Bulletin 130 - May 2007

B130cover 21-05-2007 14:18 Pagina 1 www.esa.int

number 130 - may 2007

Member States Etats membres

Austria Allemagne Belgium Autriche Denmark Belgique Finland Danemark France Espagne Germany Finlande Greece France Ireland Grèce Italy Irlande Luxembourg Italie Netherlands Luxembourg Norway Norvège Portugal Pays-Bas SPACE FOR EUROPE Spain Portugal Sweden Royaumi-Uni Switzerland Suède United Kingdom Suisse ESA bulletin 130 - may 2007

ESA Publications ESTEC, PO Box 299, 2200 AG Noordwijk, The Netherlands Tel: +31 71 565-3400 Fax: +31 71 565-5433 [email protected] www.esa.int

Station INSIDE: andstereoscopic pull-outInternational posterDVD, images of Space the IFCb130 21-05-2007 14:12 Pagina 2

european space agency Editorial/Circulation Office ESA Publications Division ESTEC, PO Box 299, The European Space Agency was formed out of, and took over the rights and obligations of, the two earlier European space organisations – the 2200 AG Noordwijk European Space Research Organisation (ESRO) and the European Organisation for the Development and Construction of Space Vehicle Launchers The Netherlands (ELDO). The Member States are Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Tel: +31 71 565-3400 Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Canada is a Cooperating State. Editors Andrew Wilson In the words of its Convention: the purpose of the Agency shall be to provide for and to promote for exclusively peaceful purposes, cooperation among Carl Walker European States in space research and technology and their space applications, with a view to their being used for scientific purposes and for operational space applications systems: Design & Layout Isabel Kenny (a) by elaborating and implementing a long-term European space policy, by recommending space objectives to the Member States, and by concerting Advertising the policies of the Member States with respect to other national and international organisations and institutions; Lorraine Conroy (b) by elaborating and implementing activities and programmes in the space field; (c) by coordinating the European space programme and national programmes, and by integrating the latter progressively and as completely as The ESA Bulletin is published by the European Space possible into the European space programme, in particular as regards the development of applications satellites; Agency. Individual articles may be reprinted provided (d) by elaborating and implementing the industrial policy appropriate to its programme and by recommending a coherent industrial policy to the the credit line reads ‘Reprinted from ESA Bulletin’, plus date of issue. Signed articles reprinted must bear the Member States. author’s name. Advertisements are accepted in good faith; the Agency accepts no responsibility for their The Agency is directed by a Council composed of representatives of the Member States. The Director General is the chief executive of the Agency and content or claims. its legal representative. Copyright © 2007 European Space Agency The ESA HEADQUARTERS are in Paris. Printed in the Netherlands ISSN 0376-4265 The major establishments of ESA are: THE EUROPEAN SPACE RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY CENTRE (ESTEC), Noordwijk, Netherlands. THE EUROPEAN SPACE OPERATIONS CENTRE (ESOC), Darmstadt, Germany. ESRIN, Frascati, Italy. Chairman of the Council: S. Wittig Director General: J.-J. Dordain

agence spatiale européenne

L’Agence Spatiale Européenne est issue des deux Organisations spatiales européennes qui l’ont précédée – l’Organisation européenne de recherches spatiales (CERS) et l’Organisation européenne pour la mise au point et la construction de lanceurs d’engins spatiaux (CECLES) – dont elle a repris les droits et obligations. Les Etats membres en sont: l’Allemagne, l’Autriche, la Belgique, le Danemark, l’Espagne, la Finlande, la France, la Grèce, l’Irlande, l’Italie, le Luxembourg, la Norvège, les Pays-Bas, le Portugal, le Royaumi-Uni, la Suède et la Suisse. Le Canada bénéficie d’un statut d’Etat coopérant.

Selon les termes de la Convention: l’Agence a pour mission d’assurer et de développer, à des fins exclusivement pacifiques, la coopération entre Etats européens dans les domaines de la recherche et de la technologie spatiales et de leurs applications spatiales, en vue de leur utilisation à des fins The image released to mark the 17th scientifiques et pour des systèmes spatiaux opérationnels d’applications: anniversary of the launch of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows the giant star- (a) en élaborant et en mettant en oeuvre une politique spatiale européenne à long terme, en recommandant aux Etats membres des objectifs en forming Carina Nebula in stunning detail. The matière spatiale et en concertant les politiques des Etats membres à l’égard d’autres organisations et institutions nationales et internationales; fantasy-like landscape of the nebula is sculpted (b) en élaborant et en mettant en oeuvre des activités et des programmes dans le domaine spatial; by the winds and scorching ultraviolet radiation (c) en coordonnant le programme spatial européen et les programmes nationaux, et en intégrant ces derniers progressivement et aussi from the monster stars that inhabit this inferno. complètement que possible dans le programme spatial européen, notamment en ce qui concerne le développement de satellites d’applications; In the process, these stars are shredding the (d) en élaborant et en mettant en oeuvre la politique industrielle appropriée à son programme et en recommandant aux Etats membres une politique surrounding material that is the last vestige of industrielle cohérente. the giant cloud from which they were born. The image was recorded in the light of ionised L’Agence est dirigée par un Conseil, composé de représentants des Etats membres. Le Directeur général est le fonctionnaire exécutif supérieur de hydrogen, while colour was added from data l’Agence et la représente dans tous ses actes. taken at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Le SIEGE de l’Agence est à Paris. Observatory in Chile. Red corresponds to sulphur, green to hydrogen, and blue to oxygen Les principaux Etablissements de l’Agence sont: emission. (NASA; ESA; N. Smith, Univ. of California, Berkeley; The Hubble Heritage Team, LE CENTRE EUROPEEN DE RECHERCHE ET DE TECHNOLOGIE SPATIALES (ESTEC), Noordwijk, Pays-Bas. STScI/AURA) LE CENTRE EUROPEEN D’OPERATIONS SPATIALES (ESOC), Darmstadt, Allemagne. ESRIN, Frascati, Italy. Président du Conseil: S. Wittig Directeur général: J.-J. Dordain

www.esa.int ContentsB130 21-05-2007 14:14 Pagina 3

10 18 26 GMES ATV Ahoy Astrolab and Celsius The Second European Flagship Final Preparations for the First Flight Jobs Well Done in Space of Europe’s Space Ferry

42 50 62 ESA and Television Reviewing the Future Happy Families Bringing Space to Europe’s Television The 2006 External Review of the ESA Cutting the Cost of ESA Mission Ground Viewers Science Programme Software

bulletin 130 - may 2007 Contents

GMES 10 Simulating Meteoroid Impacts using 56 The Second European Flagship in Space High-Power Lasers Volker Liebig et al. A New Method to Prepare Spacecraft for the Harsh Environment of Space ATV Ahoy 18 Markus Landgraf et al. Final Preparations for the First Flight of Europe’s Space Ferry John Ellwood et al. Happy Families 62 Cutting the Cost of ESA Mission Ground Software Astrolab and Celsius 26 Mario Merri et al. Jobs Well Done Dieter Isakeit Programmes in Progress 70

ESA and Television 42 News – In Brief 84 Bringing Space to Europe’s Television Viewers Claus Habfast Publications 92

Reviewing the Future 50 The 2006 External Review of the Science Programme Inserts in this issue: ‘Astrolab Mission Summary and Leo Hennessy Stereoscopic ISS Tours’ DVD, poster and 3-D glasses

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GMES Global Monitoring for Environment and Security: The Second European Flagship in Space LiebigANDY 21-05-2007 14:40 Pagina 11

GMES

Volker Liebig, Josef Aschbacher, Stephen Briggs, Gunther Kohlhammer & Reinhold Zobl Directorate of Earth Observation Programmes, ESRIN, Frascati, Italy

ociety and politicians are demanding loperational information services in order Sto manage our planet’s environment, understand and mitigate the effects of climate change, and ensure civil security for Europe’s citizens. GMES can respond to these challenges by providing accurate, up-to-date and globally available information on an operational basis to European, national, regional and local entities. Important decisions are expected in the next two years on the future of GMES, including finalisation of the funding scheme for developing the infrastructure, and progress in setting up its long-term governance and funding. ESA’s responsibility is to provide the GMES satellites, which includes developing a dedicated space infrastructure and coordinating the space contributions from all the partners.

GMES Political and Strategic Goals The Interg overnmental Panel on Climate Change, at its recent meeting in Paris, concluded that global temperatures will increase by 1.7–4.4ºC and sea levels by 21–48 cm by the end of this century. Heat waves and tropical storms will likely intensify and Arctic summer The quantity and vigour of the world’s vegetation, using sea ice will disappear in the second half data from Envisat’s MERIS instrument in 2003. Dark brown indicates a low level; dark green shows high of the century.

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Earth Observation

GMES will provide critical environment and security info rm ation to European and national policy-makers. Satellites will be a critical component, assuring autonomous, up-to-date and globally comparable information. A secondary objective of GMES is to provide a coherent European contribution to international efforts such as the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), which was establ i s h e d in 2005 through an internat i o n a l Ministerial Summit. GEOSS is largely modelled on GMES in terms of overall Predicted global warming, depending on different levels of objectives, but totally relies on partici- greenhouse gases (red, green, blue). The orange curve predicts Captured by Envisat on 22 February 2007, this radar image pants’ contributions. GMES will be one the increase if the levels did not rise after year 2000. (Adapted from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) (left) highlights changes in the Antarctic ice shelf since the image of the most significant contributors to of 18 March 2002 (right) GEOSS. important because it allows forecasts of Climate change will affect developing GMES: A European Project in the Making critical parameters for environment and countries most. They are already under GMES began in 1998 through the security. stress through large increases in their ‘ B aveno Manifesto’, which states the In 2005, the European Commission populations; the global population will ne e d fo r a g lo b al s at e l l i t e - b a s e d (EC) assumed political leadership of rise from 6000 million today to monitoring system for Euro p e. It GMES and took responsibility for the 9000 million by 2050. Shortages of food attained political momentum in 2000 development of services, including the and clean water will lead to conflicts and when it first appeared on the agenda of definition and setup of a sustainable l a rge - s c a le e mi gr at i o n t o we a l t h i e r several EU Presidencies. In 2001, both governance structure. regions such as Europe and North ESA and the EC obtained approval for ESA i s re s p o n s i bl e for th e spa ce America. some EUR100 million each to initiate component. This role comprises two E nv i ronment and security are inti- GMES services and build up a basic functions, confirmed by Member mately linked and will become major sustainable user community. S t at e s, acco rdi ng to whi ch ESA is political issues in the coming decades. GMES comprises four main, inter- responsible for: T he c o mm an d o f i n fo r m at i o n h as dependent, elements: services, space geostrategic implications. The political observations, in situ observations, and – the end-to-end definition and imple- mandate for the Global Monitoring for d ata management, integration and mentation of the space component. E nv i ronment and Security (G MES) modelling. The last is particularly Some of elements will be provided programme was expressed at the 2001 G o t h e n bu rg European Un ion (EU) Summit, stating the need to “achieve by 2008 an operational and autonomous European capacity for global monitoring for environment and security”. This was t ra n s fo rm ed in to an A ctio n P la n 2004–2008, endorsed by the European Parliament. Further, the second Space Council, combining the EU Compet- itiveness and ESA Councils, stated that GMES will be the second flagship of EU space policy, after the Galileo navigation system.

Global wave height measured by Envisat’s radar altimeter, 4 September to 10 October 2006. (CNES-CLS)

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GMES

polar monitoring, fo rest monitoring, marine and coastal monitoring, flood, fire and geo-hazard risk assessment, air- quality monitoring and forecasting, and land-cover mapping and urban development monitoring, as well as information services to support humanitarian aid and development and food security actions. In parallel, the EC undertook a series of large integrated projects within its 6th Framework Programme to address the u n d e rlyi ng re s e a rch issues. Tog e t h e r, these activities engaged more than 300 organisations from 35 countries as end users of GMES. This enabled ESA and the EC to identify the key requirements for the GMES space element, and led to The process leading to the GMES satellites s p e c i f i c atio ns fo r the Se nti nel s a nd access to national missions. Building on this, the EC organised through national entities or Eumetsat; m e n t ation Groups on emerg e n c y major consultations with user organisa- – the development of space and ground management, marine and land monitor- tions in Europe and is now dedicating i n f ra s t r u c t u res thro ug h ESA prog- ing. The recommendations led to design significant resources of the 7th Frame- rammes, complementing national and changes of these missions. The EC work Programme to develop three Fast Eumetsat contributions. further prepared a synthesis report on Track Services: The Land Monitoring spa ce i n fra s t r u c t u re n eed s, wh i c h Service; The Marine Service, and The The elements developed through ESA endorsed the designs. The report also Emergency Management Service. These programmes – the Sentinel satellites and s t ates that the Sentinel-1, -2 and -3 will enter their pre-operational stage in the ground segment and operations – missions need two satellites each to meet 2008. complement Member State contribu- the observation cove rage and re p e at Two other pilot services are planned: tions. cycle requirements. the GMES Atmospheric Service, and a service dedicated to Security. A set of Responding to User Requirements GMES Services core, pan-European or global services GMES satellites are responding to user ESA a nd the EC beg an deve l o p i n g will be established first. Lat e r, more requirements. The Sentinels, approved at GMES information services as early as specialised services (at national, regional the Berlin Ministerial Council in 2002. Under the ESA GMES Service or local leve l s, for example) will be December 2005, were defined by a ‘gap Element, approved in November 2001, introduced. analysis’, which analy s e s user require- ten service portfolios were developed. ments based on policy needs, derives Each responds to user needs in a specific National and Eumetsat Contributions s p ac e ob s e r vat i on r e q u i re m e n t s, an d sector of e nv i ronmental or security In line with the GMES Declaration, the c o m p a res them w ith ava i l able and policy. They address domains such as space component comprises share d planned missions from EU/ESA Member States and Eumetsat. The EC was closely invo l ved in defining the specifications of t h e s e Sentinels. It provided an assessment of the Mission Re q u i rement Documents ( M R Ds ) of S e n t i n e l - 1, - 2 a n d - 3 through the GMES Fast-Track Imple-

Nitrogen dioxide pollution measured by Envisat’s SCIAMACHY instrument from June 2003 to January 2004. (Univ. Heidelberg)

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Earth Observation

Sentinel-1 carries a SAR in a precise d awn-dusk Sun-synchronous orbit at 700 km altitude with an exact repeat of 1 2 d ays for multi-pass interfero m e t r y. With a SAR swath width of ab o u t 240 km, 12-day quasi-global coverage is e n s u red. The ground resolution of about 5 m exceeds that of the ERS and Envisat satellites in imaging mode. The 2.1 t satellite is built around the large SAR instrument, which feat u res a phased-array antenna with 5 kW total radiated power. It is designed for launch on Soyuz and a lifetime of 7 years. Envisat radar images of Bam (Iran) from before and after the Earthquake of 26 December 2003 are combined in this ‘interferogram’ Sentinel-2 carries a medium- to high- to reveal the ground movement. (Polimi/Poliba) resol utio n push-broom mu l t i s p e c t ra l imager operating in the visible and near-

i n f r a s t r u c t u r e p rov id e d by n at i o n a l , be given to European data sources, t o European and other contributors as well u n d e rline the principle of i n d e p e n d e n t a s th e ded i cated S enti ne l sat e l l i t e s data access. developed by ESA. Currently, the missions identified as To d ay, a number of n ational, Eumetsat potential contributors are (in alpha- and commercial Earth observation (EO) betical order): Altika, Cosmo-SkyMed, missions are being developed in Europe. D M C, E nMap, Env i s at, E RS, Ja s o n , They primarily serve their re s p e c t ive M e t e o s at , M e t O p, P le ia de s, Pro b a , o p e rat o r ’s strategic priorities but are Ra d a r s at, Rap i d E ye, SeoSat, Spot, also of interest to GMES. Tandem-X, TerraSar-X and TopSat. The candidate EO missions listed in In order to assure the sustainability of the GMES Declaration will be the tho se natio na l and mu l t i n at i o n a l starting point for determining these missions that are required for GMES contributions. The list will evolve as new (based on a formalised user endorse- missions become available. Priority will ment process), a high-level coordination group, the GMES Space Component Partnership, will be set up by ESA with Sentinel-2 will provide high-resolution multispectral imaging. the stakeholders involved. Shown here is the Barrax test site in La Mancha (E), imaged by Proba-2’s CHRIS compact high-resolution imaging spectrometer in Sentinel Missions 19 of its 62 spectral bands Based on the gap analysis, five observation capacities have been identified that need to be developed for GMES, in a ddition to national and Eumetsat missions:

– S e n t i n e l-1: high-resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging; – S e n t i n e l - 2 : h ig h- r e s o lu t io n mu l t i - spectral imaging; – S e n t i n e l - 3: g lo b al o c e a n an d l an d monitoring; – Sentinel-4: geostationary atmospheric monitoring; – S e n t i n e l - 5 : low - o r bi t at m o s p h e r i c monitoring.

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GMES

infrared and shortwave infrared in an also provides continuity of the Spot/ Envisat-like orbit. The ground resolu- Vegetation mission. The 1.3 t satellite tion is 10, 20 and 60 m, depending on will use a small launcher (Vega). The channel. The swath width of t h e design lifetime is 7 years. multispectral imager is about 280 km, S ent in el- 4 an d - 5 ar e at m o s p h e r i c which ensures systematic acquisition of chemistry missions, details of which are all land surfaces every 10 d ay s. The be i n g de f in e d t h ro u gh p r e - P h a s e - A 850 kg satellite will fit a small launcher studies. The baseline assumption is that (Vega) and has a 7-year design lifetime. they will be instruments ab o a rd the Sentinel-3 carries a CryoSat-derived M e t e o s at T h ir d Ge n e r at io n ( M TG ) microwave altimeter (including a micro- around 2017 (Sentinel-4) and on post- wave radiometer and precise orbit- MetOp around 2019 (Sentinel-5). Their determination device) and two imagers, use, if confirmed in the above configura- for ocean/land colour observat i o n s tion, will be closely coordinated with (MERIS-like) and for sea/land surface Eumetsat, who will operate the MTG An integrated network of receiving stations will ensure the temperature observations (AATSR-like) and post-MetOp satellites. operational supply of Sentinel data to users into an Envisat-like orbit. The imager Long-term continuity of Earth observation data is a prerequisite for GMES services. It d e p l oyment schedule, lifetime, ove ra l l is therefore assumed that funding and the use of new or existing the baseline technolog y technology are key parameters affecting for the satellites will global cost. For this reason, the remain stable for a long technology should be chosen to keep the period, such as 15 years cost of the overall system low rather per satellite gene rat i o n , than to increase performance. Techno- which is similar to opera- logy has to be mature before entering tional prog rammes like engineering and system development. M e t e o s at, Spot, Landsat Replenishment of Sentinel-4 and -5 and NOAA/AVHRR. This would follow the MTG and post-MetOp assumption does not schedules if they are indeed carried by e xc lude s ome e vo l u t i o n a r y those satellites. i m p rove m e n t s in , fo r example, in-orbit perform- Ground Segment and Operations ance. The ground segment The ground segment will control and will have shorter renewal exploit the ESA Sentinels-1/2/3 satellites c ycles of t e c h n o l ogy to and manag e, plan and monitor the absorb better computing, ove rall GMES space component, t e l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n , including access to the other missions. software systems and user The Payload Data Ground Segment is interface technologies. d i s t r i buted, reusing existing facilities, The strategy and phas- i n f ra s t r u c t u re and ex p e r t i s e. F ur the r- ing of the pro c u re m e n t m o re, it will link and share the p rocess will significantly i n f r a s t r u c t u re a lr e a dy d e ve lo pe d fo r influence the overall prog- national missions. ra m m e ’s financial pro f i l e Sentinel operations and utilisation will a n d c os t . T h e s at e l l i t e h ave a higher degree of a u t o m at i o n c o m p a red to, for ex a m p l e, ERS and Sentinel-3 will provide ocean and land Envisat, but near-realtime requirements monitoring, similar to this image from and operational re l i ability will put Envisat’s MERIS instrument, a dedicated higher demands on the development of ocean-colour sensor able to identify the ground segment. phytoplankton concentrations. On 6 June 2006 it found a plankton bloom (pale From 2008 onwards, pre-operational blue) stretching the length of Ireland in support of GMES services will start the Atlantic Ocean t h rough coord i n ated and harm o n i s e d

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Earth Observation

EO data provision from national, Eumet- ciple, be realised almost immediately. The EC fo resees a total of s at and other third-party missions, all They represent a value of the order of EUR780 million through its 7th Frame- re f e r red to a s GM ES Co n tribu t i n g EUR100 million per annum; wo rk Space Wo rk Prog ramme fo r Missions. – European policy formulation benefits. 2007–2013. Future contributions will be Routine operations cover all missions. Since they depend on future policy necessary to cover the operational phase These include mission planning, a evolution, these benefits would accrue of GMES beyond 2013 and to complete distributed user service shared with all later, typically a decade hence. Price the initial operational validation (IOV) p a r t n e r s, coherent quality assessment Waterhouse Cooper estimates the o f the current Sentinels (such as and the monitoring and control of the potential magnitude of these benefits S e n t i n e l-4/5, launched in 2017–2019). end-to-end data provision for the entire to be at least ten times greater than the These figures are subject to negotiations GMES space element. first category; with ESA Member States and the EC. – global action benefits. Since they Socio-Economic Benefits of GMES depend on new international policy Long-term funding considerations A consortium led by Price Waterhouse ag re e m e n t s, these benefits wo u l d For the space infrastructure, the longer Cooper has analysed the potential accrue lat e r. The external dependencies term funding sources have to move from socio-economic benefits of GMES over and uncertainties in their realisation re s e a rch & developme nt to infra- 20 0 6– 20 3 0, fo l l owi ng wid e - r a n g i n g are greater. However, by virtue of their structure budget lines. The current share c o n s u l t atio n s w ith sta keh o ld ers a n d global scope, they hold the greatest o f the investment made via ESA authorities in the policy sectors potential benefits. These are estimated Member States for the build-up of the addressed by GMES. to be at least ten times greater than the GMES space component (the IOV) is The study demonstrated that GMES previous categories. expected to decrease, while the EC is can lead to significant benefits in expected to replace its R&D contribu- e nv i ronment and security policies, The potential GMES benefits accu- tions increasingly through infrastructure because decision-making will be able to mu l ated from 2006 to 2030 we re budgets to support the operat i o n s draw on better, more complete, consis- e s t i m ated to be around 0.2% (ab o u t (including recurrent spacecraft). tent, timely and reliable information. EUR80 000 million) of the EU’s current The goal should be to fo l l ow the Significant benefits were quantified in annual gross domestic product. example of m e t e o ro l og y, wh e re ESA the following policy areas: The study highlighted the fact that the d evelops and finances (with a suitabl e mere availability of information does c o n t r i bution from E ume tsat) the pro t o- – Europe as a global partner (climate not in itself produce benefit. The GMES types based on the re q u i rements defined by c han ge adap t atio n, g lobal e nv i ro n m e n t benefits will materialise only when the the use rs, who are re s p o n s i ble for funding protection, humanitarian response); information is used. Hence, during its re c u r re nt units, operations and se rvic es. – p re s e r v atio n an d ma nag eme n t of i m p l e m e n t at i on , m aj or e mp h as i s i s Funding through ESA will focus on natural resources (air quality, marine being placed on integrating GMES technology evolution and upgrades as environment, forest ecosystem man- i n fo r m at i o n in t o fu t u re po li c y an d well as the overall coordination of the agement, civil protection). decision-making processes within space component. Europe. The development of funding sources Significant benefits were also identi- along these lines would allow GMES to fied, but not allocated a monetary value, Phased Funding Approach become an operational system that in the following domains: Up to 2013 provides critical information to support The funding required for the build-up of European policy. – Europe as a global partner (climate the GMES space component is being change mitigation, development and obtained in a phased fashion. ESA Acknowledgements aid); funds are complemented by EC funds. The authors wish to thank the staff of – p re s e r v atio n an d ma nag eme n t of S eve ral funding steps are planned t h e GM E S S pa c e O ff i c e, t he E O n at u ral re s o u rces (urban and rura l during the period 2006–2013. On ESA’s Services & Exploitation Division and p o l i c y, ag r i c u l t u r al p o li cy, wat e r s i d e, t h e 2 0 05 M i n is t e r i al C ou n c il the Communications Department staff quality, management of wetlands). provided EUR257 million for the first at ESRIN for their support in the phase. This is expected to be comple- c o m p i l at i on o f t h is a r t ic l e an d t h e GMES strategic and political benefits mented by EUR430 million in 2007 for provision of figures and diagrams. e were grouped as: Phase-2 and then, at the 2008 Minister- ial Council, by the amount required to – efficiencies in implementing ex i s t i n g complete the build-up of the space Further information on GMES can be found at policies. These benefits could, in prin- component. www.esa.int/gmes

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ATV Ahoy ATV.qxd 21-05-2007 15:20 Pagina 19

ATV

John Ellwood Project Manager, ATV, Directorate of Human Spaceflight, Microgravity & Exploration, Les Mureaux, France

Jean-François Clervoy ATV Senior Advisor Astronaut, Directorate of Human Spaceflight, Microgravity & Exploration, Les Mureaux, France

Frederic Castel ATV Support, Les Mureaux, France

ules Verne, the first of five Automated Transfer Vehicles (ATVs), stands on the J brink of flight. Its inaugural mission, set for the second half of 2007, will conclude an extensive 3-year test campaign. During the coming crucial months, the programme faces three key objectives: prepare for flight, fine- tune the interfaces with the International Space Station and the ISS partners, and ready Ariane-5 for launching its largest payload to date.

Introduction The ATV marks a new step for Euro- pean space transportation and lays a cornerstone for human spaceflight. It is the most ve r s atile spacecraft eve r developed, uniquely able to self-navigate in orbit and control its own rendezvous. It is a critical resupply tool for the ISS and for the Station partners, especially Final Preparations for after Shuttle flights end in 2010 and the ISS must rely on ATV for reboost and disposal at the end of its life. the First Flight of With ATV technology, ESA has the c apa ci ty for au tom ati c re n d e z vo u s between spacecraft – crucial for robotic Europe’s Space Ferry s a m p l e - re t ur n mi s s io ns, a s s e m bl i n g

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Human Spaceflight

ATV’s flight sequence, from launch (bottom left) to its fiery end in the atmosphere (bottom right). At top centre is the main control room in Toulouse. (ESA/D. Ducros)

ATV’s complexity is comparable to that of the Apollo craft that took mankind to the Moon. (ESA/D. Ducros)

complex spacecraft, and future human planetary exploration. Several European countries made the political commitment in 1988 to participate in the Station by signing the Inter Governmental Agreement with the USA and other participants. In 1992, ESA began a joint study with NASA to define ATV missions to what was then Space Station Freedom. The following year, ESA and the Russian space agency agreed to study possible ATV missions t o M ir- 2 an d, lat e r, to t h e Ru s s i a n segment of the ISS. After numerous political changes in the former USSR and following a US decision in 1993 to include Russia in building the Station, it was finally decided in 1994 to build AT V. In February of that year, the 111th ESA Council Meeting in Paris agreed to the M ann ed Spa ce Tra n s p o r t at io n P rog- ra m m e, including AT V.At the Ministerial meeting in Toulouse in October 1995, AT V ’s full development won fo rm a l approval. For more than a decade, ATV has i nvo l ved dozens of companies and thousands of engineers from 10 Euro- pean countries under the prime The Mission contractorship of EADS-Astrium Space Europe. Since summer 2004, it has been A typical ATV mission begins with Tra n s p o r t ation (F). T he comp ani es a s s e m bled and tested at ESTEC, at launch into a circular orbit atop a new include Alcatel Alenia Spazio, Contra- times requiring new technical solutions, version of Ariane-5 from the French ves Space, Dutch Space, Snecma, minor changes and a lot of fine-tuning. Guiana equatorial site. It is injected into Alcatel Espacio, Crisa and MAN. Eight The technical complexity of t h e the Station’s orbital plane, inclined at Russian companies are also involved, programme has led to a 3-year delay in 51.6º to the Equat o r. Under the with the main contractor, RSC Energia, the inaugural launch. Now, after responsibility of the ATV Contro l in charge of building 10% of ATV. meeting nu m e rous challenges, Ju l e s Centre (ATV-CC) in Toulouse (F), it The 19.4 t Jules Verne is the most Verne is in the home strait, aiming for separates from Ariane after 70 minutes complex space vehicle ever developed in launch in the second half of 2007. and a ct ivat e s it s n av i g at ion s ys te ms,

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which fire thrusters to begin its move The approach and docking are fully towards the ISS. automatic. If there are any problems, tanks connect to the Station plumbing After several days of raising its orbit, either the ATV computers or the Station and discharge their contents. The 100 kg ATV comes within sight of the ISS and c rew can tri gg er on e of t h re e of air for breathing is manually injected begins navigating relative to its target, programmed anti-collision manoeuvres. by the crew into the ISS atmosphere. For f rom about 30 km behind and 5 k m With ATV secure ly docked, the up to 6 months, ATV remains attached below. The computers begin final app- Station crew enters the cargo section mostly dormant, with the hatch open roach manoeuvres over the next two and re m oves the payload: supplies, into the Station. The crew gradually fill orbits, closing in at a relative speed of a science hardware and lightweight bags t he c a rgo s e c t io n wi t h u nw a n t e d few cm per second while both craft are with fresh food, mail and tapes from equipment and rubbish. Every 10–45 flying around the Earth at 28 000 km/h. their families. Meanwhile, ATV’s supply days, ATV fires its thrusters to boost the

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Human Spaceflight

requirement: even with any combination of two possible onboard failures, the craft must still be safe for the crew and for the Station itself. It must also tolerate one failure and still complete its mission. This high level of autonomy, courtesy of several layers of safety and f a i l u re management, allows ATV to fulfil the entire mission on its own, from navigation in orbit to rendezvous manoeuvres and finally docking with the Station. The whole software package, the most complex ever developed in Europe, has a million lines of code. Electromagnetic testing at ESTEC in 2005 ATV’s main computer and its thre e i n d e p e n d e n t sub-computers act as the pilot, controlling the mission. In the S t at i o n’s altitude, which is nat u ra l ly event of a major failure during the degraded by the faint but continuous critical approach phase to the ISS, or if atmospheric drag. any manoeuvre endangers the Station, a Preparing for acoustic tests at ESTEC Once its resupply mission is accom- dedicated backup computer will inter- plished, and it is filled with discarded vene using highly reliable and robust items, ATV is closed off by the crew and software. t e s t s, had concluded successfully. In automatically separates. Its thrusters use This backup computer isolates ATV’s parallel, functional and operations tests their remaining propellants to drop out normal system and commands a special were performed at both the ATV-CC in of orbit – not at a flat angle used for the ‘retrieve’ manoeuvre to take the vehicle Toulouse and the Functional Simulation smooth reentry of manned vehicles, but into a safe trajectory. This independent Facility (FSF) at EADS-Astrium in Les as steeply as possible for a controlled mode relies on separate computers, Mureaux, 50 km west of Paris. and safe destructive reentry high above s e p a rat e so ft w a re, s e pa rat e bat t e r i e s, the Pacific Ocean. separate trajectory-monitoring sensors, Acoustic and thermal testing From its first operational fl i g h t , and separate thrusters; only the The Large European Acoustic Facility E u ro p e ’s most challenging spacecra f t p ropellants are shared. This backup at ESTEC simulated the stress that ATV will play a vital role in Station servicing. system is so segregated from the main will encounter during the first 3 minutes It is also a way for Europe to pay its ATV systems that it is like a copilot of flight atop Ariane-5. The entire ATV share in ISS running costs by spending responsible for safety hidden inside the structure – the size of a double-decker money within European industry rather automated spacecraft. London bus – must withstand frequen- than by cash transfers to its ISS cies up to 8 kHz at 143 dB, a level lethal partners. Preparations and Tests to the human body. 2005 saw small technical problems and In the second half of 2006, Jules Verne The Challenges failures late in the processing of Jules completed a series of critical thermal ATV is the most versatile spacecraft ever Verne, including a small fatigue failure vacuum tests that replicated the harsh built – it first acts as the upper stage of in a propulsion va l ve Ariane-5, then it is a fully independent and an anomaly in the spacecraft, and, after docking with the drive mechanism of t h e Station, it is a supply, life-support and c r u c i a l s ol a r a r ray s. reboost module. Finally, it prov i d e s Tog e t h e r, th ey snow- waste-disposal. balled into a launch Its unique level of a u t o n o my and delay of more than a safety makes it the first fully automated year. resupply spacecraft of its kind. Even By the end of 2006, with a malfunction, ATV does not rely the comp lex env i ro n- on human intervention to ensure mental test campaign, mission success and Station safety. including the main The ATV’s design respects a tough acoustic and therm a l

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ATV

The Functional Simulation Facility in Les Mureaux is replicating the flight of Jules Verne

for shipping in summer 2007. The respecting the tough safety requirements transportation of ATV and its 400 t of of human spaceflight. support equipment from The Nether- At the same Moscow plant, a 2-month lands to French Guiana will take campaign began in April to test ATV’s t e m p e rat u re e nv i ronm e n t o f s p a c e. 2 weeks by sea aboard the ship Toucan. physical interfaces – the docking system, These were the most critical environ- the complex associated electronics and mental tests for ensuring that all the Testing the links with the ISS the refueling system with real fluids and systems are robust enough to withstand For the past seve ral months, the pressurised tanks. Jules Verne has the the 6-month orbital mission. challenge has been to run parallel test unique capability to refuel the Station Since early 2006, a primary goal of campaigns in diff e rent countries and with 860 kg of propellants and remove the Jules Verne campaign at ESTEC has sites. The primary goal of this complex 840 kg of liquid waste. been to test the full interaction between and time-consuming strategy is to In summer 2006, thanks to the the extensive flight software and the real ensure that ATV hardware and software Europe’s largest ship hull test facility at flight hardware of the spacecraft as a can handle all the possible nominal and Val de Reuil, west of Pa r i s, it wa s wh o l e. Using the Electrical Gro u n d off-nominal scenarios that Jules Verne p o s s i ble to re p l i c ate the re n d e z vo u s Support Equipment of h u n d reds of might face during its demonstrat i o n s u c c e s s f u l ly. Fo r the first ti me, the cables and dozens of computers, the flight. system worked under complete closed- flight was replicated. For instance, at the RSC Energ i a loop conditions where all aspects of the Similar testing also began early last plant outside Moscow, home of t h e spacecraft were either represented for year at the FSF. This facility housed ATV docking mechanism, the refuelling real – software, sensors, trajectories – or actual mechanisms from Jule s Ve r n e a n d system and the complex associat e d simulated, such as thruster firings. replicas of its electronic ‘bra i n’ a n d electronics, major computer simulations ‘ n e r vous system’ plus ground equipment we re underway from December to to simu l ate all the external interfaces, March. The objective was to test the In 2006, ATV’s computer and sensors mounted on a mobile including up to 60 electronics ra c k s. To be final version of the software that will platform (left) proved they could approach and dock with the ISS s u re th at t he Faci lity ex a c t ly re p l i c at e s lin k ATV and the Russia n Zve z d a (right) from 250 m out Ju le s Ve r n e, howeve r, the results from the module during rendezvous and docking. t wo ca mp aign s wi ll be c lo se ly c ompare d . Tests included actual communications To make the tests even more realistic, the hardware and GPS simulators. During c o n t rol c e ntr e in Tou lous e wa s adde d in to AT V ’s stay at the Station, Zve z d a ’s th e lo op in e arly 2 007. T he pre p a rat i o n s computers will order the ferry to fire its and the successful closed-loop simu l a- thrusters to boost the Station’s altitude. tions with Jule s Ve r n e took more than At this ‘Ground Debugging Complex ’ , 3 months of intense wo rk. a powerful simulator could introduce Now that all the numerous tests and s eve ral failure scenarios and cre at e campaign challenges are nearing d e g raded situations that the AT V completion, Jules Verne should be ready a rc h i t e c t u re had to cope with wh i l e

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Human Spaceflight

This re n d e z vous test campaign Astronaut Jean-Francois brought the different systems together Clervoy demonstrates the p e r f e c t ly by using real ATV f l i g h t loading of late cargo into ATV sen sors un d er l if e-si ze re n d e z vo u s conditions and feeding measurements into the flight control computer. At the Further information on same time, a simulator calculated the ATV can be found at www.esa.int/SPECIALS/ movements of the vehicle in space. A ATV/ third system physically translated these c o m p u t at ion s in to a re l at i ve mot ion Facing page: ESA’s ATV team b e t ween the sensors, carried by an in Les Mureaux, November industrial robot, and their targets on a 2006. Holding the ATV huge mobile platform representing the display photo are Daniel ISS. The integration of all these systems Sacotte (left, Director, HME), Jean-Jacques Dordain into a closed-loop test wo rked as (centre, Director General) planned from some 250 m out all the and John Ellwood (right, ATV way to docking. Project Manager)

Getting Ready for Operations Under a contract signed with ESA in p rovides mission execution and be loaded horizontally through the large 2003, CNES has developed the ATV management, performed by CNES. In opening at the aft end of the pressurised C o n t ro l Cen tre, re s p o n s i ble fo r the second room are the flight dynamics module. At this stage, the ATV service monitoring and controlling the vessel e n g i n e e r s. An E ng i ne e r i n g S up p or t module, housing the avionics and the during its mission. Since early 2006, Team occupies the third, with experts p ropulsion systems, will not yet be dozens of simulations to monitor the from ESA and EADS-Astrium ready to mated to the cargo section. For flexi- Jules Verne approach to the Station have help in case of a problem. bility, a small fraction of the dry cargo required a high degree of technical skill There is no CapCom (Capsule Com- can be loaded through the docking n ever seen befo rein European operat i o n s. municator) in the ATV-CC but, in case hatch up to 8 days before launch, when While attached for up to 6-months, of emergency, the flight director can the craft is undergoing final prepara- ATV will not only resupply, refuel and contact the crew in orbit. The official tions on top of the Ariane-5. boost the ISS, it will also be used to language during all ATV operations is The first ATV flight is a demonstrat i o n desaturate the Station’s control gyros English, including the communications mission, so it will carry a heavier propel- an d , i f n e c e s s a r y, ma no e u vr e t h e with Moscow and Houston. lant load than subsequent missions. The complex to avoid space debris. extra load will allow several scenarios S eve ral m issi o n scen a rio s re q u i re The Extensive Launch Campaign and manoeuvres to be tested, such as c o m p l ex interactions and share d Since ATV is the heaviest and most re t re ating into a parking orbit and responsibilities between ATV-CC and challenging spacecraft ever developed in delaying rendezvous until the following the Mission Control Centres in Moscow Europe, together with the demanding day. The rest of Jules Verne’s payload and Houston. For the first time, three re q u i rements of manned spacecra f t will be 860 kg of refuelling propellants space centres around the globe must safety, the launch campaign at Kourou for the Station’s own propulsion system, work together. Special high-level ‘Multi- will take 3.5 months. 2 8 0 k g o f dri nking wat e r, 2 0 kg of ox yg e n El ement Pro c e d u re s ’ h ave been First, in the EPCU S5 (Ensemble de and t he 20 10 k g of reboo st pro p e l l a n t s. developed, allocating the tasks to be Préparation de Charges Utiles) building, The ex t ra propellants not consumed fo r performed sequentially to the centres where satellites are prepared for launch, u n expected scenarios during fre e - fl i g h t involved. A dozen simulations involving a major leak test will check ATV’s 48 m3 will be used for additional Stat i o n the three centres are under way to fine- p ressurised section and all other reboosting. All the fluids and gas will be tune the range of possible scenarios, pressurised components such as water loaded fo l l owing strict safety rules. from perfect to degraded missions. and gas tanks and the propulsion and In parallel, the special version of the During the fl i g h t ’s highly critical the refuelling systems. Ariane-5 will undergo its own launch p h a s e s, from launch to docking and Then comes the loading of the dry preparations. from departure to reentry, the entire 60- c a rg o, in white standard bags of person team in the ATV-CC will work in different sizes, stored in the racks of the Ariane’s Largest Payload three adjacent control rooms separated pressurised section. Most of the 1610 kg Jul e s Ve r n e will be launched by a by large glass walls. The main room of dry cargo carried by Jules Verne will modified version of Ariane-5 known as

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ATV

t he ‘A r i a n e - 5 E vol ut i o n St o r abl e ’ The second major change is the around the world. Passing over south- (A5 ES-ATV). It comes equipped with modified path taken by the 775 t east Au s t ralia, Aestus reignites fo r the powerful Vulcain-2 main engine and Ariane-5 during ascent and insertion, 40 seconds to circularise the orbit at features the storable-propellant upper a l l owing for the more seve re aero- 2 6 0 km. Four minutes lat e r, AT V stage (Etage à Propergols Stockables, dynamic and thermal demands and the separates over the southwest Pacific and EPS) and its re i g n i t able Aestus engine. different centre of gravity. becomes an independent spacecraft. On On subsequent flights, the launcher will About 3.5 minutes after lift-off, the its own, the EPS reignites an orbit later inject the 20 750 kg ATV into the ISS fairing protecting the ATV is ejected. to deorbit and burn up safely during a orbital plane at around 300 km altitude. F ive and a half m i nutes lat e r, the precise reentry. For Jul es Ve r n e, wi th a mas s of 1 9 4 0 0 k g , cryogenic main stage (Etage à Propergol the circular orbit is at 260 km. C r yog é n i q u e, EPC) separat e s, leav i n g The Launch Date This first ATV is more than double ATV with its the upper stage. This ATV From April to mid-summer, an extensive the heaviest single payload ever lifted by will reach its initial circular orbit using review is being conducted with NASA Ariane-5. To handle such a heavyweight, t wo burns separated by a 45 m i nu t e and the Russians to be sure that Jules the Vehicle Equipment Bay, supporting coast. The first EPS burn lasts about Verne, the facilities and the trilateral the ATV atop the launcher, has been 9 m i nu t e s, ove r t h e At la n t ic Oc e an , p ro c e d u res are re a dy to support the significantly strengthened. followed by a ballistic coast half way inaugural mission. Whatever happens, the mission will not depart earlier than the second half of 2007. Once Jules Verne is ready to go, the launch window depends on several factors such as the angle of the Sun at the time of docking, spacecraft traffic and availability of the ISS aft docking port, Station requirements for cargo and reboost and, finally, Ariane-5 constra i n t s f rom its own busy commerc i a l manifest. Finally, all the international partners must agree upon the best date among the possible windows to resupply the Station with up to 6 t of cargo. e

The ISS Expedition-16 crew, Yuri Malenchenko (right) and Peggy Whitson (left) began ATV training at the end of February 2007 at the European Astronaut Centre

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Astrolab / Celsius

Dieter Isakeit Head, Erasmus Centre, Directorate of Human Spaceflight, Microgravity & Exploration, ESTEC, Noordwijk, The Netherlands

he landing of Space Shuttle Discovery in December 2006 marked the end of two Tsuccessful ESA missions: Thomas Reiter’s 171-day ‘Astrolab’ and Christer Fuglesang’s 13-day ‘Celsius’. These were the first in a new series of ESA missions to the International Space Station (ISS), as Europe fulfils its duty as a fully-fledged partner, contributing to assembly and maintenance of the space outpost.

Introduction Thomas Reiter and Christer Fuglesang This issue of the ESA Bulletin undertook a wide range of work in orbit includesincludes aa specialspecial setset ofof extras.extras. as Russian Expedition and NASA Accompanying this article is a DVD of Shuttle crewmembers, respectively. The highlights from the Astrolab mission, ESA programme of scientific, technical includingincluding aa stereoscopicstereoscopic filmfilm andand images.images. and educational experiments was highly These can be viewed on a standard television successful. Astrolab and Celsius were or computer through the provided glasses. At good opportunities to promote ESA’s thethe endend ofof thisthis articlearticle isis aa selectionselection ofof 3-D3-D human spaceflight programme to the imagesimages fromfrom AstrolabAstrolab andand Celsius.Celsius. Finally, Finally, a a 3-D3-D general public, media and political and poster shows the appearance of the industrial decision-makers. InternationalInternational SpaceSpace StationStation whenwhen itit isis Furthermore, Astrolab involved the completed in 2010. ESA mission management, integration and operations teams for the ISS, TheThe stereoscopicstereoscopic imagesimages werewere producedproduced byby Astrolab’sAstrolab’s providing them with valuable hands-on ‘Erasmus‘Erasmus RecordingRecording Binocular’Binocular’ experimentexperiment andand areare protectedprotected byby thethe ESAESA HumanHuman SpaceflightSpaceflight datadata experience before the missions of ESA’s policypolicy rules.rules. own spacecraft and Station elements,

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Human Spaceflight

particularly the Columbus module and the main tasks for the combined crews Crew Exchange the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) was transferring items between the Atlantis departed on 17 September and this year. Station, Shuttle and the Leonardo multi- made way for Soyuz-TMA 9 three days purpose logistics module (MPLM, in later with Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Flight Engineer and Mission Specialist the Shuttle cargo bay). The MPLM acts Tyurin and NASA astronaut Michael Although the experiments by Reiter and as a cargo container for the ISS, ferrying Lopez-Alegria, accompanied by Iranian- Fuglesang were important, the emphasis experiments and crew supplies from and born US citizen Anousheh Ansari as the of both missions was on their roles as ISS to Earth. first female ‘spaceflight participant’. Flight Engineer and Shuttle Mission Once unloaded, Leonardo was repacked Together with Thomas Reiter, Lopez- Specialist, respectively. with 2 t of experiment results, unused Alegria and Tyurin formed the new On 6 July 2006, Discovery docked with Station items and waste material for Expedition-14 crew, with Lopez-Alegria the ISS and Reiter and his six colleagues return to Earth. Reiter was closely as Commander and Tyurin as Flight were welcomed by the Station’s crew of involved in this work. This experience is Engineer. Expedition-13’s Vinogradov Commander Pavel Vinogradov (Russia) very useful to ESA in preparing for and Williams left on 28 September, with and Flight Engineer Jeffrey Williams similar operations when its own resupply Ansari, in Soyuz-TMA 8 and landed (NASA). The pair had been aboard as craft, ATV Jules Verne, visits the Station safely in Kazakhstan. Expedition-13 since their arrival in the later in 2007. Russian Soyuz-TMA 8 spacecraft in While Reiter remained aboard the More Cargo Arriving March 2006. Reiter became the third Station, his Shuttle colleagues left on On 10 October, the resident trio boarded member of Expedition-13, marking the 15 July and landed safely in Florida on their Soyuz to transfer it from the Zvezda return to a permanent crew of three after 17 July. rear docking port to the forward Zarya the reduction in May 2003 as a result of position. The flight itself took less than the Columbia accident. Shuttle Mission STS-115 half an hour, but it required them to go After the docking of Discovery, one of The next Shuttle, Atlantis, arrived at the through the same lengthy procedure as if Station on 11 September 2006. Three they were leaving for good. Before Wearing a Russian Sokol pressure suit, Reiter checks the seat fit spacewalks installed the ‘P3/P4’ entering the Soyuz in their Russian Sokol in the Soyuz-TMA8 spacecraft assembly, a new 14 m-long segment of pressure suits, they had to switch the ISS Truss with a set of solar wings Station systems to standby in case some spanning more than 70 m. problem forced them to return to Earth. The new solar array doubled the The Soyuz repositioning freed up the available energy on the Station to docking port used for the unmanned 60 kW, preparing for the Columbus and Progress-M 58 ferry on 26 October, which Japanese Kibo laboratory modules. brought more than 2 t of fresh supplies, However, the new assembly could not including fuel, water, oxygen, food, spare produce power immediately, since the parts, life-support system components electrical connections on the Truss and experiment hardware. needed to be rerouted; this was a task The new arrival was the twenty-third for upcoming Shuttle mission STS-116. Progress to visit the ISS – a new one visits every 4–5 months. Its predecessor Fuglesang moves his EVA suit into Destiny as he prepares for his first spacewalk remained docked to the Pirs port until 17 January 2007 to provide additional storage space.

Operations and Maintenance Station operations and maintenance took up a considerable proportion of Reiter’s time. In his role as Flight Engineer in the Expedition-13 and -14 crews, he carried out numerous tasks to operate and maintain system equipment in the US and Russian elements of the ISS. This included inspection, reconfiguration and repair, if necessary. He had been in training for this work since 2001.

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Astrolab / Celsius

European Mission Control Astrolab was the first time that a European control centre was used for a long-duration ISS mission. ESA set up a dedicated European Payload Operations Centre (EPOC) to coordinate space and ground experiment and payload operations, and to monitor the activities of Thomas Reiter on the ISS. EPOC was based at the Columbus Control Centre in Oberpfaffenhofen near Munich (D). It was the hub of European activity and the ESA control centre for the duration of Astrolab and Celsius. It reacted to any changes during the missions, coordinating decisions and estab- lishing priorities when these changes interfered with the experiment programmes. Any issues arising were coordinated closely with the mission control centres of NASA in Houston and Roscosmos in Moscow, and with NASA’s Operations Support Centre in Huntsville, which is responsible for the experiment activities in the Station’s US segment. ESA’s Crew Medical Support Office at the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne (D) was staffed by medical doctors and biomedical engineers to provide Reiter and Fuglesang with medical advice and monitoring aboard the ISS. A team of specialists worked on the mission The ISS and STS-116 crews enjoy a meal together consoles 13 hours every day to support Reiter in orbit, starting and ending their work around His responsibilities included the including Fuglesang and Reiter, bade the daily morning and evening planning Russian docking mechanisms, guidance their farewells. Discovery touched down conference between US, European and and control systems, environmental in Florida on 22 December. Russian mission controllers and ISS astronauts. ESA Operations Manager (ESA control and life-support systems, safety astronaut Reinhold Ewald) and four ESA equipment, power control and communi- The Legacies of Astrolab and Celsius Operations Directors organised the daily cations systems, crew health equipment The two missions served to promote operations for the ESA experiment programme and logistics management, including the human spaceflight in Europe. This was and ensured that Reiter received the food supplies and waste. achieved through the distribution of necessary support from the ground team. When Fuglesang arrived aboard comprehensive information material, Six ‘Eurocom’ European astronauts led by STS-116 on 11 December 2006, it was the promotional campaigns, events and Claude Nicollier were in charge of all communications with Reiter. They worked first time that two ESA astronauts had exhibitions throughout Europe, and mainly from EPOC but could also worked aboard the Station together. special events when participants could communicate with the Station from EAC. Most of Fuglesang’s time was taken up talk to Reiter and Fuglesang in space. EPOC was responsible for coordinating the with Station assembly tasks, but his role With an average of one call per week, work of the various User Support and as a NASA Mission Specialist included Reiter was able to hold 22 video and Operations Centres (USOCs). These are securing the Shuttle’s docking with the three audio conference calls with young national centres throughout Europe respons- ISS, assisting in the retraction of one of people, the media, celebrities, scientists, ible for specific ESA experiment facilities and experiments on the ISS. In these centres, the 34 m solar wings, transferring engineers, politicians and decision- scientific investigators can monitor, or be linked supplies and equipment between the makers, and many other European to, their experiments. Experiment data are vehicles, and releasing three micro- citizens who took an interest in his distributed to these centres and information satellites from the Shuttle’s cargo bay mission. He was particularly pleased received from them, such as requests to after undocking. with the widespread enthusiasm shown reconfigure experiments and facilities. For In addition to the supplies delivered by university students and school Astrolab, six USOCs were active in receiving science results from the Station: DAMEC in inside the pressurised Spacehab module, children in these events, as this is likely to Odense (DK), CADMOS in Toulouse (F), STS-116 also carried new space debris- motivate their future studies. Human MUSC in Cologne (D), MARS in Naples (I), protection panels for the Zvezda module. curiosity is a prime motivation for space N-USOC in Trondheim (N) and BIOTESC in On 19 December, the STS-116 crew, exploration. Zurich (CH).

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Human Spaceflight

Mission Objectives and Science three-fold importance. They are helping to Astrolab had five major ESA objectives: understand the effects of spaceflight on the increase European experience in human human body and psyche, which is of spaceflight; conduct an experiment programme; fundamental scientific interest. They are gain experience for operating Columbus; important for maintaining the health of promote human spaceflight activities in Europe; astronauts aboard the ISS and on future expand international cooperation. Celsius missions to the Moon or Mars. Finally, the added the promotion of human spaceflight with results are finding their way into clinical practice, a focus on Scandinavia. such as in new ways for diagnosing, preventing or treating diseases of age or disability. Reiter Experiment programmes conducted eight experiments: Weightlessness is a unique environment for scientific research, giving an unusual oppor- ‘Card’ and ‘Cardiocog-2’ investigated how tunity to answer questions that would be weightlessness affects cardiovascular and impossible to tackle on Earth. Many more Fuglesang with the Altcriss cosmic-ray detector in the Pirs module respiratory systems, as well as the cognitive, processes in physics, chemistry, biology and physiological and stress reactions of an physiology are affected by gravity than was biology, physics and radiation dosimetry. Most astronaut in orbit; expected in the early days of spaceflight. were performed by Reiter, with some by ‘Chromosome-2’ looked into chromosome Research in weightlessness leads to high-level Russian and US crewmembers. changes and sensitivity to radiation in the discoveries or changes of commonly accepted Apart from the direct benefits of the resulting white blood cells of astronauts; scientific understandings. Even Nobel Prize- data, Astrolab’s experiments provided Europe ‘Cult’ is a continuing long-term study of cultural winning research, such as that of eye movement with operational experience in planning and aspects and leadership styles of ISS reflexes, have been found to be partly erroneous carrying out a long mission. This is helping the crewmembers; thanks to experiments made during spaceflights. work on the utilisation programme for Columbus. ‘Eye-Tracking Device’ uses cameras and Astrolab’s set of scientific experiments were Astrolab marked the first time that a European sensors to record eye and head movement to peer-reviewed and recommended by ESA’s scientific programme has been composed for a understand how our balance system works; Advisory Committee for Life and Physical long-duration ISS mission. Reiter’s arrival also ‘Immuno’ and ‘Leukin’ aim to understand the Sciences. Other experiments covered tech- marked the return to a permanent crew of three, immune system during long missions; nology, education and commercial activities. which increased the time available for research. ‘Nitric Oxide Analyser’ is a European device to The research programme came mainly from measure nitric oxide levels in astronauts’ lungs. scientific institutions across Europe, and Human physiology Elevated levels are believed to be an early included experiments in human physiology, Reiter’s human physiology experiments have and accurate sign of airway inflammation.

Reiter works with the Cardiocog-2 experiment in Zvezda

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Astrolab / Celsius

In addition, Reiter also participated in a series and radiation dosimetry, and perform some of NASA experiments on measures to prevent educational activities. Like Reiter, he partici- the formation of kidney stones. pated in Chromosome-2; he also carried the new ESA EuCPD dosimeters. Space biology Fuglesang also took part in Altea. He was Space biology studies the effects of the space filmed during the experiment session for later environment on organisms and cells. Reiter’s use in ESA’s series of educational DVDs. Altea experiments are important for future exploration continues similar studies on Mir, which Fugle- missions. They looked into the behaviour of sang initiated as a particle physics scientist bacteria and yeast and into possible biological while training for the Euromir-95 mission. He hazards in a closed spacecraft: also participated in NASA medical experiments.

‘Ying’ studied the influence of gravity on the New European scientific gear formation of organised cell structures using The Shuttle that delivered Reiter to the Station yeast cells; in July 2006 also carried three European ‘BASE’ studied how bacteria adapt to weightless- experiment facilities: the Minus Eighty-Degree ness, cosmic radiation, electromagnetism and Laboratory Freezer (MELFI); the European ISS vibrations. Modular Cultivation System (EMCS); and the Pulmonary Function System (PFS) upgrade. Radiation dosimetry and monitoring the Jeffrey Williams and Reiter installed and electromagnetic environment successfully tested them in NASA’s Destiny Studies of cosmic rays are important for det- laboratory. ermining the effect inside and outside the ISS, Various human physiology and biology as well as for quantifying the potential impact on experiments, such as ESA’s ‘Immuno’, made the human body on long missions to the Moon immediate use of MELFI to store samples. or Mars. Reiter looked after four experiments: Reiter conducted the first sessions with EMCS. Fuglesang takes pictures through the Shuttle’s overhead windows This facility allows plant-growth experiments to ‘Altcriss’ is a continuing experiment to study the on the third day of his flight be carried out at various gravity levels. effectiveness of various shielding materials Experiments with insects, amphibian and against space radiation; invertebrates as well as studies with cell and ‘EuCPD’ is testing ESA passive dosimeters. All Education tissue cultures are planned. The first ISS astronauts carry dosimeters at all times, Reiter also performed some experiments, experiment in EMCS was NASA’s ‘TROPI’, but only US and Russian versions have been demonstrations and live events for educa- which will provide insight into how plants can used so far. With the increased presence of tional purposes. Two were selected from a be grown in space to develop sustainable life- European astronauts in future, ESA has begun contest among European university students: support systems for long-term space travel. a project to use its own devices; Reiter also upgraded the PFS for respiratory ‘Altea’ is a continuing experiment to look at the ‘Casper’ evaluated a new method of analyses and used it for the first time in the effects of cosmic rays on the brain; monitoring sleep disturbance and sleep periodic fitness evaluations that determine the ‘Lazio’ measured the electromagnetic environ- stability in weightlessness; cardio-vascular health of ISS crews. The ment of the ISS resulting from man-made ‘UTBI’ measured the background radiation astronauts measure their oxygen uptake emissions on Earth and from natural inside the ISS with a new type of radiation during exercise on a cycle ergometer. It was phenomena such as thunderstorms, earth- sensor. installed in July 2006 and used once a month quakes and volcanic eruptions. by Reiter for his health checks. The PFS, Three other educational activities were installed in NASA’s Human Research Facility, Physics designed for teachers and pupils in European arrived at the Station in July 2005 for research. ‘PK3plus’ is a fundamental-physics experi- schools: Upgraded, it is now also used for medical ment for studying complex plasmas, a state of purposes. matter that is not fully understood. ‘Oil Emulsion’ demonstrated to 11–14-year Reiter was also the first to use the European olds how an oil/water emulsion behaves in Portable Glovebox, with the ESA ‘Leukin’ Technology demonstrations weightlessness; experiment. The glovebox is a small Three Astrolab experiments focused on making ‘ARISS’ allowed children in Greece, Switzer- hermetically-sealed facility for safely handling use of the physical and operational environ- land and Germany to ask Reiter questions biological and physical experiments. ment on the ISS to test new technologies: via amateur radio equipment about his life Reiter serviced the larger Microgravity and work on the ISS; Science Glovebox (MSG), a research facility in ‘Erasmus Recording Binocular’ is a new 3-D the filming of robotic equipment and demon- Destiny, replacing its large main window and video camera to improve the existing virtual- strations on the ISS for the fourth edition of seals. All facilities on the ISS need regular reality simulation models of the ISS and to an educational DVD series that will be maintenance so they can continue to be safely share the experience of life and work in produced in all ESA Member State used in orbit. In 2002, MSG was the first space with the general public; languages for use in European schools. European rack-size facility to be delivered to ‘Special Event Meal’ is part of a plan to develop the ISS and has been successfully used for ten a European capability to produce, analyse Celsius experiments and educational different experiments. It provides a fully sealed and certify food for astronauts; activities and controlled environment, isolated from the ‘Skincare’ is aimed at characterising the different Most of Fuglesang’s time at the ISS was taken rest of the ISS, allowing the astronauts to parameters of human skin in weightlessness up with assembly tasks, but he was still able to perform a wide variety of materials, com- with non-invasive medical equipment. perform three experiments in human physiology bustion, fluids and biotechnology experiments.

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Human Spaceflight

The Origins of Astrolab and Celsius The Astrolab and Celsius missions had for 6 months and then must be their roots in agreements between exchanged. ESA, NASA and the Russian space After six very successful flights on agency Roscosmos. Soyuz crew exchange missions, this In the ISS global cooperation type of ESA-astronaut mission was to scheme, ESA represents Europe, which come to an end in 2004, when Columbus is one of the five International was due for launch. However, the tragic Partners that are united by the loss of Columbia dictated a serious Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA), delay. signed in Washington, D.C., on As an alternative to missing utilisa- Reiter and Williams prepare for their spacewalk in August 2006 29 January 1998. tion opportunities on Columbus, ESA The IGA, together with others worked out an ‘Interim Utilisation The Spacewalks between the partners’ space agencies, Activity Plan’ to bridge the gap until A high point of Reiter’s mission was his confers rights and obligations on the Columbus. This included an additional extravehicular activity (EVA) on participants, including the right to flight of an ESA astronaut on a Soyuz 3 August 2006 with Jeffrey Williams. He send astronauts to the ISS. However, crew exchange. Based on the good was the first ESA astronaut to perform a there is a prerequisite: contribution of experience with the Soyuz short spacewalk from the Station. Reiter was a Station element. Europe’s element is missions, ESA and Roscosmos looked already experienced in EVAs, having the Columbus laboratory module, at an ESA astronaut performing a long performed two during his Euromir which is scheduled for permanent mission by replacing a regular Russian mission aboard Mir in 1995–1996. attachment late in 2007. Station crewmember. Together with Williams, Reiter set up Until then, Europe depends on other The discussions concluded in 2005 hardware that included the Floating agreements with NASA and Ros- with the signature of the ‘ISS Flight Potential Measurement Unit (to moni- cosmos for an ESA astronaut to Order Contract concerning the tor electrical charging to ensure safety occupy a Station place that would Cooperation on the Implementation of during dockings and EVAs) and the normally would be taken by a US or an ISS Flight Opportunity for an MISSE-3 and -4 materials experiments. Russian crewmember. One way for Expedition Flight involving an ESA The astronauts then prepared ISS ESA to send astronauts to the ISS was Astronaut’. This became the Astrolab Truss components for future assembly opened by a 1997 Memorandum of mission with Thomas Reiter. work by installing a computer for the Understanding between ESA and The contract stipulated that Reiter external thermal control system, and NASA on ‘Early Utilisation Oppor- would perform all the ISS system tasks deploying a new EVA infrared camera to tunities of the ISS’. It provided two of the Russian cosmonaut, plus evaluate its possible use for inspecting flight opportunities for ESA astron- 156 hours of ESA experiments. The the heatshields of visiting Shuttles. The auts before the addition of Columbus, other Russian cosmonaut would EVA lasted nearly 6 hours. in exchange for the delivery to NASA contribute about 20 hours to ESA’s of scientific facilities and other experiments. Fuglesang’s EVAs equipment for the ISS. Christer The mission was initially planned for Fuglesang’s most important role during Fuglesang’s flight on Shuttle STS-116 2005, during Expeditions 11 and 12. his mission was to perform three highly was the first under this agreement. However, further Shuttle delays meant demanding EVAs. The first two, during Another route to the Station for that Reiter flew with Expeditions 13 the nights of 12/13 and 14/15 December European astronauts before Columbus and 14 in 2006. 2006, were part of the original mission is the ESA/Roscosmos Agreement on While previous flights of ESA plan for Fuglesang and NASA astro- participation in Soyuz crew-exchange astronauts under the ESA/Roscosmos naut Robert Curbeam to carry out missions. ESA pays for the training cooperation agreement used Russian several important Station assembly and flight opportunity. Initially, the Soyuz-TMA vehicles launched from tasks. The third EVA, during the night agreement involved only shorter Baikonur, Reiter flew on the Shuttle. of 18/19 December, was added only flights (typically 10 days) that deliver This was the result of a separate during the mission. fresh Soyuz craft to the Station, and NASA/Roscosmos agreement that During the first EVA, the pair returned the old vehicles. These not shares some Shuttle-Soyuz seats. connected the P4 and P5 Truss elements only return the crew to Earth at the A separate agreement was made on the Station’s left side. Joan Higgin- end of the mission, but also serve as between ESA and NASA for Reiter’s botham and Sunita Williams, inside the lifeboats to evacuate the ISS in case of use of NASA-owned research facilities Station, used the Canadian robotic arm emergency. They are guaranteed in the US Destiny laboratory. to steer P5 into place alongside P4.

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Astrolab / Celsius

Fuglesang on his second spacewalk. The end of the Station’s Canadarm2 is at left

At this time, the astronauts set a chance of a third EVA after one of the colleagues choreographed a complex record: they were working furthest from original solar wings refused to retract EVA at short notice and built a new tool. the airlock than any crew since Station and fold up when commanded by the In 6.5 hours, they succeeded in freeing construction began. Fuglesang and crew inside. Fuglesang and Curbeam the jammed array to allow full retrac- Curbeam had to tighten the bolts had to venture outside again and help tion. The wing had been operating for securely by hand using a battery-driven the solar array manually. This was 6 years but has to be moved to complete wrench. The other major task during the challenging work because they had not Station assembly and also would have first EVA was replacing a broken trained for the job. But helped by experts interfered with the rotation of the new camera on the S1 Truss element. on the ground, Fuglesang and his wings installed in September 2006. e On their second EVA, they changed many of the electrical connectors at several sites. They had to reconnect two of the Station’s four power channels, EVA/docking module, looking towards Soyuz-TMA 8, the robotic arm and during which almost half of the power Use the stereo glasses provided in this the Station Truss. had to be switched off. Finally, issue to view the DVD, poster and the eight stereo images from the Astrolab and Fuglesang and Curbeam were carried 5. The Russian Zvezda habitation Celsius missions on the following pages: module, with the work and dining on the Canadian robotic arm to move table. two tool carts to new positions for the 1. Reiter with ESA’s stereo videocamera 6. The Russian Zarya module is used next EVA. in the US Destiny laboratory module. for storing spare parts, food and The third EVA, by Curbeam and Will- 2. The Expedition-13 crew (from left): clothes. iams, reconfigured the other two power Reiter, Vinogradov and Williams. 7. Fuglesang prepares to enter the channels and transferred three packs of 3. Reiter filming through the Destiny airlock for an EVA. debris panels from the Shuttle cargo bay window with the stereo camera. 8. Fuglesang in the Shuttle simulator in to a storage location on the ISS. 4. The view from the Russian Pirs Houston. Fuglesang then unexpectedly had the

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ESA and Television

Claus Habfast Television Executive Producer, Media Relations Office, Communication Department, Directorate of External Relations and Security Office, ESTEC, Noordwijk, The Netherlands

etting ESA into the TV news of its Member States is an important element Gof the Agency’s communication strategy. TV news engages the public in space activities, leading to political support and, ultimately, funding for future programmes. ‘ESA TV’ is a trusted source of space images and stories for Europe’s broadcasters. Space is too good a story not to be part of the news.

ESA and Television News On 3 September 2006 controllers of ESA’s SMART-1 probe confirmed its successful impact with the Moon, at the chosen site near the Lake of Excellence. Some 14 hours later, French broadcaster France 2 opened its flagship evening news show with the story. TF1 and France 3 also covered SMART-1 in their lunchtime and evening news. This is how up to 20 million viewers in France alone saw the tension of mission controllers give way to applause as the impact was confirmed. The audience figures in other ESA Member States were comparable. Admittedly, ten news items of about 90 seconds each on that day in a major

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External Relations

be the most important medium for reaching out to ‘everybody’. The organisers of tennis tournaments, electoral debates and lottery shows, for example, must ensure they appear on television – above all, on television news. A few figures illustrate the impact of television. In 2006, the average German spent 30 hours per month on the internet, and three times more in front of the television (for youngsters, the ratio is more like the reverse). However, whereas eight channels accounted for 70% of the television audience in Germany, surfing the internet was distributed among thousands of sites: travel bookings, e-Bay, MSN, personal blogs, movie theatre schedules, and so on, with each site offering possibly thousands of pages. The internet is not (yet) the medium Member State cannot be compared with Television and Other Media to carry the news. Although ever more the coverage on 21 July 1969 when Newspapers and radio delivered news to people take news from the internet, they humans set foot on the Moon for the people long before television, and the total less than 10% of the viewers of TV first time. Mankind followed Neil internet entered our homes at the end of news and, more importantly, the type of Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin round-the- the 20th century with a force similar to news they get is of a different nature. clock as the networks provided televised that of television in the 1960s. Today, This is why established news media coverage with an intensity no longer the number of Europeans listening to invest heavily in internet news portals to seen in today’s broadcasting. What they radio is about the same as those provide viewers or readers with inform- have in common, however, is that tele- watching television, reading a daily ation updated in real-time and with vision was in 1969 – and still is in 2006 newspaper or browsing the internet. additional content with special appeal – the only medium able to tell a Television and radio, however, are to online audiences. significant fraction of the population in broadcast media, whereas print and the The sites of the main players in the real time that something important is internet are not. Why is this difference online world indeed feature quite happening. important? A newspaper buyer reads different news than the front pages of Compared to 20 or 30 years ago, ESA only a small proportion of the articles; established media. A click on the ‘most has made headway. Throughout the the same holds for visitors to internet popular’ tab in the left column of Apollo era and the first Shuttle sites. In contrast, viewers of television Google News reveals that internet users missions, European space activities news tend to watch every item the make radically different choices than were virtually absent from television. broadcaster has chosen to air. mainstream media. Since the 1990s, ESA launches have Television, therefore, is much more The internet sites of established found their way into the news and, since selective than print and the internet. media have their finest days when big 2003, have regularly reached cumulative This is why, despite identical distribu- news is breaking during work hours. On audience figures of more than 200 tion figures, television reaches many million across the Member States (see more people. Broadcasters are the first ‘Television Monitoring’, p 47). to be aware of this and zealously study This article outlines why getting into the news audience figures. The style and the television news has a prominent content of these programmes are under place in ESA’s communication strategy, continuous scrutiny in the effort to what has been done in this area for attract the best ratings, making it some 10 years, typical problems difficult for every story to get into the encountered when striving to maximise news. Only stories fulfilling specific television coverage, and an outlook on criteria will succeed. the job ahead. Indeed, broadcasting is considered to

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ESA and Television

the day of the London bombings on 7 July 2005, the number of visitors to the BBC News Website equalled the figure for a typical month. But these people were interested in just one story. Every editor of a news portal will confirm that anything beneath the front page gets little or close to zero page views. 24-hour news and night television face a similar dilemma. The millions-of- viewers figures of the main 8 o’clock evening news melt away to tens of thousands, thousands and even hundreds of viewers. For ESA’s communication strategy, television therefore has its place whenever ESA generates headline news with satellite launches and astronaut missions, plus certain science results and technological breakthroughs. However, television must not be seen in isolation. ESA’s broadcast media relations are embedded in the wider route into the political decision-making and planetary missions are so well- context of media activities addressing process in its Member States, and it suited to television. all media – print, online and broadcast – would ultimately lose opportunities for This does not mean that other space in a coherent way, delivering to each funding its future programmes. In a activities are condemned to be totally medium the content best suiting its nutshell, TV news engages the public in absent. If a story is developed in a way viewers, readers or users. Well-managed space activities, which in turn leads to to meet the requirements of television, different media mutually amplify political support. many areas of spaceflight have the coverage of a story from day to day, However, the ‘beauty contest’ for potential to make the news. eventually culminating in major news appearing in the news should not be However, a single TV appearance is of coverage across all media, as with confused with policy-making. The little use. Despite the selective character SMART-1’s lunar finale. 30-second soundbite delivered by a of television, making a real impact politician at a party conference or in requires a long-term commitment to Why Space on Television? parliament has little in common with the serving television with news stories. At There are many areas in society that are balanced and elaborated point of view ESA, this commitment dates back to the poorly covered by television news, or the same politician will develop in 1990s, when the ESA TV Service was set even not at all. Why should ‘space’ be policy-making circles. It is the capability up. favoured with coverage? to engage the public in a 30-second If political decision-making were an statement or news item on a complex ESA TV Service – Not a European NASA TV isolated process entirely inside parlia- issue that makes the difference in In the late 1980s, NASA provided mentary debate and government shaping positive public opinion. several hours per week of NASA TV to activity, there would indeed be little Nobody can expect a Long-Term Plan Europe via satellite and in some need for ESA to care about TV coverage or all the results from a scientific countries fed it into cable networks. of its activities. However, political symposium to feature prominently on Though ‘NASA Select’ disappeared decision-makers use the media as one television. ESA’s capability to simplify from Europe many years ago, proposals platform (others are lobbying and complex stories with the potential to for a ‘European space channel’ still research) to judge a healthy balance make them appear on television is a abound to provide the aficionado with among the various policies and political decisive factor for successful broadcast round-the-clock coverage of space. choices favoured by the different media relations. Television focuses on Actually, there is such an ESA space components of modern society. human stories, daunting challenges channel, but it is online – the ESA web If space were absent from television, it ahead, the next open question, fighting Portal puts together news, topical would deprive the space sector of a a competitor … this is why astronauts stories, background information,

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External Relations

alone in having a different view on this. All company executives and politicians want to get on television at the very moment they have success stories to tell; and they also want the cameras turned off in the event of problems. Unfortunately, TV viewers consider nothing more boring than ‘corporate success’ stories. An athlete winning a race or breaking a record will make it onto the news. The athlete’s story is not only one of success but also of the drama of possible failure, of frustration in the fight against fatigue or a strong competitor. It is this aspect of the success that TV viewers want to know more about. multimedia content and interactivity every year, it releases about 60 ‘TV Without drama, ideally focusing on a under a single roof. Thanks to live Exchanges’ every year. A TV Exchange human effort, a space story will not streaming, NASA TV is also back in is a story documented by a package of make it very far. This is why ESA Europe today for those wishing to watch video images lasting typically 15 minutes. astronaut missions always attract such the daily International Space Station Journalists can re-edit the story, insert high media attention. Mission Commentary and Shuttle their own images or sound bites and use If there is no drama, a story must at launches. the piece on the day of its release or keep least have a strong forward-looking Without the internet, reaching out to it for later. element. Today’s news are followed by every citizen would be impossible for Every TV Exchange is fed two or three tomorrow’s and so on. Stories without ESA. So what is ESA TV about, if not times during one week into ‘Europe by the potential to be another news story televising ESA stories to people? Satellite’, the satellite news service of the tomorrow are less attractive to the To understand the role ESA TV plays European Commission, and then entered media than if they have at least an angle in Europe’s television world, it has to be into the ESA video archive from where pointing towards the future. Many put into the context of TV news journalists can request videotape copies satellite launches attract media attention generation, production and exchange. or a feed via ftp transfer. A list of more because the drama of a possible launch At least 50% of TV news programming than 2000 contacts is informed via email failure can be combined with the on a given day is made up of the same 24 hours ahead of the release of a new promise of exciting scientific discovery pictures on all national channels – Exchange. All scheduled feeds are listed, or benefits. international conflicts, government along with a content description of the However, these requirements do not meetings, disasters – with a voiceover archived tapes, on http://television. esa.int mean a story should be invented – its from a journalist and perhaps com- Every new story also enters ESA’s web characters must always be real and the pleted by an interview with an expert or Portal multimedia gallery, where it often facts correct and complete. The trust- by a piece to camera. illustrates web stories. worthiness of a news source is rapidly The moving pictures to illustrate the It takes a long time to build confi- eroded if its output turns out to be news are exchanged among broadcasters dence with broadcast media and the biased or loaded with spin. and global news organisations like the reputation as a reliable and trusted Also, although news is inherently European Broadcasting Union (EBU) news-provider. international in nature, its delivery is and Reuters. It is on this level that ESA largely a national business. The ratings TV comes into play: it is a trusted Pitfalls on the Way into the News of the CNN International, BBC World channel through which newsworthy In addition to strict technical con- and EuroNews pan-European cable space images and stories are injected straints on format, packaging and news channels are at best a few percent into the global news exchange mech- delivery methods, the true difficulty in of their national terrestrial counter- anism. There are two physically distinct placing space stories in TV news lies in parts. Also, internet news delivery is means of transport for this process: the fact that the television media have a focusing increasingly on national, satellite feeds and video tapes. specific view of what makes a story regional or even local stories. Most Just as ESA publishes hundreds of worthy of using, and when and how this international stories without a national web stories and dozens of press releases happens. The space community is not angle will therefore miss the news.

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ESA and Television

Television Monitoring broadcast, etc. More than 7000 hits have Also, the events interested broadcasters been registered in the last 7 years, roughly equally across all Member States. Two different figures can be used to measure corresponding to a total audience of several television coverage: the total number of billion viewers (in the larger Member States, Is this increase reflected by less viewers (‘ratings’), and the number of times a a news show on a main network is always comparable events during that period? story is mentioned in different news shows. good for a million viewers, and more often for These were the launches of Integral, 2 or even 3 million). Envisat and MSG-1 in 2002–2003, and of Ratings are suitable if only a handful of news CryoSat, SSETI Express and GIOVE-A in shows picks up a story. When many These data are used to analyse whether 2005, European observations of NASA’s programmes cover it, the number of times ESA has increased its TV coverage in recent Deep Impact comet strike in 2005, and this has happened is even more useful, years. Between June 2003 and April 2006, SMART-1’s lunar end in 2006 (which was because the ratings of a news programme ESA had the privilege of eight main events excluded from the list of planetary missions on a given day also depend on other factors: linked to planetary missions: the launches of as atypical since only ESOC hosted an the number of important stories that day, Mars Express, SMART-1, Rosetta, Venus event and media relations began only the whether other TV networks show a block- Express, and the arrival at their destinations week before). buster movie at the same time, and even the of Mars Express, Venus Express and weather. How many times a given story has Huygens. They had much in common, The analysis shows they were not of equal found its way onto television is a better notably in terms of television: all were interest to TV media in all Member States: measure than total audience figures (to equally good stories in all Member States, all Italy and France took most notice, and obtain these, it is always possible to multiply occurred either on a fixed date or within a Belgium least. And there was clearly an the number of times the story was in the relatively short launch window, and all increase in interest from the 2002–2003 news by the average rating figures). This is benefited from a similar approach to period to 2005–2006. why all the figures given here refer to the broadcast media relations, including media numbers of TV news programmes covering events at many different sites across Europe. The launches in 2002–2003 were of major an event. So the monitoring data provide a good ESA projects, whereas the European sample to identify any common trend over observations of Deep Impact and the Since 1999, ESA has measured these time. For this analysis, only mainstream launch of SSETI Express in 2005 had lower figures for its main events – satellite (terrestrial) broadcasters were taken into significance for the Agency. Nonetheless, launches, manned missions and orbit account, not 24-hour news because of their they attracted comparable TV coverage. insertions plus some press conferences. For lower ratings. all of these, news coverage by the 38 major Overall, ESA succeeded in the last 5 years TV networks in seven ESA Member States The analysis shows that the coverage in increasing the TV coverage for its main (D, F, I, UK, E, NL, B) is screened over increased by 55% between the first four events, and in catching opportunities that 1–2 weeks, plus the pan-European CNN, events (Mars Express, SMART-1 and were unused in the past for additional BBC World and EuroNews. Rosetta launches, Mars Express arrival) and coverage. the second four (Cassini-Huygens Saturn Whenever the targeted event features in a orbit insertion, Huygens landing, Venus Continued TV monitoring is helping to TV news show, a ‘hit’ is added into a Express launch & arrival). It can therefore be formulate a strategy to maintain this database, along with some ‘event data’ on said that, in 3 years, ESA’s TV coverage for achievement and to identify areas where the TV channel, the date and time of the comparable events increased by some 50%. coverage can be expanded.

The distribution of ‘hits’ (mentions in news programmes) among six Member States for eight The normalised hit totals for a more disparate range of events. Although less evident than in events. The figures have been ‘normalised’ to allow for the fact that some countries have more the first graph, there was an increase in interest between 2002–2003 and 2005–2006 news programmes than others. A general increase with time is evident; the sum for the first four events is 235, compared to 365 for the second four – an increase of 55%. A: arrival; C-H SOI: Cassini-Huygens Saturn Orbit Insertion; L: launch; MEX: Mars Express; VEX: Venus Express

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External Relations

discovery of a hidden treasure, a crazy world record, a scientific discovery nobody else is aware of – anything with a wow factor.

The Way Ahead Soft news does not necessarily mean low quality. It is like tabloids and broadsheet newspapers: they address different needs. Just as today’s broadsheets are increasingly taking up tabloid content, TV news is becoming more ‘popular’. One way ahead for space stories in TV Above all, newsrooms and journalists featured in the mail so that the news is through soft news. Space must know when a new story is coming, journalists have 24 hours to prepare exploration is fascinating and there are whether it carries a national angle or their story, ahead of the official release. so many facets interesting to people that not. ESA has a two-pronged approach This is mainly because turning a story it is worth the effort to look into these for this information provision. into TV news is more time-consuming stories. Very often, they will be interest- For large events like launches and than writing a newspaper article and ing to regional broadcasters. For example, manned missions, an ‘advisory docu- above all requires video images on the when a student participates in a para- ment’ is sent out a few weeks ahead to edit machines of the broadcaster. bolic flight or a scientist has published a the TV newrooms of all ESA Member Without planning and sharing this major paper in Nature or Science. States. It includes a story summary and planning information with the broadcast A major obstacle to delivering news to a list of broadcaster opportunities, media, even the best story will not make regional broadcasters and producers of notably details of the ESA-provided it on air. current affairs programmes is that they launch transmission, of launch events at Despite careful preparation, a human often do not have the technical capa- ESA Establishments and Member State angle and proactive media relations, not bility to receive satellite feeds but require space agencies, of background video every story make it into the news. In expensive videotapes in a professional images and a list of interview partners in fact, many stories will find just one or format. ESA always considered that various languages. The advisory enables two broadcasters to use them. This has tape duplication and shipment should a broadcaster to plan ahead for the story to do with the selectivity of TV news as be paid by the requestor, which de facto and to make the necessary arrange- mentioned earlier and with the trend puts a limit on the distribution of ESA ments, for example, for travelling to the that TV news is focusing increasingly on stories. launch site or for shooting additional two complementary types of story: main This is why new ESA footage and an video images covering a particular news stories and soft news. Main news increasing range of archived stories have national angle. stories cover major international con- been made available to broadcasters For smaller events, a TV Exchange is flicts, issues of national politics, some since February 2007 on a server via FTP released, often together with a web sports, murder trials, elections, and transfer. Although 15 minutes of story or a press release. The day before sometimes ESA launches. Every broad- broadcast-quality footage requires the release, a mailing makes the news- caster must cover these. Soft news is 1 GB, this method is rapidly replacing rooms aware of the upcoming story. normally exclusive to a given news videotape delivery. A full-scale test was Written background information and programme and tells a story that is more run in December 2006 during the even a preview clip of the Exchange are interesting trivia than hard news: the STS-116/Celsius mission of Christer

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ESA and Television

stories that are not in the spotlight of hard news but have the potential for making it onto television. The EuroNews stories enter, via the EBU news exchange, the newsrooms of most of Europe’s public broadcasters. This is how stories on space law and space tourism found their way to large audiences in 2006. The ratings for the European Commission’s ‘Futuris’ magazine on EuroNews are measured at Fuglesang, as Scandinavian broadcas- news. Just like any news programme, 15 million, compared with 1.5 million ters are particularly advanced in the use they take up a mix of hard and soft news actual viewers for the channel. The of online broadcast resources. content. In this capacity, they can reach multiplication factor for ‘space’ on A second axis of development involves media that ESA cannot easily, if only EuroNews will be similar. 24-hour news broadcasters. Their ratings because of the sheer number of national Television has never been static since are relatively low, so where does the and regional print media across Member its beginnings in Europe at about the interest in 24-hour news stem from? All States. same time as the first Sputnik. Neither print and broadcast newsrooms sport Since 2000, Italian news broadcaster has space exploration. ESA’s strategy banks of TV monitors showing the RAI24 has broadcast a periodic space towards the world of broadcasting has country’s 24-hour news programme, magazine. Since 2004, EuroNews has had to evolve with it, because others would plus possibly EuroNews and CNN. 24- the biweekly SPACE magazine. Both are fill the gap if European space pro- hour news broadcasters have an impor- produced with editorial support by ESA grammes were absent. Space is too good tant role as drivers and multipliers of and both focus on space activities and a story not to be part of the news. e

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Science Programme Review

Leo Hennessy Executive Secretary, Science Programme Review Team / Head, Programme Policy & Coordination Unit, Directorate of Scientific Programmes, ESA Headquarters, Paris, France

SA’s hugely successful Science Programme is facing flat budgets for the foreseeable E future. The resources will be insufficient to satisfy all of the science community’s wishes for new missions. As a result, the Science Programme Review Team (SPRT) was established to recommend ways for the Programme to meet its obligations to current and approved missions and to support new projects to the greatest extent possible.

Introduction As has been stated many times, the Science Programme is the ‘backbone’ of ESA. ‘The Case for a Strong ESA Scientific Programme’ (ESA/(C2005)157), presented to the Ministerial Council of December 2005, puts this point in context: “The Science Programme of ESA is a successful programme. Over the last twenty years, its missions have gained leadership or co-leadership in most space science research areas such as cometary science (Giotto, 1985; Rosetta, 2004), astrometry (Hipparcos, 1989), Infra-Red astronomy (ISO, 1995), X-Ray astronomy (Newton, 1999), magnetospheric physics (Cluster, 2000; Double Star, 2003 and 2004, in cooperation with China), Gamma-Ray astronomy (Integral, 2002, in cooperation with Russia) and planetary science (Mars Express, 2003; SMART-1, 2003). In joint missions with NASA, the leadership extends to Ultra- Violet Astronomy (IUE, 1978), Inter- planetary and interstellar medium (Ulysses, 1990), Optical Astronomy (HST, 1990), Solar physics (Ulysses, 1990; SOHO, 1995).”

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Science

The working process of the Science Programme Review Team

The Cosmic Vision report is available at: http://www.esa.int/esapub/br/br247/br247.pdf highest number ever of missions community for new missions, to the underway, more under development and maximum extent possible. The paper continues, “In addition to a huge expectation, on the part of the This is not the first such review. There providing first class science and consuming European scientific community, of its was one in 1977 and another in 1988 only 12% of the total ESA budget, the delivering new missions, under the when, at the request of Council, a Science Programme, nonetheless, employs Cosmic Vision plan (ESA BR-247). comprehensive review of the manage- about 25% of the ESA technical work- Unfortunately, the budget is planned to ment and the activities of the Programme force, thereby keeping a pool of highly be ‘flat’ into the future, and the resources was similarly carried out, by a group of skilled technical labour at the Agency and at the Programme’s disposal (financial high-level external experts. its Member States’ disposal. It pays more and other) are, therefore, largely The first review, led by Dr Harry than 25% of the recharges, which maintain insufficient to be able to satisfy all of Atkinson, turned in an 8-page report the Agency’s core administrative and these demands. with 23 recommendations. The second, strategic capacity. With its 16 spacecraft headed by Prof Klaus Pinkau, delivered presently in operation, the Science The Science Programme Review Team a 237-page report, with 16 recommend- Programme gives work to a network of Towards the end of 2005, recognising ations. The latest review, led by ground segments [and] provides about the necessity to take action quickly to Dr Reinder van Duinen, recently 80% of the operations workload for ESOC avoid further deterioration in the presented its report (ESA/C(2007)13) of and close to 100% for ESAC, developing Programme’s capability to satisfy the 366 pages, including 40+ recommend- thereby a node for data exploitation and demands of the scientific community, ations and six formal observations. It archiving for all European space the Chair of the Scientific Programme contains more than 200 pages of astronomers. With its frequent missions, Committee (SPC) decided to call for an references, compared to Pinkau’s 120 the Science Programme is also a external review. Accordingly, the SPC and Atkinson’s zero. sustaining customer of the spacecraft and proposed to Council that a Science launcher industries because its budget of Programme Review Team (SPRT) be set The 2006/2007 SPRT one MEuro per day, albeit modest, is at up. Its members would be recognised Dr van Duinen and the rest of the team present stable. The Programme has, up to high-level experts from Industry and were appointed soon after the Council now, used more Ariane-5 launchers than Science, with a mandate, later contained meeting of March 2006 and the setting- any other agency customer.” in a Council Resolution passed at the up process started immediately. The From this, it would seem that the March 2006 Council, to conduct a systems, process and organisational Programme is in good shape, and, indeed, detailed review of the Science Prog- structures, the protocols for handling in most respects, it is certainly functioning ramme and to recommend ways by the Team’s future interactions with the in a highly efficient and effective way. which the Programme could meet its Executive and Advisory Structure, as However, it is a victim of its own great obligations to current/planned missions well as the logistics needed to get things success in that, at present, it has the as well as the legitimate desires of the moving, had to be put in place very

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Science Programme Review

The Science Programme Review Team

Dr Reinder van Duinen (Chairman) Former President of the European Science Foundation (ESF) and former Vice-Chairman of Fokker; The Netherlands

Mr Alvaro Azcarraga Former Managing Director of Aerospace, SENER; Spain

Mr Jean-Jacques Dechezelles Former Director, Science Meteorology and Environment, Alcatel; France

Prof Therese Encrenaz Director of Research at the Centre National de Recherche Scientifique, Laboratoire d’Etudes Spatiales et d’Instrumentation, Observatoire de Meudon, Paris; France

Prof Kerstin Fredga Former Director General of the Swedish The Team at work, with Dr van Duinen emphasising a point National Space Board (SNSB); Sweden

Mr Kurt J. Gluitz Former Vice President and Managing Director quickly. During April, the Chairman documents reproduced as an Annexe to Science and Earth Observation Division of DASA/Dornier Satelliten Systeme GmbH; and the Executive Secretary worked the SPRT Report, was presented to the Germany closely together to organise the first SPRT Chairman and Team at its first Prof Michael Grewing meeting of the Team, which was held at meeting and was heavily drawn upon in Former Director of the Institut de Radio ESTEC on 18/19 May 2006. the initial stages of the SPRT’s work. Astronomie MilimОtrique (IRAM); Germany

Prof Luciano Maiani Science Programme Self-Evaluation The SPRT ‘Problem-Statement’ Department of Physics, University of Rome At the request of the SPRT Chairman Based, in part, upon a detailed review of ‘La Sapienza’ and former Director General of CERN; Italy and with the full support of the Prof the Self-Evaluation Report, the SPRT David Southwood, Director of the developed a problem-statement, to guide Prof Sir Martin Sweeting Group Chief Executive of Surrey Satellite Scientific Programme, a self-evaluation its future work: “What opportunities exist Technology Ltd (SSTL); United Kingdom was carried out by the Scientific for ESA to enable the scientific community Programme during March and April to make significant advances in science through improvement of programme The reaction to the Report by the SPC and 2006. Senior staff of the Director’s the Director General confirmed the validity office worked with the SPRT Chairman management, costs control, and better of the majority of the recommendations, to prepare a list of questions to be mission decision making processes?” albeit with some reservations as to the answered and topics to be addressed. A Developing the problem-statement applicability or indications of a requirement for a different approach on some issues. Directorate team then spent a number of further led to the identification of a Overall, the Report was acknowledged as hectic weeks producing detailed inputs, number of key points that would be delivering a new and different perspective, which were reviewed by the Director and focused upon during the SPRT’s work. a solid assessment and appropriate, senior managers, responding to the These key issues were initially identified actionable receommendations. identified issues. The self-evaluation as: process was acknowledged by all involved to have been comprehensive 1: instrument development, risks and To address these issues, the Chairman and informative and to have delivered a funding; created a number of ‘breakout groups’, response that was of value, not only for 2: the decision-making process; essentially working groups consisting of the SPRT, but also the Directorate. It 3: overhead charges and facilities; subsets of the full Team, each concentra- was also seen as an excellent exercise in 4: advanced technology development; ting on one or more of the eight issues. internal collaboration and sharing infor- 5: ‘overheating’ of the Science Prog- The structure of each subgroups ensured mation across functions and gaining an ramme; an equal number of members with understanding and appreciation of the 6: contingency management, risk- and backgrounds in Science and in Industry. work of colleagues from other parts of budget-control; It is not hard to imagine the challenges the Directorate. The final evaluation 7: mission mix and timescales; involved in supporting eight simultaneous report, which is one of the Reference 8: operations and data centres. subgroups, composed of highly motiva-

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Science

ESA’s Rosetta comet mission passed close to Mars on 24 February A Real Team Effort 2007. (ESA © 2007 MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA) As well as bringing a huge range of individual experience and knowledge to the task, it was notable that, at a very early stage, the team members formed into a well-working and collaborative unit. Their approach, as could be expected, was both thorough and methodical but, equally, the November and an intense pre-drafting general atmosphere was surprisingly and session by the Chairman and Executive pleasantly informal. The Chairman certainly Secretary resulted in a ‘preliminary facilitated this, as he was strongly focused content’ paper – a draft structure for the on ensuring the maximum participation Report and Recommendations. During and inclusiveness in the process, and he early December, the thousands of pieces devoted considerable attention to achieving consensus in the team. of the jigsaw puzzle, generated by all of The SPRT meetings and off-site took place with the Director of Science, the Members, had to be put together activities generated a large amount of and about 50 members of the Executive and developed into a cohesive and clear administrative work. Support in handling were interviewed. Numerous other text, which was circulated in draft form this was provided by many colleagues in meetings and interviews also took place to the Team. The last meeting, held at the Science Directorate and elsewhere. In particular, Asa Ericson and Valerie with non-ESA experts, each meeting ESTEC in mid-December, put the Lecuraud helped enormously with these being led by individual members of the finishing touches to the structure of the often very complicated administrative Team. For each, a summary had to be Report (if not yet the final content), and arrangements. In addition, the responsive- prepared, to ensure that the whole Team the drafting of the final Report could ness of other colleagues throughout ESA had access to the information gathered begin. The target was to have this issued to requests, frequently at short notice, for by the breakout groups. to the Team before Christmas – and we them to be available to the SPRT, was excellent. This made a very positive Following a request from Council, the made it, on 22 December, the last impression of their professionalism and Chair of the SPC participated in all of (official) working-day of the year! As commitment on the members of the team. the plenary meetings, although there expected, the Team Members were not were one or two closed sessions when idle during the Christmas holiday. All only the Team was involved. The carefully read the entire text and made ted, task-oriented and demanding top- Executive was kept informed, when their comments – mostly editorial, but, level experts, in terms of organising necessary and within the limits of nonetheless, crucial nuances and meetings, arranging the (right) contacts maintaining the confidentiality of the clarifications that added much to the when needed, providing background SPRT activity, via the Chairman and/or first draft. documentation, giving guidance and the Executive Secretary. This led to the Having succeeded in pulling together advice, ensuring the sharing of relevant very positive situation whereby adapta- all of the Team’s comments, the final information, keeping records and drafting tions were made, both by the Executive version of the Report was issued to the reports. The sheer volume of document- and the SPC, to current procedures or Director General, all SPC delegations ation analysed (and produced) by the practices, taking account of develop- and the Director of the Scientific Prog- Team required the setting up of a ments during the work of the SPRT. ramme, early in January 2007. dedicated document and reference library, Examples of this include an adaptation allowing all Team Members to view any of the documentation related to the Call Assessment of the Report documents whenever needed. for Proposals, the realigning of SPC On the initiative of the SPC Chair, the agendas to separate decision points from Report’s content and recommendations The Team’s Work information items, the issuing of a new were ‘dissected’ by four working-groups Since the deadline given to the Team to strategy paper by the Executive, and composed of members of the SPC, complete its mandate was the March other similar changes. during a 2-day meeting dedicated 2007 Council and given that work could entirely to the Report, at ESTEC in the not begin before May 2006, the Team The Report and its Recommendations second week of January. worked almost continuously for the next By the end of August 2006, things were The recommendations contained in 8 months. During that period, four beginning to take shape on the direction the Report were, by and large, well plenary meetings were held, three in which the Team’s recommendations understood and the plenary meeting presentations were made to the SPC, were likely to go. The plenary meeting at focused on addressing the issues where two meetings were held with the the end of September, a huge amount of there were differing views as to how to Director General, a number of meetings email traffic between then and the end of find a solution to some of the problems

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Science Programme Review

Council, accompanied by the comments Areas Covered by the SPRT Report and Recommendations of the Director General and the observations of the SPC. (Given the Programme-specific nature of the recommendations and their relevance principally to the Science Programme and its Advisory Structure, the full recommendations are not reproduced here. Only the major topics and some examples are provided for illustration.) Conclusions Both the SPC and the Executive have Chapter 4. IMPLEMENTING COSMIC VISION warmly commended the work of the –– The Call for new mission proposals –– Mission mix and international collaboration SPRT and have stated that the work by –– Payload development Dr van Duinen and his Team was –– Block decisions conducted very competently and comprehensively and to have resulted in Examples: the SPRT Report called for the removal of EUR 200 million from the Programme, before issuing any new Call for Proposals. It also suggested the reopening of an option to a very good Report and set of have small missions (about EUR 75 million). The previous practice of making ‘block recommendations. decisions’, which freezes the Programme for a period into the future, was considered no The van Duinen Report should, longer feasible or desirable by the SPRT. therefore, mark a significant point in the Chapter 5. DECISION-MAKING AND MANAGING THE SCIENCE PROGRAMME history of the Science Programme. As –– Cost increases well as indicating areas for improve- –– Technology readiness ment, it will help to highlight and –– Core technology programme recognise its successes, achievements and –– Cooperation –– Peer reviews opportunities, so as to put it on an even –– Timing of mission selection and adoption by SPC better footing for the future. It may be –– Contingency in the Science Programme useful to note that, whereas previous –– Extra demands on the Programme SPRT reports were produced assuming –– Operations and support costs –– Overhead charges good growth potential in the future, this –– Financial contributions to payload developments by scientific institutes one was done from the perspective of a –– Extensions of mission operations constrained budget. As the Director General has Examples: decisions should only be taken when there is solid information available on the readiness of critical technology, as assessed by independent peer-groups. The projected remarked, the potential effects of the Cost-at-Completion is exceeded, decisive actions need to be taken. Costs that are not van Duinen Report’s recommendations directly associated with spacecraft procurement have to be reduced. The level of contingency are not limited to the Science margins at Programme and Project level have to be carefully determined and managed. The Directorate, since many comments and scientific return from mission extensions has to be carefully weighed against the potential cost of opportunities to the rest of the Programme. recommendations deal with facilities and services provided by other ESA Chapter 6. INDUSTRY Directorates to the Science Programme. –– Follow-up of payload instrument development and assessment of risks Equally, therefore, the process and the –– Procurement practice and development methodology –– Costs, contingencies and contractual terms main issues that have been highlighted –– Coupled missions and related potential cost savings are relevant right across the Agency. In effect, the outcome of the deliberations Examples: within the limits imposed by the ethics of competition, Industry experts should at the March Council can have assist ESA experts and others in conducting a comprehensive assessment of mission-critical technologies, prior to the adoption of a mission. consequences for activities/facilities that are not under the direct control of the Chapter 7.GENERAL Programme. A crucial aspect of dealing Examples: the SPC should become more fully involved in those decisions it is making but with the van Duinen Report is that both without micro-managing. A review of the effectiveness of the division of roles between the Executive and the SPC would be useful. Ad hoc SPC working groups, seconded by outside the Executive and ESA Delegate bodies experts, could help in the preparation of difficult decisions. are monitoring and evaluating the implementation of the recommendations. Within the Science Directorate, a identified by the SPRT. In parallel, the February meeting of the SPC, in member of the management team has Chairman of the SPRT met with the conjunction with a formal presentation been given specific responsibility for Director General and the Chair of the and discussion of the Report, in the monitoring the implementation of the SPC, in separate meetings, to discuss the presence of the SPRT Chairman. The SPRT recommendations, but there is no Report in finer detail. final stages of completing the SPRT doubt that this task requires the The outcome of the SPC Working mandate was achieved by the submiss- attention of all in the Directorate to Group review was presented at the ion of the Report to the March 2007 ensure an effective response. e

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SimulatingSimulating Meteoroid Meteoroid ImpactsImpacts using using High-PowerHigh-Power Lasers Lasers LandgrafANDY 21-05-2007 15:27 Pagina 57

Meteoroid Impacts

Markus Landgraf Mission Analysis Section, Flight Dynamics Division, Directorate for Operations & Infrastructure, ESOC, Darmstadt, Germany

Gerhard Drolshagen Space Environments & Effects Analysis Section, Directorate of Technical & Quality Management, ESTEC, Noordwijk, The Netherlands

Zoltan Sternovsky, Scott Knappmiller & Mihály Horányi Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado at Boulder, USA

eteoroids are one of the most damaging elements in space: at M 20 km/s even one the size of a grain of salt can wreak the same damage as a cannonball fired at 1000 km/h. The solar wings of the Hubble Space Telescope returned from space are peppered with holes and craters from meteoroids and space debris. Satellites must be protected from such impacts through careful design and testing. In laboratory testing, firing a high-power laser at a satellite hull efficiently simulates all aspects of the impact: the cratering, the shock travelling through the material, and the impact cloud that can knock out electronics. It can also be used to calibrate detectors that characterise the meteoroid and debris environment, allowing sensitive instruments to be protected simply by A New Method to carefully choosing a satellite’s orientation. Introduction Prepare Spacecraft for H a rdwa re brought back from orbit bears the marks of meteoroid bombardment. ESA’s Eureca retrievable carrier the Harsh was returned from space by the Space Shuttle in 1993 after 10 months in low Ea rth o rb it a nd sh owed nu m e ro u s Environment of Space craters (Bulletin 80; http://www.esa.int/

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Operations & Infrastructure

Electron-microscope image of a crater in a Space Shuttle window. (NASA/JSC)

Left: a 26 x 13 cm piece of solar panel from the Hubble Space Telescope after more than 8 years in space. Only the larger craters are marked

e s a p u b / b u l l e t i n / b u l l e t 8 0 / a c e 8 0 . h t m ) . S atellites that must maintain ve r y light-gas gun or by electric forces in From Eureca and three sets of solar cells s t abl e po s it i o ns i n s p ac e a r e a l s o plasma guns. Europe has a number of re t r i eved fro m th e H ubb le Sp a ce affected by meteoroid impacts. S u b s at- these facilities, including the light-gas Telescope (HST) we know that meteoro i d ellites in interferometer astro n o my gun at the Center of Studies and impacts cause structural damage as well constellations, such as ESA’s proposed Activities for Space in Padua (I), the as surface degradation. The craters are Darwin and XEUS, have to control their Ernst-Mach-Institut für Ku r z ze i t- normally 10–20 times larger than the separations with other members of the dynamik in Fre i bu rg (D), a Van de meteoroid itself. So, even a millimetre- formation to within a few millimetres. In G ra a ff g e n e rator of the Dust Accelerat o r s i zed particle can destroy structura l these cases, a meteoroid could break the Facility at the Max-Planck-Institut für elements or penetrate a pressure vessel optical connection. Kernphysik in Heidelberg (D), and both such as a tank or a crew module. Careful This list of effects shows that, while devices at the Open University in Milton design of the spacecraft structure – our current understanding of meteor- Keynes (UK). perhaps using meteoroid shields – must oids certainly allows us to pre p a re While Van de Graaff accelerators can ensure that impacts are without serious missions for the space environment, it is deliver a relatively large number of test c o n s e q u e n c e s. Fo r ex a m p l e, E S A’s i m p e rat ive that we improve our particles from 0.1 mm down to some C o l u m bus mo dule and Au t o m at e d understanding of the meteoroid envir- nanometres (10–9 m) at 1–100 km/s, they Transfer Vehicle are protected by onment and expand the Agency’s testing can accelerate only particles with ‘Whipple-shields’, which fragment any capabilities to handle the more sophisti- conducting surfaces. Iron grains are impactor smaller than 1 cm before it can cated and sensitive equipment of the traditionally fired in these machines. In penetrate the hull. future. contrast, light-gas and plasma guns can Be sides structural dam ag e, wh i c h a c c e l e rate large r particles of a ny re q u i res re l at ive ly large meteoro i d s, Classic Meteoroid Testing Methods material. However, the maximum speeds another effect is the continuous degra- Recreating a meteoroid impact to test are normally lower and each shot has to dation of exposed surfaces. Optical surf- space materials in the lab o rat o r y be pre p a red care f u l ly, so not many aces like camera lenses are most sensi- requires a solid particle to be accelerated tive to the large number of submilli- to the extreme speeds found in space. metre craters that accumulate over time. While there is a wide range of meteoroid Laser bombardment of an There are also more subtle, indirect s p e e d s, they norm a l ly cluster aro u n d aluminium sample c o n s e q u e n c e s. T h e h ig hly e ne rg e t i c 20 km/s, which is more than twice the impact cre ates a small cloud of speed of vehicles in low Earth orbit. electrically charged material that can Classically there are two methods to disturb electrical systems onboard a a c h i eve hig h spee ds: electro s t at i c satellite. For example, the loss of solar acceleration using high-voltage Van de cells on HST has been linked to a Graaff generators, and acceleration by d i s c h a rge avalan che that could have ‘gas drag’, in which a gas is accelerated, been started by a meteoroid impact. either by a high-pressure piston in a

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Meteoroid Impacts

A crater in the HST solar cells created by meteoroid impact (left) and laser bombardment (right)

experiments can be perfo rmed in a concentrate the laser on the target. The c rater size by 17%. On ave rag e, each laser limited time. N d : YAG laser then fires for the set shot deepens the crater by 0.001 m m . Van de Graaff accelerators and guns number of shots. The whole procedure Thus a 5 mm-deep crater norm a l ly together already allow a good amount takes some 30 minutes. c re ated by a 0.5 mm meteoroid can be o f testing. Howeve r, they are fully - Owing to the tightly focused laser cre a- s i mu l ated by firing our laser 5000 times. fledged laboratory devices surrounded ting a high energy density, the surface Fo r t u n at e ly, the firing frequency can be by vacuum and high-voltage systems, m aterial is subjected to ex t reme therm a l set to 100 per second, so the wh o l e with the associated demand on re s o u rc e s. c o n d i t i o n s, as in a high-speed meteoro i d p ro c e d u re ta ke s o nly 5 0 s e c o n d s. impact. The results are the same: the The craters in aluminium we re surro u n- The Laser Approach t a rget material is evap o rated (eve n ded by white powd e r, which was inter- Even high-performance lasers are now ionised), a crater is fo rmed and a shock p reted to be aluminium oxide cre ated by widely available and are rather benign in expands through the material. Pe r fo rm- chemical reaction of the surrounding air t he ir d e m an d fo r r e s o u rc e s. I t i s ing the experiments in air, the shock can wi th t he ho t ga s. Of c o u r s e, thi s re a c t i o n therefore desirable to use them to test be heard clearly as a click every time the would not occur in va c u u m . space materials for sensitivity against laser hits the target. In the experiments at An obvious diff e rence between meteor- meteoroids. In order to simulate surface the Lab o ratory for Atmospheric & S p a c e oid and laser craters on the solar cells is i m p a c t s, a g ree n ‘ ne o dy m i u m - d o p e d P hysics (LASP), in Boulder, Colora d o, yt t r i u m al um in iu m g ar n e t ’ l a s e r, USA, materials typically used in space commonly referred to as a Nd:YAG m a nufacturing we re laser-tested: alumin- Measuring the crater diameter in an aluminium sample laser, has been tested. Every second, the ium and the composite material that laser pulses with an energy of 30 mJ for m a kes up solar panels (using cells 7 ns. This corresponds to a power of returned from HST in 1993). Afterwa rd s, 4 MW for a very short time. A simple the materials we re analysed under an optical setup with two lenses focuses the op tic al mic ro s c o p e. The ex p e r i m e n t s laser onto a spot smaller than 0.1 mm. s h owed that indeed the laser shots The aluminium or solar cell samples p roduced craters similar in shape to those are first fixed in a holder on the optical f rom meteoro i d s, and that selecting the bench. The red helium-neon guiding number of laser shots easily contro l l e d laser that runs parallel to the Nd:YAG the size of the crat e r. The empiric law is beam is positioned on the target spot by t h at an accumu l ated laser energy of 1 J adjusting the two mirrors in its path. c re ated a crater 0.07 mm across; and each The focusing lens is then adjusted to d o u bling of the laser energy increases the

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Operations & Infrastructure

the amount of melting. This is because the low absorption of the cover glass lengthens the very brief laser shot, and the heated cell substrate (highly refractive silicon) transmits its heat to the amorphous glass. The result is a halo o f melted and chemically altere d material around the central hole. Comparing the laser damage to the aluminium with that to the solar panel composite, it turns out that the craters in the composite material are about twice Set-up of the LAMA calibration experiment as deep for the same number of laser s h o t s. T h is i s be c au s e t he s h i ni e r aluminium reflects more of the laser’s power.

Know Your Foe: Meteoroid Detectors S ate llit es c an be eff i c i e n t ly pro t e c t e d Meteoroids are also detected in space by l a rg e - a rea ma ss analyser (L AMA), from the hazards of meteoroid impacts instruments ab o a rd satellites in geo- which can determine the chemical make- o n ly if we know the number of stationary and low Earth orbit. In order up of meteoroids when they hit its large m e t e o roids and their sourc e s. Our to improve our understanding of how (almost 1 m2) target area. The instru- current understanding of the meteoroid many meteoroids there are and from ment was conceived by the dust research e nv i ronment comes mainly fro m which directions they come, more group at the Max-Planck-Institut für microcraters on the rocks brought back i n fo rm ati on about thei r sou rc e s, Kernphysik in Heidelberg, which also from the Moon by the Apollo astro- makeup and dynamics is needed. developed meteoroid detectors for the n a u t s, and by measuring meteoro i d s Thus, the other important application Ulysses and Cassini/Huygens missions. t h at ent er Ear th ’s at m o s p h e re u si ng of the laser is to calibrate new instru- Because the laser shots are so similar h i g h ly sensitive radar equipment ments to detect meteoroids in space. The to meteoroid impacts, the laser can be (Bulletin 113; http://www.esa.int/esapub/ next generation of detectors is already used to calibrate LAMA and to find out b u l l e t i n / b u l l e t 1 1 3 / ch a p t e r 9 _ b u l 1 1 3 . p d f ) . working in the laboratory. One is the how meteoroids of different materials could be analysed. With LAMA, the Apollo-17 astronaut Harrison Schmitt collects lunar rake samples of regolith at Taurus-Littrow in December 1972 high energy of the impact means the meteoroid is vaporised and its material is split into its chemical compounds. The impact is so energetic that the compounds are broken into individual atoms that are stripped of at least one of their electrons, making them positively c h a rged ions. The target surface of LAMA is held at a high positive voltage (+5 kV) so that the ions are repelled

Mass spectrum taken from the Apollo-17 lunar regolith sample

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Meteoroid Impacts

The procedure working on the LAMA instrument required some laboratory experience. Here, Markus Landgraf works on the sensitive micro-channel plate, which is at the heart of LAMA’s ion detector electronics

M o re particularly, we have been able to i d e n t i f y, together with the ubiquitous contaminants sodium and potassium*, the most abundant copper and zinc isotopes in the brass sample, and the lead isotopes in the lead sample. The fact that the rather heavy lead isotopes (206, 207 and 208 atomic mass units) can still be re s o l ved shows that LAMA can distin- g uis h be twe e n a w ide var ie ty of c h e m i c a l from it. Using a careful design of the Rock samples (quartz) were ground elements and molecules. With the Moon electric field inside LAMA, the ions are down to powder for mixing with iso- regolith, LAMA confirmed the ve r y deflected towards an ion detector at the propanol, and the mixture was inserted i n t e re s tin g abu ndan ce of t it aniu m ox i d e, a centre that produces an electrical pulse into the bow l - s h aped sample holder. chemical compound that is now being each time a certain species of ions hits it. Despite the fact that the iso-propanol w i d e ly discussed as a good source of Because each ion re c e ives the same evaporated within a few minutes, the ox ygen for future ex p l o ration missions. amount of energy from the electrical residual powder retained some struc- S i n g ly oxidised species of all five titanium field inside LAMA, the ions of lighter tural strength and some adherence to isotopes we re identified. elements like carbon or oxygen move the holder, so that it could even be faster than those of heavier elements like turned upside down. This was important Anti-Meteoroid Testing iron. The com-position of the meteoroid because some samples were coated with The experiments at LASP prov i d e d can then be determined by measuring a thin gold layer in order to improve the confidence that the laser can be used for the time of arrival of its compounds. We electrical field directly above the sample. c a l i b rating meteoroid detectors and found that LAMA works equally well if Once the sample was prepared, it was testing meteoroid impacts on satellites the ions are created by a laser shot remounted on the target plate, LAMA and new materials at facilities in focused on a sample mounted on the was returned to the vacuum chamber, ESTEC. Such a facility requires fewer LAMA target plate. and the chamber was evacuated. Within resources than a light-gas or plasma gun Meteorites re c ove red on Earth are a few hours, the optics could be adjusted that are traditionally used in simula- made mainly of silicate minerals, such as and the laser switched on. tions. While a laser shot is certainly not olivine and pyroxene, and of carbon- In general, the calibration ex p e r i m e n t s p e r f e c t ly anal ogous to a mete oro i d rich material. To calibrate LAMA, s h owed that LAMA is highly cap able of impact, it is similar enough for routine metals (brass, stainless steel and lead), distinguishing between carbonaceous testing. quartz (the simplest silicate) and graph- m aterial and silicat e s. It was found that ite (the most common form of carbon) not all of the material is bro ken up, bu t Acknowledgements were analysed. In order to provide more t h at some, especially grap h i t e, remains in The work presented here was conducted realistic, astrochemically relevant mater- clusters of four or more at o m s. The under the Douglas Marsh Fellowship ials, actual lunar regolith (dust) brought carbon clustering could be very useful awarded to the principal author by ESA back from the Moon’s Taurus-Littrow when it comes to identifying org a n i c in 2004. He thanks LASP for its highlands by the Apollo-17 astronauts compounds in real meteoro i d s. Wh i l e assistance and hospitality during the was analysed. This regolith is made up m o re quantitat ive tests with a gre at e r p roject, and NASA for providing a of simple silicon oxides, metal (calcium, variety of m aterials are needed, the sample of lunar dust. e magnesium, iron, sodium, titanium, pot- results so far show that LAMA can be *sodium and potassium form ions very easily, so even minute traces of these assium, chromium) ox i d e s, and tra c e used in space to analyse meteoroids and elements, which cannot always be avoided under laboratory conditions, will elements. space debris and determine their sourc e s. show up as strong peaks in mass spectra

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Happy Families Cutting the Cost of ESA Mission Ground Software Merri 21-05-2007 15:35 Pagina 63

Software

Mario Merri, Alessandro Ercolani, Damiano Guerrucci, Vemund Reggestad & David Verrier Ground System Engineering Department, Directorate of Operations and Infrastructure, ESOC, Darmstadt, Germany

Pier Paolo Emanuelli & Paolo Ferri Mission Operations Department, Directorate of Operations and Infrastructure, ESOC, Darmstadt, Germany

n recent years, ESA has adopted a new lapproach to reduce cost and risk in the Idevelopment and operation of ground software. The ‘mission family’ concept is the basis for cost-effective mission control systems for monitoring and controlling spacecraft, and operational simulators for testing and training. This concept is complemented by exploiting reusable software using a ‘delta’ approach. Since families of missions have lifetimes much longer than the individual projects, the challenges of evolving ground software and hardware platforms over ten or more years must be met.

Introduction O p e rating spacecraft is a demanding j o b, requiring a complex ground segment of stations, communications networks and computer centres hosting larg e software systems. It is an unforgiving undertaking – a satellite is launched only once and there may be no second chance if t h e re are ground segment f a i l u re s o r op e r at i on a l e r ror s t h at degrade the mission or even result in its loss.

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Operations & Infrastructure

For more than 35 years, the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt (D) has accumulated exten- s ive ex peri ence i n the deve l o p m e n t , o p e rations and maintenance of t h e ground software systems. Demanding l eve l s o f ava i l ab i l i t y, re l i abi li ty a nd maintainability imply high-performance t e c h n o l ogy an d ex t e n s ive va l i d at i o n , which drives up costs. Despite this, ESOC has succeeded in dra s t i c a l ly reducing the costs of ground software systems for space missions. This has been achieved largely through reusing s o f t wa re that was de signed and developed for reuse from the outset. The first such re u s able softwa re system ( n ow called ‘infra s t r u c t u re softwa re ’ ) was the Multi-Satellite Support System The Mission Control System (MCS) and Operational Simulator. TC: telecommand. TM: telemetry (MSSS), developed in the 1970s and used for over 20 ye a r s. In the mid-1980s the first generation of the Spacecra f t – ‘mission families’ – the common telemetry, the data downlinked from the C o n t rol and Operations System (SCOS) c h a racteristics between the family spacecraft used for monitoring its health was developed; it was succeeded by members can be exploited for further and receiving its mission products. The SCOS-2000 in the late 1990s. cost reductions. MCS also generat e s, verifies and uplinks In parallel in the simu l ation domain, commands, transmitting instructions to i n f ra s t r u c t u re softwa re included the The Mission Control System (MCS) the satellite to control all its operations. G e n e ral Purpose Softwa re Simu l at o r The MCS is a softwa re system that Via the MCS, the Flight Control Te a m Pa c k age and then the first generation of enables the operators on the ground to c an a s ses s t he h e alt h of a s at e l l i t e S I M S AT. B oth we re bas e d o n t he lat e s t interact with the satellite. It receives, t h roughout its mission and command it t e c h n o l ogy at t he time. S IM SAT was the n i n t e r p r e t s, an a ly s e s an d a rc h ive s to achieve the mission goals. The MCS is m i g rate d t o PC / Wi n d ow s and c onve r t e d to the more modern C++ languag e. More re c e n t ly, it was made ava i l able under L i nux, now the operating system of choice for simu l ators and MCS. This infrastructure has thus continu- o u s ly adapted to current technolog y, c u l m i n at i ng i n t he E S A G ro u n d Operations Software (EGOS), of which SIMSAT and SCOS-2000 are corner- stones. EGOS is an extensive suite of applications, middleware and lower level components covering all major software needs in the ground segment, including mission control softwa re, softwa re s i mu l ator i nfra s t r u c t u re a n d g ro u n d station ‘back-end’ software. Naturally, this software has in effect encoded into it much of ESOC’s accumulated operations expertise and knowledge. In recent years, software reuse has been taken a step further, based on the o b s e r vation that for re l ated missions A typical Mission Control System display

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a critical system that needs to go thro u g h a compre h e n s ive ve r i f i c ation and va l i d ation pro c e s s. This is not limited to the softwa re itself, but extends to the o p e rational data that are use d to conf igure the MCS. It includes, for ex a m p l e, the d at abase describing the spacecra f t ’s telemetry and command data. In addition to these functions, the MCS usually provides support fo r mission planning, data analysis and d i s t r i bution, telemetry and command d at abase management and onboard software management.

The Operational Simulator The Operational Simulator is a software system that simulates the satellite, the ground stations and, to a certain extent, the space environment. An Operational Simulator is developed for almost every A typical Operational Simulator desktop, with graphs, displays and models mission operated by ESOC. It is used to:

– support testing of the ground systems, The ESOC Infrastructure Software t o r s, orb it pre dic t ion a nd p ro p ag at i o n including the MCS; M o s t o f E S O C ’s ac tiv i t ie s invo l ve ( inc ludi ng e nv i ron men t p er tu rb at i o n s ) , – s u p po r t va l i d at i on o f o p e r at i o n a l science and Earth observation missions. selected onboard subsystem models data, including the operational data- Such satellites are complex and every (such as thermal, electrical, telemetry/ base and the operational procedures; mission is different. At first sight, this commanding) and ground system – prepare the System Validation Test would seem to prevent the reuse of tools m o d e l s. campaign, which contributes to the and functions between missions, bu t operational validation of the o p e ra- software reuse has been achieved using Mission Families tions system that ground systems, various techniques, such as: A family is a set of satellite missions p ro c e d u res and personnel are able with a high degree of commonality in to operate the system successfully. – changing configuration via setting the spacecraft platform and/or in the This includes test and va l i d ation d i ff e rent parameters in tables or o p e rational pro f i l e. The famil ie s of the interfaces between ESOC and databases; currently in use at ESOC are: t h e s at e l l i t e, c on f i r m ati on o f t h e – using appropriate software engineer- c o r r e c t f u n c t io n in g of t he M CS ing technologies. – interplanetary, in orbits not bound to and Flight Dynamics System and Earth; the validity of the operat i o n a l Two parts of EGOS are particularly – Ea rth o b servati on , i n nea r- E a r t h procedures. relevant here: orbits; – support training of the Flight Control – o b s e r vat o r y, with long visibil ity Team to make sure that everyone has – SCOS-2000 is the basis for mission- periods, high data rates and observa- the skills to ensure mission success specific MCSs and covers most of the tion schedules proposed by users; under nominal and contingency functions re q u i red for te lemetry – n av i g ation, typically a constellat i o n s i t u at i o n s. When something unex p- reception and processing, telecomm- of satellites in medium Earth orbits ected happens on the satellite or on and uplink and ve r i f i c ation, dat a operated simultaneously. the ground, it is extremely important archiving, display and retrieval, and to have a well-trained team of experts data distribution; There are requirements common to all covering all areas and able to take – the Simulus toolset is the basis fo r mission families and these are generally t i m e ly decisions. Simu l ated failures mission-specific Operational Simu l a- sup p orted by the i nfra s t r u c t u re in the space and ground segments t o r s. I t c over s the SI M SAT s imu l at o r software. On the other hand, there are test the team’s responses to kernel and the Generic Models, al so re q u i reme n ts sp ecif i c to o ne contingencies. including onboard processor emu l a- mission family only, and for which the

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Operations & Infrastructure

supporting softwa re has to be specifically developed. Further software reuse can be achieved by exploiting this ‘intra-family’ commonality. Two mission families are considered further here: interplanetary and Earth observation, although significant levels of reuse have also occurred in others.

The interplanetary mission family The interplanetary mission family comprises Rosetta (launched in Marc h 2004 towards Comet Churyumov- G e ra s i m e n ko), Mar s Expre ss ( lau nche d in June 2003 and now orbiting Mars), and Ve nu s Expre ss (launc hed in Nove m b e r 2005 and now orbiting Ve nus). Two more The apportioned requirements for Mission Control Systems. ROS, MEX and VEX represent Rosetta, Mars Express and Venus Express, missions are under pre p a ration to join this respectively f a m i ly: Be piColombo (launc h in 2013 to M e rcur y) and So lar Or bite r (launc h in The Earth observation mission family p rofiles provide frequent (about 15 times 2015 towa rds the Sun). The Earth observation mission family d a i ly) and shor t pas se s ( about 10 m i nu t e s ) Missions that are launched on Earth- consists today of CryoSat, GOCE and over a single ground station. e s c ape t r aj e c t o r ie s have o p e r at i o n a l A e o l u s. C r yo S at was the f irs t E art h Despite the fact that the missions in c h a racteristics sig nificantly diff e re n t E x p l o rer Opportunity mission, wh i c h this family have diff e rent spacecra f t from Earth-orbiting missions. Many of unfortunately suffered a launch failure platforms and technologies, they all have these directly affect the ground software in October 2005. GOCE is the first very similar mission profiles and systems. For example, the long radio Earth Explorer Core Mission, with c o n s e q u e n t ly very similar operat i o n a l signal travel delays must be taken into launch fo reseen at the end of 2 0 0 7 . c o n c e p t s. H owe ve r, d iff e r e n c e s i n account in telecommand ve r i f i c at i o n Aeolus is the second Core Mission, satellite design can result in significantly and telemetry time-stamping. Also, planned for launch in 2008. Future d i ff e rent functions in the gro u n d special commanding protocols (such as missions include CryoSat-2 (rebuild of software. For example, onboard time is File Transfer) are needed to deal with CryoSat), Swarm, EarthCARE and the m a n aged diff e re n t ly for the missions the delayed space-ground interactions. Gl ob al M on it or in g for E nv i ro n m e n t in the family. Cryo S at uses the The MCS has to cope with two or more and Security (GMES) initiat ive, French payload DORIS to synchronise parallel data streams, one for real-time comprising the Sentinel mission series. its time via a number of g ro u n d - telemetry and one or more transporting Ty p i c a l ly, these missions fly at low generated microwave beacons, GOCE the telemetry recorded onboard during altitudes over the Earth (250–800 k m ) , uses a simple onboard counter kept in the long non-coverage period. of te n in polar orb it s, and the ir operat i o n a l s y n c h ro n i s ation by the ground, and The unifying feature of these ESA interplanetary missions is their common s p a c e c raft plat fo rm , leading to: The apportioned requirements for Operational Simulators

– the same types of p rocessors and major software functions; – similar orbit and attitude contro l sensors and actuators; – similar interfaces to the Solid-State Mass Memories; – reuse of payloads; – similar satellite autonomy functions; – identical operator interaction with the MCS.

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Software

Typical software layering for In fact, re q u i rements comm on to reuse for Mission Control missions in the same family will move Systems in the interplanetary down from the mission-specific context mission family. Arrow indicates possible path for requirements to the family kernel laye r, wh i l e migration requirements generic enough to serve any type of mission can be moved down to the infrastructure layer. There is a similar process for Operational Simula- tors. The process of assigning or moving Typical software layering for requirements between software layers is reuse for Mission Control ‘ c o n f i g u r at i o n - c o n t roll ed’ : a c on tro l Systems in the Earth board ensures that the requirements are observation mission family. Arrows indicate possible path generic and stable. for requirements migration The rest of the lifecycle The same basic idea applies to the rest of the lifecycle: concentrate on the differences and reuse as much as possible of what is already available. Specific to architectural design is the reuse of interface definitions along with Typical software layering for th e s o ft wa re at e it h er s ide o f t h e s e reuse for Operational interfaces. For example, the interfaces Simulators in the interplanetary b e t ween the MCS and O pe rat i o n a l and the Earth observation mission families. Arrows S i mu l ator are based on generically indicate possible path for defined file formats. For the Operational requirements migration Simulator, ESA has defined a standard for the interaction between models and the si mu l atio n in fra s t r u c t u re. Th i s S i mu l ato r M od e l Po r t ab i li t y ( S M P ) Ae ol us c ar r ie s a Gl ob al Po s i t i o n i n g istic of this approach is that each layer is s t a n d a rd e ncourages plat fo r m and System (GPS) receiver in addition to its defined only in terms of the differences infrastructure independence and permit counter. (‘deltas’) with respect to the layer below. the reuse of models both throughout the mission lifecycle and also from one The Delta Approach Requirements engineering mission to another. The ‘delta’ approach isolates layers of During re q u i rements engineering, a During the implementation process, software components that could be used ‘delta requirements document’ is pro- the software development team makes as building blocks for mission-specific duced that covers exc l u s ive ly the use of the fact that the infrastructure g ro un d so ftwa re (see i ll ustrat i o n s ) . mission-specific requirements. Since the software and the mission family kernel Three layers are identified: majority of the requirements come from are self-standing components to ensure the l ower laye r s, the document is slimmer maximum reuse. This also helps open – the lowest is the most generic and is and simpler. Experts can focus on what industrial competition and extends the reused across mission families. is unique in the mission, taking standard pool of contractors familiar with the Ty p i c a l ly, this is the inf ra s t r u c t u re functionality for granted. s o f t wa r e. Th is wi de reu se cre ates a software; Clearly, a prerequisite for realising the virtuous circle in which the software – the middle increases the level of full benefit of the delta approach is that progressively improves as it is employed specialisation and is reused within a the authors of the requirements docu- in more and more missions. In fact, fixes mission family; ment have a good knowledge of the to software bugs found in one mission- – the upper is mission-specific and functions of the reused software. specific system may be fixed in the other groups only those characteristics that An important benefit in isolating the systems in the family at minimal effort. are specific to a single mission. kernel requirements from the lower and In the maintenance phase, combined upper layers is that it makes it easier to maintenance reduces costs. ‘Combined Not all of these layers are needed fo l l ow the evolution of the infra s t r u c t u re maintenance’ means that a single team every time, but a fundamental chara c t e r- software. maintains several data systems, such as

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Operations & Infrastructure

The development costs of the Mission Control Systems for the two mission families relative to the The development costs of the Operational Simulators for the two mission families relative to the most expensive development most expensive development

all the mission control systems in a For Op erati on al S i mu l at o r s, the trend can be seen in mission control f a m i ly. Ove rheads and mai ntenance tailoring is very similar for the two systems and operations pre p a rat i o n m a n p ow e r p e r mis s i on are r e d u c e d : families. Heavy reuse is made of the tools. For example, common tools for costs are shared among the missions and infrastructure software (SIMSAT and s p a c e c raft checkout and operat i o n s the engineers are given more interesting Generic Models) and commonalities p re p a ration are promoting seamless wo rk through invo l vement in seve ra l among spacecraft are exploited within transition from spacecraft manufacture m i s s i o n s. T h e de l t a ap p roa c h a ls o each family by reuse of models from t o o pe r at i o n s. T h i s wa s e x p l o i t e d ensures that the amount of mission- previous developments in the family. For recently by Herschel and Planck. specific softwa re needing to be interplanetary missions, near- i d e n t i c a l The arrows in the illustrations show maintained is reduced. s p a c e c r af t p lat fo r ms me an s th at t he the typical direction of migration of simulators are also almost identical. The f u n c t i o n a l i t y. O nc e s t abl e, t he m ore The delta approach in practice teething pro blems of d eveloping the generic functions may migrate to the This approach achieves the best results s i mu l at o r, such as imm at u re or lat e lower software layer (not shown for the when it is followed from the outset of a onboard software and problems with Operational Simulator for simplicity). development. The later the start, the less early versions of spacecraft document- effective it is. ation, were mainly borne by the first Benefits for the infrastructure software For the M CS of i n t e r p l a n e t a r y mission in the family, Rosetta. Evolution of the infrastructure software m i s s i o n s, a two - l aye r de lt a ap p roac h wa s For simu l ators there are other aspects to cope with the needs for new generic used for all missions in the family, thus o f re u s e. Emu l ation of the onboard f e at u res is a re l at ive ly slow pro c e s s c apitalising on the common spacecra f t p rocessors means that the actual onboard because it re q u i res consensus acro s s p l at fo rm. Pra c t i c a l ly, this implied a single s o f t wa re can be reused, leading to mission families. The mission family system that could be used for each of t h e i t e rat ive reuse from space to gro u n d t h ree missions by simple re c o n f i g u rat i o n . s e g m e n t s. T he s of twa re M ode l Po r t ab i l i t y The effort usually re q u i red for one s t a n d a rd allows reuse of m o d e l s mission cove red all thre e. ( d eveloped by the spacecraft manu f a c- For the MCS of the Earth observation t u re r, for e xample ) i n the Ope rat i o n a l f a m i ly, a thre e - l ayer ap p roach wa s S i mu l at o r. In fact, if common subsystems adopted to cope better with the a re used in diff e rent spacecraft, models s p a c e c raft p lat fo r m d iff e re n c e s. C ommon d eveloped in compliance with SMP can functions in the family are separated in be used in any simu l at o r, wh e t h e r the middle laye r. This is the Earth d eveloped for spacecraft checkout by the O b s e r vation Mission Ker nel, ly i n g s p a c e c raf t ma nu f a c t u re r or for o pe rat i o n s b e t ween the mission-specific softwa re t raining by the operations supplier. (unique to each mission) and the These examples show how reuse is i n f ra s t r u c t u re so ftwa re. It is a se lf- beginning to happen at the higher level standing piece of software. of the space system lifecycle. A similar

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o f the new system, migration of t h e i t s e l f be reused in a new laye r, the Rosetta system to the new interplanetary Mission Fa m i ly Kernel. This delta kernel was stra i g h t fo r wa rd, taking a few approach encourages new missions to m o n t h s. Fo l l ow ing this, migrating the make their new features or improve- Mars Express MCS was even quicke r, ments generic. Migration to new lasting only a few we e k s. versions of the infrastructure software can be done by one mission (say, a new Cost, schedule, quality and risk family member), and the other missions The delta ap p roach achieves cost in the family may then benefit from it reduction by having: with minimal risk and effort. ESOC simulators have also benefited – less system specification, design and from this approach. With a common development effort; simulation framework, standardisation – less validation effort; of external interfaces, internal interfaces kernel layer allows missions to build up – shortened project elapsed time; and components, a high-level of reuse initial operational experience on new – higher software quality; has been achieved. Simu l ator costs, features that are of general interest and – lower risk because of the validation by h oweve r, remain sensitive to the could be introduced into the infra- earlier missions in the family. differences between the spacecraft they structure software at a later stage. Thus simulate. By the same token, they are the mission family kernel is like an The illustrations show that the reduced as standardisation of space and operational laboratory where require- d evelopment costs prog re s s ive ly decre a s e ground segments subsystems, interfaces ments are refined, experimented with and that the earlier missions have to pay and processes consolidate. and modified until they are mature and the price of an earlier (less rich and stabl e ) ESOC has drawn its proven infra- stable. At this point, the new generic i n f ra s t r u c t u re softwa re and of being the s t r u c t u res for MCS and Ope rat i o n a l f e at u res may be imported into the first implementers of the mission family S i mu l ators togethe r to provide the i n f ra s t r u c t u re softwa re. A successful kernel. Clearly, one has also to factor into EGOS open, flexible infrastructure that mission family kernel will thus be the interpre t ation of these figures the stimulates reuse during all project phases reduced to nothing as this importing c o m p l exit y of th e s pa ce c raf t, whic h is and from one project to another. This process proceeds! c e r t a i n ly higher for the interplanetary provides a virtuous circle of improving The infra s t r u c t u re softwa re must also f a m i ly. Additi onal c os t savings c an be q u al it y an d i n c rea s in g r e u s e, wh i c h evo l ve to take account of n ew versions of a c h i eved during maintenance. results in lower costs and improve d the operating system and commerc i a l - service for the end users. o ff - t h e - s h e l f s o f t wa re, as we ll a s c h an ge s Conclusions Last but not least, it is worth stressing resulting from fault correction during There are benefits in taking the delta that the whole field of ground segment maintenance and, last but not least, approach to building mission control engineering and operations benefits major functional upgra d e s. Migration of systems and simulators, and splitting the from the family mission approach. This g round softwa re to new versions can be a mission ground software into layers for a l l ows c o mb in at i o n or c oo p e rat i o n major effort, involving ex t e n s ive testing p rog re s s i ve re u s e. S o ftwa re is b e t ween teams for the indiv i d u a l and va l i d ation by developers and the systematically reused, focusing specifi- families in all specialist areas, ranging Flight Control Team. For missions in cations, design and development on the f rom ground stat i o n s, mission dat a their operational phase, the effort and differences. The new software may then systems and flight dynamics to ground o p e rational risks are often considered to segment operations and spacecra f t be too high, so missions in their ro u t i n e o p e rat i o n s. O n the op erati on s sid e, phase are usually reluctant to take new similarities between missions and i n f ra s t r u c t u re ve r s i o n s. Howeve r, the between the systems on the ground used mission family ap p roach can help to to operate them save on training and re m ove this barrier. For ex a m p l e, wh e n o p e rations costs, leading to fewe r Ve nus Express was preparing for launch, operations staff per mission, as well as its MCS was based on the most re c e n t f a c i l i t ating mobility of s t a ff b e t we e n SCOS-2000 (at that time, version 3.1), m i s s i o n s. I n s ho r t , k now l e d ge r e u s e whilst the alre a dy - flying Rosetta and within the various engineering teams Mars Express continued to use the a n d th e i n fra s t r u c t u re it sel f i s p revious version. Once the Ve nus Expre s s maximised, with considerable benefits in p roject completed operational va l i d at i o n cost and risk reduction. e

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Programmes

PROJECT SPACE TELESCOPE

ULYSSES

Programmes SOHO

HUYGENS

XMM-NEWTON

CLUSTER

INTEGRAL

MARS EXPRESS

SMART-1

SCIENTIFIC DOUBLE STAR PROGRAMME in Progress ROSETTA VENUS EXPRESS

HERSCHEL/PLANCK

LISA PATHFINDER Status end-March 2007 GAIA JWST

BEPICOLOMBO

METEOSAT-5/6/7

ERS-2

ENVISAT

MSG

METOP

CRYOSAT

GOCE PROGRAMME

EARTH OBSERVATION EARTH SMOS

ADM-AEOLUS

SWARM

EARTHCARE

ARTEMIS

ALPHABUS

SMALL GEO SAT.

GNSS-1/EGNOS COMMS./NAV. PROGRAMME

GALILEOSAT

PROBA-1

PROBA-2 PROG.

TECHNOL. SLOSHSAT

COLUMBUS

ATV

NODE-2 & -3 & CUPOLA

ERA

ISS BARTER & UTIL. PREP.

EMIR/ELIPS

MFC & EXPLORATION PROGRAMME & EXPLORATION ASTRONAUT FLT. HUMAN SPACEFLIGHT, MICROGRAVITY HUMAN SPACEFLIGHT,

AURORA CORE

EXOMARS

ARIANE-5

VEGA PROG.

LAUNCHER SOYUZ AT CSG

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In Progress

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 JFMAMJJASONDJFMAMJJASONDJFMAMJJASONDJFMAMJJASONDJFMAMJJASONDJFMAMJJASONDJFMAMJJASONDJFMAMJJASONDJFMAMJJASOND COMMENTS LAUNCHED APRIL1990

LAUNCHED OCTOBER 1990

LAUNCHED DECEMBER 1995

LAUNCHED OCTOBER 1997

LAUNCHED DECEMBER 1999

RE-LAUNCHED MID-2000

LAUNCHED OCTOBER 2002

LAUNCHED JUNE 2003

LAUNCHED SEPTEMBER 2003 TC-1 LAUNCHED DECEMBER. 2003 TC-2 LAUNCHED JULY 2004 LAUNCHED MARCH 2004

LAUNCHED NOVEMBER 2005

LAUNCH JULY 2008

LAUNCH 1st QUARTER 2010

LAUNCH END-2011

LAUNCH JUNE 2013

LAUNCH AUGUST 2013

M5 LAUNCHED 1991, M6 1993, M7 1997

LAUNCHED APRIL 1995

LAUNCHED MARCH 2002

MSG-1 MSG-2 MSG-3 LAUNCH 2011, MSG-4 LAUNCH 2013 METOP-A LAUNCH OCTOBER 2006, METOP-B 2010, METOP-C 2015 LAUNCH FAILURE OCTOBER 2005 CRYOSAT-2 LAUNCH MARCH 2009 LAUNCH DECEMBER 2007

LAUNCH MAY 2008

LAUNCH JUNE 2009

LAUNCH 2010

LAUNCH END-2012

LAUNCHED JULY 2001

LAUNCH 2011

LAUNCH END-2010

OPERATIONS START 2007

GIOVE-A GIOVE-B GIOVE-A LAUNCHED DEC. 2005 GIOVE-B LAUNCH END-2007, IOV END-2008/2009 LAUNCHED OCTOBER 2001

LAUNCH MAY 2008

LAUNCHED FEBRUARY 2005

LAUNCH DECEMBER 2007

FIRST LAUNCH NOVEMBER 2007

LAUNCHES OCTOBER 2007 & APRIL 2010 CUPOLA WITH NODE-3 LAUNCH NOT BEFORE END-2009

MSG MELFI 1 EDR/EUTEF/SOLAR MELFI 2 EDR/EUTEF/SOLAR WITH COLUMBUS FOTON-MI APCF-6/BIOBOX-5/ MATROSHKA FOTON-M2 TEXUS-42 MAXUS-7/TEXUS-43 TEXUS-44/45MASER-11 MARES ARMS/BIOPACK/ PFS EML-1 FAST-2/ERISTO MASER-10 EMCS/ MAXUS-8 MAXUS-6 PEMS FOTON-M3 PCDF MSL BIO, FSL, EPM with COLUMBUS

LAUNCH MID-2013

OPERATIONAL

FIRST LAUNCH SEPTEMBER 2008

READY FOR LAUNCH DECEMBER 2008

DEFINITION PHASE MAIN DEVELOPMENT PHASE STORAGE

LAUNCH/READY FOR LAUNCH OPERATIONS ADDITIONAL LIFE POSSIBLE

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Programmes

mission to observe a complete mean solar HST cycle (11.1 years).

A team of European and US scientists Solar energetic particle (SEP) events from obtained this Hubble Space Telescope view the Sun are a major element of space (right) of the nearby barred spiral galaxy weather. They can damage space missions NGC 1672, showing details in the star- and pose a serious hazard to humans in forming clouds and dark bands of interstellar space. A new study based on COSTEP data dust. Some of the most striking features are demonstrates the possibility of short-term the dust lanes that extend from the nucleus forecasting of the appearance and the and follow the inner edges of the galaxy’s intensity of SEP events by means of spiral arms. Clusters of hot young blue stars relativistic electrons, which arrive about an are forming along the spiral and ionising the hour ahead of the more dangerous ions. The surrounding clouds of hydrogen gas new method is already in trial operational use (glowing red). Curtains of dust partially by NASA Johnson Space Center’s Space obscure and redden the light of the stars Radiation Analysis Group for protecting behind them by scattering blue light. Galaxies astronauts aboard the International Space lying behind NGC 1672 give the illusion they Station. are embedded in the foreground galaxy, even though they are really much farther away. A NGC 1672 imaged by HST in August 2005. See the In Brief news few bright foreground stars inside our own pages for a larger version of this photograph Galaxy appear as bright objects. As a Cassini-Huygens prototypical barred spiral galaxy, NGC 1672 differs from normal spiral galaxies in that the minimum of 360 km/s, and the proton ESA, COSPAR and NASA have honoured arms do not twist all the way into the centre. density dropped by more than two orders of Prof Hubert Curien’s contribution to Instead, they are attached to the ends of a magnitude. Simultaneously, very large fluxes European space research by naming the straight bar of stars enclosing the nucleus. of molecular and singly- and doubly-charged Huygens landing site on Titan after him. Viewed nearly face on, NGC 1672 shows atomic ions of cometary origin were intense star-formation regions, especially at detected. Although no shocks were observed New images taken by Cassini’s Visual and IR the ends of its central bar. during the encounter, the magnetic field Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) in October strength was slightly enhanced in broad 2006 revealed a 6-sided feature almost The manifest for HST Servicing Mission 4, regions at the leading and trailing edges of 25 000 km across, circling the entire north planned for September 2008, includes two the comet’s tail. This is the third confirmed pole of Saturn. Such a feature has never new instruments: the Wide-Field Camera 3 crossing of a comet tail during the mission been seen on any other planet before and its and the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph, plus (the others being Hyakutake in 1996 and nature is not yet understood. several life-extending items such as McNaught-Hartley in 2000). gyroscopes and batteries. The astronauts will The final presentation of the Huygens very also attempt to repair the Space Telescope long baseline interferometry activities took Imaging Spectrograph, which failed in place at ESTEC on 8 February. The results August 2004. SOHO concerning the Huygens trajectory are

SOHO ran a highly successful and intense This hexagon-like vortex in Saturn’s atmosphere was captured by campaign with the Japanese Hinode satellite Cassini/VIMS on 29 Octover 2006. (NASA/JPL/Univ. Arizona) Ulysses in April. More than 30 observing programmes addressed a large variety of During a ~4.5-day period starting on solar phenomena, including explosive events, 5 February, Ulysses encountered the tail loop oscillations, MHD wave propagation, region of Comet C/2006 P1 McNaught. The coronal hole structures, prominences, active probe was then at a heliocentric distance of region structures and dynamics, and coronal ~2.4 AU and 79º south heliographic latitude. heating. This joint campaign will be followed The region of disturbance in the solar wind by a 2-week high-cadence SOHO/STEREO produced by the comet was nearly 10 Mkm campaign. wide. During the encounter, the speed of the solar wind dropped from ~750 km/s to a SOHO recently became the first solar physics

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In Progress

excellent and indicate some meridonal drift taking place in a turbulent plasma. It had been of the probe that has yet to be explained. predicted in theory but never seen before. The four Cluster spacecraft, with high time resolution measurements, could observe it for Rosetta the first time. Development of the Cluster Active Archive The Mars swingby on 25 February was an continues steadily; the archive now has 386 excellent opportunity to make observations registered users. It will produce extensive sets of Mars and its environment, although of pre-generated plots from all spacecraft that science was only a secondary objective of illustrate the various data products. This work the gravity assist. OSIRIS, VIRTIS, ALICE and is approaching completion and is expected to the Navigation Camera observed the planet be available in April 2007. over a broad range of wavelengths. RPC studied the solar wind interaction with Mars, The Cluster fleet is now in the second mission while the Standard Radiation Monitor The CIVA camera on Rosetta’s Philae lander captured this image extension phase and in its 7th year in orbit. gathered valuable data on the radiation of Mars and the spacecraft itself just 4 minutes before closest The satellites are in a multi-scale arrangement, environment for future human missions. approach on 25 February. The Mawrth Vallis region is visible on forming a 10 000 km triangle with two craft the planet’s disc. (CIVA/Philae/ESA Rosetta) 500 km apart at one of the vertices. Since the spacecraft passed through an eclipse during closest approach to Mars, the surrounded by a faint shell. The central orbiter payload had to be switched off. emissions show an overabundance of iron – However, the Philae Lander continued a characteristic of white dwarf collapse Double Star observations running on its own power. (Type Ia) – rather than the more common Stunning images of the Mars surface were Type II SNR due to the explosion of a On 7 February, a team of Chinese and taken by Philae’s CIVA camera. ROMAP, the massive star. However, the gas in the European scientists published a paper lander’s plasma and magnetometer remnants is much denser and brighter in describing how Cluster and Double Star instrument, provided excellent data. X-rays than expected from Type Ia observed a flux transfer event (a huge explosions. This implies that the white magnetic tube where plasma from the solar The flyby demonstrated the excellent dwarves exploded into very dense wind enters the magnetosphere) for the first capabilities and performance of both the environments that could only be produced by time at small- and large-scale simultaneously. Rosetta spacecraft and its scientific payload. the winds of very massive stars. Since such All the observations, including magnetic massive stars have very short lives, this fluxes, orientations and hot-ion velocity means that Type Ia supernovae could occur distributions, strongly suggest that Cluster much earlier in the Universe’s history than and Double Star encountered the same flux XMM-Newton expected. This means they can be used to tube at two different positions along its length. probe the expansion of the Universe at these Such new results allow us to understand how XMM-Newton and NASA’s Chandra X-ray early epochs. Another possibility is that these the solar wind connects to the Earth’s observatory have found evidence for a new Type Ia explosions differ in other properties. magnetic field. class of supernova. Thermonuclear (Type Ia) If so, the assumption they are standard supernova occur in binary systems when a candles may have to be revised, complicating In October 2007, TC-1 will enter the Earth’s white dwarf star becomes so massive as it the study of Dark Energy and Matter. atmosphere. The Chinese have confirmed their accretes material from a companion star that intention to continue operating TC-2 after that. it collapses and forms an incredibly dense XMM-Newton completed 1338 revolutions on For ESA, TC-2 operations will be much neutron star. These supernovae are often 31 March 2007. The winter 2007 eclipse simpler because it will involve only two used as ‘standard candles’, which help to season passed as expected. instruments instead of the current eight. investigate the nature of Dark Energy and Matter.

However, observations of two supernova Cluster Integral remnants (SNRs) DEM L238 and DEM L249, have cast doubt on the standard models of A paper published by Retino (IRF Uppsala) in Integral astronomers have detected what Type Ia explosions. The observations Nature Physics using Cluster data showed, appears to be the fastest spinning neutron revealed a bright central emission for the first time, magnetic reconnection star yet. This tiny stellar corpse, probably only

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Programmes

20 km in diameter, is spinning 1122 times In operations, work focused on completing per second. XTE J1739-285 was discovered preparations for the quadrature phase during an active phase in October 1999 using operations (May–June 2007). A review is NASA’s Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) planned for April partly because the activities satellite. In August 2005, while Integral was are complicated by new illumination performing its regular monitoring of the constraints for one of the instruments. central regions of our Galaxy, XTE J1739-285 was observed to be active again. About a With the support of the NASA Deep Space month later, Integral saw X-ray bursts from it Network ground stations, a successful and alerted the RXTE team. In total, the two VIRTIS-movie observation was executed and satellites observed around 20 bursts. downlinked. During earlier observations, Previous observations of other neutron stars VIRTIS detected oxygen-airglow on the have shown that the X-rays emitted during nightside of Venus (see the In Brief news bursts can oscillate with the star’s rotation pages in this issue). This airglow is produced rate. The team searched the XTE J1739-285 when oxygen atoms, ‘migrating’ from the Star formation as revealed by Akari’s wide-area survey in the bursts for evidence of oscillations. What they dayside to the nightside of the atmosphere, reflection nebula IC4954/4955. The observations in seven found was astonishing; in the brightest burst recombine into molecular oxygen and in the different infrared wavelengths revealed a continuing cycle of star formation over three generations, across enormous spatial scales there were indeed oscillations, but they were process emit light. (the image is roughly 15 light years wide) nearly twice as fast as any previously observed. The 1122 rev/s is very close to the fastest possible rate for a neutron star the pointed observations programme, despite – much faster and it would fly apart. Akari (Astro-F) increasing operational constraints. More than 200 European observations had been Since its launch in February 2006, Akari, a performed by the end of March. The Data JAXA mission with ESA participation, is Archive repository was opened to the Mars Express working almost flawlessly after a difficult Japanese, Korean and European users in start to operations and has already produced early March, with a substantial contribution A major Mars Express paper describing outstanding views of the infrared Universe. from ESAC, in the form of documentation and some of the more recent Marsis findings was New results, presented in March 2007 at the processing tools testing. published in Science on 15 March, entitled annual meeting of the National Astronomical ‘Subsurface radar sounding of the South Society of Japan, provide unprecedented polar layered deposits of Mars’, by Plaut, glimpses of regions of intense star Picardi and co-authors. formation, views of stars at the very ends of Herschel/Planck their lives, a supernova remnant never A Mars Express data workshop will be held detected before in the infrared, distant The Herschel and Planck FMs are now in final at ESAC 11–15 June. This new initiative galaxies and a galaxy harbouring a black hole acceptance testing. The Herschel cryostat appears to be welcomed by the community. surrounded by clouds of molecular gas. completed its second cryogenic test phase, The first workshop will focus on with the major test being the demonstration (co-)analysing HRSC and OMEGA data. About 80% of the entire sky has so far been of the lifetime of the helium system under imaged by Akari. The mission is currently in simulated orbital conditions in the Large a phase dedicated to pointed observations, Space Simulator at ESTEC. The cryostat was interleaved with survey gap-filling shipped back to Astrium for the FM Venus Express observations. It is expected that the liquid instruments to be installed. The Herschel helium cryogen will last until at least Service Module was delivered to Astrium at Venus Express continues to perform its September 2007, 4 months longer than post- the end of 2007; the electrical and functional routine operations. A session dedicated to launch expectations. ESA’s contributions to checkout in preparation for the mating with results from Venus Express was held at the the mission are working well: regular and the cryostat this summer is progressing well. 2007 European Geophysical Union meeting efficient ground station coverage from Kiruna Herschel’s scientific instruments are in the in Vienna. Preparations are under way for a (S) and pointing reconstruction software, final stage of calibration testing and will be special section in Nature on science results. developed at ESAC, which is already delivered in the coming months. The Science Team, at a meeting combined providing the accuracy expected at the end of with a Venus science workshop, discussed the mission. The ESAC team is in close Planck spacecraft activities continue potential future orbit changes to allow for contact with the Open Time users in Europe, according to plan. The spacecraft is almost new types of observations. to maximise the overall scientific return of fully assembled and already under functional

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In Progress

The Planck Flight Model: the telescope in front and the spacecraft at the back, in the final stages of integration

The FM carbon fibre structure of the LISA Science Module (Oerlikon Contraves, CH)

testing, with final mechanical and electrical technologies. The progress is apparent for studying in parallel the potential use of cold integration of electrical units of the scientific both and the many difficulties encountered gas as a micropropulsion alternative, with instruments to the satellite panels. A major are being overcome. The technology suited access to the corresponding activities under milestone was mounting the focal plane units to the need will be selected at the end of way for Gaia. of the two instruments onto the spacecraft. 2007. The final mounting of the telescope and the alignment to the HFI and LFI focal plane unit For the LISA Technology Package, many are imminent and will complete the major subsystem CDRs have taken place and good Gaia mechanical integration activities. progress is being made. Many electrical units have been built and delivered to Astrium Nearly all subcontractors for the flight The Herschel telescope is available and is in GmbH for the Real Time Test Bench. The hardware have been competitively selected; storage until its integration into the most critical subsystems are still the inertial the last two procurements are in the final spacecraft. sensor vacuum enclosure, the electrostatic stage of proposal evaluation. A small amount suspension front-end electronics and the of ground test equipment remains to be caging mechanism. Successful tests have procured in the very near future. been carried out on all these subsystems. LISA Pathfinder Preparations for the Mission PDR are well The launch is expected to take place in the under way and the spacecraft data package The SMART-2/LISA activities are proceeding first quarter of 2009. will be delivered by the Prime Contractor in largely according to schedule. The main April. Despite the fact that this system review activity in the reporting period was the has not yet been held, a significant number finalisation and consolidation of the of subsystem reviews have already been spacecraft design, in preparation for the Microscope held. In particular, the design review of the CDR. In parallel, all the spacecraft subsystems completed their PDRs and In January, CNES held three keypoint reviews The optical face of the first FM secondary mirror blank for Gaia. equipment underwent their Qualification on mission performances, satellite The optical surface accuracy of better than 50 μm rms will be Reviews. Some subsystems also had CDRs. alternatives and payload. The Phase-C/D improved by polishing to better than 10 nm rms The FMs of a few subsystems are already contract with ONERA for the development of built, such as the primary structure of the the T-SAGE accelerometer was accepted and Science Module and the Digital Sun Sensors. Phase-C kick-off is planned in May. The two European micropropulsion technologies (needle indium thrusters and All FEEP electric propulsion activities are slit caesium thrusters) continue to be being performed under the LISA Pathfinder developed to prove the readiness of the development activities Phase-1. CNES is

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Programmes

The silicon carbide baseplate of JWST’s NIRSpec optical bench

Focal Plane Assembly, consisting of about 108 densely packed electronics boxes, ended successfully.

The first pieces of flight hardware are being delivered. The first set of silicon carbide flight mirror blanks has been received and forwarded to the subcontractor for polishing.

The response to the Announcement of Opportunity for the Gaia Data Analysis and Processing Centre submitted by a European consortium was analysed and the results of the evaluation discussed with the proposing Recovery of the filter wheel assembly design The instrument design and prototyping is consortium. is nearing completion, with an anticipated proceeding according to plan. However, close out in April. The Integration of the some instruments impose a high thermal Instrument Verification Model (VM) kicked load on the spacecraft and the overall off. A split delivery of the JPL-provided payload mass is growing. This development JWST detector and detector electronics will is being closely monitored with the Principal minimise impact on the VM programme. Investigator teams. All the JWST critical technologies, including Firm plans for beginning Qualification Model the MIRI cryocoolers, have passed the and FM subassembly manufacture are A technology status review was held with the Technology Readiness Level 6. This status established. Industrial Core Team in order to confirm was confirmed by the JWST Independent readiness for starting equipment Review Team. TRL-6 requires a system or Preparation for the launcher PDR analysis procurement and high-priority development subsystem model or prototype campaign (RAMP) is under way, with a activities. The equipment procurement plan demonstration in the relevant environment planned start in June. was consolidated and presented at the (ground or space); it is one of the main Industrial Space Day, which was attended by criteria for formally passing into mission a large number of representatives from implementation (Phase-C). BepiColombo European industry. All the primary mirror segments and the The System Requirements Review was held secondary mirror blank have finished their The contract proposal for the Implementation and the Board concluded that the back and front face machining. Phase was approved by the Industrial Policy requirements specifications must be Committee and the mission was then consolidated before beginning equipment For NIRSpec, the detailed design phase of all adopted by the Scientific Programme procurement. This is planned to be the SiC ceramic parts was completed and the Committee. The Memorandum of completed before mid-May. manufacturing of the remaining optical bench Understanding with JAXA for the Mercury and camera optics ceramic blanks was Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO) was released. The redesign of the grating and approved by the Council. The commitment filter wheel assemblies is nearing from the Lead Funding Agencies to support LISA completion, with a delta-PDR planned for the the BepiColombo payload was formalised in end of April. a Multi-Lateral Agreement between ESA and The Mission Formulation activity performed the European Lead Funding Agencies. This by Astrium (D) has been extended until July MIRI’s instrument-level CDR was concluded. agreement was approved by the SPC. 2008 and is now in Phase-3, which includes

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In Progress

a trade-off of the In-Field of View architecture Space (AAS-I) in Turin. Integrated system the development of the satellite hardware with different positions of the test masses. tests were carried out on the two Satellite-to- continued and in March passed an important Satellite Tracking Instrument (SSTI) FMs and milestone: the delivery of the structure. This The analysis of alternative payload concepts on the Gradiometer PFM electronic units is the satellite’s ‘chassis’ and its installation proceeds and a telescope design was connected to the upgraded Gradiometer Core in the cleanroom at Astrium in finalised, aiming at a simplified mechanical Structural & Thermal Model. Some Friedrichshafen (D) marks the real start of accommodation. The mechanical design of anomalies were detected during final the integration of the satellite hardware. At the alternative payload concept is being acceptance testing of the overall Ion the same time, the Engineering Model flight updated accordingly. The optical truss Propulsion Assembly (IPA) FM when firing computer, refurbished to CryoSat-2 standard, analysis and design is being tailored to the the thrusters close to their maximum level. was delivered and is now being integrated new telescope design. This was solved by inserting filters between into the ‘virtual satellite’ set-up that will be the thrusters and the power supplies. The used for test development. The cooperation with NASA proceeds well on investigation of the anomalies and the all fronts. The review for the prioritisation of design, manufacturing and testing of the The ground segment activities are also the NASA ‘Beyond Einstein’ programme flight filters led to delays in the completion of starting up. The first stage was the initiated by NASA HQ and performed by the the IPA final acceptance testing, which is generation of the documentation that National Research Council (BEPAC) is under estimated to last until the end of April. identifies the changes required induced by way. changes on the satellite. For example, the For the launch vehicle, a delta-CDR was introduction of redundancy in the payload Owing to the revised implementation strategy performed with Eurockot at the beginning of means that two sets of characterisation data of the Cosmic Vision 2015–2025 March. The primary objectives were the have to be managed, which introduces some programme, LISA’s status was modified. verification of the close-out of the corrective changes in the original concept. These Programmatically, the launch of LISA earlier actions established after the CryoSat launch documents will be reviewed in a Ground than 2017 is incompatible with the planned failure and the acquisition of the necessary Segment PDR in May 2007. financial situation. LISA was therefore shifted confidence in the development, reliability and to the Cosmic Vision planning window of verification of GOCE mission-specific 2015–2025, where LISA will compete as a adaptations. candidate for the first large mission (L-class SMOS mission). The GOCE Ground Segment Overall Validation activities are running nominally, After delivery of all remaining subsystem with tests performed between the Reference units in late 2006, the payload PFM Planning Facility, the Flight Operations integration was completed in January, GOCE Segment and the Payload Data Segment. In followed by full deployment tests of all three addition, a System Validation Test was radiometer arms in February. The payload Following the completion of the performed, with exchange of commands/ module with all Ground Support Equipment environmental testing and final functional telemetry between ESOC and the satellite FM was transported to ESTEC for the verification of the sixth Accelerometer Sensor in Turin. Work progressed nominally on the environmental test programme. Head (ASH) Flight Models (FMs), the third Calibration and Monitoring Facility, where and last pair of ASHs was delivered by factory acceptance testing of all tools was Firstly, the payload mass, centre of gravity ONERA in mid-February. The pair was then completed. The CDR of Version-3 of the and moments of inertia were measured. This integrated in the Gradiometer Core Proto- Level-1 to Level-2 High Level Processing was followed by the acoustic test in the flight Model (PFM), including the alignment Facility of the European GOCE Gravity Large European Acoustic Facility. The of all six ASH FMs and one-axis gradiometer Consortium was completed as part of the payload was then transferred to the Large arms. This completes the integration of the bridging phase kicked-off last November. Space Simulator and fully deployed and Gradiometer Core PFM, which will be suspended in a sophisticated zero-gravity jig. subjected to mechanical and thermal vacuum Chamber closure and pump-down took place acceptance testing in April. The completion on 14 April, with a programme of different of all six ASH FMs and their integration in the CryoSat-2 illumination and thermal conditions expected Gradiometer Core carbon-carbon structure is to continue for the rest of April. a fundamental milestone for the GOCE The changes required to the design of programme. CryoSat-2 were scrutinised from December The Proteus platform dedicated to the SMOS 2006 to January 2007. This delta-CDR was mission has been formally accepted and is Satellite PFM integration and testing activities completed on 1 February, with no significant waiting to be integrated with the payload continued, in double shifts, at Alcatel Alenia points of concern found. In the meantime, module once its test programme is

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Programmes

The SMOS payload ready for thermal testing in ESTEC’s Large Space Simulator

the FM. In the meantime, the laser for the Airborne Demonstrator was modified to allow single-frequency operation in the environment of the aircraft. A proving flight will be performed before the first airborne campaign in autumn 2007.

Swarm

The PDR was completed and the kick-off of Phase-C/D is planned for mid-April. The procurement activity for the satellites’ instruments and equipment is near completed. Validation of the flight software is laser. Test data after 6 months of operation completion, with the remaining continuing on a simulator bench with the are available and show that the observed procurements to be completed within payload Engineering Model. level of degradation of the laser diodes is Phase-C. fully compatible with a 3-year operation of Ground segment deliveries are progressing, the transmitter laser in flight. For additional Analyses are under way on the candidate with the most visible part being the 3.5 m- confidence, the qualification batch of the launchers. The launcher performance for diameter dish antenna being installed at laser diodes continues to be run to confirm Eurockot and Dnepr were clarified, detailed ESAC. Stepped integration testing has begun the expected long-term behaviour. accommodation design is under way on the and will continue throughout the year as satellite side, and the launch providers are more facilities become available. Integration of the FM platform continues, and studying the complex dispenser needed to the onboard software is being tested on the carry the three satellites. satellite platform. The formal test campaign at platform level has started. The first The PDRs of the Absolute Scalar ADM-Aeolus versions of the L1B and L2B processors Magnetometer and Electrical Field were completed and delivered for further instruments are completed. The PDRs of the Progress has been made in improving the testing with the science teams. other instruments/spacecraft units are under thermo-mechanical stability of the way and will be finalised during Phase-C. transmitter laser. Tests using a different For the ALADIN Airborne Demonstrator, the adhesive to bond the laser mirrors to their data evaluation from the first ground-based Preparation of the ground segment is mounts showed significantly improved campaign gave new insight and led to a progressing, with the mission stability in thermal tests and in vacuum. In a refinement of some alignment procedures of implementation requirement documents design review, it was decided to implement being well advanced for both ESRIN and this process for the most sensitive mirrors of ESOC tasks. Definition of the Level-1b the flight laser together with some minor algorithms is under way. Preparation for mechanical modifications in the Master Level-2 processing has begun, and several Oscillator baseplate. The implementation of support studies are running. these changes and a parallel requalification programme for the new adhesive are under way. The Earth’s magnetic field is produced mainly by a self-sustaining dynamo in the fluid outer core. Swarm’s 3-satellite constellation A further step forward was the qualification will measured this, together with other contributions. of the laser diode stacks for the transmitter (GeoForschungszentrum Potsdam)

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In Progress

MSG-4 in the Compact Antenna Test Range at Thales Alenia Space (Cannes, F) to check the performance of the MetOp AVHRR image from November 2006 during the System antenna system In-Orbit Verification campaign

MetOp

MetOp-A, launched successfully on 19 October 2006, went through its early operations phase to 22 October 2006, under ESOC control, without incident. The In-Orbit Verification phase then began, with very smoothly. Overall, the system should Meteosat-9/MSG-2 the successive switch-on and check-out of prove to be highly successful. East-west stationkeeping manoeuvres were the instruments. By the end of 2006, all performed on 6 February. Eumetsat is instruments had been switched on and ‘first The project and industrial activities are now preparing Meteosat-9 to take over from light’ data were available. No major in a standby mode, with MetOp-1 (MetOp-B) Meteosat-8 as the operational satellite at 0º anomalies were encountered for the and MetOp-3 (MetOp-C) in storage, waiting longitude by April 2007. instruments; performance was as expected. for the restart in 2009 for the next launch (MetOp-B), in 2010. MSG-3 The System In-Orbit Verification phase It is planned to move MSG-3 this summer successfully concluded on 29 March 2007. from its intermediate storage in the Thales Eumetsat, supported by ESA, then began Alenia Space cleanroom into long-term the Commissioning phase, including MSG storage. Launch is projected for early calibration/ validation, for the overall 2011. system. This should be completed in mid- Meteosat-8/MSG-1 May, so that routine operations can then An east-west stationkeeping manoeuvre was MSG-4 begin. performed on 20 February, with nominal After the completion of the environmental satellite behaviour. It is planned that tests on at Thales Alenia Space, the The performance of the new instruments Meteosat-8 will operate in Rapid Scan mode Pre-Storage Review (PSR) cycle began. looks very promising, with results once Meteosat-9 becomes the operational Following PSR, MSG-4 will be prepared for consistently better than specification. The satellite. Instrument performance remains long-term storage. Launch is not expected ground segment has also largely worked excellent. before 2013.

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Programmes

ISS, involving two EVAs. Eyharts will help to being prepared before closing out the Human Spaceflight, commission Columbus before returning laboratory for flight. SVT2 was conducted for home, some 2 months later, aboard Shuttle EuTEF, and SOLAR completed its qualification Microgravity & Endeavour STS-123. tests in readiness for a final SVT in late spring. Both payloads will be shipped to KSC Exploration The launch schedule for 2007 is delayed by July in readiness for integration on the because of damage to Shuttle Atlantis ICC-Lite carrier, to be launched with sustained during a severe hailstorm. As a Columbus. Development of the other Highlights result, the flights of Node-2, Columbus and Columbus experiments, including GeoFlow, After the highly successful missions in the their crews have moved by a few weeks. WAICO and FlyWheel are progressing well latter part of 2006 for Thomas Reiter There is a possibility that this will also affect and are scheduled for delivery in time for (Astrolab) and Christer Fugelsang (Celsius), the launch window of ATV Jules Verne. installation in the module. The Columbus the post-flight reviews were held at ESTEC in Control Centre and many of the USOCs have February. Participating alongside the ESA Space Infrastructure Development completed their qualification and acceptance astronauts were Russian and NASA ATV Jules Verne completed thermal vacuum processes (and supported Reiter’s Astrolab representatives, scientists, User Support testing at ESTEC and continued functional mission). Operations Centre (USOC) and industry qualification testing in the Functional representatives, and ESA Staff. On 26 March Simulation Facility (FSF) at the prime Node-2 is in the final stages of preparation for Reiter, as part of a busy programme of contractor’s plant in Les Mureaux (F). launch in October, having completed the flush events, delivered a well-received speech to Rendezvous and docking tests were and fill of the Internal Thermal Control the European Union Heads of State and completed in the Val de Reuil facility using a System. Node-3 completed its element leak Government in Berlin. Fuglesang’s activities model of the ISS aft end and the ATV test, Engineering Review and Preliminary included events in Sweden and Rome, along sensors. Several System Validation and Acceptance Review. Meanwhile, discussions with a crew trip to the NASA Marshall Space Bilateral Interface tests (SVT, BIVP) were concluded with NASA to transfer more work Flight Center. conducted using Jules Verne and/or the FSF, from KSC/Boeing to AAS-I in Turin. ATV Jules the ATV Control Centre and the Houston/ Verne underwent thermal vacuum testing at The next ESA astronaut flight will be that of Moscow ISS control centres. Joint integrated ESTEC. Phase-3 of the functional qualification Paolo Nespoli (I), who will be part of the mission simulations are about to begin to programme began and 12 further tests were STS-120 Shuttle crew to install the validate the mission design and to train the completed during February at the FSF. Node-3 European-built Node-2 on the ISS. Léopold flight and ground control crews. Discussions will be launched, together with the Cupola Eyharts (F) is assigned as a member of the are under way with NASA on the potential (which is already at KSC), in early 2010. Expedition-16 crew. He will arrive on the ISS purchase of one or more ATVs. aboard Shuttle Discovery mission STS-122 Left: Thomas Reiter on his return to Germany after his 172-day together with colleague Hans Schlegel (D). The Columbus module underwent a final mission. Right: Christer Fuglesang is greeted by Michel Tognini Schlegel will help to install the Columbus functional system test at the Kennedy Space (Head of the ESA Astronaut Division) at the Kennedy Space laboratory and its external payloads on the Center; payload rack final minor changes are Center following his landing after the Celsius mission

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In Progress

Rendezvous and docking tests were completed in the Val de Reuil SUCCESS student contest winners (from left): Daniel Brandt facility using a model of the aft of ISS and the ATV sensors (second prize), Haakon Lindekleiv (first prize) and Cornelia Meyer (third prize)

Negotiations were completed covering the impact of a further delay to the launch of the for an experiment to fly on the ISS, was won European Robot Arm (ERA), which is now by Haakon Lindekleiv (N). His planned scheduled to be launched together with the research is into light flashes, the visual Russian MLM module on a Proton rocket in phenomena reported by many astronauts. He late 2009. proposes to use a modified is in Phase-C/D. It will study the electroretinograph (ERG) to find out if the The Technical Assessment Board for the developmental process in Nematode worms flash is caused by radiation passing through Atomic Clock Ensemble in Space (ACES)- and Rotifers (small multi-cellular animals) the eye or brain. Lindekleiv’s prize is to Space Hydrogen Maser (Swiss Clock, SHM) through several generations onboard the ISS. spend a year working at ESTEC to prepare concluded, confirming SHM design feasibility Both experiments will use EMCS. his experiment for flight on the ISS. and readiness to start development of the engineering and flight models. Close-out was ANITA (Analysing Interferometer for Ambient Astronaut Activities concluded before the ACES Mission PDR Air) was removed from the ATV-1 manifest Having been debriefed after their STS-116 board at the end of March. Phase-B began and formally manifested on STS-118 (13A.1). mission, the crew visited Europe, starting in following negotiation on the proposal from After testing at the NASA Johnson Space Sweden on 8 April and culminating at ESTEC Industry. Center, ANITA was shipped to KSC for final on 18 April. 1F testing with the Express rack. Utilisation Training for Hans Schlegel is in full swing The first scientific reports from Astrolab The first MELFI (Flight Unit-1, FU1) and included an EVA run with full Preparation indicate significant scientific achievements. continues to operate normally in orbit. The and Post-EVA checks. He also completed a Detailed data evaluation is in progress. draft Transfer of Ownership was delivered to 6-hour Dual Glove Box run with a Shuttle NASA for review. Tests for certifying higher thermal protection system repair in the GRAVI, ESA’s first experiment processed in water inlet temperatures for FU2 and FU3 vacuum chamber. Hans is slated to fly with the European Modular Cultivation System were completed. Shuttle mission STS-122 to deliver (EMCS) was successfully completed in Columbus to the ISS. Léopold Eyharts also Destiny. Development of the Multigen-1 A drop tower campaign for ‘Miller-Urey in continues training for launch on the same experiment passed its Flight Safety Review Microgravity Science Glovebox’ experiments mission; STS-122 will deliver him to the ISS and is on schedule for launch on Shuttle is earmarked for 29 May to 8 June at ZARM for a 2-month stay, returning on STS-123. STS-118/13A.1. The experiment will (D). The Catapult will be operational from investigate the effect of microgravity on mid-April, and will double the microgravity Paolo Nespoli is intensively training for Arabidopsis thaliana (thale cress) over a full time available for study. mission STS-120, which will deliver and life cycle, from germination to the next install Node-2 to allow further expansion of generate of seeds. Another challenging The SUCCESS contest, challenging European the Station. Launch is planned for October EMCS experiment, ROTIFIER-NEMATODES, university students to think of original ideas 2007.

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Programmes

separation test; preliminary phases of hardware-in-the-loop and Upper Composite electromagnetic compatibility tests.

The worksite in Kourou was opened and the first elements of the Mobile Gantry were delivered for integration to begin.

For the VERTA programme, a preliminary authorisation was issued to proceed for long- lead item procurement. This allows activities to begin aiming at the first VERTA flight, following the Vega qualification flight, by March 2009.

Soyuz at CSG

The Soyuz launch base construction site in Paolo Nespoli training at the NASA Johnson Space Center Sinnamary, French Guiana, was officially inaugurated on 26 February. A commemorative plaque was unveiled and a Frank De Winne’s training at the Johnson proposal for the Geophysical Environment stone from the Soyuz pad in Baikonur was Space Center included specialist training on Package study began in mid-March; the placed on the new site. Construction the Common Berthing Mechanism for contractors will present their findings during continues on schedule. docking Columbus. May. The CDR began on 5 March. This is a major The Expedition-15 crew continues ATV A call for ideas for the NEXT exploration milestone in the programme, to be followed training at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training science and technology mission within the later in 2007 by the Soyuz Ground Segment Centre (Moscow). The Expedition-16 prime Aurora Exploration Programme was issued. CDR. and backup crews underwent ATV part 1 A high number of proposals covering the training. different possible exploration targets were received. The outcome of the assessment will Exploration be presented to the HME advisory bodies FLPP ExoMars Phase-B1 continues apace, with before being submitted to the Programme Alcatel Alenia Space-Italy (AAS-I) building up Board. The selected ideas will be developed The Consolidated Contract integrating all its subcontractor team. Plans for a bridging through internal ESA studies. remaining activities from FLPP-1 was signed phase from the end of B1 to the planned in November 2006. The Authorisation to start of B2 were endorsed. The Systems Proceed and the contract for the Expander Requirement Review was completed and Demonstrator were also signed. preparations begun for the Implementation Vega Review. For the IXV Experimental Vehicle, the sea The Launch Vehicle CDR, the last major landing option was finally chosen after a Discussion on Technical Assistance milestone of the Vega programme for 2006, roundtable of European experts. IXV Agreements with NASA continues. Another began as planned on 20/21 December. The Phase-B2/C1 activities will soon begin, along ESA-Roskosmos interface meeting took place Zefiro-9, Zefiro-23 and Liquid Propulsion with work on the Building Blocks System in March. System CDRs have been completed. Concept Studies after industrial proposals have been received. The Payload Confirmation Review for the Several development tests were performed Pasteur scientific payload was completed; during the reporting period: Upper A review on Materials & Structures Part-2 model payloads were recommended to meet Composite mechanical and acoustic tests; activities at the end of October 2006 enabled the different mass allocations associated with Zefiro-23 motor case hydro-proofing and the procurement of raw materials and the the various mission configurations. The mechanical test on the skirts; Fairing/AVUM manufacture of various demonstrators.e

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News

‘Small GEO Satellite’ Contract companies was signed on 28 March in Berlin.

ESA and OHB (D) signed the With this initiative, ESA is helping EUR100 million framework to broaden the product range of contract in Berlin on 28 March to European industry by covering a develop the ‘Small Geostationary market segment where there are Satellite’ platform for no optimised European solutions. telecommunication missions. The e In Brief contract covers the first part of the initiative to define a general- purpose small geostationary The Small Geostationary Satellite will see its first platform that will enable launch by the end of 2010 Mars Water European companies to compete in the commercial The amount of water trapped in telecommunications market. mission. The payload is due to be frozen layers around Mars’ south selected in late 2007 or early polar region is equivalent to a To achieve this, ESA has set up a 2008 under an open tender liquid layer about 11 m deep new element under ARTES process, for launch by the end of covering the planet. This new (Advanced Research in 2010. estimate comes from mapping Telecommunications Systems). the thickness of the dusty ice by This ARTES-11 project was The platform will accommodate a the Mars Express MARSIS radar approved at the ministerial payload of up to 300 kg with instrument that has made more meeting of the ESA Council in power consumption of up to than 300 virtual slices through December 2005. 3 kW over a 15-year mission. layered deposits covering the pole. The radar sees through icy Divided into two parts, the The platform is being developed layers to the lower boundary, programme initially involves the by a consortium headed by OHB which in places is as deep as development and manufacture of that includes LuxSpace (L), the 3.7 km below the surface. the first Flight Model of a generic Swedish Space Corporation (S) bus. This work is included in the and Oerlikon Space (CH). An These deposits cover an area as contract that was signed by industrial cooperation agreement wide as a big portion of Europe. Giuseppe Viriglio, ESA Director of between OHB and these The amount of water they contain Telecommunication and has been estimated before, but Navigation, and Prof Manfred never with the level of confidence Fuchs, CEO of OHB-System AG. Mr Viriglio (far left), ESA's Director of this radar makes possible. Telecommunication and Navigation, The programme then involves the congratulates Prof Manfred Fuchs, CEO of OHB- MARSIS is also mapping the development, manufacture and System AG, on the contract to develop a small thickness of similar deposits at launch of the first demonstration geostationary platform the north pole.

Polar layered deposits hold most of the known water on modern Mars, though other areas of the planet appear to have been very wet at times in the past. Understanding the history and fate of water on Mars is a key to studying whether the planet has ever supported life.

The deposits extend beyond and beneath a polar cap of bright- white frozen carbon dioxide and water at the south pole. Dust

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In Brief

said Svedhem. “Not only will evolution is important. “First, we planetary science in general can use the distribution and benefit from this, but also motion of these fluorescent understanding Venus – its climate oxygen ‘clouds’ to understand and atmospheric dynamics –will how the atmospheric layers provide a better comprehension below move and behave,” said The bright radar echo from Mars’ south-polar layered deposits is at least 90% of the mechanisms that drive Giuseppe Piccioni, the other layered deposits. The white line on the lower frozen water. One area with an long-term climate evolution on Co-Principal Investigator on map traces the radar slice through the surface. especially bright reflection from Earth.” VIRTIS. “In this sense, the (NASA/JPL/ASI/ESA/Univ. of Rome/MOLA Science Team) the base of the deposits airglow is a real tracer of the puzzles researchers. It resembles New infrared data are now atmospheric dynamics on what a thin layer of liquid water available about Venus’ oxygen Venus.” darkens many of the layers. might look like to the radar airglow – a nightside feature that However, the strength of the echo instrument, but the conditions are makes the planet glow like a “Second, it provides new clues that the radar receives from the so cold that the presence of ‘space lantern’. “The oxygen on how the global atmospheric underlying rocky surface melted water is deemed to be airglow was discovered by chemistry works – a very suggests the composition of the highly unlikely. e ground observations, and challenging task indeed, and still observed by other missions to an open field of research. By Venus such as the Russian calculating the speed at which Venus Express Milestone Venera spacecraft and the US this chemical recombination Pioneer Venus Orbiter,” said takes place, we might be able to Pierre Drossart, Co-Principal understand if there are Venus Express, Europe’s first an extreme effort for all science Investigator on Venus Express’ mechanisms that favour it, and mission to Venus and the only teams, but it is definitely paying VIRTIS instrument. “However, the learn more about the production spacecraft now in orbit around back in terms of results.” global and detailed view we are and recombination of the other the planet, passed the first getting thanks to Venus Express chemical species.” anniversary of its arrival on The stunning first global views of is truly unprecedented.” 11 April. In its first year of the double-eyed vortex at Venus’ “Third, the observation of the observations, Venus Express has south pole, the first sets of 3-D The airglow is generated when airglow also allows a better been revealing details never seen data on the structure and the oxygen atoms recombine into understanding of the global before. dynamics of the sulphuric-acid molecules and fluoresce in the energy exchange between the clouds surrounding the planet in process. At high altitudes on the mesosphere, where the airglow The orbiter is studying the a thick curtain, temperature maps dayside, the strong ultraviolet occurs, and the thermosphere, an noxious and restless atmosphere of the surface and the radiation from the Sun liberates even higher layer directly and the interaction with the solar atmosphere at different altitudes oxygen atoms from the influenced by the Sun.” e wind and the interplanetary are a few of the results so far. ubiquitous carbon dioxide. environment. It is also looking for Atmospheric circulation spreads signs of surface activity, such as “On the basis of what we were these atoms to the nightside, EO Symposium active volcanism. able to see so far, there is no where they migrate down and doubt that Venus Express will combine into oxygen molecules. “During one year of observations, eventually allow a better global In late April in Montreux (CH), we have already collected a huge understanding of this planet,” Studying the airglow and its more than 900 scientists amount of data, which is exactly attended ‘Envisat Symposium what we need to decode the 2007’ to discuss results from secrets of an atmosphere as ESA’s Earth observation satellites, complex as that of Venus,” said with the emphasis on Envisat. Håkan Svedhem, Venus Express Generating some 280 GB of data Project Scientist. “Analysing it is products daily, Envisat has gathered 500 TB to date and recently achieved 5 years of operations. This false-colour view from VIRTIS reveals the oxygen airglow (in blue) in the nightside atmosphere of Venus. (ESA/VIRTIS/INAF- Almost every field of Earth IASF/Obs. de Paris-LESIA) science was highlighted,

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News

including greenhouse gas support of International mechanism. For satellite In the launchers domain, the two concentrations, ozone hole Environmental Conventions in navigation, compatibility and sides are concentrating on Soyuz monitoring, sea-level rise, sea- close collaboration with United interoperability between Russian launches from the Guiana Space surface temperature, ice-sheet Nations agencies, the World and European systems will be Centre, while looking into and sea-ice variations, volcanoes, Climate Research Programme addressed. For space technologies for future launchers. earthquakes and land cover and the International Geosphere- communications, the parties changes. Around 800 Biosphere Programme and other agreed to promote applications Discussions are also being held presentations were made during key international and European reaching out to other entities that on the next generation of crew 54 themed sessions. institutional actors, such as the are not necessarily involved in vehicles, with possible ESA European Environment Agency. space. involvement in an Advanced Crew A session was dedicated to the A special session was held on the Transportation Vehicle to be use of Earth observation in GMES programme. e Russia will provide a gamma-ray tabled for decision at the ESA and neutron spectrometer Ministerial Council in 2008. instrument to ESA’s BepiColombo mission to Mercury. Russian The European Commission, Russian Cooperation scientists have been invited to within the European Union’s 7th respond together with European Research Framework Europe and Russia are transportation systems), space colleagues to the call for proposals Programme, will offer to provide strengthening their cooperation in science and space technology for the first planning cycle of the targeted information on spacespace. The Head of Roscosmos, development. new Cosmic Vision 2015–2025 related topics to Russian space Anatoly Perminov, ESA Director issued by ESA (see below). experts. e General, Jean-Jacques Dordain, “Space cooperation is an and European Commission important element in overall Director General, Heinz Zourek, Europe-Russia cooperation. This met in Moscow on 21 March as meeting has proved very useful as Closer to Cosmic Vision 2015–2025 part of the Tripartite Space concrete work plans have been Dialogue between the European established,” said Mr Dordain. Enthusiasm and a large number spacecraft to verify the truth Commission, ESA and Roscosmos. “The cooperation between Europe of responses from the European about gravity as one of the and Russia in the area of scientific community marked the fundamental forces of Nature. Set up in March 2006 in Brussels, launchers should serve as a first step in defining ESA’s Cosmic the Space Dialogue initiative model for cooperation in other Vision scientific programme for “Since the moment we consulted encompasses space applications areas such as exploration, space 2015-2025. “The future starts the scientific community to define (satellite navigation, Earth science and space applications. If today,” said Director General the big scientific themes of our observation and satellite the two sides pool their resources, Jean-Jacques Dordain, addressing programme in 2004, it was clear communications), access to space the result will be even more the community on 11 April. that ESA – with its wealth of (launchers and future space outstanding than it is today.” missions that came or are about By the end of March, ESA had to come to fruition – has been From left to right: Jean-Jacques Dordain, In Earth observation, for instance, received more than 60 ‘Letters Of creating an incredibly positive Anatoly Perminov and Heinz Zourek met at the parties engaged in setting up a Intent’ from European space momentum for space science in Roscosmos in Moscow specific data-exchange science teams expressing their Europe and worldwide,” intentions to submit detailed commented David Southwood, proposals for new missions by ESA Director of Science. 29 June 2007. “Successful scientific missions The mission concepts range from such as those we have flown so the exploration of Jupiter and its far have increased ESA’s overall satellite Europa, to satellites recognition and inspired the studying radiation from the Big public. As such, they have made Bang and testing theories ESA a symbol of Europe’s concerning the inflation of the achievements,” said Mr Dordain Universe. They include missions during the opening of the briefing studying near-Earth asteroids, to the large group of scientists satellites looking for liquid water who had submitted their on Saturn’s moon Enceladus and preliminary concepts.

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In Brief

Closer to European Space Policy

On 26 April, the College of application of space systems in European Commissioners in support of Europe’s policies.” Brussels adopted a ‘Communication’ on the European Europe is a global actor and is Space Policy jointly drafted by increasingly playing a leading role the EC and ESA’s Director in global policies. Space will General. Over the past 2 years, increasingly serve Europe’s the two organisations have been domestic and global policy needs working to establish a and it can also help to achieve comprehensive political further important European policy framework to develop and objectives. Environmental policy exploitat space technologies and and in particular the European systems, so that individual response to global climate ESA astronaut Hans Schlegel trains for his December Shuttle mission. A revised launch schedule investment decisions can be change is a striking example. announced in mid-April for the Space Shuttle provides confidence that Europe’s Columbus laboratory taken to maximise the benefits Others are security, transport, module will be attached to the International Space Station before the end of the year. STS-117 is from space. As a next step, the research, agriculture, fisheries aiming for 8 June and STS-118 for August. Originally scheduled for August, the STS-120 mission with ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli is now targeted for 20 October. He will accompany the Node-2 connecting European Space Policy will be and development aid. module. STS-122, with Columbus and ESA astronauts Schlegel and Leopold Eyharts, is due for launch presented by ESA’s Director on 6 December. Eyharts will remain aboard the Station for a long-duration mission. General as a proposal at the next The Communication on the delegate-level meeting of ESA’s European Space Policy aims to: ruling Council on 9 May. Finally, it – foster better coordination of will be tabled for endorsement by civil space programmes “The future of European science ESA must receive the detailed Ministers on 22 May in Brussels between the EU, ESA and their is the result of successful mission proposals by 29 June. at the 4th Space Council. respective Member States to alchemy between your ideas and Starting in October 2007, until ensure value for money and competence, and ESA’s ability to mid-2009, ESA’s Space Science Commenting on the adoption of eliminate unnecessary duplica- deliver within resources, space Advisory Committee and the Communication, Commission tion, thus meeting shared projects that make your ideas scientific working groups will Vice-President Günter Verheugen, European needs; come true. Not only have we assess the proposals and pre- responsible for enterprise and – increase synergy between civil demonstrated that we are a select three ‘class-M’ and three industry policy, said, “Space is and defence space reliable partner who always ‘class-L’ missions. M missions strategic for our future. It gives programmes and technologies, sticks to its commitments, but are medium-size projects, where us the tools to address many in particular interoperability of also we have become an the costs to ESA do not exceed challenges of the 21st Century. civil/defence systems; example for the world through EUR300 million. L missions are Space systems and satellites are – ensure sustainable funding for the European and international larger projects, with cost key assets in assessing global space applications, in particular dimension we give to our envelopes not exceeding problems and helping us the flagship Global Monitoring projects. EUR650 million. overcome them. Space also for Environment and Security; contributes significantly to our – ensure that space policy is “The future we are looking at By the end of 2009, out of these daily life.” consistent with, and supports, also includes an ever improving missions plus LISA, two the EU’s external relations. The relationship with you – European class-M and two class-L ESA’s Director General, Jean- EU, ESA and their Member scientists – and with national missions will be shortlisted for Jacques Dordain, said, “For over States will put in place a and international agencies. We definition (Phase-A). This phase thirty years, the Agency has been coordination mechanism to are also trying to convince our will be run by European successfully developing space develop a joint strategy for Member States to capitalise on industries on a competitive basis systems and infrastructures. We international relations. the success of the scientific between the beginning of 2010 are eager to consolidate this programme – the Agency’s only and mid-2011. By the end of success story in responding to Space is also a high value-adding mandatory programme – by 2011, one class-M and one the new challenges of the sector, a driver for growth and creating new synergies with class-L mission will be adopted European Space Policy and in employment and a valuable other ESA activities, such as for launches in 2017 and 2018, working with the European opportunity-provider for technology and exploration.” respectively. e Commission to develop the European industry. e

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News

Vietnam’s Mekong Delta is highlighted in this Envisat /MERIS image, supplied with rich alluvial deposits from the 475 000 cubic km of captured on 6 February. The Mekong River is the longest in Southeast water the river discharges each year. This tannish-coloured silt is Asia and the twelfth in the world. Rising in the Himalayas, it flows clearly seen flowing out into the sea. The Delta soil is so fertile that the through six nations on its 4800 km journey to the South China Sea, area is home to 15 million people and Vietnam has become one of the supporting around 90 million people. The river splits into nine arms, world’s leading rice exporters. The intense green of cultivated rice leading the Vietnamese to refer to it as Cuu Long, ‘the nine-tailed paddies can be seen across the Delta, threaded through by an intricate dragon’. At the end of its course, the tropical wetlands of the Delta are web of irrigation and drainage canals.

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In Brief

The first Ariane-5 launch of 2007 took place on 11 March, when the and telecommunications for the Indian subcontinent. By the time this ninth Ariane-5 ECA vehicle (V175) lifted off from Europe’s Spaceport in issue of the Bulletin is published, the tenth Ariane-5 ECA should have French Guiana at 22:03 UT on its mission to place two satellites into been launched. Galaxy-17 will provide telecommunications and geostationary transfer orbits. The satellites were accurately injected television coverage over North America for Intelsat, while Astra-1L will into the correct transfer orbits about 30 minutes later. The payload provide direct-to-home TV coverage over Europe. Arianespace is comprised Skynet-5A, a secure telecommunications satellite for the targeting six flights in 2007 as it builds to a steady rate of eight British armed forces, and Insat-4B, which will provide fixed television annually by 2009. (ESA/CNES/Arianespace-Service Optique CSG)

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News

The last operational image from Meteosat-5, taken on 16 April 2007. warning system: it relayed signals from several buoys placed in the After more than 16 years in service providing meteorological data, the Indian Ocean by the University of Hawaii. The new service was satellite retired on 26 April. Meteosat-5 served as the primary satellite introduced only 2 months after the tragedy as a valuable contribution over Europe until 1997; in 1998 it was relocated over the Indian Ocean towards mitigating further disasters. By 20 April, the satellite had where it provided valuable information for forecasting cyclones and exhausted its propellant to raise itself 500 km above the geostationary severe storms affecting coastal regions. Following the Asian tsunami ring so that it does not pose a collision threat to operating satellites. disaster at the end of 2004, Meteosat-5 was used in a new tsunami (Eumetsat)

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In Brief

This Hubble Space Telescope image of barred spiral galaxy NGC 1672 which sometimes have nuclei that outshine their host galaxies. The reveals clusters of hot young blue stars along the spiral arms and active galaxy family include the exotically named quasars and blazars. clouds of red-glowing hydrogen gas. Delicate curtains of dust partially Although each type has distinctive characteristics, they are thought to obscure and redden the light of the stars behind them. Astronomers be all driven by the same engine – supermassive black holes – but are believe that barred spirals somehow channel gas from the disc viewed from different angles. The image was recorded with Hubble’s towards the nucleus. This allows the bar portion of the galaxy to serve ‘Advanced Camera for Surveys’ in August 2005 but released only as an area of new star generation. NGC 1672 is a ‘Seyfert’ galaxy, recently. (NASA/ESA)

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Publications

ESA Brochures GOCE (German, April 2007) H. Rider, M. Rast & B. Battrick (Eds.) ESA BR-209/D // 16 pp Price: 10 Euro

Galileo: I primi satelliti – GIOVE (Italian, March 2007) A. Wilson (Ed.) ESA BR-251/I // 20 pp Publications- Price: 10 Euro The documents listed here have Mobile Multimedia for Cars (2007) B. Battrick (Ed.) been issued since the last ESA BR-264 // 4 pp publications announcement in the No charge ESA Bulletin. Requests for copies should be made in accordance with the Table and Order Form inside the back cover ESA Special Publications Proceedings of the 3rd International GOCE User Workshop, 6–8 November 2006, Frascati, Italy (February 2007) K. Fletcher (Ed.) ESA SP-627 // CD Price: 40 Euro

Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Green Propellant for Space Propulsion and 9th International Hydrogen Peroxide Conference, 17–20 September 2006, Poitiers, France (December 2006) C. Walker (Ed.) ESA SP-635 // CD Price: 50 Euro

Proceedings of the Second Solar Orbiter Workshop, 16–20 October 2006, Athens, Greece (October 2006) R. Marsden & L. Conroy (Eds.) ESA SP-641 // CD Price: 50 Euro

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New issues

Proceedings of the Third Workshop on the ESA Telecom ARTES-3 Project – PERUSE – Atmospheric Chemistry Validation of Envisat Personal Safety System Utilising Satellite (ACVE-3), 4–7 December 2006, ESRIN, Combined with Emerging Technologies – Frascati, Italy (February 2007) Executive Summary (January 2007) D. Danesy (Ed.) Securecom ESA SP-642 // CD ESA CR(P)-4573 // CD Price: 50 Euro Price: 25 Euro

Workshop on Dust in Planetary Systems, Innovative Satcom Security Services for 26–30 September 2005, Kauai, Hawaii Ships – Executive Summary (January 2007) (January 2007) Novacom Services A. Wilson (Ed.) ESA CR(P)-4574 // CD ESA SP-643 // 264 pp Price: 25 Euro Price: 50 Euro ConeXpress Orbital Life Extension Vehicle – Executive Summary (February 2006) ESA Scientific & Technical Dutch Space, The Netherlands ESA CR(P)-4574 // CD Memoranda Price: 25 Euro The ACT Distributed Computing Environment An Airborne Satellite Terminal for Navigation v. 2.3 – Administrator’s Guide and and Communication, BIRDCOM Instructions for Further Development – Final Report (December 2005) (January 2007) ESA CR(P)-4569 // CD Space Engineering C. Walker (Ed.) Price: 25 Euro ESA CR(P)-4567 // CD ESA STR-253 // 68 pp Price: 25 Euro Price: 20 Euro RF Product Family for Telecommunications – Executive Summary (October 2006) ARTES 4 – ESA-Industry Partnership Alcatel Alenia Space, Belgium Programme – CASIMO – Carrier Signal ESA Training Manuals ESA CR(P)-4570 // CD Monitoring – Final Report (September 2006) Price: 25 Euro Siemens AG, Austria InSAR Principles: Guidelines for SAR ESA CR(P)-4577 // CD Interferometry Processing and Interpretation Working with ESA Telecom V.3 – Executive Price: 25 Euro (February 2007) Summary (January 2007) K. Fletcher (Ed.) ARTES E-Training 750W ODU Satcom Amplifier Platform ESA TM-19 // 246 pp ESA CR(P)-4571 // CD Development – Final Report (May 2006) Price: 40 Euro Price: 25 Euro E2V Technologies, UK ESA CR(P)-4578 // CD Cell Inspection Criteria based on Price: 25 Euro ESA Contractor Reports Electroluminescence (CIEL) – Final Report (November 2006) Echostar LNB Phase 2 (March 2006) Large 650 Litre Propellant Tank – Final EADS Astrium, Germany Invacom, UK Report (July 2006) ESA CR(P)-4572 // CD ESA CR(P)-4579 // CD EADS Astrium, UK Price: 25 Euro Price: 25 Euro e