed science adventure will send an amateur European 'space participant' to orbit. Europeans from 25 participating countries may register to be candidates. Ten persons per country will then be selected to start training in their respective countries.

Russia Unveils Ambitious Plan to Build Telescope Better Than Hubble (Source: MosNews)
Russia plans to build a deep space exploration telescope that will outperform the U.S.-made Hubble Space Telescope. Hubble, orbited in 1990, has been the most successful and expensive project in astrophysics, costing over $6 billion. “In cooperation with our colleagues from Germany, the United Kingdom, China and Spain, we have set ourselves the task of building the Spectrum-Ultraviolet telescope, which will surpass Hubble in some aspects,” Boris Shustov, director of the Astronomy Institute at the Russian Academy of Sciences, told a news conference. The expert said the telescope, with a 170-centimeter diameter antenna, will explore the structure of the universe in the ultraviolet spectrum.

Last Russian Spy Satellite Cracked on Orbit (Source: Kommersant)
Russia’s only military satellite of optic intelligence finished its flight and was destroyed in orbit last week. Experts believe the reason was in the satellite’s technical failures. Russian satellite Kosmos-2423 ended its existence on Friday night. 28 pieces of various size appeared after the explosion. The largest piece and two others have already left the orbit and burned down in the Earth’s atmosphere on Nov. 18. The satellite returns film to the Earth in 8 capsules. After all 8 return, the satellite gets exploded from the Earth.

Officials Deny Russia's Cosmos Satellite De-Orbited Over Breakdown (Source: RIA Novosti)
Russian space officials dismissed media reports Monday that the Cosmos 2423 military satellite was de-orbited because its onboard equipment had broken down. Space Force spokesman Alexei Kuznetsov said the decision to de-orbit Cosmos was made because the spacecraft had completed its mission. The satellite was launched September 14, 2006, to provide imaging data for military as well as civilian purposes. It is part of the Russian Space Force's Orlets-1 Don photoreconnaissance program, in operation since 1989. Orlets-1 satellites rely on film to record images, so their lifespan rarely exceeds 60 days.

Dynamic Soaring Gliders Could Support Mars Missions (Source: Flight International)
Details of an unusual collaborative project between the US Air Force and NASA have been revealed, in which tests of a manned glider demonstrated the feasibility of dynamic soaring techniques that could be used by future airborne robotic planetary explorer vehicles being studied by NASA for missions to Mars. Dynamic soaring differs from the traditional static soaring techniques normally used by glider pilots. Unlike static soaring, which uses vertical motion such as riding thermals, dynamic soaring involves extracting energy from horizontal windshears. This method has been perfected in nature by far-ranging seabirds like the albatross, which can fly up to 72ft (22m) for just a 3ft loss in altitude without wing flapping, but is thought never to have been quantifiably demonstrated before using full-scale, instrumented manned gliders. Researchers hoped the tests would prove large gliders could use dynamic soaring, and this would help in the design of future explorer vehicles.

Indian Upper Stage Succeeds (Source: Flight International)
The Indian Space Research Organisation has successfully test-fired its indigenously developed upper stage for 50s at its Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre at Mahendragiri, southern India. The engine will replace the Russian-supplied upper stage for India's three-stage Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV). The GLSV is designed to orbit India's Insat-class spacecraft, which weighs more than 2,000kg (4,400lb). The maiden flight of the Indian upper stage on a GSLV booster is set for next year.