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Water

Author: ESA
Thu, Jul 17, 2008

The search for water in space has been quite successful; traces of ice have been found on Mars and water vapour has been found in several places in our galaxy. Water vapour was also recently detected on a planet outside our Solar System for the first time. It was an important discovery, although the planet is far too hot to be able to support life. Heavy water, which is also found on comets, poses the question of whether we can trace the origins of the water on earth through the heavy water found on objects like asteroids and comets. The Herschel space observatory, due for launch within a year?s time, will help explore the theory that water vapour plays an important role in regions of space where interstellar clouds of gas and dust are forming new stars.

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Hubble has been serviced and upgraded four times. The fifth and final tune-up is scheduled for October 2008. After this, it is expected to be in fit working order for another five years. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), a project of partnership between ESA, NASA and the Canadian Space Agency, is scheduled for launch in 2013. It is the largest and most complex space probe ever built. JWST will observe in infrared wavelengths, providing unprecedented results.

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Thousands of people from the 17 countries that make up ESA responded to this dream of becoming an astronaut, but what are the qualities ESA is looking for?

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For more than 17 years, the joint ESA/NASA mission Ulysses studied the heliosphere (the sphere of influence of the Sun) and our local interstellar neighbourhood, providing the first-ever map of the heliosphere in the four dimensions of space and time. Ulysses was designed to last for five years but it is still returning valuable data. The mission, which takes the spacecraft over the poles of the Sun, was extended four times, allowing Ulysses to pass over the Sun?s poles for a second and third time. But like all good things, the mission is coming to an end.

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The Galileo constellation will be the world's most reliable global navigation system. The technologies that have been developed to achieve such precision will also provide data for use in many other fields, such as oceanography and meteorology. The Galileo system will also open new horizons in fundamental sciences. The extremely small differences in timekeeping between the satellite clocks moving in orbit and their Earth-bound counterparts will lead scientists to a re-evaluation of the nature and influence of gravity in the Universe.

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To land, first, on the Moon and, later, on Mars - in the 2030 timeframe - scientists need a mix of human and robotic missions to know in advance what challenges must be met - to know how humans can survive for years under microgravity, to scout landing zones and to develop precise navigation and artificial intelligence techniques.

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Earlier this week, ESA signed a contract at the Berlin Airshow's Space Pavilion to build the EarthCARE satellite - the Agency's 'Cloud, Aerosol and Radiation' mission. Due for launch in 2013, EarthCARE will gather data to give scientists a better understanding of the interactions between radiation and clouds and aerosols in the atmosphere. Earth Observation is a central pillar in Europe's space activities; EO generates direct benefits for citizens and governments and employs science for a better understanding of our planet.

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Radar sounders aboard ESA's Mars Express and NASA's Mars Reconnaissance orbiters have already detected ice deposits deep underground. Now, after a ten-month journey, NASA's Phoenix lander will continue the search for water. Its objective is to land in a permafrost region near the north pole. Its suite of instruments will scan the atmosphere and a robotic arm will attempt to dig down to an ice-rich layer expected to lie at arm's reach below the surface. But water is not the sole element that could have harboured life on the Red Planet: methane could also establish a link between life on Earth and Mars. Scientists have already found traces of methane in the atmosphere of Mars and are currently trying to work out exactly where the gas is coming from. On Earth, it is well known that the source of methane is mostly life. So, whilst orbiting spacecraft like Mars Express continue to harvest global views, in-situ observations on the martian surface like those of NASA's Phoenix lander and ESA's ExoMars mobile laboratory, due to launch in 2011, remain necessary. The critical entry, descent and landing phase of the Phoenix probe will, at NASA's request, be provided with support from ESA.

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From an exceptionally low orbital altitude, GOCE (Gravity Field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer) will measure global variations in the Earth's gravity field with extreme detail and accuracy. This will result in a unique model of the geoid, which is the surface of equal gravitational potential defined by the gravity field ? crucial for deriving accurate measurements of ocean circulation and sea-level change, both of which are affected by climate change. GOCE-derived data is also much needed to understand more about processes occurring inside the Earth and for use in practical applications such as surveying and levelling. GOCE is the first in the series of Earth Explorer missions being developed within ESA's Living Planet Programme. Earth Explorer missions form the science and research element of the Living Planet Programme and focus on the atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere and the Earth's interior, with the overall emphasis on learning more about the interactions between these components and the impact that human activity is having on natural Earth processes. The satellite is currently undergoing final preparations at ESA-ESTEC in the Netherlands prior to launch this summer from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia.

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The principle is simple: a satellite-tracking antenna on the roof of the train ensures a permanent link with a telecommunications satellite. The link is then relayed inside the train through wireless access points installed in the ceilings of the carriages. A great technological achievement: a continuous, two-way link between a train travelling at 300 kilometres per hour and a satellite at an altitude of 36 000 kilometres. The technology demonstrator was developed with ESA support by the UK-based company 21Net, an operator specialised in providing Internet access via satellite. A consortium, lead by Nokia Siemens Networks and including 21Net, has now implemented a commercial version of the system on Thalys trains.

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The advantage of using leading edge-technologies from space in other sectors, and vice versa, at the forum 'Innovation from space exploration and technology transfer' taking place 23 April 2008.

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Technology spin-offs from European space programmes presented at the SpaceTransfer08 event in the Innovations Market for Research and Development section at the Hanover trade fair 2008, taking place 21-25 April 2008.

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The second Galileo satellite, GIOVE-B, is equipped with the most accurate clock ever to be flown in space. GIOVE B will be launched from Baikonur on 27 April.

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The European Union and the European Space Agency are taking to implement Galileo and achieve the full deployment of the first civil satellite navigation system.

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GIOVE-B will be a satellite very close to the satellites planned for the operational Galileo system to be deployed by 2013. In particular it will carry a high precision atomic clock which, once on orbit, will be the most accurate clock ever flying in space. With this launch the European Space Agency and the European Commission are consolidating the foundations of Galileo, the first global civil positioning system.

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Jules Verne ATV's laser rendezvous sensor will emit a signal and receive a reflection back from the International Space Station. Engineers at the ATV Control Centre and the astronauts on board ISS will monitor the spacecraft as it approaches for docking, making sure it follows a predefined corridor and that the spacecraft is flying at the right angle. This complex system has back-up layers which will kick in if there are any problems. But should its two redundant chains break down, the ATV has a third, totally independent monitoring and safing unit which can be triggered to order the spacecraft to safely back-off from its target and return to its usual cruise mode.

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On 14 March, ATV successfully demonstrated the crucial Collision Avoidance Manoeuvre, or CAM, in which an automated system successfully took over control of the vessel and moved to a safe location. Now, two more 'Demonstration Days' are scheduled prior to the actual docking. The first, 29 March, will demonstrate that the ATV can automatically calculate its position and manoeuvre with respect to the Station using relative GPS navigation; it will also perform an 'Escape' manoeuvre from the S2 position, some 3500 m behind the ISS. The data from this rehearsal will be analysed by ATV mission managers and NASA and Russian partners before proceeding to a second Demonstration Day, on 31 March. This second dry-run will test close proximity manoeuvring and control, including contingency manoeuvres for both the ATV control centre and the crew aboard the ISS. The ATV will approach first to within 20 metres of the station, retreat, then approach even nearer, to a point only 12 metres from the docking port on the ISS Russian Zvezda module, before again backing off to a safe 100-metre distance. Demo Day 2 will provide ultimate proof that Europe's resupply vessel is absolutely ready for final rendezvous and docking.

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A number of missions have spent time exploring these unknown worlds in the solar system. In January 2005, the European lander, Huygens stunned the world as it landed on Saturn's largest moon, Titan, revealing unexpected data. Missions such as ESA's SMART-1, which compiled the first comprehensive inventory of key chemical elements in the lunar surface and tested new technology, have become increasingly important today. To follow-up on the technological breakthroughs of SMART-1, ESA will be participating in Chandrayaan-1, the Indian space agency's lunar mission, due for launch in 2008.

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Provided by Thales Alenia Space in Italy, Jules Verne ATV?s Integrated Cargo Carrier is about half the volume of ESA?s Columbus laboratory. Around 180 kg of European cargo was first packed in Italy before being transported to Kourou, in French Guiana. Before the cargo was loaded into the spacecraft, the entire pressurised section was disinfected as a sanitary precaution. Some 1200 kg of supplies, mainly from NASA, were stored on board, including 500 kg of food, and 80 kg of clothing and spare parts. Amongst the cargo are also gifts for the ISS crew, including a luxury 19th Century edition of Jules Verne's work 'From the Earth to the Moon', and the winning music playlist from ESA's ATV competition, selected to inspire them and brighten their day. The ATV's tanks were loaded with drinkable water, oxygen, nitrogen and fuel for the Space Station's propulsion system. After further sanitary inspections the hatch was closed, the ATV was purged and filled with pure synthesized air. Once docked with the International Space Station, astronauts will be able to access the cargo section without spacesuits, to unload supplies, to store others, to place waste material to be discarded and even use it as a rest quarters.

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The 48 cubic meter pressurised cargo module gives the ATV a capacity three times greater than existing space freighters. Its racks can be packed with more than 1300 kg of food, clothes, and equipment. Reservoirs can carry several hundred litres of drinking water and gases. Other tanks are loaded with important quantities of propellants. Astronauts will unload the cargo at their leisure, and use it as a storage area. Unwanted items and refuse placed inside will burn up when the vessel re-enters the Earth's atmosphere at the end of its mission. Other ATVs will follow. The five scheduled between now and 2015, will be crucial elements of the ISS, particularly after the last Shuttle flight in 2010. And future versions of the spacecraft are already on the drawing boards. The ATV Programme represents an investment of some 1.3 billion Euros since 1995, to the benefit of European industry. Under the direction of ESA and prime contractor EADS Astrium, engineers throughout the continent have contributed to this new generation spacecraft. Major sub-contractors include Thales Alenia Space (Italy), Astrium (Germany and France), Oerlikon Space (Switzerland), Dutch Space (The Netherlands), with Russian partners providing the advanced docking mechanism.

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From 1998, the International Space Station has required regular visits - to date 58 dockings - of the Shuttles, Soyuz crew, and Progress supply ships. Unmanned - but man-rated ? ESA's Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) has the unique capability to perform automatic rendezvous in a fully autonomous manner. The rendezvous of ESA's Jules Verne ATV with the ISS uses GPS navigation, star tracker devices, two critical sensors, a telegoniometer and a videometer. After raising its orbit to some 400 kilometres, the ATV will come in sight of the ISS, and from about 30 kilometres distance behind, and 5 kilometres below, it will close in on its target. For any emergency occurring during spacecraft navigation, flight controllers can at anytime call on the ATV independent system and back away from the Space Station. Astronauts on the ISS can also reject the spacecraft in case of anomalies. Their task onboard is ensuring ATV either touches at the right place at the right speed, or doesn?t touch at all. With its unprecedented cargo and re-boost capabilities, ATV will service the Space Station for many years and could become a unique asset after the Shuttle retirement in 2010. Its advanced technologies will no doubt have other uses: for robots to recover old satellites and space debris, to return planetary samples back to Earth, for the remote construction of large space structures, and notably for interplanetary journeys.

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Equipped with its own propulsion and navigation system, the unmanned ATV "space truck" - dubbed 'Jules Verne' - has a sophisticated automatic navigation system. Even though the ATV is an automatic space vehicle, ground control experts from ESA and CNES, the French space agency, will be heavily involved in operations. They are prepared for any contingency, determining the route the spacecraft must take to dock with the ISS and working closely with the other two ISS control centres involved in ATV operations: the Mission Control Centre - Moscow (MCC-M) and the MCC-H, in Houston. At each of these control centres, European, American and Russian engineers coordinate their actions and carry out final manoeuvres with extreme precision.

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Three-quarters of the globe is covered in water and its influence is felt everywhere. It?s not only oceans, rivers and lakes that affect the climate but water in all its forms, such as soil moisture and its evaporation. SMOS, ESA?s water mission, will provide a uniform dataset for understanding better the water cycle, thus helping to forecast climate change and predict extreme weather conditions. Circulating at a low orbit of around 750 km above the Earth, SMOS will be the first satellite to provide us with a global picture of ocean salinity levels. Understanding the salinity and temperature of the seas will help to predict more easily the zones where hurricanes intensify as they pass over the ocean. Salinity in the oceans has a big impact on ocean circulation, which plays a key role in driving the global climate. The SMOS satellite will be launched into space in 2008 atop the Russian launcher ?Rockot?.

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Before each manoeuvre, the mission control team at ESA's Space Operations Centre simulates all aspects of the upcoming operation and practices identifying and solving problems that could arise. The multinational team must work as one to react immediately and effectively. Once at its target comet in 2014, Rosetta?s lander, Philae, will touch down and study the comet?s surface composition and drill into the icy nucleus to collect and analyse samples, including complex organic material that may have contributed to the formation of life on Earth.

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The European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) receives data from deep-space ground stations worldwide. The huge volume of data that comes back to Earth from space has to be calibrated and translated into a format that can be exploited by scientists.

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Radio telescopes must be very large in size to achieve the same resolution as optical telescopes. The only way to do this is by coupling two or more of them, the further apart the better, and to analyse their combined signals. An interferometer is a system which can avoid increased expenses due to the large size of the receiver. It consists of two or more elements of large antennae. By connecting them in a special fashion, it is possible to artificially create a larger telescope. The European hub for what is called Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) is situated in Dwingeloo in the Netherlands, at the Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe, JIVE.

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The Santa Maria station (SMA) tracking footprint covers a large portion of the Atlantic ocean. The first launch to be tracked from Santa Maria will take place in early 2008, when Jules Verne, the first Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) to be sent to the International Space Station, lifts off from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana on board an Ariane 5 launcher.

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The conference began at 08:30 with breakfast, followed at 09:00 by a press briefing to review the Agency?s activities in 2007 and look ahead to those of 2008, a year set to be full of events and marked by several major launches (ATV, Giove-B, GOCE, Herschel and Planck, SMOS, Vega), as well as a major programmatic milestone for ESA: the Council meeting at Ministerial level in late November.

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Today, the specialists at the European Space Agency's Research and Technology Centre in the Netherlands are able to confirm that the GIOVE-A mission is a success. This is an essential result for the next step in the programme: the launch of GIOVE-B, the second experimental satellite, scheduled for lift off by mid-2008. This satellite will broadcast the latest signals, which have been agreed with the United States, and two different types of onboard technologies that will provide the best timing synchronisation experienced so far. When complete, Galileo will be a constellation of 30 satellites supported by a network of ground stations, creating a global network. With this joint project, the European Commission and ESA plan a civil system providing guidance and assistance regardless of location. The fact that Galileo will be a civil system means it will guarantee continuity of access and signal quality - unlike the American GPS system, which is under military control. Nevertheless, Galileo and GPS will be compatible and interoperable - increasing the reliability of both systems.

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Harmony, also known as Node 2, was delivered to the International Space Station (ISS) by the STS-120 Shuttle mission last October. After STS-120 returned to Earth, the ISS Expedition 16 crew continued work to move Harmony to its final destination and