- ESA-led space propulsion test facility passed to UK owner
The UK’s new National Space Propulsion Facility has been declared open. ESA oversaw the design, assembly and commissioning of the facility – equipped to test-fire the most powerful classes of rocket engines used aboard spacecraft.ESA’s General Support Technology Programme (GSTP) has invested around €4,500 000 in the design, development and building of the National Space Propulsion Facility, in collaboration with the UK Space Agency and UK industrial partners including rocket manufacturer and facility contractor Nammo UK. Read more » - No fire in the sky: preventing an astronaut’s worst nightmare
“A risky and dangerous situation,” recalls ESA astronaut Reinhold Ewald of the in-orbit fire he experienced aboard the Mir space station back in 1997. “The fire was so enormous and the smoke and vapour coming off this fire site was such that we couldn’t see at arm’s length – and I could not at that time have imagined that we go on with the mission.” Read more » - Ultra-cool test of Jupiter instrument
Video: 00:03:38 An instrument destined for Jupiter orbit undergoes eight days of cryogenic radio-frequency testing using a new test facility at ESA’s ESTEC technical centre in the Netherlands. The Submillimetre Wave Instrument of ESA’s Juice mission will survey the churning atmosphere of Jupiter and the scanty atmospheres of its Galilean moons.Testing took place in ESA’s custom-built Low-temperature Near-field Terahertz chamber, or Lorentz. The first chamber of its kind, the 2.8-m diameter Lorentz chamber can perform high-frequency radio-frequency testing in realistic space conditions, combining space-quality vacuum with ultra-low temperatures. Read more » - Juice moves into Large Space Simulator
The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer has moved into the ‘Large Space Simulator’ at ESA’s test centre, ready for grueling environmental tests at a range of temperatures. Read more » - ESA flying payloads on wooden satellite
The world’s first wooden satellite is on the way, in the shape of the Finnish WISA Woodsat. ESA materials experts are contributing a suite of experimental sensors to the mission as well as helping with pre-flight testing. Read more » - Software making space missions smarter
To help venture further into space, or to gather ever more data, space missions keep on getting smarter. The latest Earth-observing satellites decide which images need sending to users, while planetary probes or rovers located beyond the limits of real-time oversight are able to set and follow their own course. Read more »
Thu 24th of Jun 2021 UTC
Age: 14 days old
Phase: Waxing Gibbous
Illumination: 99%
Distance: 365,099 km
