Tag Archives: esoc

Artist's impression of Mars Express. The background is based on an actual image of Mars taken by the spacecraft's high resolution stereo camera Credit:s: Spacecraft image credit: ESA/ATG medialab; Mars: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

Posted on 17 April 2018 by

Mars Express is good to go

Just like when your smartphone or tablet receives new software to improve its functionality and extend its life, Mars Express got an upgrade to enable it to keep flying.

Tiangong-1 seen at an altitude of about 161 km by the powerful TIRA research radar operated by the Fraunhofer Institute for High Frequency Physics and Radar Techniques (FHR) near Bonn, Germany. Image acquired on the morning of 1 April 2018, during one of the craft's final orbits. Credit: Fraunhofer FHR
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Posted on 1 April 2018 by

Monitoring (almost) complete

With the reentry of Tiangong-1 now forecast to happen within a few hours, ESA's formal role in the tracking campaign is winding down.

Sentinel-5P simulation training at ESOC 7 Sep 2017. Credit: ESA
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Posted on 25 September 2017 by

ESOC readies for Sentinel-5P

Operations Manager Daniel Mesples on the training and preparations for 5P launch at ESA’s ESOC mission control centre in Germany.

Artist's impression of one of the Earth Explorer Swarm satellites. Three identical satellites make up the constellation that is studying the dynamics of Earth's magnetic field. Credit: ESA/AOES Medialab

Posted on 25 January 2017 by

Debris manoeuvre abort

Today’s debris avoidance manoeuvre has been cancelled! To recap: Based on an assessment of information on hand as of late yesterday, it was clear that the conjunction – a close flyby – of a ca. 15-cm chunk...

Commands for a debris avoidance manoeuvre were uploaded to Swarm-B from the EO mission control room at ESOC on 25 January 2017 at 08:51 CET. Credit: ESA

Posted on 25 January 2017 by

Commands on board

Update 10:30CET 25.01 Today’s debris avoidance manoeuvre is set! To recap: yesterday, it became clear to the Swarm mission team at ESA that an avoidance manoeuvre will most likely be necessary today to boost Swarm-B out of...

Main Control Room at ESA's European Space Operations Centre, Darmstadt, Germany. Credit: ESA/P. Shlyaev

Posted on 24 January 2017 by

Planned debris manoeuvre looks good

The Space Debris Office at ESOC have updated their conjunction alert based on the on-going manoeuvre planning. The news is positive! If the manoeuvre is conducted, the object is now forecast to pass in front of Swarm-B...

Swarm satellite in space Credit: ESA

Posted on 24 January 2017 by

Taking action at ESOC

If you read our earlier post, you’ll know that today there’s some interesting action going on at ESA’s ESOC operations centre in Darmstadt, Germany, where teams are reacting to a forecast conjunction between a piece of space...

The three identical satellites were launched together on one rocket in 2013. Two satellites orbit almost side-by-side at the same altitude – initially at about 460 km, descending to around 300 km over the lifetime of the mission. The third satellite is in a higher orbit, at 530 km, and at a slightly different inclination. Credit: ESA–P. Carril, 2013

Posted on 24 January 2017 by

ESA teams respond to debris risk

A close approach for Swarm-B with a piece of ca. 15-cm debris is forecast for 25 January at 23:10:55 UTC. We're doing something about it.

Mars Express orbit Credit: ESA

Posted on 21 October 2016 by

Keeping MEX warm

Details, register to attend or watch live: Mars Express - Open Data Day 28 October 2016

Posted on 4 May 2016 by

Rover driving done!

On 29 April 2016, ESA astronaut Tim Peake controlled, from the International Space Station, a rover nicknamed Bridget at Airbus Defence and Space in Stevenage as part of an international experiment to prepare for human–robotic missions to...