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News briefs: June 20
Posted: Fri, Jun 21, 2002, 8:11 AM ET (1211 GMT)
- Model and actress Cindy Crawford said Thursday she may be interested in visiting the International Space Station. Crawford, in Moscow this week, was told of comments made by ISS Expedition Five commander Valery Korzun, who said he would prefer having Crawford visit the station than pop star Lance Bass. "If they invite me, maybe, I don't know," she was quoted as saying. "I would go if I could be there and back in a week."
- Officials from the US and Europe are meeting this week to work out possible conflicts between the American GPS and the proposed European Galileo satellite navigation systems, Space News reported Thursday. The US is concerned that Galileo could interfere with GPS signals, while Europeans think the US is simply trying to block a competitor. The talks are taking place as the European Union diplomats meet to work out an internal conflict over leadership of Galileo.
- Oxygen radicals in the upper atmosphere are degrading the outer surfaces of some spacecraft, scientists have found. Laboratory studies published in a chemistry journal show that radicals, single atoms of oxygen, have enough energy to break the carbon bonds in Teflon, a common coating material for spacecraft such as the ISS. Scientists suggest using other polymers that rely less on carbon bonds to coat spacecraft exteriors.
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