Category Archives: Space Exploration

Elon Musks SpaceX is once again pushing the boundaries of space exploration, seeking approval to ramp up the frequency of Starship launches from its Boca Chica facility to 25 per year. The request also includes an equal number of landings for both the Starship spacecraft and the Super Heavy booster.

SpaceXs latest proposal is aimed at accelerating the development and operational readiness of its Starship spacecraft. Previously, the company has managed a handful of launches and landings, but increasing this number to 25 annually represents a new milestone. CEO Elon Musk has consistently emphasized the need for frequent flights to make space travel more routine and affordable.

Achieving this ambitious target is no small feat. SpaceX must first secure the necessary regulatory approvals from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The increased activity at Boca Chica has raised concerns among local residents and environmentalists, prompting calls for more comprehensive impact assessments.

Critics argue that the frequent launches could have adverse effects on the local wildlife and ecosystem. However, SpaceX has assured that it is committed to mitigating any potential harm through extensive environmental monitoring and protective measures.

The Starship spacecraft, along with its Super Heavy booster, is considered a pinnacle of engineering innovation. Designed to be fully reusable, both components aim to lower the cost of access to space significantly. Each launch and landing will provide valuable data to refine the technology further.

Reusable spacecraft have the potential to revolutionize the aerospace industry by offering more cost-effective solutions for satellite deployment, space tourism, and even interplanetary missions. The Super Heavy booster, in particular, is designed to propel the Starship into orbit, and its successful landing is crucial for the sustainability of frequent missions.

The move to increase launch frequencies could also have significant economic benefits for the local community in Boca Chica. Increased activity at the site could lead to job creation and boost local businesses. Furthermore, the success of such an initiative will likely enhance the United States standing in global space exploration.

However, the increase in space activity could bring about sociocultural changes for local residents. The influx of SpaceX employees and the anticipated increase in tourism may transform the small coastal town into a bustling hub of aerospace activity.

As SpaceX continues to push the envelope with its ambitious plans, the future of space exploration looks promising. The ability to conduct 25 Starship launches and landings annually would mark a significant step forward in making space travel more routine and accessible. With missions potentially extending to the Moon, Mars, and beyond, the groundwork being laid today could very well define the next era of human space exploration.

While there are undoubtedly challenges to overcome, both regulatory and environmental, the potential rewards are too significant to ignore. The world will be watching closely as SpaceX seeks to transform its bold vision into reality.

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SpaceX Amplifies Ambitions: 25 Starship Launches Annually from Boca Chica - Tesla Magazine

William E. Burrows, who as a journalist and author explored the promise and perils posed by outer space including the proliferation of weapons and spy satellites and the threat of potentially earth-shattering asteroids died on June 29 in Bridgeport, Conn. He was 87.

His death, in a hospital, was confirmed by his former wife, Joelle Hodgson, who said the cause was kidney failure.

Presaging his career by crash-landing model airplanes in his familys living room in Queens, near Idlewild Airport (now Kennedy International Airport), and surreptitiously taking flying lessons in a Piper Cub as a teenager, Mr. Burrows covered air travel, space technology, government secrecy and other subjects for The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal.

He wrote 14 books and established a graduate program in science writing at New York University, where he taught journalism.

Given the growing militarization of space and the challenges posed by environmental hazards and by weapons of mass destruction, Mr. Burrows believed that investing in space exploration was crucial, if for no other reason than to potentially save the human race one day by colonizing other planets.

The question to ask is whether the risk of traveling to space is worth the benefit, he wrote in The Journal in 2003. The answer is an unequivocal yes, but not only for the reasons that are usually touted by the space community: the need to explore, the scientific return, and the possibility of commercial profit.

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William E. Burrows, Historian of the Space Age, Is Dead at 87 - The New York Times

There is a global push in space exploration these days, but one has to admit that America steals the headlines most of the time in this field. That goes for anything from new rocket designs to daring missions to other worlds, and it is caused by the fact that the U.S. invests and does the most to advance our species beyond the borders of our planet. But, from time to time, something great happens elsewhere, and we can't help ourselves from taking a closer look.

Yet ESA has its own agenda, and from time to time it involves developing hardware capable of leaving our world. By that I mean rockets, obviously, and ESA's most recent one, the Ariane 6, just took flight for the first time. A perfect opportunity for us, then, to have a proper look at a rocket that is not made by Elon Musk or NASA, yet works just as well.

First, a thing or two about how the rocket came to be. Although not as visible as its American counterpart, Europe has been at it launching stuff into space for a while now. It has done this mostly by using a family of rockets called Ariane, named after Ariadne, the daughter ofKing Minos ofCrete in Greek mythology.

This family of rockets was born in the late 1970s with the Ariane 1. Since then, it has constantly grown to comprise a total of five versions. Europe's higher-ups decided to build Ariane 6 back in 2014, and a year later they tasked a company named ArianeGroup with making it.

The goal of Ariane 6 was to allow Europe to take point "in the fast-changing commercial launch service market." The task was too big for a single company, so ArianeGroup enlisted the help of hundreds of companies in 13 European countries. ESA handles the process of procurement and dictates the architecture of the overall launch system.

Photo: ESA

The rocket was built as a three-stage contraption: the first stage is made up of solid rocket boosters (either two or four of them, depending on the version), then comes the core stage, and finally, the upper stage.

The boosters and the core stage take care of the rocket's flight in the first phase of each mission. The boosters are of the P120C variety, the same ones used to power the first stage of the Vega-C rocket of the European Space Agency.

The core is pushed up by a liquid-fuelled Vulcain 2.1 engine, a derivation of the powerplant used on the previous Ariane 5. Combined with the power of the boosters, it should generate some 135 tons of thrust in the first ten minutes of flight.

Finally, the upper stage, the one that actually reaches space, gets its kick from a Vinci engine that burns cryogenic liquid oxygen and hydrogen. The powerplant can be ignited multiple times, moving payloads to where they need to be in orbit.

On top of the rocket there is the fairing that contains the payloads. It comes in two sizes, depending on the mission: a smaller one measuring 46 feet (14 meters) and a larger one standing at 66 feet (20 meters). Both are made of carbon fiber-polymer composite and have a diameter of 18 feet (5.4 meters).

Photo: ESA

The larger, four-booster version called Ariane 64 is used to send 11.5tons into geostationary transfer orbit and 21.6 tons into low Earth orbit.

We're talking about the Ariane 6 now because the rocket just had its first flight earlier this week. On July 9 it departed the specially constructed launch pad in French Guiana on a mission officially called VA262.

This was a demo flight, but it doesn't mean it was all just for show. The rocket took up with it "a varied selection of experiments, satellites, payload deployers and reentry demonstrations" supplied by people and organizations from all across the continent.

The Ariane 6 is the precursor rocket to an even more daring project. Come the next decade, Europe will have at its disposal something called the Ariane Next, a two-stage solution that should open up even more opportunities for ESA's space exploration efforts.

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Europe Has a New Space Rocket, Ariane 6 Makes Successful First Flight - autoevolution

HOUSTONFour volunteers with astronaut-like credentials have concluded the first of NASAs three planned yearlong Earth-based missions on a simulated Martian surface, the agency says.

Each exercise is intended to reveal the challenges and stresses facing those who will live and work on the red planet as well as support staff on Earth as the agency forges ahead with plans for human deep space exploration.

On July 5, NASA administrative personnel opened the door to the Johnson Space Centers Mars Dune Alpha. It is a 1,700-ft.2, 3D-printed habitat with an adjoining 1,200-ft.2 simulated Mars landscape.

Out strolled Kelly Haston, the Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog (CHAPEA) commander and biomedical research scientist; Ross Brockwell, the flight engineer and a structural engineer; Nathan Jones, the medical officer and an emergency medicine physician; and Anca Selariu, the science officer and U.S. Navy microbiologist.

Their exercise of 378 Earth days, or one Mars year, consisted of a number of elements. They included the maintenance of their modest habitat, growing and harvesting fresh vegetables to nutritionally supplement their stored food provisions, and spacewalks in their Mars Yard to simulate scientific exploration. The activities also superficially imposed lengthy communications delays of up to 22 min. each way with mission support and research teams back on Earth.

CHAPEA enabled us to collect thousands of data points, yielding a unique and valuable data set in a Mars realistic simulation, declared Grace Douglas, the Mars simulations principal investigator. Douglas spoke as the Mars Dune Alpha crew emerged for a 22-min. ceremony that NASA shared virtually. That data will give us unprecedented insight into how we can best work together to achieve mission objectives, while maintaining health and performance for the success of future human missions to Mars.

NASA currently plans two more CHAPEA Mars mission simulations. The second is set to begin in spring 2025 and the third in 2027. The volunteer application period for the second session closed on April 2. Professionally proficient volunteers must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents ages 30 to 55, nonsmokers, proficient in English and adventuresome.

The 378-day length of the Mars surface missions matches the estimated two- to three-year duration of a roundtrip to Mars using current space propulsion technologies. NASA is working to develop nuclear propulsion to significantly reduce the travel time.

Whether it was Mars walks or robotic operations, habitat maintenance, planned and unplanned, the analogs are really so important to our understanding of what its going to takeour insights into how our assumptions of how our architectures are really going to workwhen the plans meet reality, Julie Kramer White, CHAPEAs director of engineering, told the small gathering.

The Earth-based simulations are intended to lower the risks associated with the complex technologies that will be required to reach and return from Mars, White said. We still have a lot left to learn.

CHAPEA I has been a unique experience with great challenges, joys and sorrows. A lot of hard work, but a fair bit of fun thrown in as well, Haston told the gathering.

Wow. That went by very quickly, said Jones, who was perhaps the most emotional of the CHAPEA crew while joking about the experience. I hope I dont cry standing up here in front of all of you.

Im grateful for the chance to live the idea that we must utilize resources no faster than they can be replenished and produce wastes no faster than they be processed back into resources, added Brockwell. We cannot live, dream, create or explore in any significant time frame if we dont live these principles. But if we do, we can achieve amazing and inspiring things like exploring other worlds. And we can do these things together. We can use our senses of wonder and purpose to achieve peace and prosperity and to unlock knowledge and joy for the benefit of everyone and every part of planet Earth.

Ive been asked many times, Why go to Mars? Selariu said. Because its possible space can unite and bring out the best in us. Because its one defining step that Earthlings will take to light the way into the next centuries.

Excerpt from:

Yearlong Simulation Gives Insights Into Astronaut Life On Mars - Aviation Week

The first cohort of the Pathways to Space program, a new educational initiative arranged by the Future African Space Explorers STEM Academy (FASESA) and Boeing [NYSE:BA], celebrated their graduation on July 10, 2024, in Ethiopia.

After five months of immersive learning, 312 students, including 50% girls, from 63 schools in Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Tanzania have developed a keen interest in the space industry, shaping their career aspirations.

Pascal Chidozi, a 16-year-old graduate of the program in Nigeria, said: Participating in the Pathways to Space program has been a life-changing experience for me. Building payloads, testing them, and learning about satellite operations has not only deepened my passion for STEM but has also opened my eyes to the limitless possibilities in space exploration. The most memorable moment for me was launching a high-altitude balloon, which provided me with a hands-on understanding of the principles of flight. This program has inspired me to pursue a career in aerospace engineering, equipping me with the confidence and knowledge to chase my dreams.

The program culminated in the satellite prototype testing day, where students tested their prototypes in real-world conditions. This comprehensive experience developed their engineering skills, passion for space exploration, and prepared them for future education and careers.

FASESA and Boeing have set their sights on expanding the Pathways to Space program to other countries in Africa in the years to come. Starting next year, the program will offer both in-person and online participation, creating opportunities for more students across the African continent.

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Boeing Graduates 300 students from the Pathways to Space program in Africa - Airspace Africa

by Kayla Bell

One of humanitys most exciting and ambitious endeavors is space exploration. It entails traveling beyond Earth to learn more about the cosmos and how we fit into it. Teninterestingfacts regarding space travel are listed below.

1. First Human in Space

As the first person to enter space, Soviet astronaut Yuri Gagarin created history on April 12, 1961. After the Vostok 1 spacecraft completed one orbit around the Earth, he became well-known worldwide and a symbol of Soviet space achievements.

2. First Moon Landing

NASAs Apollo 11 missionmade a successful landing ofpeople on the Moon on July 20, 1969.Michael Collins circled above in the command module as NeilArmstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first and second people to set foot on themoon.

3. The Hubble Space Telescope

Since its deployment in 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope hascaptured some of the finest detailed images of space in human history. It orbits the Earth about 547 kilometers (340 miles) above sea level and has helped scientists make groundbreaking discoveries.

4. Mars Rovers

NASA has sent out robotic rovers to explore Mars, including Spirit, Opportunity, Curiosity, and Perseverance. These rovers have recovered invaluable information on the climate, geology, and potential for extraterrestrial life.

5. International Space Station (ISS)

As a living laboratory for microgravity, the International Space Station (ISS) is a man-made satellite in orbit above the Earth. Launched in 1998, it is a collaborative effort between NASA, Roscosmos, JAXA, ESA, and CSA. Months at a time, international astronauts reside and operate on the International Space Station (ISS).

6. Voyager Probes

NASAs longest-serving spacecraft are Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, launched in 1977. They have left the heliosphere and ventured into interstellar space, returning knowledge about the outer planets and the periphery of our solar system.

7. Reusable Rockets

SpaceXs creation of reusable rockets transformed space exploration. The 2010 launch of the Falcon 9 rocket, which can land back on Earth after launching a payload into orbit, dramatically lowers the price of space missions.

8. Women in Space

On June 16, 1963, Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova made history by becoming the first female astronaut. She was later followed by many other women, the most notable of whom being NASA astronauts Sally Ride and Peggy Whitson, who presently hold the record for the longest tenure of any American in space.

9. Private Space Tourism

Space tourism is beginning to gain traction thanks to companies like Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin offering public suborbital rides. In 2021, Blue Origins New Shepardcarried Jeff Bezos and three other passengers to the edge of space,marking a significant milestone in commercial spaceflight history.

10. Future Missions

To establish a permanent presence and use theMoonas a launching pad for future expeditions to Mars, NASAs Artemis program aims to return humans to theMoonby 2024. This massive effort aims to pave the way for future space exploration.

Exploration of space continues to push thelimits of human potential. These interesting facts only scratch the surface of the amazing turning points and fascinating projects ahead of us in our quest to comprehend the universe.

Reference Links

Yuri Gagarin and Vostok 1

Space Tourism

Women In Space

Voyager Probe

ISS

Mars Rovers

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10 Fun Facts of the Day: Space Exploration - - BladenOnline.com

By Karl B. Hille, NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center May 27, 2024

Goddard engineer Murzy Jhabvala holds the heart of his Compact Thermal Imager camera technology a high-resolution, high-spectral range infrared sensor suitable for small satellites and missions to other solar-system objects. Credit: NASA

Innovative infrared sensors developed by NASA increase resolution for Earth and space imaging, promising advancements in environmental monitoring and planetary science.

A newly developed infrared camera featuring high resolution and equipped with a range of lightweight filters has the potential to analyze sunlight reflected from Earths upper atmosphere and surface, enhance forest fire alerts, and uncover the molecular composition of other planets.

These cameras are equipped with sensitive, high-resolution strained-layer superlattice sensors, originally developed at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, funded through the Internal Research and Development (IRAD) program.

Thanks to their compact design, low weight, and versatility, engineers such as Tilak Hewagama can customize them for diverse scientific applications.

Attaching filters directly to the detector eliminates the substantial mass of traditional lens and filter systems, Hewagama said. This allows a low-mass instrument with a compact focal plane which can now be chilled for infrared detection using smaller, more efficient coolers. Smaller satellites and missions can benefit from their resolution and accuracy.

Engineer Murzy Jhabvala led the initial sensor development at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, as well as leading todays filter integration efforts.

Jhabvala also led the Compact Thermal Imager experiment on the International Space Station that demonstrated how the new sensor technology could survive in space while proving a major success for Earth science. More than 15 million images captured in two infrared bands earned inventors, Jhabvala, and NASA Goddard colleagues Don Jennings and Compton Tucker an agency Invention of the Year award for 2021.

The Compact Thermal Imagercaptured unusually severe fires in Australia from its perch on the International Space Station in 2019 and 2020. With its high resolution, detected the shape and location of fire fronts and how far they were from settled areas information critically important to first responders. Credit: NASA

Data from the test provided detailed information about wildfires, a better understanding of the vertical structure of Earths clouds and atmosphere, and captured an updraft caused by wind lifting off Earths land features called a gravity wave.

The groundbreaking infrared sensors use layers of repeating molecular structures to interact with individual photons, or units of light. The sensors resolve more wavelengths of infrared at a higher resolution: 260 feet (80 meters) per pixel from orbit compared to 1,000 to 3,000 feet (375 to 1,000 meters) possible with current thermal cameras.

The success of these heat-measuring cameras has drawn investments from NASAs Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO), Small Business Innovation and Research, and other programs to further customize their reach and applications.

Jhabvala and NASAs Advanced Land Imaging Thermal IR Sensor (ALTIRS) team are developing a six-band version for this years LiDAR, Hyperspectral, & Thermal Imager (G-LiHT) airborne project. This first-of-its-kind camera will measure surface heat and enable pollution monitoring and fire observations at high frame rates, he said.

NASA Goddard Earth scientist Doug Morton leads an ESTO project developing a Compact Fire Imager for wildfire detection and prediction.

Were not going to see fewer fires, so were trying to understand how fires release energy over their life cycle, Morton said. This will help us better understand the new nature of fires in an increasingly flammable world.

CFI will monitor both the hottest fires which release more greenhouse gases and cooler, smoldering coals and ashes which produce more carbon monoxide and airborne particles like smoke and ash.

Those are key ingredients when it comes to safety and understanding the greenhouse gases released by burning, Morton said.

After testing the fire imager on airborne campaigns, Mortons team envisions outfitting a fleet of 10 small satellites to provide global information about fires with more images per day.

Combined with next-generation computer models, he said, this information can help the forest service and other firefighting agencies prevent fires, improve safety for firefighters on the front lines, and protect the life and property of those living in the path of fires.

Outfitted with polarization filters, the sensor could measure how ice particles in Earths upper atmosphere clouds scatter and polarize light, NASA Goddard Earth scientist Dong Wu said.

This application would complement NASAs PACE Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem mission, Wu said, which revealed its first light images earlier last month. Both measure the polarization of light waves orientation in relation to the direction of travel from different parts of the infrared spectrum.

The PACE polarimeters monitor visible and shortwave-infrared light, he explained. The mission will focus on aerosol and ocean color sciences from daytime observations. At mid- and long-infrared wavelengths, the new Infrared polarimeter would capture cloud and surface properties from both day and night observations.

In another effort, Hewagama is working Jhabvala and Jennings to incorporate linear variable filters which provide even greater detail within the infrared spectrum. The filters reveal atmospheric molecules rotation and vibration as well as Earths surface composition.

That technology could also benefit missions to rocky planets, comets, and asteroids, planetary scientist Carrie Anderson said. She said they could identify ice and volatile compounds emitted in enormous plumes from Saturns moon Enceladus.

They are essentially geysers of ice, she said, which of course are cold, but emit light within the new infrared sensors detection limits. Looking at the plumes against the backdrop of the Sun would allow us to identify their composition and vertical distribution very clearly.

Continued here:

NASA Unveils Game-Changing Infrared Cameras for Earth and Space Exploration - SciTechDaily

A Chinese spacecraft landed on the far side of the moon to collect soil and rock samples that could provide insights into differences between the less-explored region and the better-known near side.

The landing module touched down on Sunday at 6.23am Beijing time (8.23am AEST) in a huge crater known as the South Pole-Aitken Basin, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) said.

The mission is the sixth in the Chang'e moon exploration program, which is named after a Chinese moon goddess. It is the second designed to bring back samples, following the Chang'e 5, which did so from the near side in 2020.

"The Chang'e-6 mission is the first human sampling and return mission from the far side of the moon. It involves many engineering innovations, high risks and great difficulty," CNSA said.

"The payloads carried by the Chang'e-6 lander will work as planned and carry out scientific exploration missions."

The successful mission is China's second on the far side of the moon, a region no country has landed on before.

The moon program is part of a growing rivalry with the US still the leader in space exploration and others, including Japan and India. China has put its own space station in orbit and regularly sends crews there.

The emerging global power aims to put a person on the moon before 2030, which would make it the second nation after the US to do so.

America is planning to land astronauts on the moon again for the first time in more than 50 years though NASA pushed the target date back to 2026 earlier this year.

US efforts to use private sector rockets to launch spacecraft have been repeatedly delayed. Last-minute computer trouble nixed the planned launch of Boeing's first astronaut flight from Florida on Saturday.

Earlier in the day, a Japanese billionaire called off his plan to orbit the moon because of uncertainty over the development of a mega-rocket by SpaceX. NASA is planning to use the rocket to send its astronauts to the moon.

In China's current mission, the lander is to use a mechanical arm and a drill to gather up to 2kg of surface and underground material for about two days.

An ascender atop the lander will then take the samples in a metal vacuum container back to another module that is orbiting the moon.

The container will be transferred to a re-entry capsule that is due to return to earth in the deserts of China's inner Mongolia region about June 25.

Missions to the moon's far side are more difficult because it doesn't face the earth, requiring a relay satellite to maintain communications. The terrain is also more rugged, with fewer flat areas to land.

With Reuters

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China lands uncrewed spacecraft on far side of the moon - Yahoo News Australia

This week, two more nations signed the Artemis Accords.

NASA held a ceremony at its headquarters in Washington, D.C. on Thursday (May 30) to host representatives from both Slovakia and Peru. During the event, both countries signed the agency's Artemis Accords, a set of principles that aims to lay out a framework for peaceful cooperation in space and on the moon.

The addition of these two nations brings the total of signing countries to 42. The Artemis Accords were first launched and signed in October 2020 by eight nations, including the United States.

Related: Artemis Accords: What are they & which countries are involved?

NASA chief Bill Nelson lauded the addition of both countries in two separate agency statements.

"The United States and Slovakia share a deep understanding of the power of exploration. Through this new chapter in our nations' partnership, we will further this global coalition to explore the cosmos openly, responsibly, in peace, Nelson said of Slovakia's participation. The country's Minister of Education, Research, Development and Youth, Tom Drucker, signed the Accords on behalf of Slovakia.

Similarly, the NASA administrator said in a separate statement that the "giant leap forward" for Peru and the United States is the "result of decades of work Peru has done to further its reach in the cosmos." Javier Gonzlez-Olaechea, Peru's foreign minister, signed the Accords on behalf of the nation.

Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!

While the Artemis Accords seek to establish a set of norms for space exploration in general, they have a strong focus on the moon, hence why they share a name with NASA's Artemis program of human moon exploration missions.

Through the Artemis program, NASA and its international partners aim to establish a permanent and sustainable human presence on the moon by around the end of the decade. The campaign has launched one mission thus far, Artemis 1, which sent the uncrewed Orion spacecraft around the moon and back in late 2022.

Developing the infrastructure needed to sustain a human presence on the moon will be a much more ambitious undertaking, and NASA will need to cooperate with international partners to make it all happen, the agency has stressed.

Some nations that have signed on to the Accords are already well-established in space, such as France, Germany, India, Israel, Japan, South Korea and the United Kingdom.

China is also eyeing its own permanent presence on the moon, and aims to develop theInternational Lunar Research Stationin the 2030s alongside its partners such as Russia, Ethiopia, Kenya and Azerbaijan.

Link:

Peru and Slovakia sign the Artemis Accords for peaceful moon exploration - Space.com

Europe is well on the way to providing its booming satellite market with a cost-effective, highly efficient low-energy electric propulsion system. The result will strengthen Europes space sector and open up new opportunities in Earth observation, telecommunications, on-orbit servicing and space exploration.

Over the last decade, advances in microelectronics and reduced launch costs have led to an increase in the number of satellites being put into orbit. Tens of thousands of satellites are now planned for launch in the coming years with the aim of improving Earth observation, navigation and communications. There are currently more than 5 000 satellites in low-Earth orbit (LEO), circling our planet at altitudes ranging from 200 to 1 600 km. However, LEO satellites are subject to orbital decay, where their distance from Earth gradually decreases, requiring an efficient low-thrust propulsion system for orbital station keeping. Electric propulsion (EP) is a revolutionary lightweight and highly efficient technology that is uniquely qualified to keep LEO satellites traversing above the globe. This class of space propulsion makes use of electrical power to accelerate a propellant through different possible electrical and/or magnetic means. The use of electrical power enhances the performance of satellite thrusters compared to conventional chemical thrusters. Unlike chemical systems, EP requires very little mass to accelerate a spacecraft. The propellant is ejected up to 20 times faster than from a classical chemical thruster and therefore the overall system is many times more efficient. This fact is of particular importance for spacecraft intended for in-orbit servicing and transportation missions. High-power EP systems could also contribute to missions to the moon, Mars and the asteroid belt as their higher power translates into higher thrust values, compared to chemical propellants or solar energy from onboard panels. EP is a key enabling and strategic technology for the EU Future Space Ecosystem and for ensuring European global leadership in the areas of in-space operations and transportation. Its development will also reduce Europes dependency on foreign suppliers of critical space technologies, ensuring its independent access to space. This new CORDIS Results Pack highlights the main achievements of 12 EC-funded Horizon research projects within the Strategic Research Cluster (SRC) on Electric Propulsion. The SRC strengthened European EP research along two complementary technology development lines. The first focused on incremental technologies like Hall-effect thrusters, gridded ion engines and high-efficiency multi-stage plasma thrusters. The second featured other promising and potentially disruptive technologies in the field of EP, including innovative thruster concepts and new supportive technologies. The EPIC2 project identified activities that address research challenges and assessed projects activities and results. CHEOPS LOW POWER, CHEOPS MEDIUM POWER and ASPIRE developed EP systems using the Hall-effect technology, which efficiently accelerates ions to produce high thrust. GIESEPP-MP demonstrated the first European plug-and-play gridded ion engine standardised EP platform. HEMPT-NG2 developed an ion propulsion technology based on the use of permanent magnets for plasma confinement. Other promising and potentially disruptive concepts in the field of EP included innovative thruster concepts and new supporting technologies. HIPATIA tested an electromagnetic plasma propulsion system for use in non-geostationary satellites and other small spacecrafts. NEMESIS developed an electride-based cathode technology with superior properties to conventional ceramics. Meanwhile, iFACT investigated the use of iodine as a propellant for EP to help reduce fuel costs and volume. PJP developed a pulsed electrical thruster based on vacuum arc physics that uses a solid metal propellant. EDDA tested how onboard solar arrays deliver electric power to thrusters without the need for a power converter. AETHER focused on air-breathing technology, using residual gases of the upper atmosphere as a propellant instead of on-board propellant, allowing satellites in Very Low-Earth Orbit (VLEO) to remain in service for longer and become more cost-effective.

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In-space electric propulsion: powering the future EU space ecosystem - Cordis News