• • HiPeR  AdPack Strap to be applied as thermal interface between component and structure

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The mushroom-forming fungi Pleurotus ostreatus (PO), Trametes versicolor (TV) and Schizophyllum commune (SC) are known to effectively colonise organic material. These fungi were grown on the aquatic fern Azolla filiculoides (AF), the fastest growing plant on Earth, and that can fix its own nitrogen. SC showed the best growth on AF. Therefore, growth of this fungus was determined under microgravity conditions and high radiation dosage (up to 200 Gy) and related to melanin production.

There is an increasing need for ever smaller pulse-tube coolers. These coolers have the characteristics necessary for space applications because the absence of moving parts in the cold finger makes them extremely reliable and any induced vibrations are typically smaller and easier to control.

But these types of cooler are less efficient and have a lower power density. Typically, this is resolved by increasing their drive frequency, to reduce amplitudes and displacements, which means that the coolers are smaller

Current optical design of optical instruments is based on conic or aspheric surfaces of revolution (both on-axis and off-axis). Free-form surfaces (surfaces with no axis of symmetry) can now be manufactured thanks to recent advances in Single Point Diamond Turning. Despite this technological breakthrough the theory is unfortunately not at the same level. Free-form surfaces cannot be represented properly in an optical design software and cannot be used for efficient optimisation algorithms.

The accuracy of tropospheric excess path length estimation in a GNSS receiver can be increased by using an estimate of current or short-term evolution of atmospheric conditions. This information can be provided by ground or space based sensors and numerical weather prediction systems (like ECMWF for a global scale or HIRLAM/MM5 for regional scale). The models and algorithms to process this type of information and convert it into a message for local augmentation systems need to be develped.

Recent developments in optical fabrication, detector technologies and spectral filter allow very compact telescopes and spectrometers designs, although less

Cryogenic instruments based on imaging arrays of superconducting Transition Edge Sensor (TES) detectors operating at very-low temperature are proposed for future high- and low-energy astrophysics space missions, including the X-IFU instrument for Athena and the SAFARI instrument for SPICA. 2-D arrays of 1000's of TES detectors at 50 mK enable high-sensitivity imaging with high optical efficiency and fast response.