U.S., Canada sign agreement on civil space co-op

WASHINGTON, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) -- NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and Canadian Space Agency President Steve MacLean signed a framework agreement Wednesday for cooperative activities in the exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes, NASA said.

The framework agreement is an important step in an evolving process toward a coordinated and comprehensive approach to exploration and use of outer space. It sets forth general terms and conditions that will be applied to future cooperative projects and facilitates expanded cooperation between the U.S. and Canada on a range of activities related to human spaceflight, exploration, space science and Earth science.

"NASA is very proud of its long and outstanding relationship with Canada, one that has been nurtured during the past four decades with increasing collaboration in a wide range of space science and exploration activities," NASA's Bolden said.

"As NASA continues to enhance the scientific observation of our planet and the solar system, we are looking to Canada and our other international partners to play key roles in our future exploration plans."

Commenting on the significance of the signing at Canadian Embassy in Washington D.C., MacLean said, "The United States has been a critical partner for Canada ever since the launch of the Alouette-1 satellite in 1962. From these early beginnings, we have worked together to forge a space alliance that has become a catalyst, driving generations of space expertise, innovation, science, and technological excellence through our participation in space projects that continue to serve the interests of both our nations."

Walruses congregate on Alaska shore as ice melts

In this undated photo provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, walrus swim to shore on a beach in Alaska. Thousands of walrus are congregating on Alaska's northwest coast because of receding sea ice in the Arctic. (Photo/AP)

In this undated photo provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, walrus congregate on a beach in Alaska. (Photo/AP)

ANCHORAGE, Alaska 鈥?Thousands of walruses are congregating on Alaska's northwest coast, a sign that their Arctic sea ice environment has been altered by climate change.

Chad Jay, a U.S. Geological Survey walrus researcher, said Wednesday that about 3,500 walruses were near Icy Cape on the Chukchi Sea, some 140 miles southwest of Barrow.

Animals the agency tagged with satellite transmitters also were detected on shore at Cape Lisburne about 150 miles farther down the coast.

Walruses for years came ashore intermittently during their fall southward migration but not so early and not in such numbers.

"This is actually all new," Jay said. "They did this in 2007, and it's a result of the sea ice retreating off the continental shelf."

Federal managers and researchers say walruses hauling out on shore could lead to deadly stampedes and too much pressure on prey within swimming range. Projections of continued sea ice loss means the phenomenon likely is not going away.

"It's more of the same," Jay said. "What we've been seeing over the past few years with reduced sea ice conditions, we might be seeing this more and more often, and it's probably not good for the walruses," he said.

Unlike many seals, walruses cannot swim indefinitely and must rest periodically between feeding forays. They rely on sea ice as a platform for foraging for clams in the shallow waters of the outer continental shelf. They can dive up to 630 feet for clams and other sea floor creatures but mostly feed in waters of less than 330 feet, Jay said. Beyond the continental shelf, water can reach depths of 10,000 feet or more.

An estimated 6,000 or more walruses congregated on Alaska's shore in the fall of 2007, taking scientists by surprise.

Herds were in the tens of thousands at some locations on the Russian side of the Chukchi Sea, with an estimated 40,000 animals at Point Shmidt. Russian biologists reported 3,000 to 4,000 walruses out of population of perhaps 200,000 died, mostly young animals crushed in stampedes.

Alaska herds did not experience that sort of mortality but scientists acknowledge a concern when the marine mammals are concentrated on a rocky shore rather than hundreds of miles of sea ice edge.

"They may have a much higher predation pressure on those nearshore areas when they're using those land haulouts than when they're using sea ice," Jay said.

The Center for Biological Diversity has petitioned to list the Pacific walrus as an endangered or threatened because of habitat loss due to warming. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Tuesday agreed to begin a detailed status review. A 60-day public comment period will precede an agency listing decision by October 2010. A final decision would be made by the Interior secretary by October 2011.

The agency is working with the Federal Aviation Administration to warn away pilots, who can cause stampedes, said walrus researcher Joel Garlich-Miller. So can polar bears or human hunters. There is no legal mechanism to keep hunters away, he said, but people have been letting the animals rest.

USGS researchers plan to head to the Chukchi coast next week to place satellite tags on up to 30 animals so their foraging habits can be studied, Jay said.

The 2007 herds prompted researchers to gear up for studies of the animals' new habits last year. However, remnant ice floating apart from the main pack ice kept walruses off shore, Jay said. Their reappearance put the research plans into motion.

"We're trying to get more information on how the walruses are responding to the loss of sea ice over the continental shelf, where do they go when they do come to shore like this, how far offshore are they foraging," he said.

On land, walruses have to swim out and return rather than diving vertically. That could lead to nutritional stress.

"We suspect that it's going to cost them more energy to do that than if they were able to stay on the sea ice," he said.

Jay has not heard reports of walrus congregating on Russian shores. One animal tagged on the U.S. side has hauled out there and herds likely are gathering, he said.

(Agencies)

Newly fixed Hubble's deep space photos again amaze

This undated handout image provided by NASA, released Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2009, taken by the refurbished Hubble Space Telescope, shows a clash among members of a famous galaxy quintet revealing an assortment of stars across a wide color range, from young, blue stars to aging, red stars.(Photo/AP)

This undated handout image provided by NASA, released Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2009, taken by the refurbished Hubble Space Telescope, shows stars bursting to life in the chaotic Carina Nebula.(Photo/AP)

This undated handout image provided by NASA, released Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2009, taken by the refurbished Hubble Space Telescope, shows a celestial object that looks like a delicate butterfly.(Photo/AP)

This undated handout image provided by NASA, released Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2009, taken by the refurbished Hubble Space Telescope, shows Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 6217.(Photo/AP)

WASHINGTON 鈥?A refurbished Hubble Space Telescope is showing Earth the sharpest photos yet of cosmic beauty, complete with heavenly glows. NASA on Wednesday unveiled the first deep space photos taken by Hubble since its billion dollar repair mission last spring. That work included installing two new cameras, other science instruments and replacing broken parts.

"Hubble is back in action. Together, NASA and Hubble are opening new vistas on the universe," astronomer and frequent Hubble user Heidi Hammel said.

The 10 images of galaxies and nebulas 鈥?clouds of stellar gas and dust 鈥?are sharper than previous photos taken of the same places by Hubble before its fifth and final upgrade. Some have brilliant glows of light that give them halos that to some people can appear heavenly. And one of those resembles an eerie cosmic butterfly, but is really a stellar nursery or nebula not too far away

The butterfly photo shows details, such as gassy folds in what looks like butterfly wings, that the Hubble previously could not see, said Hubble senior scientist Dave Leckrone.

The glow in that photo and others is hot gas and dust pushed out from the stars, Leckrone said. In a way, it's like a lightbulb, with the star as the filament but the overall glow from the gas, he said.

The images, especially the butterfly, don't just show science, but can evoke a sense of spirituality, Leckrone said.

"What I see is the grandeur of creation, however it got there," Leckrone told The Associated Press.

The most stunning photos involve the cosmos at its most violent: the birth and death of stars.

One shows the stellar nursery Carina Nebula, about 7,500 light years away. A light year is nearly 6 trillion miles. The photo shows an eerie backlit reddish cloud being bombarded by radiation. When Hubble's new camera uses a different light spectrum, the cloud disappears and the infant stars appear. They are only about 100,000 years old with white jets shooting out.

Those jets are cosmic debris "being blasted out at very high velocity at what's going to be a planetary system," said University of Virginia astronomer Bob O'Connell.

Another image shows a compact cluster of thousands of stars 鈥?a field of white glimmering with dots of blazing hot blue stars and cooler red ones.

All but one of the Hubble photos are from inside the Milky Way galaxy. The exception caught five spiral galaxies in a single image.

Soon Hubble will turn its new cameras to the furthest edges of the universe and take photos from soon after the Big Bang.

"Our view of the universe and our place within it will never be the same," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, who as an astronaut piloted the space shuttle that put Hubble in orbit 19 years ago.

Since the repairs, Leckrone said there has not been a single technical problem with Hubble, which was plagued by blurry images when it was first launched. The first photos from the repaired Hubble came earlier this summer, when the telescope took pictures of Jupiter when an asteroid or comet hit it. They were unscheduled quick black-and-white looks; the photos released Wednesday were planned, longer observations.

The astronauts who helped repair Hubble basked in the celebration of the new photos.

"The hair was standing up on the back of my neck to see the potential of this telescope," said John Grunsfeld.

Mike Massimino said his reaction on seeing the photos was: "Thank God, we didn't break it."

(Agencies)

Space shuttle and crew aim for Thursday landing

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. 鈥?Shuttle Discovery's astronauts aimed for a Thursday evening landing to wrap up their successful space station delivery mission, but late summer storms threatened to keep them up an extra day or two.

Mission Control said Wednesday that "the weather will pose a challenge" for bringing Discovery home. The forecast called for a chance of thunderstorms. Conditions were expected to worsen Friday and remain poor Saturday.

"The weather in Florida this time of year is always a little iffy," Discovery's commander, Rick Sturckow, said from orbit. "If things aren't good, the worst that can come out of it is that we have another day in space, which is a great deal."

In orbit since Aug. 29, Discovery has enough supplies to last until Sunday. If the shuttle cannot return to Florida on Thursday, NASA will consider landing it in California, but not until Friday at the earliest.

Astronaut Timothy Kopra is headed home after nearly two months at the international space station. He said the flight wasn't too long by any stretch. He should have spent an extra month at the outpost, but his ride up ended up being delayed because of shuttle problems.

Buzz Lightyear, by comparison, spent 15 months aboard the space station.

The 12-inch action figure rocketed into "infinity and beyond" aboard Discovery in May 2008. Once Walt Disney World gets the toy back, it will be feted at a tickertape parade early next month with Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon.

Kopra assured a TV interviewer that Buzz is doing well after so long in space.

"He's very secure. He's in his spacesuit, and I'm quite confident that he'll have a very safe ride home. But we obviously cannot disclose his location upon the space shuttle," Kopra joked. He kept a serious face, but his crewmates chuckled.

Sturckow and his crew spent Wednesday checking their flight systems to make sure everything was in order for re-entry. While that was happening, a small object resembling a strip of cloth floated away from the left side of the shuttle, back along the payload bay.

Mission Control assured the astronauts that while no one could identify the piece, it was not part of the shuttle's thermal shielding and posed no safety concern for re-entry.

Columbia was destroyed during re-entry in 2003 because of a gashed wing. It wasn't until later that a space surveillance review discovered an object floating away from Columbia on flight day two; experts believe it was part of a wing panel.

NASA cleared Discovery for re-entry after reviewing all the laser images sent down by the astronauts Tuesday from a survey of the vulnerable wings and nose. No micrometeorite damage was found.

Thanks to restocking by Discovery, the space station now has enough food to last until February, as well as a spare air-cleanser and new treadmill. The exercise machine is named Colbert in honor of the TV comedian. More supplies will arrive on a Japanese vessel that's due to lift off Thursday, just before Discovery's scheduled 7:05 p.m. touchdown.

(Agencies)

Newly found stem cell causes prostate cancer

PARIS 鈥?Scientists in the United States, working with mice, have found a new type of stem cell in the prostate gland and shown that mutations in it can cause cancer, a study released Wednesday says.

The discovery boosts evidence that cancers can be caused by modifications in stem cells, the dynamic precursor cells that develop into and replenish the body's specific tissues, it says.

It also appears to resolve a mystery about the origin of prostate cancer, and could open new pathways for treatment of the deadly disease.

"This is a new stem cell in the prostate, and our research shows that it can serve as a cell of origin for prostate cancer," said Cory Abate-Shen, a professor at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and New York and a co-author of the study.

Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer among men, claiming half a million lives each year worldwide, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The new stem cell, known by the acronym of CARN, is found inside a type of tissue called the epithelium, which is also present in other parts of the body.

More specifically, they are located in a region called the luminal layer, where cancers of the prostate are known to occur.

But until now, the only stem cell found in the epithelium were in the so-called basal layer.

Hence the conundrum: if stem cells were implicated in the growth of cancerous tumours, as growing evidence suggests, how the cancer moved from one layer to the next remained unexplained.

To see if mutant versions of the newly-found cell can cause tumours, scientists deleted a cancer suppressor gene called Pten in laboratory mice.

"Pten is a very critical gene for cancer. It is a major tumour suppressor and is especially important for prostate cancer" in humans, Abate-Shen told AFP.

Male mice with the mutant version of the luminal stem cells all developed tumours, but "control" mice whose Pten gene had not been suppressed were all healthy.

The study, led by Abate-Shen's husband, Michael Shen, of Columbia Medical Center, is published in the British-based journal Nature.

The findings should help scientists better understand the link between stem and cancer cells, the authors said.

"Alterations in most cells in a tissue may not be a problem for carcinogenesis," or the rise of cancer, said Abate-Shen.

"But if those alterations occur in stem cells, then they give rise to tumours because those are the cells that proliferate and give rise to the rest of the cells."

The researchers cautioned against drawing hasty conclusions for humans on the basis of mouse models. It is unclear whether CARNs exist in the human prostate and if, so, whether they unleash cancer.

The next step is to compare normal and cancerous cases in mice, and then relate those findings to human cancer, said Abate-Shen.

The main function of the prostate gland is the secretion of a slightly alkaline fluid that helps semen neutralise the acidity of the vaginal tract, prolonging the lifespan of sperm as they seek an egg to fertilise.

(Agencies)

Canadian billionaire takes exam at Star City space centre

Canadian billionaire Guy Laliberte prepares for the exam, as part of the final stage of his training course, at the Star City space centre outside Moscow, September 9, 2009. The Canadian billionaire, who owns Cirque du Soleil, is set to become the world's seventh, and Canada's first space tourist slated to travel on a Russian Soyuz space craft to the International Space Station at the end of September. (AFP Photo)

Canadian billionaire Guy Laliberte poses for a picture before taking the exam, as part of the final stage of his training course, at the Star City space centre outside Moscow, September 9, 2009. Laliberte, who owns Cirque du Soleil, is on the countdown to become the world's seventh, and Canada's first space tourist slated to travel on a Russian Soyuz space craft to the International Space Station at the end of September. (Reuters Photo)

Canadian billionaire Guy Laliberte prepares for the exam, as part of the final stage of his training course, at the Star City space centre outside Moscow, September 9, 2009. The Canadian billionaire, who owns Cirque du Soleil, is set to become the world's seventh, and Canada's first space tourist slated to travel on a Russian Soyuz space craft to the International Space Station at the end of September.(Reuters Photo)

U.S. astronaut Jeffrey Williams (R), Canadian billionaire Guy Laliberte (L) and Russian cosmonaut Maxim Surayev pose for a picture in front of a landing capsule before taking an exam, as part of the final stage of their training course, at the Star City space centre outside Moscow, September 9, 2009.(Reuters Photo)

Canadian billionaire Guy Laliberte prepares for the exam, as part of the final stage of his training course, at the Star City space centre outside Moscow, September 9, 2009.

Russia announces space mission crew

MOSCOW, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) -- A special Russian commission announced on Thursday the final list of the crew members for the 21st mission to the International Space Station (ISS).

All crew members had passed their final tests before flight with extraordinary scores on Wednesday, Russian media reported.

Russian cosmonaut Maxim Surayev and U.S. astronaut Jeff Williams will be the main crew for the mission, while Canadian billionaire Guy Laliberte, founder and CEO of the world-renowned acrobatic group Cirque du Soleil, will join them as the world's seventh space tourist.

It is reported that Laliberte has spent around 50 million U.S. dollars for the trip, 15 million dollars more than his predecessor.

The mission is scheduled to leave for the ISS in the Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft on Sept. 30.

Surayev and Williams will work at the station for six months, while Laliberte will spend 12 days and nights there before returning to earth together with the 19th mission aboard the SoyuzTMA-14.

Currently the ISS crew consists of two Russians, two Americans, one Belgian and one Canadian.