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The European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) serves as the main mission control centre for the European Space Agency (ESA) and is located in Darmstadt, Germany. ESOC's primary function is the operation of uncrewed spacecraft on behalf of ESA and the launch and early orbit phases (LEOP) of ESA and third-party missions. The Centre is also responsible for a range of operations-related activities within ESA and in cooperation with ESA's industry and international partners, including ground systems engineering, software development, flight dynamics and navigation, development of mission control tools and techniques and space debris studies.
A near-Earth object (NEO) is any small Solar System body orbiting the Sun whose closest approach to the Sun (perihelion) is less than 1.3 times the Earth–Sun distance. This definition applies to the object's orbit around the Sun, rather than its current position, thus an object with such an orbit is considered an NEO even at times when it is far from making a close approach of Earth. If an NEO's orbit crosses the Earth's orbit, and the object is larger than 140 meters (460 ft) across, it is considered a potentially hazardous object (PHO). Most known PHOs and NEOs are asteroids, but about 0.35% are comets.
Space debris are defunct human-made objects in space – principally in Earth orbit – which no longer serve a useful function. These include derelict spacecraft, mission-related debris, and particularly numerous in-Earth orbit, fragmentation debris from the breakup of derelict rocket bodies and spacecraft. In addition to derelict human-made objects left in orbit, space debris includes fragments from disintegration, erosion, or collisions; solidified liquids expelled from spacecraft; unburned particles from solid rocket motors; and even paint flecks. Space debris represents a risk to spacecraft.
Space environment is a branch of astronautics, aerospace engineering and space physics that seeks to understand and address conditions existing in space that affect the design and operation of spacecraft. A related subject, space weather, deals with dynamic processes in the solar-terrestrial system that can give rise to effects on spacecraft, but that can also affect the atmosphere, ionosphere and geomagnetic field, giving rise to several other kinds of effects on human technologies.
The European Space Research Organisation (ESRO) was an international organisation founded by 10 European nations with the intention of jointly pursuing scientific research in space. It was founded in 1964. As an organisation ESRO was based on a previously existing international scientific institution, CERN. The ESRO convention, the organisations founding document outlines it as an entity exclusively devoted to scientific pursuits. This was the case for most of its lifetime but in the final years before the formation of ESA, the European Space Agency, ESRO began a programme in the field of telecommunications. Consequently, ESA is not a mainly pure science focused entity but concentrates on telecommunications, earth observation and other application motivated activities. ESRO was merged with ELDO in 1975 to form the European Space Agency.
Don Quijote is a past space mission concept that has been studied from 2005 until 2007 by the European Space Agency, and which would investigate the effects of crashing a spacecraft into an asteroid to test whether a spacecraft could successfully deflect an asteroid on a collision course with Earth. The orbiter was designed to last for seven years. The mission did not proceed beyond initial studies.
(10302) 1989 ML is an as yet unnamed near-Earth asteroid. It is approximately 0.6 km in diameter. An Amor asteroid, it orbits between Earth and Mars. It is an X-type asteroid, so its surface composition is yet unknown. It was discovered by Eleanor F. Helin and Jeff T. Alu at Palomar Observatory on 29 June 1989.
Marco Polo was a proposed space mission concept studied between 2005 and 2015 that would return a sample of material to Earth from the surface of a Near Earth asteroid (NEA) for detailed study in laboratories. It was first proposed to the European Space Agency in collaboration with the Japan aerospace exploration agency JAXA. The concept was rejected four times between 2007 and 2015 for the Cosmic Vision programme "M" medium-class missions.
Hayabusa Mk2 was a proposed Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) space mission aimed at visiting a small primitive asteroid and returning a sample to Earth for laboratory analysis. It was intended to be the follow-on mission to JAXA's Hayabusa mission, as well as the Hayabusa2 mission. The latest proposal for Hayabusa Mk2 stated its target to be the dormant comet 4015 Wilson–Harrington, with a launch of the probe in 2018. From 2007 to 2010, it was also considered as a joint JAXA-ESA mission under the name Marco Polo. The in-situ investigation and sample analysis would allow scientists to improve our knowledge of the physical and chemical properties of a small Near-Earth Object (NEO) which is thought to have kept the original composition of the solar nebula in which planet formed. Thus, it would provide some constraints to the models of planet formation and some information on how life may have been brought to Earth. Information on the physical structure will help defining efficient mitigation strategies against a potential threatening object.
Sigrid Elschot is a professor in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Stanford University. Her primary research interest is the space environment with particular focus on meteoroids, meteors, and orbital debris, and their interaction with spacecraft and spacecraft operations.
The Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment (AIDA) missions are a proposed pair of space probes which will study and demonstrate the kinetic effects of crashing an impactor spacecraft into an asteroid moon. The mission is intended to test and validate impact models of whether a spacecraft could successfully deflect an asteroid on a collision course with Earth.
The Space Safety Programme, formerly the Space Situational Awareness (SSA) programme, is the European Space Agency's (ESA) initiative to monitor hazards from space, determine their risk, make this data available to the appropriate authorities and where possible, mitigate the threat.
EQUULEUS is a nanosatellite of the 6U CubeSat format that will measure the distribution of plasma that surrounds the Earth (plasmasphere) to help scientists understand the radiation environment in that region. It will also demonstrate low-thrust trajectory control techniques, such as multiple lunar flybys, within the Earth-Moon region using water steam as propellant. The spacecraft was designed and developed jointly by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the University of Tokyo.
2015 ME131 (also written 2015 ME131) was a lost asteroid and a Near-Earth object (NEO). It is an Atira asteroid, which is by far the smallest group of near-Earth objects. This makes it an interior-Earth object (IEO), meaning that it has an orbit entirely confined within Earth's orbit. It was recovered on September 15, 2020 as 2020 RX8 which has extended the observation arc from 1.8 days to 5 years. It was removed from the Sentry Risk Table on February 15, 2021 after the two orbits were linked together. It was first observed on June 23, 2015, when the asteroid was more than 1 AU from Earth and had a solar elongation of 68 degrees.
(696513) 2016 NL56 (provisional designation 2016 NL56) is a near-Earth object (NEO) and a potentially hazardous object (PHA), meaning that it has an orbit that can make close approaches to the Earth and large enough to cause significant regional damage in the event of impact. It is an Apollo asteroid, meaning that it is an Earth-crossing asteroid that has an orbit larger than the orbit of the Earth. It was first observed on 12 July 2016, when the asteroid was more than 1 AU from Earth and had a solar elongation of 163 degrees.
2017 MZ8 (also written 2017 MZ8) is a near-Earth object and a potentially hazardous asteroid, meaning that it has an orbit that can make close approaches to the Earth and large enough to cause significant regional damage in the event of impact. It is an Apollo asteroid, meaning that it is an Earth-crossing asteroid that has an orbit larger than the orbit of the Earth. It was first observed on 22 June 2017, when the asteroid was about 1 AU from Earth and had a solar elongation of 131 degrees.
2017 DB120 (also written 2017 DB120) is a near-Earth object, meaning that it has an orbit which brings it into proximity with Earth. It is an Amor asteroid, meaning that its orbit does not cross Earth's orbit, but its perihelion is close to, but greater than, the aphelion of Earth. It was first observed on February 25, 2017, when the asteroid was less than 1 AU from Earth and had a solar elongation of 169°.
2017 SG33 (also written 2017 SG33) is a near-Earth object, meaning that it has an orbit which brings it into proximity with Earth. It is an Amor asteroid, meaning that its orbit does not cross Earth's orbit, but its perihelion is close to, but greater than, the aphelion of Earth. It was first observed on 25 September 2017, when the asteroid was less than 1 AU from Earth and had a solar elongation of 169°.
Hera is a spacecraft developed by the European Space Agency for its space safety program. Its primary mission objective is to study the Didymos binary asteroid system that was impacted four years earlier by the NASA Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft and contribute to validation of the kinetic impact method to deviate a near-Earth asteroid from a colliding trajectory with Earth. It will measure the size and morphology of the crater created as well as the momentum transferred by an artificial projectile impacting an asteroid, which will allow measuring the efficiency of the deflection produced by the impact. It will also analyze the expanding debris cloud caused by the impact.
Space dust measurement refers to the study of small particles of extraterrestrial material, known as micrometeoroids or interplanetary dust particles (IDPs), that are present in the Solar System. These particles are typically of micrometer to sub-millimeter size and are composed of a variety of materials including silicates, metals, and carbon compounds. The study of space dust is important as it provides insight into the composition and evolution of the Solar System, as well as the potential hazards posed by these particles to spacecraft and other space-borne assets. The measurement of space dust requires the use of advanced scientific techniques such as secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), optical and atomic force microscopy (AFM), and laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) to accurately characterize the physical and chemical properties of these particles.
References
- ↑ "ESA – European Space Agency". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 12 September 2018.
- 1 2 esa. "ESTEC". European Space Agency. Retrieved 12 September 2018.
- ↑ esa. "ESOC". European Space Agency. Retrieved 12 September 2018.
- ↑ esa. "Space Situational Awareness". European Space Agency. Retrieved 12 September 2018.
- ↑ "Home – Cosmos". www.cosmos.esa.int. Retrieved 12 September 2018.
- ↑ Büttner, Johannes. "Ein Asteroid trägt seinen Namen" . Retrieved 12 September 2018.
- ↑ J.M. Trigo-Rodriguez; F. Rietmeijer; Jordi Llorca; D. Janches (2008). Advances in Meteoroid and Meteor Science. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 191. ISBN 978-0-387-78419-9.