title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: Early analysis from the BBC stated the swap deal could have been an "effort by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to deflect pressure for fresh sanctions" and that "Iran watchers are already criticising Washington for moving the goal posts". Iran's atomic energy chief said the agreement left world powers no reason to continue to pressure Iran regarding its nuclear program. Iran also described the agreement as a major boost to trilateral relations with Brazil and Turkey, and Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei criticized the continuing call for sanctions, stating that the "domineering powers headed by America are unhappy with cooperation between independent countries."


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: Mohamed ElBaradei, former director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, wrote that "the only way to resolve the Iranian issue is to build trust. Moving 1200, half, or at least more than half of the Iranian nuclear material out of Iran is a confidence-building measure would defuse the crisis and enable the US and the West [to gain] the space to negotiate. I hope that it would be perceived as a win-win situation. If we see what I have been observing in the last couple of days that it is an "empty dressing", I think it is a wrong approach...we lost six years of failed policy frankly vis-à-vis Iran. And it's about time now to understand that the Iranian issue is not going to be resolved except, until and unless we sit with the Iranians and try to find a fair and equitable solution." "If this deal is followed up with a broader engagement of the IAEA and the international community, it can be a positive step to a negotiated settlement," UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said.


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: Several Iranian nuclear scientists died in alleged assassination attacks between 2010 and 2012. According to Iran, and privately confirmed by unnamed US government officials, the attacks on the nuclear scientists and facilities are being carried out by an Iranian dissident group called the People's Mujahedin of Iran. According to US officials, the group is financed, trained, and armed by Mossad.


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: According to former Iranian chief of staff Hassan Firouzabadi, the West used tourists and environmentalists to spy on Iran: "In their possessions were a variety of reptile desert species like lizards, chameleons… We found out that their skin attracts atomic waves and that they were nuclear spies who wanted to find out where inside the Islamic Republic of Iran we have uranium mines and where we are engaged in atomic activities.", however these plots were foiled by Iran.


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: Foreign Ministers of the P5+1 met in September 2013 on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly, and were joined by Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif.


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: Lead negotiators for the P5+1 and Iran met in Geneva 15–16 October to discuss elements of a possible framework for resolving questions about Iran's nuclear program. Experts from the P5+1 and Iran met in Vienna 30–31 October to exchange detailed information on those elements. Lead negotiators met again 7–8 November to negotiate that framework, joined at the end by Foreign Ministers from the P5+1, but despite extending the talks past midnight 9 November were unable to agree on that framework and agreed instead to meet again 20 November.


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: On 24 November, the foreign ministers of Iran and the P5+1 agreed to a six-month interim deal that involves the freezing of key parts of the Iranian nuclear program in exchange for a decrease in sanctions, to provide time to negotiate a permanent agreement. Iran will stop enriching uranium beyond five percent, and will stop development of their Arak plant. The UN will be granted greater access for inspections. In exchange, Iran will receive relief from sanctions of approximately US$7 billion (£4.3 billion) and no additional sanctions will be imposed. President Obama called the agreement an "important first step." Following further negotiation of implementation details, a summary of which was released by the White House on 16 January 2014, implementation began 20 January 2014.


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: On 20 February 2014 the IAEA reported that Iran was implementing its commitments to the P5+1 and its commitments to the IAEA under the Joint Statement of 11 November 2013.


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: During February to July 2014, the P5+1 and Iran held high-level negotiations on a comprehensive agreement on Iran's nuclear program in Vienna, Austria. After six rounds of talks the parties missed the deadline for reaching a deal and agreed to extend the negotiations through 24 November. Additionally, it was agreed that the US will unblock $2.8 billion in frozen Iranian funds, in exchange for Iran continuing to convert its stocks of 20 percent enriched uranium into fuel.


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: The EU Court of Justice annulled a freeze of the Iranian Sharif University's assets since the EU could not provide sufficient evidence of the university's links to the nuclear program of Iran.


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: In January 2016, it was announced that Iran had dismantled major parts of its nuclear program, paving the way for sanctions to be lifted.


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: In 2018 the Mossad reportedly stole nuclear secrets from a secure warehouse in Iran. According to reports, the agents came in a truck semitrailer at midnight, cut into dozens of safes with "high intensity torches", and carted out "50,000 pages and 163 compact discs of memos, videos and plans" before leaving in time to make their escape when the guards came for the morning shift at 7 am. According to a US intelligence official, an "enormous" Iranian "dragnet operation" was unsuccessful in recovering the documents, which escaped through Azerbaijan.


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: According to the Israelis, the documents and files (which it shared with European countries and the United States), demonstrated that the Iranian AMAD Project aimed to develop nuclear weapons, that Iran had a nuclear program when it claimed to have "largely suspended it", and that there were two nuclear sites in Iran that had been hidden from inspectors. Iran claims "the whole thing was a hoax".


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: In February 2019, the IAEA certified that Iran was still abiding by the international Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) of 2015.


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: On 8 May 2019, Iran announced it would suspend implementation of some parts of the JCPOA, threatening further action in 60 days unless it received protection from US sanctions. In July 2019, the IAEA confirmed that Iran has breached both the 300 kg enriched uranium stockpile limit and the 3.67% refinement limit. On 5 November 2019, Iranian nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi announced that Iran will enrich uranium to 5% at the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant, adding the country had the capability to enrich uranium to 20% if needed. Also in November, Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, stated that Iran can enrich up to 60% if needed.


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: President Hassan Rouhani declared that Iran's nuclear program would be "limitless" while the country launches the third phase of quitting from the 2015 nuclear deal.


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: In January 2020, following the killing of Iranian Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani, Iran stated that it would no longer abide by the JCPOA's restrictions on its enrichment program.


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: In March 2020, the IAEA said that Iran had nearly tripled its stockpile of enriched uranium since early November 2019.


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: In June 2020, following reports by IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi in March and June describing the IAEA's efforts to resolve questions about the correctness and completeness of Iran's declarations, the IAEA Board of Governors passed a resolution calling on Iran to cooperate fully in implementing its safeguards agreement and Additional Protocol and to grant access to two suspected former nuclear sites and address doubts regarding undeclared nuclear material. Iran denounced the resolution.


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: In late June and early July 2020, there were several explosions in Iran, including one that damaged the Natanz enrichment plant (see 2020 Iran explosions).


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: On 2 July 2020, the above-ground main advanced centrifuge assembly facility at Natanz was destroyed by physical sabotage by Israel's Mossad. After the July explosion, Iran started moving three cascades, or clusters, of different advanced models of centrifuge to its below-ground Fuel Enrichment Plant (FEP).


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: In September 2020, the IAEA reported that Iran had accumulated ten times as much enriched uranium as permitted by the JCPOA.


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: In November 2020, the IAEA reported that Iran had started feeding uranium hexafluoride (UF6) into a newly installed underground cascade of 174 advanced IR-2m centrifuges at Natanz, which the JCPOA did not permit.


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: Iran's top nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, was assassinated in Tehran, Iran on 27 November 2020. Fakhrizadeh was believed to be the primary force behind Iran's covert nuclear program for many decades. The New York Times reported that Israel's Mossad was behind the attack and that Mick Mulroy, the former Deputy Defense Secretary for the Middle East said the death of Fakhirizadeh was "a setback to Iran’s nuclear program and he was also a senior officer in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and that "will magnify Iran’s desire to respond by force."


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: In January 2021, Iran told the IAEA that it would enrich uranium to 20%, as it had done before the JCPOA. In February 2021, Iran's Foreign Ministry confirmed that the country has informed IAEA about its plans to reduce the commitments made to the agency, alongside limiting the IAEA's access to Iran's nuclear facilities. Later in February the IAEA confirmed that Iran had begun to produce uranium metal, in contravention of the JCPOA. Iranian leaders have claimed that "the country’s nuclear program has always been intended solely for peaceful civilian purposes." The UK, France, and Germany said that Iran has "no credible civilian use for uranium metal" and called the news "deeply concerning" because of its "potentially grave military implications" (as the use of metallic enriched uranium is for bombs). In March 2021, Iran started enriching UF6 uranium at its underground Natanz plant with a second type of advanced centrifuge, the IR-4, in a further breach of the JCPOA.


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: On 10 April, Iran began injecting uranium hexafluoride gas into advanced IR-6 and IR-5 centrifuges at Natanz, but on the next day, an accident occurred in the electricity distribution network.


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: In May 2021, the IAEA reported that Iran produced 60% highly enriched uranium in limited amounts. Iran said this was in response to the Natanz incident.


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: In March 2022, Iran has defied Western powers by turning part of its enriched uranium to near-weapons-grade into a form that is more difficult to retrieve, dilute, and transport out of the country, according to a report released by the United Nations nuclear watchdog.


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: In March 2022, Iran and the IAEA agreed to a three-month plan that, in the best-case scenario, would handle the long-stalled issue of uranium particles discovered at old but undeclared locations in the nation, removing a roadblock to the Iran nuclear deal being resurrected.


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: In April 2022, Iran handed over documents linked to pending concerns to the IAEA as it requested for the agency's inquiry into uranium particles discovered at three undeclared facilities to be closed.


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: On April 14, 2022, the IAEA said in a report seen by Reuters that Iran is starting to operate a new workshop at Natanz that would build parts for uranium-enriching centrifuges using machinery relocated from its now-closed Karaj plant.


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: On April 29, 2022, according to IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi, Iran's new workshop at Natanz for fabricating centrifuge parts was set up underground, presumably to protect it from possible attacks.


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: On June 25, 2022, in a meeting with the senior diplomat of the EU, Ali Shamkhani, Iran's top security officer, declared that Iran would continue to advance its nuclear program until the West modifies its "illegal behavior."


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: On July 9, 2022, according to an IAEA report seen by Reuters, Iran has increased its uranium enrichment through the use of sophisticated equipment at its underground Fordow plant in a configuration that can more quickly vary between enrichment levels.


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: In September 2022, Germany, United Kingdom and France expressed doubts over Iran's sincerity in returning to the JCPOA after Tehran insisted that the IAEA close its probes into uranium traces at three undeclared Iranian sites.


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: On October 22, 2022, the Iranian hacktivist group Black Reward leaked 50 gigabytes of internal emails, contracts, and construction plans related to Iran's Bushehr power plant. The group stated that they released the documents after the government failed to respond to their demand of releasing the protestors arrested during the Mahsa Amini protests, whom Black Reward described as political prisoners. Iran's civil nuclear arm acknowledged that hackers had breached their email system, which was being used by the Nuclear Power Production and Development Company who operates the country's sole nuclear power plant in Bushehr.


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: The continuing controversy over Iran's nuclear program revolves in part around allegations of nuclear studies by Iran with possible military applications until 2003, when, according to the 2007 National Intelligence Estimate, the program was ended. The allegations, which include claims that Iran had engaged in high-explosives testing, sought to manufacture green salt (), and design a nuclear-capable missile warhead, were based on information obtained from a laptop computer allegedly retrieved from Iran in 2004. The US presented some of the alleged contents of the laptop in 2005 to an audience of international diplomats, though the laptop and the full documents contained in it have yet to be given to the IAEA for independent verification. According to the "New York Times":


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: On 21 August 2007, Iran and the IAEA finalized an agreement, titled "Understandings of The Islamic Republic of Iran and the IAEA on the Modalities of Resolution of the Outstanding Issues," that listed outstanding issues regarding Iran's nuclear program and set out a timetable to resolve each issue in order. These unresolved issues included the status of Iran's uranium mine at Gchine, allegations of experiments with plutonium and uranium metal, and the use of polonium-210. Specifically regarding the "Alleged Studies", the Modalities agreement asserted that while Iran considers the documents to be fabricated, Iran would nevertheless address the allegations "upon receiving all related documents" as a goodwill gesture. The Modalities Agreement specifically said that aside from the issues identified in the document, there were "no other remaining issues and ambiguities regarding Iran's past nuclear program and activities."


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: The United States was opposed to the Modalities Agreement between Iran and the IAEA, and vehemently objected to it, accusing Iran of "manipulating" IAEA. Olli Heinonen, the IAEA Deputy Director General for safeguards, underlined the importance of the Iran-IAEA agreement as a working arrangement on how to resolve the outstanding issues that triggered Security Council resolutions:


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: Following the implementation of the Modalities Agreement, the IAEA issued another report on the status of Iran's nuclear program on 22 February 2008. According to this report, the IAEA had no evidence of a current, undeclared nuclear program in Iran, and all of the remaining issues listed in the Modalities Agreement regarding past undeclared nuclear activities had been resolved, with the exception of the "Alleged Studies" issue. Regarding this report, IAEA director ElBaradei specifically stated:


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: The US had made some of the "Alleged Studies" documentation available to the IAEA just a week prior to the issuance of the IAEA's February 2008 report on Iran's nuclear program. According to the IAEA report itself, the IAEA had "not detected the use of nuclear material in connection with the alleged studies, nor does it have credible information in this regard." Some diplomats reportedly dismissed the new allegations as being "of doubtful value ... relatively insignificant and coming too late."


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: It was reported on 3 March 2008, that Olli Heinonen, the IAEA Deputy Director general of safeguards, had briefed diplomats about the contents of the "Alleged Studies" documents a week earlier. Reportedly, Heinonen added that the IAEA had obtained corroborating information from the intelligence agencies of several countries, that pointed to sophisticated research into some key technologies needed to build and deliver a nuclear bomb.


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: In April 2008, Iran reportedly agreed to address the sole outstanding issue of the "Alleged Studies" However, according to the subsequent May 2008 IAEA report, the IAEA was not able to actually provide these same "Alleged Studies" documents to Iran, because the IAEA did not have the documents itself or was not allowed to share them with Iran. For example, in paragraph 21, the IAEA report states: "Although the Agency had been shown the documents that led it to these conclusions, it was not in possession of the documents and was therefore unfortunately unable to make them available to Iran." Also, in paragraph 16, the IAEA report states: "The Agency received much of this information only in electronic form and was not authorised to provide copies to Iran." The IAEA has requested that it be allowed to share the documents with Iran. Nevertheless, according to the report, Iran may have more information on the alleged studies which "remain a matter of serious concern" but the IAEA itself had not detected evidence of actual design or manufacture by Iran of nuclear weapons or components.


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: Iran's refusal to respond to the IAEA's questions unless it is given access to the original documents has caused a standoff. In February 2008, "The New York Times" reported that the US refusal to provide access to those documents was a source of friction between the Bush Administration and then Director General ElBaradei. ElBaradei later noted that these documents could not be shared because of the need to protect sources and methods, but noted that this allowed Iran to question their authenticity. According to Iran's envoy to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, "The government of the United States has not handed over original documents to the agency since it does not in fact have any authenticated document and all it has are forged documents."


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: The IAEA has requested that third parties allow it to share the documents on the alleged studies with Iran. The IAEA has further stated that though it has not provided full documents containing the alleged studies, information from other countries has corroborated some of the allegations, which appear to the IAEA to be consistent and credible, and that Iran should therefore address the alleged studies even without obtaining the full documents. However, questions about the authenticity of the documents persist, with claims that the documents were obtained either from Israel or the People's Mujahedin of Iran, an Iranian dissident group based on Islamic and Socialist ideology officially considered to be a terrorist organization by the United States, and that investigations into the alleged studies are intended to reveal intelligence about Iran's conventional weapons programs. Some IAEA officials have requested a clear statement be made by the agency that it could not affirm the documents' authenticity. They cite that as a key document in the study had since been proven to have been fraudulently altered, it put in doubt the entire collection.


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: On 30 April 2018, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed thousands of files he said were copied from a "highly secret location" in Tehran which show an Iranian effort to develop nuclear weapons between 1999 and 2003. Many analysts said there was little new information in Netanyahu's presentation, which they speculated was designed to influence President Trump's decision on the Iran deal. The IAEA reiterated its 2015 report, saying it had found no credible evidence of nuclear weapons activity in Iran after 2009. According to David Albright of the Institute for Science and International Security, the archive revealed that Iran's weapon program was more advanced than had been previously believed in the West and that should Iran pull out of the JCPOA it would be able to produce weapons swiftly, possibly within a few months.


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: Iran says that its program is solely for peaceful purposes and consistent with the NPT. The IAEA Board of Governors has found Iran in non-compliance with its NPT safeguards agreement, concluding in a rare non-consensus decision with 12 abstentions, that Iran's past safeguards "breaches" and "failures" constituted "non-compliance" with its Safeguards Agreement In the decision, the IAEA Board of Governors also concluded that the concerns raised fell within the competence of the UN Security Council.


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: Most experts recognize that non-compliance with an NPT safeguards agreement is not equivalent to a violation of the NPT or does not automatically constitute a violation of the NPT itself. The IAEA does not make determinations regarding compliance with the NPT, and the UN Security Council does not have a responsibility to adjudicate treaty violations. Dr. James Acton, an associate in the Nonproliferation Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, has said the 2010 NPT Review Conference could recognize that non-compliance with safeguards agreements would violate article III of the NPT. Director of the Australian Nonproliferation and Safeguards Organization and then Chairman of IAEA Standing Advisory Group on Safeguards Implementation John Carlson wrote in considering the case of Iran that "formally IAEA Board of Governors (BOG) decisions concern compliance with safeguards agreements, rather than the NPT as such, but in practical terms non-compliance with a safeguards agreement constitutes non-compliance with the NPT."


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: A September 2009 Congressional Research Service paper said "whether Iran has violated the NPT is unclear." A 2005 US State Department report on compliance with arms control and nonproliferation agreements concluded, based on its analysis of the facts and the relevant international laws, that Iran's extensive failures to make required reports to the IAEA made "clear that Iran has violated Article III of the NPT and its IAEA safeguards agreement." Testimony presented to the Foreign Select Committee of the British Parliament drew the opposite conclusion:


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: The 2005 US State Department compliance report also concluded that "Iran is pursuing an effort to manufacture nuclear weapons, and has sought and received assistance in this effort in violation of Article II of the NPT". The November 2007 United States National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) asserted that Tehran halted a nuclear weapons program in fall 2003, but that Iran "at a minimum is keeping open the option to develop nuclear weapon". Russian analyst Alexei Arbatov, said "no hard facts on violation of the NPT "per se" have been discovered" and also wrote that "all this is not enough to accuse Iran of a formal breach of the letter of the NPT" and "giving Iran the benefit of the doubt, there is no hard evidence of its full-steam development of a military nuclear program."


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: NPT Article IV recognizes the right of states to research, develop and use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, but only in conformity with their nuclear nonproliferation obligations under Articles I and II of the NPT.


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: The UN Security Council has demanded that Iran suspend its nuclear enrichment activities in multiple resolutions. The United States has said the "central bargain of the NPT is that if non-nuclear-weapon states renounce the pursuit of nuclear weapons, and comply fully with this commitment, they may gain assistance under Article IV of the Treaty to develop peaceful nuclear programs". The US has written that Paragraph 1 of Article IV makes clear that access to peaceful nuclear cooperation must be "in conformity with Articles I and II of this Treaty" and also by extension Article III of the NPT. Rahman Bonad, Director of Arms Control Studies at the Center for Strategic Research at Tehran, has argued that demands to cease enrichment run counter to "all negotiations and discussions that led to the adoption of the NPT in the 1960s and the fundamental logic of striking a balance between the rights and obligations stipulated in the NPT." In February 2006 Iran's foreign minister insisted that "Iran rejects all forms of scientific and nuclear apartheid by any world power," and asserted that this "scientific and nuclear apartheid" was "an immoral and discriminatory treatment of signatories to the Non-Proliferation Treaty," and that Iran has "the right to a peaceful use of nuclear energy and we cannot accept nuclear apartheid."


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: Russia has said it believes Iran has a right to enrich uranium on its soil. Former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice suggested that there could be work toward an international nuclear fuel bank instead of indigenous Iranian enrichment, while Richard Haass, President of the Council on Foreign Relations, has said "the United States should be willing to discuss what Iran describes as its 'right to enrich' ... provided that Iran accepts both limits on its enrichment program (no HEU) and enhanced safeguards". Officials of the Iranian government and members of the Iranian public believe Iran should be developing its peaceful nuclear industry. A March 2008 poll of 30 nations found moderate support for allowing Iran to produce nuclear fuel for electricity alongside a full program of UN inspections.


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: The Iranian authorities deny seeking a nuclear weapons capacity for deterrence or retaliation since Iran's level of technological progress cannot match that of existing nuclear weapons states, and the acquisition of nuclear weapons would only spark an arms race in the Middle East. According to Ambassador Javad Zarif:


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: Iran's President Ahmadinejad, during an interview with NBC anchor Brian Williams in July 2008, also dismissed the utility of nuclear weapons as a source of security and stated:


title: Nuclear program of Iran

text: Historically, until its own nuclear program began development, Iran had consistently supported the creation of a nuclear-weapons free zone in the Middle East. In 1974, as concerns in the region grew over Israel's nuclear weapon program, Iran formally proposed the concept of a nuclear weapon free zone in the Middle East in a joint resolution in the UN General Assembly.


title: Space tourism

text: Space tourism is human space travel for recreational purposes. There are several different types of space tourism, including orbital, suborbital and lunar space tourism.


title: Space tourism

text: During the period from 2001 to 2009, seven space tourists made eight space flights aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station, brokered by Space Adventures in conjunction with Roscosmos and RSC Energia. The publicized price was in the range of US$20–25 million per trip. Some space tourists have signed contracts with third parties to conduct certain research activities while in orbit. By 2007, space tourism was thought to be one of the earliest markets that would emerge for commercial spaceflight.


title: Space tourism

text: Russia halted orbital space tourism in 2010 due to the increase in the International Space Station crew size, using the seats for expedition crews that would previously have been sold to paying spaceflight participants. Orbital tourist flights were set to resume in 2015 but the planned flight was postponed indefinitely. Russian orbital tourism eventually resumed with the launch of Soyuz MS-20 in 2021.


title: Space tourism

text: On June 7, 2019, NASA announced that starting in 2020, the organization aims to start allowing private astronauts to go on the International Space Station, with the use of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and the Boeing Starliner spacecraft for public astronauts, which is planned to be priced at 35,000 USD per day for one astronaut, and an estimated 50 million USD for the ride there and back.


title: Space tourism

text: Work also continues towards developing suborbital space tourism vehicles. This is being done by aerospace companies like Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic. SpaceX announced in 2018 that they are planning on sending space tourists, including Yusaku Maezawa, on a free-return trajectory around the Moon on the Starship.


title: Space tourism

text: The Soviet space program was successful in broadening the pool of cosmonauts. The Soviet Intercosmos program included cosmonauts selected from Warsaw Pact member countries (Czechoslovakia, Poland, East Germany, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania) and later from allies of the USSR (Cuba, Mongolia, Vietnam) and non-aligned countries (India, Syria, Afghanistan). Most of these cosmonauts received full training for their missions and were treated as equals, but were generally given shorter flights than Soviet cosmonauts. The European Space Agency (ESA) also took advantage of the program.


title: Space tourism

text: The US Space Shuttle program included payload specialist positions which were usually filled by representatives of companies or institutions managing a specific payload on that mission. These payload specialists did not receive the same training as professional NASA astronauts and were not employed by NASA. In 1983, Ulf Merbold from the ESA and Byron Lichtenberg from MIT (engineer and Air Force fighter pilot) were the first payload specialists to fly on the Space Shuttle, on mission STS-9.


title: Space tourism

text: In 1984, Charles D. Walker became the first non-government astronaut to fly, with his employer McDonnell Douglas paying US$40,000 () for his flight. During the 1970s, Shuttle prime contractor Rockwell International studied a $200–300 million removable cabin that could fit into the Shuttle's cargo bay. The cabin could carry up to 74 passengers into orbit for up to three days. Space Habitation Design Associates proposed, in 1983, a cabin for 72 passengers in the bay. Passengers were located in six sections, each with windows and its own loading ramp, and with seats in different configurations for launch and landing. Another proposal was based on the Spacelab habitation modules, which provided 32 seats in the payload bay in addition to those in the cockpit area. A 1985 presentation to the National Space Society stated that, although flying tourists in the cabin would cost $1 million to $1.5 million per passenger without government subsidy, within 15 years, 30,000 people a year would pay US$25,000 () each to fly in space on new spacecraft. The presentation also forecast flights to lunar orbit within 30 years and visits to the lunar surface within 50 years.


title: Space tourism

text: As the shuttle program expanded in the early 1980s, NASA began a Space Flight Participant program to allow citizens without scientific or governmental roles to fly. Christa McAuliffe was chosen as the first Teacher in Space in July 1985 from 11,400 applicants. 1,700 applied for the Journalist in Space program. An Artist in Space program was considered, and NASA expected that after McAuliffe's flight two to three civilians a year would fly on the shuttle. After McAuliffe was killed in the "Challenger" disaster in January 1986, the programs were canceled. McAuliffe's backup, Barbara Morgan, eventually got hired in 1998 as a professional astronaut and flew on STS-118 as a mission specialist. A second journalist-in-space program, in which NASA green-lighted Miles O'Brien to fly on the Space Shuttle, was scheduled to be announced in 2003. That program was canceled in the wake of the "Columbia" disaster on STS-107 and subsequent emphasis on finishing the International Space Station before retiring the Space Shuttle.


title: Space tourism

text: Initially, senior figures at NASA strongly opposed space tourism on principle; from the beginning of the ISS expeditions, NASA stated it was not interested in accommodating paying guests. The Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics Committee on Science of the House of Representatives held in June 2001 revealed the shifting attitude of NASA towards paying space tourists wanting to travel to the ISS in its statement on the hearing's purpose: "Review the issues and opportunities for flying nonprofessional astronauts in space, the appropriate government role for supporting the nascent space tourism industry, use of the Shuttle and Space Station for Tourism, safety and training criteria for space tourists, and the potential commercial market for space tourism." The subcommittee report was interested in evaluating Dennis Tito's extensive training and his experience in space as a nonprofessional astronaut.


title: Space tourism

text: With the realities of the post-Perestroika economy in Russia, its space industry was especially starved for cash. The Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) offered to pay for one of its reporters to fly on a mission. Toyohiro Akiyama was flown in 1990 to "Mir" with the eighth crew and returned a week later with the seventh crew. Cost estimates vary from $10 million up to $37 million. Akiyama gave a daily TV broadcast from orbit and also performed scientific experiments for Russian and Japanese companies.


title: Space tourism

text: In 1991, British chemist Helen Sharman was selected from a pool of 13,000 applicants to be the first Briton in space. The program was known as Project Juno and was a cooperative arrangement between the Soviet Union and a group of British companies. The Project Juno consortium failed to raise the funds required, and the program was almost canceled. Reportedly Mikhail Gorbachev ordered it to proceed under Soviet expense in the interests of international relations, but in the absence of Western underwriting, less expensive experiments were substituted for those in the original plans. Sharman flew aboard Soyuz TM-12 to "Mir" and returned aboard Soyuz TM-11.


title: Space tourism

text: As of 2021, Space Adventures and SpaceX are the only companies to have coordinated tourism flights to Earth's orbit. Virginia-based Space Adventures has worked with Russia to use its Soyuz spacecraft to fly ultra-wealthy individuals to the International Space Station. The tourists included entrepreneur and space investor Anousheh Ansari and Cirque du Soleil co-founder Guy Laliberté. Those missions were priced at around $20 million each. The space industry could soon be headed for a tourism revolution if SpaceX and Boeing make good on their plans to take tourists to orbit.


title: Space tourism

text: At the end of the 1990s, MirCorp, a private venture that was by then in charge of the space station, began seeking potential space tourists to visit "Mir" in order to offset some of its maintenance costs. Dennis Tito, an American businessman and former JPL scientist, became their first candidate. When the decision was made to de-orbit "Mir", Tito managed to switch his trip to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft through a deal between MirCorp and US-based Space Adventures, Ltd. Dennis Tito visited the ISS for seven days in April–May 2001, becoming the world's first "fee-paying" space tourist. Tito paid a reported $20 million for his trip.


title: Space tourism

text: Tito was followed in April 2002 by South African Mark Shuttleworth (Soyuz TM-34). The third was Gregory Olsen in October 2005 (Soyuz TMA-7). In February 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated on re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts aboard. After this disaster, space tourism on the Russian Soyuz program was temporarily put on hold, because Soyuz vehicles became the only available transport to the ISS. After the Shuttle's return to service in July 2005, space tourism was resumed. In September 2006, an Iranian American businesswoman named Anousheh Ansari became the fourth space tourist (Soyuz TMA-9).) In April 2007, Charles Simonyi, an American businessman of Hungarian descent, joined their ranks (Soyuz TMA-10). Simonyi became the first repeat space tourist, paying again to fly on Soyuz TMA-14 in March 2009. British-American Richard Garriott became the next space tourist in October 2008 aboard Soyuz TMA-13. Canadian Guy Laliberté visited the ISS in September 2009 aboard Soyuz TMA-16, becoming the last visiting tourist until December 2021. Originally the third member aboard Soyuz TMA-18M should have been the British singer Sarah Brightman as a space tourist, but on May 13, 2015, she announced she had withdrawn from training.


title: Space tourism

text: Since the Space Shuttle was retired in 2011, Soyuz once again became the only means of accessing the ISS, and so tourism was once again put on hold. On June 7, 2019, NASA announced a plan to open the ISS to space tourism again.


title: Space tourism

text: On September 16, 2021, the Inspiration4 mission launched from the Kennedy Space Center on a SpaceX Falcon 9 and spent almost three days in orbit aboard the Crew Dragon "Resilience", becoming the first all-civilian crew to fly an orbital space mission.


title: Space tourism

text: On April 8, 2022, SpaceX launched Axiom Mission 1 (Ax-1) for Axiom Space, sending three space tourists and retired NASA astronaut Michael López-Alegría to the International Space Station on a Crew Dragon spacecraft. Ax-1 was the first mission to send multiple space tourists to the ISS. The mission also marked the first of NASA's officially-sanctioned Private Astronaut Missions (PAMs) to the ISS. Through these missions, NASA hopes to create a non-NASA market for human spaceflight to enable cost-sharing on future commercial space stations.


title: Space tourism

text: Under the Outer Space Treaty signed in 1967, the launch operator's nationality and the launch site's location determine which country is responsible for any damages occurred from a launch.


title: Space tourism

text: After valuable resources were detected on the Moon, private companies began to formulate methods to extract the resources. Article II of the Outer Space Treaty dictates that "outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means". However, countries have the right to freely explore the Moon and any resources collected are property of that country when they return.


title: Space tourism

text: In December 2005, the US government released a set of proposed rules for space tourism. These included screening procedures and training for emergency situations, but not health requirements.


title: Space tourism

text: Under current US law, any company proposing to launch paying passengers from American soil on a suborbital rocket must receive a license from the Federal Aviation Administration's Office of Commercial Space Transportation (FAA/AST). The licensing process focuses on public safety and safety of property, and the details can be found in the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 14, Chapter III. This is in accordance with the Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act passed by Congress in 2004.


title: Space tourism

text: In March 2010, the New Mexico legislature passed the Spaceflight Informed Consent Act. The SICA gives legal protection to companies who provide private space flights in the case of accidental harm or death to individuals. Participants sign an Informed Consent waiver, dictating that spaceflight operators cannot be held liable in the "death of a participant resulting from the inherent risks of space flight activities". Operators are however not covered in the case of gross negligence or willful misconduct.


title: Space tourism

text: The following list notes each trip taken by an individual for whom a fee was paid (by themselves or another party) to go above the Kármán Line, the internationally recognized boundary of space. It also includes future trips which are paid for and scheduled.


title: Space tourism

text: Many private space travelers have objected to the term "space tourist", often pointing out that their role went beyond that of an observer, since they also carried out scientific experiments in the course of their journey. Richard Garriott additionally emphasized that his training was identical to the requirements of non-Russian Soyuz crew members, and that teachers and other non-professional astronauts chosen to fly with NASA are called astronauts. He has said that if the distinction has to be made, he would rather be called "private astronaut" than "tourist". Mark Shuttleworth described himself as a "pioneer of commercial space travel". Gregory Olsen prefers "private researcher", and Anousheh Ansari prefers the term "private space explorer". Other space enthusiasts object to the term on similar grounds. Rick Tumlinson of the Space Frontier Foundation, for example, has said: "I hate the word tourist, and I always will ... 'Tourist' is somebody in a flowered shirt with three cameras around his neck." Russian cosmonaut Maksim Surayev told the press in 2009 not to describe Guy Laliberté as a tourist: "It's become fashionable to speak of space tourists. He is not a tourist but a participant in the mission."


title: Space tourism

text: "Spaceflight participant" is the official term used by NASA and the Russian Federal Space Agency to distinguish between private space travelers and career astronauts. Tito, Shuttleworth, Olsen, Ansari, and Simonyi were designated as such during their respective space flights. NASA also lists Christa McAuliffe as a spaceflight participant (although she did not pay a fee), apparently due to her non-technical duties aboard the STS-51-L flight.


title: Space tourism

text: The US Federal Aviation Administration awards the title of "commercial astronaut" to trained crew members of privately funded spacecraft. The only people currently holding this title are Mike Melvill and Brian Binnie, the pilots of SpaceShipOne in 2004; pilots Mark P. Stucky and Frederick W. Sturckow in 2018, and pilots Dave Mackay, Michael Masucci, and trainer Beth Moses in 2019 aboard SpaceShipTwo on two separate missions.


title: Space tourism

text: A 2018 survey from the PEW Research Center identifies the top three motivations for a customer to purchase a flight into space as:


title: Space tourism

text: The PEW study also found that only 43% of Americans would be definitely or probably interested in going into space.


title: Space tourism

text: A web-based survey suggested that over 70% of those surveyed wanted less than or equal to 2 weeks in space; in addition, 88% wanted to spacewalk, of whom 14% would pay a 50% premium for the experience, and 21% wanted a hotel or space station.


title: Space tourism

text: The concept has met with some criticism; Günter Verheugen, vice-president of the European Commission, said of the EADS Astrium Space Tourism Project: "It's only for the super-rich, which is against my social convictions".


title: Space tourism

text: On 14 October 2021, Prince William suggested that entrepreneurs should focus on saving Earth rather than engaging in space tourism and also warned about a rise in "climate anxiety" among younger generations.


title: Space tourism

text: A 2010 study published in "Geophysical Research Letters" raised concerns that the growing commercial spaceflight industry could accelerate global warming. The study, funded by NASA and The Aerospace Corporation, simulated the impact of 1,000 suborbital launches of hybrid rockets from a single location, calculating that this would release a total of 600 tonnes of black carbon into the stratosphere. They found that the resultant layer of soot particles remained relatively localized, with only 20% of the carbon straying into the southern hemisphere, thus creating a strong hemispherical asymmetry. This unbalance would cause the temperature to decrease by about in the tropics and subtropics, whereas the temperature at the poles would increase by between . The ozone layer would also be affected, with the tropics losing up to 1.7% of ozone cover, and the polar regions gaining 5–6%. The researchers stressed that these results should not be taken as "a precise forecast of the climate response to a specific launch rate of a specific rocket type", but as a demonstration of the sensitivity of the atmosphere to the large-scale disruption that commercial space tourism could bring.


title: Space tourism

text: A 2022 study estimated the air pollution impacts on climate change and the ozone layer from rocket launches and re-entry of reusable components and debris in 2019 and from a theoretical future space industry extrapolated from the "billionaire space race". It concludes that substantial effects from routine space tourism should "motivate regulation".<ref name="10.1029/2021EF002612"></ref>


title: Space tourism

text: Several organizations have been formed to promote the space tourism industry, including the Space Tourism Society, Space Future, and HobbySpace. "UniGalactic Space Travel Magazine" is a bi-monthly educational publication covering space tourism and space exploration developments in companies like SpaceX, Orbital Sciences, Virgin Galactic and organizations like NASA.


title: Space tourism

text: Classes in space tourism are currently taught at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, and Keio University in Japan.


title: Space tourism

text: A 2010 report from the Federal Aviation Administration, titled "The Economic Impact of Commercial Space Transportation on the U.S. Economy in 2009", cites studies done by Futron, an aerospace and technology-consulting firm, which predict that space tourism could become a billion-dollar market within 20 years. Eight tourists reached orbit between 2001 and 2009. In 2011 Space Adventures suggested that this number could reach 140 by 2020, but with commercial crewed rockets only just beginning to enter service, such numbers have yet to be achieved.


title: Obituary (band)

text: Obituary is an American death metal band formed in Tampa, Florida in 1984. They were a fundamental act in the development of death metal music, and are one of the most successful death metal bands of all time. To date, Obituary has released ten studio albums, and with the exception of their 1997–2003 split, they continue to perform live around the world.


title: Obituary (band)

text: Initially called Executioner, the band changed its name to Xecutioner in 1986 to avoid confusion with the thrash metal band Executioner from Boston, and then changed its name once again to Obituary in 1988. Obituary's current lineup consists of vocalist John Tardy, drummer Donald Tardy, rhythm guitarist Trevor Peres, bassist Terry Butler, and lead guitarist Ken Andrews. The band has gone through several lineup changes, with the Tardy brothers and Peres being the only constant members. Their music is based around heavily groove-based riffs and drumming along with John Tardy's growling vocals, which create their signature brand of death metal.


title: Obituary (band)

text: Founded as Executioner in Seffner, Florida in 1984, they soon dropped the "E" from their name after discovering another band of the same name, becoming Xecutioner. The band's first lineup was composed of John Tardy (lead vocals), Donald Tardy (drums), Trevor Peres (rhythm guitar), Jerome Grable (bass) and Jerry Tidwell (lead guitar). The band was inspired by Savatage and bands in the burgeoning Florida death metal scene: Nasty Savage, Death, and Morbid Angel. The band released demos in 1985, 1986, and 1987, (the 1985 demo as Executioner and the 1986 and 1987 demos as Xecutioner). They made their vinyl debut in 1987 with two tracks ("Find the Arise" and "Like the Dead") on the "Raging Death" compilation.


title: Obituary (band)

text: Not long after the release of the compilation, bassist Grable was replaced by Daniel Tucker and guitarist Tidwell was replaced by Allen West. The following year, shortly before the release of the band's first album "Slowly We Rot", they changed their name to Obituary. Right after the release of "Slowly We Rot", however, Tucker and West quit the band and were respectively replaced by Frank Watkins and then-Death guitarist James Murphy. This new lineup recorded the band's second album "Cause of Death", which was released in September 1990, and is often considered to be one of the most important death metal albums of all time. Obituary supported "Cause of Death" with its first world tour, first the US with Sacred Reich and Forced Entry, Europe with Demolition Hammer and Morgoth and then back to the US with Sepultura and Sadus.


title: Obituary (band)

text: In 1991, just prior to the writing and recording sessions of their third album, Murphy left Obituary to join Cancer and was replaced by a returning Allen West. The lineup of Peres, Watkins, West and the Tardy brothers recorded the band's next three albums, starting with "The End Complete" (1992). "The End Complete" was a moderate success for Obituary, having sold more than a hundred thousand copies, and it was the band's first album to chart in the US and Europe. This success also resulted in the release of Obituary's first-ever music video "The End Complete", which received significant airplay on MTV's "Headbangers Ball", and the band toured behind the album in over year, going from playing clubs to theaters and arenas.


title: Obituary (band)

text: Obituary's fourth studio album, "World Demise", was released in September 1994. Although the album did not sell as well as "The End Complete", it still managed to reach the top 100 in several territories, including the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands, and a video for "Don't Care" was shot. In support of "World Demise", the band toured the US with Napalm Death and a then-unknown Machine Head, and Europe with Pitchshifter and Eyehategod.


title: Obituary (band)

text: After the release of their fifth album "Back from the Dead" (1997), the band had grown tired of touring, which led to the group disbanding. During this time period, Donald Tardy played in Andrew W.K.'s touring band (during W.K.'s appearance on "Saturday Night Live" Tardy wore an Obituary shirt). Allen West focused on his two projects, Lowbrow and Six Feet Under. Trevor Peres formed Catastrophic in 2001, which released one album, "The Cleansing", in that same year. Obituary reformed in 2003 and Catastrophic continued to exist alongside the reformed Obituary. A reunion album, "Frozen in Time", was released in 2005. The band's first live DVD, "Frozen Alive", was released in January 2007.


title: Obituary (band)

text: Obituary was signed with Candlelight Records for its next three releases, "Xecutioner's Return" (2007), "Darkest Day" (2009), and the EP "Left to Die" (2008). A concert DVD release was also announced for January 2010. Since 2012, the band have been highly involved with the promotion of a new social networking site called Unation, as well as Donald Tardy beginning a Cat Sanctuary organization called Metal Meowlisha, an organization practicing "trap-neuter-vaccinate-return", and caring for 25 cat colonies (200 cats).


title: Obituary (band)

text: In April 2010, Obituary began work on new material for their ninth studio album "Inked in Blood", which was not released until 2014. It was the first Obituary album not to be recorded with longtime bassist Frank Watkins since their 1989 debut album "Slowly We Rot". In 2013, the band rebuilt their studio, and continued work on the new album. On August 2, 2013, the band launched a Kickstarter campaign with a goal of raising $10,000.00; the money raised was promised to allow Obituary to record and release their ninth album independently. The goal was met on August 3. When interviewed by metal webzine "All About the Rock", John Tardy said of the Kickstarter campaign, "This campaign has been awesome and just confirms again what we already know and that is that we have the greatest fans in the world. We are using Kickstarter to raise enough money to release an album on our own. This is not a bash against record companies, it is just what we want to do. Years ago this would not even be a thought, but today we feel everything is in place for us, for better or worse, give it a shot.". Though the band raised enough money to self-released, they were still signed to Relapse Records and partnered with the label for distribution of "Inked In Blood", their first Relapse release.


title: Obituary (band)

text: On August 24, 2016, Obituary streamed a new song called "Loathe", a B-side to their then-upcoming single "Ten Thousand Ways to Die", which was released on October 21. The band released their self-titled tenth studio album on March 17, 2017. A month prior to its release, the band released a song called "No", which appeared on "Decibel" magazine's flexi disc series.


title: Obituary (band)

text: In November and December 2018, Obituary embarked on a European tour as part of Slayer's farewell tour, also featuring Lamb of God and Anthrax. When asked in a June 2018 interview about the next Obituary album, drummer Donald Tardy said, "We're always thinking about new songs and writing riffs and this and that. But at this time of our lives and this time of the music industry… This new album has only been out for just over a year now, so we're in no hurry to try and push another album out of us as quick as we can; there's no sense." In an August 2020 interview with Australia's Riff Crew, Donald Tardy revealed that, during the quarantine, Obituary had been working on a "monster" of a new album planned for release in 2021. The band had planned to tour in 2021, specifically Europe, in support of the record. In a March 2021 interview with France's United Rock Nations, vocalist John Tardy reiterated his brother's comments, saying that Obituary had been working on new material during the COVID-19 pandemic, and added that their new album would be released in 2022, with a tour to follow. On November 10, 2022, Obituary released "The Wrong Time" as the lead single from their upcoming eleventh studio album "Dying of Everything", due for release on January 13, 2023.


title: Town Musicians of Bremen

text: The "Town Musicians of Bremen" () is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and published in "Grimms' Fairy Tales" in 1819 (KHM 27).


title: Town Musicians of Bremen

text: It tells the story of four aging domestic animals, who after a lifetime of hard work are neglected and mistreated by their former masters. Eventually, they decide to run away and become town musicians in the city of Bremen. Contrary to the story's title the characters never arrive in Bremen, as they succeed in tricking and scaring off a band of robbers, capturing their spoils, and moving into their house. It is a story of Aarne–Thompson Type 130 ("Outcast animals find a new home").


title: Town Musicians of Bremen

text: The Brothers Grimm first published this tale in the second edition of "Kinder- und Hausmärchen" in 1819, based on the account of the German storyteller Dorothea Viehmann (1755–1815).


title: Town Musicians of Bremen

text: In the story, a donkey, a dog, a cat, and a rooster, all past their prime years in life and usefulness on their respective farms, were soon to be discarded or mistreated by their masters. One by one, they leave their homes and set out together. They decide to go to Bremen, known for its freedom, to live without owners and become musicians there ("Something better than death we can find anywhere").


title: Town Musicians of Bremen

text: On the way to Bremen, they see a lighted cottage; they look inside and see three robbers enjoying their ill-gotten gains. Standing on each other's backs, they decide to scare the robbers away by making a din; the men run for their lives, not knowing what the strange sound is. The animals take possession of the house, eat a good meal, and settle in for the evening.


title: Town Musicians of Bremen

text: Later that night, the robbers return and send one of their members in to investigate. He sees the cat's eyes shining in the darkness and thinks he is seeing the coals of the fire. The robber reaches over to light his candle. Things happen in quick succession; the cat scratches his face with her claws, the dog bites him on the leg, the donkey kicks him with his hooves, and the rooster crows and chases him out the door. The terrified robber tells his companions that he was beset by a horrible witch who had scratched him with her long fingernails (the cat), a dwarf who has a knife (the dog), a black monster who had hit him with a club (the donkey), and worst of all, a judge calling out from the rooftop (the rooster). The robbers abandon the cottage to the strange creatures who have taken it, where the animals live happily for the rest of their days.


title: Town Musicians of Bremen

text: In the original version of this story, which dates from the twelfth century, the robbers are a bear, a lion, and a wolf, all animals featured in heraldic devices. When the donkey and his friends arrive in Bremen, the townsfolk applaud them for having rid the district of the terrible beasts. An alternate version involves the animals' master(s) being deprived of his livelihood (because the thieves stole his money and/or destroyed his farm or mill) and having to send his or their animals away, unable to take care of them any further. After the animals dispatch the thieves, they take the ill-gotten gains back to their master so he can rebuild. Other versions involve at least one wild, non-livestock animal, such as a lizard, helping the domestic animals out in dispatching the thieves.


title: Town Musicians of Bremen

text: The story is similar to other AT-130 tales like the German/Swiss "The Robber and the Farm Animals", the Norwegian "The Sheep and the Pig Who Set Up House", the Finnish "The Animals and the Devil", the Flemish "The Choristers of St. Gudule", the Scottish "The Story of the White Pet", the English "The Bull, the Tup, the Cock, and the Steg", the Irish "Jack and His Comrades", the Spanish "Benibaire", the American "How Jack Went to Seek His Fortune" and "The Dog, the Cat, the Ass, and the Cock", and the South African "The World's Reward".


title: Town Musicians of Bremen

text: Joseph Jacobs also cited this as a parallel version of the Irish "Jack and His Comrades", and the English "How Jack went to seek his fortune". Variants also appears in American folktale collections, and in Scottish Traveller repertoires.


title: Town Musicians of Bremen

text: Variants also appear in tale compilations from Indian, Malay and Japanese sources. Folklorist Antti Aarne proposed an Asian origin for the tale type ATU 130, "Die Tiere auf der Wanderschaft" ("Wandering Animals and Objects").


title: Town Musicians of Bremen

text: French folklorist Paul Delarue identified two forms of the tale type, a Western one, wherein the animals in exile are always domestic animals (represented by Grimm's tale), and an Eastern one, wherein the characters are "inferior animals". This second form is popular in Japan, China, Korea, Melanesia and Indonesia.


title: Town Musicians of Bremen

text: The tale has been retold through animated pictures, motion pictures (often musicals), theatre plays and operas.


title: Town Musicians of Bremen

text: The sculpture of the Town Musicians of Bremen in Bremen, Germany, is the starting point of a tourist attraction, the German Fairy Tale Route (Deutsche Märchenstraße).


title: 152 mm towed gun-howitzer M1955 (D-20)

text: The 152 mm gun-howitzer M1955, also known as the D-20, () is a manually loaded, towed 152 mm artillery piece, manufactured in the Soviet Union during the 1950s. It was first observed by the west in 1955, at which time it was designated the M1955. Its GRAU index is 52-P-546.


title: 152 mm towed gun-howitzer M1955 (D-20)

text: 152 mm has been a Russian calibre since World War I, when Britain supplied 6 inch Howitzers and Russia purchased 152 mm guns from Schneider (probably derived from the 155 mm Gun Mle 1877/16) for the Imperial Army. The new gun-howitzer, was a replacement of the pre-war ML-20 gun-howitzer (the 152 mm howitzer M1937) and various World War II era 152 mm field howitzers, Model 09/30, Model 1910/30, Model 1938 M10 and Model 1943 D-1. By Soviet definition, a 152 mm howitzer is 'medium'-calibre artillery. It was designated a 'gun-howitzer' because its muzzle velocity exceeded 600 m/s, and its barrel length exceeded 30 calibres. It equipped battalions in the motor rifle division artillery regiment and army level artillery brigades.


title: 152 mm towed gun-howitzer M1955 (D-20)

text: The design, which was probably initiated in the late 1940s, was first seen in public in 1955. It was designed by the well established design bureau at Artillery Plant No 9 in Sverdlovsk (now Motovilikha Plants in Yekaterinburg) led by the eminent artillery designer Fyodor Fyodorovich Petrov (1902–1978), who was responsible for several World War II pieces. The gun's factory designation was "D-20".


title: 152 mm towed gun-howitzer M1955 (D-20)

text: The carriage is the same one used for the D-74 122 mm Field Gun. The barrel assembly was the basis for the D-22 (GRAU index: 2A33), which was used for the self-propelled 2S3 Akatsiya ("Acacia").


title: 152 mm towed gun-howitzer M1955 (D-20)

text: The D-20 has a 26 calibre (3.962 m) barrel, with a double baffle muzzle brake and a semi-automatic vertical sliding-block breech, with a tied jaw and the block moving down to open. The barrel is mounted in a long ring cradle with the trunnions just forward of the breech. The recoil system (buffer and recuperator) is mounted on the cradle above the barrel. Compression balancing gear is attached behind the saddle support, passing through the complex shaped saddle to connect to the cradle just forward of the trunnions. This can be manually re-pressured by a pump below the breech. The breech has a projectile retaining catch to prevent the shell sliding out at higher elevations before it is rammed with a manual rammer.


title: 152 mm towed gun-howitzer M1955 (D-20)

text: Box girder section split trail legs are hinged to the cradle support, with bolts to lock them into either the open or closed position. The cradle support also has a bolt for locking the barrel in the centre for traverse before towing the gun. Large spades are permanently fixed close to the end of each trail; these are hinged and it appears that the gun can be fired with them up or down depending on the terrain, but they are always up when the gun is towed.


title: 152 mm towed gun-howitzer M1955 (D-20)

text: To assist with all-round carriage traverse, there is a pivot jack mounted at the front of the cradle support. The pivot jack is not a sole plate and the gun fires with its foam filled rubber tyred wheels supporting the gun on the ground. When the gun is brought into action, the pivot jack is folded down and adjusted to be on the ground. If a large traverse is required, small jacks on each trail leg are rotated downwards, and the trails jacked up until the main wheels are lifted clear of the ground and the bogey wheels mounted on each trail leg swung downwards and the trail jacks raised, the carriage is then traversed, and the trail jacks re-used to lift the bogey wheels and then place the piece back on its main wheels.


title: 152 mm towed gun-howitzer M1955 (D-20)

text: The pivot jack is also used to secure the barrel against vertical movement when the gun is being towed. The barrel is locked in the centre for traverse with a bolt on the cradle support. The jack is folded upwards, lugs on the ring cradle engage the jack base and two tensioners fixed to the saddle support are hooked to the cradle, these are tightened to lock the cradle onto the jack base.


title: 152 mm towed gun-howitzer M1955 (D-20)

text: As was normal for the period, the gun has a shield, including a folding piece below the cradle support. The centre section of the upper shield slides both up and down and folds to accommodate the barrel at higher elevation angles of fire. The shield may offer some protection against muzzle blast to the sights and layer, although it is usually shown being fired with a long lanyard, but is probably mostly for defence against machine gun fire.


title: 152 mm towed gun-howitzer M1955 (D-20)

text: The non-reciprocating sights are standard Soviet pattern, designed for one-man laying. Included are a direct fire anti-tank telescope (OP4M), a panoramic periscopic indirect-fire sight, a dial sight, (PG1M) in a mounting, an angle of sight scale, and a range drum for each charge engraved with the range (distance) scale, coupled to an elevation leveling bubble mounted on dial sight mount. The range drum enables the standard Soviet technique of semi-direct fire when the piece is laid visually on the target and the range set on the range drum.


title: 152 mm towed gun-howitzer M1955 (D-20)

text: Like most Soviet artillery, the gun fires separate ammunition using metal cartridge cases that also provide obturation. The ammunition is interchangeable with that used with other 152 mm guns, although the more modern ones also have a third, much larger cartridge. The D-20 uses two types of cartridge; one has a base charge and up to five increments, the other is a single 'super' charge cartridge. The standard shell weight is 44 kg with a muzzle velocity of 655 m/s, but some projectiles are more or less than this. The basic shell is HE-Fragmentation, other projectiles include smoke, illuminating, chemical and probably incendiary. Later projectiles include bomblet, anti-personnel mine, flechette, Krasnopol precision munition, communications jammer, and extended range HE using rocket assistance (RAP). The normally maximum range is 17.4 km, RAP being greater. Two direct-fire anti-tank projectiles have been used, HEAT and APHE, the latter being 5.2 kg heavier and with a lower muzzle velocity.


title: 152 mm towed gun-howitzer M1955 (D-20)

text: The maximum rate of fire is usually stated as five rounds/minute, and 65 rounds/hour sustained. In Soviet service, the unit of fire was 60 rounds.


title: 152 mm towed gun-howitzer M1955 (D-20)

text: The detachment was either 8 or 10 men, probably differing between armies and the time period. In Soviet service, the 5,700 kg gun was usually towed by a URAL-375 6×6 truck or, in some regions, an AT-S or AT-L medium tractor.


title: 152 mm towed gun-howitzer M1955 (D-20)

text: During the 2022 Invasion of Ukraine both sides have relied on the D-20. Russian forces have started deploying the weapons from storage. There are reports of at least one Russian D-20 being destroyed due to poor ammunition. This weapon was in the service of the Luhansk People’s Republic.


title: 152 mm towed gun-howitzer M1955 (D-20)

text: The US Defense Intelligence Agency has reported the existence of a number of self-propelled artillery systems, mating existing cannon systems with a locally designed chassis. The SPH 152mm M1974 appears to be the D-20 or Type 66 mounted on a tracked chassis “Tokchon”.


title: Carlos P. Garcia

text: Carlos Polestico Garcia (November 4, 1896 – June 14, 1971) was a Filipino teacher, poet, orator, lawyer, public official, political economist, guerrilla and Commonwealth military leader who was the eighth president of the Philippines. A lawyer by profession, Garcia entered politics when he became representative of Bohol’s 3rd district in the House of Representatives. He then served as a senator from 1945 to 1953. In 1953 he was the running mate of Ramon Magsaysay in the 1953 presidential election. He then served as vice president from 1953 to 1957. After the death of Magsaysay in March 1957, he succeeded to the presidency. He won a full term in the 1957 presidential election. He ran for a second full term as president in the 1961 presidential election and was defeated by Vice President Diosdado Macapagal.


title: Carlos P. Garcia

text: Garcia was born in Talibon, Bohol, Philippines on November 4, 1896, to Policronio Garcia and Ambrosia Polestico, who were both natives of Bangued, Abra.


title: Carlos P. Garcia

text: Garcia grew up with politics, with his father serving as a municipal mayor for four terms. He acquired his primary education in his native town Talibon, then took his secondary education in Cebu Provincial High School, now Abellana National School, both at the top of his class. Initially, he pursued his college education at Silliman University in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental, and later studied at the Philippine Law School, then the College of Law of National University, where he earned his law degree in 1923 and later, where he was awarded the honorary degree Doctor of Humanities, "Honoris Causa" from the National University in 1961. He also received an honorary doctorate degree from Tokyo University in Japan. He was among the top ten law students in the 1923 bar examination.


title: Carlos P. Garcia

text: Rather than practicing law right away, he worked as a teacher for two years at Bohol Provincial High School. He became famous for his poetry in Bohol, where he earned the nickname "Prince of Visayan Poets" and the "Bard from Bohol."


title: Carlos P. Garcia

text: Garcia entered politics in 1925, scoring an impressive victory to become representative of the third district of Bohol. He was elected for another term in 1928 and served until 1931. He was elected governor of Bohol in 1933, but served only until 1941 when he successfully ran for Senate, but he was unable to serve due to the Japanese occupation of the Philippines during World War II. He assumed the office when Congress re-convened in 1945 after Allied liberation and the end of the war. When he resumed duties as senator after the war, he was chosen Senate majority floor leader. The press consistently voted him as one of the most outstanding senators. Simultaneously, he occupied a position in the Nacionalista Party.


title: Carlos P. Garcia

text: Garcia refused to cooperate with the Japanese during the war. He did not surrender when he was placed on the wanted list with a price on his head. He instead and took part in the guerilla activities and served as adviser in the free government organized in Bohol.


title: Carlos P. Garcia

text: Garcia was the running mate of Ramon Magsaysay in the 1953 presidential election in which both men won. He was appointed secretary of foreign affairs by President Magsaysay, and for four years served concurrently as vice-president.


title: Carlos P. Garcia

text: As secretary of foreign affairs, he opened formal reparation negotiations in an effort to end the nine-year technical state of war between Japan and the Philippines, leading to an agreement in April 1954. During the Geneva Conference of 1954 on Korean unification and other Asian problems, Garcia, as chairman of the Philippine delegation, attacked communist promises in Asia and defended the U.S. policy in the Far East. In a speech on May 7, 1954–the day that the Viet Minh defeated French forces at the Battle of Diên Biên Phu in Vietnam– Garcia repeated the Philippine stand for nationalism and opposition to Communism.


title: Carlos P. Garcia

text: Garcia acted as chairman of the eight-nation Southeast Asian Security Conference held in Manila in September 1954, which led to the development of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO).


title: Carlos P. Garcia

text: At the time of President Magsaysay's sudden death on March 17, 1957, Garcia was heading the Philippine delegation to the SEATO conference then being held at Canberra, Australia. Having been immediately notified of the tragedy, Vice President Garcia enplaned back for Manila. Upon his arrival, he directly reported to Malacañang Palace to assume the duties of president. Chief Justice Ricardo Paras of the Supreme Court administered the oath of office, which took place at 5:56 PM on March 18, 1957. President Garcia's first actions were to declare a period of national mourning and to preside over the burial ceremonies for Magsaysay.


title: Carlos P. Garcia

text: President Garcia won a full term as president with a landslide win in the national elections of November 12, 1957. Garcia, the Nacionalista candidate, garnered around 2.07 million votes or 41% of the total votes counted, defeating his closest rival, Jose Y. Yulo of the Liberal Party. His running mate, House Speaker Jose B. Laurel Jr., lost to Pampanga representative Diosdado P. Macapagal. This was the first time in Philippine electoral history where a president was elected by a plurality rather than a majority, and in which the winning presidential and vice-presidential candidates came from different parties.


title: Carlos P. Garcia

text: After much discussion, both official and public, the Congress of the Philippines, finally, approved a bill outlawing the Communist Party of the Philippines. Despite the pressure exerted against the congressional measure, Garcia signed the aforementioned bill into law as Republic Act No. 1700 or the Anti-Subversion Act on June 19, 1957.


title: Carlos P. Garcia

text: The act was superseded by Presidential Decree No. 885, entitled "Outlawing Subversive Organization, Penalizing Membership Therein and For Other Purposes", and was later amended by Presidential Decree No. 1736 and later superseded by Presidential Decree No. 1835, entitled, "Codifying The Various Laws on Anti-Subversion and Increasing the Penalties for Membership in Subversive Organization." This, in turn, was amended by Presidential Decree No. 1975. On May 5, 1987, Executive Order No. 167 repealed Presidential Decrees No. 1835 and No. 1975 as being unduly restrictive of the constitutional right to form associations.


title: Carlos P. Garcia

text: On September 22, 1992, Republic Act No. 1700, as amended, was repealed by Republic Act No. 7636 during the administration of Fidel V. Ramos, which legalized the Communist Party of the Philippines, other underground movements and subversion, though sedition remained a crime.


title: Carlos P. Garcia

text: Garcia exercised the "Filipino First Policy", for which he was known. This policy heavily favored Filipino businessmen over foreign investors. He was also responsible for changes in retail trade which greatly affected the Chinese businessmen in the country. In a speech during a joint session of Congress on September 18, 1946, Garcia said the following:


title: Carlos P. Garcia

text: In the face of the trying conditions in the country, Garcia initiated what has been called "The Austerity Program". His administration was characterized by its austerity program and its insistence on a comprehensive nationalist policy. On March 3, 1960, he affirmed the need for complete economic freedom and added that the government no longer would tolerate the dominance of foreign interests (especially American) in the national economy. He promised to shake off "the yoke of alien domination in business, trade, commerce and industry". Garcia was also credited with his role in reviving Filipino cultural arts. The main points of the Austerity Program were:


title: Carlos P. Garcia

text: The program was hailed by the people at large and confidence was expressed that the measures proposed would help solve the standing problems of the Republic.


title: Carlos P. Garcia

text: During his administration, he acted on the Bohlen–Serrano Agreement, which shortened the lease of the American military bases from 99 years to 25 years and made it renewable after every five years.


title: Carlos P. Garcia

text: President Garcia, with the strong advocacy of Agriculture and Natural Resources Secretary Juan G. Rodriguez, invited the Ford Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation "to establish a rice research institute" in Los Baños, Laguna. This led to the establishment of the International Rice Research Institute in 1960.


title: Carlos P. Garcia

text: In addition to his laws and programs, the Garcia administration also put emphasis on reviving the Filipino culture. In doing so, the Republic Cultural Award was created. To this day, the award is being given to Filipino artists, scientists, historians, and writers.


title: Carlos P. Garcia

text: At the end of his second term, he ran for re–election in the presidential elections of November 14, 1961, but was defeated by Vice President Diosdado Macapagal, who belonged to the rival Liberal Party.


title: Carlos P. Garcia

text: On June 1, 1971, Garcia was elected delegate of the 1971 Constitutional Convention, where delegates elected him as president of the convention. However, on June 14, 1971, Garcia died from a heart attack on 5:57 p.m. at his Manila residence along Bohol Avenue (now Sergeant Esguerra Avenue), Quezon City. He was succeeded as president of the convention by his former vice-president, Diosdado Macapagal.


title: Carlos P. Garcia

text: Garcia was the first layman to lie in state in Manila Cathedral—a privilege once reserved for the Archbishops of Manila—and the first president to be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.


title: Little Bill

text: Little Bill is an American animated educational television series created by Bill Cosby. It is based on the "Little Bill" book series, written by Cosby with illustrations by Varnette P. Honeywood. Cosby also composed some of the theme music, appeared in live-action in the show's intro sequence, and voiced the recurring character of Captain Brainstorm. It was Cosby's second animated series, after "Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids".


title: Little Bill

text: The show's main character, Little Bill, was inspired by both Cosby's childhood and by his late son, Ennis Cosby. Little Bill's catchphrase ("Hello, friend!") was originally a greeting that Ennis used. The show is set in Philadelphia, Cosby's hometown. Each episode features Little Bill learning a lesson while interacting with his large family and group of friends. The show was developed with a panel of educational consultants.


title: Little Bill

text: The series originally ran on Nickelodeon from November 28, 1999 to February 6, 2004, and reruns continued until December 22, 2006. In September 2007, Nickelodeon announced that "Little Bill" would permanently move to the Noggin channel. It premiered on Noggin on September 10, 2007. Reruns continued to air until 2014, when the show was pulled from the air.


title: Little Bill

text: Set in Philadelphia, the show centers on Little Bill Glover as he explores everyday life through his imagination. Little Bill lives with his parents, his great grandmother Alice (nicknamed Alice the Great), his older sister April, and brother Bobby. Each episode includes a daydreaming sequence where Little Bill imagines a fantastical scenario. At the end of every show, he breaks the fourth wall by summarizing his day to the audience before going to bed, and a relative asks: "Little Bill, who are you talking to?"


title: Little Bill

text: "Little Bill" was first announced in 1997. It aired on Nickelodeon from 1999 until 2006. The series also aired on "Nick on CBS" from September 16, 2000 until September 9, 2006. In September 2007, "Little Bill" was moved to the Noggin channel, which advertised it as a "new series". Noggin aired five "premiere episodes" from September 10 to September 15, 2007.


title: Little Bill

text: Reruns of "Little Bill" were shown on Noggin and the Nick Jr. channel until 2014, when Nickelodeon removed the show from its services. In addition to pulling reruns, "Little Bill" was removed from NickJr.com in 2014. Commenting on the show's removal from television, "Distractify" wrote: "Perhaps "Little Bill" should be left in the past."


title: Little Bill

text: Several episodes were released to VHS and DVD by Paramount Home Media Distribution. A computer game, "Little Bill Thinks Big", was released on September 29, 2003 for Windows XP and Macintosh.


title: Electric arc furnace

text: Industrial arc furnaces range in size from small units of approximately one-tonne capacity (used in foundries for producing cast iron products) up to about 400-tonne units used for secondary steelmaking. Arc furnaces used in research laboratories and by dentists may have a capacity of only a few dozen grams. Industrial electric arc furnace temperatures can reach , while laboratory units can exceed .


title: Electric arc furnace

text: In electric arc furnaces, the charged material (the material entered into the furnace for heating, not to be confused with electric charge) is directly exposed to an electric arc, and the current from the furnace terminals passes through the charged material.


title: Electric arc furnace

text: In the 19th century, a number of people had employed an electric arc to melt iron. Sir Humphry Davy conducted an experimental demonstration in 1810; welding was investigated by Pepys in 1815; Pinchon attempted to create an electrothermic furnace in 1853; and, in 1878–79, Sir William Siemens took out patents for electric furnaces of the arc type.


title: Electric arc furnace

text: The first successful and operational furnace was invented by James Burgess Readman in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1888 and patented in 1889. This was specifically for the creation of phosphorus.


title: Electric arc furnace

text: Further electric arc furnaces were developed by Paul Héroult, of France, with a commercial plant established in the United States in 1907. The Sanderson brothers formed The Sanderson Brothers Steel Co. in Syracuse, New York, installing the first electric arc furnace in the U.S. This furnace is now on display at Station Square, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.


title: Electric arc furnace

text: Initially "electric steel" was a specialty product for such uses as machine tools and spring steel. Arc furnaces were also used to prepare calcium carbide for use in carbide lamps. The "Stassano electric furnace" is an arc type furnace that usually rotates to mix the bath. The "Girod furnace" is similar to the "Héroult furnace".


title: Electric arc furnace

text: While EAFs were widely used in World War II for production of alloy steels, it was only later that electric steelmaking began to expand. The low capital cost for a mini-mill—around US$140–200 per ton of annual installed capacity, compared with US$1,000 per ton of annual installed capacity for an integrated steel mill—allowed mills to be quickly established in war-ravaged Europe, and also allowed them to successfully compete with the big United States steelmakers, such as Bethlehem Steel and U.S. Steel, for low-cost, carbon steel "long products" (structural steel, rod and bar, wire, and fasteners) in the U.S. market.


title: Electric arc furnace

text: When Nucor—now one of the largest steel producers in the US—decided to enter the market for long steel products in 1969, they chose to start up a mini-mill, with an EAF as its steelmaking furnace, soon followed by other manufacturers. Whilst Nucor expanded rapidly in the Eastern U.S., the companies that followed them into mini-mill operations concentrated on local markets for long products, where the use of an EAF allowed the plants to vary production according to local demand. This pattern was also followed globally, with EAF steel production primarily used for long products, while integrated mills, using blast furnaces and basic oxygen furnaces, cornered the markets for "flat products"—sheet steel and heavier steel plate. In 1987, Nucor made the decision to expand into the flat products market, still using the EAF production method.


title: Electric arc furnace

text: An electric arc furnace used for steelmaking consists of a refractory-lined vessel, usually water-cooled in larger sizes, covered with a retractable roof, and through which one or more graphite electrodes enter the furnace.


title: Electric arc furnace

text: The hearth may be hemispherical in shape, or in an eccentric bottom tapping furnace (see below), the hearth has the shape of a halved egg. In modern meltshops, the furnace is often raised off the ground floor, so that ladles and slag pots can easily be maneuvered under either end of the furnace. Separate from the furnace structure is the electrode support and electrical system, and the tilting platform on which the furnace rests. Two configurations are possible: the electrode supports and the roof tilt with the furnace, or are fixed to the raised platform.


title: Electric arc furnace

text: A typical alternating current furnace is powered by a three-phase electrical supply and therefore has three electrodes. Electrodes are round in section, and typically in segments with threaded couplings, so that as the electrodes wear, new segments can be added. The arc forms between the charged material and the electrode; the charge is heated both by current passing through the charge and by the radiant energy evolved by the arc. The electric arc temperature reaches around , thus causing the lower sections of the electrodes to glow incandescently when in operation. The electrodes are automatically raised and lowered by a positioning system, which may use either electric winch hoists or hydraulic cylinders. The regulating system maintains approximately constant current and power input during the melting of the charge, even though scrap may move under the electrodes as it melts. The mast arms holding the electrodes can either carry heavy busbars (which may be hollow water-cooled copper pipes carrying current to the electrode clamps) or be "hot arms", where the whole arm carries the current, increasing efficiency. Hot arms can be made from copper-clad steel or aluminium. Large water-cooled cables connect the bus tubes or arms with the transformer located adjacent to the furnace. The transformer is installed in a vault and is cooled by pump-circulated transformer oil, with the oil being cooled by water via heat exchangers.


title: Electric arc furnace

text: The furnace is built on a tilting platform so that the liquid steel can be poured into another vessel for transport. The operation of tilting the furnace to pour molten steel is called "tapping". Originally, all steelmaking furnaces had a tapping spout closed with refractory that washed out when the furnace was tilted, but often modern furnaces have an eccentric bottom tap-hole (EBT) to reduce inclusion of nitrogen and slag in the liquid steel. These furnaces have a taphole that passes vertically through the hearth and shell, and is set off-centre in the narrow "nose" of the egg-shaped hearth. It is filled with refractory sand, such as olivine, when it is closed off. Modern plants may have two shells with a single set of electrodes that can be transferred between the two; one shell preheats scrap while the other shell is utilised for meltdown. Other DC-based furnaces have a similar arrangement, but have electrodes for each shell and one set of electronics.


title: Electric arc furnace

text: AC furnaces usually exhibit a pattern of hot and cold-spots around the hearth perimeter, with the cold-spots located between the electrodes. Modern furnaces mount oxygen-fuel burners in the sidewall and use them to provide chemical energy to the cold-spots, making the heating of the steel more uniform. Additional chemical energy is provided by injecting oxygen and carbon into the furnace; historically this was done through lances (hollow mild-steel tubes) in the slag door, but now this is mainly done through wall-mounted injection units that combine the oxygen-fuel burners and the oxygen or carbon injection systems into one unit.


title: Electric arc furnace

text: A mid-sized modern steelmaking furnace would have a transformer rated about 60,000,000 volt-amperes (60 MVA), with a secondary voltage between 400 and 900 volts and a secondary current in excess of 44,000 amperes. In a modern shop such a furnace would be expected to produce a quantity of 80 tonnes of liquid steel in approximately 50 minutes from charging with cold scrap to tapping the furnace. In comparison, basic oxygen furnaces can have a capacity of 150–300 tonnes per batch, or "heat", and can produce a heat in 30–40 minutes. Enormous variations exist in furnace design details and operation, depending on the end product and local conditions, as well as ongoing research to improve furnace efficiency. The largest scrap-only furnace (in terms of tapping weight and transformer rating) is a DC furnace operated by Tokyo Steel in Japan, with a tap weight of 420 tonnes and fed by eight 32 MVA transformers for 256 MVA total power.


title: Electric arc furnace

text: To produce a ton of steel in an electric arc furnace requires approximately 400 kilowatt-hours (1.44 gigajoules) per short ton or about 440 kWh (1.6 GJ) per tonne; the theoretical minimum amount of energy required to melt a tonne of scrap steel is 300 kWh (1.09 GJ) (melting point ). Therefore, a 300-tonne, 300 MVA EAF will require approximately 132 MWh of energy to melt the steel, and a "power-on time" (the time that steel is being melted with an arc) of approximately 37 minutes. Electric arc steelmaking is only economical where there is plentiful, reliable electricity, with a well-developed electrical grid. In many locations, mills operate during off-peak hours when utilities have surplus power generating capacity and the price of electricity is less.


title: Electric arc furnace

text: This compares very favourably with energy consumption of global steel production by all methods estimated at some 20 GJ per tonne (1 gigajoule is equal to approximately 270 kWh).


title: Electric arc furnace

text: Scrap metal is delivered to a scrap bay, located next to the melt shop. Scrap generally comes in two main grades: shred (whitegoods, cars and other objects made of similar light-gauge steel) and heavy melt (large slabs and beams), along with some direct reduced iron (DRI) or pig iron for chemical balance. Some furnaces melt almost 100% DRI.


title: Electric arc furnace

text: The scrap is loaded into large buckets called baskets, with "clamshell" doors for a base. Care is taken to layer the scrap in the basket to ensure good furnace operation; heavy melt is placed on top of a light layer of protective shred, on top of which is placed more shred. These layers should be present in the furnace after charging. After loading, the basket may pass to a scrap pre-heater, which uses hot furnace off-gases to heat the scrap and recover energy, increasing plant efficiency.


title: Electric arc furnace

text: The scrap basket is then taken to the melt shop, the roof is swung off the furnace, and the furnace is charged with scrap from the basket. Charging is one of the more dangerous operations for the EAF operators. A lot of potential energy is released by the tonnes of falling metal; any liquid metal in the furnace is often displaced upwards and outwards by the solid scrap, and the grease and dust on the scrap is ignited if the furnace is hot, resulting in a fireball erupting. In some twin-shell furnaces, the scrap is charged into the second shell while the first is being melted down, and pre-heated with off-gas from the active shell. Other operations are continuous charging—pre-heating scrap on a conveyor belt, which then discharges the scrap into the furnace proper, or charging the scrap from a shaft set above the furnace, with off-gases directed through the shaft. Other furnaces can be charged with hot (molten) metal from other operations.


title: Electric arc furnace

text: After charging, the roof is swung back over the furnace and meltdown commences. The electrodes are lowered onto the scrap, an arc is struck and the electrodes are then set to bore into the layer of shred at the top of the furnace. Lower voltages are selected for this first part of the operation to protect the roof and walls from excessive heat and damage from the arcs. Once the electrodes have reached the heavy melt at the base of the furnace and the arcs are shielded by the scrap, the voltage can be increased and the electrodes raised slightly, lengthening the arcs and increasing power to the melt. This enables a molten pool to form more rapidly, reducing tap-to-tap times. Oxygen is blown into the scrap, combusting or cutting the steel, and extra chemical heat is provided by wall-mounted oxygen-fuel burners. Both processes accelerate scrap meltdown. Supersonic nozzles enable oxygen jets to penetrate foaming slag and reach the liquid bath.


title: Electric arc furnace

text: An important part of steelmaking is the formation of slag, which floats on the surface of the molten steel. Slag usually consists of metal oxides, and acts as a destination for oxidised impurities, as a thermal blanket (stopping excessive heat loss) and helping to reduce erosion of the refractory lining. For a furnace with basic refractories, which includes most carbon steel-producing furnaces, the usual slag formers are calcium oxide (CaO, in the form of burnt lime) and magnesium oxide (MgO, in the form of dolomite and magnesite). These slag formers are either charged with the scrap, or blown into the furnace during meltdown. Another major component of EAF slag is iron oxide from steel combusting with the injected oxygen. Later in the heat, carbon (in the form of coke or coal) is injected into this slag layer, reacting with the iron oxide to form metallic iron and carbon monoxide gas, which then causes the slag to foam, allowing greater thermal efficiency, and better arc stability and electrical efficiency. The slag blanket also covers the arcs, preventing damage to the furnace roof and sidewalls from radiant heat.


title: Electric arc furnace

text: Once the initial scrap charge has been melted down, another bucket of scrap can be charged into the furnace, although EAF development is moving towards single-charge designs. The scrap-charging and meltdown process can be repeated as many times as necessary to reach the required heat weight - the number of charges is dependent on the density of scrap; lower-density scrap means more charges. After all scrap charges have completely melted, refining operations take place to check and correct the steel chemistry and superheat the melt above its freezing temperature in preparation for tapping. More slag formers are introduced and more oxygen is blown into the bath, burning out impurities such as silicon, sulfur, phosphorus, aluminium, manganese, and calcium, and removing their oxides to the slag. Removal of carbon takes place after these elements have burnt out first, as they have a greater affinity for oxygen. Metals that have a poorer affinity for oxygen than iron, such as nickel and copper, cannot be removed through oxidation and must be controlled through scrap chemistry alone, such as introducing the direct reduced iron and pig iron mentioned earlier. A foaming slag is maintained throughout, and often overflows the furnace to pour out of the slag door into the slag pit. Temperature sampling and chemical sampling take place via automatic lances. Oxygen and carbon can be automatically measured via special probes that dip into the steel, but for all other elements, a "chill" sample — a small, solidified sample of the steel — is analysed on an arc-emission spectrometer.


title: Electric arc furnace

text: Once the temperature and chemistry are correct, the steel is tapped out into a preheated ladle through tilting the furnace. For plain-carbon steel furnaces, as soon as slag is detected during tapping the furnace is rapidly tilted back towards the deslagging side, minimising slag carryover into the ladle. For some special steel grades, including stainless steel, the slag is poured into the ladle as well, to be treated at the ladle furnace to recover valuable alloying elements. During tapping some alloy additions are introduced into the metal stream, and more fluxes such as lime are added on top of the ladle to begin building a new slag layer. Often, a few tonnes of liquid steel and slag is left in the furnace in order to form a "hot heel", which helps preheat the next charge of scrap and accelerate its meltdown. During and after tapping, the furnace is "turned around": the slag door is cleaned of solidified slag, the visible refractories are inspected and water-cooled components checked for leaks, and electrodes are inspected for damage or lengthened through the addition of new segments; the taphole is filled with sand at the completion of tapping. For a 90-tonne, medium-power furnace, the whole process will usually take about 60–70 minutes from the tapping of one heat to the tapping of the next (the tap-to-tap time).


title: Electric arc furnace

text: The furnace is completely emptied of steel and slag on a regular basis so that an inspection of the refractories can be made and larger repairs made if necessary. As the refractories are often made from calcined carbonates, they are extremely susceptible to hydration from water, so any suspected leaks from water-cooled components are treated extremely seriously, beyond the immediate concern of potential steam explosions. Excessive refractory wear can lead to breakouts, where the liquid metal and slag penetrate the refractory and furnace shell and escape into the surrounding areas.