http://www.esa.int/act Research News from ESA's Advanced Concepts Team en-uk dario.izzo@esa.int (Dario Izzo) dario.izzo@esa.int (Dario Izzo) http://www.esrin.esa.int/gsp/ACT/images/main/act_rss120.gif http://www.esa.int/act PaGMO/PyGMO has been accepted as mentoring organization in the Google Summer of Code 2013. Check the PaGMO/PyGMO projects and apply to be mentored by scientist at the Advanced Concepts Team of the European Space Agency. http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/newsroom/NewsArchive/News41_APR2013_GSoC.htm 09 Apr 2013 12:00:00 GMT Contribute to science by playing the Astro Drone game! While you fly with a Parrot AR drone in the real world, you are performing space missions in augmented reality. If you join the experiment, the images onboard the drone are processed so that we can teach robots to better evaluate distances in their environment. http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/newsroom/NewsArchive/News40_MAR2013_Astro.htm 15 Mar 2013 12:00:00 GMT The Advanced Concepts Team is co-organizing a workshop "Artificial Intelligence for Space Applications" at the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence 2013 in Beijing. The workshop is a joint collaboartion between ACT, JPL and HKUST. http://congrexprojects.com/13m13 01 Mar 2013 12:00:00 GMT The ACT released the first Ariadna Call for Proposals for 2013. This small call focus on the extraction of structures in Poincare; maps, climate tipping points and femtosecond laser filamentation. http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/ariadna/OpenCalls.htm 22 Jan 2013 12:00:00 GMT Using a special technique recently developed for celestial mechanics and practically unknown in Relativity, ACT researchers have analyzed and solved exactly, for the first time, the problem of motion of two orbiting spinning bodies considering all the most relevant relativistic corrections. http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/newsroom/NewsArchive/New39_DEC2012_MNRAS.htm 13 Dec 2012 12:00:00 GMT Jet Propulsion Laboratory released today the call for participation to the 6th edition of the Global Trajectory Optimization Competition. Anastassios E Petropoulos, leading the Outer Planet Mission Analysis Group Team who won the fifth edition, will be organizing this year event. http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/newsroom/NewsArchive/New38_AUG2012_GTOC6.htm 14 Aug 2012 12:00:00 GMT ESA Summer of Code In Space (SOCIS 2012) starts! Mentoring organization (i.e. open source space-related projects) can apply before 15/07/2012. Modelled after the Google Summer of Code, SOCIS started in 2011 initiated and organized by ACT scientists to offer students the opportunity to be paid to develop, during the summer, open source code for space related open source projects. http://sophia.estec.esa.int/socis2012/ 14 Jun 2012 12:00:00 GMT ESA's Advanced Concepts Team has been created 10 years ago. For this occasion, a two days event will take place on 2-3 July at ESTEC (Netherlands) to review current space research, analyse trends and consider new areas for the future, outside the traditional planning horizons of ESA. http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/events/workshops/10YearsAnniversary/Jul12_10years_ACT_event.htm 25 Apr 2012 13:00:00 GMT The ACT released the first Ariadna Call for Ideas for 2012. We are looking forward to receive the ideas of the European academia on innovative ways to transmit wirless power. http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/ariadna/OpenCalls.htm 24 Jan 2012 13:00:00 GMT The ACT released the first Ariadna Call for Proposals for 2012. This particular call encompasses some fascinating research ideas on bio-inspiration for space technologies as well as on a novel propulsion concept, efficient vision algorithms and on the systematic study of gaits artificially evolved in diverse environments. http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/ariadna/OpenCalls.htm 24 Jan 2012 12:00:00 GMT We are pleased to announce that the fifth issue of our on-line peer-reviewed scientific journal Acta Futura (the pink issue) has been published. The issue contains revised versions of the IJCAI "AI in Space" workshop proceedings. http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/publications/ActaFutura/index.htm 18 Jan 2012 12:00:00 GMT The open source PaGMO/PyGMO scientific library has been released! Version 1.0.0 comes in the form of a c++ library (PaGMO), or Python 2.7 module (PyGMO) and is compatible with all major hardware platforms. PaGMO/PyGMO allows for massively parallel engineering optimization. It has been sucessfully used in the past to design interplanetary low-thrust trajectories, as well as microstructred thermal radiators or to process ionospheric data. A list of optimization algorithms included in version 1.0.0 can be found here. They all are made parallel via PyGMO's generalized island model, a coarse-grained parallelization technology the Advanced Concepts Team developed in past years. http://pagmo.sourceforge.net/pygmo/index.html 28 Nov 2011 12:00:00 GMT The fourth issue of Acta Futura (the ivory issue) has been published. The issue contains invited original contributions on future concepts with relevance to space http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/publications/ActaFutura/index.htm 26 Sep 2011 12:00:00 GMT The 2011 ESA Summer of Code In Space (SOCIS) starts! Mentoring organization (i.e. open source space-related projects) can apply before 15/07/2011. Modelled after the Google Summer of Code, SOCIS is an European Space Agency pilot project offering students the opportunity to be payed to develop, during the summer, open source code for space related opensource projects. http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/newsroom/NewsArchive/news/New37_June2011_SOCIS.htm 28 Jun 2011 12:00:00 GMT The first Ariadna Call for Proposals in 2011 has just been released on May 26th and will close on June 30th. We are looking forward to interesting proposals on four exciting topics. http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/ariadna/OpenCalls.htm 27 May 2011 12:00:00 GMT The Advanced Concepts Team of the European Space Agency organizes a mini-wokshop on its latest research in Fundamental Physics with particular emphasis on relativistic positioning systems. http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/events/workshops/Mar11_RPS_Workshop.htm 21 Feb 2011 12:00:00 GMT The Advanced Concepts Team of the European Space Agency organizes a mini-wokshop on its latest research in Active Space debris removal. http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/events/workshops/June10_SDR_Workshop.htm 26 May 2011 12:00:00 GMT The Advanced Concepts Team of the European Space Agency organizes a mini-wokshop on its latest research in Fundamental Physics with particular emphasis on relativistic positioning systems. http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/events/workshops/Mar11_RPS_Workshop.htm 21 Feb 2011 12:00:00 GMT ESA’s Advanced Concepts Team and NASA’s Artificial Intelligence Group of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory co-organize a workshop on AI in space, during the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence. The workshop addresses the most recent applications and advances related to artificial intelligence and space, reviewing the current state of the dialogue between the two domains and discussing its perspectives. http://www.congrex.nl/11M10/ 17 Jan 2011 12:00:00 GMT The Advanced Concepts Team is organising in the framework of the World Space Week (Oct. 4-10) an on-line game for interplanetary trajectory design. Compete with other players around the world and find your way to Jupiter!! http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/newsroom/NewsArchive/New36_Oct1_TheSpaceGame.htm 23 Sep 2010 12:00:00 GMT Moscow State University announces the fifth edition of the Global Trajectory Optimisation Competition. http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/newsroom/NewsArchive/New35_Sept10_GTOC5.htm 01 Sep 2010 12:00:00 GMT The ACT released the first Ariadna Call for Proposals for 2010. This small call contains studies on Mars Terraforming and Space Trajectory Optimisation under Uncertainties. http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/ariadna/OpenCalls.htm Mon, 05 Jul 2010 12:00:00 GMT Universities are invited to submit study proposals for this Ariadna Call for Ideas on Active Removal of Space Debris before 18 June 2010. http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/ariadna/Ariadna%20Projects/ARI_study_10-CfI.html 27 May 2010 12:00:00 GMT Motivated by the new interest in human missions to asteroids, the team has run its optimisation algorithms to select those asteroids that are easy and safe to reach by humans. http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/newsroom/NewsArchive/New34_Apr10_asteroids.htm 21 Apr 2010 12:00:00 GMT The European Space Agency's Advanced Concepts Team has been accepted as mentoring organization in the Google Summer school of code. Check the idea list of the PaGMO project and apply to be mentored by us. http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/newsroom/NewsArchive/New32_Mar10_GSoC.htm Mon, 22 Mar 2010 12:00:00 GMT The Acta Futura is now online! You are invited to submit papers to this open access on-line journal managed by the Advanced Concepts Team. Acta Futura covers multidisciplinary research topics of potential interest in the long term for space science. http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/publications/ActaFutura/index.htm 02 Dec 2009 12:00:00 GMT Following the recent release of the book "Brain-Machine Interfaces for Space Applications: Enhancing Astronaut Capabilities" published by Elsevier and edited by the ACT, a full-day workshop will be organised at ESA-ESTEC on November 30, to present its main contents among the Space community. http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/bng/op/BMI_Workshop/index.htm 27 Oct 2009 12:00:00 GMT The neuronal system of insects is a powerful controler capable to control artistic and less artistic descents. In two studies the ACT adressed various aspects of insect behaviour for space applications. http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/newsroom/NewsArchive/New31_Oct09_NeuromorphicFP.htm 01 Oct 2009 12:00:00 GMT In the year 2010 the Advanced Concepts Team offers the following student placement opportunities: Machine learning for NEOs trajectories, Constrained Global Optimization for Space Applications, The motion of extended bodies in general relativity, Trajectory around a binary asteroid in the extended FTBP, Interplanetary transfers by crowdsourcing with online gamers. http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/opportunities/openSTA.htm 25 Sep 2009 12:00:00 GMT The first Ariadna Call for Proposals for 2009 was closed on 11 July. This particular call encompasses some fascinating research ideas on the themes of general relativity, artificial intelligence and biomimetics. http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/ariadna/OpenCalls.htm 11 Jul 2009 10:00:00 GMT The ACT released the first Ariadna Call for Proposals for 2009. This particular call encompasses some fascinating research ideas on the themes of general relativity, artificial intelligence and biomimetics. http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/ariadna/OpenCalls.htm 08 May 2009 12:00:00 GMT The Ariadna Study ''Numerical Simulation of the Helicon Double Layer Thruster Concept'' lead to a succesful project proposal to the European Commission. http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/pro/pp/Helicon%20RF%20Plasma%20thruster/Double-Layers.htm 08 May 2009 12:00:00 GMT In order to help prepare the future of space transportation vehicles by 2030 and far beyond, ESA and CNES have initiated a seminar co-organized by the AAAF and Prospective 2100. http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/newsroom/NewsArchive/New30_Mar09_SpaceTransportaionSeminar.htm 30 Mar 2009 12:00:00 GMT The results of the Ariadna Call for Ideas "Preparing for Apophis - Encounter 2029" will be presented during a workshop at ESTEC on 3 April 2009. http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/events/workshops/Apr09_Encounter2009.htm 18 Mar 2009 12:00:00 GMT The trajectory of vibrating systems in general relativity differs from a free fall trajectory. This could lead to a new way of testing the theory of general relativity. http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/newsroom/NewsArchive/New22_Jan09_NewTest.htm 10 Mar 2009 12:00:00 GMT The ACT and the Artificial Intelligence Group of NASA's JPL will be organising a workshop on Artificial Intelligence in Space at IJCAI-09 in Pasadena, California, on July 17-18, 2009. http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/events/workshops/Jul09_artificial_intelligence.htm 04 Feb 2009 17:00:00 GMT The Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) announced the fourth edition of the Global Trajectory Optimisation Competition. http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/newsroom/NewsArchive/New19_Jan08_GTOC4.htm 19 Jan 2009 12:00:00 GMT What do engineered booms and plant stems have in common? They both need to deal with oscillations. http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/newsroom/NewsArchive/New30_Nov08_PlantBooms.htm 13 Nov 2008 12:00:00 GMT ESA is holding a student competition for the upcoming Planetary Defence Conference, in order to stimulate some innovative research and encourage European research students to participate. The Advanced Concepts Team (ACT) has come up with a few ideas that young researchers may wish to develop in many possible areas of research. Submit your abstracts before 1 December 2008! http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/events/workshops/Student_comp_for_Apr09_planetary_defense.htm 06 Nov 2008 12:00:00 GMT The Planetary Defence Conference, with a strong focus on student participation, will be held for the first time in Europe the week of April 27, 2009 in Granada, Spain. http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/events/workshops/Apr09_planetary_defense.htm 28 Aug 2008 15:27:00 GMT 21 July 2008: What would happen if we placed a spacecraft on an asteroid and increased it's spin rate? Some asteroids could be forced to break up. This may prove to be an effective method of mitigaiting the potential risks of such asteroids... http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/mad/op/AsteroidsAndNEOs/CentrifugalFragmentation.htm 21 Jul 2008 12:00:00 GMT 03 July 2008: The ACT released the first Ariadna Call for Proposals in 2008!! This particular call encompasses some fascinating research ideas on the themes of Biomimetics and Bioengineering. Submission deadline is 12th of September!!! http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/ariadna/OpenCalls.htm 03 Jul 2008 12:00:00 GMT 23 June 2008 The ACT has been working on a project to exploit the idle time computing power of ESA employees' desktop computers. http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/newsroom/NewsArchive/New23_Jun08_Distributed-computing.htm 23 Jun 2008 12:00:00 GMT 13 June 2008: The ACT organizes a one day Workshop to explore the design strategies and options of invisibility devices for space. http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/events/workshops/invisibility08.htm 13 Jun 2008 12:00:00 GMT 25 February 2008: The ACT has just released its first ever Ariadna Call for Ideas, Encounter 2029, on the theme of Near Earth Object (NEO) deflection and mitigation. http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/ariadna/OpenCalls.htm 25 Feb 2008 12:00:00 GMT 11 January 2008: The ACT is organising a one-day workshop to discuss the second phase of the ESA SPS Programme. It will take place at ESTEC on February 29. http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/events/workshops/spsworkshop08.htm 23 Jan 2008 12:00:00 GMT 12th December 2007: "Just before Christmas we will experience microgravity again. Researchers Tobias Seidl and Luca Rossini test the effect of weightlessness on the use of Brain Machine Interfaces for astronauts" http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/newsroom/NewsArchive/New29_Dec07_ParabolicFlightCampain.htm 12 Dec 2007 12:00:00 GMT 24th October 2007: ”A vast similitude interlocks all, Have you ever wondered how a space planetary explorer or a galaxy-staring spacecraft could look like in 20-50 years from now? You will likely be very surprised... http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/newsroom/NewsArchive/New28_Jan08_WorkshopInnovativeConcepts.htm 24 Oct 2007 12:00:00 GMT 10th October 2007: The Aerospace Propulsion group of the Dipartimento di Energetica - Politecnico di Torino announced the third edition of the Global Trajectory Optimisation Competition. http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/newsroom/NewsArchive/New14_Oct07_GTOC3.htm 10 Oct 2007 12:00:00 GMT 20th September 2007: The new Ariadna Call has been released!! To strengthen the collaboration with universities, the ACT is now releasing an Ariadna Call for Proposals every six months. This call encompasses five topics: tethered satellites, metamaterials, gravitational physics, informatics for global optimisation and machine/animal hybrid controllers. http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/ariadna/OpenCalls.htm 20 Sep 2007 12:00:00 GMT A new independent research from the US confirmed the existence of two new "special" inclinations for formation flying missions. http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/newsroom/NewsArchive/New17_Sep14_MagicInclinations.htm 14 Sep 2007 12:00:00 GMT Swarm Intelligence is an emerging research field that studies the possibility of achieving complex undertaking using multiple agents interacting with simple rules. Can this paradigm be used for space applications? http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/newsroom/NewsArchive/New16_Jun07_Swarm_Intelligence.htm 27 Jun 2007 12:00:00 GMT The new Ariadna Call has been released!! To strengthen the collaboration with universities, the ACT is now releasing an Ariadna Call for Proposals every six months. In this call: asteroid fragmentation, micro propulsion, bio-controllers, self validated integration and swarm intelligence for orbital formations. http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/ariadna/OpenCalls.htm 07 Mar 2007 12:00:00 GMT After the success of its first edition the Global Trajectory Optimisation Competition will be proposed again this year and organised by the Outer Planets Mission Analysis Group of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) as winners of last year’s competition. The registration deadline is 03 November 2006. http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/newsroom/NewsArchive/New14_Oct07_GTOC2.htm 10 Oct 2006 12:00:00 GMT The Advanced Concepts Team, together with the Artificial Intelligence group of JPL and the Department of Computer Science of the University of Texas at El Paso, is organizing the workshop "Artificial Intelligence for Space Applications" in India, January 2007. http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/ai/pp/IJCAI/ws_ijcai07.htm 25 Jun 2006 12:00:00 GMT Due to the success of the Call for proposal in the last three years, the Advanced Concepts Team decided to strengthen the collaboration with universities and released the first of the two ARIADNA calls for year 2006. A list of eight study topics is available. http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/ariadna/OpenCalls.htm 20 May 2006 12:00:00 GMT The ACT, together with the ESA Electric Propulsion Section, is performing proof-of-concept tests of the DS4G thruster. First successful tests last November led now to the second test campaign dedicated on demonstrating that the concepts also allow high efficiency and overall performance. http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/pro/pp/DS4G/background.htm 8 May 2006 12:00:00 GMT Two small robots have taken their first baby steps in space, crawling across a triangular web held in place by manoeuvring satellites. Whilst it may only have been a small step for the robots it could represent a giant leap for the development of large structures, such as antennas, that deploy themselves in space. http://www.esrin.esa.int/gsp/ACT/newsroom/NewsArchive/New11_May06_SpiderRobots.htm 2 May 2006 12:00:00 GMT Biological systems represent millions of years of trial-and-error learning through natural selection according to the most stringent of metrics: survival. ‘Biomimetics’ may be defined as the practice of ‘reverse engineering’ ideas and concepts from nature and implementing them in a field of technology. http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/newsroom/newsroom/NewsArchive/New10_Mar06_BiomimeticsSystemDesign.htm 29 Mar 2006 12:00:00 GMT Spacecraft must evolve. Advancing space research is no longer just about swapping old components for new, now it is about entirely rethinking what a space mission can do and how it achieves its goals. World experts are gathering at ESA on February 21 to exchange new ideas and stimulate unconventional thinking. http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/newsroom/NewsArchive/New09_Feb06_WorkshopInnovativeSystems.htm 10 Feb 2006 12:00:00 GMT Orbits are like needles in a haystack. Search hard enough and you will find one, but is it the best one in the haystack? On the 2nd of February, space scientists from around the world will gather at ESTEC in the Netherlands to discuss the fascinating results of the first Global Trajectory Optimisation Competition. http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/newsroom/NewsArchive/New08_Jan06_GlobalTrajectoryOptimization.htm 31 Jan 2006 12:00:00 GMT The European Space Agency and the Australian National University have successfully tested a new design of spacecraft ion engine that dramatically improves performance over present thrusters and marks a major step forward in space propulsion capability. http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/newsroom/NewsArchive/New07_Jan06_DSG4Thruster.htm 11 Jan 2006 12:00:00 GMT ESA has confirmed the principle of a new space thruster that may ultimately give much more thrust than today's electric propulsion techniques. The concept is an ingenious one, inspired by the northern and southern aurorae, the glows in the sky that signal increased solar activity. http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/newsroom/NewsArchive/New06_Dec05_Thruster.htm 13 Dec 2005 12:00:00 GMT Robotic 'spiders' could be the key to building large-scale structures in space, according to ESA's Advanced Concepts Team. The tiny mechanical spiders would inch their way across large nets of fabric in space performing small tasks or lining up to create an antenna or some other structure. http://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/newsroom/NewsArchive/New05_Dec05_SpaceWebs.htm 12 Dec 2005 12:00:00 GMT