౧౨,౦౦౦ కేలస వ్హితెహౌసే నల్లి కట్ మదలగిదే

Some 12,000 jobs are to be lost at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) over the next three years.

Spending restrictions have been blamed for the move, which a union said would mean the loss of 200 offices, including job centres, in England and Wales.

The announcement came just hours after the government outlined "radical" changes to the benefits system.

It wants private firms and voluntary groups to be offered cash incentives to get the jobless into work for longer.

Work Secretary James Purnell said these plans, which will see more payments if someone is employed for six months, were intended to "personalise" services.

But the Tories called the idea it "tinkering" and accused Mr Purnell of trying to "steal Conservative language" on welfare.

'Yet another blow'

Referring to the job losses at the DWP, a spokesman said the department "has already reduced its staffing by 30,000 over the past three years without any significant compulsory redundancies".

"We are confident that, in the great majority of cases, the further reductions announced today will not mean anyone leaving the department who wants to stay," he added.

Savings of 5% must be delivered in each of the next three years to reduce DWP expenditure by more than £1.2 billion.

But Mark Serwotka, the general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union, said the proposed job cuts were "purely about crude cost-cutting" and would "do nothing to improve service delivery to some of the most disadvantaged in society".

The announcement was "yet another blow to a workforce who have battled to provide a service in the face of swingeing cuts and below-inflation pay increases", he added.

Freud review

It came after Mr Purnell announced a "commissioning strategy" at a conference in London, which will see more private companies and voluntary groups involved in finding work for people on benefits.

This acts on recommendations from an earlier review by investment banker David Freud.

New contractors are expected to be offered incentives for getting people into work for at least six months, with further incentives planned in the future for increasing it to 18 months.

In return, they will get larger contracts which last up to seven years - the current average is three years.

Mr Purnell said the new system would be a more personalised one, designed around each individual's needs and would be aimed at people who have been unemployed or on incapacity benefit for a long time.

"Instead of following the diktat of Whitehall, providers will focus on the needs of the person in front of them," he said.

"Instead of receiving grants for service they will be paid by results and instead of telling providers how to do their jobs we will hold them accountable for what they do."

Some 40% of claimants of the jobseekers allowance who find a job are out of work again within six months, according to a report by the Commons public accounts committee.

But shadow work and pensions secretary Chris Grayling said the government was trying to "steal Conservative language on welfare reform".

'Waste of talent'

"We've set out very clear and very detailed plans for welfare reform based on the experience in other countries, a very full package," he said.

"Gordon Brown is tinkering around the edges - a bit of reform here, a bit of participation by the private sector, a slight toughening of sanctions. Nothing like the scale of radical change we would need." And Labour's former welfare minister Frank Field welcomed some of the package but told the BBC the potential to expand the role of job centres, which he said had more local knowledge and expertise, had been overlooked.

"One of the reforms I wanted was actually for each of these local offices, if they wished to be, to opt as cooperative companies that would have their own budgets," he said.

For the Liberal Democrats, Danny Alexander expressed concerned the government was giving a licence to "bring in big multinationals from overseas".

He said: "I would like to see many of those local voluntary and private organisations who are making a real success of getting people back into work given much more scope to expand, to work locally, rather than being potentially pushed aside by big foreign providers."

This was the latest of a series of government announcements on welfare reform. Others have included making all long-term unemployed people do at least four weeks' work and making single parents look for work once their youngest child is seven by October 2010.

The Conservatives' proposals include assessing all incapacity benefit claimants to see whether they are really unfit for work and making the long-term unemployed do community work.

The Lib Dems say they would try to halve the number of incapacity benefit claimants by 2020 by introducing a single "working age benefit", with extra help for those with mental health problems and a simplified benefits system.

Wales' tallest building approved

A 33-storey apartment block will become the tallest building in Wales after planners in Cardiff approved a new development on the waterfront.

The £500m Bay Pointe development will be 403ft (122.8m) and consist of 10 residential buildings with 1,800 flats.

One of the towers will provide 360-degree views of Cardiff and beyond.

But residents have complained that the towers will be overbearing and a major letting agent said there were already hundreds of empty flats in Cardiff Bay.

The development is one of a number of skyscrapers planned for Wales.

A 29-storey building is under construction in Swansea, and work on another high-rise in Cardiff city centre, called the Glass Needle, is due to begin later this year.

HIGH FLIERS

Bay Pointe will be around two and a half times taller than Nelson's Column in London

World's tallest building: Burj Dubai, Dubai, 159 storeys, 604.9m (1984.6ft)

World's tallest until 2007: Taipei 101 in Taiwan, 101 storeys, 508m (1,666.7ft)

UK's tallest building: Canary Wharf Tower, London, 235m (770ft)

World's tallest freestanding structure: CN Tower, Toronto, Canada, 553m (1,815.3ft)

The Bay Pointe development will be built at the International Sports Village site near Penarth and will include a waterfront park with cycle paths and a pedestrian "green route" through the area.

But Plaid Cymru AM Chris Franks criticised the scheme, which he said contained too little affordable housing, and could become "an enormous white elephant dominating Cardiff Bay".

"Building more penthouses for multi-millionaries in high-rise flats is not going to tackle the affordable housing crisis," he said.

"It is also going to put even more pressure on an already over-congested local traffic infrastructure.

"It is a shame that we have not been able to rely on the local authority to block unsustainable developments like Bay Pointe's. The housing market is facing a downturn because of speculators."

Chris Hamilton, managing director of Bay Pointe Ltd, said the towers would be a "stunning landmark".

"Bay Pointe will give the people of Cardiff easier access to the 14km of waterfront that has been created by the construction of the barrage," he said.

"Together with the other leisure and retail elements planned for the Sports Village, Bay Pointe will transform what was previously a piece of derelict land into a dynamic, inspiring space, breathing fresh life into the already thriving and expanding Welsh capital."

The project should be completed between 2014 and 2016.

However, Michael Jones, from Michael Jones Estate Agents in Cardiff said the housing market in the city was slowing down.

"With the development of the Bay, there have been a lot of people buying and speculating, and that bubble does appear to have burst," he told BBC Wales.

"I'm aware of some huge investments by national and international companies and they are struggling to reach their targets.

"We've overdeveloped certain areas and built the wrong type of properties."

Architect Malcolm Parry said while the buildings were not particularly pretty, they were "quite exciting."

He said: "I like the idea of having tall buildings in Cardiff. It seems to me quite strange that we haven't wished for tall buildings for some time but it is one of the signifiers of a really terrific city."

Livestock import suspension move

The Stormont executive has approved a week-long suspension of the import of breeding animals into Northern Ireland from bluetongue affected areas.

Agriculture Minister Michelle Gildernew said the move was designed to keep "our bluetongue disease free status intact".

The disease has been detected in imported cattle on a County Antrim farm.

But it is yet to be detected elsewhere so Northern Ireland remains officially bluetongue free.

The Republic's Agriculture Minister Mary Coughlan announced a similar move last Friday.

"These controls bring us into line with the south and are in response to emerging science around how the bluetongue virus might be transmitted and additional risks that might be posed by pregnant animals," said Ms Gildernew.

"The import controls are a proportionate response and we will continue to maintain our rigorous testing system on those animals already imported.

"In terms of the industry, I will leave it to them to consider carefully whether they should adopt a complete voluntary ban in order to protect farming here. I would strongly advise and welcome that action."

It is thought an outbreak of bluetongue disease would cost the Northern Ireland agriculture industry millions of pounds in lost revenue.

Bangladesh river ferry capsizes

A ferry carrying more than 100 passengers has capsized in Bangladesh, killing at least 26 people.

The accident happened after the ferry collided with another vessel in the Buriganga River, near Dhaka, a local police official said.

Several passengers had swum ashore but others were feared to be still trapped in the stricken boat.

Bangladesh frequently sees ferry accidents - typically blamed on unsafe, ageing boats and on overcrowding.

The ferry in the latest accident was travelling from Dhaka to the town of Taltala, a fire brigade official told the Associated Press news agency.

Local people joined police and fire service divers in the search for survivors.

A recent study on ferry safety said that about 20,000 cargo and passenger vessels operate in Bangladesh, and about half of them fail to meet basic safety standards or take on more than their legal quota of passengers.

The study asked the government to strengthen coast guard patrols, identify dangerous river crossings, enforce registration requirements and provide training for navigators and crew.

The government says that measures are being taken to improve safety in the waterways.

Australia slashes wheat forecast

Australia has slashed its official forecast for wheat production because of the ongoing drought.

The government said it expected farmers to grow 15.5m tons of wheat, a 30% reduction from its previous forecast.

The news will put further pressure on the global price of wheat, which is already at record highs.

The problems have been compounded by crop failures in the northern hemisphere and an increase in demand from developing countries.

Australia is normally second only to America in the amount of wheat it exports.

So when farmers harvest less than they expect it has a knock-on effect around the world, prompting things like food protests over the price of pasta in Italy.

Global shortage

After one of the best starts to a growing season for years, dry weather in recent weeks has forced the Australian government to slash its crop forecasts.

It said the amount of wheat harvested would be 30% lower than it originally predicted.

Even that might prove an optimistic assessment with farmers warning that if there is not heavy rain over the next few weeks, their crops will be even more meagre.

Up until now, September's rainfall has been below average and adverse weather has already reduced harvests in Europe and North America.

International wheat prices have risen by over 350% in the past five years, with global reserves now at their lowest level since the early 1980s.

At a time of shortened supply, the world is also experiencing an increase in demand.

Eating habits are changing in emerging countries like China with improved diets and a greater preference for meat, which drives up the demand for feed for livestock.

The growing popularity of biofuels which can be made from wheat has added to the pressure on prices.

Cars are now competing with cattle and consumers for access to these dwindling crops.

Wheat breaks through $10 a bushel

US wheat futures have risen more than 3%, passing the $10-a-bushel mark for the first time.

The current benchmark Chicago Board of Trade WH8 contract for delivery in March hit a record high at $10.09.

World wheat stocks are expected to fall to a 30-year low next year, partly hit by droughts in Australia.

Wheat prices have nearly doubled since the start of the year, fanning fears about food price inflation at a time when the global economy may be slowing.

Rising wheat prices have been passed on to consumers worldwide and sparked protests in Asia.

We think agricultural commodity prices are going to continue rising Moncef Kaabi, Natixis

Protesters in Pakistan have blamed President Pervez Musharraf for failing to control prices.

They also blame smugglers and hoarders for depleting what they say was a bumper harvest.

Elsewhere, Australian exports are expected to halve, while Argentina temporarily halted wheat exports this month to assess damage caused by cold weather.

Russia is expected to ban wheat exports next month.

"We think agricultural commodity prices are going to continue rising, (with the scale) depending on the climate and the state of the harvests," said Moncef Kaabi, head of commodities research at French investment bank Natixis.

Why are wheat prices rising?

Wheat prices have hit record highs and tight supplies of the staple crop have ignited concern about rising food costs.

The price of higher-quality spring wheat jumped almost 25% on Monday - the biggest one-day increase to date.

The rise comes as the UN's World Food Programme warns that it will have to start cutting rations or feeding fewer people if it does not get more money to cope with the higher cost of food.

Wheat is used to make staple foods such as bread, pasta and noodles.

EXPORT CURBS

The main reason behind Monday's sudden rise in wheat prices was a decision by Kazakhstan to impose export tariffs to curb sales.

TOP FIVE WHEAT EXPORTERS US Russia Canada Argentina EU Source: Barclays

Kazakhstan, a big exporter of wheat, said the curbs would help it battle an inflation rate of nearly 20%.

The move follows similar restrictions imposed by Russia and Argentina.

"Politically, it's difficult for these countries to continue to export if prices are high domestically," said Sudakshina Unnikrishnan, agricultural analyst at Barclays Bank.

Last year, tens of thousands of Mexicans marched in a protest against the rising price of tortillas after the price of the flat corn bread soared by over 400%.

DROUGHT

World wheat stocks are expected to hit a 30-year low this year, partly driven by the worst drought in Australia in 100 years, which halved the winter wheat crop to 12 million tonnes in 2007.

Reports of drought and water shortages in north-west China, where most of the country's wheat is grown, have also spurred buying in recent days.

Unusually cold weather last year in places such as Ukraine also hurt production.

LAND FOR BIOFUELS

Demand for alternative energy sources has led farmers to sow less wheat and convert land to crops such as corn, sugarcane and rapeseed, that can be turned into biofuels.

Wheat prices have risen 83% in a year

Ethanol, diesel and other liquid fuels can be made from processing plant material.

But this means there is less land for growing food crops.

Wheat prices may come down as high prices convince farmers to devote more land to the crop, but this takes time.

GROWING DEMAND

In addition to the supply problems pushing up prices, there has also been growing demand.

Increasing wealth in China and India, for example, has led to consumers eating more meat, which means more grain is needed to feed farm animals.

The US Department of Agriculture forecasts that Chinese imports of pork will double over the next 10 years.

SPECULATION BY INVESTORS

Wheat prices have also soared as commodities have found favour among investors struggling with poor returns in other markets.

Stock markets have lost ground as the world economy slows and the fallout from the sub-prime crisis continues.

"There are a lot of non-commercial positions in the market but it's predominantly driven by fundamentals," said Ms Unnikrishnan.

"For three years production has been outstripped by consumption and grain stocks are tight."

Scientists advance 'drought crop'

Scientists say they have made a key breakthrough in understanding the genes of plants that could lead to crops that can survive in a drought.

Researchers in Finland and the United States say they have discovered a gene that controls the amount of carbon dioxide a plant absorbs.

It also controls the amount of water vapour it releases into the atmosphere.

This information could be important for food production and in regulating climate change.

Water control

Plants play a crucial role in the regulation of the atmosphere by absorbing carbon dioxide from the air. They absorb the gas through tiny pores on their leaves called stomata and these pores also release water vapour as the plant grows.

In extremely dry weather, a plant can lose 95% of its water in this way.

Scientists have been trying to find the gene that controls the response of the stomata for decades.

Now teams in Finland and California are reporting in the journal Nature that they have found a crucial genetic pathway that controls the opening and closing of these pores.

The researchers say that this understanding could allow them to modify plants so that they continue to absorb carbon dioxide but reduce the amount of water released into the atmosphere, enabling them to thrive in very dry conditions.

On the way

Professor Jakko Kangasjarvi from the University of Helsinki says this work is the first step on that road

"It opens the avenue, it is still several years away but before this publication, there was no single component which would have so many different effects... there was no target to modify, now we know the target," he said.

While the experiments have been done in a variety of cress, the scientists say that the underlying genetic mechanisms are the same in many food plants, including rice.

It is believed that this new genetic understanding of how to control the amount of water that plants use could be commercialised within the next 20 years.

Landslide hits Ecuador pipeline

A landslide has cut off Ecuador's main export oil pipeline but the state oil firm Petroecuador says it will try to use other routes.

The Sote pipeline, which can move 400,000 barrels of oil per day from the Amazon jungle to the Pacific Ocean, stopped pumping on Thursday afternoon.

It pumps almost all oil extracted by Petroecuador in the jungle.

The company's president said that pumping would resume either through a bypass or a private pipeline.

"We are not going to call force majeure," Fernando Zurita told Reuters news agency, after initially announcing the company would suspend exports.

Flooding and landslides killed seven people in Ecuador on Wednesday night, bringing the toll to 23 since downpours began in mid-January, state emergency officials said.

Raul Castro named Cuban president

Raul Castro has been unanimously selected to succeed his brother Fidel as leader by Cuba's National Assembly.

Fidel Castro stepped down last week after nearly half a century in charge.

Raul has in effect been president since Fidel had major surgery in July 2006. It is understood that he was the only nominee in a vote seen as a formality.

The US said Raul Castro's appointment offered potential for change but said its embargo would remain until there was a transition to democracy.

"There is a possibility and potential for change in Cuba, but those changes will have to be born inside Cuba," said Assistant Secretary of State Tom Shannon.

There had been speculation that Raul Castro, aged 76, would name one of Cuba's younger generation of communist leaders as his number two.

But he instead opted for one of the original leaders of Cuba's communist revolution, 78-year-old Politburo hardliner Machado Ventura as first vice-president.

What this means for the prospects for change remains unclear, the BBC's Michael Voss in Havana says.

Economic challenge

In an address to the nation, following the behind-closed-doors vote, Raul Castro said the Cuban government would continue to consult Fidel Castro, 81, on major decisions of state - a move backed by the National Assembly deputies.

Raul Castro paid tribute to his older brother as he accepted the presidency and said that he was accepting the job on the understanding that Fidel Castro would remain as the "commander in chief of the revolution", a title he was given during the 1959 uprising.

"The commander in chief of the Cuban revolution is unique, Fidel is Fidel, as we all know well, he is irreplaceable," Raul Castro said.

Our correspondent says Raul Castro now has to steer the Caribbean island through un-charted waters in an unpredictable period of economic and political renewal.

Before Sunday's session, Raul Castro had suggested implementing major economic reforms and "structural changes". He has worked to ensure a smooth political transition, keeping the army loyal to the regime and strengthening the Communist Party's hold by introducing reforms and weeding out corrupt officials.

He has also had the advantage of continued economic support from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in the form of millions of barrels of cheap oil, our correspondent adds.

Mr Chavez was quick to congratulate Raul Castro on his appointment, leading a standing ovation to the new Cuban president on his weekly television programme in Caracas.

"Let's applaud Raul, who is a comrade, a companion, more than the brother of Fidel," Mr Chavez said.

Mr Castro said that Venezuela would continue to support the communist state.

Letter announcement

Fidel Castro, who has ruled Cuba since leading a revolution in 1959, announced his retirement in a letter published on the website of the Cuban Communist Party's newspaper Granma last week.

He said he had not stepped down after undergoing emergency intestinal surgery in 2006 because he had had a duty to the Cuban people to prepare them for his absence.

But retirement, he added, would not stop him from carrying "on fighting like a soldier of ideas", and he promised to continue writing essays entitled Reflections of Comrade Fidel.

Though he has not been seen in public for 19 months, the government occasionally releases photographs and pre-edited video of him meeting visiting leaders from around the world.

Cuba signs human rights pledges

Cuba has signed two legally binding human rights agreements at the UN in New York, just days after Raul Castro was sworn in as the new president.

The covenants - part of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - commit Cuba to freedom of expression and association, and the right to travel.

Correspondents detect a possible signal of a shift in human rights policy.

Critics of the Castro government have called on it to make good on the agreements by freeing dissidents.

Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque, who signed the agreements, rejected suggestions of any link to the recent change in power, insisting they merely "formalised" rights enjoyed by Cuban citizens since the 1959 revolution.

Call for releases

Last December, Mr Roque announced his country's intention to sign up to the two agreements, saying Cuba would allow scrutiny by the recently established UN Human Rights Council in 2009.

One is a covenant on civil and political rights, and the other concerns social, economic and cultural rights.

Previously, Cuba had resisted scrutiny by the UN Human Rights Commission - the predecessor of the Human Rights Council - accusing it of pro-US bias.

It is believed that at least 200 political prisoners are currently being held in Cuba.

Carlos Lauria of the Committee to Protect Journalists in New York called on Cuba to follow up its signing of the covenants and "immediately and unconditionally release the 22 independent journalists currently imprisoned for their work".

"The failure to do so would render its adoption of this important treaty [the UN Bill of Human Rights] meaningless," he added.

Cuban trade unionist Pedro Alvarez and three other Cuban political prisoners were released on health grounds earlier this month, and flown to Spain.

The 60-year-old said that the Cuban authorities had given him the choice to remain in prison or go into exile.

Oil price hits a new record high

The price of a barrel of oil has hit a record high of $102.59 in New York because of strong demand and the further weakening of the dollar.

The price of a barrel of sweet crude finished the normal trading period up 3% and continued to rise towards almost $103 in after-hours trading.

The falling value of the US currency and the prospect of lower interest rates pushed up the oil price.

Crude prices are very close to the inflation-adjusted high set in 1980.

The International Energy Agency said the price of a barrel of oil peaked at $102.53 in April 1980, after taking account of inflation.

Gas concerns

The oil price was also driven higher by concerns about a fire at the Bacton gas terminal in Norfolk. Shell said the interconnector, which brings natural gas from Europe ashore in the UK, had not been affected.

"I understand that this fire at the UK natural gas terminal is creating a strong push in the European market, and that is translating here," US-based energy analyst Tim Evans from Citigroup Futures Research said.

The US dollar continued to weaken on Thursday, hitting an all time low against the euro of $1.52. Along with worsening US economic growth figures, this drove investors to put money into the oil markets.

They also continued to turn to metals, often regarded as safe havens, with gold, silver and palladium hitting historic levels.

"People just want to have hard assets," said Bruce Dunn, vice president of trading at Auramet Trading

"I think people are very concerned. The economic news coming out of the United States is just bad," he said.

Tibet rail firm in $3bn flotation

China Railway Construction has raised 22.25bn yuan ($3.1bn; $1.6bn) by selling shares on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

The state-owned firm, which built the first rail link to Tibet said the share sale was hugely oversubscribed.

That was despite recent stock market volatility and a 30% slump in Chinese shares since last October.

But China Railway Construction is attractive because it is closely tied to China's booming economic growth.

Safe haven?

Beijing has set aside $175bn in its current budget to invest in railways.

Analysts also said that shares were being sold at a discount to the firm's main rival China Railway Group.

In December it raised $5.5bn in a share sale and shares have jumped 62% in Hong Kong.

The flotation of China Railway Construction is likely to be the biggest share sale of the year, but could be trumped by credit card company Visa, which hopes to raise $18bn.

Ice Age fish thrives in new home

Britain's rarest freshwater fish, which dates back to the Ice Age, is staging a revival at a loch in southern Scotland.

The vendace has only ever been known at four sites - Bassenthwaite Lake and Derwent Water in the Lake District and the Castle and Mill Lochs in Lochmaben.

However, it is thought to have died out in all but one of those locations.

The fish was introduced to Loch Skene in Dumfries and Galloway in the 1990s, and it now has more vendace per hectare than its only remaining native UK site.

The scheme - on the National Trust for Scotland-run loch - was started due to concerns about habitat deterioration at Bassenthwaite.

No vendace have been recorded there since 2001.

The fish also died out at its two Scottish sites in Lochmaben many years ago.

Grey Mare's Tail property manager Dan Watson said the recovery at Loch Skene was a major success.

"It is good to know that this rare fish is doing so well here," he said.

"This fish has been badly hit by pollution and predation from inappropriate fish introductions in other lakes in the country and can only be found in a couple of locations these days.

"The trust is pleased to manage one of its last strongholds in Britain and to be working in partnership on this important conservation project."

'Complete loss'

A recent study into the fish numbers was carried out by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) on behalf of Scottish Natural Heritage.

It found almost 10 times as many vendace per hectare in the loch compared to Derwent Water in Cumbria - their only remaining native UK site.

"Although our overall aim is the conservation of rare fish species such as the vendace in their native habitats, the use of refuge sites such as Loch Skene is an invaluable approach to avoid the complete loss of a population and its genetic diversity," said Ian Winfield of CEH.

"My hope is that one day we will be able to use the vendace population of Loch Skene as a source for fish to be reintroduced to a restored Bassenthwaite Lake."

The vendace is a herring-like fish which can be traced back to the Ice Age.

Historically, vendace were recorded at four UK locations - Bassenthwaite, Derwent Water, Castle Loch and Mill Loch in Dumfries and Galloway.

The Castle Loch population disappeared at the beginning of the 20th Century and Mill Loch shortly before the end.

Earth's Final Sunset Predicted

"Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice," wrote the poet Robert Frost. Astronomers, it turns out, are in the former camp.

A new calculation predicts that Earth will be swallowed up by the sun in 7.6 billion years, capping off a longstanding debate over whether the sun's gravitational pull will have weakened enough for Earth to escape final destruction or not.

Other theorists have predicted that our planet will fry as the sun expands in its old age. But the time estimates have varied by a couple billion years.

"Although people have looked at these problems before, we would claim this is the best attempt that's been made to date, and probably the most reliable," said astronomer Robert Smith, emeritus reader at the U.K.'s University of Sussex, who made the new calculations with astronomer Klaus-Peter Schroeder of the University of Guanajuato in Mexico. "What we've done is to refine existing models and to put the best calculations we can at each point in the model."

If 7.6 billion years doesn't sound like an urgent death sentence, don't relax yet. Regardless of whether Earth will ultimately be vaporized, as the sun heats up, our planet will become too hot to live on before then.

"After a billion years or so you've got an Earth with no atmosphere, no water and a surface temperature of hundreds of degrees, way above the boiling point of water," Smith told SPACE.com. "The Earth will become dry basically. It will become completely impossible for life of any kind to exist. It's a pretty gloomy forecast."

Nonetheless, scientists are curious about the ultimate fate of our planet after we are gone (like all previous hominids and more than 99 percent of all species that have lived on Earth, humans will probably go extinct, and it will likely happen sooner than a billion years).

Smith's earlier studies found that Earth would narrowly escape being engorged. As the sun ages and expands into a red giant star, it will shed its outer gaseous layers, thus losing mass and weakening its gravitational pull. Previous calculations found that this let-up would allow the Earth's orbit to shift outward, enabling the planet to slip free of the smoldering sun.

But this scenario doesn't account for tidal forces, and the drag of the sun's outer layers. As the Earth orbits the sun, its smaller gravitational pull isn't completely negligible — it actually causes the side of the sun closest to our planet to hoard more mass and bulge out toward us.

"Just as the Earth is pulling on the sun's bulge, it's pulling on the Earth, and that causes the Earth to slow in its orbit," Smith said. "It will spiral back and finally end up inside the sun."

In addition, the gas that the sun expels will also drag Earth inward toward its demise.

Smith's previous calculations had ignored these effects.

"We didn't think it mattered, but it turns out it does," he said. "You might say our previous models had a gap."

There may even be hope for Earth. Some scientists have proposed a scheme for down the road to use the gravity of a passing asteroid to budge Earth out of the way of the sun toward cooler territory, assuming there is life around at the time that is intelligent enough to engineer this solution.

"It sounds like science fiction, but there's a group of people who have quite seriously suggested that it might be possible," Smith said. "If it's done right, that would just keep the Earth moving fast enough to keep it out of harm's way. Maybe life could go on for as much as 7 billion years."

Underwater Robot Helps NASA Explore Europa

The Environmentally Non-Disturbing Under-ice Robotic Antarctic Explorer (ENDURANCE) robot probe is scheduled for some tough tests in the next few weeks. The goal is to help NASA eventually explore the underwater environment of Europa, one of Jupiter's moons.

Researchers will start getting closer to Europa on the campus of the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Lake Mendota will provide a good test of the ability of the ENDURANCE probe to create three-dimensional maps of underwater environments.



ENDURANCE is is a $2.3 million project funded by NASA's Astrobiology Science and Technology for Exploring Planets Program. The probe is an underwater vehicle designed to swim untethered under ice. The probe also will collect data on conditions in those environments use sensors to characterize the biological environment.



If all goes well, tests will continue in a permanently frozen lake in Antarctica later this year. Researchers are developing and testing the technology for a possible underwater exploration mission on Europa far in the future. The probe is a follow-up to the Deep Phreatic Thermal Explorer, a NASA-funded project that completed a series of underwater field tests in Mexico in 2007.



Science fiction fans have several reasons to delight in this research. In the movie 2010, based on the story by Arthur C. Clarke, probes explore the frozen surface of Europa and find strong indications of life. In the film, there is a great sequence showing the exploration of Europa by remotely operated surface probe (see video).



In his 2002 story Slow Life, science fiction writer Michael Swanwick creates a fascinating picture of the exploration of liquid environments on Titan. He introduces the idea of robofish.

Awkwardly, she straddled the fish, lifted it by the two side-handles, and walked it into the dark slush.
She set the fish down. "Now I'm turning it on."
The Mitsubishi turbot wriggled, as if alive. With one fluid motion, it surged forward, plunged, and was gone.
Lizzie switched over to the fishcam.
Black liquid flashed past the turbot's infrared eyes. Straight away from the shore it swam, seeing nothing but flecks of paraffin, ice, and other suspended particulates as they loomed up before it and were swept away in the violence of its wake. A hundred meters out, it bounced a pulse of radar off the sea floor, then dove, seeking the depths...

2008-2009 Railway Budget

Initiatives taken for improvement in Freight Business

* Target for freight loading kept at 785 Million Tonnes (MT) in 2007-08
* Mission 200 MT - Railways’ target higher share in transportation of Cement and Steel - 200 MT each by 2011-12
* Mission 100 MT - container traffic target of 100 MT by 2011-12
* Planning for Triple-stack container trains on diesel route and double-stack container trains on electrified route
* Railways offer to run Merry-go-round systems of power plants
* Upgradation of Freight terminals handling more than 15 rakes per month.
* 22.9 tonnes and 25 tonnes axle-load freight trains to run on more routes
* Production of wagons of higher axle-load and payload to commence
* Wagon manufacturers to be encouraged to design wagons with higher payload and new technology
* Majority of air-brake trains to be examined in accordance with premium CC or premium end-to-end examination system
* Implementation of Unit Exchange Maintenance for rolling stock to improve productivity
* Zonal Railway to engage independent marketing agencies for exploring further possibilities in freight business

Initiatives in passenger business

* 800 more coaches to be attached in popular trains
* Plan to provide cushioned seats in unreserved second class coaches
* Increase in unreserved second class coaches from four to six in every new train – Efforts will be made to increase unreserved second class coaches in existing trains also.
* Facility for reservation of lower berths for senior citizens and women above 45 years traveling alone
* Increase in provision of special coaches (SLRD & SRD) for Physically challenged passengers
* Vendor coaches for sections frequented by milk and vegetable vendors and other retail sellers
* More convenient, comfortable and high capacity new design passenger coaches will be manufactured
* Concession of 50% in second class for candidates appearing for main written examination conducted by SSC and UPSC

Facilitating travel by passengers

· Countrywide Train Enquiry call centres – Common Tel. No. 139

· Pilot project for providing hand held terminals to TTEs in reserved coaches to update PRS with onboard vacancies for giving reservation to passengers at ensuing stations without delay

· Expansion of reserved ticketing facilities

o PRS counters to be opened at premises of Post-offices and Defence organizations to be operated by them

o e-ticketing services through State Government’s e-services, Petrol pumps, Bank’s ATMs etc.

· Expansion of Unreserved Ticketing facilities

o UTS counters to be increased to 8000 in the next 2 years

o 6000 Automatic Ticket Vending Machines to be installed and linked to UTS in metropolitan cities in the next 2 years

· Coupon system for ticket distribution to be extended to Kolkata and Chennai

· Pilot project on Central Railway for issuing suburban tickets through multi-purpose smart cards

Passenger Amenities at Stations

* 300 more stations to be developed as modern stations.
* Year 2007 declared ‘Cleanliness Year’ - Special campaign to ensure cleanliness in station complexes, passenger trains, railway lines, waiting rooms etc.

11th five-year plan – Railways’ new profile

* Target of 1,100 MT freight loading and 840 crore passengers in the terminal year of 11th Plan.
* Focus would be on doubling transport capacity and reducing unit cost of transportation by increasing volumes.
o Short-term strategy- investing in low cost high return projects for eliminating bottlenecks and ensuring intensive asset utilization
o Mid and long-term strategy – twin pronged approach of network expansion and modernization and technical upgradation
o Public-private partnerships projects will play an important role.

* Construction of Eastern and Western Dedicated Freight Ccorridors at a cost of Rs 30,000 cr will commence from 2007-08 for completion during the 11th plan.
* Pre-feasibility surveys for East-West, East-South, North-South and South-South Corridors
* Most of the metre-gauge lines will be converted into broad-gauge by the end of this five-year plan.
* High speed Passenger Corridors to be constructed to run trains at more than 300 km/hr speed.
* Expansion of suburban services through completion of MUTP Phase-1 and initiating MUTP Phase-2 through joint funding
* Efforts to provide air-conditioned suburban trains in Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai and escalators at important stations
* The production of rolling stock will be doubled compared with previous plan. Production of high-horse power and energy efficient locos to be increased.
* Manifold increase in investment in IT to increase earnings, ensure effective utilization of human and physical resources and facilitate long-term policy decisions
* Commercial portal to be developed over next 3 years for better yield management
* Integrated time bound implementation of all FOIS modules by 2010.
* ERP package for workshops, production units and select Zonal Railways

Railway Safety

* Number of rail accidents has decreased despite substantial increase in volume of traffic
* Majority of Special Railway Safety Fund works will be completed by March, 2007. Balance to be completed by March, 2008.
* Testing of Anti-Collision Device in last stages
* General Managers empowered to sanction subways costing up to Rs 50 lakhs on unmanned level crossings for reducing accidents.
* Production of improved crashworthy coaches will be increased.

Railway Security

* Number of trained dogs will be increased in the existing dog squads.
* Door frame and hand held metal detectors to detect explosives being installed in many sensitive divisions and CCTV, smart video cameras etc for sensitive stations
* 8,000 vacancies will be filled in the RPF on all India basis.
* Jagjivan Ram Railway Suraksha Bal Academy (Lucknow) has been recognised as Centralized Training Institute.

Staff Welfare

* Per-capita contribution to Staff Benefit Fund will be increased from Rs 30 to Rs 35 per year.
* Condition of Railway Staff colonies to be improved
* 50 room rest houses will be built near the Railway hospitals in the four metropolitan cities for stay of relatives of the patients.
* An extensive training programme will be launched to inculcate market and customer oriented approach in frontline staff.
* A committee has been constituted to improve promotion prospects of Group ‘D’ employees.
* Previous service tenure of ex-servicemen and central government employees recruited by Railways, will be added to their existing service tenure in the Railways while calculating eligibility for post retirement complimentary passes

Organisational and Human Resource Development

* Training of Railway employees and officers to be reoriented towards changing economic and competitive environment
* Institutions of GMs, DRMs, CAOs (Construction) to be strengthened and empowered for development as business units, profit centres and project units respectively.
* Railway Staff College, Vadodara will be renovated as heritage building
* A Railway chair will be established at IIM/Ahmedabad for research in railway infrastructure and management

Special Recruitment Drives

* 95% of the vacancies of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes have been filled through special drives and 75% of backlog in the promotional quota has been cleared.
* Action is being taken to fulfill the stipulated 27% quota of the OBC candidates.

Passenger Services

* 8 new Garib Raths to be introduced
* New Trains : 32 pairs
* Extension of Trains : 23 pairs
* Increase in Frequency : 14 pairs

Annual Plan 2007-08

* The Annual Plan of Rs 31,000 cr is the largest ever Annual Plan so far, which includes:

Ø Support of Rs 7,611 cr from General Revenues.

Ø Internal Generation of Rs 17,323 cr.

Ø Extra Budgetary Resources of Rs 5,740 cr.

* The thrust of the annual plan is to maintain the high growth in traffic, by focusing on early completion of works for throughput enhancement on high traffic density routes, improvement of traffic facilities and enhancing sectional capacity.

v High Density Network to be made suitable for running of Heavy Axle load trains

v Enhanced line capacity planned for on busy routes by implementing IBS, Automatic Signaling etc.

v Increase in speed of trains through fly-overs, bypass, yard redesign etc. at busy junction stations, will be built and will be modified

v 200 Diesel, 200 Electric engines and 11,000 wagons to be produced

* Outlay on project related Plan heads : New Lines Rs 1,610 cr, Gauge conversion Rs 2,404 cr, Electrification Rs 300 cr, Metropolitan Transport Projects Rs 722 cr.
* Outlay on Safety related Plan heads : Track renewal Rs 3,360 cr, Bridges Rs 597 cr, Signal & Telecommunication works Rs 1,597 cr, Road over/under bridges Rs 551 cr and manning of unmanned level crossings Rs 500 cr.
* Important Targets : New Lines 500 kms, Gauge Conversion 1800 kms, Doubling 700 kms.
* Rs 2,725 cr required for four National Projects

Other Important Announcements

* New Electric Loco works to be set up at Madhepura.
* Wagon Bogie Complex to be set up at Dalmia Nagar.
* Shortfall of rolling stock bogies to be met by setting up of Joint venture company with Kerala Government at Alleppey.

Railways emerging International image

* Railways to impart training to railway personnel of African countries
* Chairman Railway Board elected as first chairman of Asian Railway Association and also as first non European President of International Railway Union (UIC )


Proposals relating to freight rates and passenger fares

Freight Business

* No across the board increase in freight rates
* Highest class 220 reduced to 210
* Freight rates of diesel and petrol to come down by about 5 per cent
* Minerals and Ores (iron-ore, lime-stone and dolomite) - reduction in classification from class 170 to 160
* Wagon load class rates for commodities up to class LR1: reduced from class150 to class120

Schemes Announced/ Modified

· Commodity based freight policy-exclusive package for cement traffic

· Dynamic Wharfage and Demurrage rates - reduction in wharfage rates and relaxation in loading/unloading free time at select terminals.

· Discounts up to 40% on incremental loading of bagged consignments in open wagons in empty flow direction.

· Discount of 20 per cent during lean season and 15 per cent during peak season under Two Leg Freight Discount Scheme for covered wagons in up and down directions.

· Distance between unloading points in Two Points Rake Scheme to be increased from 200 to 400 kms during lean season.

· Facility for loading less than block rakes under Empty Flow Direction Scheme.

· Empty Flow Discount extended to all commodities except coal, coke and iron ore.

· Empty Flow Direction Freight Discount will be given at 30 per cent throughout the year for traffic lead of more than 700 kms.

Passenger Business

· Reduction in passenger fares.

· Fares of second class in non-suburban ordinary passenger and non-superfast mail/express trains reduced by one rupee per passenger

· AC First Class : 3% reduction in busy season , 6% in lean season

· AC-2Tier Class : 2% reduction in busy season, 4% in lean season

· Reduction in fares for all classes of high capacity new design reserved coaches :

· AC3-Tier & AC CC: 4% reduction in busy season and 8% in lean season

· Sleeper Class: 4% reduction in all seasons

· Above discounts for busy season shall be applicable in popular trains throughout the year.

· Superfast charge on Second Class tickets reduced by 20 per cent (from Rs. 10 to Rs. 8).

· Tourist ticket to be introduced in Mumbai Suburban Services with facility for unlimited travel.

· Charges for e-tickets booked on the internet reduced.

Oscars tribute to torture victim

Tributes have been paid at the Oscars award ceremony in Hollywood to a young Afghan taxi driver who died in US military detention.

The American director, Alex Gibney, who won Best Documentary for Taxi to the Dark Side, dedicated his film to the 22-year-old driver, Dilawar.

His death at a prison in Afghanistan in 2002 provided the basis for the film.

A leaked US military report later found that his mistreatment continued after interrogators decided he was innocent.

The film examines the interrogation techniques used by American forces.

Toxic satellite mission 'success'

The Pentagon says it can confirm that the operation to destroy a disabled spy satellite with a missile fired from Earth was a success.

Officials said they were also confident that a hazardous fuel tank on board the craft - USA 193 - was destroyed.

The missile was fired from a warship in waters west of Hawaii last week.

Operatives had only a 10-second window to hit the satellite which went out of control shortly after it was launched in December 2006.

Officials were worried its hydrazine fuel could pose a deadly threat to humans if the craft was left to crash into the Earth.

Graphic of how the satellite was hit

"By all accounts this was a successful mission," said Gen James E Cartwright, vice-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.


BROKEN SATELLITE
Owner: National Reconnaissance Office
Mission: Classified
Launched: 14 Dec 2006
Weight: 2,300 kg (5,000lbs)
1,134kg (2,500lbs) could survive re-entry
Carrying hydrazine thruster fuel

"From the debris analysis, we have a high degree of confidence the satellite's fuel tank was destroyed and the hydrazine has been dissipated."

The Pentagon statement said a modified tactical Standard Missile-3 (SM-3), was fired from the USS Lake Erie.

Tracking debris

US space specialists continue to track less than 3,000 pieces of debris from the destroyed satellite, all smaller than a football.

The statement said most of the debris had already re-entered the Earth's atmosphere or would do so in the coming days and weeks.

Officials said there had been no reports of debris landing on Earth and it was unlikely any would remain intact to hit the ground.

The controversial operation was criticised by China and Russia. Russia suspects the operation was a cover to test anti-satellite technology under the US missile defence programme.

The US denied the operation was a response to an anti-satellite test carried out by China last year, which prompted fears of a space arms race.

Meteor Showers

2008 Meteor Showers


Meteor Shower Best Date Constellation to
look towards ZHR Originates From

Quadrantids January 4 Bootes 120 not known
Lyrids April 22 Lyra 20 Comet Thatcher
Pi-Puppids April 23 Puppis variable not known
Eta-Aquarid May 5 Aquarius 60 Halley's Comet
June Bootids June 27 Bootes variable not known
South.Delta-Aquarids July 28 Aquarius 20 not known
Perseids August 12 Perseus 90 Comet Swift-Tuttle
Aurigids September 1 Auriga variable not known
Draconids October 8 Draco variable not known
Orionids October 21 Orion 20 Halley's Comet
S. Taurid November 5 Taurus 10 not known
N. Taurid November 12 Taurus 15 not known
Leonids November 17 Leo 15 Comet Temple-Tuttle
Alpha-Monocerotids November 21 Monoceros variable not known
Dec Phoenicids December 6 Phoenix variable not known
Puppid/Velids December 6 Puppis 10 not known
Geminids December 13 Gemini 120 Asteroid 3200 Phaethon
Ursid December 22 Ursa Minor 10 not known

Space War: Satellite 'Kill' Would Prove U.S. Capability

The looming U.S. Navy attempt to shoot down a dying satellite could demonstrate an anti-satellite capability for its missile defense system.

A successful kill would mark the first time the United States uses a tactical missile to destroy a spacecraft — assuming that the ship-based missile defense system can handle the high closing speed of more than 22,000 mph.

"Everything becomes much more stressful at these large closing speeds," said Geoffrey Forden, MIT physicist and space expert. "But if they do hit it, that'd be very impressive, and that'd be proof that it has ASAT [anti-satellite] capability."

How it would work

The Navy looks to rely on its Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System based on U.S. cruisers and destroyers, which was developed to protect U.S. forces and allies against short- and medium-range ballistic missiles. The interceptors rely on kinetic energy from their combined mass and speed to smash into their targets.

Three naval ships stand ready in the North Pacific Ocean to each take a shot with a modified Standard Missile-3 (SM-3). If the first attempt misses, the other two ships can take turns as backups.

The modified SM-3 interceptors will supposedly be able to identify the falling U.S. spy satellite based on changes in their targeting software. However, Forden expressed caution as to whether the Aegis system can score a successful satellite kill at such high closing speeds — previous tests involved much slower-moving targets.

"I'll be very surprised if it works," Forden said, pegging the chances at "less than 50-50."

The United States has managed to take out satellites with other weapon systems in the past. An F-15 Eagle fired a missile-launched kill vehicle that struck and destroyed a target satellite in 1985. SPACE.com's Leonard David also noted a 1986 "Star Wars" test by the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization involving the first space-to-space intercept of a target.

Not alone

The United States is not alone in its anti-satellite tests. China used a missile to shoot down an old weather satellite a year ago, leaving a cloud of debris that will present a low-risk threat to other satellites and space missions for up to 20 years.

A U.S. intercept of its falling spy satellite would happen low enough to avoid debris endangering the International Space Station, and would only occur after space shuttle Atlantis has safely landed.

Success for the United States would boost the perceived capabilities of the Aegis system, but could also heighten international concern over U.S. missile defense systems being used to target satellites.

"All along, other countries have said missile defense has offensive capabilities, and in fact is better suited for such," noted Joan Johnson-Freese, Naval War College security expert, in an e-mail to SPACE.com. "While the U.S. has ignored/downplayed those concerns, this test will basically prove that those concerns were valid."

Senior U.S. officials apparently tried to allay such concerns at the Feb. 14 press briefing by emphasizing that the missile modifications would be difficult to make on a fleet-wide basis.

Concerns remain

Yet Johnson-Freese also observed that the U.S. Navy's three potential attempts "equates to lots of target practice — without international condemnation," because the U.S. has declared the falling satellite a threat to public safety. That still has not prevented China and Russia from expressing their concerns.

Forden pointed out that the U.S. interception attempt could also help legitimize the earlier Chinese anti-satellite test which was heavily criticized by the U.S. and other countries. Setting a precedent now could open the door for future anti-satellite tests by other countries, added Johnson-Freese.

A slight chance also exists that China might be tempted to test its proven anti-satellite capability again, should the U.S. attempts fail to destroy the falling satellite.

"China has said it would take preventive measures, and that's the only thing that makes sense," Forden said.

Ulysses Solar Probe Freezing to Death

The Ulysses solar probe, after 17 years of studying the sun and solar system, is about to die by freezing to death, NASA and the European Space Agency said Friday.

The satellite had long outlasted the five-year mission it began in 1990, but it continued to transmit useful data on solar winds.More recently, its plutonium power source had slowly weakened and its fuel was freezing as the probe made a wide circle of the sun, traveling as far as Jupiter.

In January, engineers tried a longshot maneuver to heat up the fuel. Instead, their effort backfired and hastened Ulysses' death by several months.

The $250 million probe was a joint European-NASA project. After being released from orbit by astronauts on the space shuttle Discovery in October 1990, Ulysses made nearly three full wide circles of the sun from above and below its poles. It also circled over Jupiter's poles, logging about 6 billion miles overall.

When the satellite recently started to fail, the probe had just finished examining the sun's north pole for a third time.

"This mission has rewritten textbooks,'' said Arik Posner, NASA's Ulysses program scientist.

What made Ulysses unique and crucial to scientists was its orbit and perspective. It provided astronomers with a three-dimensional look at the sun and the rest of the solar system. Most of the planets line up along the same geometric plane generally around the middle of the sun and that's where most of the space probes orbit, too.

But Ulysses made long wide circles of the sun's poles, essentially gazing down at the sun and solar system from above and below instead of around the middle.

That three-dimensional data from Ulysses—not devised to take pictures—was important for scientists trying to figure out the solar wind. These winds blast away from the sun at 1 million miles per hour in all directions, said David McComas, a Ulysses scientist with the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio.

The solar wind is crucial because it protects Earth from deadly cosmic radiation, causes geomagnetic storms on Earth, and is responsible for the aurora borealis.

"We understand it now, we didn't understand it before,'' McComas said.

As the fuel began to freeze in recent months, engineers shut off its radio transmitter to divert what little power was left to its heaters. The effort failed and the radio transmitter could not be turned back on.

"It was rather uncertain it would work; it's so harsh and cold out there,'' Posner said. "It was our only option.''

Had it worked, engineers figured they would have gotten an extra two years of life from Ulysses. The final transmitter will probably quit in the next few weeks, according to the European Space Agency.

Mysterious Haze Found on Venus

Bright hazes that mysteriously appear and then disappear on Venus in a matter of days have revealed a new dynamic feature of the planet's cloudy atmosphere that is unlike anything on Earth.

The European Space Agency's Venus Monitoring Camera (VMC) captured a series of images showing the development of a bright haze over the southern latitudes of the planet in July 2007. Over a period of days, the high-altitude veil continually brightened and dimmed, moving towards equatorial latitudes and then back towards the south pole.

These transient dark and bright markings indicate regions on the cloud-covered world where solar ultraviolet radiation is being absorbed and reflected by sulfuric acid particles, mission scientists said this week.

Gaseous sulfur dioxide and small amounts of water vapor are usually found below altitudes of about 43 miles (70 kilometers) in Venus' carbon-dioxide rich atmosphere. These molecules are usually shrouded from view by cloud layers above that block our view to the surface at visible wavelengths.

ESA scientists think the sulfuric acid particles that make up the bright haze are created when some atmospheric process lifts the gaseous sulfur dioxide and water vapor high up above the cloud tops where they are exposed to ultraviolet radiation from the sun.

The UV radiation breaks up the molecules, making them highly reactive. The fragments of the molecules eagerly seek each other out and combine to form the sulfuric acid particles.

"The process is a bit similar to what happens with urban smog over cities," said mission team member Dmitri Titov of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Germany.

Exactly what causes the sulfur dioxide and water vapor to well up is not known, but Titov says it is likely some internal process of Venus' atmosphere.

The transient dark markings on the VMC images are even more of a mystery. They are caused by something that absorbs UV radiation, but scientists don't yet know what the chemical is.

Satellite Debris Deemed Unhazardous

Debris from an obliterated U.S. spy satellite is being tracked over the Pacific and Atlantic oceans but appears to be too small to cause damage on Earth, a senior military officer said Thursday, just hours after a Navy missile scored a direct hit on the failing spacecraft.

Marine Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and an expert on military space technologies, told a Pentagon news conference that officials have a "high degree of confidence" that the missile launched from a Navy cruiser Wednesday night hit exactly where intended.

It was an unprecedented mission for the Navy, so extraordinary that the final go-ahead to launch the missile Wednesday was reserved for Defense Secretary Robert Gates rather than a military commander.

Cartwright estimated there was an 80 percent to 90 percent chance that the missile struck the most important target on the satellite — its fuel tank, containing 1,000 pounds of hydrazine, which Pentagon officials say could have posed a health hazard to humans if it had landed in a populated area.

Cartwright showed a brief video of the SM-3 missile launching from the USS Lake Erie at 10:26 p.m. EST, northwest of Hawaii, and of the missile's small "kill vehicle" — a non-explosive device at the tip — maneuvering into the path of the satellite and colliding spectacularly.

He said the satellite and the kill vehicle collided at a combined speed of 22,000 mph about 130 miles above Earth's surface.

Asked about the satisfaction felt among those in the military who had organized the shootdown on short notice by modifying missile software and other components, Cartwright smiled widely.

"Yes, this was uncharted territory. The technical degree of difficulty was significant here," Cartwright said. "You can imagine that at the point of intercept there were a few cheers that went up."

He cautioned, however, that more technical analysis was required to determine for certain what debris was created and where it might go. The satellite was described as the size of a school bus and weighed about 5,000 pounds.

Unlike most spacecraft that fall out of orbit and re-enter the atmosphere, this satellite had an almost full fuel tank because it lost power and became uncontrollable shortly after it reached its initial orbit in December 2006. Cartwright said the hydrazine alone was justification for undertaking the unprecedented effort to use a Navy missile interceptor to attempt to destroy the satellite in orbit.

Cartwright said experts were still watching the debris fields and he could not yet rule out that hazardous material would fall to Earth. But he indicated that this appeared unlikely to pose a problem.

"Thus far we've seen nothing larger than a football," he said, referring to debris spotted by radars and other sensors.

The military concluded that the missile had successfully shattered the satellite because trackers detected a fireball, which seemed to indicate the exploding hydrazine in the tank. Cartwright said it was unlikely that the fireball could have been caused by anything other than the hydrazine. Also, a vapor cloud was detected, further suggesting the destruction of the fuel, Cartwright said.

Debris from the satellite has started re-entry and will continue through Thursday and into Friday, Cartwright said.

The size of the debris is smaller than the Pentagon had forecast and most of the satellite's intelligence value was likely destroyed, Cartwright said. Analysts had said one of the reasons for the shootdown was that officials worried that without it, larger chunks of the satellite could fall and be recovered, opening the possibility of secret technology falling into the hands of the Chinese or others.

Gates arrived in Hawaii less than two hours before the missile was launched. His press secretary, Geoff Morrell, said Gates had a conference call during his flight with Cartwright and Air Force Gen. Kevin Chilton, head of Strategic Command. They told him that "the conditions were ripe for an attempt, and that is when the secretary gave the go-ahead to take the shot, and wished them good luck," Morrell said.

At 10:35 p.m. EST, Gates spoke to both generals again and "was informed that the mission was a success, that the missile had intercepted the decaying satellite, and the secretary was obviously very pleased to learn that," said Morrell.

The elaborate intercept may trigger worries from some international leaders, who could see it as a thinly disguised attempt to test an anti-satellite weapon — one that could take out other nations' orbiting communications and spy spacecraft.

Within hours of the reported success, China said it was on the alert for possible harmful fallout from the shootdown and urged Washington to promptly release data on the action.

"China is continuously following closely the possible harm caused by the U.S. action to outer space security and relevant countries," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said at news conference in Beijing. "China requests the U.S. to fulfill its international obligations in real earnest and provide to the international community necessary information and relevant data in a timely and prompt way so that relevant countries can take precautions."

U.S. to Share Satellite Strike Data with China

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday the United States is prepared to share with China some of the information it has about the U.S. shootdown of a spy satellite.

His comments came hours after Beijing complained the missile strike Wednesday could cause harm to security in outer space and some countries.

"We provided a lot of information ... before it took place," Gates told reporters during a visit to Hawaii. But, the secretary also said that he is determined to be open about the U.S. operation and "we are prepared to share whatever appropriately we can."'

Debris from the obliterated satellite was being tracked over the Pacific and Atlantic oceans but appeared to be too small to cause damage on Earth, Marine Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had said earlier Thursday.

He told a Pentagon news conference that officials have a "high degree of confidence" that the missile launched from a Navy cruiser hit exactly where intended — destroying the toxic fuel tank that officials said could kill if it fell to a populated area on Earth.

It was an unprecedented mission for the Navy, so extraordinary that the final go-ahead to launch the missile Wednesday was reserved for Gates rather than a military commander.

The elaborate intercept plan had worried some international leaders, who suggested it was a thinly disguised attempt to test an anti-satellite weapon — one that could take out other nations' orbiting communications and spy spacecraft.

Within hours of the reported hit, China said it was on the alert for possible harmful fallout from the shootdown and urged Washington to promptly release data on the action.

"China is continuously following closely the possible harm caused by the U.S. action to outer space security and relevant countries," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said at news conference in Beijing. "China requests the U.S. to fulfill its international obligations in real earnest and provide to the international community necessary information and relevant data in a timely and prompt way so that relevant countries can take precautions."

Cartwright estimated there was an 80 percent to 90 percent chance that the missile struck the most important target on the satellite — its fuel tank, containing 1,000 pounds of hydrazine, which Pentagon officials say could have posed a health hazard to humans if it had landed in a populated area.

Alluding to a video clip of the missile smashing into the satellite, which he showed at the news conference, Cartwright said, "We have a fireball, and given that there's no fuel (on the tip of the missile), that would indicate that that's a hydrazine fire."

The video showed the three-stage SM-3 missile launching from the USS Lake Erie at 10:26 p.m. EST, northwest of Hawaii, and of the missile's small ''kill vehicle'' — a non-explosive device at the tip — maneuvering into the path of the satellite and colliding spectacularly.

He said the satellite and the kill vehicle collided at a combined speed of 22,000 mph about 130 miles above Earth's surface, and that the collision was confirmed at a space operations center at 10:50 p.m. EST.

Asked about the satisfaction felt among those in the military who had organized the shootdown on short notice by modifying missile software and other components, Cartwright smiled widely.

"Yes, this was uncharted territory. The technical degree of difficulty was significant here," Cartwright said. "You can imagine that at the point of intercept there were a few cheers that went up."

He cautioned, however, that more technical analysis was required to determine for certain what debris was created and where it might go. The satellite was described as the size of a school bus and weighed about 5,000 pounds.

Unlike most spacecraft that fall out of orbit and re-enter the atmosphere, this satellite had an almost full fuel tank because it lost power and became uncontrollable shortly after it reached its initial orbit in December 2006. Cartwright said the hydrazine alone was justification for undertaking the unprecedented effort to use a Navy missile interceptor to attempt to destroy the satellite in orbit.

Cartwright said experts were still watching the debris fields and he could not yet rule out that hazardous material would fall to Earth. But he said that as of Thursday morning, debris had only been seen in the atmosphere — and none had been detected surviving re-entry. He indicated that debris appeared unlikely to pose a problem.

"Thus far we've seen nothing larger than a football," he said, referring to debris in the atmosphere spotted by radar and other sensors.

The military concluded that the missile had successfully shattered the satellite because trackers detected a fireball. Cartwright said it was unlikely that the fireball could have been caused by anything other than the hydrazine in the tank.

And Cartwright cited two other sources of information that indicate the fuel tank was hit: the appearance of a vapor cloud and the results of spectral analysis, or the study of light emissions, from devices aboard two aircraft that operate from the Pacific test range associated with the Pentagon's missile defense testing.

Debris from the satellite has started re-entry and will continue through Thursday and into Friday, Cartwright said.

The size of the debris is smaller than the Pentagon had forecast and most of the satellite's intelligence value was likely destroyed, Cartwright said. Analysts had said one of the reasons for the shootdown was that officials worried that without it, larger chunks of the satellite could fall and be recovered, opening the possibility of secret technology falling into the hands of the Chinese or others.

Gates arrived in Hawaii less than two hours before the missile was launched. His press secretary, Geoff Morrell, said Gates had a conference call during his flight with Cartwright and Air Force Gen. Kevin Chilton, head of Strategic Command. They told him that "the conditions were ripe for an attempt, and that is when the secretary gave the go-ahead to take the shot, and wished them good luck," Morrell said.

At 10:35 p.m. EST, Gates spoke to both generals again and "was informed that the mission was a success, that the missile had intercepted the decaying satellite, and the secretary was obviously very pleased to learn that," said Morrell.

Solar System Like Ours Found

The discovery of a Jupiter-like planet and another about the size of Saturn has astronomers suggesting that solar systems like our own may be common.

The newfound worlds both appear to be gaseous and are about 80 percent the sizes of Jupiter and Saturn, the astronomers said today. They orbit a star that is about half the size of our sun and is dimmer and much cooler.

"This is the first discovery of a multi-planet system that could be analogous to our solar system," said research team member Alison Crocker, a Dartmouth College graduate now studying at Oxford University.

Several similarities

The newfound solar system, about 5,000 light-years away, is more compact than our own. The larger planet's orbit is 2.3 times as far from its host star as the Earth is from the sun. Jupiter is 5.2 times farther from the sun than Earth.

But there are several interesting similarities:

* The ratio between the masses of the two worlds is about 3:1, similar to the Jupiter/Saturn ratio.

* The smaller planet is about twice as far from its star as the larger one, just as Saturn is roughly twice as far away from the sun as Jupiter.

* The two worlds orbit their star in 5 and 14 years, similar to the 2:5 orbit ratio of Jupiter and Saturn.

The planets were found using a technique called gravitational lensing, in which light from the faraway planets is bent and magnified by the gravity of a foreground object, in this case a another star. The technique has been used to find three other Jupiter-mass planets, each around different stars, in the past.

"This is the first time we had a high-enough magnification event where we had significant sensitivity to a second planet — and we found one," said Scott Gaudi, assistant professor of astronomy at Ohio State University. "You could call it luck, but I think it might just mean that these systems are common throughout our galaxy."

The discoveries, by an international team using 11 telescopes around the world, are detailed in the Feb. 15 issue of the journal Science. The initial observations were made by The Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE).

Formation theories

Even though their star emits only about 5 percent as much light as the sun, the two planets, namded OGLE-2006-BLG-109Lb and OGLE-2006-BLG-109Lc, are thought to be about the same temperatures as Jupiter and Saturn because of their tighter orbits.

"The temperatures are important because these dictate the amount of material that is available for planet formation," Gaudi said. "Most theorists think that the biggest planet in our solar system formed at Jupiter's location because that is the closest to the sun that ice can form. Saturn is the next biggest because it is in the next location further away, where there is less primordial material available to form planets."

Theorists have wondered if gas giants in other solar systems form in the same way as ours did.

"This system seems to answer in the affirmative," Gaudi said.

The leading theory is that a rocky protoplanet forms first, then if it gains enough mass, it attracts a shell of gas. Astronomers don't agree, however, whether that explains all the giant planets in our solar system. Another idea is that the giants collapse from a knot of material, much in the way a star forms.

Other worlds?

It's also plausible that there could be rocky planets around the star in orbits similar to Venus, Earth or Mars. And icy worlds like Neptune might exist in the system's outer reaches, the researchers said.

There are now about 250 known planets beyond our solar system and some 25 multiple-planet system. Among those are setups with rocky worlds just a few times the mass of Earth.

"While most planetary systems around other stars substantially differ from [our] solar system, a series of recent detections have brought us closer and closer to home," said Martin Dominik, a University of St. Andrews researcher involved in the discoveries. "Sooner rather than later, someone can be expected to discover an Earth-mass planet orbiting a star other than the sun."

One Hour Warning: Solar Storms Get More Predictable

If humans live on the moon some day, they might turn on the weather forecast just as they do on Earth. But in space, they won't fear rain storms, but sun storms.

During a solar radiation storm, the sun emits huge sprays of charged particles that can disable satellites and would harm humans in space if they're not properly protected. Although these storms are notoriously difficult to predict, a new method of forecasting storms can give up to an hour's warning.

The technique relies on measurements taken by the NASA/ESA SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) spacecraft in orbit around the sun. SOHO, launched in 1995, has been near death more than once, but clever engineers, working with the equivalent of electronic duct tape and more than a dash of luck, have kept it running well beyond its expected lifetime. And now the probe is making fresh contributions to solar weather forecasting.

The new technique relies on SOHO's Comprehensive Suprathermal and Energetic Particle Analyzer (COSTEP), which monitors the radiation coming from the sun.

Scientists analyzed the data COSTEP recorded from sun storms during the first six years of the spacecraft's launch, and compiled a matrix that can predict a full-blown storm is coming after the less-dangerous first wave arrives. Because there is about an hour's lag time between the early arrival of electrons, and the eventual onslaught of more-damaging protons, this new forecast system gives people and spacecraft enough time to take cover.

The method was described in the journal Space Weather, and went online just in time for the recent launch of the STS-122 shuttle mission.

Radiation risk

On Earth, people are protected from the brunt of solar radiation by our planet's atmosphere and magnetic field. Even astronauts orbiting the Earth on the International Space Station are shielded from much of it since Earth's magnetic field extends far enough to cover them. The astronauts do retreat to a radiation-shielded part of the station during severe storms, however.

But when people venture beyond our planet's protective bubble, they will really be at risk of severe health effects from solar storm radiation. It was a concern even during brief lunar missions in the Apollo era.

"We know what happens when humans are exposed to a lot of radiation — Hiroshima and Nagasaki have given us an example," said Arik Posner, a senior research scientist at Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas, who developed the new forecast technique. "Humans are constantly hit by some sort of radiation, even on Earth, at very low levels. But what happens when you increase the radiation level slightly? We don't know. But the best thing to do is limit exposure."

DNA damage

The most damaging solar-storm radiation particles are fast-moving protons. These energetic particles can destroy human tissue and break strands of DNA.

The radiation is also dangerous for spacecraft. When a speeding particle hits electronics, it can cause bits to change from zeroes to ones or vice versa, prompting program malfunctions. If power is knocked out, a satellite can fail completely.

Scientists don't fully understand the physics behind solar storms. They know they are closely related to the cycles of the sun's magnetic field, and that they emerge from relatively cool, intensely magnetic regions of the solar surface called sunspots. The magnetic field is always changing — about every 11 years its magnetic north pole becomes the south pole, and vice versa. As the polarity cycles and regional instabilities develop, the sun's magnetic field lines get twisted and tangled, resulting in big knots of extremely strong magnetism.

Although the exact mechanism isn't known, somehow these magnetic field events are tied to eruptions of matter and energy.

"We don't have a really good idea of exactly how these processes happen," Posner said. "It's a very active area of research."

Huge explosions on the sun accelerate charged particles to near light-speed. The lighter particles, electrons, can speed up more easily, so they reach SOHO's radiation detector first. This allows the spacecraft to give humans about an hour's advance notice before the heavier protons and ions arrive and wreak havoc.

"The detector can only say that there is already an event in progress," Posner told SPACE.com. "It cannot predict one before it starts. But it does give you a tool to forecast these events."

After Posner and his collaborators designed the matrix to predict a coming storm, they tested it on the sun storm record from 2003, a year that did not comprise the initial data set on which the matrix was based. When it measured an increase in high-speed electrons, the program was able to successfully predict that a solar storm was coming. It forecasted all four major storms of 2003 with advance warnings ranging from 7 to 74 minutes.

Enduring craft

SOHO is a joint project between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA). Three times it has seemed to be a doomed mission. During the most recent scare, in 2003, a stuck motor drive would not permit the craft's primary antenna to move. The antenna is used for transmitting pictures and data back to Earth, and it must be pointed toward the planet. Scientists feared lengthy blackout periods.

Engineers employed some tricks, including flipping the craft upside down during portions of its orbit, to get the data flowing again.

In 1998, changes in the spacecraft's software inadvertently sent it into a flat spin. The electricity-providing solar panels turned edge-on to the Sun, and SOHO lost power. It could not orient itself or maintain its temperature — critical in the frigid environment of space.

The mission appeared doomed.

After nearly three months, with much perseverance by the ground team, contact was re-established and the craft's orientation was fixed. Sunlight hit the panels, and SOHO was back.

Later in 1998, another problem nearly ended the mission again. The craft's last navigational gyro failed.

"In a race against time and a depleting maneuvering-fuel supply," explained SOHO Project Scientist Bernhard Fleck of ESA, engineers had to develop a software patch to get the craft back in operation without the gyro. New software was developed in early 1999 to allow a spacecraft to maintain attitude without gyros. Engineers sent it up, "making SOHO the first 3-axis stabilized spacecraft to be operated without any gyros," Fleck said.