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Once on the Moon, the lander would unleash a small rover to investigate the surface

Europe is pressing ahead with plans to send a sophisticated, unmanned spacecraft to the surface of the Moon.

EADS Astrium has been awarded a 6.5m-euro contract by the European Space Agency (Esa) to do further detailed design work on the mission.

The 700-800kg robot would be aimed at the lunar south pole, using automated systems to guide itself into a gentle, precision landing.

Once down, it would release a small rover to trundle across the surface.

“The lander will have a set of scientific instruments onboard but the science will be geared towards human exploration,” said Simonetta Di Pippo, the director of human spaceflight at Esa.

“We will be looking for minerals and, hopefully, water in the soil, to see if we can prepare for a sustainable presence on the surface of the Moon,” she told BBC News.

Recent spacecraft observations have indicated that some polar craters on the Moon probably hide vast reserves of ice deep in their shadows.

The new study is being led by the German division of EADS Astrium.

Michael Menking from the company observed: “This is an important technology project. For sure, it’s dedicated to the Moon but if you can make a soft, precision landing on the lunar surface you can also do it on other planetary bodies as well.”

The feasibility work conducted in industry, known as a Phase B1 study, will elaborate the lander’s key specifications, and initiate some component development and testing.

These investigations will inform the fully costed mission proposal (likely to come out at several hundred million euros), which will go before Europe’s space ministers for final approval in 2012.

If the politicians like the concept and decide to fund it, the robot could leave Earth on a Soyuz rocket before the decade’s end.

The mission would build upon the experience gained from Europe’s highly successful Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), which resupplies the International Space Station (ISS).

Once in orbit, this 20-tonne freighter is capable of finding its own way to the platform using advanced navigation and sensor technologies.

In a similar vein, the Moon lander would have to take itself to a specific location, scan the area for slopes and boulders, and then pick out a safe place to put down.

“You need to have hazard-avoidance,” said Bruno Gardini, who heads the Esa department in which the lunar lander project is embedded.

“During the descent, you have to keep targeting two or three different landing sites, and so you have to keep the algorithm available which is a very heavy load on the onboard processor. You need to be ready to switch from one site to another to select the one that has lowest risk.”

The spacecraft would be targeted at the lunar south pole because it has locations that enjoy extended sunlight. This is necessary because Europe does not possess the radioisotope space technology capable of generating the power and heat needed by robots to survive long periods of darkness.

One possible landing site already under discussion is a ridge close to Shackleton Crater where the Sun stays above the horizon for months on end. Solar panel and battery technology should be sufficient to sustain the robot at such a location.

Europe’s ATV has demonstrated a high degree of automation at the space station

“Depending on the illumination pattern, we would hope to have a mission lasting several months, up to half a year,” explained Richard Fisackerly from Esa’s project team.

“The patterns we’re looking at actually don’t consider continuous illumination, but we should be able to tolerate very short periods of darkness which may be brought about by obstacles on the horizon.”

As well as looking for any local resources that could be used by future human explorers, the lander’s instruments would also assess the lunar environment to understand the risks it could pose to astronauts, said Esa project team-member James Carpenter.

“These have been identified as radiation and its effects on human physiology; and the lunar dust environment – both in terms of the physics of the behaviour of the lunar dust and the way it will interact with the systems that are on the surface, but also in terms of the potential health effects of lunar dust when it comes into contact with humans,” he told BBC News.

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A police officer who was jailed for assault after being caught on CCTV throwing a woman into a cell is back on full pay, pending an appeal.

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Nick Clegg faces a rough ride from some Lib Dems over planned cuts

Nick Clegg has launched a staunch defence of benefit cuts ahead of the Liberal Dem conference.

In an article for The Times, the deputy PM says welfare should be an “engine of mobility… rather than a giant cheque written by the State to compensate the poor for their predicament”.

Mr Clegg has been under fire from backbench Lib Dems over claims planned cuts target the vulnerable.

But he said the system needed “root and branch reform”.

He said cuts to the welfare budget were “unavoidable” in the current financial climate but, at the same time, “we will be simplifying the current Byzantine benefits system and providing real incentives for people to move off benefits and into work”.

And he vowed that the coalition government would bring “sanity” and “simplicity” to a system everyone knew was “broken”.

A special BBC News season examining the approaching cuts to public sector spending

The Spending Review: Making It Clear

Mr Clegg is expected to face a rough ride over the planned cuts at his party conference which gets underway in Liverpool at the weekend, with some backbenchers claiming he has broken his promise to ensure they are “fair”.

Lib Dem MP Bob Russell last week forced Mr Osborne to face a Commons grilling after the chancellor revealed his plans for extra cuts, on top of the £11bn already announced in June’s emergency budget, in a BBC interview.

But in his Times article, Mr Clegg makes clear he believes benefit reforms are essential and “profoundly liberal in intent and effect”.

“Welfare needs to become an engine of mobility, changing people’s lives for the better, rather than a giant cheque written by the State to compensate the poor for their predicament.

“Instead of turning the system from a ‘safety net’ into a ‘trampoline’, as Labour promised, people have been stuck on benefits, year in, year out.”

Chancellor George Osborne is expected to unveil “several billion” in extra savings from the welfare budget in his October spending review.

But – in what Labour claimed was a public row about the issue – Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith told MPs on Wednesday that he “simply doesn’t recognise” the figure of £4bn that Mr Osborne indicated to the BBC would be cut, insisting that he was still in negotiations with the Treasury.

Mr Clegg’s interview comes as a report by a new think tank promoting better governance said the deputy PM, who does not have his own department, lacks clout and does not have enough senior civil servants on his staff.

It says the coalition is “working well” at the moment but to prevent it falling apart before its full term more Lib Dem junior ministers and special advisers should be appointed in Downing Street and in government departments.

And it says Mr Clegg’s private office should be “beefed-up” with a top civil servant to run it and “a separate website and visual identity” to make clear to the public what he does.

The report, by the Institute for Government, also says Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander is trying to do too much by combining the “mammoth” task of tackling the deficit with his continued role as Lib Dem policy supremo and is clearly “stretched”.

It also warns that because Lib Dem ministers do not control any of the big spending departments they risk being sidelined in key policy-making processes.

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A previous review found gaps in NHS child protection procedures

A huge cultural shift is needed in the NHS to ensure children get the right care, a government-commissioned review says.

The report, by Professor Sir Ian Kennedy, who used to lead the NHS regulator, said services were mediocre.

He called for specialist training for GPs and extra investment in services.

Particular attention also needed to be paid to transferring children into adult services between the ages of 16 and 18, Sir Ian said.

The review was commissioned following the case of Baby P.

The toddler – subsequently named as Peter – had been seen by health services on 35 occasions by the time he died in 2007, aged 17 months and after suffering more than 50 separate injuries.

This included appointments with GPs, health visitors and paediatricians as well as being seen at walk-in centres.

The catalogue of abuse he suffered emerged during a court hearing in 2008 that led to the conviction of his mother, her boyfriend and their lodger for causing his death.

This review was ordered last autumn by the then Health Secretary Andy Burnham.

It is not the first time NHS procedures have been reviewed. Last year the Care Quality Commission carried out a review of child protection procedures following the Baby P case.

It concluded the NHS risked missing another abuse scandal because of gaps in child protection, the health regulator said.

After surveying all 392 trusts in England, the CQC warned a lack of training, poor monitoring and high workloads were commonplace.

That review came after the regulator had already looked at the role of the NHS organisations that came into contact with Baby P, saying they missed valuable opportunities to save his life.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

French civil engineering company Vinci and nuclear energy group Areva have said seven of their employees have been kidnapped in northern Niger.

The group, which reportedly includes five French citizens, was seized near the town of Arlit in the Sahara desert.

Areva operates a uranium mine in the area. A subsidiary of Vinci, Sogea-Satom, is a subcontractor there.

A spokesman for the French foreign ministry said it was doing everything it could to confirm the reports.

“We have received a report on the possible kidnapping of a group of people, some of them French, in Niger,” Bernard Valero told the AFP news agency.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, an offshoot of the Islamist militant group, is active in the region and has kidnapped French and other European nationals in the past.

In July, the group said it had executed a 78-year-old French citizen it was holding hostage in Mali after a cross-border raid by the French and Mauritanian armed forces failed to free him.

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Love letters written by the late playwright Oscar Wilde are to be auctioned off later this month.

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Pc David Rathband said after the shooting that he hoped to return to work

The police officer blinded by Raoul Moat has described the level of mobility payment he has been awarded as “unfair”.

Pc David Rathband was shot in the face and chest by the gunman on 4 July.

He revealed on Twitter that it was “somehow not fair” that he had been awarded the lowest band, £18.95 a week.

The Northumbria Police officer is understood to be getting a higher band for the care component of his Disability Living Allowance.

Disability Living Allowance is a tax-free benefit for disabled children and adults who need someone to help look after them, or who have walking difficulties.

It has two components, care and mobility, and is available whether or not the recipient is working.

Pc Rathband wrote on Twitter: “Now ready for battle with the DHSS.

“Been awarded lowest band for mobility. Somehow not fair.”

A spokesman for the department for Work and Pensions said: “We are indebted to Pc Rathband for his bravery and we want to ensure he receives all the benefits he is entitled to.

“For those who require frequent care and supervision, the highest rate of the care component of disability living allowance is awarded to meet their care needs.”

After the shooting, Pc Rathband said that he “bore no malice” towards Moat, who later shot himself in Rothbury, Northumberland, following a week-long manhunt.

He also said he that he was determined to return to duty as a police officer.

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The sister of a loyalist murdered by the UVF accuses the government of “turning a blind eye” on his killers.

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High food prices have helped fuel inflation

India’s central bank has raised interest rates by more than expected as it continues to battle high inflation.

The Reserve Bank of India increased its repo rate – the rate at which it lends to banks – to 6% from 5.75%.

It raised the reverse repo rate – the rate at which it borrows from banks – to 5% from 4.5%. Economists had expected a rise to 4.75%.

It is the fifth rate hike this year as India has faced double-digit inflation, although it fell to 8.5% in August.

The fall – from 9.8% the previous month – was partly due to changes in the way it is calculated to include a wider range of consumer goods.

Under the old system, August’s inflation rate would have been 9.5%.

“Inflation remains the dominant concern,” the central bank said.

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Industry figures discuss the future of British film

Four parties have been asked by the government to consider taking on the responsibilities of the recently axed UK Film Council, the BBC understands.

The BBC was one body asked to consider taking a lead role in distributing lottery money to film projects.

Channel 4, the British Film Institute and the Film London agency are also believed to have been approached.

Culture minister Ed Vaizey met with key industry figures this week to discuss future public funding of UK film.

Mr Vaizey said the meeting was one of many that would take place before a final decision on future government support is later this autumn.

“I want a robust and co-ordinated strategy to promote the UK as the best place to invest in film-making and to provide real support and advice to film-makers and investors alike,” he said.

“I want to make sure that public funds generate value for a wider audience and are focused where they can really make a difference.”

According to the BBC’s arts editor Will Gompertz, the industry itself believes the Arts Council should have a role in film funding.

“Industry insiders say the simplest mechanism would be for the Arts Council to act as the go-between as they’re already a lottery distributor.”

Founded in 2000, the UK Film Council had an annual budget of £15m to invest in British films.

Earlier this week its chief executive John Woodward announced he will be leaving the organisation in November.

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Mr Netanyahu greeted Mrs Clinton and Mr Abbas against a backdrop that included a Palestinian flag

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is due to meet Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, amid renewed Middle East peace talks in the region.

At the end of two days of negotiations, Mr Abbas again said he would walk out of the talks if a partial Israeli ban on settlement building was not renewed.

Despite the ultimatum, US officials insisted that progress was being made.

Meanwhile, Israeli warplanes conducted two separate raids in Gaza, following Palestinian rocket and mortar attacks.

There has been an upturn in violence since the peace talks, which resumed two weeks ago after a 20-month gap.

Israeli and Palestinian leaders made “progress” on the issue of Jewish West Bank settlements during Wednesday’s talks in Jerusalem, US envoy George Mitchell said, without elaborating.

Israel has so far refused to renew the restrictions, which are due to expire on 26 September.

But Mr Mitchell said the two leaders had tackled the issues at the heart of their decades-old conflict – Israel’s security, the borders of a future Palestinian state, the fate of Palestinian refugees and the status of Jerusalem.

“The two leaders are not leaving the tough issues to the end of their discussions,” Mr Mitchell said. “We take this as a strong indicator of their belief that peace is possible.”

Nearly half a million Jews live in more than 100 settlements built since Israel’s 1967 occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

They are held to be illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this.

Mr Mitchell said Mrs Clinton would travel to Jordan later on Thursday for talks with Jordan’s King Abdullah II, while he meets Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus in an effort to revive Syrian-Israeli peace talks.

As the leaders held talks in Jerusalem, Palestinian militants fired a rocket at the southern port city of Ashkelon, along with several rounds of mortar fire along the Gaza-Israel border, the Israeli military said.

In response, the Israeli air force bombed Hamas tunnels in southern Gaza around midday on Wednesday, killing one Palestinian and wounding two.

It followed up with an overnight raid on two suspected weapons caches in the northern and southern Gaza Strip, the military said. Gaza’s governing Hamas movement said one of the sites hit was a soap factory.

The Popular Resistance Committees, a small militant group opposed to the talks, said it was behind the Palestinian militant attacks, which caused no casualties.

Although Hamas militants were not believed to have launched the attacks, Israeli officials accused the group of turning a blind eye to the activities of other factions in the territory that are opposed to the peace talks.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.