British scientists wanting to pursue microgravity studies have only a few days left to express their interest in a potential new research initiative.

The UK withdrew from the European Space Agency programme related to experiments in “weightless” surroundings in the early part of this decade.

Now, space officials are assessing the level of enthusiasm for a renewed co-ordinated research effort.

Scientists have until the end of the month to make their feelings known.

There are no promises being made at this stage – but the officials say that unless scientists put their hands up, microgravity research will forever remain a fringe activity in the UK.

Groups should register their interest at the British National Space Centre website.

Cross discipline

“The problem is that people talk about the ‘microgravity community’ as if it’s a single entity; but there’s no such thing,” said Dr Jeremy Curtis, who is looking after the BNSC call.

“People who do microgravity experiments cover a whole host of scientific fields – medical doctors, fundamental physicists, fluid mechanics experts, materials scientists, etc.

“We want to know who’s out and who’s interested. If we don’t know who these people are, we can’t even begin to organise anything.”

A change of direction is unlikely to see the UK suddenly opt into Esa’s multi-million-euro European Life and Physical Sciences research programme (Elips), but it could conceivably see the Research Councils dedicate some cash towards the activity.

At the very least, it would pull the various interested scientists scattered across academia and industry into a co-ordinated and networked grouping.

Studying systems and processes in the absence of gravity gives scientists a unique perspective.

In an Earth laboratory, gravity pulls hard on everything; but if the notions of “up” and “down” can be removed – even for a few seconds – then some unusual things start to happen.

Gases and liquids that are heated do not rise and sink as they would normally do; and suspended particles do not settle out into neat layers of different sizes.

By removing the “mask” of gravity, it then becomes possible to study the effects of other forces more easily. The knowledge gained is expected to have significant impacts, from developing new vaccines and crops, to understanding how the interior of the Earth behaves.

The International Space Station is perhaps the best known dedicated weightless laboratory, but it is not necessary to go into orbit to do microgravity research.

Simply dropping an experiment from a 150m-high tower will give a few, useful seconds of weightlessness.

Slightly longer periods of 20s or so are possible on aeroplanes that fly a series of parabolic arcs in the sky.

‘UK flight’

Dr Gail Iles, a research fellow with the European Space Agency, uses this method to evaporate metals. This helps us understand how “intermetallics” behave. These are strong, lightweight combinations of metals that have great potential in the aero, auto and energy industries.

“I use a small furnace to make the samples. It is in the periods of microgravity that the particles grow in a different way. I’m making just fractions of a gram – they’re really just nanoparticles.”

Intermettalics have potential in reducing the weight of aero-engines ‘Space metals’ aid perfection quest

Nonetheless, the tiny samples are invaluable because gravity has not been allowed to bias the metal structures. These samples can then be used as models to help improve the methods used in Earth-bound industrial production.

Dr Iles is looking for support to bring the European Zero-G A300 Airbus to Britain. This plane, which is normally based in Bordeaux, is run by a commercial subsidiary of the French space agency.

“There are different types of flight,” she told BBC News.

“If you want the full two-week campaign – that’s a week of preparation, loading and testing; and then a three full days of flights with 31 parabolas per day – then it’s approximately 750,000 euros.”

Dr Iles envisages a flight campaign running out over the North Sea or off the coast of Brittany with a cabin full of UK scientists doing a slew of national experiments.

Matching priorities

The last UK review of microgravity research was undertaken by Professor Bill Wakeham in 2002. His panel set out the options available to British science at that time – from joining the space station programme to operating more limited endeavours here on Earth.

The review recommended that Britain join Esa’s Elips programme at the minimum level, which at the time would have cost about £3m.

However, the then government and the Research Councils decided the priorities for science funding lay elsewhere.

“We have a user-driven approach to space,” explained Dr Curtis. “It’s a very practical way of organising things: if the user doesn’t want to pay then clearly it’s not worth paying for. But there are occasionally gaps which form as a result of that approach.

“You can’t organise science as a continuum; there have got to be a few boundaries between responsibilities. But it’s at those boundaries that the microgravity opportunity founders.”

Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk

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The Ilulissat glacier has retreated by approximately 15km over the past decade

There are few places in the world where the effects of global warming appear to be more dramatic than the Ilulissat ice fjord.

This is probably why green-tinged politicians and celebrities are routinely spotted posing for pictures close to the vast icebergs calved from the glacier at the head of the fjord.

“Look,” they say, “the ice is melting. Unless we dramatically cut our emissions now, the Greenland Ice Sheet and our planet are in peril.”

Are they right? Do scientific studies of the Greenland Ice Sheet indicate that catastrophe is around the corner?

There is uncertainty over how much Greenland’s ice sheet will melt

The answer does not seem to be entirely straightforward.

The Ilulissat glacier has indeed retreated dramatically in recent years – more than 15km in the last decade alone – but plenty of evidence suggests such rapid change in the ice is not unprecedented.

In fact, over the last 10,000 years (a period of long-term warming since the end of the last Ice Age), the glaciers on Greenland’s west coast have been through many periods of advance and retreat.

Four thousand years ago, the Earth was significantly warmer than it is now, and accordingly the glacier retreated; but the evidence suggests it was perhaps only 20km back from its current position.

In other words, the Ilulissat glacier may reach a point in its retreat where the dynamics of the ice sheet make further regression very difficult, and very slow.

So when the more excitable climate campaigners claim that Greenland’s ice sheet – which contains roughly 10% of the world’s fresh water – is “melting” and that catastrophic rises in sea level can be expected within a century, it is advisable to take a deep breath and ponder the complexities of the ice.

Ilulissat is a popular destination for “green-tinged politicians and celebrities”

The increased speed of flow of the Ilulissat glacier – from 7 to 14 km in a single year – means that an extraordinary mass of ice is indeed being disgorged into the sea.

Glaciologists reckon as much as 35 cubic kilometres of ice each year is being shed from this one outlet alone. But there is a countervailing trend.

Increased precipitation over the ice sheet, ie more snow, means at least some of the loss of mass in the ice sheet is being made good.

The sea level is going to rise, but by how much in the coming century?

It may even be that the ice in the middle of the Greenland sheet is becoming thicker while it is retreating at the margins.

Even the experts are not entirely sure how to explain the dramatic speeding up of ice movement and melt inside the Illulisat fjord.

Danish glaciologist Andreas Ahlstroem believes a significant warming of the sea is a crucial factor. But glacier movement is quickening far into the ice sheet, suggesting that increased meltwater underneath the ice is also having a major impact.

Could the retreat of Greenland’s glaciers be a harbinger of a much bigger change: the disappearance of the entire ice sheet?

Given even the most gloomy temperature projections for the next century that is extremely unlikely.

The ice in the middle of Greenland is some three kilometres thick and, deep down, it is hundreds of thousands of years old.

Indeed this core ice provides an invaluable record of conditions that prevailed during the last great interglacial period, which came to an end more than 100,000 years ago.

Greenland has not always been icebound. Two and a half million years ago it was covered in forest and heath, but even the worst-case scenario of man-made climate change is unlikely to reduce the northern hemisphere’s greatest mass of ice to a pathetic pile of slush in the foreseeable future.

The series of HARDtalk programmes from Greenland will be broadcast on BBC World and the BBC News Channel on 28-30 July 2009. Please check local listings for broadcast times

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Average wind speeds need to be at least five metres per second

The most comprehensive report of its kind has identified the UK’s best locations for households to install micro-wind turbines, say its authors.

The Energy Saving Trust (EST) said some households could generate in excess of £2,800 worth of electricity a year.

However, it also concluded that other locations would actually lose money if a small-scale turbine was installed.

The EST is advising homeowners to visit its website, which will show whether a turbine will help them cut their bills.

The performance of domestic turbines have come under the spotlight in recent years, with critics saying the devices failed to generate the amount of electricity outlined by manufacturers.

“Because the turbines are seen as a new, emerging technology, there has been very little proper monitoring and performance assessment,” explained author Simon Green, the EST’s head of business development.

“Our study was not tested in the lab, or based on computer modelling, but on real homes in order to independently assess their performance.”

‘Location, location, location’

The two-year study involved 57 locations, ranging from south-west England to the Orkney Islands, and tested a range of turbines that fell within two categories: building-mounted and free standing pole-mounted.

BEST PERFORMING SITE Location: Orkney Islands Turbine: 6kW pole-mounted Profile: Rural, flat, open space Average wind speed: 5.75m/s Annual generation: 22,000kWh Payback period: less than 10 yrs

“Building-mounted turbines were generally smaller ones with a 50cm diameter, which were fitted to roofs on a bracket similar to TV aerials,” Mr Green told BBC News.

“The others – pole-mounted turbines – were generally larger, with bigger power outputs, and were remotely mounted in a field or at the end of a garden.”

At the sites, the researchers recorded wind speed and measured the net generation of electricity every five minutes.

The team could then work out, over the course of a whole year, exactly how much electricity was produced and the overall performance of the wind turbine.

Mr Green said the study’s findings revealed that there were a complex range of factors that influenced the effectiveness of a wind turbine’s performance.

“The fundamental conclusion is location, location, location,” he said.

“It is critically important that wind turbines are located in an area with sufficient wind resources.

“We believe that a minimum average wind speed needs to be at least five metres per second (18km/h; 11mph).”

Highs and lows

In the 57-site field study, the remote island of North Ronaldsay in the Orkneys generated the most electricity over the course of a year.

WORST PERFORMING SITE Location: Dagenham, Essex Turbine: 1kW building-mounted Profile: Urban, heavily developed Average wind speed: 2.37m/s Annual generation: 0kWh Payback period: never (Source: Energy Saving Trust)

The site’s 6kW pole-mounted turbine generated almost 22,000 kilowatt hours (kWh), which equated to a £2,860 saving if electricity cost £0.13/kWh.

The report noted: “This location is in essence an offshore wind turbine mounted on land and represents an almost perfect site.

“There are no obstructions around the turbine, and it is mounted in very clean air.”

Data showed that the island’s average wind speed was 5.75m/s.

However, not all sites delivered such favourable results, Mr Green explained.

“The study’s findings show that a lot of the turbines had been installed in areas that did not achieve the minimum average wind speed,” he observed.

The worst performing site, a 1kW turbine attached to a house in Dagenham, Essex, actually consumed more energy than it generated.

“The recorded wind speed was 2.37m/s,” the report noted.

“This site represents an example of an installation in an urban area with a poor wind resource, as well as a poorly-installed turbine.”

Based on the findings, the report estimated there was potential for more than 450,000 micro-turbines to be installed on properties across the UK.

These devices, the trust calculated, would generate almost 3,500 gigawatt hours of electricity each year, enough to power about 870,000 homes.

Homeowners who are interested in finding out whether their home is located in a suitable area are being advised to visit the trust’s website.

“Customers can type in their postcode, and the website will give a much more accurate estimate of the average wind speed in their area,” Mr Green explained.

“But we should also stress that any customer who is thinking of installing this kit should use a Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) approved equipment and installer.”

The EST plans to follow up this study with similar assessments of other renewable energy technologies, including photovoltaic panels, micro-CHP and heat pumps.

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Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) reached the Moon on 23 June Enlarge Image

The US space agency’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft has returned its first images since reaching the Moon on 23 June.

The probe’s two cameras returned images of a region in the lunar highlands south of Mare Nubium (Sea of Clouds).

LRO blasted off on 18 June atop an Atlas rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Its data will help mission planners select future landing sites and scout locations for lunar outposts.

There are two cameras on board, a low-resolution wide-angle camera and a high-resolution narrow-angle camera.

These are known collectively as the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) instrument.

“At the time we took the images, we were in the ‘terminator’ orbit. This means that when you look down for a whole orbit, all you see beneath you is the boundary between night and day,” Mark Robinson, from Arizona State University in Tempe, US, told BBC News.

We waited a couple of hours for the images to come down to the ground. When they appeared on the screen, they were gorgeous Professor Mark Robinson, ASU

This meant that light levels were low and that much of the surface was in shadow – not ideal conditions for photography.

“In some areas where we thought we’d see the surface, we didn’t, because local topography caused some things to be shadowed. While in other areas, we were able to see the surface,” explained Professor Robinson, who is the principal scientific investigator for LROC.

The images were taken over two orbits on Tuesday, during an engineering test of the LROC instrument. Though they are not part of the formal imaging campaign, Mark Robinson described them as “spectacular”.

“It was a huge relief. You spend four years making this incredibly delicate, sensitive instrument. Then you bolt it on a rocket, which vibrates for eight minutes,” he said.

The pictures are of cratered terrain near the Mare Nubium region Enlarge Image

“It’s maybe an illogical nervousness, because everything is designed and tested to withstand that. But there are hundreds of people that want it to work.

“We turned it on, and held our breath. Then we waited a couple of hours for the images to come down to the ground. When they appeared on the screen, they were gorgeous.”

The test was designed to check parameters on LROC such as the exposure. Scientists also wanted to see whether the camera was in full focus.

LROC uses a telescope structure made of carbon fibre. Though lightweight, this material absorbs water from the Earth’s atmosphere, causing it to expand. The team had to build the camera so that it was out of focus on Earth.

But once in space, the carbon fibre telescope can be baked to drive the water out. This causes the structure to shrink and bring the instrument into focus.

LRO’S SCIENCE INSTRUMENTS CRaTER – will characterise the global lunar radiation environment Diviner – is to measure lunar surface temperatures LAMP – will map the Moon’s permanently shadowed regions LEND – measures the flux of neutrons from the Moon LOLA – will provide a global lunar topographic model LROC – LRO’s camera will help select future landing sites Mini-RF – uses radar to search for evidence of water ice

“It’s roughly a three-week process, and we had only been baking out for 10 days when we turned (LROC) on,” said Professor Robinson.

Nevertheless, he said the pictures suggested the camera was about 80% of the way to being in full focus.

On Friday, LROC will begin taking images “in earnest”. Over two-and-a-half days, and 32 orbits, it will photograph some of the least known regions of the lunar surface, on the Moon’s far side.

On Sunday, engineers will switch the LROC instrument off again to resume the baking process.

The spacecraft is currently in an elliptical orbit around the Moon, with a low point of 30km above the south pole and a high point of 199km over the north pole. This means the resolution of pictures will be lower in the north and higher in the south.

In mid-August, the spacecraft will perform a burn to bring it into a circular orbit of 50km above the lunar surface. This will give LROC a resolution of 50cm per pixel.

This month marks the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing. LRO will start flying over the Apollo landing sites in mid-July.

However, the spacecraft will still be in its checkout phase at this time. If LRO does manage to take images of any Apollo sites in July, the pictures will not be at the best possible resolution.

When the orbiter flies over the Apollo 11 site it is likely to be at an altitude of 100km – allowing the camera to capture images at a resolution of 100cm per pixel.

LRO will spend at least one year using its six instruments to collect detailed information about the lunar environment.

The orbiter was one of two payloads launched on the same Atlas V rocket.

The second mission, called the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), will send a rocket crashing into the Moon to scour the debris plume for evidence of water ice.

Paul.Rincon-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk

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Tech Know – The power and the dorky

By Mark Ward
Technology Correspondent, BBC News website

A 25,000 volt music machine, a mind game and a spooky rabbit are among the inventions Ellie Gibson discovers at Dorkbot.

Before there were makers there were dorks, many of whom went to Dorkbot meetings to watch people do strange things with electricity.

The Dorkbot movement was started by New York artist Douglas Repetto but they have grown far beyond the original idea of “dorks in New York” that he conceived. Now the world is dotted with Dorkbot chapters and the regular London gathering is one of the busiest.

Open source culture is not something you buy, it’s about something you do

Ele Carpenter
Held at Limehouse town hall the monthly meetings showcase the ingenuity of its many members and the eclectic nature of the strange things that can be done with electricity.

Dorkbot 62 took place in mid-June and had on the bill high voltage music, creepy robots and open source embroidery.

Dorkbot organiser Peter Brownell explains the ethos behind the group

Strange reaction

Sarah Angliss, one of the regulars at Dorkbot, is a fan of the maker movement and in particular some of the tools, such as the Arduino microcontroller, that have been created to help tinkerers get things up and working.

“I’ve been through the purist stage and it’s painful,” she said.

“I remember buying accelerometers five years ago when I was at the University of Sussex doing a robotics course,” she said. “They were £150 each and came on surface-mounted chips and were really hard to work with.”

To some using the Arduino may seem an affront but for Ms Angliss it makes it far easier to get on with the interesting stuff.

Clara 2.0 is a strange and creepy robot
Ms Angliss has employed an Arduino microcontroller to turn a doll into an on-stage helper for her Spacedog musical group. The controller means Clara 2.0 can move her head and arms and joins in playing the theremin, albeit very badly, when Spacedog perform.

Reactions to Clara 2.0 vary, said Ms Angliss, many people are unsettled when the blank-eyed doll begins to move and play an instrument. The doll was chosen, she said, because of its strange appearance.

“I’m really into things that look sweet like toys but look at them another way and there’s something deeply creepy about them,” she said.

Also featured at Dorkbot 62 was Mike Harrison, a veteran of the meetings, who had been experimenting with ways to use simple circuits, neon bulbs and high voltages to produce music.

The climax of the show was Mr Harrison using 20-25,000 volts of power to make wind chimes, hard disk platters and the spark-o-phone to produce a cacophonic, crackling musical symphony that pretty much brought the audience to its feet.

Code and cloth

While there is one wing of the maker movement who like their microcontrollers, high voltages and circuit diagrams another wing of the community has a softer edge – literally in many cases because it involves textiles.

Ele Carpenter has spent years investigating the links between technology on the one hand and more traditional crafts on the other. The end result of this investigation is a quilt made by makers and crafters that translates the HTML colour codes, 216 of them, into a collective patchwork.

This Open Source Embroidery project, as Ms Carpenter dubbed it, was not without its technical hurdles. Tricky to get over was the fact that HTML colours are defined by mixing different amounts of red, green and blue. By contrast but fabrics are printed with inks created by mixing different amounts of cyan, magenta, yellow and black.

The project brought together coders and crafters to find out how to get over these hurdles and explore what they have in common. She really was not sure how crafters, who know yarns and fabrics, would get on well with coders, who know HTML and programming.

“I was interested in how ideas of participation and networking being made clear by new media and the internet have been going on for ages in craft networks,” said Ms Carpenter.

Makers and crafters in Banff, Sheffield and Newcastle made patches
The HTML Patchwork is part of a larger Open Source Embroidery exhibition Ms Carpenter is curating and has taken to Umea in Sweden and San Francisco.

On the website built to record the work that went into creating the quilt, Ms Carpenter has created a wiki where the people that produced each patch could record how they did it. Some just left their name and others, such as Julian Priest who produced patch green #009933, left detailed information about what inspired them to get involved and how their patch travelled to Ms Carpenter.

“It was about bringing patch workers and people using HTML code together to discuss the shared ethics of their practice,” she said.

The ways of working in open source and developer communities was far closer to the practices in craft collectives and groups than she had suspected.

“It was a great way to make tangible and physical these debates about networks, social networks and communication networks,” she said.

As Ms Carpenter said: “Open source culture is not something you buy, it’s about something you do.”

And the Dorkbot folks do it very well indeed.

bbcnews.com

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Japan airport starts tricycle patrols

One of Japan’s major airports has introduced single seat electric tricycles that will be used to patrol the airport halls and information desks.

The tricycles, developed by Toyota, can operate at a top speed of 15 kilometres per hour.

Some of those used at Chubu Airport will also carry emergency medical kit and computers that will allow airport staff to check flight schedules for passengers.
news.bbc.co.uk

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Engineers expect contact to be lost with Ulysses very soon

After more than 18 years studying the Sun, the plug is finally being pulled on the ailing spacecraft Ulysses.

Final communication with the joint European-US satellite will take place on 30 June.

The long-serving craft, launched in October 1990, has already served four times its expected design life.

The Esa-Nasa mission was the first to survey the environment in space above and below the poles of the Sun.

Data from the craft, published last year, also suggested that the solar wind – the stream of charged particles billowing away from the Sun – is at its weakest for 50 years.

“We expected the spacecraft to cease functioning much earlier,” said Paolo Ferri of the European Space Agency (Esa).

“Although it is always hard to take the decision to terminate a mission, we have to accept that the satellite is running out of resources and a controlled switch-off is the best ending.”

Long life

Ulysses has already defied the odds several times. In its 18-year life, the mission has been extended four times.

But its protracted mission has taken its toll. Ulysses’ main transmitter no longer works and its back-up systems are also beginning to fail.

Last year, the space agencies finally announced that they were finally ready to pull the plug after the satellite’s power supply had weakened to the point where the craft could no longer prevent its hydrazine fuel from freezing.

Engineers believed the craft would become uncontrollable and its end of life was scheduled for 1 July 2008.

However, mission scientists came up with a short-term fix whereby the fuel could be kept circulating by performing a short thruster burn every two hours.

The ingenious fix gave the craft another year of life. But, now, scientists believe it is time to switch off the mission.

In particular, they feel the scientific return has reached a level where it is hard to justify the operational costs.

Final communication with the craft will begin at 1635 GMT and run until 2120 GMT on 30 June, after which no further contact is planned. The craft will in effect become a man-made comet.

“[It] will be a very sad day when we send the last commands to Ulysses,” said Nigel Angold, Esa Mission Operations Manager.

By Jonathan Amos
Science reporter, BBC News

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Swiss adventurer Bertrand Picard is set to unveil a prototype of the solar-powered plane he hopes eventually to fly around the world.

The initial version, spanning 61m but weighing just 1,500kg, will undergo trials to prove it can fly at night.

Mr Picard, who made history by circling the globe non-stop in a balloon in 1999, says he wants to demonstrate the potential of renewable energies.

He expects to make a crossing of the Atlantic in 2012.

The flight would be a risky endeavour. Only now is solar and battery technology becoming mature enough to sustain flight through the night – and then only in unmanned planes.

But Picard’s Solar Impulse team has invested tremendous energy – and no little money – in trying to find what they believe is a breakthrough design.

“I love this type of vision where you set the goal and then you try to find a way to reach it, because this is challenging,” he told BBC News.

Testing programme

The HB-SIA has the look of a glider but is on the scale – in terms of its width – of a modern airliner.

The aeroplane incorporates composite materials to keep it extremely light and uses super-efficient solar cells, batteries, motors and propellers to get it through the dark hours.

Picard will begin testing with short runway flights in which the plane lifts just a few metres into the air.

As confidence in the machine develops, the team will move to a day-night circle. This has never been done before in a piloted solar-powered plane.

HB-SIA should be succeeded by HB-SIB. It is likely to be bigger, and will incorporate a pressurised capsule and better avionics.

It is probable that Picard will follow a route around the world in this aeroplane close to the path he took in the record-breaking Breitling Orbiter 3 balloon – going from the United Arab Emirates, to China, to Hawaii, across the southern US, southern Europe, and back to the UAE.

Measuring success

Although the vehicle is expected to be capable of flying non-stop around the globe, Picard will in fact make five long hops, sharing flying duties with project partner Andre Borschberg.

“The aeroplane could do it theoretically non-stop – but not the pilot,” said Picard.

“We should fly at roughly 25 knots and that would make it between 20 and 25 days to go around the world, which is too much for a pilot who has to steer the plane.

“In a balloon you can sleep, because it stays in the air even if you sleep. We believe the maximum for one pilot is five days.”

The public unveiling on Friday of the HB-SIA is taking place at Dubendorf airfield near Zürich.

“The real success for Solar Impulse would be to have enough millions of people following the project, being enthusiastic about it, and saying ‘if they managed to do it around the world with renewable energies and energy savings, then we should be able to do it in our daily life’.”

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Friends and colleagues of Michael Jackson and music industry insiders have been paying tribute to the star following his death at the age of 50.

“I can’t stop crying over the sad news. I’ve always admired Michael Jackson – the world has lost one of its greats but his music will live on forever. “My heart goes out to his three children and other members of his family. God bless.”

“I am shocked. I am overwhelmed by this tragedy. Michael Jackson has been an idol for me all my life. “He was not only a talented person but he was unique – a genius. It’s such a loss. It feels like when Kennedy died, when Elvis died. My sympathy goes to the family. It’s a big loss and it’s not even sinking in right now.”

“I’m having a million different reactions I didn’t expect I would feel.

“He was a great singer – God gives you certain gifts and this child was just an extraordinary child touched by this ability. He could sing like nobody else and he was able to connect with people.”

“I’m absolutely devastated at this news. I just don’t have the words. Divinity brought our souls together and allowed us to do what we could do through the 80s.

“To this day that music is played in every corner of the world, and the reason is because he had it all – talent, grace and professionalism. I’ve lost my little brother today and part of my soul has gone with him.”

“I am so very sad and confused with every emotion possible. I am heartbroken for his children, who I know were everything to him and for his family. This is such a massive loss on so many levels, words fail me.”

“As a friend of Michael’s for the past 35 years, I call on people from around the world to pray for him and his family.”

“Michael Jackson showed me that you can actually see the beat. He made the music come to life! He made me believe in magic. I will miss him!”

“I am stunned. My friend, Michael Jackson is dead. He lived with me for a week on ‘Golden Pond’ set after Thriller.

“He was one of the most influential and iconic figures in the music industry… Our hearts go out to the Jackson family, Michael’s children and to his fans worldwide.”

“My heart goes out to the King of Pop and his family.”

“Definitely one of the greatest stars of recorded music. There is no doubt of that. He would be in the top 10 of all time, regardless of who the other nine people were.

“But you also have to remember that he went through different stages and owed some of his popularity to collaborators – who I’m sure will be feeling particularly struck tonight – Quincy Jones, with whom he did the great trilogy of albums: Off The Wall, Thriller and Bad.

And he had his historic string of hits Motown with the Jackson Five. And there’s no doubt that the records will be listened to for decades to come.”

“I’m just devastated, very very sad. I pray that his soul is up there now. I’m still trying to hold on to the glimmer that it is not true. It is too surreal for me to absorb that Michael is no longer with us.

“Michael was in good shape because he was practising, he was training, he was rehearsing for the shows [due to start in London next month]. Michael was careful with what he ate, he was just fine. Last time I know and heard of what he was doing he was in great shape. And this is why I’m so absolutely shocked by this news.”

“He’s the most misunderstood man in world. Everyone thought he was this weird freak but when you’re with him he’s as normal as everyone else. I don’t think he felt he was as famous as everyone else thought, he didn’t know any different.

“He was a very caring guy who would go out of his way to help the sick. One night in London he wanted to see some homeless people. He sent them loads of pizzas in secret. The guy had a good heart.

“We used to dress him up and sneak out of hotel room and do normal things in shops, people wouldn’t know who he was but we wanted to give him a taste of the real life.”

”Michael Jackson was the biggest news story this year in music anyway, you know, a man who has not played live for over a decade, a huge come back, one of the biggest selling artists of all time, 50 sold-out dates, 750,000 tickets at the 02.

“And that was going to be, people thought, the beginning of the next stage of his career, maybe getting back with The Jackson Five, maybe playing in Vegas, it is just utterly flabbergasting.”

“It’s devastating to me. I don’t quite get it. I just don’t understand how a person who is younger than I was and to me still had a lot to give the world, is no longer here. I still haven’t really digested it.”

bbcnews.com

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Vedio link

Pop star Michael Jackson has died in Los Angeles, aged 50.

Paramedics were called to the singer’s home around midday local time on Thursday after he stopped breathing.

He was pronounced dead two hours later at the UCLA medical centre. A spokesman for the centre said the star died of a suspected heart attack.

Speaking on behalf of Jackson’s family, his brother, Jermaine, said doctors had tried to resuscitate the star for more than an hour without success.

He added: “The family request that the media please respect our privacy during this tough time.”

“And Allah be with you Michael always. I love you.”

Jackson, who had a history of health problems, had been due to begin a series of comeback concerts in the UK on 13 July.

Concerns were raised last month when four of the concerts were postponed, but organisers insisted the dates had been moved due to the complexity of staging the show.

A spokeswoman for The Outside Organisation, which was organising the publicity for the shows, said she had no comment at this time.

Broadcaster Paul Gambaccini said: “I always doubted that he would have been able to go through that schedule, those concerts. It seemed to be too much of a demand on the unhealthy body of a 50 year old.

“I’m wondering that, as we find out details of his death, if perhaps the stress of preparing for those dates was a factor in his collapse.

“It was wishful thinking that at this stage of his life he could be MJ again.”

Uri Gellar, a close friend of the star, told BBC News it was “very, very sad”.

Jackson had been in the spotlight from the age of five

Speaking outside the UCLA medical centre in Los Angeles, civil rights activist Rev Al Sharpton paid tribute to his friend.

“I knew him 35 years. When he had problems he would call me,” he said.

“I feel like he was not treated fairly. I hope history will be more kind to him than some of the contemporary media.”

Melanie Bromley, west coast bureau chief of Us Weekly magazine, told the BBC the scene in Los Angeles was one of “pandenomium”.

“At the moment there is a period of disbelief. There are hundreds of people outside UCLA waiting for news.

“He was buying a home in the Holmby Hills area of Los Angeles and the scene outside the house is one of fans, reporters and TV cameras – it’s absolute craziness.

“I feel this is the biggest celebrity story in a long time and has the potential to be the Princess Diana of popular culture.”

Musical icon

MICHAEL JACKSON 1958-2009 Full name: Michael Joseph Jackson Born: August 29, 1958, Gary, Indiana, US Also known as: The King of Pop, Wacko Jacko Biggest hits: I Want You Back, Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough, Billie Jean, Bad, Black or White, Earth Song Obituary: Remarkable talent Life in pictures Tributes paid to Michael Jackson

Paramedics were called to the singer’s house in Bel Air at 1221 following an emergency phone call.

They performed CPR on Jackson and rushed him to the UCLA medical centre.

A spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department said the robbery and homicide team was investigating Jackson’s death because of its “high profile”, but there was no suggestion of foul play.

Jackson began his career as a child in family group The Jackson 5.

He then went on to achieve global fame as a solo artist with smash hits such as Billie Jean and Bad.

Thriller, released in 1982, is the biggest-selling album of all time, shifting 65m copies, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

He scored seven UK number ones as a solo artist and won a total of 13 Grammy awards.

“For Michael to be taken away from us so suddenly at such a young age, I just don’t have the words,” said Quincy Jones, who produced Thriller, Bad and Off The Wall.

“He was the consummate entertainer and his contributions and legacy will be felt upon the world forever. I’ve lost my little brother today, and part of my soul has gone with him.”

Family

The singer had been dogged by controversy and money trouble in recent years, becoming a virtual recluse.

He was arrested in 2003 on charges of molesting a 14-year-old boy, but was found not guilty following a five-month trial.

The star had three children, Michael Joseph Jackson Jr, Paris Michael Katherine Jackson and Prince Michael Jackson II.

He is survived by his mother, Katherine, father, Joseph and eight siblings – including Janet, Randy, Jermaine and La Toya Jackson.

source bbcnews.com

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