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French instruments for in-situ missions: Past, present and future
Gaudon, Philippe; Bousquet, Pierre W.; Gaboriaud, Alain +3 more
Two in-situ missions were launched at the end of 2011, soon after the 62nd IAC conference, one to Mars and the other to one of its moons, Phobos. The first - Mars Science Laboratory - has been developed by NASA and will take the largest ever rover, Curiosity, to the surface of Mars. The second mission, Phobos-Grunt under the responsibility of Rosc…
An ordinary camera in an extraordinary location: Outreach with the Mars Webcam
Scuka, D.; Ormston, T.; Denis, M. +1 more
The European Space Agency's Mars Express mission was launched in 2003 and was Europe's first mission to Mars. On-board was a small camera designed to provide ‘visual telemetry’ of the separation of the Beagle-2 lander. After achieving its goal it was shut down while the primary science mission of Mars Express got underway. In 2007 this camera was …
The first Rosetta asteroid flyby
Ferri, Paolo; Accomazzo, Andrea; Hubault, Armelle +3 more
The International Rosetta Mission, a cornerstone mission of the European Space Agency Scientific Programme, was launched on 2 March 2004 on its 10 years journey towards a rendezvous with comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Once reached the comet nucleus in summer 2014, Rosetta will orbit it for about 1.5 years down to distances of a few kilometres and de…
Preparing the Rosetta deep-space operations
Ferri, Paolo; Accomazzo, Andrea; Hubault, Armelle +3 more
The International Rosetta Mission, cornerstone of the European Space Agency Scientific Programme, was launched on 2 March 2004 on its 10 years journey towards a rendezvous with comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Rosetta will reach the comet nucleus in summer 2014, orbit it for about 1.5 years down to distances of a few kilometres and deliver the lander …
India’s first lunar mission Chandrayaan-1 initial phase orbit determination
Vighnesam, N. V.; Sonney, Anatta; Gopinath, N. S.
India's first Moon mission Chandrayaan-1 carrying eleven scientific instruments for the purpose of expanding scientific knowledge about the Moon was launched on 22 October 2008. The spacecraft was put into Moon's polar, circular orbit of about (100×100) km on 12 November 2008 by carrying out a sequence of Earth bound and Lunar bound maneuvers. Pre…
Infusion of innovative technologies for mission operations
Donati, Alessandro
The Advanced Mission Concepts and Technologies Office (Mission Technologies Office, MTO for short) at the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) of ESA is entrusted with research and development of innovative mission operations concepts systems and provides operations support to special projects. Visions of future missions and requests for improv…
New developments in Indian space policies and programmes—The next five years
Sridhara Murthi, K. R.; Bhaskaranarayana, A.; Madhusudana, H. N.
Over past four decades Indian space programme has systematically acquired capabilities in space technologies and implemented its programmes with a high level of focus on societal applications. It is developed into a multi-dimensional programme where its strategy is directed towards diverse stake holders and actors such as government, users and ben…
The putative mechanical strength of comet surface material applied to landing on a comet
Kührt, Ekkehard; Ulamec, Stephan; Biele, Jens +3 more
The comet lander PHILAE (part of the ESA mission ROSETTA) is going to touch down on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in 2014. Landing dynamics depend on the mechanical strength of the surface material: in an extremely soft material, the lander (100 kg, 1 m/s touch-down velocity) may sink in too deep for successful operation while on a very hard sur…
Venus Express—Science observations experience at Venus
Koschny, D.; Witasse, O.; Svedhem, H. +3 more
The Venus Express mission is the European Space Agency's (ESA) first spacecraft at Venus. It was launched in November 2005 by a Soyuz-Fregat launcher and arrived at Venus in April 2006. The mission covers a broad range of scientific goals including physics, chemistry, dynamics and structure of the atmosphere as well as atmospheric interaction with…
SMART-OLEV—An orbital life extension vehicle for servicing commercial spacecrafts in GEO
Kaiser, Clemens; Sjöberg, Fredrik; Delcura, Juan Manuel +1 more
Orbital Satellite Services Limited (OSSL) is a satellite servicing company that is developing an orbit life extension vehicle (OLEV) to extend the operational lifetime of geostationary satellites. The industrial consortium of SSC (Sweden), Kayser-Threde (Germany) and Sener (Spain) is in charge to develop and industrialize the space and ground segm…