Tal Inbar, Valencia, special to the science site
Coordination between the world's space agencies must be increased and improved. This is what NASA Director Michael Griffin requests at a meeting of the heads of the space agencies of the USA, Canada, China, India, Europe and Japan as part of the Space Congress currently taking place in Valencia.
Besides the collaboration, the most important thing for Griffin was to finish the space station to focus on other programs such as Orion (the return to the moon program, with Lockheed Martin as one of the main subcontractors). Right now NASA is concentrating on the development of the passenger spacecraft and the cargo spacecraft. Griffin added that the return of the space shuttle was successful thanks to the safety measures taken by NASA.
The director of NASA did not reveal new information, but contented himself with a new perspective regarding the US's goals in space. He referred to "partnership" and its importance for the future space programs. To emphasize the USA's renewed efforts for international cooperation, Griffin talked about his trip to China a few weeks ago, in an effort to reduce the differences between the two space powers. The position of the USA remains as it was. It is looking to be the leader in space exploration and according to Griffin, the US is looking to achieve this goal by becoming a better partner in international collaborations. However, the US maintains its position of preventing the spread of dangerous weapons as a priority before cooperation. Griffin also said that the US is looking for partnerships in the field of space projects, which will provide more than just NASA's participation in the budget of those agencies.
Despite these policy limitations, Griffin says the US is looking for ways to build new international partnerships like the one achieved on the International Space Station.
Jean-Jacques Dordin, chairman of the European Space Agency, says the agency must be more ambitious when it comes to the policies of its members' space programs. For him, the future means flexibility, more international cooperation with the countries and above all in the Earth observation program. The future also means more technology as well as the exploration of the moon, Mars and Mercury, as well as services such as GEMS - civil defense and security systems. The only sad thing this year for the space agency was the failure to launch the Creosat satellite, a satellite so important that the heads of the member states of the agency. They decided to launch the Creosat 2 satellite in 2009. There were many successes: Venus Express, Mars Express and the landing of Smart-1 on the moon.
The president of the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA), Dr. R. Keiji Tachiwaka, insisted on developing a system to help during natural disasters. The satellite collects data to prevent deaths in disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis. Jaxa will gradually improve these systems to prevent disasters in Asia. Except for observations of the Earth. The Japanese space agency plays an important role in the exploration of the universe and the solar system. The Selen spacecraft will explore the moon after its launch this summer and according to Tachiwaka it will be essential to prepare for a permanent human presence on the moon.
Today's China is an aerospace superpower. This is what Sun Laiwan, director of CNSA - the Chinese National Space Agency, wants to clarify. According to him, the Chinese are developing a new and important generation of communication satellites, and are increasing research in other space fields. In the next five years, CNSA will carry out important projects such as the manned space program, the lunar exploration program, high resolution photography of the Earth, navigation satellites as well as a new generation of launchers.
General Anatoly Permanev, head of the Russian space agency, was the last to speak. According to him, the main goal today is the field of communications, especially the FSP program which will end in 2015. The Russian space agency plans to improve the ground systems and the GLONASS system - all satellites in this system will be launched by 2010 (a total of 24 satellites).
According to him, manned missions in the depths of the solar system are planned - starting from the years 2025-2030 and following the development of a transportation system for high orbits between the years 2016 and 2020. Of course these would not be possible without international cooperation.
Venus Expressors: Dr. Gerhard Schwein, Solar System Mission Division, Science Programs Directorate, European Space Agency
Venus Express is the European Space Agency's first mission to our nearest planetary neighbor, Venus. It was successfully launched aboard a Soyuz-Fragat rocket from Baikonur on November 11, 2005. An on-orbit test of the spacecraft and its instruments was successfully performed on April 11, 2006 and the spacecraft was placed into orbit around Venus. The nominal scientific phase began in June 2006.
The mission was selected in 2001 through a competitive process, in which the space agency asked for innovations that would make it possible to utilize the Mars Expresser design and the capability of that industrial consortium to build a spacecraft that would be ready in 2005 within tight budget constraints.
It was especially attractive to use the new many of the instruments developed for Mars Express and Rosetta without compromising the scientific goals of the mission: an in-depth study of the planet's atmosphere, the plasma environment and the interaction with the solar wind, as well as an in-depth study of the surface. The instruments were designed to answer seven topics: the dynamics of the atmosphere, the structure of the atmosphere, the composition of the atmosphere and its chemistry, the layer of clouds and fogs, the balance of radiation, surface properties and geology, the plasma environment, and escape processes of materials from the planet. After a long wait, Venus Express will bring Venus back into the spotlight of scientific interest. In the lecture, Shwein will provide the first data from the task.
Voyager 1: Lecturer: Edward C. Stone, Cal Institute of Technology and President of the International Academy of Astronautics
After 27 years of travel and 14 billion km from Earth, Voyager 1 reached the edge of the solar system. The Sun's atmosphere expanded surprisingly and formed a huge bubble known as the heliosphere that surrounds all the planets.
Outside the bubble lies the interstellar space filled with material from other stars. Voyager 1 reached a major milestone in its journey into interstellar space when it crossed the standing shock wave that forms when the supersonic solar wind reaches the edge of interstellar space.
Voyager 1 is currently exploring the region beyond the shock wave that marks the outermost layer of the Sun's atmosphere, a place where the solar wind slows and compresses as it is pushed outward against the interstellar material surrounding it.
Behind it is Voyager 2 which will soon begin exploring this final frontier as both spacecraft continue their race into interstellar space and still have enough power to transmit to Earth.
* Tal Inbar participates in the Space Congress as a representative of the Fisher Institute for Strategic Studies of Aviation and Space.
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