News Live Report

By Roger Harrabin  

BBC environment analyst

The firm has produced UK future energy scenarios covering four different approaches in policy.
Even in the most environmentally minded scenario, the UK is projected to fail in its target of producing 15% of total energy from renewables.

The government no longer claims the 2020 target will be hit but a spokesman said the UK was making good progress.

The National Grid also says the UK will not achieve its own independently set long-term CO2 reduction plans unless tougher policies are imposed very soon. more...
 

By Jonathan Amos  

BBC Science Correspondent, Pasadena

The Juno satellite, which left Earth five years ago, had to fire a rocket engine to slow its approach to the planet and get caught by its gravity.

A sequence of tones transmitted from the spacecraft confirmed the braking manoeuvre had gone as planned.

Receipt of the radio messages prompted wild cheering at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

"All stations on Juno co-ord, we have the tone for burn cut-off on Delta B," Juno Mission Control had announced. "Roger Juno, welcome to Jupiter."
Scientists plan to use the spacecraft to sense the planet's deep interior. They think the structure and the chemistry of its insides hold clues to how this giant world formed some four-and-a-half-billion years ago. more...
 

By Jonathan Amos 

BBC Science Correspondent, Pasadena

 

The Juno satellite is rapidly bearing down on the gas giant after a five-year journey from Earth.
It must slow itself to get captured by the gravity of the giant world.

This all-or-nothing job will be performed by its Leros-1b engine built by Moog-ISP in Westcott, Buckinghamshire.

"It's a tremendous thing for us," said Moog's chief engineer, Dr Ian Coxhill.
"The engine has to work for Juno to get into orbit; it has to burn at a precise time and burn for a continuous duration of at least 20 mins.

"There'll be some frayed nerves, for sure."
The Leros-1b was chosen to be the main engine on the Nasa satellite by its manufacturer, Lockheed Martin.

Previous American space agency missions have also used the Westcott technology, including the Messenger probe that went into orbit around Mercury in 2011. So, there is high confidence this latest engine will be up to the task. more...