Jacques Chirac, President of the French Republic, was welcomed by J.-M. Luton, ESA's Director General
ESA was once again present in June at the Le Bourget Air Show, the largest air show in the world, held near Paris every two years. The ESA pavilion was designed to increase the public's awareness of Europe's achievements in space.
In addition to interactive computer demonstrations and a hologram-based film, the exhibition featured a large replica of an 'anechoic chamber' in which satellites are tested; full-scale mock ups of ESA satellites; and a demonstration of a virtual-reality system used to command a lunar rover.
Jacques Chirac, President of the French Republic, was welcomed by J.-M. Luton, ESA's Director General
A full-scale mockup of Ariane-5 outside the ESA pavilion
The ESA pavilion, with a full-scale mockup of ERS-2 overhead and ISO in the background
N. Lammert (right), Germany's Secretary of State, Ministry of Economic Affairs, toured the ESA stand
The press was invited to daily breakfast briefings, with one of ESA's current or future programmes being the focus each day
Children got a close-up view of the Moon and learned how rovers are used to explore the surface
The virtual-reality system used to control the rover
European, American and Russian astronauts meet the press
The Ariane 1's propulsion bay being moved into the Noordwijk Space Expo while the building was still under construction
Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands and her son, Prince Johan Friso, officially opened the centre in 1990
On 29 June, Noordwijk Space Expo (NSE) - the largest space exhibition in Europe - celebrated its fifth anniversary. The NSE is located in Noordwijk, The Netherlands, beside the ESA establishment, ESTEC.
The centre started as an initiative by a number of local space enthusiasts, with the support of ESTEC, the local, regional and national authorities, and many sponsors from the aerospace industry. In just a few years it has developed into a highly successful attraction. Serving also as the official ESTEC Visitors Centre, Noordwijk Space Expo promotes the European space endeavour to an ever-increasing number of visitors. The 400 000th visitor will pass through the doors this summer! The visitors range from space-interested professionals attending conferences or video transmissions of a launch, to students and the general public, including vacationers from all over Europe, exploring Europe's achievements in space or participating in special programmes.
Noordwijk Space Expo is therefore playing a multi-faceted role as an educational centre communicating both an understanding and an appreciation of the history, many outstanding achievements and ambitious future plans for Europe's cooperative endeavours in space, to a broad cross-section of visitors.
Current plans for the centre's further development include the introduction of a novel 'Remote-Sensing Classroom' where secondary students will receive an introduction to Earth observation, an area that will be incorporated into the curriculum of European schools in the upcoming years.
The non-profit-making Noordwijk Space Expo Foundation is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the centre.
A 'classroom in space' - ESA astronaut Wubbo Ockels teaches school children about weightlessness while
another ESA astronaut, Ulf Merbold, who was in orbit aboard Euromir 94 and was connected to the class via
a live video transmission, demonstrated how astronauts actually live in weighlessness
One of the exhibition areas
ESA astronaut Wubbo Ockels tries out the Multi-Axis Simulator that astronauts used to use to train for the lack of orientation that occurs during flight
BBC presenter Patrick Moore interviews ESA scientist Mike Perryman, with a model of the Hipparcos spacecraft in the background
Following a meeting held in Paris on 30 June, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) and ESA have agreed to continue, and deepen, their current cooperation, allowing both parties to benefit from the other's progress in space fields.
The areas of greatest interest are quality assurance and standardisation, and exploration and utilisation of data from ESA satellites. ESA already has an agreement with the Chinese Academy of Science for the direct reception, archiving, processing and distribution of ERS-1 SAR data, as well as an agreement with China's Centre for Space Science and Applied Research (CSSAR) allowing the CSSAR to receive and use science data gathered by ESA's Cluster satellite for research purposes.
This is not a formal agreement. Any concrete cooperation agreements will have to be submitted to ESA Member States for approval. Both parties, however, have agreed to first exchange teams of experts in the areas of greatest interest, and then identify and establish concrete collaborative projects.
Director General of ESA, J.-M. Luton (left), and the Administrator of the China National Space Administration, Liu Jiyuan, agree to increase cooperation
This September, the International Space University (ISU) will launch its Master of Space Studies (MSS) programme. The one-year programme (from September to August) will provide students with a broad knowledge of space-related activities and a more thorough knowledge in one area. It is aimed at both recent graduates who already have a good education in one space-related field, and experienced professionals who wish to strengthen their management and technical skills.
The programme will stress the interactions between space disciplines, international cooperation, and multicultural approaches in space activities. Participants will develop leadership skills and other essential qualities required to propose, decide, manage, implement and exploit space programmes within an international and multicultural context. They will also become part of an active, worldwide network of space professionals.
An integral part of the programme will be a design project, which will be undertaken in teams, to teach the students to work together in a multidisciplinary and international setting to solve complex problems. Participants must also undertake an individual research project which may involve practical work at one of ISU's 23 affiliated organisations around the world.
The courses will be held at ISU's permanent campus in Strasbourg, France. The teaching staff will consist of full-time faculty members and visiting lecturers from affiliate campuses, industry, research institutions and space agencies. The academic level of the MSS will be that of the French DEA or DESS, which is approximately equivalent to the first year of a PhD programme in North American and Japanese universities.
ISU's well-known, annual summer sessions will continue. They were started as a prototype for the Master's programme and are currently in their eighth year.
For more information, contact:
International Space University
Parc d'Innovation
Boulevard Gonthier d'Andernach
67400 Illkirch
France
Tel: (33) 88.65.54.46
Fax: (33) 88.65.54.47,
e-mail: admission@isu.isunet.edu
ESA's Ulysses spacecraft, the first probe ever to fly over the poles of the Sun, climbed to its maximum latitude of 80.2 degrees north of the Sun's equator on 31 July. In doing so, it passed another milestone on its historic mission to survey the Sun's environment from a unique vantage point in space. Launched almost five years ago, in October 1990, the spacecraft was designed to study the heliosphere, the region of space dominated by the solar wind, at all latitudes above and below the Sun's equatorial plane. Those high latitudes had never been explored before.
This second polar pass, over the north pole, will provide scientists with an opportunity to compare conditions in the north with those encountered in the south during Ulysses' first polar pass, over the south pole last September. Initial results have already confirmed some of the earlier findings. As had been expected, once the spacecraft moved away from the equatorial region, heading north, it became permanently immersed in fast solar wind from the northern polar cap. Another feature of the southern polar region, the uniform radial magnetic field (with no evidence of a 'magnetic pole'), has also been found in the north.
Ulysses is now gradually descending in latitude. On 29 September, it will complete the northern polar pass and start its journey back out to the orbit of Jupiter, a distance of about 800 million kilometres. It should reach its aphelion (furthest point from the Sun) in April 1998. The spacecraft will then cross the south polar regions again in 2000 and the north pole in 2001.
The Ulysses orbit, showing the spacecraft's position on 31 July 1995 (80.2 degrees north of the Sun's equator)
EuroMir 95, ESA's second mission to the Russian space station Mir, is now expected to be launched in the first week of September.
ESA astronaut Thomas Reiter is currently preparing for the more than four months that he will spend in orbit. He will become the non-Russian astronaut to have spent the longest time in space, and the first ESA astronaut to 'spacewalk'.
An unmanned Progress cargo craft delivered about 350 kg of the required equipment to Mir in July. More equipment and samples will be sent aboard another Progress craft later in the fall. V
ESA astronauts Thomas Reiter (left) and Christer Fuglesang (right) training with the Russian EVA suit
ESA Bulletin Nr. 83.