The solution, once again, was a scientific one.  We applied Charles's Law to the problem.  Which states :

"At constant pressure, the volume of a given mass of an ideal gas increases or decreases by the same factor as its temperature on the absolute temperature scale (i.e. the gas contracts as the temperature reduces)."

So, with that in mind we set about reducing the temperature inside Cymru III as close as we could get towards absolute zero.  Dilwyn put his hat and coat on and opened the door to let the parkyness in from the deep space outside.  This succeeded in getting the temperature down to -272'C (1' Kelvin) but when Dilwyn took the peg off his nose he still got a whiff of Megan's flatulence.  But once he'd opened the fridge door for ten minutes, the thermometer finally registered absolute zero, -273'C or 0'K. Unfortunately, no sooner had Dilwyn shut the fridge and the outside door and got the place warmed up again when Megan went behind the space-sofa and did a right messy one.

We can't stop looking at ours.  If only to know when is Giro day.  And bingo night.  And 2-4-1 on meat pies at the Saracens.  Oh, and when Dilwyn's coming home. Perhaps we'll make another one in 2011 for that.

It's not that we need a ground-crew though - especially as the action is all 'up there'.  But they're the ones who are seen on TV news to cheer at the moment of landing or whenever something goes right.  Or in our case to just cheer anyway.  Then off to the White Lion.

Mrs Ffestiniog was going to visit her sister in the sleepy town of Wrexham just before Christmas.  Presumably to yack on for hours and hours about who's doing what to who and putting the world to rights in a womanly sort of way.  Anyway, on her way she was instructed to deliver a special Christmas order of a mug to the really very splendid Marcus Jones-Servicing family who lived nearby.

An interesting conversation on the doorstep ensued, with much surreal mutual saluting and exchanging of gifts.  They got the mug they paid for.  We got a pack of very smart NASA playing cards and a cardboard cutout flying model of the Space Shuttle.

I think we can safely say we're up on that deal.  Anyway, glad to report that once Uncle Rhodri had unsuper-glued his fingers, he assembled said flying machine and even coloured it in with some crayons he got out of a cracker.  And the thing flies extremely well - especially considering the amount of glue on it.

Presumably a result of a marriage between someone called Jones and someone else called Servicing, Marcus Jones-Servicing can be bought from on eBay at http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/mjservicing/.  So go on, treat yourself to a new remote control for your Toyota TV, or a little treat for your computer printer.   Thank you.

While we earth-lubbers were all cracking skip-loads of brazil nuts over the Christmas period, and arguing about what to watch on the telly, our intrepid space crew on board Cymru III were busy carrying out endless  mission duties as they skimmed the very outer edges of Europa's atmosphere.

Festivities comprised just the briefest pause to exchange presents - Dilywn gave Meg a winalot nugget wrapped in toilet paper, and Megan gave Dilwyn a nasty bite on the arm.  She's developed a bit of a taste for human flesh after the gout-riddled big-toe excision episode of a couple of weeks ago.

With the space-furniture all moved to a position just aft of the centre of gravity our crew must now choose a suitable landing site.  The photo above shows a position about 53 degrees north of Europa's equator - which puts it in about the same position as Cerrigydrudion would be if it were on Europa.  Our scientists became very excited when this picture first came back as it appears to show three separate areas where sub-surface oceans seem to have welled up and flowed over the frigid surface before re-freezing. The water table may be close enough to be accessible here.

As Cyrmu III passed directly overhead, the automatic 110 camera took another picture.  This one we have nick-named the tyre-print on account of it looking just like a car has recently driven through some snow.  The similarities end there though as each of the indentations is about 10km across.  This zoom photo taken from an altitude of 1,870 km.
WASA geologists think it shows a vast plain where tidal forces from Jupiter have affected the relatively thin crust, and refreezing has caused the features shown. Either that or there is some seriously big Europan traffic to watch out for.

We've narrowed the potential landing site down to this area we have dubbed "big foot".  This deep impression into the surface of Europa looks exactly like a human footprint, but is probably impact related in origin. Being about 15 miles long and about 90 Peter Crouch's deep it should give us closer access to the long suspected sub-surface ocean. 

Nearby, and highlighted by the camera's graticule is another interesting geological feature - which appears to be the very tip of a mountain just poking through the deep crust of snow and ice.  It should be close enough to the landing site for Dilwyn to ride out to and investigate on the space-moped we packed into Cymru III's boot.

Watch this space...

During the first few orbits of Europa, highly sensitive spectrographic analysing instruments on board Cymru III detected a tenuous atmosphere comprising molecular oxygen and trace quantities of methane. We had hoped to use this faint remnant of gas for what is known as an atmospheric-assist. This is where we calculate a course which would take Cymru III on a trajectory through these high altitude atoms, such that their friction when combined with the high speed of the craft, create enough aerodynamic drag to degrade the orbit and facilitate a descent to the planet's surface.

But the number 4 key is still missing on our calculator and we don't know how to do all that stuff anyway. So our plan is that once Dilwyn spies that their orbit has taken them over the planned landing site he is to quickly move all the on-board space furniture and provisions to the very front of the craft, including himself and Megan. And this should then tip the spaceship forwards, pointing it downwards and initiate plummet phase to the surface many thousands of kilometres below.