| | About us & frequently asked questions (FAQ)
Frequently asked questions (FAQ) and Executive Summary on ESA's operations team, the people who fly spacecraft and design, build and operate the related ground facilities at the European Space Agency (scroll down for 'quick facts & figures').
Editor's note: On 1 April 2011, ESA's former Operations and Human Spaceflight directorates were combined into the new Human Spaceflight and Operations (HSO) directorate. This page will be updated shortly to reflect this.
Download our Executive Summary here (PDF)
 | | | ESA operations personnel: One team |
Q1: Who are you people? And what do you do?
We are the men and women working as staff, contractors and support personnel in ESA's Directorate of Operations and Infrastructure, known locally as 'D/OPS'.
We represent more than 19 nationalities from Europe and worldwide, and comprise specialists from a wide variety of scientific, engineering and managerial disciplines.
We work as a single team to help plan, build and manage ground segments for ESA missions, and then we actually operate the spacecraft from our control rooms using a sophisticated and standardised array of mission control hardware and software. We also provide a range of expert services to customers both inside ESA and at other organisations worldwide.
Quick facts & figures
Current as of Sep 2011:
- Spacecraft in operation: We directly operate 15 missions comprising 18 spacecraft and vessels:
Solar and Interplanetary
- Cluster-II (4 satellites)
- Venus Express
- Rosetta
- Mars Express
Astronomy & physics
- XMM-Newton
- Integral
- Herschel
- Planck
Earth observation
- Envisat
- GOCE
- CryoSat-2
Technology Demonstration
- Proba-1
- Proba-2
Human spaceflight
- Columbus laboratory module (ISS)
- ATV-series of vessels
We operate the robotic missions from ESOC, Darmstadt, while ESA's Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV)-series of missions and the Columbus science lab on the ISS are controlled via control centres located at the French and German space agencies, respectively. The Proba-series of missions are controlled from Redu station, Belgium.
- Spacecraft in preparation: We are actively preparing for nine missions: BepiColombo, Gaia, LISA Pathfinder, ADM-Aeolus, Swarm (3 x satellites), EarthCare and GMES/Sentinel 1, 2 and 3 (2 x satellites in each Sentinel mission).
- People in D/OPS: At ESOC, our primary location, about 800, comprising some 250 permanent staff and about 550 contractors. Additionally, approximately 124 work at other ESA establishments, ESTRACK stations, the ATV Control Centre (Toulouse), the Columbus Control Centre (Oberpfaffenhofen) and at partner facilities in several countries.
- Ground stations: Ten in the ESTRACK core network (including Malargüe, now under construction). Our stations are located in Europe, South America and Australia. We also cooperate closely with tracking networks operated by NASA, ASI (Italy's space agency), DLR (Germany's space agency), CNES (France's space agency) and other organisations.
Click here to watch a profile video showing what goes on at ESOC
| | | Typical mission ground segment |
Q2: What's a 'ground segment' anyway?
For any space mission, the ground segment comprises the hardware, software, telecommunications and other resources on the ground used to operate the spacecraft and process data received from the instruments on board.
We are specialists in designing, building, operating and maintaining the satellite control portions of ground segments and in conducting operations for all types of missions, from low-Earth orbit and geostationary to interplanetary and astronomical observatory missions
| | “The 'home base' for our activities is ESA's European Space Operations Centre (ESOC), in Darmstadt, Germany.” |
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Q3: What goes on at ESOC?
Although personnel from D/OPS are located at all ESA establishments as well as at partner organisations, the 'home base' for our activities is the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC), in Darmstadt, Germany.
| | | Main Control Room, ESOC |
ESOC serves as the Operations Control Centre for ESA missions, and hosts our Main Control Room, combined Dedicated Control Rooms for specific missions and the ESTRACK Control Centre - which manages our ground tracking stations. ESOC also hosts control facilities for satellite communications, navigation, networks and other special functions.
Based on our experience since 1967 in controlling over 60 missions and our capability to manage multiple spacecraft at once, we also provide our mission control expertise to outside agencies and customers.
In addition to operating missions, we provide world-class services to a variety of internal and external clients for space debris tracking and collision alerts, geodata analysis, software development, navigation and much more.
| | | Satellite during LEOP |
Q4: What, exactly, is 'LEOP'?
LEOP refers to the Launch and Early Orbit Phase, the critical first steps in a spacecraft's life beginning after the satellite separates from the launcher's upper-most stage.
During LEOP, the Mission Control Team works 24 hours/day to activate, monitor and verify various subsystems on board the satellite - including the deployment of antennas and solar arrays - and undertake critical orbit and attitude control manoeuvres. If anything can go wrong, it's most likely to happen during LEOP.
| | | Controllers practise for LEOP |
During LEOP, time is vital, and mission controllers must ensure that solar panels are deployed, power is flowing, all spacecraft systems are operating as expected and that the satellite's orbit is as planned.
We are one of Europe's most experienced providers of LEOP expertise; we are also called upon to conduct satellite recovery operations, and have successfully recovered a number of satellites that have spun out of control, suffered system failures or whose boosters underperformed.
Q5: What are the core activities related to Operations?
- Operate & control spacecraft - including actual flight control, flight dynamics, telecommanding and data receipt via ground stations
- Develop, operate and control ESA's ESTRACK ground tracking network, a global network of stations including three 35m deep-space antennas in Spain, Australia and Argentina
- Manage ESA's specialised Space Debris Office and Navigation Facility, which provide world-class debris avoidance and geodata services to other agencies, governments, industry and academia
- Manage ESA's Space Situational Awareness (SSA) preparatory programme
- Develop ground control software - including the highly successful EGOS/SCOS-2000 ground operating system, now the European standard
- Plan & build the mission control systems and portions of the ground segment for future missions
- Coordinate operations activities with partner agencies, including ASI (Italy), CNES (France), DLR (Germany), NASA, JAXA (Japan), Russia, China and others
... and much more!
Q6: Do you work with other organisations?
Yes! We have a long history of beneficial cooperation with space agencies and organisations worldwide.
| | | ESA's Cebreros deep-space tracking station, 35m dish antenna |
We cooperate with the American, German, French, Italian, Russian, Japanese, Chinese and other space agencies - as well as EUMETSAT and EUTELSAT - to plan, manage and control multiple missions, current and past. We also share tracking station facilities and telecommunication links.
This positive technical and operational cooperation will continue in the future.
We also work closely with European industry to advance the state of European technology in the areas of spacecraft operation and communications. This is done by placing contracts for studies, research and development, and by transferring the knowledge and experience we've gained. We have a substantial base of strategic assets and a depth of expertise that has benefited many international partners.
We also support CESAH (Centre for Satellite Navigation in Hessen GmbH), a unique incubator located in Darmstadt. CESAH fosters commercial applications based on navigation data to be supplied by the Galileo project, Europe's global satellite navigation system due to enter service in the 2014 time frame.
Last update: 1 November 2011 | |
