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These countries, primarily developing countries, include some who seek to one day become either a member state of the European Union , or more closely integrated with the European Union.

The EU offers financial assistance to countries within the European Neighbourhood, so long as they meet the strict conditions of government reform, economic reform and other issues surrounding positive transformation. This process is normally underpinned by an Action Plan, as agreed by both Brussels and the target country. International recognition of sustainable development as a key element is growing steadily.

The SDGs recognise that all countries must stimulate action in the following key areas — people, planet , prosperity, peace and partnership — in order to tackle the global challenges that are crucial for the survival of humanity. Partnership and cooperation agreements are bilateral agreements with non-member nations. The European Union is the largest exporter in the world [] and in was the largest importer of goods and services.

In the eurozone , trade is helped by not having any currency differences to deal with amongst most members. The European Union Association Agreement does something similar for a much larger range of countries, partly as a so-called soft approach ‚a carrot instead of a stick‘ to influence the politics in those countries.

When the EU negotiates trade related agreement outside the WTO framework, the subsequent agreement must be approved by each individual EU member state government. The European Union has concluded free trade agreements FTAs [] and other agreements with a trade component with many countries worldwide and is negotiating with many others. The currency union represents million EU citizens. Of the top largest corporations in the world measured by revenue in , had their headquarters in the EU.

Two of the original core objectives of the European Economic Community were the development of a common market, subsequently becoming a single market , and a customs union between its member states. The single market involves the free circulation of goods, capital, people, and services within the EU , [] and the customs union involves the application of a common external tariff on all goods entering the market. Once goods have been admitted into the market they cannot be subjected to customs duties, discriminatory taxes or import quotas , as they travel internally.

The non-EU member states of Iceland , Norway , Liechtenstein and Switzerland participate in the single market but not in the customs union. Free movement of capital is intended to permit movement of investments such as property purchases and buying of shares between countries.

Post-Maastricht there has been a rapidly developing corpus of ECJ judgements regarding this initially neglected freedom. The free movement of capital is unique insofar as it is granted equally to non-member states. The free movement of persons means that EU citizens can move freely between member states to live, work, study or retire in another country. This required the lowering of administrative formalities and recognition of professional qualifications of other states.

The free movement of services and of establishment allows self-employed persons to move between member states to provide services on a temporary or permanent basis. While services account for 60 per cent to 70 per cent of GDP, legislation in the area is not as developed as in other areas.

This lacuna has been addressed by the Services in the Internal Market Directive which aims to liberalise the cross border provision of services. A EEA national identity card German version pictured. A European driving licence card Croatian version pictured. A European passport , displaying the name of the member state, the national arms and the words „European Union“ given in their official language s. Irish version pictured. A European vehicle registration plate , consisting of a blue strip on the left side with the EU flag symbol, along with the country code of the member state in which the vehicle is registered.

Slovak version pictured. The creation of a European single currency became an official objective of the European Economic Community in In , having negotiated the structure and procedures of a currency union, the member states signed the Maastricht Treaty and were legally bound to fulfil the agreed-on rules including the convergence criteria if they wanted to join the monetary union. The states wanting to participate had first to join the European Exchange Rate Mechanism.

In , the currency union started, first as an accounting currency with eleven member states joining. In , the currency was fully put into place, when euro notes and coins were issued and national currencies began to phase out in the eurozone, which by then consisted of 12 member states.

The eurozone constituted by the EU member states which have adopted the euro has since grown to 19 countries. It is at the centre of the European System of Central Banks , which comprehends all EU national central banks and is controlled by its General Council, consisting of the President of the ECB , who is appointed by the European Council, the vice-president of the ECB, and the governors of the national central banks of all 27 EU member states.

To complement this framework, there is also a European Systemic Risk Board under the responsibility of the central bank. The aim of this financial control system is to ensure the economic stability of the EU. To prevent the joining states from getting into financial trouble or crisis after entering the monetary union, they were obliged in the Maastricht treaty to fulfil important financial obligations and procedures, especially to show budgetary discipline and a high degree of sustainable economic convergence, as well as to avoid excessive government deficits and limit the government debt to a sustainable level.

The European Commission working sectors are: aeronautics, automotive, biotechnology, chemicals, construction, cosmetics, defence, electronics, firearms, food and drink, gambling, healthcare, maritime, mechanics, medical, postal, raw materials, space, textile, tourism, toys and social economy Societas cooperativa Europaea.

In , the EU had a gross inland energy consumption of 1, million tonnes of oil equivalent toe. The EU has had legislative power in the area of energy policy for most of its existence; this has its roots in the original European Coal and Steel Community. The introduction of a mandatory and comprehensive European energy policy was approved at the meeting of the European Council in October , and the first draft policy was published in January The EU has five key points in its energy policy: increase competition in the internal market , encourage investment and boost interconnections between electricity grids; diversify energy resources with better systems to respond to a crisis; establish a new treaty framework for energy co-operation with Russia while improving relations with energy-rich states in Central Asia [] and North Africa; use existing energy supplies more efficiently while increasing renewable energy commercialisation ; and finally increase funding for new energy technologies.

In , EU countries as a whole imported 82 per cent of their oil, 57 per cent of their natural gas [] and The three largest suppliers of natural gas to the European Union are Russia, Norway and Algeria , that amounted for about three quarters of the imports in It is expected to target Russian oil, Russian and Belarusian banks, as well as individuals and companies.

According to an article by Reuters, two diplomats stated that the European Union may impose a ban on imports of Russian oil by the end of In the estimated network covers: 75, kilometres 46, mi of roads; 78, kilometres 48, mi of railways; airports; maritime harbours; and internal harbours.

Rail transport in Europe is being synchronised with the European Rail Traffic Management System ERTMS , an initiative to greatly enhance safety, increase efficiency of trains and enhance cross-border interoperability of rail transport in Europe by replacing signalling equipment with digitised mostly wireless versions and by creating a single Europe-wide standard for train control and command systems.

The developing European transport policies will increase the pressure on the environment in many regions by the increased transport network. In the pre EU members, the major problem in transport deals with congestion and pollution. After the recent enlargement, the new states that joined since added the problem of solving accessibility to the transport agenda. Mobile communication roaming charges are abolished throughout the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.

The Galileo positioning system is an EU infrastructure project. The Galileo project was launched partly to reduce the EU’s dependency on the US-operated Global Positioning System , but also to give more complete global coverage and allow for greater accuracy, given the aged nature of the GPS system.

Until the s, the policy accounted for over 60 per cent of the European Community’s annual budget, and in accounted for around 34 per cent. The policy’s price controls and market interventions led to considerable overproduction. These were intervention stores of products bought up by the community to maintain minimum price levels.

To dispose of surplus stores, they were often sold on the world market at prices considerably below Community guaranteed prices, or farmers were offered subsidies amounting to the difference between the community and world prices to export their products outside the community. This system has been criticised for under-cutting farmers outside Europe, especially those in the developing world. Since the beginning of the s, the CAP has been subject to a series of reforms. Initially, these reforms included the introduction of set-aside in , where a proportion of farm land was deliberately withdrawn from production, milk quotas and, more recently, the ‚de-coupling‘ or disassociation of the money farmers receive from the EU and the amount they produce by the Fischler reforms in Agriculture expenditure will move away from subsidy payments linked to specific produce, toward direct payments based on farm size.

This is intended to allow the market to dictate production levels. The EU operates a competition policy intended to ensure undistorted competition within the single market. In the commission for the first time prevented a merger between two companies based in the United States General Electric and Honeywell which had already been approved by their national authority. The EU seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 6. The European Union has long sought to mitigate the effects of free markets by protecting workers‘ rights and preventing social and environmental dumping.

To this end it has adopted laws establishing minimum employment and environmental standards. The EU has also sought to coordinate the social security and health systems of member states to facilitate individuals exercising free movement rights and to ensure they maintain their ability to access social security and health services in other member states. The European Social Charter is the main body that recognises the social rights of European citizens.

A European unemployment insurance has been proposed among others by the commissioner of Jobs Nicolas Schmit. Since there has been a European commissioner for equality and the European Institute for Gender Equality has existed since Housing, youth, childhood, Functional diversity or elderly care are supportive competencies of the European Union and can be financed by the European Social Fund.

The European Pillar of Social Rights contains a preamble and 3 chapters with target values for 20 fields:. Chapter I: Equal opportunities and access to the labour market general education, professional training and lifelong learning, gender equality, equal opportunities, active support for employment.

Chapter II: Fair working conditions secure and adaptable employment, wages, information about employment conditions and protection in the event of dismissals, social dialogue and involvement of workers, work-life balance, healthy, safe and well-adapted working environments and data protection.

Chapter III: Social protection and inclusion childcare and support for children, social protection, unemployment benefits, minimum income, old age income and pensions, healthcare, inclusion of people with disabilities, long-term care, housing and assistance for the homeless, access to essential services.

The EPSR is intended to act as a reference document of sorts, by means of which the labour markets and social standards in the Member States may approach the standards defined in the Pillar in the long term. Structural Funds and Cohesion Funds are supporting the development of underdeveloped regions of the EU. Such regions are primarily located in the states of central and southern Europe. Demographic transition to a society of ageing population, low fertility-rates and depopulation of non-metropolitan regions is tackled within this policies.

In , when the European Economic Community was founded, it had no environmental policy. European policy-makers originally increased the EU’s capacity to act on environmental issues by defining it as a trade problem. The legal basis for EU environmental policy was established with the introduction of the Single European Act in Initially, EU environmental policy focused on Europe.

More recently, the EU has demonstrated leadership in global environmental governance, e. This international dimension is reflected in the EU’s Sixth Environmental Action Programme, [] which recognises that its objectives can only be achieved if key international agreements are actively supported and properly implemented both at EU level and worldwide. The Lisbon Treaty further strengthened the leadership ambitions. Mitigating climate change is one of the top priorities of EU environmental policy.

In , member states agreed that, in the future, 20 per cent of the energy used across the EU must be renewable , and carbon dioxide emissions have to be lower in by at least 20 per cent compared to levels. The EU has adopted an emissions trading system to incorporate carbon emissions into the economy. In the elections to the European Parliament , the green parties increased their power, possibly because of the rise of post materialist values.

Proposals to reach a zero carbon economy in the European Union by were suggested in — Almost all member states supported that goal at an EU summit in June The pledge is considered as a big achievement for climate change mitigation. In , the EU emitted 9. Basic education is an area where the EU’s role is limited to supporting national governments. In higher education, the policy was developed in the s in programmes supporting exchanges and mobility.

The most visible of these has been the Erasmus Programme , a university exchange programme which began in In its first 20 years, it supported international exchange opportunities for well over 1. There are similar programmes for school pupils and teachers, for trainees in vocational education and training , and for adult learners in the Lifelong Learning Programme — These programmes are designed to encourage a wider knowledge of other countries and to spread good practices in the education and training fields across the EU.

Scientific development is facilitated through the EU’s Framework Programmes , the first of which started in The aims of EU policy in this area are to co-ordinate and stimulate research. The EU has no major competences in the field of health care and Article 35 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union affirms that „A high level of human health protection shall be ensured in the definition and implementation of all Union policies and activities“.

The European Commission ’s Directorate-General for Health and Consumers seeks to align national laws on the protection of people’s health, on the consumers‘ rights, on the safety of food and other products. All EU and many other European countries offer their citizens a free European Health Insurance Card which, on a reciprocal basis, provides insurance for emergency medical treatment insurance when visiting other participating European countries.

The EU has some of the highest levels of life expectancy in the world, with Spain, Italy, Sweden, France, Malta, Ireland, Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Greece all among the world’s top 20 countries with the highest life expectancy.

The overall life expectancy in the EU in was Cultural co-operation between member states has been an interest of the European Union since its inclusion as a community competency in the Maastricht Treaty. Sport is mainly the responsibility of the member states or other international organisations, rather than of the EU. There are some EU policies that have affected sport, such as the free movement of workers, which was at the core of the Bosman ruling that prohibited national football leagues from imposing quotas on foreign players with European citizenship.

The Treaty of Lisbon requires any application of economic rules to take into account the specific nature of sport and its structures based on voluntary activity. The flag of Europe consists of a circle of 12 golden stars on a blue background. Originally designed in for the Council of Europe, the flag was adopted by the European Communities , the predecessors of the present European Union, in The Council of Europe gave the flag a symbolic description in the following terms, [] though the official symbolic description adopted by the EU omits the reference to the „Western world“: [].

Against the blue sky of the Western world, the stars symbolise the peoples of Europe in a form of a circle, the sign of union. The number of stars is invariably twelve , the figure twelve being the symbol of perfection and entirety. United in Diversity was adopted as the motto of the union in , having been selected from proposals submitted by school pupils. The anthem of the EU is an instrumental version of the prelude to the Ode to Joy , the 4th movement of Ludwig van Beethoven ’s ninth symphony.

The anthem was adopted by European Community leaders in and has since been played on official occasions. Known from the myth in which Zeus seduces her in the guise of a white bull, Europa has also been referred to in relation to the present union. Statues of Europa and the bull decorate several of the EU’s institutions and a portrait of her is seen on the series of euro banknotes.

The bull is, for its part, depicted on all residence permit cards. The commission has named one of its central buildings in Brussels after Charlemagne and the city of Aachen has since awarded the Charlemagne Prize to champions of European unification. Media freedom is a fundamental right that applies to all member states of the European Union and its citizens , as defined in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights as well as the European Convention on Human Rights.

It provides support for the development, promotion and distribution of European works within Europe and beyond. The European Union has had a significant positive economic effect on most member states. The largest winners were the new member states, in particular unskilled labour in the new member states. The European Union has contributed to peace in Europe, in particular by pacifying border disputes, [] [] and to the spread of democracy, especially by encouraging democratic reforms in aspiring Eastern European member states after the collapse of the USSR.

Daniel Kelemen argues that the EU has proved beneficial to leaders who are overseeing democratic backsliding , as the EU is reluctant to intervene in domestic politics, gives authoritarian governments funds which they can use to strengthen their regimes, and because freedom of movement within the EU allows dissenting citizens to leave their backsliding countries.

At the same time, the union provides an external constraint that prevents soft authoritarian regimes from progressing into hard dictatorships. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Redirected from European union. Political and economic union of 27 European states. For other uses, see EU disambiguation. This article is about the European Union. For the various levels of integration within European countries including EU member states, see European integration.

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Retrieved 13 May BBC News. The European Dream. Polity Press. ISBN French Politics. Retrieved 28 April Bloomsbury Publishing. The International Churchill Society. Retrieved 17 May Zeit Online. Retrieved 13 January The College of Europe. Fifty Years of Service to Europe. Bruges : College of Europe. Archived from the original on 28 December European Commission. Retrieved 5 September Retrieved 20 June Retrieved 12 December Retrieved 13 October EU by UNI.

Retrieved 1 January Retrieved 18 September Retrieved 13 March Retrieved 25 June Retrieved 17 April Activities of the European Union. Retrieved 20 October The World Transformed, to the Present. New York: Oxford University press. Archived from the original on 11 February Archived from the original on 15 May Retrieved 1 December Retrieved 12 October New York Times.

Archived from the original on 1 January Retrieved 14 May Retrieved 26 June The New York Times. Retrieved 24 June Archived from the original on 31 January Retrieved 31 January Retrieved 28 June Archived from the original on 11 December Archived from the original on 27 May Retrieved 23 November Archived from the original PDF on 12 August March Retrieved 4 May Retrieved 10 February Retrieved 22 November In a further effort to take advantage of economies of scale , PW and Arthur Andersen discussed a merger in [18] but the negotiations failed, mainly because of conflicts of interest such as Andersen’s strong commercial links with IBM and PW’s audit of IBM, as well as the two firms‘ radically different cultures.

It was said by those involved with the failed merger that at the end of the discussion, the partners at the table realized they had different views of business, and the potential merger was scrapped. After the merger, the firm had a large professional consulting branch, as did other major accountancy firms, generating much of its fees. The major cause for growth in the s was the implementation of complex integrated enterprise resource planning ERP systems for multi-national companies.

PwC came under increasing pressure to avoid conflicts of interest by not providing some consulting services, particularly financial systems design and implementation, to its audit clients. Since it audited a large proportion of the world’s largest companies, this was beginning to limit its consulting market.

These conflicts increased as additional services including outsourcing of IT and back-office operations were developed. The fallout from the Enron , Worldcom and other financial auditing scandals led to the passage of the Sarbanes—Oxley Act , severely limiting interaction between management consulting and auditing assurance services.

PwC announced in May , that its consulting activities would be spun off as an independent entity and hired an outside CEO to run the global firm. An outside consultancy , Wolff Olins , was hired to create a brand image for the new entity, called „Monday“.

PwC began rebuilding its consulting practice with acquisitions such as Paragon Consulting Group and the commercial services business of BearingPoint in PwC will be a preferred implementation and strategic partner of InvestCloud focused on enterprise delivery and innovative development of new financial app capabilities. In November , PwC accepted bitcoin as payment for advisory services, the first time the company, or any of the Big Four accounting firms, accepted virtual currency as payment.

PwC is co-ordinated by a private company limited by guarantee under English law , called PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited. PwC is organized into the following three service lines the revenue shares are listed in parentheses : [53]. Due to its size, PwC is able to contribute data analysis to a wide range of areas. PwC has partners in approximately offices across countries with , employees. Midrand , Johannesburg , South Africa. Freshwater Place , Melbourne, Australia. Kasumigaseki Building , Tokyo, Japan.

The following are the several logos the company has used through the years. It was designed by Wolff Olins. Employees at PwC generally have flexibility in choosing their own working hours provided that senior management deems the arrangement acceptable.

PwC developed a ColourBrave Charity Committee , made up of employees from across the organisation, as part of its commitment to continue to build an inclusive culture and address racial disparity. As of [update] , PwC is the fourth-largest privately owned company in the United States.

In , Google announced its partnership with PwC to drive cloud adoption among businesses. PwC partners with the United Nations to help keep the international organization’s monitoring systems up to date.

In , PwC joined with Microsoft in India to bring the services of both companies to the business community in India. In , the company, in partnership with Coursera , launched an on-line five-course educational platform called „Data Analysis and Presentation Skills. As of 30 June , PwC had , employees around the world. The following shows the number of employees in each region of the world as of FY The following shows the number of employees by practice areas.

The following shows the number of employees by level. They were one of only four professional services companies to do so. PwC ranked No. In , the United States Supreme Court held that Price Waterhouse must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the decision regarding Ann Hopkins ’s employment would have been the same if sex discrimination had not occurred.

The accounting firm failed to prove that the same decision to postpone Hopkins’s promotion to the partnership would have still been made in the absence of sex discrimination, and therefore, the employment decision constituted sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of The significance of the Supreme Court’s ruling was twofold.

First, it established that gender stereotyping is actionable as sex discrimination. Second, it established the mixed-motive framework as an evidentiary framework for proving discrimination under a disparate treatment theory even when lawful reasons for the adverse employment action are also present. She eventually resigned and sued the company for occupational sexism , arguing that her lack of promotion came after pressure to walk, talk, dress, and act more „femininely.

In , a Federal district judge in Washington ordered the firm to make Hopkins a partner. It was the first time in which a court awarded partnership in a professional company as a remedy for sexual or race-based discrimination. Following the suit, the firm received media attention due to its discriminatory labor practices towards males as well.

Although incidents of such labor marginalization take place rarely, there were several cases of unfair work treatment. AIG on 30 March , said that deals with a Barbados -based insurance company, for instance, may have been incorrectly accounted for over the past 14 years, because an AIG-affiliated company may have been secretly covering that insurer’s losses. That’s Accounting in any reinsurance transaction. PwC was also criticised by several witnesses during the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission investigation into AIG’s collapse in the financial crisis of — , after the insurer was unable to fulfil its collateral obligations to Goldman Sachs.

The insurer was expected to cover the difference in value between the credit default swap contracts it had sold to Goldman Sachs, however, the head of the unit at AIG disagreed with the valuation that Goldman presented. According to a memo published by Business Insider , witnesses wondered how PwC was signing off on the accounts for both AIG and Goldman Sachs when they were using different valuation methods for the swaps contracts and therefore booked different values for them in their accounts.

Many of the firm’s largest clients were forced to find replacement auditors before the suspension began that July. Shortly after the suspension of ChuoAoyama, PwC acted quickly to stem any possible client attrition as a result of the scandal. It set up the PricewaterhouseCoopers Aarata, and some of ChuoAoyama’s accountants and most of ChuoAoyama’s clients moved to the new firm. Misuzu was dissolved in July In , India’s accounting standards agency ICAI found partners of PwC guilty of professional negligence in under-providing for nonperforming assets of the now-defunct Global Trust Bank.

After the scandal broke out, Subramani Gopalakrishnan retired from the firm after reaching mandatory retirement age, while Talluri remained on suspension from the firm. In , PwC India said they were disappointed with court judgement of the case saying, „As we have said many times, there has never been any evidence presented that either of our former partners S Gopalakrishnan or Srinivas Talluri were involved in or were aware of the management-led fraud at Satyam.

We understand that Gopal and Talluri are considering filing an appeal against this verdict. PwC, which provides consulting service to the Kerala government ’s Department of Information Technology [] [] and its Space Park project, [] has been criticised for appointing Ms.

Swapana Suresh, who is accused in a case of smuggling gold in a diplomatic bag. Swapna Suresh by stating that she was hired based on a background verification report from past employers as well as a criminal record verification at the time.

In April , the company responded that it can’t repay the amount. Yukos was a Russian oil and gas company that was the target of politically motivated prosecutions by Russian authorities. The company’s assets were sold for alleged unpaid taxes and it was declared bankrupt. PwC’s audits were the foundation for the firm’s defense in a series of continuing trials against former chief executive, Mikhail Khodorkovsky , and the former majority shareholder, Platon Lebedev.

The Russian authorities then went after PwC. PwC withdrew its Yukos audits and less than two weeks later authorities cleared PwC of any wrongdoing in regard to its audit.

In , Joe Nocera in the New York Times wrote, „In , with the prospect of parole on the horizon, the same prosecutors—with what appears to be the complicity of PricewaterhouseCoopers, Yukos ’s longtime accounting firm—indicted the two men Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev , again, bringing a new round of Kafkaesque charges. In , it was revealed that the Russian government placed pressure on PwC to withdraw audits. A cable from the U.

An embassy source noted that „If the audits were properly withdrawn, this will be a ‚black mark‘ for the defense; if not, it could help the defense, but would greatly tarnish PWC’s international reputation.

Alexei Navalny , a minority Transneft shareholder and lawyer, accused the company of wrongdoing in his personal blog, and criticized PwC, Transneft’s auditor, of ignoring his warnings.

PwC denied wrongdoing, stating that, „We believe there are absolutely no grounds for such allegations, and we stand behind our work for OAO AK Transneft. In , PwC was criticised by the Treasury Select Committee of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for helping Northern Rock , a client of the firm, to sell its mortgage assets while also acting as its auditor. The accountants neglected to check whether JP Morgan had the correct systems in place and failed to gather sufficient evidence to form opinions on the issue, and as a result, failed to report that JP Morgan failed to hold client money separate from JP Morgan’s money.

PwC was found to be unethically favored by the World Bank in a bid to privatize the water distribution system of Delhi , India, an effort that was alleged as corrupt by investigators. The effort at privatization fell through when an investigation was conducted by Arvind Kejriwal and the non-governmental organization NGO Parivartan in The Delhi Jal Board DJB , which administers the water system of Delhi, was first approached by Parivartan in November , following a report by the newspaper The Asian Age , where the scheme was revealed to the public for the first time.

The documents revealed that the project began in , in complete secrecy within the DJB administration. When PwC was in 10th place, the World Bank said that at least one company should be from a developing country, and since PwC made the bid from its Kolkata office, it was dubbed an „Indian“ company, and its rank was raised to 6th. Only one company succeeded in the new round that was not PwC, and the World Bank had the lowest marks from an evaluator thrown out.

The contract was awarded to PwC in In , Cattles plc brought a legal action against PwC in the UK in respect of and audits, claiming that PwC had failed to carry out adequate investigations.

PwC disputed this legal claim. PwC admitted their „conduct fell significantly short of the standards reasonably to be expected of a member firm“ in respect of the financial statements. The administrators alleged that PwC should have identified a material understatement of QIL’s provisions for claims. Connaught plc , a UK former FTSE Index outsourcing company operating in property maintenance for the social housing and public sector, was put into administration in after reporting material losses.

In , the Financial Reporting Council FRC severely reprimanded PwC and its audit partner following an investigation of their conduct in respect of the audit of Connaught. The Financial Reporting Council started an investigation into accounting practices at Tesco and into the conduct of PwC in carrying out its audits in , and The firm helped multinational companies obtain legal tax rulings in Luxembourg between and The rulings provided written assurance that the multinational companies‘ tax-saving plans would be seen favorably by the Luxembourg authorities.

The companies saved billions of dollars in taxes with these arrangements. Some firms paid less than one percent tax on the profits they shifted to Luxembourg. Employees or former employees of PwC provided documentation of the rulings to journalists. He told the committee the financing, investments, and tax structure is legal and well known to the British government.

The revelations later led to a series of EU-wide measures aimed at regulating tax avoidance schemes and tax probes into several EU companies. In , PwC initiated charges against the two whistleblowers that revealed the LuxLeaks tax controversy, and they were convicted and sentenced with suspended prison sentences and fined. In March , a Luxembourg appeals court upheld the convictions of the two whistleblowers, but with reduced sentences.

The filings also alleged that PwC’s Brazil affiliate, PricewaterhouseCoopers Auditores Independentes, played a significant role by attesting to Petrobras financial statements and ignoring warnings. In , Luke Sayers , then CEO of PwC Australia, [] [] had the firm prepare a report projecting the excessive cost of a plebiscite on gay marriage.

BHS collapsed the following year with a substantial deficit in its pension fund. BT reportedly sought the immediate replacement of PwC as auditors following a breakdown of trust, but had existing commercial relationships with the other Big 4 firms which would have prevented their early appointment.

PwC was responsible for tabulating the results, preparing the envelopes, and handing them to presenters. In March , the board of governors for the Academy voted to retain the services of accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, despite the mix-up, saying „new protocols have been established including greater oversight from PwC’s U. In , the U. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama held PwC liable for professional negligence in its audit of Colonial Bank , which failed in , after filing materially false financial information with the SEC.

In , PwC was accused of disproportionately hiring younger workers and fostering „an age-conscious workplace in which youth is highly valued.

In March , a collective action related to the case was certified by a federal judge in San Francisco. In , PwC Australia CEO Luke Sayers was connected to perceived conflict of interest issues on a related to a personal investment in Australian Visa Processing AVP , [] a company part-owned by PwC that was submitting a tender to redesign and run Australia’s visa processing system that is potentially worth billions of dollars, which would result in a significant financial advantage for its investors.

In , the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists ICIJ leaked over , internal documents revealing that PwC had facilitated multiple dealings in which Isabel dos Santos , the daughter of the former president of Angola , made a fortune while in charge of the state oil company, Sonangol. Dos Santos established a network of over companies to facilitate tax evasion and the steering of millions of dollars of Angolan state contracts to companies under her control. PwC is sued for conspiring against a former client; according to the suit, the company released information about the client to a competitor in the course of a takeover approach.

PwC responded with a statement that „this claim [lacks] merit and [we] will be vigorously defending it. Poisk is used to store, service, and refurbish Russian Orlan suits and provides contingency entry for crew using the slightly bulkier American suits. The outermost docking port on the module allows docking of Soyuz and Progress spacecraft, and the automatic transfer of propellants to and from storage on the ROS.

Harmony , also known as Node 2 , is the „utility hub“ of the ISS. It connects the laboratory modules of the United States, Europe and Japan, as well as providing electrical power and electronic data. Sleeping cabins for four of the crew are housed here. Core Complete“. Tranquility , also known as Node 3, is a module of the ISS.

It contains environmental control systems, life support systems , a toilet, exercise equipment, and an observation cupola. Columbus is a science laboratory that is part of the ISS and is the largest single contribution to the station made by the European Space Agency.

It is designed for ten years of operation. It is the largest single ISS module, and is attached to the Harmony module. The third and final components were launched on STS Its name derives from the Italian word cupola , which means “ dome „. Its seven windows are used to conduct experiments, dockings and observations of Earth. With the Cupola attached, ISS assembly reached 85 percent completion. The Cupola ’s central window has a diameter of 80 cm 31 in.

Rassvet is primarily used for cargo storage and as a docking port for visiting spacecraft. Weighing 1. It included a spare elbow joint for the European Robotic Arm ERA which was launched with Nauka and an ERA-portable workpost used during EVAs, as well as a heat radiator, internal hardware and an experiment airlock for launching CubeSats to be positioned on the modified passive forward port near the nadir end of the Nauka module.

The deployable radiator will be used to add additional cooling capability to Nauka , which will enable the module to host more scientific experiments. The airlock will be used only to pass experiments inside and outside the module, with the aid of ERA — very similar to the Japanese airlock and Nanoracks Bishop Airlock on the U.

The ERA will be used to remove the radiator and airlock from Rassvet and transfer them over to Nauka. This process is expected to take several months. A portable work platform will also be transferred over, which can attach to the end of the ERA to allow cosmonauts to „ride“ on the end of the arm during spacewalks.

Leonardo is primarily used for storage of spares, supplies and waste on the ISS, which was until then stored in many different places within the space station. It is also the personal hygiene area for the astronauts who live in the US Orbital Segment. The module was named for Italian polymath Leonardo da Vinci. It arrived at the ISS on 10 April , [] was berthed to the station on 16 April at Tranquility Node 3, and was expanded and pressurized on 28 May Two International Docking Adapters are currently installed aboard the Station.

It had a temporary docking adapter on its nadir port for crewed and uncrewed missions until Prichal arrival, where just before its arrival it was removed by a departuring Progress spacecraft. UM was launched in November One port is equipped with an active hybrid docking port, which enables docking with the MLM module. The remaining five ports are passive hybrids, enabling docking of Soyuz and Progress vehicles, as well as heavier modules and future spacecraft with modified docking systems.

The ISS has a large number of external components that do not require pressurisation. The largest of these is the Integrated Truss Structure ITS , to which the station’s main solar arrays and thermal radiators are mounted.

ORUs are parts that can be replaced when they fail or pass their design life, including pumps, storage tanks, antennas, and battery units. Such units are replaced either by astronauts during EVA or by robotic arms. The AMS measures cosmic rays to look for evidence of dark matter and antimatter. The system is designed to be robotically serviced and will require no astronaut intervention. It is named after Christopher Columbus’s younger brother. The Integrated Truss Structure serves as a base for the station’s primary remote manipulator system, the Mobile Servicing System MSS , which is composed of three main components:.

Each Strela crane has a mass of 45 kg 99 lb. Prior to its departure, Pirs served as the primary Russian airlock on the station, being used to store and refurbish the Russian Orlan spacesuits. NASA negotiated with Axiom on a firm fixed-price contract basis to build and deliver the module, which will attach to the forward port of the space station’s Harmony Node 2 module.

Although NASA has only commissioned one module, Axiom plans to build an entire segment consisting of five modules, including a node module, an orbital research and manufacturing facility, a crew habitat, and a „large-windowed Earth observatory“.

The Axiom segment is expected to greatly increase the capabilities and value of the space station, allowing for larger crews and private spaceflight by other organisations. Axiom plans to convert the segment into a stand-alone space station once the ISS is decommissioned, with the intention that this would act as a successor to the ISS.

Made by Bigelow Aerospace. Nanoracks, after finalizing its contract with NASA, and after winning NextSTEPs Phase II award, is now developing its concept Independence-1 previously known as Ixion , which would turn spent rocket tanks into a habitable living area to be tested in space. If produced, this centrifuge will be the first in-space demonstration of sufficient scale centrifuge for artificial partial-g effects.

It will be designed to become a sleep module for the ISS crew. Several modules planned for the station were cancelled over the course of the ISS programme. Reasons include budgetary constraints, the modules becoming unnecessary, and station redesigns after the Columbia disaster.

The US Centrifuge Accommodations Module would have hosted science experiments in varying levels of artificial gravity. Instead, the living quarters are now spread throughout the station. The critical systems are the atmosphere control system, the water supply system, the food supply facilities, the sanitation and hygiene equipment, and fire detection and suppression equipment.

The Russian Orbital Segment’s life support systems are contained in the Zvezda service module. Some of these systems are supplemented by equipment in the USOS. The Nauka laboratory has a complete set of life support systems. The atmosphere on board the ISS is similar to that of Earth.

An Earth-like atmosphere offers benefits for crew comfort, and is much safer than a pure oxygen atmosphere, because of the increased risk of a fire such as that responsible for the deaths of the Apollo 1 crew.

The Elektron system aboard Zvezda and a similar system in Destiny generate oxygen aboard the station. Other by-products of human metabolism, such as methane from the intestines and ammonia from sweat, are removed by activated charcoal filters.

Part of the ROS atmosphere control system is the oxygen supply. Triple-redundancy is provided by the Elektron unit, solid fuel generators, and stored oxygen. The primary supply of oxygen is the Elektron unit which produces O 2 and H 2 by electrolysis of water and vents H 2 overboard. The 1 kW 1. This water is either brought from Earth or recycled from other systems.

Mir was the first spacecraft to use recycled water for oxygen production. This unit is manually operated. Double-sided solar arrays provide electrical power to the ISS. These bifacial cells collect direct sunlight on one side and light reflected off from the Earth on the other, and are more efficient and operate at a lower temperature than single-sided cells commonly used on Earth.

The Russian segment of the station, like most spacecraft, uses 28 V low voltage DC from two rotating solar arrays mounted on Zvezda. The higher distribution voltage allows smaller, lighter conductors, at the expense of crew safety. The two station segments share power with converters. The USOS solar arrays are arranged as four wing pairs, for a total production of 75 to 90 kilowatts.

Each array is about m 2 4, sq ft in area and 58 m ft long. In the complete configuration, the solar arrays track the Sun by rotating the alpha gimbal once per orbit; the beta gimbal follows slower changes in the angle of the Sun to the orbital plane.

The Night Glider mode aligns the solar arrays parallel to the ground at night to reduce the significant aerodynamic drag at the station’s relatively low orbital altitude. The station originally used rechargeable nickel—hydrogen batteries NiH 2 for continuous power during the 45 minutes of every minute orbit that it is eclipsed by the Earth.

The batteries are recharged on the day side of the orbit. They had a 6. The station’s large solar panels generate a high potential voltage difference between the station and the ionosphere. This could cause arcing through insulating surfaces and sputtering of conductive surfaces as ions are accelerated by the spacecraft plasma sheath. To mitigate this, plasma contactor units create current paths between the station and the ambient space plasma.

The station’s systems and experiments consume a large amount of electrical power, almost all of which is converted to heat. To keep the internal temperature within workable limits, a passive thermal control system PTCS is made of external surface materials, insulation such as MLI, and heat pipes.

The EATCS consists of an internal, non-toxic, water coolant loop used to cool and dehumidify the atmosphere, which transfers collected heat into an external liquid ammonia loop. From the heat exchangers, ammonia is pumped into external radiators that emit heat as infrared radiation, then back to the station. It can reject up to 70 kW.

Radio communications provide telemetry and scientific data links between the station and mission control centres. Radio links are also used during rendezvous and docking procedures and for audio and video communication between crew members, flight controllers and family members.

As a result, the ISS is equipped with internal and external communication systems used for different purposes. The Russian Orbital Segment communicates directly with the ground via the Lira antenna mounted to Zvezda. Kraft Jr. UHF radio is used by astronauts and cosmonauts conducting EVAs and other spacecraft that dock to or undock from the station.

Heat generated by the laptops does not rise but stagnates around the laptop, so additional forced ventilation is required. The operating system used for key station functions is the Debian Linux distribution.

Each permanent crew is given an expedition number. Expeditions run up to six months, from launch until undocking, an ‚increment‘ covers the same time period, but includes cargo spacecraft and all activities. Expeditions 1 to 6 consisted of three-person crews. From Expedition 13 the crew gradually increased to six around Travellers who pay for their own passage into space are termed spaceflight participants by Roscosmos and NASA, and are sometimes referred to as „space tourists“, a term they generally dislike.

When professional crews change over in numbers not divisible by the three seats in a Soyuz, and a short-stay crewmember is not sent, the spare seat is sold by MirCorp through Space Adventures. Space tourism was halted in when the Space Shuttle was retired and the station’s crew size was reduced to six, as the partners relied on Russian transport seats for access to the station. Soyuz flight schedules increased after , allowing five Soyuz flights 15 seats with only two expeditions 12 seats required.

Anousheh Ansari became the first self-funded woman to fly to the ISS as well as the first Iranian in space. Officials reported that her education and experience made her much more than a tourist, and her performance in training had been „excellent. The documentary Space Tourists follows her journey to the station, where she fulfilled „an age-old dream of man: to leave our planet as a ’normal person‘ and travel into outer space.

In , spaceflight participant Richard Garriott placed a geocache aboard the ISS during his flight. A wide variety of crewed and uncrewed spacecraft have supported the station’s activities. There are currently twelve available docking ports for visiting spacecraft: []. As of 30 December [ref] , people from 20 countries had visited the space station, many of them multiple times. Uncrewed spaceflights to the ISS are made primarily to deliver cargo, however several Russian modules have also docked to the outpost following uncrewed launches.

The primary docking system for Progress spacecraft is the automated Kurs system, with the manual TORU system as a backup. Progress and former ATV can remain docked for up to six months. As of December [update] , Progress spacecraft have flown most of the uncrewed missions to the ISS. All Russian spacecraft and self-propelled modules are able to rendezvous and dock to the space station without human intervention using the Kurs radar docking system from over kilometres away.

When it catches up it uses laser equipment to optically recognise Zvezda , along with the Kurs system for redundancy. Crew supervise these craft, but do not intervene except to send abort commands in emergencies. Progress and ATV supply craft can remain at the ISS for six months, [] [] allowing great flexibility in crew time for loading and unloading of supplies and trash.

From the initial station programs, the Russians pursued an automated docking methodology that used the crew in override or monitoring roles. Although the initial development costs were high, the system has become very reliable with standardisations that provide significant cost benefits in repetitive operations.

Soyuz spacecraft used for crew rotation also serve as lifeboats for emergency evacuation; they are replaced every six months and were used after the Columbia disaster to return stranded crew from the ISS.

Other vehicles berth instead of docking. The Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle parked itself in progressively closer orbits to the station, and then awaited ‚approach‘ commands from the crew, until it was close enough for a robotic arm to grapple and berth the vehicle to the USOS. Berthed craft can transfer International Standard Payload Racks. Japanese spacecraft berth for one to two months. Prior to a spacecraft’s docking to the ISS, navigation and attitude control GNC is handed over to the ground control of the spacecraft’s country of origin.

GNC is set to allow the station to drift in space, rather than fire its thrusters or turn using gyroscopes. The solar panels of the station are turned edge-on to the incoming spacecraft, so residue from its thrusters does not damage the cells. Before its retirement, Shuttle launches were often given priority over Soyuz, with occasional priority given to Soyuz arrivals carrying crew and time-critical cargoes, such as biological experiment materials.

Orbital Replacement Units ORUs are spare parts that can be readily replaced when a unit either passes its design life or fails. Examples of ORUs are pumps, storage tanks, controller boxes, antennas, and battery units.

Some units can be replaced using robotic arms. Both kinds of pallets provide electricity for many parts that could be damaged by the cold of space and require heating. The larger logistics carriers also have local area network LAN connections for telemetry to connect experiments. Unexpected problems and failures have impacted the station’s assembly time-line and work schedules leading to periods of reduced capabilities and, in some cases, could have forced abandonment of the station for safety reasons.

Serious problems include an air leak from the USOS in , [] the venting of fumes from an Elektron oxygen generator in , [] and the failure of the computers in the ROS in during STS that left the station without thruster, Elektron , Vozdukh and other environmental control system operations. In the latter case, the root cause was found to be condensation inside electrical connectors leading to a short circuit.

During STS in and following the relocation of the P6 truss and solar arrays, it was noted during unfurling that the solar array had torn and was not deploying properly. Extra precautions were taken to reduce the risk of electric shock, as the repairs were carried out with the solar array exposed to sunlight.

Excessive vibration and high-current spikes in the array drive motor were noted, resulting in a decision to substantially curtail motion of the starboard SARJ until the cause was understood. Inspections during EVAs on STS and STS showed extensive contamination from metallic shavings and debris in the large drive gear and confirmed damage to the large metallic bearing surfaces, so the joint was locked to prevent further damage.

In September , damage to the S1 radiator was first noticed in Soyuz imagery. The problem was initially not thought to be serious. On 15 May the damaged radiator panel’s ammonia tubing was mechanically shut off from the rest of the cooling system by the computer-controlled closure of a valve.

The same valve was then used to vent the ammonia from the damaged panel, eliminating the possibility of an ammonia leak. In the early hours of 1 August , a failure in cooling Loop A starboard side , one of two external cooling loops, left the station with only half of its normal cooling capacity and zero redundancy in some systems. Several subsystems, including two of the four CMGs, were shut down. A first EVA on 7 August , to replace the failed pump module, was not fully completed because of an ammonia leak in one of four quick-disconnects.

A second EVA on 11 August successfully removed the failed pump module. In late MBSU-1 ceased responding to commands or sending data confirming its health.

While still routing power correctly, it was scheduled to be swapped out at the next available EVA. A spare MBSU was already on board, but a 30 August EVA failed to be completed when a bolt being tightened to finish installation of the spare unit jammed before the electrical connection was secured.

On 24 December , astronauts installed a new ammonia pump for the station’s cooling system. The faulty cooling system had failed earlier in the month, halting many of the station’s science experiments. Astronauts had to brave a „mini blizzard“ of ammonia while installing the new pump.

A typical day for the crew begins with a wake-up at , followed by post-sleep activities and a morning inspection of the station. The crew then eats breakfast and takes part in a daily planning conference with Mission Control before starting work at around The first scheduled exercise of the day follows, after which the crew continues work until Following a one-hour lunch break, the afternoon consists of more exercise and work before the crew carries out its pre-sleep activities beginning at , including dinner and a crew conference.

The scheduled sleep period begins at In general, the crew works ten hours per day on a weekday, and five hours on Saturdays, with the rest of the time their own for relaxation or work catch-up. The station provides crew quarters for each member of the expedition’s crew, with two „sleep stations“ in the Zvezda , one in Nauka and four more installed in Harmony. The ROS crew quarters in Zvezda include a small window, but provide less ventilation and sound proofing.

A crew member can sleep in a crew quarter in a tethered sleeping bag, listen to music, use a laptop, and store personal items in a large drawer or in nets attached to the module’s walls. The module also provides a reading lamp, a shelf and a desktop. It is possible to sleep floating freely through the station, but this is generally avoided because of the possibility of bumping into sensitive equipment. On the USOS, most of the food aboard is vacuum sealed in plastic bags; cans are rare because they are heavy and expensive to transport.

Preserved food is not highly regarded by the crew and taste is reduced in microgravity, [] so efforts are taken to make the food more palatable, including using more spices than in regular cooking. The crew looks forward to the arrival of any spacecraft from Earth as they bring fresh fruit and vegetables.

Care is taken that foods do not create crumbs, and liquid condiments are preferred over solid to avoid contaminating station equipment. Each crew member has individual food packages and cooks them using the on-board galley.

The galley features two food warmers, a refrigerator added in November , and a water dispenser that provides both heated and unheated water.

Any food that floats away, including crumbs, must be collected to prevent it from clogging the station’s air filters and other equipment.

Showers on space stations were introduced in the early s on Skylab and Salyut 3. Crews are also provided with rinseless shampoo and edible toothpaste to save water. Astronauts first fasten themselves to the toilet seat, which is equipped with spring-loaded restraining bars to ensure a good seal.

Solid waste is collected in individual bags which are stored in an aluminium container. Full containers are transferred to Progress spacecraft for disposal. The diverted urine is collected and transferred to the Water Recovery System, where it is recycled into drinking water. Several long-lasting changes were observed, including those related to alterations in DNA and cognition , when one twin was compared with the other.

In November , researchers reported that astronauts experienced serious blood flow and clot problems while on board the ISS, based on a six-month study of 11 healthy astronauts. The results may influence long-term spaceflight, including a mission to the planet Mars, according to the researchers.

The ISS is partially protected from the space environment by Earth’s magnetic field. From an average distance of about 70, km 43, mi from the Earth’s surface, depending on Solar activity, the magnetosphere begins to deflect solar wind around Earth and the space station. Solar flares are still a hazard to the crew, who may receive only a few minutes warning. In , during the initial „proton storm“ of an X-3 class solar flare, the crew of Expedition 10 took shelter in a more heavily shielded part of the ROS designed for this purpose.

Subatomic charged particles, primarily protons from cosmic rays and solar wind, are normally absorbed by Earth’s atmosphere. When they interact in sufficient quantity, their effect is visible to the naked eye in a phenomenon called an aurora. Outside Earth’s atmosphere, ISS crews are exposed to approximately one millisievert each day about a year’s worth of natural exposure on Earth , resulting in a higher risk of cancer.

Radiation can penetrate living tissue and damage the DNA and chromosomes of lymphocytes ; being central to the immune system , any damage to these cells could contribute to the lower immunity experienced by astronauts. Radiation has also been linked to a higher incidence of cataracts in astronauts.

Protective shielding and medications may lower the risks to an acceptable level. Radiation levels on the ISS are about five times greater than those experienced by airline passengers and crew, as Earth’s electromagnetic field provides almost the same level of protection against solar and other types of radiation in low Earth orbit as in the stratosphere.

For example, on a hour flight, an airline passenger would experience 0. Additionally, airline passengers experience this level of radiation for a few hours of flight, while the ISS crew are exposed for their whole stay on board the station.

There is considerable evidence that psychosocial stressors are among the most important impediments to optimal crew morale and performance. NASA’s interest in psychological stress caused by space travel, initially studied when their crewed missions began, was rekindled when astronauts joined cosmonauts on the Russian space station Mir. Common sources of stress in early US missions included maintaining high performance under public scrutiny and isolation from peers and family.

The latter is still often a cause of stress on the ISS, such as when the mother of NASA astronaut Daniel Tani died in a car accident, and when Michael Fincke was forced to miss the birth of his second child. A study of the longest spaceflight concluded that the first three weeks are a critical period where attention is adversely affected because of the demand to adjust to the extreme change of environment. The ISS working environment includes further stress caused by living and working in cramped conditions with people from very different cultures who speak a different language.

First-generation space stations had crews who spoke a single language; second- and third-generation stations have crew from many cultures who speak many languages. Astronauts must speak English and Russian , and knowing additional languages is even better. Due to the lack of gravity, confusion often occurs.

Even though there is no up and down in space, some crew members feel like they are oriented upside down. They may also have difficulty measuring distances.

This can cause problems like getting lost inside the space station, pulling switches in the wrong direction or misjudging the speed of an approaching vehicle during docking. The physiological effects of long-term weightlessness include muscle atrophy , deterioration of the skeleton osteopenia , fluid redistribution, a slowing of the cardiovascular system, decreased production of red blood cells, balance disorders, and a weakening of the immune system.

Lesser symptoms include loss of body mass, and puffiness of the face. Sleep is regularly disturbed on the ISS because of mission demands, such as incoming or departing spacecraft. Sound levels in the station are unavoidably high.

The atmosphere is unable to thermosiphon naturally, so fans are required at all times to process the air which would stagnate in the freefall zero-G environment. To prevent some of the adverse effects on the body, the station is equipped with: two TVIS treadmills including the COLBERT ; the ARED Advanced Resistive Exercise Device , which enables various weightlifting exercises that add muscle without raising or compensating for the astronauts‘ reduced bone density; [] and a stationary bicycle.

Each astronaut spends at least two hours per day exercising on the equipment. Hazardous moulds that can foul air and water filters may develop aboard space stations. They can produce acids that degrade metal, glass, and rubber. They can also be harmful to the crew’s health.

Microbiological hazards have led to a development of the LOCAD-PTS which identifies common bacteria and moulds faster than standard methods of culturing , which may require a sample to be sent back to Earth. Contamination on space stations can be prevented by reduced humidity, and by using paint that contains mould-killing chemicals, as well as the use of antiseptic solutions.

All materials used in the ISS are tested for resistance against fungi. The results may be useful in improving the health and safety conditions for astronauts. Space flight is not inherently quiet, with noise levels exceeding acoustic standards as far back as the Apollo missions.

When compared to terrestrial environments, the noise levels incurred by astronauts and cosmonauts on the ISS may seem insignificant and typically occur at levels that would not be of major concern to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration — rarely reaching 85 dBA.

But crew members are exposed to these levels 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with current missions averaging six months in duration. These levels of noise also impose risks to crew health and performance in the form of sleep interference and communication, as well as reduced alarm audibility. Over the 19 plus year history of the ISS, significant efforts have been put forth to limit and reduce noise levels on the ISS. During design and pre-flight activities, members of the Acoustic Subgroup have written acoustic limits and verification requirements, consulted to design and choose quietest available payloads, and then conducted acoustic verification tests prior to launch.

The acoustic environment on ISS changed when additional modules were added during its construction, and as additional spacecraft arrive at the ISS. The Acoustics Subgroup has responded to this dynamic operations schedule by successfully designing and employing acoustic covers, absorptive materials, noise barriers , and vibration isolators to reduce noise levels. Moreover, when pumps, fans, and ventilation systems age and show increased noise levels, this Acoustics Subgroup has guided ISS managers to replace the older, noisier instruments with quiet fan and pump technologies, significantly reducing ambient noise levels.

NASA has adopted most-conservative damage risk criteria based on recommendations from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and the World Health Organization , in order to protect all crew members.

The MMOP Acoustics Subgroup has adjusted its approach to managing noise risks in this unique environment by applying, or modifying, terrestrial approaches for hearing loss prevention to set these conservative limits. Guidance for use of HPDs, either mandatory use or recommended, is then documented in the Noise Hazard Inventory, and posted for crew reference during their missions.

The Acoustics Subgroup also tracks spacecraft noise exceedances, applies engineering controls , and recommends hearing protective devices to reduce crew noise exposures.

Finally, hearing thresholds are monitored on-orbit, during missions. An onboard fire or a toxic gas leak are other potential hazards. Ammonia is used in the external radiators of the station and could potentially leak into the pressurised modules. The ISS is currently maintained in a nearly circular orbit with a minimum mean altitude of km mi and a maximum of km mi , [] in the centre of the thermosphere , at an inclination of After the retirement of the shuttle, the nominal orbit of the space station was raised in altitude from about km to about km.

Atmospheric drag reduces the altitude by about 2 km a month on average. Orbital boosting can be performed by the station’s two main engines on the Zvezda service module, or Russian or European spacecraft docked to Zvezda ’s aft port.

The Automated Transfer Vehicle is constructed with the possibility of adding a second docking port to its aft end, allowing other craft to dock and boost the station. It takes approximately two orbits three hours for the boost to a higher altitude to be completed. The FTCs each contain three identical processing units working in parallel and provide advanced fault-masking by majority voting. Zvezda uses gyroscopes reaction wheels and thrusters to turn itself around.

Gyroscopes do not require propellant; instead they use electricity to ’store‘ momentum in flywheels by turning in the opposite direction to the station’s movement. The USOS has its own computer-controlled gyroscopes to handle its extra mass. When gyroscopes ’saturate‘ , thrusters are used to cancel out the stored momentum. In February , during Expedition 10, an incorrect command was sent to the station’s computer, using about 14 kilograms of propellant before the fault was noticed and fixed.

The low altitudes at which the ISS orbits are also home to a variety of space debris, [] including spent rocket stages, defunct satellites, explosion fragments including materials from anti-satellite weapon tests , paint flakes, slag from solid rocket motors, and coolant released by US-A nuclear-powered satellites.

These objects, in addition to natural micrometeoroids , [] are a significant threat. Objects large enough to destroy the station can be tracked, and are not as dangerous as smaller debris. Despite their small size, some of these objects are a threat because of their kinetic energy and direction in relation to the station. Spacewalking crew in spacesuits are also at risk of suit damage and consequent exposure to vacuum. Ballistic panels, also called micrometeorite shielding, are incorporated into the station to protect pressurised sections and critical systems.

The type and thickness of these panels depend on their predicted exposure to damage. The US segment modules consist of an inner layer made from 1.

On the ROS, a carbon fibre reinforced polymer honeycomb screen is spaced from the hull, an aluminium honeycomb screen is spaced from that, with a screen-vacuum thermal insulation covering, and glass cloth over the top. Space debris is tracked remotely from the ground, and the station crew can be notified. These Debris Avoidance Manoeuvres DAMs are not uncommon, taking place if computational models show the debris will approach within a certain threat distance.

Ten DAMs had been performed by the end of If necessary, the altitude can also be lowered, although such a manoeuvre wastes propellant. This partial station evacuation has occurred on 13 March , 28 June , 24 March and 16 June In November , a debris cloud from the destruction of Kosmos by an anti-satellite weapons test threatened the ISS, leading to the announcement of a yellow alert, leading to crew sheltering in the crew capsules.

Radar -trackable objects, including debris, with distinct ring of geostationary satellites. The ISS is visible to the naked eye as a slow-moving, bright white dot because of reflected sunlight, and can be seen in the hours after sunset and before sunrise, when the station remains sunlit but the ground and sky are dark. Tools are provided by a number of websites such as Heavens-Above see Live viewing below as well as smartphone applications that use orbital data and the observer’s longitude and latitude to indicate when the ISS will be visible weather permitting , where the station will appear to rise, the altitude above the horizon it will reach and the duration of the pass before the station disappears either by setting below the horizon or entering into Earth’s shadow.

In November NASA launched its „Spot the Station“ service, which sends people text and email alerts when the station is due to fly above their town. Under specific conditions, the ISS can be observed at night on five consecutive orbits. Those conditions are 1 a mid-latitude observer location, 2 near the time of the solstice with 3 the ISS passing in the direction of the pole from the observer near midnight local time. The three photos show the first, middle and last of the five passes on 5—6 June Using a telescope-mounted camera to photograph the station is a popular hobby for astronomers, [] while using a mounted camera to photograph the Earth and stars is a popular hobby for crew.

Transits of the ISS infront of the Sun, particularly during an eclipse and so the Earth, Sun, Moon, and ISS are all positioned approximately in a single line are of particular interest for amateur astronomers. Involving five space programs and fifteen countries, [] the International Space Station is the most politically and legally complex space exploration programme in history.

A series of subsequent agreements govern other aspects of the station, ranging from jurisdictional issues to a code of conduct among visiting astronauts. Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine , continued cooperation between Russia and other countries on the International Space Station has been put into question.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson commented on the current status of cooperation, saying „I have been broadly in favour of continuing artistic and scientific collaboration, but in the current circumstances it’s hard to see how even those can continue as normal. There’s also the chance of impact of the ton construction in India or China. Do you want to threaten them with such a prospect? The ISS doesn’t fly over Russia, so all the risk is yours.

Are you ready for it? On 26 July , Yury Borisov , Rogozin’s successor as head of Roscosmos, submitted to Russian President Putin plans for withdrawal from the programme after According to the Outer Space Treaty , the United States and Russia are legally responsible for all modules they have launched. The modules under consideration for removal from the current ISS included the Multipurpose Laboratory Module Nauka , launched in July , and the other new Russian modules that are proposed to be attached to Nauka.

These newly launched modules would still be well within their useful lives in At the end of , the Exploration Gateway Platform concept also proposed using leftover USOS hardware and Zvezda 2 as a refuelling depot and service station located at one of the Earth-Moon Lagrange points.

However, the entire USOS was not designed for disassembly and will be discarded. Part of Boeing’s services under the contract will relate to extending the station’s primary structural hardware past to the end of There have also been suggestions that the station could be converted to commercial operations after it is retired by government entities.

This bill was unanimously approved in the Senate, but failed to pass in the U. The ISS has been described as the most expensive single item ever constructed. This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Modular space station in low Earth orbit. For other uses, see ISS disambiguation. International Space Station program insignia. Station elements as of November [update] exploded view. Main article: Scientific research on the International Space Station.

Comet Lovejoy photographed by Expedition 30 commander Dan Burbank. Main article: Manufacturing of the International Space Station. This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.

November Learn how and when to remove this template message. Main article: Zarya ISS module. Main article: Unity ISS module.

Соши пожирала глазами текст. – Подождите… сейчас посмотрю… отлично… – Сорок пять секунд! – раздался крик. Сьюзан взглянула на ВР.

There’s also the chance of impact of the ton construction in India or China. Do you want to threaten them with such a prospect?

The ISS doesn’t fly over Russia, so all the risk is yours. Are you ready for it? On 26 July , Yury Borisov , Rogozin’s successor as head of Roscosmos, submitted to Russian President Putin plans for withdrawal from the programme after According to the Outer Space Treaty , the United States and Russia are legally responsible for all modules they have launched.

The modules under consideration for removal from the current ISS included the Multipurpose Laboratory Module Nauka , launched in July , and the other new Russian modules that are proposed to be attached to Nauka.

These newly launched modules would still be well within their useful lives in At the end of , the Exploration Gateway Platform concept also proposed using leftover USOS hardware and Zvezda 2 as a refuelling depot and service station located at one of the Earth-Moon Lagrange points.

However, the entire USOS was not designed for disassembly and will be discarded. Part of Boeing’s services under the contract will relate to extending the station’s primary structural hardware past to the end of There have also been suggestions that the station could be converted to commercial operations after it is retired by government entities.

This bill was unanimously approved in the Senate, but failed to pass in the U. The ISS has been described as the most expensive single item ever constructed. This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Modular space station in low Earth orbit. For other uses, see ISS disambiguation. International Space Station program insignia.

Station elements as of November [update] exploded view. Main article: Scientific research on the International Space Station. Comet Lovejoy photographed by Expedition 30 commander Dan Burbank. Main article: Manufacturing of the International Space Station. This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. November Learn how and when to remove this template message.

Main article: Zarya ISS module. Main article: Unity ISS module. Main article: Zvezda ISS module. Main article: Destiny ISS module.

Main article: Quest Joint Airlock. Main article: Poisk ISS module. Main article: Harmony ISS module. Main article: Tranquility ISS module.

Main article: Columbus ISS module. Main article: Cupola ISS module. Main article: Rassvet ISS module. Main article: Leonardo ISS module. Main article: Nanoracks Bishop Airlock. Main article: Nauka ISS module. Main article: Prichal ISS module.

Commander Volkov stands on Pirs with his back to the Soyuz whilst operating the manual Strela crane which is holding photographer Oleg Kononenko. Dextre , like many of the station’s experiments and robotic arms, can be operated from Earth, allowing tasks to be performed while the crew sleeps.

Main article: Pirs ISS module. Main article: Axiom Orbital Segment. Main article: B Main article: Nautilus-X. See also: List of International Space Station expeditions. Zarya and Unity were entered for the first time on 10 December Soyuz TM being prepared to bring the first resident crew to the station in October See also: Space tourism.

Main article: List of human spaceflights to the International Space Station. See also: Docking and berthing of spacecraft. Main article: International Space Station maintenance. See also: Space food. The space toilet in the Zvezda module in the Russian segment. The main toilet in the US Segment inside the Tranquility module.

Main article: Effect of spaceflight on the human body. See also: Coronal mass ejection. See also: Microbiological environmental hazards on the Mir space station. Earth is not shown. Main article: Space debris.

Further information: Satellite watching and Satellite flare. The ISS on its first pass of the night passing nearly overhead shortly after sunset in June The ISS passing north on its third pass of the night near local midnight in June The ISS passing west on its fifth pass of the night before sunrise in June But usually it means „dawn“.

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ブーケ保存専門店フラワー工房Xing「シンフラワー」公式サイト。ウエディングブーケをアフターブーケとして保存加工。プロポーズなど思い出の花束・生花を美しいまま残せる方法。挙式後のご注文でも受付可能。1年間の無償保証。安心の10年サポート付き。. Official City of Calgary local government Twitter account. Keep up with City news, services, programs, events and more. Not monitored 24/7. daytona speeder x. daytona speeder에서 새롭게 탄생한 미들 킥 타입의 「daytona x」가 라인업에 합류.차원 높은 스피드감을 계승하여, 매끄럽고 쉬운 스윙감을 추구한 프리미엄 모델을 패션잡지 등,수많은 잡지사에서 편집장을 맡아온 잭 타카하시氏, . PricewaterhouseCoopers is an international professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounting firms, along with Deloitte, EY and KPMG.. PwC firms are in countries, across locations, with , people. The European Union (EU) is a political and economic union of 27 member states that are located primarily in Europe. An internal single market has been established through a standardised system of laws that apply in all member states in those matters, and only those matters, where the states have agreed to act as one. EU policies aim to ensure the free movement of people, .
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While both can legislate, member states can only legislate to the extent to which the EU has not. In other policy areas the EU can only co-ordinate, support and supplement member state action but cannot enact legislation with the aim of harmonising national laws.

That a particular policy area falls into a certain category of competence is not necessarily indicative of what legislative procedure is used for enacting legislation within that policy area. Different legislative procedures are used within the same category of competence, and even with the same policy area. The distribution of competences in various policy areas between member states and the union is divided in the following three categories:.

The European Union is based on a series of treaties. These first established the European Community and the EU, and then made amendments to those founding treaties. These legal powers include the ability to enact legislation [p] which can directly affect all member states and their inhabitants.

Under the principle of supremacy , national courts are required to enforce the treaties that their member states have ratified, and thus the laws enacted under them, even if doing so requires them to ignore conflicting national law, and within limits even constitutional provisions. The direct effect and supremacy doctrines were not explicitly set out in the European Treaties but were developed by the Court of Justice itself over the s, apparently under the influence of its then most influential judge, Frenchman Robert Lecourt [].

The General Court mainly deals with cases taken by individuals and companies directly before the EU’s courts, [] and the European Union Civil Service Tribunal adjudicates in disputes between the European Union and its civil service.

The treaties declare that the European Union itself is „founded on the values of respect for human dignity , freedom , democracy, equality , the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities The charter is a codified catalogue of fundamental rights against which the EU’s legal acts can be judged.

It consolidates many rights which were previously recognised by the Court of Justice and derived from the „constitutional traditions common to the member states. The EU is independent from the Council of Europe, although they share purpose and ideas, especially on the rule of law, human rights and democracy. The EU has also promoted human rights issues in the wider world. The EU opposes the death penalty and has proposed its worldwide abolition.

Abolition of the death penalty is a condition for EU membership. On 19 October , the European Union revealed new plans to create a legal structure to act against human rights violations worldwide. The new plan was expected to provide the European Union with greater flexibility to target and sanction those responsible for serious human rights violations and abuses around the world.

The main legal acts of the European Union come in three forms: regulations , directives , and decisions. Regulations become law in all member states the moment they come into force, without the requirement for any implementing measures, [v] and automatically override conflicting domestic provisions.

The details of how they are to be implemented are left to member states. Decisions offer an alternative to the two above modes of legislation. They are legal acts which only apply to specified individuals, companies or a particular member state. They are most often used in competition law , or on rulings on State Aid, but are also frequently used for procedural or administrative matters within the institutions.

Regulations, directives, and decisions are of equal legal value and apply without any formal hierarchy. The European Ombudsman was established by the Maastricht Treaty. The ombudsman is elected by the European Parliament for the length of the parliament’s term, and the position is renewable. Since the creation of the European Union in , it has developed its competencies in the area of justice and home affairs; initially at an intergovernmental level and later by supranationalism.

Accordingly, the union has legislated in areas such as extradition , [] family law, [] asylum law, [] and criminal justice.

The EU has also established agencies to co-ordinate police, prosecutorial and immigrations controls across the member states: Europol for co-operation of police forces, [] Eurojust for co-operation between prosecutors, [] and Frontex for co-operation between border control authorities.

This co-operation had to particularly be developed with the advent of open borders through the Schengen Agreement and the associated cross border crime. The borders inside the Schengen Area between Germany and Austria. Foreign policy co-operation between member states dates from the establishment of the community in , when member states negotiated as a bloc in international trade negotiations under the EU’s common commercial policy.

The aims of the CFSP are to promote both the EU’s own interests and those of the international community as a whole, including the furtherance of international co-operation, respect for human rights, democracy, and the rule of law. The unanimity and difficult issues treated under the CFSP sometimes lead to disagreements, such as those which occurred over the war in Iraq.

The coordinator and representative of the CFSP within the EU is the high representative of the union for foreign affairs and security policy who speaks on behalf of the EU in foreign policy and defence matters, and has the task of articulating the positions expressed by the member states on these fields of policy into a common alignment. The high representative heads up the European External Action Service EEAS , a unique EU department [] that has been officially implemented and operational since 1 December on the occasion of the first anniversary of the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon.

Besides the emerging international policy of the European Union, the international influence of the EU is also felt through enlargement. The perceived benefits of becoming a member of the EU act as an incentive for both political and economic reform in states wishing to fulfil the EU’s accession criteria, and are considered an important factor contributing to the reform of European formerly Communist countries.

The predecessors of the European Union were not devised as a military alliance because NATO was largely seen as appropriate and sufficient for defence purposes. Since the withdrawal of the United Kingdom, France is the only member officially recognised as a nuclear weapon state and the sole holder of a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.

France and Italy are also the only EU countries that have power projection capabilities outside of Europe. Following the Kosovo War in , the European Council agreed that „the Union must have the capacity for autonomous action, backed by credible military forces, the means to decide to use them, and the readiness to do so, in order to respond to international crises without prejudice to actions by NATO“. To that end, a number of efforts were made to increase the EU’s military capability, notably the Helsinki Headline Goal process.

After much discussion, the most concrete result was the EU Battlegroups initiative, each of which is planned to be able to deploy quickly about personnel.

EU forces have been deployed on peacekeeping missions from middle and northern Africa to the western Balkans and western Asia. It directs all military activities in the EU context, including planning and conducting military missions and operations in the framework of the Common Security and Defence Policy and the development of military capabilities, and provides the Political and Security Committee with military advice and recommendations on military issues.

Frontex is an agency of the EU established to manage the cooperation between national border guards securing its external borders. It aims to detect and stop illegal immigration, human trafficking and terrorist infiltration. In the European Commission presented its proposal for a new European Border and Coast Guard Agency having a stronger role and mandate along with national authorities for border management.

In an EU consisting of 27 members, substantial security and defence co-operation is increasingly relying on collaboration among all member states. Humanitarian aid is financed directly by the budget 70 per cent as part of the financial instruments for external action and also by the European Development Fund 30 per cent.

In , the average among EU countries was 0. The European Union uses foreign relations instruments like the European Neighbourhood Policy which seeks to tie those countries to the east and south of the European territory of the EU to the union. These countries, primarily developing countries, include some who seek to one day become either a member state of the European Union , or more closely integrated with the European Union.

The EU offers financial assistance to countries within the European Neighbourhood, so long as they meet the strict conditions of government reform, economic reform and other issues surrounding positive transformation.

This process is normally underpinned by an Action Plan, as agreed by both Brussels and the target country. International recognition of sustainable development as a key element is growing steadily. The SDGs recognise that all countries must stimulate action in the following key areas — people, planet , prosperity, peace and partnership — in order to tackle the global challenges that are crucial for the survival of humanity. Partnership and cooperation agreements are bilateral agreements with non-member nations.

The European Union is the largest exporter in the world [] and in was the largest importer of goods and services. In the eurozone , trade is helped by not having any currency differences to deal with amongst most members.

The European Union Association Agreement does something similar for a much larger range of countries, partly as a so-called soft approach ‚a carrot instead of a stick‘ to influence the politics in those countries. When the EU negotiates trade related agreement outside the WTO framework, the subsequent agreement must be approved by each individual EU member state government.

The European Union has concluded free trade agreements FTAs [] and other agreements with a trade component with many countries worldwide and is negotiating with many others. The currency union represents million EU citizens. Of the top largest corporations in the world measured by revenue in , had their headquarters in the EU.

Two of the original core objectives of the European Economic Community were the development of a common market, subsequently becoming a single market , and a customs union between its member states. The single market involves the free circulation of goods, capital, people, and services within the EU , [] and the customs union involves the application of a common external tariff on all goods entering the market.

Once goods have been admitted into the market they cannot be subjected to customs duties, discriminatory taxes or import quotas , as they travel internally. The non-EU member states of Iceland , Norway , Liechtenstein and Switzerland participate in the single market but not in the customs union.

Free movement of capital is intended to permit movement of investments such as property purchases and buying of shares between countries. Post-Maastricht there has been a rapidly developing corpus of ECJ judgements regarding this initially neglected freedom. The free movement of capital is unique insofar as it is granted equally to non-member states.

The free movement of persons means that EU citizens can move freely between member states to live, work, study or retire in another country. This required the lowering of administrative formalities and recognition of professional qualifications of other states. The free movement of services and of establishment allows self-employed persons to move between member states to provide services on a temporary or permanent basis.

While services account for 60 per cent to 70 per cent of GDP, legislation in the area is not as developed as in other areas. This lacuna has been addressed by the Services in the Internal Market Directive which aims to liberalise the cross border provision of services. A EEA national identity card German version pictured. A European driving licence card Croatian version pictured. A European passport , displaying the name of the member state, the national arms and the words „European Union“ given in their official language s.

Irish version pictured. A European vehicle registration plate , consisting of a blue strip on the left side with the EU flag symbol, along with the country code of the member state in which the vehicle is registered. Slovak version pictured. The creation of a European single currency became an official objective of the European Economic Community in In , having negotiated the structure and procedures of a currency union, the member states signed the Maastricht Treaty and were legally bound to fulfil the agreed-on rules including the convergence criteria if they wanted to join the monetary union.

The states wanting to participate had first to join the European Exchange Rate Mechanism. In , the currency union started, first as an accounting currency with eleven member states joining.

In , the currency was fully put into place, when euro notes and coins were issued and national currencies began to phase out in the eurozone, which by then consisted of 12 member states. The eurozone constituted by the EU member states which have adopted the euro has since grown to 19 countries. It is at the centre of the European System of Central Banks , which comprehends all EU national central banks and is controlled by its General Council, consisting of the President of the ECB , who is appointed by the European Council, the vice-president of the ECB, and the governors of the national central banks of all 27 EU member states.

To complement this framework, there is also a European Systemic Risk Board under the responsibility of the central bank. The aim of this financial control system is to ensure the economic stability of the EU. To prevent the joining states from getting into financial trouble or crisis after entering the monetary union, they were obliged in the Maastricht treaty to fulfil important financial obligations and procedures, especially to show budgetary discipline and a high degree of sustainable economic convergence, as well as to avoid excessive government deficits and limit the government debt to a sustainable level.

The European Commission working sectors are: aeronautics, automotive, biotechnology, chemicals, construction, cosmetics, defence, electronics, firearms, food and drink, gambling, healthcare, maritime, mechanics, medical, postal, raw materials, space, textile, tourism, toys and social economy Societas cooperativa Europaea.

In , the EU had a gross inland energy consumption of 1, million tonnes of oil equivalent toe. The EU has had legislative power in the area of energy policy for most of its existence; this has its roots in the original European Coal and Steel Community.

The introduction of a mandatory and comprehensive European energy policy was approved at the meeting of the European Council in October , and the first draft policy was published in January The EU has five key points in its energy policy: increase competition in the internal market , encourage investment and boost interconnections between electricity grids; diversify energy resources with better systems to respond to a crisis; establish a new treaty framework for energy co-operation with Russia while improving relations with energy-rich states in Central Asia [] and North Africa; use existing energy supplies more efficiently while increasing renewable energy commercialisation ; and finally increase funding for new energy technologies.

In , EU countries as a whole imported 82 per cent of their oil, 57 per cent of their natural gas [] and The three largest suppliers of natural gas to the European Union are Russia, Norway and Algeria , that amounted for about three quarters of the imports in It is expected to target Russian oil, Russian and Belarusian banks, as well as individuals and companies. According to an article by Reuters, two diplomats stated that the European Union may impose a ban on imports of Russian oil by the end of In the estimated network covers: 75, kilometres 46, mi of roads; 78, kilometres 48, mi of railways; airports; maritime harbours; and internal harbours.

Rail transport in Europe is being synchronised with the European Rail Traffic Management System ERTMS , an initiative to greatly enhance safety, increase efficiency of trains and enhance cross-border interoperability of rail transport in Europe by replacing signalling equipment with digitised mostly wireless versions and by creating a single Europe-wide standard for train control and command systems. The developing European transport policies will increase the pressure on the environment in many regions by the increased transport network.

In the pre EU members, the major problem in transport deals with congestion and pollution. After the recent enlargement, the new states that joined since added the problem of solving accessibility to the transport agenda. Mobile communication roaming charges are abolished throughout the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. The Galileo positioning system is an EU infrastructure project. The Galileo project was launched partly to reduce the EU’s dependency on the US-operated Global Positioning System , but also to give more complete global coverage and allow for greater accuracy, given the aged nature of the GPS system.

Until the s, the policy accounted for over 60 per cent of the European Community’s annual budget, and in accounted for around 34 per cent. The policy’s price controls and market interventions led to considerable overproduction. These were intervention stores of products bought up by the community to maintain minimum price levels. To dispose of surplus stores, they were often sold on the world market at prices considerably below Community guaranteed prices, or farmers were offered subsidies amounting to the difference between the community and world prices to export their products outside the community.

This system has been criticised for under-cutting farmers outside Europe, especially those in the developing world. Since the beginning of the s, the CAP has been subject to a series of reforms. Initially, these reforms included the introduction of set-aside in , where a proportion of farm land was deliberately withdrawn from production, milk quotas and, more recently, the ‚de-coupling‘ or disassociation of the money farmers receive from the EU and the amount they produce by the Fischler reforms in Agriculture expenditure will move away from subsidy payments linked to specific produce, toward direct payments based on farm size.

This is intended to allow the market to dictate production levels. The EU operates a competition policy intended to ensure undistorted competition within the single market. In the commission for the first time prevented a merger between two companies based in the United States General Electric and Honeywell which had already been approved by their national authority.

The EU seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 6. The European Union has long sought to mitigate the effects of free markets by protecting workers‘ rights and preventing social and environmental dumping.

To this end it has adopted laws establishing minimum employment and environmental standards. The EU has also sought to coordinate the social security and health systems of member states to facilitate individuals exercising free movement rights and to ensure they maintain their ability to access social security and health services in other member states.

The European Social Charter is the main body that recognises the social rights of European citizens. A European unemployment insurance has been proposed among others by the commissioner of Jobs Nicolas Schmit. Since there has been a European commissioner for equality and the European Institute for Gender Equality has existed since Housing, youth, childhood, Functional diversity or elderly care are supportive competencies of the European Union and can be financed by the European Social Fund.

The European Pillar of Social Rights contains a preamble and 3 chapters with target values for 20 fields:. Chapter I: Equal opportunities and access to the labour market general education, professional training and lifelong learning, gender equality, equal opportunities, active support for employment. Chapter II: Fair working conditions secure and adaptable employment, wages, information about employment conditions and protection in the event of dismissals, social dialogue and involvement of workers, work-life balance, healthy, safe and well-adapted working environments and data protection.

Chapter III: Social protection and inclusion childcare and support for children, social protection, unemployment benefits, minimum income, old age income and pensions, healthcare, inclusion of people with disabilities, long-term care, housing and assistance for the homeless, access to essential services.

The EPSR is intended to act as a reference document of sorts, by means of which the labour markets and social standards in the Member States may approach the standards defined in the Pillar in the long term. Structural Funds and Cohesion Funds are supporting the development of underdeveloped regions of the EU. Such regions are primarily located in the states of central and southern Europe. Demographic transition to a society of ageing population, low fertility-rates and depopulation of non-metropolitan regions is tackled within this policies.

In , when the European Economic Community was founded, it had no environmental policy. European policy-makers originally increased the EU’s capacity to act on environmental issues by defining it as a trade problem. The legal basis for EU environmental policy was established with the introduction of the Single European Act in Initially, EU environmental policy focused on Europe. More recently, the EU has demonstrated leadership in global environmental governance, e. This international dimension is reflected in the EU’s Sixth Environmental Action Programme, [] which recognises that its objectives can only be achieved if key international agreements are actively supported and properly implemented both at EU level and worldwide.

The Lisbon Treaty further strengthened the leadership ambitions. Mitigating climate change is one of the top priorities of EU environmental policy. In , member states agreed that, in the future, 20 per cent of the energy used across the EU must be renewable , and carbon dioxide emissions have to be lower in by at least 20 per cent compared to levels.

The EU has adopted an emissions trading system to incorporate carbon emissions into the economy. In the elections to the European Parliament , the green parties increased their power, possibly because of the rise of post materialist values. Proposals to reach a zero carbon economy in the European Union by were suggested in — Almost all member states supported that goal at an EU summit in June The pledge is considered as a big achievement for climate change mitigation.

In , the EU emitted 9. Basic education is an area where the EU’s role is limited to supporting national governments. In higher education, the policy was developed in the s in programmes supporting exchanges and mobility. The most visible of these has been the Erasmus Programme , a university exchange programme which began in In its first 20 years, it supported international exchange opportunities for well over 1.

There are similar programmes for school pupils and teachers, for trainees in vocational education and training , and for adult learners in the Lifelong Learning Programme — These programmes are designed to encourage a wider knowledge of other countries and to spread good practices in the education and training fields across the EU. Scientific development is facilitated through the EU’s Framework Programmes , the first of which started in The aims of EU policy in this area are to co-ordinate and stimulate research.

The EU has no major competences in the field of health care and Article 35 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union affirms that „A high level of human health protection shall be ensured in the definition and implementation of all Union policies and activities“. The European Commission ’s Directorate-General for Health and Consumers seeks to align national laws on the protection of people’s health, on the consumers‘ rights, on the safety of food and other products.

All EU and many other European countries offer their citizens a free European Health Insurance Card which, on a reciprocal basis, provides insurance for emergency medical treatment insurance when visiting other participating European countries.

The EU has some of the highest levels of life expectancy in the world, with Spain, Italy, Sweden, France, Malta, Ireland, Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Greece all among the world’s top 20 countries with the highest life expectancy. The overall life expectancy in the EU in was Cultural co-operation between member states has been an interest of the European Union since its inclusion as a community competency in the Maastricht Treaty.

Sport is mainly the responsibility of the member states or other international organisations, rather than of the EU. There are some EU policies that have affected sport, such as the free movement of workers, which was at the core of the Bosman ruling that prohibited national football leagues from imposing quotas on foreign players with European citizenship.

The Treaty of Lisbon requires any application of economic rules to take into account the specific nature of sport and its structures based on voluntary activity.

The flag of Europe consists of a circle of 12 golden stars on a blue background. Originally designed in for the Council of Europe, the flag was adopted by the European Communities , the predecessors of the present European Union, in The Council of Europe gave the flag a symbolic description in the following terms, [] though the official symbolic description adopted by the EU omits the reference to the „Western world“: [].

Against the blue sky of the Western world, the stars symbolise the peoples of Europe in a form of a circle, the sign of union. The number of stars is invariably twelve , the figure twelve being the symbol of perfection and entirety.

United in Diversity was adopted as the motto of the union in , having been selected from proposals submitted by school pupils. The anthem of the EU is an instrumental version of the prelude to the Ode to Joy , the 4th movement of Ludwig van Beethoven ’s ninth symphony. The anthem was adopted by European Community leaders in and has since been played on official occasions.

Known from the myth in which Zeus seduces her in the guise of a white bull, Europa has also been referred to in relation to the present union. Statues of Europa and the bull decorate several of the EU’s institutions and a portrait of her is seen on the series of euro banknotes.

The bull is, for its part, depicted on all residence permit cards. The commission has named one of its central buildings in Brussels after Charlemagne and the city of Aachen has since awarded the Charlemagne Prize to champions of European unification.

Media freedom is a fundamental right that applies to all member states of the European Union and its citizens , as defined in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights as well as the European Convention on Human Rights. It provides support for the development, promotion and distribution of European works within Europe and beyond. The European Union has had a significant positive economic effect on most member states. The largest winners were the new member states, in particular unskilled labour in the new member states.

The European Union has contributed to peace in Europe, in particular by pacifying border disputes, [] [] and to the spread of democracy, especially by encouraging democratic reforms in aspiring Eastern European member states after the collapse of the USSR. Daniel Kelemen argues that the EU has proved beneficial to leaders who are overseeing democratic backsliding , as the EU is reluctant to intervene in domestic politics, gives authoritarian governments funds which they can use to strengthen their regimes, and because freedom of movement within the EU allows dissenting citizens to leave their backsliding countries.

At the same time, the union provides an external constraint that prevents soft authoritarian regimes from progressing into hard dictatorships. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Redirected from European union. Political and economic union of 27 European states. For other uses, see EU disambiguation. This article is about the European Union. For the various levels of integration within European countries including EU member states, see European integration.

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It is the largest artificial object in space and the largest satellite in low Earth orbit, regularly visible to the naked eye from Earth’s surface. The Russian segment includes six modules. The US segment includes ten modules, whose support services are distributed Roscosmos had previously [19] [20] endorsed the continued operation of ROS through , [21] having proposed using elements of the segment to construct a new Russian space station called OPSEK.

The first ISS component was launched in , and the first long-term residents arrived on 2 November after being launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on 31 October The latest major pressurised module, Nauka , was fitted in , a little over ten years after the previous major addition, Leonardo in Development and assembly of the station continues, with an experimental inflatable space habitat added in , and several major new Russian elements scheduled for launch starting in In January , the station’s operation authorization was extended to , with funding secured within the United States through that year.

The ISS consists of pressurised habitation modules, structural trusses, photovoltaic solar arrays , thermal radiators , docking ports , experiment bays and robotic arms.

The Dragon spacecraft allows the return of pressurised cargo to Earth, which is used, for example, to repatriate scientific experiments for further analysis. As of April [update] , astronauts, cosmonauts, and space tourists from 20 different nations have visited the space station, many of them multiple times. In early , science ministers from the European Space Agency ESA countries approved the Columbus programme, the most ambitious effort in space undertaken by that organisation at the time.

The plan spearheaded by Germany and Italy included a module which would be attached to Freedom , and with the capability to evolve into a full-fledged European orbital outpost before the end of the century. The space station was also going to tie the emerging European and Japanese national space programmes closer to the US-led project, thereby preventing those nations from becoming major, independent competitors too. The ISS was originally intended to be a laboratory, observatory, and factory while providing transportation, maintenance, and a low Earth orbit staging base for possible future missions to the Moon, Mars, and asteroids.

However, not all of the uses envisioned in the initial memorandum of understanding between NASA and Roscosmos have been realised. The ISS provides a platform to conduct scientific research, with power, data, cooling, and crew available to support experiments. Small uncrewed spacecraft can also provide platforms for experiments, especially those involving zero gravity and exposure to space, but space stations offer a long-term environment where studies can be performed potentially for decades, combined with ready access by human researchers.

The ISS simplifies individual experiments by allowing groups of experiments to share the same launches and crew time. Research is conducted in a wide variety of fields, including astrobiology , astronomy , physical sciences , materials science , space weather , meteorology , and human research including space medicine and the life sciences.

If follow-on experiments are necessary, the routinely scheduled launches of resupply craft allows new hardware to be launched with relative ease. However, a considerable amount of crew time is taken up by station maintenance.

Perhaps the most notable ISS experiment is the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer AMS , which is intended to detect dark matter and answer other fundamental questions about our universe.

Currently docked on station, it could not have been easily accommodated on a free flying satellite platform because of its power and bandwidth needs. The space environment is hostile to life. Unprotected presence in space is characterised by an intense radiation field consisting primarily of protons and other subatomic charged particles from the solar wind , in addition to cosmic rays , high vacuum, extreme temperatures, and microgravity.

Medical research improves knowledge about the effects of long-term space exposure on the human body, including muscle atrophy , bone loss , and fluid shift. These data will be used to determine whether high duration human spaceflight and space colonisation are feasible. In , data on bone loss and muscular atrophy suggested that there would be a significant risk of fractures and movement problems if astronauts landed on a planet after a lengthy interplanetary cruise, such as the six-month interval required to travel to Mars.

Prominent among these is the Advanced Diagnostic Ultrasound in Microgravity study in which astronauts perform ultrasound scans under the guidance of remote experts. The study considers the diagnosis and treatment of medical conditions in space. Usually, there is no physician on board the ISS and diagnosis of medical conditions is a challenge. It is anticipated that remotely guided ultrasound scans will have application on Earth in emergency and rural care situations where access to a trained physician is difficult.

In August , scientists reported that bacteria from Earth, particularly Deinococcus radiodurans bacteria, which is highly resistant to environmental hazards , were found to survive for three years in outer space , based on studies conducted on the International Space Station.

These findings supported the notion of panspermia , the hypothesis that life exists throughout the Universe , distributed in various ways, including space dust , meteoroids , asteroids , comets , planetoids or contaminated spacecraft. Remote sensing of the Earth, astronomy, and deep space research on the ISS have dramatically increased during the s after the completion of the US Orbital Segment in Throughout the more than 20 years of the ISS program researchers aboard the ISS and on the ground have examined aerosols , ozone , lightning , and oxides in Earth’s atmosphere, as well as the Sun , cosmic rays, cosmic dust , antimatter , and dark matter in the universe.

Researchers are investigating the effect of the station’s near-weightless environment on the evolution, development, growth and internal processes of plants and animals. In response to some of the data, NASA wants to investigate microgravity ’s effects on the growth of three-dimensional, human-like tissues and the unusual protein crystals that can be formed in space.

Investigating the physics of fluids in microgravity will provide better models of the behaviour of fluids. Because fluids can be almost completely combined in microgravity, physicists investigate fluids that do not mix well on Earth. Examining reactions that are slowed by low gravity and low temperatures will improve our understanding of superconductivity. The study of materials science is an important ISS research activity, with the objective of reaping economic benefits through the improvement of techniques used on the ground.

These findings may improve knowledge about energy production and lead to economic and environmental benefits. The ISS provides a location in the relative safety of low Earth orbit to test spacecraft systems that will be required for long-duration missions to the Moon and Mars.

This provides experience in operations, maintenance as well as repair and replacement activities on-orbit. This will help develop essential skills in operating spacecraft farther from Earth, reduce mission risks, and advance the capabilities of interplanetary spacecraft. In , noting the value of the partnership framework itself, Sergey Krasnov wrote, „When compared with partners acting separately, partners developing complementary abilities and resources could give us much more assurance of the success and safety of space exploration.

The ISS is helping further advance near-Earth space exploration and realisation of prospective programmes of research and exploration of the Solar system, including the Moon and Mars. The ISS crew provides opportunities for students on Earth by running student-developed experiments, making educational demonstrations, allowing for student participation in classroom versions of ISS experiments, and directly engaging students using radio, and email. The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency JAXA aims to inspire children to „pursue craftsmanship“ and to heighten their „awareness of the importance of life and their responsibilities in society“.

Cultural activities are another major objective of the ISS programme. Amateur Radio on the ISS ARISS is a volunteer programme that encourages students worldwide to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, through amateur radio communications opportunities with the ISS crew. In areas where radio equipment cannot be used, speakerphones connect students to ground stations which then connect the calls to the space station. First Orbit is a feature-length documentary film about Vostok 1 , the first crewed space flight around the Earth.

By matching the orbit of the ISS to that of Vostok 1 as closely as possible, in terms of ground path and time of day, documentary filmmaker Christopher Riley and ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli were able to film the view that Yuri Gagarin saw on his pioneering orbital space flight.

This new footage was cut together with the original Vostok 1 mission audio recordings sourced from the Russian State Archive. These were the first content made in space specifically for Wikipedia. Since the International Space Station is a multi-national collaborative project, the components for in-orbit assembly were manufactured in various countries around the world.

Beginning in the mid s, the U. Zvezda was initially manufactured in as a component for Mir-2 , but was never launched and instead became the ISS Service Module. The mobile base system, a connecting framework for Canadarm2 mounted on rails, was built by Northrop Grumman.

The assembly of the International Space Station, a major endeavour in space architecture , began in November It provided propulsion, attitude control , communications, and electrical power, but lacked long-term life support functions. On 12 July , the Zvezda module was launched into orbit. Onboard preprogrammed commands deployed its solar arrays and communications antenna. Zvezda then became the passive target for a rendezvous with Zarya and Unity , maintaining a station-keeping orbit while the Zarya — Unity vehicle performed the rendezvous and docking via ground control and the Russian automated rendezvous and docking system.

Zarya ’s computer transferred control of the station to Zvezda ’s computer soon after docking. Zvezda added sleeping quarters, a toilet, kitchen, CO 2 scrubbers, dehumidifier, oxygen generators, and exercise equipment, plus data, voice and television communications with mission control, enabling permanent habitation of the station.

At the end of the first day on the station, astronaut Bill Shepherd requested the use of the radio call sign “ Alpha „, which he and cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev preferred to the more cumbersome “ International Space Station „. Referencing a naval tradition in a pre-launch news conference he had said: „For thousands of years, humans have been going to sea in ships. People have designed and built these vessels, launched them with a good feeling that a name will bring good fortune to the crew and success to their voyage.

These two flights each added segments of the station’s Integrated Truss Structure , which provided the station with Ku-band communication for US television, additional attitude support needed for the additional mass of the USOS, and substantial solar arrays to supplement the station’s four existing arrays.

A Soyuz-U rocket delivered the Pirs docking compartment. The Space Shuttles Discovery , Atlantis , and Endeavour delivered the Destiny laboratory and Quest airlock , in addition to the station’s main robot arm, the Canadarm2, and several more segments of the Integrated Truss Structure. The expansion schedule was interrupted in by the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster and a resulting hiatus in flights. As a result of the major expansion of the station’s power-generating capabilities, more pressurised modules could be accommodated, and the Harmony node and Columbus European laboratory were added.

By June , the station consisted of 15 pressurised modules and the Integrated Truss Structure. Russia’s new primary research module Nauka docked in July , [] along with the European Robotic Arm which will be able to relocate itself to different parts of the Russian modules of the station. The gross mass of the station changes over time.

The total launch mass of the modules on orbit is about , kg , lb as of 3 September [update]. Hydrogen gas is constantly vented overboard by the oxygen generators. The ISS is a modular space station. Modular stations can allow modules to be added to or removed from the existing structure, allowing greater flexibility. Diagram structure of International Space Station after installation of solar arrays as of September Below is a diagram of major station components. The blue areas are pressurised sections accessible by the crew without using spacesuits.

The station’s unpressurised superstructure is indicated in red. Planned components are shown in white, non installed, temporarily defunct or non-commissioned components are shown in brown and former ones in gray.

Other unpressurised components are yellow. The Unity node joins directly to the Destiny laboratory. For clarity, they are shown apart. Similar cases are also seen in other parts of the structure. With the launch and assembly in orbit of other modules with more specialized functionality, Zarya, as of August , is primarily be used for storage, both inside the pressurized section and in the externally mounted fuel tanks.

The name Zarya „Dawn“ was given to the FGB because it signified the dawn of a new era of international cooperation in space. Although it was built by a Russian company, it is owned by the United States.

The Unity connecting module, also known as Node 1, is the first U. It connects the Russian and U. The module is cylindrical in shape, with six berthing locations forward , aft , port , starboard , zenith , and nadir facilitating connections to other modules.

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However, not all of the uses envisioned in the initial memorandum of understanding between NASA and Roscosmos have been realised. The ISS provides a platform to conduct scientific research, with power, data, cooling, and crew available to support experiments. Small uncrewed spacecraft can also provide platforms for experiments, especially those involving zero gravity and exposure to space, but space stations offer a long-term environment where studies can be performed potentially for decades, combined with ready access by human researchers.

The ISS simplifies individual experiments by allowing groups of experiments to share the same launches and crew time. Research is conducted in a wide variety of fields, including astrobiology , astronomy , physical sciences , materials science , space weather , meteorology , and human research including space medicine and the life sciences. If follow-on experiments are necessary, the routinely scheduled launches of resupply craft allows new hardware to be launched with relative ease.

However, a considerable amount of crew time is taken up by station maintenance. Perhaps the most notable ISS experiment is the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer AMS , which is intended to detect dark matter and answer other fundamental questions about our universe. Currently docked on station, it could not have been easily accommodated on a free flying satellite platform because of its power and bandwidth needs.

The space environment is hostile to life. Unprotected presence in space is characterised by an intense radiation field consisting primarily of protons and other subatomic charged particles from the solar wind , in addition to cosmic rays , high vacuum, extreme temperatures, and microgravity. Medical research improves knowledge about the effects of long-term space exposure on the human body, including muscle atrophy , bone loss , and fluid shift.

These data will be used to determine whether high duration human spaceflight and space colonisation are feasible. In , data on bone loss and muscular atrophy suggested that there would be a significant risk of fractures and movement problems if astronauts landed on a planet after a lengthy interplanetary cruise, such as the six-month interval required to travel to Mars.

Prominent among these is the Advanced Diagnostic Ultrasound in Microgravity study in which astronauts perform ultrasound scans under the guidance of remote experts. The study considers the diagnosis and treatment of medical conditions in space.

Usually, there is no physician on board the ISS and diagnosis of medical conditions is a challenge. It is anticipated that remotely guided ultrasound scans will have application on Earth in emergency and rural care situations where access to a trained physician is difficult. In August , scientists reported that bacteria from Earth, particularly Deinococcus radiodurans bacteria, which is highly resistant to environmental hazards , were found to survive for three years in outer space , based on studies conducted on the International Space Station.

These findings supported the notion of panspermia , the hypothesis that life exists throughout the Universe , distributed in various ways, including space dust , meteoroids , asteroids , comets , planetoids or contaminated spacecraft. Remote sensing of the Earth, astronomy, and deep space research on the ISS have dramatically increased during the s after the completion of the US Orbital Segment in Throughout the more than 20 years of the ISS program researchers aboard the ISS and on the ground have examined aerosols , ozone , lightning , and oxides in Earth’s atmosphere, as well as the Sun , cosmic rays, cosmic dust , antimatter , and dark matter in the universe.

Researchers are investigating the effect of the station’s near-weightless environment on the evolution, development, growth and internal processes of plants and animals. In response to some of the data, NASA wants to investigate microgravity ’s effects on the growth of three-dimensional, human-like tissues and the unusual protein crystals that can be formed in space.

Investigating the physics of fluids in microgravity will provide better models of the behaviour of fluids. Because fluids can be almost completely combined in microgravity, physicists investigate fluids that do not mix well on Earth. Examining reactions that are slowed by low gravity and low temperatures will improve our understanding of superconductivity.

The study of materials science is an important ISS research activity, with the objective of reaping economic benefits through the improvement of techniques used on the ground. These findings may improve knowledge about energy production and lead to economic and environmental benefits. The ISS provides a location in the relative safety of low Earth orbit to test spacecraft systems that will be required for long-duration missions to the Moon and Mars.

This provides experience in operations, maintenance as well as repair and replacement activities on-orbit. This will help develop essential skills in operating spacecraft farther from Earth, reduce mission risks, and advance the capabilities of interplanetary spacecraft.

In , noting the value of the partnership framework itself, Sergey Krasnov wrote, „When compared with partners acting separately, partners developing complementary abilities and resources could give us much more assurance of the success and safety of space exploration.

The ISS is helping further advance near-Earth space exploration and realisation of prospective programmes of research and exploration of the Solar system, including the Moon and Mars. The ISS crew provides opportunities for students on Earth by running student-developed experiments, making educational demonstrations, allowing for student participation in classroom versions of ISS experiments, and directly engaging students using radio, and email.

The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency JAXA aims to inspire children to „pursue craftsmanship“ and to heighten their „awareness of the importance of life and their responsibilities in society“. Cultural activities are another major objective of the ISS programme.

Amateur Radio on the ISS ARISS is a volunteer programme that encourages students worldwide to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, through amateur radio communications opportunities with the ISS crew. In areas where radio equipment cannot be used, speakerphones connect students to ground stations which then connect the calls to the space station.

First Orbit is a feature-length documentary film about Vostok 1 , the first crewed space flight around the Earth. By matching the orbit of the ISS to that of Vostok 1 as closely as possible, in terms of ground path and time of day, documentary filmmaker Christopher Riley and ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli were able to film the view that Yuri Gagarin saw on his pioneering orbital space flight.

This new footage was cut together with the original Vostok 1 mission audio recordings sourced from the Russian State Archive. These were the first content made in space specifically for Wikipedia. Since the International Space Station is a multi-national collaborative project, the components for in-orbit assembly were manufactured in various countries around the world.

Beginning in the mid s, the U. Zvezda was initially manufactured in as a component for Mir-2 , but was never launched and instead became the ISS Service Module. The mobile base system, a connecting framework for Canadarm2 mounted on rails, was built by Northrop Grumman.

The assembly of the International Space Station, a major endeavour in space architecture , began in November It provided propulsion, attitude control , communications, and electrical power, but lacked long-term life support functions. On 12 July , the Zvezda module was launched into orbit. Onboard preprogrammed commands deployed its solar arrays and communications antenna. Zvezda then became the passive target for a rendezvous with Zarya and Unity , maintaining a station-keeping orbit while the Zarya — Unity vehicle performed the rendezvous and docking via ground control and the Russian automated rendezvous and docking system.

Zarya ’s computer transferred control of the station to Zvezda ’s computer soon after docking. Zvezda added sleeping quarters, a toilet, kitchen, CO 2 scrubbers, dehumidifier, oxygen generators, and exercise equipment, plus data, voice and television communications with mission control, enabling permanent habitation of the station.

At the end of the first day on the station, astronaut Bill Shepherd requested the use of the radio call sign “ Alpha „, which he and cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev preferred to the more cumbersome “ International Space Station „.

Referencing a naval tradition in a pre-launch news conference he had said: „For thousands of years, humans have been going to sea in ships. People have designed and built these vessels, launched them with a good feeling that a name will bring good fortune to the crew and success to their voyage. These two flights each added segments of the station’s Integrated Truss Structure , which provided the station with Ku-band communication for US television, additional attitude support needed for the additional mass of the USOS, and substantial solar arrays to supplement the station’s four existing arrays.

A Soyuz-U rocket delivered the Pirs docking compartment. The Space Shuttles Discovery , Atlantis , and Endeavour delivered the Destiny laboratory and Quest airlock , in addition to the station’s main robot arm, the Canadarm2, and several more segments of the Integrated Truss Structure.

The expansion schedule was interrupted in by the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster and a resulting hiatus in flights.

As a result of the major expansion of the station’s power-generating capabilities, more pressurised modules could be accommodated, and the Harmony node and Columbus European laboratory were added. By June , the station consisted of 15 pressurised modules and the Integrated Truss Structure. Russia’s new primary research module Nauka docked in July , [] along with the European Robotic Arm which will be able to relocate itself to different parts of the Russian modules of the station.

The gross mass of the station changes over time. The total launch mass of the modules on orbit is about , kg , lb as of 3 September [update]. Hydrogen gas is constantly vented overboard by the oxygen generators. The ISS is a modular space station. Modular stations can allow modules to be added to or removed from the existing structure, allowing greater flexibility.

Diagram structure of International Space Station after installation of solar arrays as of September Below is a diagram of major station components.

The blue areas are pressurised sections accessible by the crew without using spacesuits. The station’s unpressurised superstructure is indicated in red. Planned components are shown in white, non installed, temporarily defunct or non-commissioned components are shown in brown and former ones in gray. Other unpressurised components are yellow. The Unity node joins directly to the Destiny laboratory.

For clarity, they are shown apart. Similar cases are also seen in other parts of the structure. With the launch and assembly in orbit of other modules with more specialized functionality, Zarya, as of August , is primarily be used for storage, both inside the pressurized section and in the externally mounted fuel tanks. The name Zarya „Dawn“ was given to the FGB because it signified the dawn of a new era of international cooperation in space.

Although it was built by a Russian company, it is owned by the United States. The Unity connecting module, also known as Node 1, is the first U. It connects the Russian and U. The module is cylindrical in shape, with six berthing locations forward , aft , port , starboard , zenith , and nadir facilitating connections to other modules. Unity measures 4. Unity is the first of the three connecting modules; the other two are Harmony and Tranquility. It was the third module launched to the station, and provides all of the station’s life support systems , some of which are supplemented in the USOS, as well as living quarters for two crew members.

Crew assemble here to deal with emergencies on the station. The Destiny module, also known as the U. Lab, is the primary operating facility for U. The Boeing Company began construction of the Scientists throughout the world would use the results to enhance their studies in medicine, engineering, biotechnology, physics, materials science, and Earth science. The Joint Airlock also known as „Quest“ is provided by the U.

Before the launch of this airlock, EVAs were performed from either the U. Due to a variety of system and design differences, only U.

The Joint Airlock alleviates this short-term problem by allowing either or both spacesuit systems to be used. The Joint Airlock is 20 ft. The Joint Airlock has two main components: a crew airlock from which astronauts and cosmonauts exit the ISS and an equipment airlock designed for storing EVA gear and for so-called overnight „campouts“ wherein Nitrogen is purged from astronaut’s bodies overnight as pressure is dropped in preparation for spacewalks the following day.

This alleviates the bends as the astronauts are repressurized after their EVA. The crew airlock was derived from the Space Shuttle’s external airlock. The UIA is located on one wall of the crew airlock and provides a water supply line, a wastewater return line, and an oxygen supply line.

The UIA also provides communication gear and spacesuit power interfaces and can support two spacesuits simultaneously. Poisk is used as the Russian airlock module, containing two identical EVA hatches. An outward-opening hatch on the Mir space station failed after it swung open too fast after unlatching, because of a small amount of air pressure remaining in the airlock. Poisk is used to store, service, and refurbish Russian Orlan suits and provides contingency entry for crew using the slightly bulkier American suits.

The outermost docking port on the module allows docking of Soyuz and Progress spacecraft, and the automatic transfer of propellants to and from storage on the ROS. Harmony , also known as Node 2 , is the „utility hub“ of the ISS. It connects the laboratory modules of the United States, Europe and Japan, as well as providing electrical power and electronic data. Sleeping cabins for four of the crew are housed here.

Core Complete“. Tranquility , also known as Node 3, is a module of the ISS. It contains environmental control systems, life support systems , a toilet, exercise equipment, and an observation cupola.

Columbus is a science laboratory that is part of the ISS and is the largest single contribution to the station made by the European Space Agency. It is designed for ten years of operation. It is the largest single ISS module, and is attached to the Harmony module. The third and final components were launched on STS Its name derives from the Italian word cupola , which means “ dome „. Its seven windows are used to conduct experiments, dockings and observations of Earth.

With the Cupola attached, ISS assembly reached 85 percent completion. The Cupola ’s central window has a diameter of 80 cm 31 in. Rassvet is primarily used for cargo storage and as a docking port for visiting spacecraft.

Weighing 1. It included a spare elbow joint for the European Robotic Arm ERA which was launched with Nauka and an ERA-portable workpost used during EVAs, as well as a heat radiator, internal hardware and an experiment airlock for launching CubeSats to be positioned on the modified passive forward port near the nadir end of the Nauka module.

The deployable radiator will be used to add additional cooling capability to Nauka , which will enable the module to host more scientific experiments.

The airlock will be used only to pass experiments inside and outside the module, with the aid of ERA — very similar to the Japanese airlock and Nanoracks Bishop Airlock on the U. The ERA will be used to remove the radiator and airlock from Rassvet and transfer them over to Nauka. This process is expected to take several months. A portable work platform will also be transferred over, which can attach to the end of the ERA to allow cosmonauts to „ride“ on the end of the arm during spacewalks.

Leonardo is primarily used for storage of spares, supplies and waste on the ISS, which was until then stored in many different places within the space station. It is also the personal hygiene area for the astronauts who live in the US Orbital Segment. The module was named for Italian polymath Leonardo da Vinci. It arrived at the ISS on 10 April , [] was berthed to the station on 16 April at Tranquility Node 3, and was expanded and pressurized on 28 May Two International Docking Adapters are currently installed aboard the Station.

It had a temporary docking adapter on its nadir port for crewed and uncrewed missions until Prichal arrival, where just before its arrival it was removed by a departuring Progress spacecraft. UM was launched in November One port is equipped with an active hybrid docking port, which enables docking with the MLM module. The remaining five ports are passive hybrids, enabling docking of Soyuz and Progress vehicles, as well as heavier modules and future spacecraft with modified docking systems.

The ISS has a large number of external components that do not require pressurisation. The largest of these is the Integrated Truss Structure ITS , to which the station’s main solar arrays and thermal radiators are mounted. ORUs are parts that can be replaced when they fail or pass their design life, including pumps, storage tanks, antennas, and battery units. Such units are replaced either by astronauts during EVA or by robotic arms.

The AMS measures cosmic rays to look for evidence of dark matter and antimatter. The system is designed to be robotically serviced and will require no astronaut intervention. It is named after Christopher Columbus’s younger brother. The Integrated Truss Structure serves as a base for the station’s primary remote manipulator system, the Mobile Servicing System MSS , which is composed of three main components:.

Each Strela crane has a mass of 45 kg 99 lb. Prior to its departure, Pirs served as the primary Russian airlock on the station, being used to store and refurbish the Russian Orlan spacesuits. NASA negotiated with Axiom on a firm fixed-price contract basis to build and deliver the module, which will attach to the forward port of the space station’s Harmony Node 2 module.

Although NASA has only commissioned one module, Axiom plans to build an entire segment consisting of five modules, including a node module, an orbital research and manufacturing facility, a crew habitat, and a „large-windowed Earth observatory“. The Axiom segment is expected to greatly increase the capabilities and value of the space station, allowing for larger crews and private spaceflight by other organisations.

Axiom plans to convert the segment into a stand-alone space station once the ISS is decommissioned, with the intention that this would act as a successor to the ISS. Made by Bigelow Aerospace. Nanoracks, after finalizing its contract with NASA, and after winning NextSTEPs Phase II award, is now developing its concept Independence-1 previously known as Ixion , which would turn spent rocket tanks into a habitable living area to be tested in space.

If produced, this centrifuge will be the first in-space demonstration of sufficient scale centrifuge for artificial partial-g effects. It will be designed to become a sleep module for the ISS crew. Several modules planned for the station were cancelled over the course of the ISS programme.

Reasons include budgetary constraints, the modules becoming unnecessary, and station redesigns after the Columbia disaster. The US Centrifuge Accommodations Module would have hosted science experiments in varying levels of artificial gravity. Instead, the living quarters are now spread throughout the station. The critical systems are the atmosphere control system, the water supply system, the food supply facilities, the sanitation and hygiene equipment, and fire detection and suppression equipment.

The Russian Orbital Segment’s life support systems are contained in the Zvezda service module. Some of these systems are supplemented by equipment in the USOS. The Nauka laboratory has a complete set of life support systems. The atmosphere on board the ISS is similar to that of Earth. An Earth-like atmosphere offers benefits for crew comfort, and is much safer than a pure oxygen atmosphere, because of the increased risk of a fire such as that responsible for the deaths of the Apollo 1 crew.

The Elektron system aboard Zvezda and a similar system in Destiny generate oxygen aboard the station. Other by-products of human metabolism, such as methane from the intestines and ammonia from sweat, are removed by activated charcoal filters.

Part of the ROS atmosphere control system is the oxygen supply. Triple-redundancy is provided by the Elektron unit, solid fuel generators, and stored oxygen. The primary supply of oxygen is the Elektron unit which produces O 2 and H 2 by electrolysis of water and vents H 2 overboard.

The 1 kW 1. This water is either brought from Earth or recycled from other systems. Mir was the first spacecraft to use recycled water for oxygen production. This unit is manually operated. Double-sided solar arrays provide electrical power to the ISS. These bifacial cells collect direct sunlight on one side and light reflected off from the Earth on the other, and are more efficient and operate at a lower temperature than single-sided cells commonly used on Earth.

The Russian segment of the station, like most spacecraft, uses 28 V low voltage DC from two rotating solar arrays mounted on Zvezda. The higher distribution voltage allows smaller, lighter conductors, at the expense of crew safety. The two station segments share power with converters. The USOS solar arrays are arranged as four wing pairs, for a total production of 75 to 90 kilowatts. Each array is about m 2 4, sq ft in area and 58 m ft long.

In the complete configuration, the solar arrays track the Sun by rotating the alpha gimbal once per orbit; the beta gimbal follows slower changes in the angle of the Sun to the orbital plane. The Night Glider mode aligns the solar arrays parallel to the ground at night to reduce the significant aerodynamic drag at the station’s relatively low orbital altitude.

The station originally used rechargeable nickel—hydrogen batteries NiH 2 for continuous power during the 45 minutes of every minute orbit that it is eclipsed by the Earth. The batteries are recharged on the day side of the orbit. They had a 6. The station’s large solar panels generate a high potential voltage difference between the station and the ionosphere. This could cause arcing through insulating surfaces and sputtering of conductive surfaces as ions are accelerated by the spacecraft plasma sheath.

To mitigate this, plasma contactor units create current paths between the station and the ambient space plasma. The station’s systems and experiments consume a large amount of electrical power, almost all of which is converted to heat. To keep the internal temperature within workable limits, a passive thermal control system PTCS is made of external surface materials, insulation such as MLI, and heat pipes.

The EATCS consists of an internal, non-toxic, water coolant loop used to cool and dehumidify the atmosphere, which transfers collected heat into an external liquid ammonia loop. From the heat exchangers, ammonia is pumped into external radiators that emit heat as infrared radiation, then back to the station. It can reject up to 70 kW. Radio communications provide telemetry and scientific data links between the station and mission control centres.

Radio links are also used during rendezvous and docking procedures and for audio and video communication between crew members, flight controllers and family members. As a result, the ISS is equipped with internal and external communication systems used for different purposes. The Russian Orbital Segment communicates directly with the ground via the Lira antenna mounted to Zvezda.

Kraft Jr. UHF radio is used by astronauts and cosmonauts conducting EVAs and other spacecraft that dock to or undock from the station.

Heat generated by the laptops does not rise but stagnates around the laptop, so additional forced ventilation is required. The operating system used for key station functions is the Debian Linux distribution. Each permanent crew is given an expedition number. Expeditions run up to six months, from launch until undocking, an ‚increment‘ covers the same time period, but includes cargo spacecraft and all activities.

Expeditions 1 to 6 consisted of three-person crews. From Expedition 13 the crew gradually increased to six around Travellers who pay for their own passage into space are termed spaceflight participants by Roscosmos and NASA, and are sometimes referred to as „space tourists“, a term they generally dislike. When professional crews change over in numbers not divisible by the three seats in a Soyuz, and a short-stay crewmember is not sent, the spare seat is sold by MirCorp through Space Adventures.

Space tourism was halted in when the Space Shuttle was retired and the station’s crew size was reduced to six, as the partners relied on Russian transport seats for access to the station. Soyuz flight schedules increased after , allowing five Soyuz flights 15 seats with only two expeditions 12 seats required. Anousheh Ansari became the first self-funded woman to fly to the ISS as well as the first Iranian in space. Officials reported that her education and experience made her much more than a tourist, and her performance in training had been „excellent.

The documentary Space Tourists follows her journey to the station, where she fulfilled „an age-old dream of man: to leave our planet as a ’normal person‘ and travel into outer space.

In , spaceflight participant Richard Garriott placed a geocache aboard the ISS during his flight. A wide variety of crewed and uncrewed spacecraft have supported the station’s activities. There are currently twelve available docking ports for visiting spacecraft: []. As of 30 December [ref] , people from 20 countries had visited the space station, many of them multiple times. Uncrewed spaceflights to the ISS are made primarily to deliver cargo, however several Russian modules have also docked to the outpost following uncrewed launches.

The primary docking system for Progress spacecraft is the automated Kurs system, with the manual TORU system as a backup. Progress and former ATV can remain docked for up to six months. As of December [update] , Progress spacecraft have flown most of the uncrewed missions to the ISS.

All Russian spacecraft and self-propelled modules are able to rendezvous and dock to the space station without human intervention using the Kurs radar docking system from over kilometres away. When it catches up it uses laser equipment to optically recognise Zvezda , along with the Kurs system for redundancy.

Crew supervise these craft, but do not intervene except to send abort commands in emergencies. Progress and ATV supply craft can remain at the ISS for six months, [] [] allowing great flexibility in crew time for loading and unloading of supplies and trash. From the initial station programs, the Russians pursued an automated docking methodology that used the crew in override or monitoring roles. Although the initial development costs were high, the system has become very reliable with standardisations that provide significant cost benefits in repetitive operations.

Soyuz spacecraft used for crew rotation also serve as lifeboats for emergency evacuation; they are replaced every six months and were used after the Columbia disaster to return stranded crew from the ISS.

Other vehicles berth instead of docking. The Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle parked itself in progressively closer orbits to the station, and then awaited ‚approach‘ commands from the crew, until it was close enough for a robotic arm to grapple and berth the vehicle to the USOS. Berthed craft can transfer International Standard Payload Racks. Japanese spacecraft berth for one to two months.

Prior to a spacecraft’s docking to the ISS, navigation and attitude control GNC is handed over to the ground control of the spacecraft’s country of origin.

GNC is set to allow the station to drift in space, rather than fire its thrusters or turn using gyroscopes. The solar panels of the station are turned edge-on to the incoming spacecraft, so residue from its thrusters does not damage the cells. Before its retirement, Shuttle launches were often given priority over Soyuz, with occasional priority given to Soyuz arrivals carrying crew and time-critical cargoes, such as biological experiment materials.

Orbital Replacement Units ORUs are spare parts that can be readily replaced when a unit either passes its design life or fails. Examples of ORUs are pumps, storage tanks, controller boxes, antennas, and battery units. Some units can be replaced using robotic arms.

Both kinds of pallets provide electricity for many parts that could be damaged by the cold of space and require heating. The larger logistics carriers also have local area network LAN connections for telemetry to connect experiments.

Unexpected problems and failures have impacted the station’s assembly time-line and work schedules leading to periods of reduced capabilities and, in some cases, could have forced abandonment of the station for safety reasons. Serious problems include an air leak from the USOS in , [] the venting of fumes from an Elektron oxygen generator in , [] and the failure of the computers in the ROS in during STS that left the station without thruster, Elektron , Vozdukh and other environmental control system operations.

In the latter case, the root cause was found to be condensation inside electrical connectors leading to a short circuit. During STS in and following the relocation of the P6 truss and solar arrays, it was noted during unfurling that the solar array had torn and was not deploying properly.

Extra precautions were taken to reduce the risk of electric shock, as the repairs were carried out with the solar array exposed to sunlight. Excessive vibration and high-current spikes in the array drive motor were noted, resulting in a decision to substantially curtail motion of the starboard SARJ until the cause was understood.

Inspections during EVAs on STS and STS showed extensive contamination from metallic shavings and debris in the large drive gear and confirmed damage to the large metallic bearing surfaces, so the joint was locked to prevent further damage.

In September , damage to the S1 radiator was first noticed in Soyuz imagery. The problem was initially not thought to be serious. On 15 May the damaged radiator panel’s ammonia tubing was mechanically shut off from the rest of the cooling system by the computer-controlled closure of a valve. The same valve was then used to vent the ammonia from the damaged panel, eliminating the possibility of an ammonia leak. In the early hours of 1 August , a failure in cooling Loop A starboard side , one of two external cooling loops, left the station with only half of its normal cooling capacity and zero redundancy in some systems.

Several subsystems, including two of the four CMGs, were shut down. A first EVA on 7 August , to replace the failed pump module, was not fully completed because of an ammonia leak in one of four quick-disconnects. A second EVA on 11 August successfully removed the failed pump module. In late MBSU-1 ceased responding to commands or sending data confirming its health.

While still routing power correctly, it was scheduled to be swapped out at the next available EVA. A spare MBSU was already on board, but a 30 August EVA failed to be completed when a bolt being tightened to finish installation of the spare unit jammed before the electrical connection was secured.

On 24 December , astronauts installed a new ammonia pump for the station’s cooling system. The faulty cooling system had failed earlier in the month, halting many of the station’s science experiments. Astronauts had to brave a „mini blizzard“ of ammonia while installing the new pump. A typical day for the crew begins with a wake-up at , followed by post-sleep activities and a morning inspection of the station.

The crew then eats breakfast and takes part in a daily planning conference with Mission Control before starting work at around The first scheduled exercise of the day follows, after which the crew continues work until Following a one-hour lunch break, the afternoon consists of more exercise and work before the crew carries out its pre-sleep activities beginning at , including dinner and a crew conference.

The scheduled sleep period begins at In general, the crew works ten hours per day on a weekday, and five hours on Saturdays, with the rest of the time their own for relaxation or work catch-up.

The station provides crew quarters for each member of the expedition’s crew, with two „sleep stations“ in the Zvezda , one in Nauka and four more installed in Harmony. The ROS crew quarters in Zvezda include a small window, but provide less ventilation and sound proofing. A crew member can sleep in a crew quarter in a tethered sleeping bag, listen to music, use a laptop, and store personal items in a large drawer or in nets attached to the module’s walls.

The module also provides a reading lamp, a shelf and a desktop. It is possible to sleep floating freely through the station, but this is generally avoided because of the possibility of bumping into sensitive equipment. On the USOS, most of the food aboard is vacuum sealed in plastic bags; cans are rare because they are heavy and expensive to transport. Preserved food is not highly regarded by the crew and taste is reduced in microgravity, [] so efforts are taken to make the food more palatable, including using more spices than in regular cooking.

The crew looks forward to the arrival of any spacecraft from Earth as they bring fresh fruit and vegetables. Care is taken that foods do not create crumbs, and liquid condiments are preferred over solid to avoid contaminating station equipment. Each crew member has individual food packages and cooks them using the on-board galley. The galley features two food warmers, a refrigerator added in November , and a water dispenser that provides both heated and unheated water.

Any food that floats away, including crumbs, must be collected to prevent it from clogging the station’s air filters and other equipment. Showers on space stations were introduced in the early s on Skylab and Salyut 3.

Crews are also provided with rinseless shampoo and edible toothpaste to save water. Astronauts first fasten themselves to the toilet seat, which is equipped with spring-loaded restraining bars to ensure a good seal.

Solid waste is collected in individual bags which are stored in an aluminium container. Full containers are transferred to Progress spacecraft for disposal. The diverted urine is collected and transferred to the Water Recovery System, where it is recycled into drinking water. Several long-lasting changes were observed, including those related to alterations in DNA and cognition , when one twin was compared with the other.

In November , researchers reported that astronauts experienced serious blood flow and clot problems while on board the ISS, based on a six-month study of 11 healthy astronauts. The results may influence long-term spaceflight, including a mission to the planet Mars, according to the researchers.

The ISS is partially protected from the space environment by Earth’s magnetic field. From an average distance of about 70, km 43, mi from the Earth’s surface, depending on Solar activity, the magnetosphere begins to deflect solar wind around Earth and the space station.

Solar flares are still a hazard to the crew, who may receive only a few minutes warning. In , during the initial „proton storm“ of an X-3 class solar flare, the crew of Expedition 10 took shelter in a more heavily shielded part of the ROS designed for this purpose. Subatomic charged particles, primarily protons from cosmic rays and solar wind, are normally absorbed by Earth’s atmosphere. When they interact in sufficient quantity, their effect is visible to the naked eye in a phenomenon called an aurora.

Outside Earth’s atmosphere, ISS crews are exposed to approximately one millisievert each day about a year’s worth of natural exposure on Earth , resulting in a higher risk of cancer. Radiation can penetrate living tissue and damage the DNA and chromosomes of lymphocytes ; being central to the immune system , any damage to these cells could contribute to the lower immunity experienced by astronauts. Radiation has also been linked to a higher incidence of cataracts in astronauts. Protective shielding and medications may lower the risks to an acceptable level.

Radiation levels on the ISS are about five times greater than those experienced by airline passengers and crew, as Earth’s electromagnetic field provides almost the same level of protection against solar and other types of radiation in low Earth orbit as in the stratosphere.

For example, on a hour flight, an airline passenger would experience 0. Additionally, airline passengers experience this level of radiation for a few hours of flight, while the ISS crew are exposed for their whole stay on board the station.

There is considerable evidence that psychosocial stressors are among the most important impediments to optimal crew morale and performance. NASA’s interest in psychological stress caused by space travel, initially studied when their crewed missions began, was rekindled when astronauts joined cosmonauts on the Russian space station Mir. Common sources of stress in early US missions included maintaining high performance under public scrutiny and isolation from peers and family. The latter is still often a cause of stress on the ISS, such as when the mother of NASA astronaut Daniel Tani died in a car accident, and when Michael Fincke was forced to miss the birth of his second child.

A study of the longest spaceflight concluded that the first three weeks are a critical period where attention is adversely affected because of the demand to adjust to the extreme change of environment. The ISS working environment includes further stress caused by living and working in cramped conditions with people from very different cultures who speak a different language.

The European Union EU is a political and economic union of 27 member states that are located primarily in Europe. An internal single market has been established through a standardised system of laws that apply in all member states in those matters, and only those matters, where the states have agreed to act as one. EU policies aim to ensure the free movement of people, goods, services and capital within the internal market; [7] enact legislation in justice and home affairs; and maintain common policies on trade , [8] agriculture , [9] fisheries and regional development.

The EU has often been described as a sui generis political entity without precedent or comparison with the characteristics of either a federation or confederation. The union and EU citizenship were established when the Maastricht Treaty came into force in The communities and their successors have grown in size by the accession of 21 new member states and in power by the addition of policy areas to their remit.

The latest major amendment to the constitutional basis of the EU, the Treaty of Lisbon , came into force in In , the United Kingdom became the only member state to leave the EU.

There are several other countries that are negotiating to join the European Union. Containing 5. It maintains permanent diplomatic missions throughout the world and represents itself at the United Nations , the World Trade Organization , the G7 and the G Due to its global influence, the European Union has been described by some scholars as an emerging superpower. The Allied Powers decided during the war at the Moscow Conference to establish the European Advisory Commission in , which resulted with the end of the war in the Allied Control Council.

A pivotal moment in European integration was the Hague Congress of May , as it led to the creation of the European Movement International , the College of Europe [29] and most importantly to the founding of the Council of Europe on 5 May today its Europe day.

The Council of Europe was the first institution to bring the sovereign nations of Europe together, raising great hopes and fevered debates in the following two years for further European integration.

The developing bloc prompted the Soviet Union to form the Warsaw Pact in , allowing it to enforce its standing in Eastern Europe. Assessing the progress of European integration the Messina Conference was held in , ordering the Spaak report , which in recommended the next significant steps of European integration.

They also signed another pact creating the European Atomic Energy Community Euratom for co-operation in developing nuclear power. Both treaties came into force in Euratom was to integrate sectors in nuclear power while the EEC would develop a customs union among members. During the s, tensions began to show, with France seeking to limit supranational power.

Nevertheless, in an agreement was reached, and on 1 July the Merger Treaty created a single set of institutions for the three communities, which were collectively referred to as the European Communities.

In , the communities were enlarged to include Denmark including Greenland , which later left the Communities in , following a dispute over fishing rights , Ireland, and the United Kingdom. In , the first direct elections to the European Parliament were held. Greece joined in , Portugal and Spain following in In , after the fall of the Eastern Bloc , the former East Germany became part of the communities as part of a reunified Germany.

With further enlargement planned to include the former communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, as well as Cyprus and Malta , the Copenhagen criteria for candidate members to join the EU were agreed upon in June The expansion of the EU introduced a new level of complexity and discord. In , euro banknotes and coins replaced national currencies in 12 of the member states.

Since then, the eurozone has increased to encompass 19 countries. The euro currency became the second-largest reserve currency in the world. In , Bulgaria and Romania became EU members. Later that year, Slovenia adopted the euro, [47] followed by Cyprus and Malta in , Slovakia in , Estonia in , Latvia in , and Lithuania in In particular, it changed the legal structure of the European Union, merging the EU three pillars system into a single legal entity provisioned with a legal personality , created a permanent president of the European Council , the first of which was Herman Van Rompuy , and strengthened the position of the high representative of the union for foreign affairs and security policy.

In , the EU received the Nobel Peace Prize for having „contributed to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy, and human rights in Europe“. From the beginning of the s, the cohesion of the European Union has been tested by several issues, including a debt crisis in some of the Eurozone countries , increasing migration from Africa and Asia , and the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the EU.

On 1 January , the population of the European Union was about million people 5. In , This corresponds to 9. Of these, The largest absolute numbers of people born outside the EU were in Germany 6. The EU contains about 40 urban areas with populations of over 1 million. With a population of over 13 million, [65] Paris is the largest metropolitan area and the only megacity in the EU.

Important documents, such as legislation, are translated into every official language and the European Parliament provides translation for documents and plenary sessions. Due to the high number of official languages, most of the institutions use only a handful of working languages. The European Commission conducts its internal business in three procedural languages : English, French, and German [76] Similarly, the Court of Justice of the European Union uses French as the working language, [77] while the European Central Bank conducts its business primarily in English.

Even though language policy is the responsibility of member states, EU institutions promote multilingualism among its citizens.

However, following the UK’s exit from the bloc in early , the percentage of the EU population who spoke English as their native language fell from 13 per cent to 1 per cent. In addition, both are official languages of several EU member states. More than half 56 per cent of EU citizens are able to engage in a conversation in a language other than their mother tongue. A total of twenty official languages of the EU belong to the Indo-European language family , represented by the Balto-Slavic , [h] the Italic , [i] the Germanic , [j] the Hellenic , [k] and the Celtic [l] branches.

Luxembourgish in Luxembourg and Turkish in Cyprus are the only two national languages that are not official languages of the EU. On 26 February , it was made public that Cyprus has asked to make Turkish an official EU language, in a „gesture“ that could help solve the division of the country.

Besides the 24 official languages, there are about regional and minority languages , spoken by up to 50 million people. The European Day of Languages is held annually on 26 September and is aimed at encouraging language learning across Europe. The EU has no formal connection to any religion. Article 17 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union [90] recognises the „status under national law of churches and religious associations“ as well as that of „philosophical and non-confessional organisations“.

The preamble to the Treaty on European Union mentions the „cultural, religious and humanist inheritance of Europe“. Christians in the European Union are divided among members of Catholicism both Roman and Eastern Rite , numerous Protestant denominations Anglicans , Lutherans , and Reformed forming the bulk of this category , and the Eastern Orthodox Church. In , the EU had an estimated Muslim population of 13 million, [93] and an estimated Jewish population of over a million.

According to new polls about religiosity in the European Union in by Eurobarometer , Christianity is the largest religion in the European Union, accounting for Catholics are the largest Christian group, accounting for Eurostat ’s Eurobarometer opinion polls showed in that 52 per cent of EU citizens believed in a god, 27 per cent in „some sort of spirit or life force“, and 18 per cent had no form of belief.

Across the EU, belief was higher among women, older people, those with religious upbringing, those who left school at 15 or 16, and those „positioning themselves on the right of the political scale“. Through successive enlargements , the European Union has grown from the six founding states Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands to 27 members. Countries accede to the union by becoming party to the founding treaties , thereby subjecting themselves to the privileges and obligations of EU membership.

This entails a partial delegation of sovereignty to the institutions in return for representation within those institutions, a practice often referred to as „pooling of sovereignty“. To become a member, a country must meet the Copenhagen criteria , defined at the meeting of the European Council in Copenhagen. These require a stable democracy that respects human rights and the rule of law ; a functioning market economy ; and the acceptance of the obligations of membership, including EU law.

Evaluation of a country’s fulfilment of the criteria is the responsibility of the European Council. Two territories have left the union: Greenland an autonomous province of Denmark withdrew in ; [] the United Kingdom formally invoked Article 50 of the Consolidated Treaty on European Union in , and became the only sovereign state to leave when it withdrew from the EU in There are seven countries that are recognised as candidates for membership : Albania , Moldova , Montenegro , North Macedonia , Serbia , Turkey , and Ukraine.

In response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine , Ukraine formally submitted an application for EU membership in February The European Union’s member states cover an area of 4,, square kilometres 1,, sq mi. Including the overseas territories of France which are located outside the continent of Europe, but which are members of the union, the EU experiences most types of climate from Arctic north-east Europe to tropical French Guiana , rendering meteorological averages for the EU as a whole meaningless.

The majority of the population lives in areas with a temperate maritime climate North-Western Europe and Central Europe , a Mediterranean climate Southern Europe , or a warm summer continental or hemiboreal climate Northern Balkans and Central Europe. The EU’s population is highly urbanised: some 75 per cent of inhabitants lived in urban areas in Cities are largely spread out across the EU with a large grouping in and around the Benelux.

Several overseas territories and dependencies of various member states are also formally part of the EU. The European Union operates through a hybrid system of supranational and intergovernmental decision-making, [] [] and according to the principles of conferral which says that it should act only within the limits of the competences conferred on it by the treaties and of subsidiarity which says that it should act only where an objective cannot be sufficiently achieved by the member states acting alone.

Laws made by the EU institutions are passed in a variety of forms. Constitutionally, the EU bears some resemblance to both a confederation and a federation , [] [] but has not formally defined itself as either. It does not have a formal constitution: its status is defined by the Treaty of European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. It is more integrated than a traditional confederation of states because the general level of government widely employs qualified majority voting in some decision-making among the member states, rather than relying exclusively on unanimity.

This is reflected in the fact that the member states remain the ‚masters of the Treaties‘, retaining control over the allocation of competences to the union through constitutional change thus retaining so-called Kompetenz-kompetenz ; in that they retain control of the use of armed force; they retain control of taxation; and in that they retain a right of unilateral withdrawal under Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union.

In addition, the principle of subsidiarity requires that only those matters that need to be determined collectively are so determined. Competence in scrutinising and amending legislation is shared between the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament, while executive tasks are performed by the European Commission and in a limited capacity by the European Council not to be confused with the aforementioned Council of the European Union.

The monetary policy of the eurozone is determined by the European Central Bank. The interpretation and the application of EU law and the treaties are ensured by the Court of Justice of the European Union.

There are also a number of ancillary bodies which advise the EU or operate in a specific area. EU policy is in general promulgated by EU directives , which are then implemented in the domestic legislation of its member states , and EU regulations , which are immediately enforceable in all member states.

Lobbying at EU level by special interest groups is regulated to try to balance the aspirations of private initiatives with public interest decision-making process. The European Council gives political direction to the EU.

It convenes at least four times a year and comprises the president of the European Council presently Charles Michel , the president of the European Commission and one representative per member state either its head of state or head of government. The high representative of the union for foreign affairs and security policy presently Josep Borrell also takes part in its meetings.

It has been described by some as the union’s „supreme political authority“. The European Council uses its leadership role to sort out disputes between member states and the institutions, and to resolve political crises and disagreements over controversial issues and policies.

It acts externally as a “ collective head of state “ and ratifies important documents for example, international agreements and treaties. Tasks for the president of the European Council are ensuring the external representation of the EU, [] driving consensus and resolving divergences among member states, both during meetings of the European Council and over the periods between them.

PricewaterhouseCoopers is an international professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. PwC firms are in countries, across locations, with , people. The trading name was shortened to PwC stylized p w c in September as part of a rebranding effort.

PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited , based in London , England , [11] is a co-ordinating entity for the global network of firms. It manages the global brand, and develops policies and initiatives, to create a common and coordinated approach in areas such as risk, quality, and strategy.

It does not provide services to clients. In , William Cooper founded an accountancy practice in London, England. It became Cooper Brothers seven years later when his three brothers joined. In , Robert H. Montgomery , William M.

Lybrand, Adam A. Ross Jr. By the late 19th century, Price Waterhouse had gained recognition as an accounting firm. As a result of growing trade between the United Kingdom and the United States, they opened an office in New York in , and the American firm expanded. The original British firm opened an office in Liverpool in , and then elsewhere in the United Kingdom and worldwide, each time establishing a separate partnership in each country: the worldwide practice of Price Waterhouse was, therefore, a federation of collaborating firms that had grown organically, rather than the result of an international merger.

In a further effort to take advantage of economies of scale , PW and Arthur Andersen discussed a merger in [18] but the negotiations failed, mainly because of conflicts of interest such as Andersen’s strong commercial links with IBM and PW’s audit of IBM, as well as the two firms‘ radically different cultures. It was said by those involved with the failed merger that at the end of the discussion, the partners at the table realized they had different views of business, and the potential merger was scrapped.

After the merger, the firm had a large professional consulting branch, as did other major accountancy firms, generating much of its fees. The major cause for growth in the s was the implementation of complex integrated enterprise resource planning ERP systems for multi-national companies.

PwC came under increasing pressure to avoid conflicts of interest by not providing some consulting services, particularly financial systems design and implementation, to its audit clients. Since it audited a large proportion of the world’s largest companies, this was beginning to limit its consulting market. These conflicts increased as additional services including outsourcing of IT and back-office operations were developed. The fallout from the Enron , Worldcom and other financial auditing scandals led to the passage of the Sarbanes—Oxley Act , severely limiting interaction between management consulting and auditing assurance services.

PwC announced in May , that its consulting activities would be spun off as an independent entity and hired an outside CEO to run the global firm. An outside consultancy , Wolff Olins , was hired to create a brand image for the new entity, called „Monday“.

PwC began rebuilding its consulting practice with acquisitions such as Paragon Consulting Group and the commercial services business of BearingPoint in PwC will be a preferred implementation and strategic partner of InvestCloud focused on enterprise delivery and innovative development of new financial app capabilities. In November , PwC accepted bitcoin as payment for advisory services, the first time the company, or any of the Big Four accounting firms, accepted virtual currency as payment.

PwC is co-ordinated by a private company limited by guarantee under English law , called PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited. PwC is organized into the following three service lines the revenue shares are listed in parentheses : [53]. Due to its size, PwC is able to contribute data analysis to a wide range of areas. PwC has partners in approximately offices across countries with , employees. Midrand , Johannesburg , South Africa. Freshwater Place , Melbourne, Australia. Kasumigaseki Building , Tokyo, Japan.

The following are the several logos the company has used through the years. It was designed by Wolff Olins. Employees at PwC generally have flexibility in choosing their own working hours provided that senior management deems the arrangement acceptable. PwC developed a ColourBrave Charity Committee , made up of employees from across the organisation, as part of its commitment to continue to build an inclusive culture and address racial disparity. As of [update] , PwC is the fourth-largest privately owned company in the United States.

In , Google announced its partnership with PwC to drive cloud adoption among businesses. PwC partners with the United Nations to help keep the international organization’s monitoring systems up to date. In , PwC joined with Microsoft in India to bring the services of both companies to the business community in India. In , the company, in partnership with Coursera , launched an on-line five-course educational platform called „Data Analysis and Presentation Skills.

As of 30 June , PwC had , employees around the world. The following shows the number of employees in each region of the world as of FY The following shows the number of employees by practice areas. The following shows the number of employees by level. They were one of only four professional services companies to do so.

PwC ranked No. In , the United States Supreme Court held that Price Waterhouse must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the decision regarding Ann Hopkins ’s employment would have been the same if sex discrimination had not occurred. The accounting firm failed to prove that the same decision to postpone Hopkins’s promotion to the partnership would have still been made in the absence of sex discrimination, and therefore, the employment decision constituted sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of The significance of the Supreme Court’s ruling was twofold.

First, it established that gender stereotyping is actionable as sex discrimination. Second, it established the mixed-motive framework as an evidentiary framework for proving discrimination under a disparate treatment theory even when lawful reasons for the adverse employment action are also present.

She eventually resigned and sued the company for occupational sexism , arguing that her lack of promotion came after pressure to walk, talk, dress, and act more „femininely. In , a Federal district judge in Washington ordered the firm to make Hopkins a partner. It was the first time in which a court awarded partnership in a professional company as a remedy for sexual or race-based discrimination. Following the suit, the firm received media attention due to its discriminatory labor practices towards males as well.

Although incidents of such labor marginalization take place rarely, there were several cases of unfair work treatment. AIG on 30 March , said that deals with a Barbados -based insurance company, for instance, may have been incorrectly accounted for over the past 14 years, because an AIG-affiliated company may have been secretly covering that insurer’s losses.

That’s Accounting in any reinsurance transaction. PwC was also criticised by several witnesses during the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission investigation into AIG’s collapse in the financial crisis of — , after the insurer was unable to fulfil its collateral obligations to Goldman Sachs.

The insurer was expected to cover the difference in value between the credit default swap contracts it had sold to Goldman Sachs, however, the head of the unit at AIG disagreed with the valuation that Goldman presented. According to a memo published by Business Insider , witnesses wondered how PwC was signing off on the accounts for both AIG and Goldman Sachs when they were using different valuation methods for the swaps contracts and therefore booked different values for them in their accounts.

Many of the firm’s largest clients were forced to find replacement auditors before the suspension began that July. Shortly after the suspension of ChuoAoyama, PwC acted quickly to stem any possible client attrition as a result of the scandal.

It set up the PricewaterhouseCoopers Aarata, and some of ChuoAoyama’s accountants and most of ChuoAoyama’s clients moved to the new firm. Misuzu was dissolved in July In , India’s accounting standards agency ICAI found partners of PwC guilty of professional negligence in under-providing for nonperforming assets of the now-defunct Global Trust Bank. After the scandal broke out, Subramani Gopalakrishnan retired from the firm after reaching mandatory retirement age, while Talluri remained on suspension from the firm.

In , PwC India said they were disappointed with court judgement of the case saying, „As we have said many times, there has never been any evidence presented that either of our former partners S Gopalakrishnan or Srinivas Talluri were involved in or were aware of the management-led fraud at Satyam. We understand that Gopal and Talluri are considering filing an appeal against this verdict. PwC, which provides consulting service to the Kerala government ’s Department of Information Technology [] [] and its Space Park project, [] has been criticised for appointing Ms.

Swapana Suresh, who is accused in a case of smuggling gold in a diplomatic bag. Swapna Suresh by stating that she was hired based on a background verification report from past employers as well as a criminal record verification at the time. In April , the company responded that it can’t repay the amount.

Yukos was a Russian oil and gas company that was the target of politically motivated prosecutions by Russian authorities. The company’s assets were sold for alleged unpaid taxes and it was declared bankrupt. PwC’s audits were the foundation for the firm’s defense in a series of continuing trials against former chief executive, Mikhail Khodorkovsky , and the former majority shareholder, Platon Lebedev.

The Russian authorities then went after PwC. PwC withdrew its Yukos audits and less than two weeks later authorities cleared PwC of any wrongdoing in regard to its audit. In , Joe Nocera in the New York Times wrote, „In , with the prospect of parole on the horizon, the same prosecutors—with what appears to be the complicity of PricewaterhouseCoopers, Yukos ’s longtime accounting firm—indicted the two men Mikhail B.

Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev , again, bringing a new round of Kafkaesque charges. In , it was revealed that the Russian government placed pressure on PwC to withdraw audits. A cable from the U. An embassy source noted that „If the audits were properly withdrawn, this will be a ‚black mark‘ for the defense; if not, it could help the defense, but would greatly tarnish PWC’s international reputation. Alexei Navalny , a minority Transneft shareholder and lawyer, accused the company of wrongdoing in his personal blog, and criticized PwC, Transneft’s auditor, of ignoring his warnings.

PwC denied wrongdoing, stating that, „We believe there are absolutely no grounds for such allegations, and we stand behind our work for OAO AK Transneft. In , PwC was criticised by the Treasury Select Committee of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for helping Northern Rock , a client of the firm, to sell its mortgage assets while also acting as its auditor. The accountants neglected to check whether JP Morgan had the correct systems in place and failed to gather sufficient evidence to form opinions on the issue, and as a result, failed to report that JP Morgan failed to hold client money separate from JP Morgan’s money.

PwC was found to be unethically favored by the World Bank in a bid to privatize the water distribution system of Delhi , India, an effort that was alleged as corrupt by investigators. The effort at privatization fell through when an investigation was conducted by Arvind Kejriwal and the non-governmental organization NGO Parivartan in The Delhi Jal Board DJB , which administers the water system of Delhi, was first approached by Parivartan in November , following a report by the newspaper The Asian Age , where the scheme was revealed to the public for the first time.

The documents revealed that the project began in , in complete secrecy within the DJB administration. When PwC was in 10th place, the World Bank said that at least one company should be from a developing country, and since PwC made the bid from its Kolkata office, it was dubbed an „Indian“ company, and its rank was raised to 6th.

Only one company succeeded in the new round that was not PwC, and the World Bank had the lowest marks from an evaluator thrown out. The contract was awarded to PwC in In , Cattles plc brought a legal action against PwC in the UK in respect of and audits, claiming that PwC had failed to carry out adequate investigations.

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Intellectual property laws in the European Union EU. In , PwC Australia CEO Luke Sayers was connected to perceived conflict of interest issues on a related to a personal investment in Australian Visa Processing AVP , [] a company part-owned by PwC that was submitting a tender to redesign and run Australia’s visa processing system that is potentially worth billions of dollars, which would result in a significant financial advantage for its investors.

In , the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists ICIJ leaked over , internal documents revealing that PwC had facilitated multiple dealings in which Isabel dos Santos , the daughter of the former president of Angola , made a fortune while in charge of the state oil company, Sonangol.

Dos Santos established a network of over companies to facilitate tax evasion and the steering of millions of dollars of Angolan state contracts to companies under her control.

PwC is sued for conspiring against a former client; according to the suit, the company released information about the client to a competitor in the course of a takeover approach.

PwC responded with a statement that „this claim [lacks] merit and [we] will be vigorously defending it. After completing their time at the Treasury Department, the staff were promoted to partner at PwC. In October , the accounting regulator in Hong Kong announced an investigation into PwC’s audit of Evergrande , a Chinese property company.

PwC had signed off the accounts of Evergrande without reference to its uncertainties as a going concern. The company itself reported concerns as to its ability to continue operating in its half-year accounts for The report found that PwC effectively enabled capture of SAA by failing to adequately audit its financial and accounting processes between and From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Multinational professional services brand. For other uses, see PWC disambiguation. Trade name.

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