OrbitalHub

ESA dixit:

“The high performance of ESA’s new generation ‘Planetary and Asteroid Natural scene Generation Utility’ or Pangu software enables real-time testing of both landing algorithms and hardware. Entry, descent and landing on a planetary body is an extremely risky move: decelerating from orbital velocities of multiple km per second down to zero, at just the right moment to put down softly on an unknown surface, while avoiding craters, boulders and other unpredictable hazards.

But Pangu can generate realistic images of planets and asteroids on a real-time basis, as if approaching a landing site during an actual mission. This allows the testing of landing algorithms, or dedicated microprocessors or entire landing cameras or other hardware ‘in the loop’ – plugged directly into the simulation – or run thousands of simulations one after the other on a ‘Monte Carlo’ basis, to test all eventualities.

Seen here is a Pangu recreation of the Mars Curiosity’s rover’s approach to Mars, using original telemetry, and then a view of Mars moon Phobos. This is followed by another recreation the Japanese Hayabusa probe’s encounter with the rubble-strewn Itokawa near-Earth asteroid, and finally a telemetry-based recreation of the field of view of the New Horizons mission as it performed its rapid flyby of Pluto.

This new generation of Pangu was developed for ESA by the University of Dundee in Scotland.”

Video credit: ESA

ESA dixit:

“On 20 September 2017, ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli shot this amazing timelapse showing Earth by night while travelling on board the Space Station from British Columbia to the Great Lakes: coast to coast in 20 seconds! Paolo Nespoli in currently working and living aboard the International Space Station as part of his long-duration VITA mission.”

Video credit: ESA

ESA dixit:

“Replay of the Sentinel-5P liftoff on a Rockot from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia at 09:27 GMT (11:27 CEST) on 13 October 2017.

Sentinel-5P – the ‘P’ standing for ‘Precursor’ – is the first Copernicus mission dedicated to monitoring our atmosphere. The satellite carries the state-of-the-art Tropomi instrument to map a multitude of trace gases such as nitrogen dioxide, ozone, formaldehyde, sulphur dioxide, methane, carbon monoxide and aerosols – all of which affect the air we breathe and therefore our health, and our climate.”

Video credit: ESA

ESA dixit:

“As a result of a deep cracking cutting across the Larsen C ice shelf, a huge iceberg was spawned on 12 July 2017. Europe’s Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission was used to monitor the rift’s progress, a network of fractures in the ice and the calving event. Since then, the large tabular iceberg – known as A68 – has drifted about 5 km from the ice shelf. Images from Sentinel-1 also show that a cluster of more than 11 smaller icebergs have now also formed, the largest of which is over 13 km long. These ‘bergy bits’ have broken off both the giant iceberg and the remaining ice shelf.

Credits: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2017), reproduced from Hogg and Gudmundsson (2017)”

Video credit: ESA

ESA dixit:

“Having detailed knowledge of the shape of the seafloor is essential for generating nautical charts for navigation. It is also needed for exploration, fishing, coastal management and for understanding ocean currents that transport heat, nutrients and pollutants. While mapping the seafloor was traditionally carried out using sonar on ships, optical satellite data provide global, high-resolution maps that show ridges, valleys and sediments.”

Video credit: ESA

ESA dixit:

“On 18 September 2017, ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli shot this beautiful time-lapse showing the Moon rising above the Earth’s horizon together with Mercury, Mars, the star Regulus, and Venus. ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli is currently working and living on board the International Space Station as part of his long duration Vita mission.”

Video credit: ESA