European Space Operations Centre

About: European Space Operations Centre is a government organization based out in Darmstadt, Germany. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Orbit determination & Satellite. The organization has 309 authors who have published 331 publications receiving 10399 citations. The organization is also known as: ESOC.

A technique for estimating the absolute vector geomagnetic field from a marine vessel

Abstract: We have developed a technique to estimate the absolute strength and direction of the geomagnetic field from a marine vessel. This technique will be of value in the study of marine magnetic anomalies, directional drilling or geomagnetic field modelling. One of the main difficulties in this operation is to correct the data for the magnetic field generated by the vessel itself. Assuming the vessel susceptibility is isotropic, we show that by turning the ship through 360° at a place where the strength of the field is known we can estimate the local direction of the magnetic field. Once this is known, the vessel's field at any attitude can be robustly estimated and the measurements of the full magnetic field vector made in a normal surveying mode can be corrected. The ambient magnetic field estimates at the turn locations have proved to be very accurate. In normal surveying mode, these estimates are not as good since they are directly dependent on the accuracy of the vessel attitude measurements. However, when the technique is applied on real data, the total intensity field estimates have a very low level of noise showing that the vessel signal has been well accounted for.

Satellite technology glimpses ionospheric response to solar eclipse

Abstract: The millennium's last solar eclipse was observed on August 11, 1999, over most of Europe, along the northeast coast of North America, and in the Near East and Middle East The eclipse was also observed by the global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), the Global Positioning System (GPS), and the Russian GNSS (GLONASS), because the transmitted signals can be used to infer the total electron content of the ionosphere Disruption of photoionization and thermospheric heating leads to numerous complex phenomena in the ionosphere Because of the supersonic speed of the Moon's cool shadow in the atmosphere, atmospheric gravity waves may be generated; these propagate upward and trace as traveling ionosphere disturbances in the ionosphere [Chimonas and Hines, 1970] Analogous to the atmospheric pressure on the Earth's surface, total electron content (TEC) can be understood as the “pressure” of the electron gas of the ionosphere, which will decrease with reduced energy input

Rosetta ground segment and mission operations

Abstract: At the European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt (Germany) the activities for ground segment development and mission operations preparation for Rosetta started in 1997 Many of the characteristics of this mission were new to ESOC and have therefore required an early effort in identifying all the necessary facilities and functions The ground segment required entirely new elements to be developed, such as the large deep-space antenna built in New Norcia (Western Australia) The long duration of the journey to the comet, of about 10 years, required an effort in the operations concept definition to reduce the cost of routine monitoring and control The new approaches adopted for the Rosetta mission include full transfer of on-board software maintenance responsibility to the operations team, and the installation of a fully functioning spacecraft engineering model at ESOC, in support of testing and troubleshooting activities in flight, but also for training of the operations staff Special measures have also been taken to minimise the ground contact with the spacecraft during cruise, to reduce cost, down to a typical frequency of one contact per week The problem of maintaining knowledge and expertise in the long flight to comet Churyumov–Gerasimenko is also a major challenge for the Rosetta operations team, which has been tackled early in the mission preparation phase and evolved with the first years of flight experience

Sensor Noise in LISA Pathfinder: In-Flight Performance of the Optical Test Mass Readout.

Abstract: We report on the first subpicometer interferometer flown in space. It was part of ESA's Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) Pathfinder mission and performed the fundamental measurement of the positional and angular motion of two free-falling test masses. The interferometer worked immediately, stably, and reliably from switch on until the end of the mission with exceptionally low residual noise of 32.0_{-1.7}^{+2.4} fm/sqrt[Hz], significantly better than required. We present an upper limit for the sensor performance at millihertz frequencies and a model for the measured sensitivity above 200 mHz.