Europe and Russia talk of joint manned mission to Mars.
I’m not sure how seriously to take this story, though its implications are intriguing regardless. More than any other country, Russia knows how to build the kind of spaceship necessary for the journey. What Europe will contribute more than anything else would be money.
Due to a leak from Wikileaks, the head of one of the companies building the European GPS system has been fired. Key quote:
The [Wikileaks] cable, which was published by the Norwegian daily Aftenposten last Thursday, quoted the [chief executive] as saying, “I think Galileo [the European GPS system] is a stupid idea that primarily serves French interests”, and, in particular, French military interests.
The purpose [of these trials] is to silence dissent, by example. To show everyone else that they too will be treated as a common criminal if they dare to express a negative opinion about the world’s most backward, intolerant and violent religion. This is where we are in Europe today. It’s like something out of the old Soviet Union.
There will be a demonstration on October 30 in support Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff, who is facing prison in Austria for publicly quoting the Koran and then criticizing what it says. The video below explains the disgusting nature of the charges against her, and how freedom of speech is under direct attack in Austria. Key quote:
“It seems that some people do not appreciate a non-Muslim quoting verbatim from the Koran. . . . Apparently you have to convert to Islam in order to quote from the Koran and not be accused of hate speech.”
You can offer support to her legal defense fund by going here. This fund is not controlled by her, and will only be used to pay her legal fees.
Faced with the loss of the space shuttle yet committed to the ISS at least through 2020, the European Space Agency is moving forward in its plans to upgrade its Automated Transfer Vehicle, which is only able to bring cargo to ISS, to what they call an Advanced Re-entry Vehicle, which will be able to also bring cargo back.
What does this mean for private space? The European consortium Arianespace is heading toward an unprofitable 2010. Note also that though the company “performed a record seven launches of the Ariane 5 vehicle in 2009, Arianespace reported a loss of 71.2 million euros on sales of 1.03 billion euros” in that year as well.