Copernical Team
Register for ESA’s first Earth observation commercialisation event
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Registration is now open for ESA’s first-ever Earth Observation Commercialisation Forum. Taking place at ESA Headquarters in Paris from 30 to 31 October 2023, investors, institutions, entrepreneurs and companies of any size from the Earth observation sector will now be able to come together and discuss the commercial potential and challenges of Earth observation, together with the technical, industrial and risk-capital support available to European companies.
Researchers propose a deep neural network-based 4-quadrant analog sun sensor calibration
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A spacecraft can estimate the attitude state by comparing external measurements from attitude sensors with reference information. CubeSats tend to use 4-quadrant analog solar sensors which have the advantages of extremely low power consumption, minimal volume, low complexity, low cost, and high reliability as attitude sensors, considering the limitation of satellite volume and payload. The performance of the sensor can be importantly improved by the calibration procedure and compensation model.
However, the various error sources affecting the calibration of the 4-quadrant sun sensor lead to a complicated process of compensation model establishment. Deep learning, which is widely used in the aerospace field in recent years, is able to approximate any continuous function on a bounded closed set, providing new ideas for solving the traditional problem.
In a research paper recently published in Space: Science & Technology, authors from Northwestern Polytechnical University, German Aerospace Center, and Dalian University of Technology together propose a method to calibrate sun sensors by deep learning, which not only is able to integrate the influence of various errors but also avoids the need of analyzing and modeling every single error.
Signature of industrial contracts for the consolidation of the common building blocks for future European reusable launch systems
Webb maps surprisingly large plume jetting from Saturn’s moon Enceladus
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Interaction between moon’s plumes and Saturn’s ring system explored with Webb
A water vapour plume from Saturn’s moon Enceladus spanning more than 9600 kilometres — long enough to stretch across the Eurasian continent from Ireland to Japan — has been detected by researchers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope. Not only is this the first time such water ejection has been seen over such an expansive distance, but Webb is also giving scientists a direct look, for the first time, at how this emission feeds the water supply for the entire system of Saturn and its rings.
China launches new crew for space station, with eye to putting astronauts on moon before 2030
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China launched a new three-person crew for its orbiting space station on Tuesday, with an eye to putting astronauts on the moon before the end of the decade.
The Shenzhou 16 spacecraft lifted off from the Jiuquan launch center on the edge of the Gobi Desert in northwestern China atop a Long March 2-F rocket just after 9:30 a.m. (0130 GMT) Tuesday.
The crew, including China's first civilian astronaut, will overlap briefly with three now aboard the Tiangong station, who will then return to Earth after completing their six-month mission.
China's 'space dream': A Long March to the Moon and beyond
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China successfully launched the latest mission to its Tiangong space station on Tuesday, with a crew that includes its first civilian astronaut.
It marked the latest space milestone for China, as it looks to catch up with the United States and Russia.
Here is a look at the Chinese space program, and where it is headed:
Mao's vow
Soon after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik in 1957, Chinese leader Mao Zedong pronounced: "We too will make satellites."
It took more than a decade, but in 1970, China launched its first satellite on a Long March rocket.
Human spaceflight took decades longer, with Yang Liwei becoming the first Chinese "taikonaut" in 2003.
NASA launches final pair of storm tracker satellite quartet
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NASA has launched the final pair of a satellite quartet designed to track tropical cyclones hour by hour, in a project that could improve weather predictions on devastating storms.
The storm trackers, sent into orbit on a rocket built by US company Rocket Lab and launched from New Zealand's Mahia Peninsula early Friday, completed the TROPICS constellation of shoebox-sized satellites.
Th Iron-rich rocks unlock new insights into Earth's planetary history
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Visually striking layers of burnt orange, yellow, silver, brown and blue-tinged black are characteristic of banded iron formations, sedimentary rocks that may have prompted some of the largest volcanic eruptions in Earth's history, according to new research from Rice University.
The rocks contain iron oxides that sank to the bottom of oceans long ago, forming dense layers that eventually t A milestone for parabolic flight
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On 23 May 2023, at 09:00, a very special Airbus A310 taxied to the runway at Bordeaux-Merignac Airport. The aircraft set off on a special flight - the first of a total of three flights that make up the 40th parabolic flight campaign of the German Space Agency at DLR, which will take place in Bordeaux from 15 to 25 May 2023. On board are 11 experiments - three from the fields of biology and human What do we know about the mechanics of two-dimensional materials
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Publishing in the International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing, scientists from McGill University, University of Illinois, and University of Science and Technology of China comprehensively reviewed the most recent discoveries in the field of the mechanics of 2D materials by discussing various key mechanical properties, including the elastic properties, in-plane failure, fatigue, interfacial sh