October 2015
Earth independence: new definitions of home on Mars missions and beyond
... Space Center. When astronauts leave planet Mars, they’ll have to do it independently. Finally, after again facing the challenge of months of interplanetary transit, they must survive another entry, descent and landing, bringing them safely back...
March 2017
Rosetta – outstanding climax to pioneering mission
... the mission: it had to follow the comet and observe its evolution around the perihelion, at least until the end of 2015. And this was very challenging, as the activity of the comet started to rapidly increase at the beginning of the new year. At the...
March 2018
Mapping the dark universe
... (CFDP class 2) addresses the challenges in the design of the space and ground segment. The next steps for the Euclid ground team will be the implementation and validation of the concepts in the ground segment itself About the author Andreas Rudolph...
August 2018
AI offers new approach to space situational awareness
... still has a big role to play. There are several technologies that enable us to use machine learning to address the challenges of SSA. One interesting project funded by Dstl to explore what machine learning can do for SSA is currently underway...
October 2018
Mining the Moon for fun and profit
... facility. Finally, there is a power system to provide energy for ice extraction, transport and processing. The environment within the PSR is challenging. It is extremely cold, perhaps 40K, and dark, with ever-present highly abrasive dust. Reflected...
May 2019
Unlocking the full potential of Earth observation
... tag – out of reach for anybody outside the most well-funded space programmes. But the challenge isn’t fitting satellites with more powerful sensors. The real challenge for small satellites is getting the data they collect back to Earth. Operators...
