Low Earth Orbit provides an environment in which scientific investigations can be performed under unique conditions:
Gravitational forces are reduced by orders of magnitude.
Residual atmospheric effects are negligible.
The global overview facilitates Earth observation.
Experiments from a large variety of disciplines like Material Science, Life Sciences, Biology, Astronomy, Atmospheric Physics, Earth Observation, Solar Physics, Plasma Physics, etc, benefit from these features.
Platforms presently used for scientific investigations in space are the US Space Shuttle in combination with the European built Spacelab and the Russian Space Station MIR. Although these have many common features, the two systems are different. In contrast to the Shuttle, MIR is able to sustain human life in the life threatening environment of space for long times.
By now, the space station MIR has been in orbit for more than ten years. To a large extent it is constructed as a closed habitat. As a forerunner of the International Space Station Alpha, MIR provides an ideal test bed for systems, payloads and procedures. A mission to MIR provides a unique opportunity to acquire experiences in long duration flight (scientific, social, emotional).
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This lecture has been organised by the Royal Aeronautical Society's Space Group and will be held in the Society's Lecture Theatre commencing at 18.00 hours. Refreshments will be available in the Members' Lounge beforehand. Contact: The Conference Office, Royal Aeronautical Society, 4 Hamilton Place, London W1V 0BQ. Tel: (0171) 499 3515 Fax: (0171) 493 1438.
Ulf Merbold joined the Max-Planck-Institute for Metals Research in Stuttgart after graduating from Stuttgart University. His main fields were solid state and low temperature physics, in particular experimental investigations of lattice defects in body-centred cubic metals.
In 1977 Ulf Merbold was pre-selected by the European Space Agency (ESA) as a Payload Specialist astronaut for the first flight of the European-built laboratory Spacelab on board the Space Shuttle Spacelab 1. In September 1982, he was selected for flight by the ESA Director General, following recommendation of the scientists involved in the mission.
With the mission STS-9 in 1983, Ulf Merbold was the first non-American to fly on the Space Shuttle. The primary object of this flight was the verification of Spacelab in orbit and the execution of 72 highly sophisticated scientific experiments.
In 1984 he was involved in the Shuttle/Spacelab German D-1 mission as backup Payload Specialist and Crew Interface Co-ordinator. He was transferred to the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, in order to support ESA in the planning of Columbus, the European contribution to the International Space Station.
In 1987 he was appointed as the Head of the German Aerospace Research Establishment Astronaut Office. He lead the German astronauts and supported the preparation of the D2 mission until he was nominated in December 1988 as the ESA Payload Specialist candidate for the International Microgravity Laboratory mission (IML-1) on board the Shuttle. In April 1989 he participated in the IML-1 (STS-42) training programme and was later selected for flight for this mission. He was primarily responsible for the 55 scientific experiments on the flight.
During the second German D2 mission in 1993, he performed the function of Science Co-ordinator at the Mission Control Center in Germany.
In August 1993, after preparatory courses at EAC, Ulf Merbold started training at TsPK (Cosmonauts Training Centre) in Star City near Moscow. He was selected for flight (prime crew) for ESA's EUROMIR 94 mission. As the first ESA Astronaut to fly on the Russian orbital station MIR, Merbold performed this 32 day mission from 3 October to 4 November 1994, making this flight the longest stay of a Western-European astronaut in Space. As Research Cosmonaut on board MIR, he was responsible for the execution of 28 European experiments.
He was nominated acting Head of the Astronauts Division at EAC in January 1995.
Ulf Merbold holds a commercial pilots licence (CPL2) with Instrument Rating, as well as an Acrobatic licence, and has logged more than 2500 hours as a Pilot in Command.
Special Honours: First Class Order of the Federal Republic of Germany, Order of Merit of the States of Baden-WŸrttemberg and Nordrhein-Westfalen, Haley Space Flight Award of the AIAA, USSR Pilot-Cosmonaut V.M. Komarov diploma of the International Aeronautical Federation, and the distinction for scientific achievement in Air and Space Medicine from the Deutsche Gesellschaft fŸr Luft- und Raumfahrtmedizin. Also received the Flight Achievement Award of the American Astronautical Society in 1983. In 1995 he received the order of Friendship from President Yeltsin of the Russian Federation.
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Biographical Details
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This event will be co-chaired by Helen Sharman FRAeS, Mir astronaut