Switzerland Space Activities.
Nov. 21, 2012
At the ministerial meeting of the European Space Agency (ESA), which takes place Tuesday and Wednesday in Naples, Switzerland endorse co-chair of this organization with Luxembourg. This is an opportunity to show his skills at the international level in the field of space technology. Ministers of 20 Member States decide how ESA programs will be conducted and financed long term despite the economic situation. Switzerland, which is one of the founding members of the organization, will serve for the first time the co-presidency, for 3-4 years.
On the occasion of this co-presidency, here is a highlights of the space activities of Switzerland (since 1969, well before the creation of the ESA).
Apollo Program, the first Swiss measuring instruments (astronaut watches) and experiments on the Moon
Swiss solar wind experiment one of few on Apollo's missions
U.S. astronaut Neil Armstrong took his giant leap for mankind more forty years ago today as man set foot on the moon for the first time. Sitting in NASA’s control centre on that historic day was the Director of the Physics Institute at Bern University, Johannes Geiss. He was in charge of one of the scientific instruments aboard Apollo 11. It consisted of an aluminum sheet which the astronauts would deploy on a pole stuck into the lunar surface. It was designed to capture particles from the solar wind. Solar Wind Composition Experiment (SWC, Exp. S-080) by University of Berne, Switzerland, used in Mission Apollo 11, 12, 14, 15, 16.
The Solar Wind Composition Experiment (SWC) was used to determine the elemental and isotopic composition of the noble gasses (helium, neon, and argon) in the solar wind. It was a simple experiment that used a sheet of 0.5 mm thick aluminium foil to trap individual particles of the solar wind to a depth of several hundred atomic layers, but allowed cosmic rays to pass through. The astronauts put the screens out on arrival and brought the foil back to Earth for analysis by Swiss scientists.
Image above: Omega Speedmaster Pro, the first swiss watch that equipped astronauts of the Apollo missions. Neil Armstrong on the picture during the Apollo 11 Mission.
Claude Nicollier, the first Swiss Astronaut
Nicollier, born 2 September 1944 in Vevey, Switzerland, is an astrophysicist and astronaut European Space Agency. In 1992 he became the first Swiss in space (STS-46). He completed four missions aboard various shuttles, two of which were devoted to the repair and maintenance of the Hubble Space Telescope. During the first mission, he was responsible for steering the shuttle's robotic arm and as such made the first capture orbit Space Telescope.
Claude Nicollier, the Swiss Astronaut to participate in four space missions
Launcher Fairings
Since 1974, RUAG Space has been responsible for the development and production of all Ariane launcher payload fairings. Currently, fairings are produced for the European Ariane 5 and for the United Launch Alliance Atlas V-500 launch vehicles as well as for the new small European Launcher Vega. The fairings are built in composite technology based on aluminum honeycomb cores with carbon fiber reinforced plastic face sheets. This construction method allows the combination of low mass with high stiffness. To date, all payload fairings built by RUAG Space in a variety of sizes and configurations have an unrivalled 100 % mission success.
Payload fairings
RUAG Space not only designs and manufactures payload fairings but provides the customer also with the required support on the launch site. The data regarding the payload fairings' dynamic behavior during separation is routinely measured and down-linked to the ground control station and analyzed by RUAG Space specialists.
Ruag Space also build some space products:
- Launcher Structures & Separation Systems
- Satellite Structures, Mechanisms & Mechanical Equipment
- Digital Electronics for Satellites & Launchers
- Satellite Communication Equipment
- Satellite Instruments
ATV: Made in Switzerland
Countries’ contributions to ATV, let's look at Switzerland. The mountain country is often associated with Albert Einstein who lends his name to ATV-4. The scientist famously worked in a patent office in Bern while he wrote many papers including his ground-breaking Special Theory of Relativity.
Image above: Albert Einstein at the patent office in Bern. Credits: Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property.
Ruag space, based in Zurich, contributed the basic structural elements of ATV, and that is not to be taken lightly, as they were designed to be as low-mass as possible. In space flight, mass equals cost as more fuel is needed to propel heavier objects into orbit.
The racks that hold ATV’s cargo are made of aluminium and comply with NASA’s standard sizes: the Internal Subrack Interface Standard and the Mid-Deck Locker. Weighing in at only 92 kgs, Ruag’s racks can hold 750 kg of equipment and will still stand strong after enduring more than 12,5 g. This means that up 9375 kg can be supported by only 92 kg of structure, more sturdy than your average bookshelf!
ATV-3 Cargo racks
Ruag also supplied the Solar Array Deployment Mechanism, the equipment that unfolds the solar panels after launch. They were not chosen at random, and their ‘sun panel-deployer’ proved itself on the Hubble telescope in 1990.
Also made in Switzerland: the LCAM, or Late Cargo Access Means, that allows cargo to be added to an ATV just before launch. Apco, based in the canton of Vaud, took care of the MGSE or Mechanical Ground Support Equipment on ATV.
In addition, Apco supplied ATV’s armoured coating, protecting the precious spacecraft from dangerous micrometeorites and space debris. In space terms this is called the MDPS (Meteorite and Debris Protection Shields), an acronym that, surprisingly, is easy to understand.
The 4 TCU's mounted inside ATV
Micrometeorites and space debris are serious threats to spacecraft. Travelling at speeds of up to 72 km per second, the impact of a flick of dried paint can have serious effects. ATV uses a so-called Whipple Shield, which comprises a double layer of armour placed at a distance from ATV’s outer skin. Any objects that strike the shield break into fragments on impact with the outer protective shield layer, and then the inner layer stops anything from penetrating into the vessel and its mission critical hardware.
Lastly, SYDERAL, based in Berne, provides four thermal control units to keep ATV operating at its optimum temperature. The units monitor and control the batteries and report directly to ATV’s platform computer. The system is designed to be fail-safe and has multiple redundancies, which is why SYDERAL supplies four of the units per ATV.
Related article: ATV-4 to carry name Albert Einstein
http://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.ch/2011/05/atv-4-to-carry-name-albert-einstein.html
Measurement time: atomic clocks world leading
Galileo program GPS: four clocks designed Neuchâtel will be sent into space. Two satellites of the European Galileo program GPS will soon be put into orbit. Within each of these four satellites are atomic clocks that were designed to Neuchâtel.
Galileo navigation satellite
Switzerland maintains its top ranking in the measurement of time, a team of researchers from the Neuchâtel Observatory has taken a decisive step in improving the stability of the clock, which is already one of the best in the world . This is a significant advance in the measurement of time.
Metrologists does not meet the
achievements. The research project continues Swiss Fontaine (FOCS) is a good example. In 1997, the Federal Office of Metrology and Accreditation (METAS) mandated the Neuchâtel Observatory (ON) to develop an atomic clock based on a continuous stream of cold atoms. This project is also financially supported by the National Fund for Scientific Research and the Canton of Neuchâtel.
Principle unique
From the outset, the researchers ON, under the direction of Pierre Thomann, sought an original way. FOCS 1 is the first atomic clock which uses a continuous stream of cold atoms. Characteristic of an atomic clock is to use atoms as a balance: their oscillations are indeed very stable and reproducible. Observation period of these oscillations is critical: the longer it is, the better the clock.
Recent years is known to use lasers to cool cesium atoms to a few millionths of a degree above absolute zero (-273.15 ° C). By cooling at this temperature, we can reduce their thermal velocity of 200 meters per second to a few centimeters per second. This technique allows to have a precise observation time much longer than in the past.
The Galileo atomic clock
The usual practice is to produce these cooled atoms in successive packets. The originality of the Swiss Fontaine continues to occur in the form of a continuous stream. This technique has considerable metrological interest:
If all the world's best atomic clocks based on the same operating principle, errors characteristic of this principle might go unnoticed, since they distort all the clocks in the same way. The original configuration of the Swiss clock helps to make visible such errors and, if necessary, to correct. This project provides an important contribution to the frequency metrology and time at international level.
Deviation of 1 second in 30 million years
In April 2003, the clock was moved from one FOCS Neuchatel Bern-Wabern. METAS infrastructure that ideal clocks are immune to vibration and changes in temperature or humidity. These conditions should allow one FOCS achieve an accuracy corresponding to a difference of one second in 30 million years.
Stability in the short term, one of the essential characteristics of a clock since it allows to evaluate its accuracy in reasonable time depends directly on the intensity of the atomic beam: if the atoms are more available, the clock is more stable and more accurate measurements. Since installing FOCS 1 METAS Neuchâtel team has embarked to increase the flow of the jet of cold atoms.
Image above: André Stefanov, head of laboratory time and frequency at the Federal Office of Metrology, before the first copy of the Swiss Fontaine continues (FOCS). Credit: Fabrice Eschmann / BIPH.
Researchers ON, who had gained an international reputation with FOCS 1, a new record success experiences showed that they were now able to produce continuous jets 40 times more intense than ever.
FOCS 2, whose stability will be enhanced by these results, was moved to mid-March METAS to be completed. If predictions are confirmed researchers, this clock will present the best combination in the world between accuracy and stability, progress very easily accessible to clock pulse. This clock will make a significant contribution to a more accurate determination of the second.
Progress navigation
With two clocks FOCS 1 and FOCS 2, Switzerland has its first atomic clock reference (primary clocks). METAS as Office responsible for conducting federal and dissemination of official time Swiss maintains several conventional atomic clocks. New primary clocks to calibrate conventional clocks. In collaboration with some fifty similar institutions in the world, METAS contributes to the establishment of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), which is under the responsibility of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures in Paris.
But the usefulness of such clocks goes beyond the production of correct time they make it possible to improve the performance of satellite navigation systems such as the American GPS and European Galileo equivalent. Telecommunications and scientific research also enjoy plenty of progress.
These new clocks contribute to the reputation of Switzerland as the ultra-precise measurement of time.
Related article: Argotec-made parts to orbit in Galileo atomic clock:
http://www.argotec.ch/en/content/argotec-made-parts-orbit-galileo-atomic-clock
CERN - The search of the secrets of the universe
Image above: The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer experiment, assembled at CERN, currently operates as an external module of the ISS (Image: NASA).
The European Organization for Nuclear Research, is one of the world’s largest and most respected centres for scientific research. Its business is fundamental physics, finding out what the Universe is made of and how it works. At CERN, the world’s largest and most complex scientific instruments are used to study the basic constituents of matter — the fundamental particles. By studying what happens when these particles collide, physicists learn about the laws of Nature.
CERN - The search of the secrets of the universe
The instruments used at CERN are particle accelerators and detectors. Accelerators boost beams of particles to high energies before they are made to collide with each other or with stationary targets. Detectors observe and record the results of these collisions.
Founded in 1954, the CERN Laboratory sits astride the Franco–Swiss border near Geneva. It was one of Europe’s first joint ventures and now has 20 Member States.
Testing Mars and Moon soil for sheltering astronauts from radiation
The Swiss participates via its laboratories (CERN) in search of materials and technologies that protect astronauts from cosmic radiation, in order to allow space exploration without the risk of exposure to cosmic radiation.
Future deep space base
The Velcro attachment system and the closure team all spacesuits and many other uses, is a Swiss invention inspired by an Alpine plant.
Related article: Testing Mars and Moon soil for sheltering astronauts from radiation:
Switzerland will participate in GAIA Mission
In Greek mythology, Gaia is a primordial goddess identified with "Mother Earth". She is the maternal ancestor of divine races. But Gaia is not it. It is also a space mission which actively Observatory of the University of Geneva.
The Gaia looks like the great successor to the Hipparcos satellite, and is expected to continue its mission. Its launch is scheduled for 2013. Gaia will provide a map of the portion of the Milky Way that surrounds the solar system and will report to do the exact position of more than one billion stars, as well as their speed.
Gaia spacecraft
Gaia will be placed in orbit around the L2 Lagrange point - a point of stability at 1.5 million kilometers from Earth in the direction opposite to the Sun. Three telescopes will cover the entire sky and record all visible sources.
During his 5 years mission, Gaia should thus observe more than one hundred times each among a billion stars it must identify. In passing, it should also provide important data on the presence of thousands of extra solar planets, and discover tens of thousands of new bodies - comets and asteroids - in our own solar system.
Finally, Gaia will observe with unprecedented accuracy the effects of general relativity, in particular how the Sun bends the light from the stars across the sky. It is hoped that this will lead to a first overview of the structure of space-time.
ESA Science Programme’s new small satellite will study super-Earths
Studying planets around other stars will be the focus of the new small Science Programme mission, Cheops, ESA announced today. Its launch is expected in 2017.
Artist impression of Cheops
Cheops – for CHaracterising ExOPlanets Satellite – will target nearby, bright stars already known to have planets orbiting around them. These key parameters will help scientists to understand the formation of planets from a few times the mass of the Earth – ‘super-Earths’ – up to Neptune-sized worlds.
It will also identify planets with significant atmospheres and constrain the migration of planets during the formation and evolution of their parent systems.
Cheops will be implemented as a partnership between ESA and Switzerland, with a number of other ESA Member States delivering substantial contributions.
Cheops will operate in a Sun-synchronous low-Earth orbit at an altitude of 800 km. It has a planned mission lifetime of 3.5 years and part of the observing time will be open to the wider scientific community.
Related article: ESA Science Programme’s new small satellite (Cheops) will study super-Earths
Cleaning up Earth's orbit: A Swiss satellite tackles space debris
The proliferation of debris orbiting the Earth – primarily jettisoned rocket and satellite components – is an increasingly pressing problem for spacecraft, and it can generate huge costs. To combat this scourge, the Swiss Space Center at EPFL is announcing today the launch of CleanSpace One, a project to develop and build the first installment of a family of satellites specially designed to clean up space debris.
CleanSpace One spacecraft approaching Swiss Cube
The project developers have chosen a symbolic target for the initial CleanSpace One launch: either Switzerland’s first orbiting object, the Swisscube picosatellite which was put in orbit in 2009, or its cousin TIsat, launched in July 2010.
Swisscube, the first "home made" satellite
Related article: Cleaning up Earth's orbit: A Swiss satellite tackles space debris
Switzerland at the forefront of the search for life in the universe
The first extrasolar planet was discovered by Swiss astronomers, M.Mayor S.Udry of the Geneva Observatory, hundreds of others will follow (more than 500).
M.Mayor and S.Udry, from Geneva Observatory
The last discover: A team of astronomers from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) revealed the existence of a new extrasolar planet. If it adds to a few hundred of these objects we know now, it is characterized by two essential aspects. First of all the mass is similar to that of the Earth. On the other hand, the object rotates around one star system nearest our Sun, Alpha Centauri is B. A new holiday destination away from only 4.4 light years, the details of the discovery are thoroughly explained in the journal Nature.
Related article: ESO’s HARPS instrument finds Earth-mass exoplanet orbiting Alpha Centauri B
Hoping that the budget space missions are not reduced, I wish a good co-presidency to Switzerland and Luxembourg.
The author of this article
is also involved in the space adventure of Switzerland, is the owner and founder of Orbiter.ch Aerospace, and is one of the programmers & developers
of some add-ons for Orbiter Space Flight Simulator (eg Mars Face), an computer application used to simulate spaceflight on Mars500 mission, a joint mission from ESA and ROSCOSMOS which simulated a complete flight to Mars (500 days). Related website:
http://orbiter.jimdo.com/
Related links:
Images, Text, Credits: Syderal SA / Ruag Space / AP / NASA / ESA / CNES / Arianespace, Optique Video du CSG, S. Martin / ESO / CERN / EPFL / LMTS / UNIGE (Geneva Observatory) / UNIBE / BIPH / Fabrice Eschmann / Federal Office of Metrology & Time (METAS) / Orbiter.ch Aerospace.
Best regards, Orbiter.ch
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