February 2012 Archives

Malta has signed a co-operation agreement with the European Space Agency, leaving only Bulgaria among European Union member states with no formal ESA relationship; the Czech Republic and Romania recently became ESA members, and accession talks are underway with Poland.

Discussions with ESA started in 2004 through the Maltese Embassy in Paris. The priority areas for Malta in research are telecommunications and satellite technology, as well as high-technology engineering (for example, Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems and nanotechnology), according to ESA, which adds that the physics department at the University of Malta has a number of research interests in space activities.

Maltese prime minister Lawrence Gonzi said top priority was education: "This cooperation agreement with ESA would result in new training and research opportunities for Maltese students and researchers, access to state-of-the-art equipment and facilities, as well as the possibility of networking with ESA researchers.

"Investing in research and innovation would create the right conditions to grow alongside manufacturing and other economic sectors."

It can be difficult for a hard-working space professional to bring levity to their jobs. Luckily, there are some areas where space and pleasure intersect. Presenting the latest intersection: the orbital Playboy Club. The key quote from the article: "You could literally swing around the dark side of the moon"

Despite unchecked rumors about the married couple aboard STS-47, egged on by the hoax NASA Document 12-571-3570, depicted onscreen by celebrities like Roger Moore Jane Fonda and David Duchovny (separately), nobody has yet admitted to having sex in space.

A porn company made a movie called The Uranus Experiment II that famously simulated sex in space -- the sex was real, but the weightlesness was provided by an aircraft flying in arcs, ala the Vomit Comet used to train astronauts way back when.

Personal spaceflight indeed.

The European Space Agency got its new small launcher VEGA off the pad on schedule this morning at 1000GMT, or 0600 local time in Kourou, French Guiana.

The launch couldn't have been pushed back much further - it had been scheduled for 26 January - because ESA needs to launch Ariane 5 on 9 March to carry its third Automated Transfer Vehicle robotic supply ship to the International Space Station.

Kourou could handle both flights more or less simultaneously, but the two rockets will follow similar trajectories and thus share the same set of ground stations, including some tracking equipment aboard ships that are today in place for the Vega launch but must be repositioned before the ATV flight. Traffic to the ISS is heavy, so 9 March - give or take a day for normal launch delays - is a non-negotiable slot.

Vega has been nine years in the works and will give ESA exceptional flexibility in its operations. The rocket's sweet spot is to place a 1.5T payload into a 750km orbit, ideal for Earth observation or scientific missions. Soyuz can loft 3T to the very high geosynchronous orbits - its first Kourou payload was a pair of Galileo navigation satellites. Ariane 5 is much bigger, ideal for up to 10T to geosynchronous orbits or heavy loads to the Space Station.

• Watch live video of the maiden launch of the ESA's Vega light rocket   

The European Space Agency has set the maiden flight of its new light launcher, Vega, for 13 February - four days later than had been announced two weeks ago and perilously close to the point when the flight will have to be scrubbed to make way for a 9 March Ariane 5 launch to deliver ESA's third Automated Transfer Vehicle robotic supply ship to the International Space Station.

ESA's launch facility in Kourou, French Guiana could handle both flights more or less simultaneously, but the two rockets will follow similar trajectories and thus share the same set of ground stations, including some tracking equipment aboard ships that are today in place for the Vega launch but must be repositioned before the ATV flight. Traffic to the ISS is heavy, so 9 March - give or take a day for normal launch delays - is a non-negotiable slot.

If Vega cannot fly before Ariane 5, it will get a new date in late March or April.

Historical data shows that fully 60% of maiden launches end in failure, but ESA is determined to take every precaution for a success. At this time last year, ESA had hoped to make the Vega flight before the close of 2011, but eventually settled on 26 January 2012 - the key being to find a date in between the first-ever Soyuz flight from Kourou (which flew as planned on 20 October) and the ATV launch on 9 March.

Vega has been nine years in the works and will give ESA exceptional flexibility in its operations. The rocket's sweet spot is to place a 1.5T payload into a 750km orbit, ideal for Earth observation or scientific missions. Soyuz can loft 3T to the very high geosynchronous orbits - its first Kourou payload was a pair of Galileo navigation satellites. Ariane 5 is much bigger, ideal for up to 10T to geosynchronous orbits or heavy loads to the Space Station.

More on Vega:

-first payload

-ambitious technology

-ESA's plans for 2012