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In a sign of China’s growing technological prowess, the Chinese space agency will soon launch its third manned mission into space. The Shenzhou 7 mission, to launch as early as Thursday, will be the first to carry a full complement of three astronauts, one of whom will perform China’s first space walk, or EVA for “extra-vehicular activity” [AP]. In 2003, China became the third nation to successfully launch astronauts into orbit, joining the United States and Russia.

The Shenzhou VII crew capsule will be boosted aloft by the Long March 2F rocket, which has 66 consecutive successful launches. During the spacewalk, a companion satellite will fly nearby to relay real-time images of the astronaut’s daring feat to the eager crowds back home. If all goes as planned, experts say the mission will be not just a technological achievement, but also a triumph of propaganda. “China wants to get the flight in full 3-D glory to maximize the publicity,” says Eric Hagt, China programme director at the World Security Institute in Washington DC. “This is going to be the Hollywood mission” [Nature News].

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In an experiment that tested technology that could one day be used to transmit solar energy from satellites to Earth, researchers beamed solar energy from one Hawaiian island to another, across a distance of 92 miles. The $1 million experiment was sponsored by the Discovery Channel, which aired an episode about the technology on its Project Earth show on Friday.

The experiment was intended as a proof of concept for an ambitious proposal that calls for huge arrays of solar panels to orbit the Earth, collecting pristine solar radiation, free from the day/night cycles, weather and atmospheric effects that limit solar radiation down on the ground. The energy collected will be “beamed” down to power stations on the surface, either by microwave (or an alternative system, by laser) — and then distributed as normal power across the grid [Discovery Channel]. Backers of this space-based solar technology say the potential benefits are enormous; the non-profit National Space Society says that the sun puts out billions of times more energy than our planet’s population uses.

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Google has backed a venture to use satellites to bring high-speed Internet to three billion people in Africa and other developing markets around the equator. Today Google announced a partnership with cable operator Liberty Global and bank HSBC. Their partnership is called O3b Networks—O3b stands for “other 3 billion,” a reference to the world’s population that still can’t access the Internet [The New York Times].

The group announced an order for 16 satellites as the first stage in the $750 million project, which will provide cheap, fast Internet access to companies that sell internet service via mobile phones or wireless networks. The move is being greeted as a clever technological solution, a boon for the developing world, and a smart business move. “Google has an interest in boosting the Internet all over the world to reach new masses,” said [business analyst] Wim Zwanenburg…. “The growth market for Internet and mobile phones is in emerging countries” [Bloomberg].

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A new plastic skin that could protect satellites from both searing and freezing temperatures in space could allow for a new generation of miniature spacecraft, researchers announced yesterday. Satellite designers had hit a wall in the quest to create tiny “micro-spacecraft” that weigh no more than 50 pounds because the temperature controls used on conventional satellites can’t be scaled down.

Lead researcher Prasanna Chandrasekhar says the development could allow small companies to send up individual satellites that better suit their needs rather than sharing space on one large one. As might be expected, the technology also has some other potential uses: “For the military, undetectability is also important, either for surveillance applications or when it comes to zapping other satellites,” Chandrasekhar added. “And when it comes to a [nano-spacecraft] less than 5 kilograms (10 pounds), you can’t really detect it unless it’s within a quarter of a mile of you. Larger spacecraft can be detected from farther, and consequently blasted out of the sky” [SPACE.com]. Chandrasekhar’s company, Ashwin-Ushas Corporation, is developing the technology in partnership with NASA.

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