Donie's Ireland daily news BLOG.

Fine Gael TDs consider a motion calling on Enda Kenny clarify departure timeline?

     

Taoiseach Enda Kenny taking a sip to cool down? and his preferred successor .

A NUMBER OF REBEL FINE GAEL TDS ARE CONSIDERING PUTTING DOWN A MOTION DEMANDING THAT ENDA KENNY CLARIFY HIS EXIT PLANS IN A MOVE WHICH WILL HEAP FURTHER PRESSURE ON THE TAOISEACH.

Independent.ie has confirmed reports that a number of backbench TDs have held secret talks to discuss whether they will call, as soon as next Wednesday, on the Taoiseach to outline his plans for stepping down as party leader.

It comes as a number of senior Fine Gael figures came out strongly in support of the embattled Taoiseach and saying he should go at the time of his own choosing.

But Mr Kenny is coming under intense pressure to spell out his departure plan from rebel backbenchers.

He has already said that he will not lead Fine Gael into the next election but some TDs want him to step down sooner rather than later.

There is a now a growing consensus within Fine Gael circles that a leadership contest in the spring is a likely scenario but that may be too late, some backbenchers feel.

The Fine Gael leader’s credibility was openly questioned this week at a tense parliamentary party meeting.

Furthermore, the mood within the party is at a low point – particularly following a recent opinion poll which placed Fine Gael a massive nine points behind Fianna Fáil.

Social Protection Minister Leo Varadkar is seen as the clear frontrunner to succeed Mr Kenny.

Meanwhile:-

A majority backs FF decision to aid FG in forming government

IN ALL, 35% OF FIANNA FÁIL SUPPORTERS FAVOURED ANOTHER ELECTION OVER ENGAGING WITH FINE GAEL

   

MICHEÁL MARTIN THE LEADER OF FIANNA FÁIL: ASKED FOR THEIR PREFERENCE AFTER THE ELECTION, 37% OF PEOPLE POLLED SAID SUPPORT FINE GAEL FROM OUTSIDE, 18% SAID GO INTO COALITION AND 35% WANTED ANOTHER GENERAL ELECTION.

A majority of voters wanted Fianna Fáil to engage with Fine Gael in the formation of government whether from outside or as part of a coalition, according to the latest MRBI poll.

The finding goes some way to explaining the significant nine-point rise in support for Fianna Fáil in the poll.

Asked what was the right thing for Fianna Fáil to do after the election, 37% said support Fine Gael from outside, 18% said go into coalition with Fine Gael, 35% wanted another general election and 10 per cent had no opinion.

The highest approval of the Fianna Fáil decision to engage in government formation came from Fine Gael voters with 57% of the the party’s voters backing the decision to support from outside and 30% favouring a full coalition with Fine Gael.

Fianna Fáil voters were less enthusiastic with 43% favouring the course followed by leader Micheál Martin and 15% favouring coalition with Fine Gael.

However, a significant number of Fianna Fáil supporters, 35%, would have preferred another election to engaging with Fine Gael in government in any form.

Less enthusiastic

Supporters of Independents and the Labour Party were a little less enthusiastic, but a majority favoured some form of accommodation between the two biggest parties.

Only Sinn Féin supporters rejected it with 57% of them preferring another election, 20% favouring the current arrangement, 12% a full coalition between the two big parties and 11% having no opinion.

There was a significant difference across the class divide with a majority of middle-class voters in favour of a deal between the two big parties and a majority of the poorest DE category favouring another election instead.

There were similar views about whether a number of Independents were right or wrong to go into coalition with Fine Gael.

A total of 52% said they were right, 28% said they were wrong and 20% had no opinion.

Supporters of Independents and smaller parties backed the decision by 57% to 26% with 17% having no opinion.

Fine Gael supporters were the most enthusiastic about the arrangement with 70% of them in favour and just 16% against with 14% having no opinion.

Labour supporters were strongly in favour of the arrangement and Fianna Fáil supporters less so but there were majorities for the deal in the case of both.

Again, Sinn Féin voters were the only ones opposed to the deal with 42% against, 37% for and 21% having no opinion.

BEST COURSE OF ACTION

Questioned as to whether forming a government or having another election was the best course of action following the inconclusive general election result 49% said forming a government but a substantial 44% opted for another election with 7% having no opinion.

There was a big difference across the class divide with the best off voters most in favour of government formation with a clear majority of the poorest DE voters in favour of another election.

There was also a clear generational divide with older voters most strongly in favour of government formation and the youngest age category in favour of another election.

There was also a big difference across the parties with 75% of Fine Gael voters in favour of a government being formed while Fianna Fáil voters were evenly split 49 per cent each between forming a government and having another election.

Independent voters were also almost evenly split on the issue but Sinn Féin voters were strongly in favour by a margin of two to one of having another election.

The survey was conducted on Monday and Tuesday of this week among a representative sample of 1,200 voters aged 18 and over in face- to-face interviews at 100 sampling points in all constituencies.

Irish race further ahead of Brits in US beef exports

    

IRELAND HAS PUSHED FURTHER AHEAD WITH BEEF EXPORTS TO THE LUCRATIVE US MARKET, AS THE COUNTRY PLANS FOR A POST-EU FUTURE.

Irish farmers will now be able to ship manufacturing beef, which is minced for products such as burgers, on top of steak cuts such as fillet, rib-eye and sirloins.

Last year Ireland sold €14m (£12m) of beef to the US from six approved factories after becoming the first EU country to gain market access following a 15-year break due to BSE fears.

Since the EU-wide ban was lifted in January 2015, the Netherlands and Lithuania have also earned access. Negotiations between the UK and US authorities are ongoing.

Irish farm leaders have hailed the news, in a week where Britain’s vote to quit the EU has shaken the industry’s confidence. Half of Irish beef production is currently destined for the UK and the trading relationship between the two countries after Brexit is unclear.

APPROVAL NEEDED NOW?

Joe Healy, Irish Farmers’ Association president, said work was now needed to get more plants approved for export.

“It is very important that real delivery is made on accessing new markets for Irish beef, particularly in light of the recent Brexit outcome,” he said.

The US beef market has enormous potential for exporters. Each year the country of 319 million people buys in 1m tonnes of beef, of which most is for manufacturing.

Only about one-tenth of the market is currently for grass-fed, natural or organic, but sales of those kinds of beef are growing about 20% a year.

Ireland’s farm minister Michael Creed said the announcement was the culmination of a year of discussions and checks.

His country had “first-mover advantage”, Mr Creed said, and would be supporting the fresh access with a marketing campaign.

“This US market is a potentially huge prize given the size of the market and the demand we know exists there for premium grass-fed beef.

“As an exporting country, accessing new markets is key to the long-term sustainability of our beef sector and this extension of our access in the US has the capability to be a significant boost to the sector over a period of time.”

BRITISH EXPORTS

British beef will not be joining Irish on the Atlantic crossing just yet. Unlike Ireland, only about one-fifth of British production is exported, but the US could be a premium, added-value market.

In April, the UK government handed a 1,000-page dossier to the US Department of Agriculture that explained the hygiene and quality standards of British beef and lamb. US agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack said he would study the document before agreeing a series of factory inspections.

AHDB head of global supply chain development Phil Hadley said the process was “inching forward”.

He said hopefully a visit by US authorities would be arranged for the end of this year, or early 2017.

“Our ambition remains to make it happen as quickly as possible,” Dr Hadley said.

Gardeners are urged to help bees population by planting more flowers in a push to protect pollination

   

GARDENERS ARE BEING URGED TO TAKE SIMPLE STEPS SUCH AS CUTTING THE GRASS LESS OFTEN AND GROWING MORE NECTAR-RICH FLOWERS AS PART OF EFFORTS TO HELP BEES POPULATION.

Despite concerns about the plight of bees in the UK, with many species in decline, more than half (57%) of 1,717 people polled by YouGov admitted they had not done anything to provide pollinating insects with food or homes in the past year.

Now householders are being encouraged to take five steps to help bees, whose pollinating services are worth £600 million a year in boosting yields and the quality of seeds and fruits.

People can grow more flowers, shrubs and trees that are rich in nectar and pollen, leave patches of land to grow wild, cut grass less often, avoid disturbing or destroying nesting or hibernating insects and think carefully about whether to use pesticides.

And schoolchildren are being given a summer holiday challenge to build “bee hotels” out of simple items such as bamboo, plastic drinks bottles and string, to give solitary bees a home.

The call has been made ahead of “bees’ needs week”, part of the national pollinator strategy in 2014 by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) in partnership with charities, businesses and academic institutions.

Defra’s Lords spokesman, Lord Gardiner of Kimble, said: “It is clear we care about bees – now we need to make sure we translate that concern into real action to protect our precious pollinators.

“Everyone can play their part to ensure bees have food and a home, from urban window box gardeners to farmers protecting the wildlife around their fields.”

Paul de Zylva, senior campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: “You don’t need to keep bees to be a bee-keeper.

“At home, in your street, at work or at school, you can help the 250 or more different types of bee by growing the right plants, improving local spaces for pollinators and avoiding pesticides.

“Simple actions can make sure we are the generation to save Britain’s bees.”

Neanderthals participated in cannibalism so says new research
  

CANNIBALISM TODAY?. THE WORD BRINGS TO MIND THE STUFF OF HORROR MOVIES, OF SECRETIVE JUNGLE TRIBES OR THE DONNER PARTY. HOWEVER, A NEW DISCOVERY IN BELGIUM HAS DETERMINED THAT OUR NEANDERTHAL ANCESTORS HAD AN AFFINITY FOR CANNIBALISM THAT WAS HERETOFORE UNREALISED.

The Neanderthal bones found in Belgium date between 40,500 and 45,500 years old, and they bear unmistakable signs of cannibalism. The Neanderthal bones exhibit “indentations” where scientists believe they were hammered open to harvest the bone marrow within. The rib cages of the skeletons have been pried open.

The bones also exhibit marks that were created by primitive knives used to shear flesh away from the bone. The Neanderthal bones found in the Belgian cave were found amidst numerous bones of animals that all bore similar marks and indications of what we would refer in modern terms as field dressing. The scientists researching the Neanderthal discovery put the skeletons of the humans back together and found that they recreated one child and four adults — all of whom were the victims of cannibalism.

discovery of the cannibalized Neanderthals is not unique to prehistoric humans. Similar discoveries have been made in Portugal, France, and Spain. However, according to a report on the discovery in the journal Scientific Reports, the Neanderthal find in Belgium is much farther north than those other discoveries, and actually poses more questions than it answers.

Were the Neanderthals killed and eaten out of simple necessity or hunger, or was their butchery part of some sort of ancient ritual? Were the cannibalized Neanderthals part of a warring culture? For now, scientists are unsure. Researchers have pointed in the past to evidence that the Neanderthals utilized funeral practices for their dead, sometimes burying them. If that is indeed the case, what was the rationale — if any — behind the butchering of the Belgian Neanderthals that were discarded in the same matter as wild game? Were they treated as no more important than a routine meal?

Some scientists, however, argue the point that Neanderthals actually exhibited funeral – or mortuary – practices. Flowers found at the site of one Neanderthal “burial” site that were originally thought to have been left by fellow Neanderthals could have been merely left by an animal at the same site, claim critics.

For now, the researchers studying the Belgian Neanderthal site are sticking to the facts and not making any claims as of yet about a possible funeral site. The Neanderthals at the site existed just before the estimated time of when the Neanderthal species went extinct, about 40,000 years ago. Thus far, none of the other Neanderthal excavation sites that exist in the region don’t bear any signs of cannibalism. In fact, there was another discovery less than 25 miles away in which two Neanderthals appeared to be buried together, side by side.

Neanderthals actually lived in small groups, or tribes, and its quite possible that their behaviors could have quite possible varied widely from group to group. While one group of Neanderthals may have honored their dead by burying them in some sort of primitive ritual, other groups may have had no compunction about eating their dead.

Moreover, the group in Belgium may have had no problem with hunting down and eating an adjacent group of Neanderthals much as they would a reindeer or other animal. Still, the evidence in Belgium may be misleading. Not enough data is available to discover whether or not this particular group of Neanderthals felt they had to consume their fellow man out of necessity — much like the Donner party.     

Donie's Ireland daily news BLOG update

Irish beef back on the Canadian menu as a deal reopens the market there

Import of beef from Europe begin again after 19 -year mad cow disease ban

   

Ireland has also reached agreement with authorities in Oman on veterinary health certification which will allow for the export of beef and sheep meat from Ireland to the region for the first time

Canada has reopened its market to Irish and European beef, 19 years after it blocked all imports because of mad cow disease.

According to the Department of Agriculture, Canada has reauthorised the import of beef from 19 member states.

The deal was brokered by the European Commission and follows an EU-wide audit process..

Ireland was a leading participant in the process, having hosted a visit from theCanadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) in February last year.

There will be no restriction on the age of cattle from which beef can be exported, the department also confirmed.

The deal comes in the wake of Ireland being granted access to beef markets in the US, China and Japan, which had also been closed since the infamous BSE crisis of the 1990s.

Separately, Ireland has also reached agreement with authorities in Oman on veterinary health certification which will allow for the export of beef and sheep meat from Ireland to the region for the first time.

Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveneysaid: “I am delighted to see the re-opening of this potentially valuable market in Canada. This is a market with strong Irish links, which appreciates premium quality foods and should be a natural fit for Irish beef.”

“ It builds on the progress in accessing the US market earlier this year,” he said, noting Ireland’s role in showcasing its production systems as part of the EU audit played a key role in securing this access.

He said the department would now commence work with interested plants here to ensure that the trade in product can commence as soon as possible.

Richard Clinton, group commercial director of Dawn Meats, said: “The reopening of Canada to exports of Irish beef is a welcome development, following as it does on the resumption of business in the USA earlier this year.”

“In anticipation of the reopening of this significant market, our business development team have been working over the last number of months to again add Canada to the list of over 40 countries we supply.”

Limerick brothers win EY Entrepreneur of the Year award

  

John and Patrick Collison (above left) have been named the overall winner at the EY Entrepreneur of the Year awards for their web and mobile payments company Stripe enterprise.

The Limerick brothers started Stripe in 2010, with the goal to make accepting payments online simpler and more inclusive. John Collison accepted the international award for Stripe on behalf of himself and his brother.

The 25-year-old thanked his parents for being so understanding, particularly when the pair started the company and moved to San Francisco.

The brothers, who were among the youngest in the competition, also took the overall prize and will now represent Ireland at the World EY Entrepreneur of the year awards in Monte Carlo next year.

  Other winners on the night included Donald Fitzmaurice and Padraig MacBride from BrandTone who won the top prize in the emerging category, and Jack Dobson from Dunbia took the prize in the industry category.

Brandtone, a mobile marketing company headquartered in Dublin, delivers campaigns from brands including Kellogg’s, PepsiCo, Diageo and Heineken to almost six billion consumers in developing markets.

Accepting the emerging category award, Donald Fitzmaurice said: “It’s a great honour that I accept this award with Padraig on behalf of everyone at Brandtone.”

Padraig paid tribute to his late father who he said would be “smiling down” seeing him win the award.

“This is a big, big shock. I would like to thank everyone in the Brandtone family as well as my own family,” he added.

Jack Dobson from Dunbia, a multinational red meat company based in Co Tyrone, took the prize in the industry category and was overwhelmed with his win.

“I don’t know what to say. I’m really humbled and honoured.

“I must give a lot of thanks to my wife and family who supported me through the highs and the lows.

“This is really an achievement for me. I have never done anything like this before so thank you very much,” he said.

  Fr Peter McVerry (left) also received fully deserved a special award on the night for his nearly 40 years combatting homelessness.

He joked that while most of the entrepreneurs in the room had achieved something, despite all his hard work, the number of homelessness is at a higher level than when he first started his work.

“It is to the shame of our nation that despite having the fastest growing economy we have a growing homeless problem,” he stated.

HSE is owed €290m for the use of public facilities

Administration and delays by doctors are holding up repayments, PAC hears

    

The bulk of the €22m tax settlement reached between the HSE and the Revenue Commissioners in recent weeks related to the late payment of employers’ PRSI

More than 50 medical consultants are “years” behind in signing off on claim forms that would release money owed to the Health Service Executive (HSE), the Dáil Public Accounts Committee has heard.

The HSE is owed more than €290 million in income for the use of public facilities by private patients, but administrative issues and delays by insurers and consultants have delayed the payment of this money.

The delay in paying the money due to the taxpayer had increased from 148 debtor days in 2011 to 186 days last year, the committee heard.

HSE chief financial officer Stephen Mulvany said the executive was experiencing significant difficulties with health insurers in obtaining sign-off and payment of the money due.

But delays by consultants in processing claim forms were also contributing to the problem, with almost half of the total delay down to the top five consultants with long delays in each hospital.

‘Ridiculous’

Committee chairman John McGuinness described the situation as ridiculous and said it was clear the HSE was failing to bring the consultants responsible for the delays into line. Ultimately, the taxpayer was bearing the cost. He suggested it was time for the health service to “kick ass” and deal with the long-running issue.

Mr Mulvany said the consultants were busy people and their focus was on patients. While disciplinary action was a significant step, it would have to be considered.

The bulk of the €22 million tax settlement reached between the HSE and the Revenue Commissioners in recent weeks related to the late payment of employers’ PRSI, the committee was also told.

Late payment

Mr Mulvany said €18 million of the settlement was in respect of tax with a further €4 million relating to interest and penalties. He said €14 million was in respect of payroll taxes with the bulk relating to the late payment of employers’ PRSI. He said about €2.5 million was in relation to VAT.

Fianna Fáil TD Seán Fleming said the public would be shocked to learn the HSE did not pay over PRSI contributors on behalf of employees on time. He said the HSE appeared to be trying to minimise the issue by “whinging” that it only related to a tiny fraction of the organisation’s overall tax payments.

Mr Mulvany said it was not seeking to minimise the issue but to put it in context that 99.9 per cent was paid.

He said what had occurred was a gap between contracts of service and contractors for service in relation to a small number of employees.

Cheese is addictive just like drugs so 

“I guess I am now a junkie”

  

A valuable study has found that cheese is actually as addictive as drugs, and now I think I owe a lot of my family members some re-conciliatory phone calls. Because it happened to me: my cheese addiction ruined my relationships.

The study, published in the U.S. National Library of Medicine, examines why certain foods are more addictive than others. Researchers identified addictive foods from about 500 students who completed the Yale Food Addiction Scale, designed to measure if someone has a food addiction…

The study found certain foods are addictive because of the way they are processed. The more processed and fatty the food, the more it was associated with addictive eating behaviors.

The study ultimately found that the foods most associated with addiction shared traits with the most addictive drugs: they were highly processed and had high doses and rapid rates of absorption.

Cheese in particular is so addictive because it contains a protein called casein which, when digested releases actual opiates called casomorphins. The property has led Dr. Neal Barnard, founder of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, to call cheese “dairy crack.”

So, I guess I’d like to say…I’m sorry. I’m sorry for all the missed birthdays, for the broken plans, for the missed soccer games, and the failed relationships. I’ve lost too many nights covered in cracker crumbs, bent over the toilet with a boulder of dairy in my stomach. I have been at the mercy of my addiction and while I know I am not to blame, I am at fault.

Stem cell breakthrough reverses infertility after cancer

Scientists from Egypt’s Mansoura Medical School show it is possible to restore fertility by injecting stem cells directly into the ovaries

   

Mice who had suffered ovarian failure from chemotherapy were able to have large litters after treatment. 

Cancer patients made infertile by chemotherapy have been offered new hope after scientists succeeded in reversing the damage caused to eggs for the first time.

In a landmark breakthrough hailed as “phenomenal” by fertility experts, researchers from Egypt and the US showed that injecting stem cells into ovaries can bring them back to life.

Chemotherapy is toxic to the ovaries, destroying eggs and ovarian tissue and triggering early menopause in some women.

• IVF women third more likely to develop ovarian cancer

Many younger women are now advised to freeze their eggs before undergoing cancer treatment, but in urgent cases there is often not time.

Now scientists have shown it is possible to restore fertility by injecting stem cells directly into the ovaries.

“This is very exciting piece of research that adds to our understanding of how cells differentiate to become egg stem cells.”

Dr Stuart Lavery:-  Although the procedure has only been carried out in mice so far, the results were so successful that the researchers say they are ready to move to human trials.

Mice who had suffered ovarian failure from chemotherapy were able to have large litters after treatment.

The new treatment offers hope to more than 20,000 women of childbearing age who are diagnosed with cancer each year, and could also help those suffering from early menopause and ovarian failure.

Lead researcher Dr Sara Mohamed, of Mansoura Medical School in Egypt, said she had come up with the idea after meeting a 22-year-old cancer patient who was at risk of infertility from chemotherapy.

“It was a very emotional for me so I decided to pursue it and work on it to figure it out,” she said.

“It a very common problem based on statistics of cancer female diagnosis every year.

“We inject stem cells in the ovaries of mice which had chemotherapy and were damaged and we got very good ovarian function restoration in form of follicle number, hormonal production and finally getting pregnant and having new pups which was our ultimate goal.

“We are now working on translating that into clinical trials (for humans). This approach carries high promise to women with chemotherapy-induced and potentially other types of premature ovarian failure.”

In the trial involving 18 mice, one group were given chemotherapy and then ovarian injections of bone marrow stem cells, while another group had ovarian injections of saline. A third, control, group, had saline injections without the preceding chemotherapy.

Within a week researchers saw a boost in oestrogen, an essential hormone in ovulation, in the stem cell group followed by regeneration in ovarian tissue after a fortnight and an increase in the number of follicles.

Follicles produce the hormones oestrogen and progesterone and each carry a single egg which they release at ovulation.

The mice who had suffered ovarian failure were able to go on to have large litters of pups while those who had saline injections struggled.

Consultant Gynaecologist Dr Stuart Lavery, of Imperial College, said: “This is very exciting piece of research that adds to our understanding of how cells differentiate to become egg stem cells.

“Clearly, there remains an enormous amount of work to see whether these results would be transferable into humans.

“But it does provide some realistic hope that post-chemotherapy patients who have been made menopausal could one day restore ovarian function and possibly fertility.”

The researchers are now hoping to move to human trials using umbilical cord or even embryonic stem cells although they will still have to convince regulators the procedures are safe.

Recent trials to stimulate stem cells in the ovaries were banned by the Food and Drug Agency (FDA).

Currently women diagnosed with cancer can be be offered egg freezing, or even early stage IVF, before chemotherapy.

But many trusts have cut IVF funding and women are sometimes denied cryopreservation. The new therapy would give peace of mind for women that something could be done to reverse the damage caused by chemotherapy.

And because the new technique regenerates ovarian tissue the new eggs could be even healthier than they were before chemotherapy, experts have suggested.

Women are born with all their eggs but they degrade over time. Stem cells have the potential to make eggs brand new again.

Dr Geoffrey Trew, consultant in Reproductive Medicine and Surgery at Hammersmith Hospital, London, said: “Fertility-wise, if this works it would be stupendous.

“Certainly it does appear promising and anything you can do to regenerate and ovary is a good thing.

“Theoretically if you are regenerating the ovary you should be getting better quality eggs.

“Clearly we’re not here yet, and it’s good that the researchers are not over-claiming their findings, but it’s a great proof of concept.”

Dr Edgar Mocanu, consultant gynaecologist at Rotunda Hospital in Dublin and board member of the International Federation of Fertility Societies, said: “This could open phenomenal opportunities for women.

“Millions of women around the world undergo cancer treatment and some of them will become infertile through ovarian failure.

“While cancer survival rates have increased dramatically, to date there is no effective method of preventing infertility after chemotherapy. It could also open new avenues for the treatment of menopause induced health issues.”

“This approach carries high promise to women with chemotherapy-induced and potentially other types of premature ovarian failure.”

Lead researcher Dr Sara Mohamed

Dr Owen Davis president of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine: “If this experimental treatment can be translated to women who have lost ovarian function from chemotherapy, it will be a great advance.

“Restoring ovarian hormone production, follicle development and fertility to chemotherapy patients is a potential new application for bone marrow donation that could help many women.”

Coventry-based fertility expert Richard Kennedy, president-elect of the International Federation of Fertility Societies, said: “One of the really important messages for our cancer colleagues is that when men or women present for treatment, think about their fertility, think about the impact of the cancer treatment on their fertility.

• Thousands of cancer patients to be denied treatment

“That is a really important message because the majority of people with cancer now are living for five years or longer, and many are surviving their cancers, so thought about the long-term impact of treatment is important.”

Katherine Taylor, of Ovarian Cancer Action, said: “This sounds very promising and we welcome any new research that helps us build on our knowledge of cancer and fertility. We look forward to seeing how this research advances in years to come.”

The research was presented at the annual sheeting of then American Society for Reproductive Medicine in Baltimore.

NASA unveils super powerful rocket designed to take astronauts to Mars and beyond

 

Space agency hails the arrival of first ‘exploration class’ spacecraft in 40 years and vows to fly it to the Red Planet

Mars or bust: An artist’s impression of NASA’s new rocket

NASA has completed work on a new rocket which could one day carry human astronauts on a mission to the Red Planet.

The Space Launch System is the most powerful spaceship ever built and is designed to “meet the challenges of the journey to Mars”.

It is the first “exploration class” rocket since the legendary Saturn V, which ferried astronauts to the moon during the Apollo era between 1966 and 1973.

“We’ve nailed down the design of SLS, we’ve successfully completed the first round of testing of the rocket’s engines and boosters, and all the major components for the first flight are now in production,” said Bill Hill, deputy associate administrator of NASA’s Exploration Systems Development Division.

“There have been challenges, and there will be more ahead, but this review gives us confidence that we are on the right track for the first flight of SLS and using it to extend permanent human presence into deep space.”

The new rocket has passed important preliminary tests and is expected to blast off on a test mission in 2018.

“This is a major step in the design and readiness of SLS,” added John Honeycutt, SLS program manager.

“Our team has worked extremely hard, and we are moving forward with building this rocket. We are qualifying hardware, building structural test articles, and making real progress.”