Copernical Team
Image: High-power thruster qualification testing for Gateway
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The blue hue of the Advanced Electric Propulsion System (AEPS) is seen inside a vacuum chamber at NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland during recent thruster qualification testing. This 12-kilowatt Hall thruster is the most powerful electric propulsion thruster in production, and it will be critical to future science and exploration missions at the moon and beyond.
The blue plume is a steady stream of ionized xenon gas ejected to produce low, highly efficient thrust. These electric propulsion systems accelerate spacecraft to extremely high speeds over time using only a fraction of the fuel chemical propulsion systems require, making electric propulsion an excellent choice for deep-space exploration and science missions.
Three AEPS thrusters will be mounted on the Power and Propulsion Element, a foundational component of Gateway. The small lunar space station is critical to the agency's Artemis missions that will help prepare for human missions to Mars. The Power and Propulsion Element will provide Gateway with power, high-rate communications, and allow it to maintain its unique orbit around the moon.
The AEPS thruster recently returned to NASA Glenn to continue qualification testing to certify the thrusters for flight.
Scientists describe deployment of three-body chain-type tethered satellites in low-eccentricity orbits
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Recently, the tethered satellite system (TSS) has been used in Earth observations, space interferometry and other space missions, due to its potential merits. The tethered TSAR (tomographic synthetic aperture radar) system is a group of tethered SAR satellites that can be rapidly deployed and provide a stable baseline for 3-dimensional topographic mapping and moving target detection.
Successful deployment is critical for TSAR tethered systems.
Several control methods, including length, length rate, tension, and thrust-aided control, have been proposed over the years. Among them, adjusting tension is a viable yet challenging approach due to the tether's strong nonlinearity and underactuated traits.
Current tether deployment schemes focus on two-body TSS, with little emphasis on multi-TSSs. In a research article recently published in Space: Science & Technology, a research team led by Zhongjie Meng from Northwestern Polytechnical University has developed a new deployment strategy for a 3-body chain-type tethered satellite system in a low-eccentric elliptical orbit.
Launch your career in space! Apply now to the ESA Student Internship Programme
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The 2024 internship opportunities at ESA have been published! Applications are open for one month and positions are available in engineering, science, IT, natural/social sciences, business, economics and administration services. This is your chance to kick-off your career in the space sector!
Permanent residency in space
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Permanent residency in space Relive the Earth Observation Commercialisation Forum
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ESA’s first Earth Observation Commercialisation Forum took place at ESA Headquarters in Paris on 30–31 October 2023. The event saw investors, institutions, entrepreneurs and different-sized companies from the Earth observation sector come together to discuss the commercial potential and challenges of Earth observation. Revisit the event by watching the streaming replay.
The future’s magnetic pull
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The future’s magnetic pull 30 years of ESA innovation: GSTP
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30 years of ESA innovation: GSTP
Giant planets cast a deadly pall
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Giant gas planets can be agents of chaos, ensuring nothing lives on their Earth-like neighbors around other stars. New studies show, in some planetary systems, the giants tend to kick smaller planets out of orbit and wreak havoc on their climates.
Jupiter, by far the biggest planet in our solar system, plays an important protective role. Its enormous gravitational field deflects comets and Bewitched Battery: Sols 3994-3995
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Earth planning date: Monday, October 30, 2023: Mondays are scary enough, so the team was extra spooked when the morning's downlink showed our incoming power state as lower than what we planned. Ghosts of Mars? (A movie I recommend, by the way) Maybe... but if our rover was in a scary movie she'd be the last one standing. And so our team began a willowy plan this Hallows' Eve to continue on our D The first 'birder's guide' to meteor showers
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The SETI Institute is proud to announce a new book by SETI Institute meteor astronomer Dr. Peter Jenniskens. Called "Atlas of Earth's Meteor Showers," this comprehensive guide describes over 500 meteor showers that appear in our night skies and adds a wealth of detail to the tapestry of our solar system.
"Just as in a birder's guide, the book describes the outward appearance, range, season 
