The International Space Station is the platform to study a variety of fields without gravity getting in the way. A new experiment is furthering the Station’s capabilities for investigating exobiology, or the study of life in space. It is rough out in space for most organisms. Thanks to a number of externally-mounted Expose facilities outside the Station,…
Drop Test Proves Technologies for Reusable Microlauncher
Spain’s PLD Space, supported by ESA, has demonstrated the technologies for a reusable first stage of their orbital microlauncher, Miura 5. Miura 5 (formerly Arion 2) is aimed to provide dedicated launches for small satellites of up to 300 kg to low Earth orbit, in 2021. It weighs 14 t at liftoff, and is powered by…
Two-Armed 3D Printing
Twin robotic arms work together as part of a project to construct what will be the largest, most complex object ever 3D printed in titanium: a test version of the 3-m diameter ‘optic bench’ at the heart of ESA’s Athena X-ray observatory. The first multi-axis robotic arm builds up each new layer of metal using…
How to Build a Spaceship
How do you build a spaceship? It’s not easy – because space is hard. It’s endless vacuum, hot and cold at the same time, streaked with radiation – and you have to fly at eight kilometres per second just to get there. It takes clever engineering – and costly research and development – to operate…
ESA Greenlight for UK’s Air-Breathing Rocket Engine
The development programme of the world’s first air-breathing rocket engine has taken an additional significant step forward, which will lead to major testing milestones being undertaken within the next 18 months. ESA, together with the UK Space Agency (UKSA) recently reviewed the preliminary design of the demonstrator engine core of the Synergetic Air-Breathing Rocket…
Business with Human and Robotic Exploration
Space is profitable – each euro spent on the International Space Station produces €1.8 added value to European economies. Research in low Earth orbit has already contributed to the economy in health and material sciences. For example, technology developed for the Space Station is used in almost all laser eye-surgery in Europe. Skills developed for space…
Elf on the International Space Station
There is no escaping the holidays, even in space. Though the crew celebrates together on the International Space Station, it is still hard to be away from family during festive times. Astronauts are encouraged to bring along items to make their time more comfortable and homely. One such item, the famous elf of the popular…
ESA Paves Way for New Space Transport Services
Imagine moving satellites to higher orbits, collecting space debris, and dedicated launches for small satellites. These are the winning entries of ESA’s call for ideas on new commercial space transportation services. This campaign aimed to foster open innovation and offer encouragement to those with new ideas within the privately-funded space sector. It has given ESA a valuable…
Focus on Vega Developments
Vega is proving its reliability. Based on this heritage, ESA and European industry are building new elements that will increase Vega’s performance, capabilities and flexibility from mid-2019. A proof of concept flight on Vega of the Small Spacecraft Mission Service is planned for mid-2019. It offers more low cost ride-share launch opportunities into low Earth…
A Job and a Half for First Eurostar Neo Mission
ESA’s Neosat platform developed with Airbus – Eurostar Neo – has found its first mission; supplying two satellites for a role currently being performed by three. Eurostar Neo’s first home in space will be at 13°E on the geostationary arc, where two of its platforms will host identical Eutelsat HOTBIRD payloads, and help them broadcast…
Is It a Bird? Is It a Plane?
It may not be your actual Superman, but participants to ESA’s ɸ-week are certainly embracing some ‘superhero’ ideas for the future of Earth observation, including high-flying platforms – something between a satellite and an aircraft. Head of ESA’s ɸ-lab Invest Office, Amanda Regan, noted, “We’ve never before had so many opportunities for Earth observation and…
Space Making the Virtual a Reality
What do astronauts, Pokémon, wildlife park rangers and surgeons all have in common? The answer is virtual and augmented reality, or VR and AR. Usually associated with video games, this ultra-immersive technology is quickly being recognised for its real-world potential. VR is a computer-generated environment that simulates physical presence and interaction, artificially creating sensory experiences…
Image: BepiColombo Magnetometer Boom Deployed
The 2.5 m long boom carrying the magnetometer sensors onboard ESA’s BepiColombo Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) has been successfully deployed. The sensors are now prepared to measure the magnetic field on the way to Mercury. Following launch last weekend, and having completed the ‘launch and early orbit phase’ on Monday, confirming the spacecraft and systems…
Image: Cheops in the Maxwell Chamber
ESA’s exoplanet-characterising Cheops satellite being prepared for electromagnetic compatibility testing inside the Maxwell chamber at ESTEC, the Agency’s technical heart in Noordwijk, the Netherlands. Once the chamber’s main door is sealed, Maxwell’s 12 m-high metal walls form a ‘Faraday Cage’, blocking electromagnetic signals from outside. The ‘anechoic’ foam pyramids covering its interior absorb internal signals – as well…
MELT 3D Printer Designed for Use in Microgravity
Europe’s first 3D printer designed for use in weightlessness, printing aerospace-quality plastics, has won the prestigious Aerospace Applications Award from design-to-manufacturing specialist TCT Magazine. ESA’s Manufacturing of Experimental Layer Technology (MELT) project printer has to be able to operate from any orientation–up, down or sideways–in order to serve in microgravity conditions aboard the International Space Station. Based…
Mission Control Ready for Mercury
Teams responsible for flying the bold BepiColombo mission to Mercury today completed the last major step in preparation for Saturday’s liftoff—the final pre-launch ‘dress rehearsal’ at ESA’s ESOC control centre in Darmstadt, Germany. Experts from mission operations, flight dynamics, ground stations and software systems, together with representatives from science and management teams, and the manufacturer,…
Installing Life Support the Hands-Free Way
Last week saw the installation of ESA’s next-generation life-support system on the International Space Station. The new facility recycles carbon dioxide in the air into water that can then be converted into oxygen reducing supplies sent from Earth by half. Installing the life support rack in NASA’s Destiny laboratory is no easy task as the…
Ten Years Catching Rocket Signals
As ESA celebrates the 100th launch of Ariane 5, the Agency’s worldwide ground station network is also marking ten years of providing vital tracking services to launchers soaring out of Kourou. ESA’s Earth-orbiting satellites and probes out in the Solar System are ultimately dependent on a small network of ground antennas, keeping them connected to…
ESA Technology Making L.A. Metro a Safer Ride
Thousands of daily passengers on the Los Angeles Metro will ride more securely with the deployment of cutting-edge ESA-patented screening technology to detect concealed weapons or explosives. The new screening cameras – being placed at various locations in the L.A. Metro system – can detect both metallic and non-metallic objects on a person’s body. They…
The Satellite on the Edge of Space
GOCE (pronounced go-chay), the Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer, was one of ESA’s most remarkable missions. Operating in the lowest-ever orbit of any Earth observation satellite, GOCE was on the edge of space; flying at an altitude of just 224 km. Launched in 2009 on a Rockot launcher from northern Russia, GOCE spent…
Galileo Satellites Viewed In Smartphone App
An augmented reality view of Galileo satellites in the sky close to ESA’s technical centre in the Netherlands. It comes from a Galileo-focused satnav app for Android smartphones, developed by ESA engineers. ESA ran an internal competition for its trainees to develop an app capable of making positioning fixes using only Galileo satellites. “As part of…
Image: The integrated Cheops Satellite
Cheops, the Characterising Exoplanet Satellite, will make observations of exoplanet-hosting stars to measure small changes in their brightness due to the transit of a planet across the star’s disc. The information will enable precise measurements of the sizes of the orbiting planets, in particular in the Earth-to-Neptune mass range: combined with measurements of the planet masses, this…
Next Four Galileo Satellites Fuelled For Launch
Europe’s next four Galileo satellites have been fuelled at Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, in preparation for their launch on 25 July. The four satellites were placed into their protective containers to be transported from the S1A processing building to the S3B payload preparation building, where they were filled with the hydrazine fuel that…
Image: Juice Thermal Development Model And The Sun Simulator
A view of the Juice thermal development model inside the Large Space Simulator at ESA’s technical heart in the Netherlands. Juice, or the Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer, is ESA’s future mission to explore the Solar System’s largest planet and its ocean-bearing moons. Planned for launch in June 2022, it will embark on a seven year…
Image: CubeSat Micro-Pulsed Plasma Thruster
This micro-pulsed plasma thruster has been designed for propulsion of miniature CubeSats; its first firing is seen here. The thruster works by pulsing a lightning-like electric arc between two electrodes. This vaporizes the thruster propellant into charged plasma, which is then accelerated in the electromagnetic field set up between the electrodes. Developed for ESA by Mars…