Romanian Space Agency (ROSA)

31/10/2022

ESA’s Navigation Directorate is planning an in-orbit demonstration with new navigation satellites that will orbit just a few hundred kilometres up in space, supplementing Europe’s 23 222-km-distant Galileo satellites. Operating added-value signals, these novel so-called ‘LEO-PNT’ satellites will investigate a new multi-layer satnav system-of-systems approach to deliver seamless Positioning, Navigation and Timing services that are much more accurate, robust and available everywhere.

Read more here: 🔗 https://www.rosa.ro/index.php/en/news-menu/stiri/6873-esa-are-in-plan-sateliti-de-navigatie-pe-orbita-terestra-joasa

Image credit: ESA - European Space Agency - Science Office

31/10/2022

Suitable for kids and adults alike, this episode of ‘The Incredible Adventures of Hera’ details the miniaturised James-Bond-style technology that the Hera mission and its CubeSats will carry aboard with them to explore an asteroid target. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPn2W5CYA1U&feature=emb_imp_woyt&themeRefresh=1

Part of the technology explained in this video is Romanian-made: https://www.rosa.ro/index.php/en/news-menu/stiri/60-stiri-slider/6775-rolul-romaniei-in-prima-misiune-de-aparare-planetara

Video credit: ESA - European Space Agency

Meet Hera, our very own asteroid detective. Together with two CubeSats – Milani the rock decoder and Juventas the radar visionary – Hera is off on an adventu...

28/10/2022

How many satellites was Ariane 5 able to carry at its first launch, in 1997?

A. One satellite
B. Two satellites
C. Three satellites

Write your answer in the comments and we'll post the correct one later today.

27/10/2022

The first Meteosat Third Generation satellite is now safe and sound in one of the European Spaceport’s cleanrooms, where satellite engineers will ready it for liftoff on an Ariane 5 rocket in December. Once in geostationary orbit, this new satellite, which carries two new extremely sensitive instruments, promises to further bolster Europe's leadership in weather forecasting.

More details here: 🔗 https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/Meteorological_missions/meteosat_third_generation/Europe_s_all-new_weather_satellite_arrives_at_launch_site

Image credit: ESA - European Space Agency / CNES / Arianespace

After a two-week voyage across the Atlantic Ocean, the ship transporting the first Meteosat Third Generation satellite docked at Pariacabo in French Guiana and the precious cargo unloaded. Now safe and sound in one of the spaceport’s cleanrooms, satellite engineers will ready it for liftoff on an ...

27/10/2022

Despite being essential to life on Earth, the magnetic field isn’t something we can actually see in itself, or ever hear. However, magnetic signals measured by ESA’s Swarm satellite mission were converted into sound – with a pretty scary result.

Read more here: 🔗 https://www.rosa.ro/index.php/en/news-menu/stiri/6860-cum-suna-campul-magnetic-al-pamantului

Image credit: Ben Rider

26/10/2022

This timeline captures Ariane 6’s central core assembly. Ariane 6 is the first Ariane rocket to be assembled horizontally, which is simpler and less costly than more traditional vertical assembly.

🔗 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zakxHec2YrU

Romania participates in the Ariane programme together with other 12 ESA Member States.

Video credit: ESA - European Space Agency / Zetapress - M.Pedoussaut

At Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, a test model of the Ariane 6’s central core has been assembled for the first time. Ariane 6 is the first Ariane rocke...

26/10/2022

Romania participates with two entities in the development programme of Europe's newest rocket, Ariane 6, following a decision by the ESA Ministerial Council in December 2014.

By prioritising Romania's participation in the Ariane 6 rocket development programme, ROSA gave the Romanian space industry the opportunity to enter the race for contracts to develop European launcher components. Thus, Romanian Research & Development Institute for Gas Turbines COMOTI participated in the design, creation and testing of the anti-vortex systems for the liquid hydrogen and oxygen fuel tanks as well as for the helium diffusers and pressurisers of the tanks. Also, COMOTI analysed the characteristics of the elliptical tank covers material at cryogenic temperatures.

Read more about here: 🔗 https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2019/04/Rideshare_multiple_launch_service2

Image credit: ESA - European Space Agency - D. Ducros

Rideshare multiple launch service

26/10/2022

As the world’s space agencies prepare to return to the Moon and explore the planets, space materials engineers have been getting to grips with a challenging enemy: dust. The abrasive, talcum-like dust enshrouding the Moon and other planetary surfaces can obscure surfaces, wear away at coatings and clog space mechanisms.

Read more here: 🔗 https://www.rosa.ro/index.php/en/news-menu/stiri/6859-solutii-pentru-daunele-cauzate-de-praful-cosmic

Image credit: ESA - European Space Agency - ATG

25/10/2022

ESA’s Navigation Directorate is planning a new satellite whose results will enable the generation of an updated global model of Earth – the International Terrestrial Reference Frame, employed for everything from land surveying to measuring sea level rise – with an accuracy down to 1 mm, while tracking ground motion of just 0.1 mm per year. This improvement, at a stroke, will have a major impact in multiple navigation and Earth science applications, including enhancing the precision of the Galileo navigation system. This mission, called GENESIS, is being proposed to ESA’s Council Meeting at Ministerial Level next month.

Read more here: 🔗 https://www.rosa.ro/index.php/en/news-menu/stiri/6858-cartografierea-pamantului-cu-acuratete-misiunea-genesis-a-esa

Image credit: ESA - European Space Agency

25/10/2022

ESA’s Mars Express captured the rare moment of Mars’ small moon Deimos passing in front of Jupiter and its four largest moons ­– the focus of ESA’s upcoming Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) launching next year. Celestial alignments like these enable a more precise determination of the martian moons’ orbits.

The animated sequence of 80 High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) images shows the bumpy surface of the small and irregularly shaped 15 km-wide moon as it passed in front of Jupiter. The moons of Jupiter appear as small white specks, due to their distance of almost 750 million km from Mars Express. This staggering separation is five times the distance between Earth and the Sun.

More details here: 🔗 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mtz07_IV4XQ&feature=emb_imp_woyt

Video credit: ESA - European Space Agency

This sequence is made up of a series of 80 images taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera onboard Mars Express on 14 February 2022. The images were taken ...

24/10/2022

The Ariane 6 launch pad at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana hosts the first example of Ariane6, ESA’s new heavy-lift rocket. It's combined tests model that is used to validate the entire launch system during its ground phase in readiness for the inaugural launch of Ariane 6.

The combined tests include filling tanks, and draining them in case of launch abort, count-down automated sequence, and cryogenic arms disconnection and retraction at a simulated liftoff.

Read more about here: 🔗 https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Space_Transportation/Ariane/Ariane_6_central_core_transferred_to_mobile_gantry

Keep following the hashtag, as we'll soon publish information about Romania's contribution to this launcher programme.

Image credit: ESA - European Space Agency / CNES / Arianespace / Optique video du CSG / JM Guillon

21/10/2022

Ariane 6, the new heavy-lift launch system being developed by the European Space Agency (ESA), will make its inaugural flight as soon as the fourth quarter of 2023. Briefing media, Director General Josef Aschbacher said sufficient progress had been made over the past several months to anticipate a Q4 2023 first flight, pending the realisation of three key milestones before April next year.

More details here: 🔗 https://www.rosa.ro/index.php/en/news-menu/stiri/6856-primul-zbor-ariane-6-este-planificat-pentru-finalul-anului-2023

Image credit: ESA - European Space Agency - Manuel Pedoussaut