Search Publications
Structural shock verification by numerical analysis of the EPD payload units on board Solar Orbiter spacecraft
Ravanbakhsh, Ali; García-Pérez, Andrés; Sorribes-Palmer, Félix +1 more
Electronic components can be seriously damaged during the launch of spacecraft due to the intense shock loads, which are generated by the launch operations such as the separations of the launcher stages and the release of the spacecraft. A shock verification program should be carried out in the development phase of space instruments to guarantee t…
BepiColombo mission to Mercury: First year of flight
Montagnon, Elsa; Ferri, Paolo; Accomazzo, Andrea +1 more
Launched in October 2018, the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission is set to arrive at Mercury in late 2025. The modular S/C consists of two scientific Mercury orbiters and a cruise module with electric propulsion to support the 7-years cruise phase with planetary flybys at Earth (1x), Venus (2x) and Mercury (6x). Flight operations of the composite spacec…
Pattern recognition in time series for space missions: A rosetta magnetic field case study
Glassmeier, K. -H.; Richter, I.; Ostaszewski, K. +4 more
Time series analysis is a technique widely employed in space science. In unpredictable environments like space, scientific analysis relies on large data sets to enable interpretation of observations. Artificial signal interferences caused by the spacecraft itself further impede this process. The most time consuming part of these studies is the eff…
General relativistic impact on the precision of BepiColombo gravity-assists
Yefremov, Alexander P.
The general relativistic (GR) impact is assessed on the precision of the announced BepiColombo (BC) space positions at the Earth, Venus and Mercury flyby points providing planned gravity-assists. Apart of the known elliptic orbit precession, another recently specified for the Schwarzschild-Kerr metric effect of the ellipse axes contraction is cons…
Near-term interstellar probe: First step
Wimmer-Schweingruber, Robert F.; McNutt, Ralph L.; Gruntman, Mike +9 more
Exploration of the heliosphere and the far reaches of our solar system by the Voyagers and New Horizons and near-Earth observations of the Kuiper Belt and exoplanetary systems have all profoundly changed how we view our own home in space. An Interstellar Probe escaping beyond the solar-system boundaries with new observational techniques would be a…
Approximation for attraction field of irregular celestial bodies using four massive points
Burov, Alexander A.; Guerman, Anna D.; Nikonova, Ekaterina A. +1 more
Approximation of the gravitational field of an irregular celestial body by the gravitational attraction field of four massive points is studied here in the framework of K-means method, known from the theory of pattern recognition. Using this approach, the simplified models for gravitational fields of asteroid (1620) Geographos and comet (67P) Chur…
The search campaign to identify and image the Philae Lander on the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
Sierks, H.; Güttler, C.; Deller, J. +30 more
On the 12th of November 2014, the Rosetta Philae Lander descended to make the first soft touchdown on the surface of a comet - comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. That soft touchdown did occur but due to the failure in the firing of its two harpoons, Philae bounced and travelled across the comet making contact with the surface twice more before final…
BELA transmitter performance and pointing stability verification campaign at DLR-PF
Michaelis, H.; Kallenbach, R.; Hussmann, H. +4 more
BELA is the first European planetary laser altimeter and shall be launched onboard of ESA's Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) as part of the BepiColombo spacecraft in October 2018. The complete development of the instrument was done in collaboration with team members in Switzerland, Germany and Spain. The transmitter is also the first space-qualifie…
ExoMars 2016: Schiaparelli coasting, entry and descent post flight mission analysis
Bonetti, Davide; De Zaiacomo, Gabriele; Blanco, Gonzalo +4 more
The ExoMars programme is pursued as part of a broad cooperation between ESA and Roscosmos with significant contribution from NASA. Two missions compose the ExoMars programme with launches in 2016 and 2020. The ExoMars 2016 mission, led by ESA, has been launched by the Russian Proton on March 14th, 2016. The mission includes the Trace Gas Orbiter (…
The Rosetta science operations and planning implementation
Almeida, Miguel; Pérez-Ayúcar, Miguel; Merritt, Donald +8 more
The international Rosetta mission was launched on 2nd March 2004 for a ten year journey to its target destination, comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Following the January 2014 exit from a 31 month hibernation period, Rosetta approached and rendezvoused with the comet in August 2014. On 12th November 2014, the Philae lander was deployed from Rosetta…