For one hour on Friday 2 June, join ESA on YouTube for a space first as live images stream down direct from Mars – this will be the closest you can get to a live view from the Red Planet.
#operations #space #science #esa #europeanspaceagency
posted by pod_feeder_v2
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A mysterious signal is being sent by ESA’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter on 24 May, a spacecraft orbiting the Red Planet looking for evidence of possible biological or geological activity.
As part of the global 'A Sign In Space' art project, it will strike huge antennas dotted around the globe; the Green Bank Telescope (West Virginia), the Medicina Radio Astronomical Station (Italy) and the Allen Telescope Array (California).
Early tests were conducted to ensure the feasibility of the endeavour and allow the ground-based observatories to fine tune their systems to be ready for the public event.
During preparations for sending the ‘alien’ message, the Flight Control Team prepared their own special message – a picture of the team beamed down on 14 March, TGO’s 7th launch anniversary
The message was first sent up to the spacecraft from ESA’s mission control centre in Darmstadt, Germany, on 10 May. It was stored onto its memory, converted into ‘telemetry’ (data) and will this evening be beamed back down to Earth.
#operations #space #science #esa #europeanspaceagency
posted by pod_feeder_v2
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A message will soon be received from outer space and you are invited, along with the global community, to decipher it. Does its messenger, the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, count as extraterrestrial intelligence? Probably not. So, until we hear from aliens themselves, the martian orbiter is playing the role of green man in the ‘A Sign in Space’ global art project.
If we were to receive a signal from space, it would likely not be just scientists who catch it. Today, many individuals, organisations, universities and companies have access to antennas that are pointed skyward.
Any message received would be for the whole planet and, just like art, it could be interpreted in countless ways.
If we received an extraterrestrial message, how would we interpret it? What would it mean for humankind?
#operations #space #science #esa #europeanspaceagency
posted by pod_feeder_v2
Video: 00:01:00
It takes a while for a new mission to wake up after the rigours of launch, but before it’s fully in flight configuration it’s still exposed to the harsh realities of space. During this critical period, known as the ‘Launch and Early Orbit Phase’ or ‘LEOP’, teams at ESA’s mission control in Darmstadt, Germany, have to work fast to establish contact with the fledgling mission, and ensure its solar arrays are correctly powering the mission.
Once ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, Juice, separates from its Ariane 5 rocket, there will be two key moments to look out for. ‘Acquisition of Signal’ is the moment ground stations pick up a mission’s first words, or ‘telemetry’. ESA’s New Norcia ground station in Australia is expected to be the first to hear from Juice. You can watch the moment the station gets in touch with Juice with Estrack Now, as well as all the stations in ESA’s extended network across the globe.
Next, is solar array deployment. Juice’s huge, 85-square metre solar arrays will open out just like a complex unfolding origami box. Once Juice is power positive, ground control will declare “We have a mission”!
Follow @esaoperations for live updates from the heart of ESA mission control.
#operations #space #science #esa #europeanspaceagency
posted by pod_feeder_v2
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At ESA’s mission control, before the launch comes the pre-launch briefing – and the all-important group photo. This is the team that will fly Juice to Jupiter with four planetary flybys of Earth and Venus, then switching orbit from Jupiter to its largest moon, Ganymede, followed by a tour of the icy, complex Jovian system comprising a whopping 35 lunar flybys.
Never before has a mission switched orbit from a planet other than our own to one of its moons. Radiation at Jupiter will be extreme. Light at the edge of the solar system will be just 3% of what powers us on Earth. It will be cold. Time delays of up to two hours mean teams are only ever communicating with a spacecraft in the past. Ten science instruments need to be oriented precisely, without interference, from hundreds of millions of kilometres away.
Juice was made for this extreme environment, and mission control is ready to navigate it. Back-to-back critical operations over the next decade will make this possible. We are GREEN for Juice launch.
#operations #space #science #esa #europeanspaceagency
posted by pod_feeder_v2
Image: Integral team at ESOC during safe mode commissioning
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posted by pod_feeder_v2
Image: Integral's 'new safe mode' activates for the first time
#operations #space #science #esa #europeanspaceagency
posted by pod_feeder_v2
Video: 00:58:00
Sat in a windowless office beneath ESA’s Main Control Room in Darmstadt, Germany, two Simulations Officers have complete control over the Juice spacecraft and ESA’s deep space ground stations across the globe – and they take full advantage.
These aren’t the real 35-metre antennas or the actual spacecraft (currently in Kourou, French Guiana), but a complex simulator. For teams that will fly the mission for real, it all looks, feels and behaves just like the real thing. The ‘problem’ for them is, it keeps going wrong.
Down in the simulations bunker, the Officers are revelling in their dastardly plan as it comes into fruition. All around them are screens showing the scenes in the room above. They can see the worried teams; they can hear their conversations and they even see what they are doing on each of their console screens.
For months, engineers have been flying a fake spacecraft that keeps going wrong. In just a couple of weeks, they fly the real thing.
These simulations will help to ensure the mission is a success.
#operations #space #science #esa #europeanspaceagency
posted by pod_feeder_v2
https://powercellgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Powercell_Intro_WEB_Kvall.mp4
#hydrogen #fuelcell #vehicle #fcev #avaition #aircraft #marintime #ship # #boat #ferry #cruiseship #industrial #stationary #offgrid #renewable #energy
“You can read everything there is to know about driving a car, but you won’t really understand what it’s like to drive one until you get behind the wheel. That’s what it’s like to fly your software in orbit,” says David Evans, ESA’s OPS-SAT Space Lab manager.
Over the last year, 12 project teams have had the chance to experience this first hand thanks to a combination of seed funding from the Discovery element of ESA's Basic Activities and access to ESA’s experimental OPS-SAT CubeSat.
#operations #space #science #esa #europeanspaceagency
posted by pod_feeder_v2
#operations #space #science #esa #europeanspaceagency
posted by pod_feeder_v2
ESA’s Optical Ground Station, perched high on the slopes of Tenerife’s Mount Teide volcano, has now been peering skyward for a quarter of a century. Originally designed for laser-based communications with satellites, it is today additionally employed for tracking space debris and near-Earth asteroids as well as supporting world-class science: this year’s Physics Nobel Prize winner used the station for a quantum teleportation experiment that extended to the neighboring island of La Palma.
#operations #space #science #esa #europeanspaceagency
posted by pod_feeder_v2
The Department of the Interior’s (DOI) Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR) disbursed $21.53 billion in revenues generated in fiscal year 2022 from energy production on federal and Tribal onshore lands, and federal offshore areas, including the record $4.37 billion generated from the New York Bight offshore wind lease sale. This year’s disbursements include the highest-ever revenues from renewable energy programs on federal lands and waters, driven by President Biden’s efforts to jump-start the American offshore wind industry and make the U.S. a magnet for clean energy investments.
https://nawindpower.com/doi-issues-highest-ever-disbursements-from-wind-energy-from-federal-lands
#federal, #business, #policy, #development, #clean-energy, #department, #operations
Five corporate suppliers to Walmart and Ørsted have signed a group power purchase agreement (PPA). The five Walmart cohort supply chain providers will purchase wind energy from Ørsted’s Sunflower Wind farm in Marion County, Kan. Amy’s Kitchen, Great Lakes Cheese, Levi Strauss & Co., The J.M. Smucker Co. and Valvoline Inc. have collaborated to execute an aggregated purchase of renewable energy. Over the 12-year term of the agreement, the purchase is expected to generate approximately 250,000 MWh annually of new renewable power.
https://nawindpower.com/orsted-signs-group-ppa-for-kansas-wind-farm-with-five-walmart-suppliers
#levi, #business, #kitchen, #great, #cheese, #strauss, #amy’s, #operations, #lakes
Image: ESA's Estrack network tracks DART in the vital moments before asteroid impact
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posted by pod_feeder_v2
