Latest European Space Research and Technology Centre Stories

ESA Like astronauts, heavy-equipment operators in remote mines can benefit from long-distance monitoring using space technology. An ESA spin-off company has raised safety for dozens of drivers at the El Brocal mine in Peru by predicting their fatigue. In far-flung mining operations around the world, drivers typically work 12-hour shifts, driving trucks and loaders of 160–180 tonnes – the size of a small apartment block. Combine the grueling schedule with even a small mistake, and...

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online European students were able to command mini-robots aboard the International Space Station (ISS) remotely, helping to win a competition. A competition gave over 130 high-school students across Europe the opportunity to operate droids in space by coding software. Teams from Italy, Germany, Spain and Portugal were able to utilize their computer codes to work in the space station, from the European Space Agency's ESTEC space research...

April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online On the International Space Station this Friday, January 11, a squadron of mini satellites will wake up to obey remote commands from students across Europe. Space enthusiasts can watch a live broadcast as teams make the droids compete in a space game called RetroSpheres. The students have been running their code in a virtual world until this point, but the high school finals will be held this Friday using the real thing: robotic...

In July, ESA astronaut André Kuipers landed on Earth after a bumpy ride in a Soyuz capsule. Yesterday, he landed by helicopter on the beach near ESA’s technical center in the Netherlands to loud applause from the large crowd gathered to welcome him home. When André isn’t traveling the world for his training and scientific experiments or circling Earth on the International Space Station, he works from his office at ESTEC in Noordwijk, the Netherlands. The town of Noordwijk...

Next year’s Hollywood film Gravity features George Clooney stranded in orbit by cascading space junk. The threat is genuine, with debris levels rising steadily. ESA’s new Clean Space initiative is developing methods of preserving near-Earth space – and the terrestrial environment, too. Responding to public environmental concerns, Clean Space aims to reduce the environmental effect of Europe’s space activities, cutting waste and pollution on Earth and in orbit. Industry is...

Europe’s new meteorology mission is set to soar into space on an Ariane 5 from Kourou on 5 July. Just 34 minutes later, ESA’s team of expert mission controllers will begin shepherding the satellite through the critical first steps of its life. ESA developed the MSG series of satellites in close cooperation with Eumetsat – the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites – and ESOC is responsible for the complex ‘LEOP’ – the launch and early orbit...

If you’ve been to see Wrath of the Titans, then you’ve watched it in action. A computer programmer is using software he developed to control spacecraft to help animators make more realistic computer games and movies. Originally designed to help guide satellites, the software now helps computers to render human movements smoothly and realistically. It turns out that movements controlled effortlessly by our brains – picking up a cup, touching our toes or doing a little dance –...

Eighty tweeps came to ESA’s technical center in the Netherlands on May 29 to talk to ESA astronaut André Kuipers in a live video call to the International Space Station. Last April, people were invited via ESA’s Twitter account @ESA, to send a question they would like to ask André. The lucky group was chosen from more than 500 entries to attend the SpaceTweetup in ESTEC, the Netherlands. 10 Twitter followers then had the chance to ask their question directly to André, during the...

ESA and industry have built a strong relationship in the 35 years they have worked together. But with changing times, we should review this relationship to see what has worked well and what needs to be improved, so that it continues to grow. On 10 May, the last of a series of workshops at the various ESA establishments concluded at ESRIN in Frascati, Italy. Part of a ‘consultation with industry’ process, each workshop dealt with a number of important topics regarding the cooperation...

Are you following @Astro_Andre’s Twitter updates and images from space? If you could speak to him live on the International Space Station, what would you most like to ask? Now’s your chance! ESA is inviting 80 followers of @Astro_Andre to join us for a SpaceTweetup, with André participating live from the Space Station. The Tweetup will take place in English on 29 May at ESA’s ESTEC research and technology center in Noordwijk, the Netherlands. ESA astronaut Christer Fuglesang...