Space technology

The beauty of spacecraft technology, from the unique 'interior design' of our test centre to 3D printed satellite components. From microscopic details and electronics to how we build and test satellites ready for space. Featuring real ESA space missions before they launch!

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European Space Agency - ESA

Meet ESA’s Prospect, a cutting-edge drill and mini-lab combo designed to uncover the Moon’s hidden secrets! This robotic system, featuring the ProSEED drill and ProSPA lab, digs deep beneath the lunar surface to extract and analyze volatile compounds trapped in icy cold regolith. By testing future resource extraction processes, Prospect is paving the way for lunar exploration.

Join us on an exciting journey as the Space Rider project conducts a drop test for its future orbital laboratory! A full-scale model was dropped from a helicopter in Sardinia, Italy, to test parachute deployment and landing capabilities. With a design akin to two minivans, Space Rider aims to remain in orbit for up to two months. The successful test featured a 27-meter parafoil, guiding the model to a soft landing at 12 km/h. Discover more about this innovative spacecraft and its mission!

This drone took to the sky over Finland to assess the suitability of one particular terrestrial technology for space: the radar systems found in many of today’s cars, responsible for automated cruise control and other safe driving functions.

ESA worked with the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland to test the suitability of automotive 77 GHz ‘frequency-modulated continuous-wave’ (FMCW) radar for entry, descent and landing on a planetary surface and for in-orbit rendezvous scenarios.

Credits: VTT

Spacecraft testing

43 Pins

Discover how the European Space Agency made history by successfully 3D printing the first metal part in space! This groundbreaking achievement was made possible by a state-of-the-art metal 3D printer aboard the International Space Station, marking a significant step towards autonomous manufacturing for future deep-space missions. Learn how this technology will enable astronauts to create tools and parts on demand, enhancing mission capabilities beyond Earth.

What resembles an abstract artwork is in fact a 3D-printed aluminium frame for a satellite electronics board, designed to help combat one of the major enemies of space missions – heat.

In the weightless vacuum of space, the convection currents that carry away a lot of excess temperature down on Earth do not exist; heat is more likely to stay put.

By slotting an electronics component into this frame, it can be prevented from overheating. The frame does this thanks to ‘heat pipes’ threaded within its structure which carry away waste heat.

LEGO 3D-printed bricks from lunar regolith and meteor dust, provide a glimpse into how future construction on the Moon might look.

While the size and shape of a LEGO brick are not easy to 3D-print, it demonstrates the process’s precision and fine-tuning, and has become a common test for this kind of project. The printing showcases the ability to make interlocking bricks, which is essential for building surface infrastructure, like habitat walls, on the Moon.

3D printing for space

15 Pins

What looks like a light sabre is actually a laser beam guided in its path through a hair-thin jet of water, in the same manner as conventional fibre optics.

This water jet provides a large ‘processing depth’, allowing parallel cutting of larger samples. Its water also serves to continually cool the cutting zone and efficiently remove cut material.

The technical heart of our continent’s space activities needs a lot of power to keep it going. More than four kilometres of heavy duty 10 kilovolt cables like this one run beneath our European Space Technology Centre in the Netherlands.

What looks like an aerial shot of an alien landscape is actually a scanning electron microscope view of a test glass surface, acquired as part of a project to improve the lifetime of spaceborne atomic clocks, found at the heart of navigation satellites. Each sharp plasma-etched feature seen here is smaller than 10 micrometres – a hundredth of a millimetre – across. Highly accurate atomic clocks rely on switches between energy states of an atom’s electron shell, induced by light, laser or maser energy. Forcing atoms to jump from one energy state to another causes the emission of an associated microwave signal at an extremely stable frequency.

Small space

16 Pins

a person in blue gloves is holding up some screws on a metal stand with other tools

Metal 3d Printer

European Space Agency

Unique Interior Design

International Space Station

Revolutionizing space manufacturing: First metal part 3D printed in space!

Discover how the European Space Agency made history by successfully 3D printing the first metal part in space! This groundbreaking achievement was made possible by a state-of-the-art metal 3D printer aboard the International Space Station, marking a significant step towards autonomous manufacturing for future deep-space missions. Learn how this technology will enable astronauts to create tools and parts on demand, enhancing mission capabilities beyond Earth.

a machine that has some wires attached to it

Exploring the Moon: Prospect drill & mini lab

Meet ESA’s Prospect, a cutting-edge drill and mini-lab combo designed to uncover the Moon’s hidden secrets! This robotic system, featuring the ProSEED drill and ProSPA lab, digs deep beneath the lunar surface to extract and analyze volatile compounds trapped in icy cold regolith. By testing future resource extraction processes, Prospect is paving the way for lunar exploration.

two kites flying in the sky on a cloudy day with blue and white clouds

Testing the future: Space Rider drop test

Join us on an exciting journey as the Space Rider project conducts a drop test for its future orbital laboratory! A full-scale model was dropped from a helicopter in Sardinia, Italy, to test parachute deployment and landing capabilities. With a design akin to two minivans, Space Rider aims to remain in orbit for up to two months. The successful test featured a 27-meter parafoil, guiding the model to a soft landing at 12 km/h. Discover more about this innovative spacecraft and its mission!

an image of a model of a building made out of wood and metal with the words essa on it

Cool by design 3D printing

What resembles an abstract artwork is in fact a 3D-printed aluminium frame for a satellite electronics board, designed to help combat one of the major enemies of space missions – heat. In the weightless vacuum of space, the convection currents that carry away a lot of excess temperature down on Earth do not exist; heat is more likely to stay put. By slotting an electronics component into this frame, it can be prevented from overheating. The frame does this thanks to ‘heat pipes’ threaded within its structure which carry away waste heat.

a hand holding a small lego block in it's palm

LEGO bricks from space dust

LEGO 3D-printed bricks from lunar regolith and meteor dust, provide a glimpse into how future construction on the Moon might look. While the size and shape of a LEGO brick are not easy to 3D-print, it demonstrates the process’s precision and fine-tuning, and has become a common test for this kind of project. The printing showcases the ability to make interlocking bricks, which is essential for building surface infrastructure, like habitat walls, on the Moon.

a black and white photo of a flying device in the air with trees in the background

Drone test of planetary landing radar

This drone took to the sky over Finland to assess the suitability of one particular terrestrial technology for space: the radar systems found in many of today’s cars, responsible for automated cruise control and other safe driving functions. ESA worked with the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland to test the suitability of automotive 77 GHz ‘frequency-modulated continuous-wave’ (FMCW) radar for entry, descent and landing on a planetary surface and for in-orbit rendezvous scenarios. Credits: VTT

a close up of a piece of food on a metal object with two tongs

3d Bioprinting

Video Portrait

Fluid Dynamics

Biomedical Engineering

Structure And Function

Engineering Student

Cardiovascular System

3D-bioprinted blood vessel

This model blood vessel was made using 3D bioprinting to help investigate how weightlessness changes the cardiovascular systems of astronauts in orbit. Microgravity alters the human body in myriad ways, including changes to blood flow through the body, increased risk of blood clots and even the shape of the heart, which grows more spherical over time. These bioprinted models will be used to assess the mechanics of these changes.

two men in white lab coats working on a machine

Extreme Weather Events

New Space

Centre Stage

Fact Sheet

Unveiling the Arctic's Secrets: New ESA Satellite Improves Weather Forecasting

European Space Agency's Arctic Weather Satellite is on a mission to unlock the mysteries of the Arctic's atmosphere. This innovative satellite will provide high-resolution images, giving us a clearer picture of storms and extreme weather events.

Catch a glimpse of the Sun's corona with ESA's Proba-3 mission!

Unveiling the Sun's corona: ESA's Proba-3 mission will create artificial solar eclipses to study this mysterious region of our star. This will help us understand space weather better.

the laser is being used to cut into metal pieces with red light in front of it

James Webb Space Telescope

Laser Light

Laser light sabre

What looks like a light sabre is actually a laser beam guided in its path through a hair-thin jet of water, in the same manner as conventional fibre optics. This water jet provides a large ‘processing depth’, allowing parallel cutting of larger samples. Its water also serves to continually cool the cutting zone and efficiently remove cut material.

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Rosalind franklin

Iphone wallpaper nasa

Arctic Weather Satellite tested for life in orbit

European Space Agency's Arctic Weather Satellite has passed its environmental test campaign with flying colours – meaning that the satellite has been declared fit for liftoff and its life in the harsh environment of space. This new satellite, which is slated for launch in June 2024, has been designed to show how it can improve weather forecasts in the Arctic – a region that currently lacks data for accurate short-term forecasts.

a machine that is making something out of cement and some sort of metal thing with an orange lettering on it

Grip on Mars

The image shows a prototype mastering the pickup of a tube from a sandy surface. The robotic arm uses its jaws to grip the target from various angles and positions, firmly but with caution so as not to damage the precious load. Inside the tube, the real samples on Mars weigh a few grams and are about the size of a piece of classroom chalk. This model is the first hardware developed to consolidate the design of the Sample Transfer Arm, a 2.5 metre-long robot that will load the sample tubes into a lander for delivery towards Earth.

an image of a machine with red light coming from it

Proba-3's laser-precise positioning

In late 2024, two satellites will be launched together into orbit to maintain formation relative to each other down to a few millimetres, creating an artificial solar eclipse in space. Proba-3’s ‘Occulter’ spacecraft will cast a shadow onto the other ‘Coronagraph’ spacecraft to block out the fiery face of the Sun and make the ghostly solar corona available for sustained observation for up to six hours per 19.5 hour orbit.

the inside of an orange and black object on a table

Space centre power cable

The technical heart of our continent’s space activities needs a lot of power to keep it going. More than four kilometres of heavy duty 10 kilovolt cables like this one run beneath our European Space Technology Centre in the Netherlands.

a man working on an electrical panel with multiple wires in front of him and the words ess above it

Unique Hardware

Double Decker Bus

Electronic Engineering

Data Collection

Heart of European Space Agency vacuum testing

These four crucial hardware units are built to endure spaceflight conditions but never leave the ground. Together they form the thermal data acquisition system of the largest thermal vacuum chamber in Europe, the Large Space Simulator. Featuring a Sun simulator that reproduces unfiltered sunshine, the mammoth LSS chamber allows entire satellites to be operated in the equivalent illumination, vacuum and temperature conditions of space for weeks on end.