The new magnetic heat shield—developed by EADS Astrium, the German aerospace center, and the European Space Agency—is expected to complement or replace traditional ceramic heat shields entirely. The field will be generated by a super-conducting coil, deflecting atmosphere particles from the surface of the spaceship and, therefore, eliminating friction.

If everything goes as they expect, it will be tested with a Russian Volna launcher in the next decade, which will enter the atmosphere at Mach 21. [Flight Global]

I mean, if I were God, I would go live there: A well illuminated apartment, with a nice kitchen in which to cook some new stars, and a sunny beach. But since I'm agnostic, I will tell you that this nebula is just a titanic group of particles, with sizes ranging from ten to a hundred times smaller than a Earth dust grain. It doesn't emit anything: NGC 7023 just reflects the light from HD 200775, a nearby magnitude +7 superstar.

The Iris Nebula was first discovered in 1794 by Sir William Herschel, this is the first closeup, taken by the Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys. Scientists are now studying its composition—which is formed by an unknown hydrocarbon-based compound—using Hubble's infrared camera. [Hubble]

There are plenty of necessary qualifications to meet including fluency in Russian, background in medicine, various engineering, and for whatever reason you may not be taller than 185cm (that's just under 6'1"). Interested? Apply on the ESA website. [ESA via PhysOrg]

Over the last year and a half, Patria Aviation Oy has worked on developing a flexible-yet-durable, functional-yet-adaptable antenna. The best part? Based on a successful call to the "Netherlands from their headquarters in Finland by using the prototype antenna," they've succeeded.

How do they work? Apparently the flexible antennas connect "to Iridium satellites (whose low-altitude operations do not require large antennas)" for outgoing calls. As it stands, they can't take incoming calls. This leaves me a bit baffled, since if I'd only want to call people with other patch communicators, if I had one. Also a bit confusing is exactly where the actual phone and GPS portion of this device is kept (the patch is only the antenna, after all).

Aside from those oddities, these flexible antennas sound fantastic: They're supposedly able to "maintain a strong radio signal, even when the patch is bent vertically, horizontally or diagonally" and "send location information to a remote user" (great because a device in your pocket or wherever might have trouble sending a GPS signal). All that seems to be missing is the option to get beamed up.

And in case you're wondering: no, I won't share my number one Star Trek fantasy (though you're free to guess). [Network World via Slashdot via PopSci]

According to the Wall Street Journal, the problem with debris eradication is that there's no money in it. Anybody can cough up a billion or so to launch a telecom satellite, but anyone who wants NASA or the ESA to start cleaning up has to come up with a plan that costs a lot less.

There's no money in it probably because nothing really bad has happened yet. According to that video down below, shuttle pilots have had near misses 12 times with pieces and parts that could've played serious havoc. Like so many busy intersections that are missing stop lights, the problem may require a fatal collision before money is made available. Though nobody died, the recent mid-air collision of US and Russian satellites was at least some kind of wake-up call.

In the meantime, here are some low-budget proposals:

1. Jonathan Campbell at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL says the answer is lasers, what the WSJ says would be "existing low-power lasers in quick pulses" to "singe the surface of an object in space" to "help point it downward." Campbell calls this Project Orion, as in the great hunter in the sky, but the Orion lasers would be based on land. (Note to self: Don't ever fly over Orion lasers.)

2. Jim Hollopeter, who works for Satellite Communications in Austin, TX, likes water cannons mounted to rockets, or as the Journal says, "aging rockets loaded with water to spray orbiting junk" thereby gradually pushing it towards the atmostphere to burn up, along with the spent rocket itself. "The water would turn to steam," says the Journal.

3. Heiner Klinkrad, head of ESA's Space Debris Office in Darmstadt, Germany, thinks we should give a hoot and just not litter. Rockets should not drop bolts and straps when they separate, and satellites should commit space hara-kiri, by steering themselves toward the atmosphere when their job is done. He's also looking into garbage collection strategies.

What definitely won't work:
• Big magnets - There's no iron in space debris.
• Powerful lasers - Would just make more space junk.
• Strong Nets - Cuz you're in space, not in some meadow chasing butterflies.

Read the full article at the WSJ for more good stuff, or watch their video here:

[WSJ]

Let's hope there are better ones coming.

Jules Verne "carried almost five tonnes of food, breathing air, drinking water and fuel on board." There are two more ATVs in construction right now, and one of them may be in charge of bringing down the International Space Station when it reaches its end of life at the end of the next decade. Watch this space for more pictures and videos coming soon. [ESA and DLR]

GOCE belongs to the group that the European Space Agency classifies as Earth Explorers: five new satellites dedicated to provide a closer, more intimate look of our planet. And while CRYOSAT and SWARM look funky too—with SMOS and AEOLUS being a bit more conventional—GOCE's design seems straight out of a sci-fi movie.

GOCE
Developed to do a precise map of Earth's gravity field—with the help of onboard instrumentation and the GPS network—and also study the oceans' circulation.

CryoSat-2
It will study changes in polar ice caps and floating ice.

SMOS
Designed to measure soil moisture in land and salinity in the oceans, which will help us understand better the behavior of the oceans.

Aeolus
It will analyze wind patterns to improve weather forecasts and the understanding of atmospheric dynamics.

Swarm
This constellation of satellites will control the evolution of the Earth's geomagnetic field to help us understand Earth's interior and its climate.

I don't know what kind of substances the engineers at the European Space Agency are using, but I want a double shot. [ESA via Astroengine and Euronews]

Says the ESA:

Open invitation for image feedback:: You can assist the Mars Express team with additional processing of the raw image data files as well as interpretation: What do you see? What part of the Mars surface is being shown? Can you identify any geographical features? What regions of the atmosphere or atmospheric components do you see?

Keep in mind these images are what they're calling "tourist quality" (i.e. non-scientific), so they aren't going to be used in any major studies or experiments anytime soon. They are, however, perfect for Mars enthusiasts and weather-watchers. And who knows, maybe you'll be lucky enough to use this web cam to spot a careless Martian doing something they can't take back. Interstellar YouTube video? WIN. [ESA via Discover Magazine]

The most notable is the ATV's automatic rendezvous and docking technology - the ship can find its own way to the station and attach itself without any human intervention.

Tomorrow's launch will be carried off by an Ariane 5 rocket, and the double-decker-bus-sized ATV will be the heaviest payload ever carried by one. The maneuver will be trickier than usual, with the upper stage of the rocket igniting twice, to get it up there and then again to boost it safely over the Pacific Ocean. [BBC News]

No commercial plans have been announced thus far as this is more of a proof of concept more than anything else. Interesting development and good to see the ESA devoting resources to improve the signal quality of breakfast radio. Come back when you've put a man on the moon. – Nicholas Deleon

Multimedia car radio of the future [ESA via Newlaunches.com]

The Sea Orbiter is a 170-foot vessel that looks like an airplane wing set on its side, designed to drift around the earth while bored scientists inside study fish, plankton, and the ecology of the underwater world while getting on each other's nerves. Powered by nothing but sea currents and blown by the wind, the slow-moving ship will take two years to circumnavigate the earth, giving the scientists plenty of time to figure out what's happening in the underwater world in which two-thirds of this odd-looking craft is submerged.

Showing interest in the ship are NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA), which are both quite familiar with sending people to sit inside isolated tin cans for months or years on end in the name of research. While this is pretty much vaporware so far with just a scale model in existence, the ship's designer, French architect Jacques Rougerie, plans to actually build this gigantic buoy and set sail sometime soon. Bon voyage. – Charlie White

À la Jules Verne [Gemini, via SciFi Tech]