European Association for Astronomy Education

Source: ESA Online Videos

At the end of October a Soyuz will be launched from Europe's Space Port in French Guiana for the first time, carrying into orbit the first pair of so-called IOV satellites. IOV stand for In-Orbit Validation: it's the phase when the Galileo system will be assessed through tests using the operations of two experimental satellites (GIOVE A and B already on orbit) and a mini constellation of four operational satellites and their related ground infrastructure. These first 2 Galileo satellites will be sent to the first orbital plane on Medium earth Orbit, followed by another 2 in the second orbital plane next year.

Source: ESA

The LDC in action.
Credit: ESA.

Astronauts’ jobs sometimes weigh heavy on them: crews returning from space briefly endure ‘g-loading’ more than four times Earth normal. Scientists interested in hypergravity need to create it for minutes, days or even weeks at a time. Fortunately, ESA’s Large Diameter Centrifuge does just that. (read more)

Source: Messenger Press Release

Image credit: NASA/MESSENGER

After only six months in orbit around Mercury, NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft is sending back information that has revolutionized the way scientists think about the innermost planet. Analyses of new data from the spacecraft show, among other things, new evidence that flood volcanism has been widespread on Mercury, the first close-up views of Mercury's "hollows," the first direct measurements of the chemical composition of Mercury's surface, and the first global inventory of plasma ions within Mercury’s space environment.

The results are reported in a set of seven papers published in a special section of Science magazine on September 30, 2011.(read more)

Source: UNAWE Press Release

In a one-week special, Space Scoop will release daily reports for children aged 8+ that highlight the exciting discoveries announced at the European Planetary Science Congress and Division for Planetary Science (EPSC-DPS) 2011 meeting, held in Nantes, France, from 2-8 October 2011. By sharing the latest research with children, Space Scoop aims to bring astronomy to life.

EU-Universe Awareness (EU-UNAWE), which brings you Space Scoop, is asking primary school teachers from around the world to use the releases as the basis for a week-long series of lessons about our Solar System. The final day of EPSC-DPS 2011 coincides with International Observe the Moon Night, which offers many additional educational resources.Since EU-UNAWE launched Space Scoop in February 2011, press releases produced by the European Southern Observatory and the NASA Chandra X-ray Observatory have been translated into child-friendly language. EU-UNAWE is now pleased to welcome Europlanet – one of the organisers of EPSC-DPS 2011 – as its newest Space Scoop partner organisation.

With Space Scoop reporters at the conference, EU-UNAWE is welcoming educators and children to submit questions about planetary science via email, Twitter or Facebook. The Space Scoopers will track down the relevant astronomers to find the answers to as many of your questions as possible. Please email your questions to info@unawe.org. Questions via Twitter should be sent to @unawe and include the hashtag #SpaceScoop You can also use our Facebook page to ask questions: facebook.com/unawe

More information: http://www.unawe.org/updates/unawe-update-1134/