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It is not unusual these days to receive emails sent from friends or family, containing cute or curious pictures they think might make you smile, and yesterday was no exception.

Normally I take a quick look before hitting the delete button, but I have to say that one set of pictures from yesterday’s Inbox I thought were particularly clever and I take my hat off to the talented photographer and scientific journalist, Laurent Laveder.

Laveder specialises in pictures of starry skyscapes and has created a series of images called Moon Games which incorporate the Moon with people cleverly posed in the foreground to create great illusions.

Take a quick peek at a few of his creations below – they are very clever! 

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ESA A300 Zero-G airliner
A European Space Agency (ESA) press release last week signals a call for new proposals from you scientists out there to submit proposals for experiments to be conducted during the 54th Parabolic Flight campaign, to take place in Spring 2011.

ESA has been providing such research opportunities for over 25 years now, with the A300 Zero-G wide-body airliner having been used for the last ten. The A300 is one of the most modern and largest aircraft to be used for parabolic flights, but the difference with this campaign is that flights will no longer be restricted to simulation of microgravity only.

Recent new certification now means that on offer will also be flights including parabolas that produce reduced gravity levels of 0.16 g for approximately 23 seconds, and 0.38 g for around 30 seconds. These gravity levels equate to the conditions found on the Moon and Mars respectively.

But you’ll have to hurry – proposals need to be submitted by 31st August 2010, although those received after that date are likely to be considered for future campaigns. 

Needless to say, my application is already submitted!

Want to read more details? Then click the link below to take you to the ESA website:

http://www.esa.int/esaHS/SEMCQH5OJCG_index_0.html
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According to leading national newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun this week, the Japanese government is planning on investing  $2.2 billion over the next 10 years on lunar research.

Phase 1 of the plan will see a mobile robot being sent to the moon by 2015, which will send video images of the surface as well as conducting seismographic research on the Moon's composition. The following 5 years will see a research centre (producing its own electricity) being established on the Moon's south pole to study the surface within a 100km radius, with some of the samples being sent back to Earth for further evaluation.

Despite the USA's abandonment of any future lunar based activities, Japan intends to go full speed ahead as it tries to secure its position on the Moon before China and India complete their programs.
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