Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




TECH SPACE
Looking out for lasers
by Staff Writers
Paris (ESA) Feb 11, 2013


Engineer Giuditta Montesanti is pictured wearing protective goggles while preparing for a test firing of space thrusters in ESA's Propulsion Laboratory. Lasers are used to align plasma-measuring probes within thruster plumes. Based at ESA's technical centre ESTEC in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, the Propulsion Laboratory specialises in the testing of ion engines and other thrusters that operate outside Earth's atmosphere. Copyright ESA/Guus Schoonewille.

ESA's laboratories are equipped with a huge range of measuring tools, but the most versatile remains the human eye - and it must be looked after.

These protective goggles are worn while using lasers to align plasma-measuring probes, in preparation for test firings of space thrusters in ESA's Propulsion Laboratory.

Based at ESA's technical centre ESTEC in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, the Propulsion Laboratory specialises in the testing of ion engines and other thrusters that operate outside Earth's atmosphere.

These are test-fired in specialised vacuum chambers, with diagnostic devices - Faraday and Langmuir probes as well as retarding potential analysers - placed at precise points within the thruster's plumes to gather data on its performance.

Engineer Giuditta Montesanti is pictured while preparing for a test: the thruster firings themselves take place out of sight, requiring no special protection. The Lab performs testing both for general research and development and in support of European space projects.

This spring will see testing of the MiniRIT micro-propulsion thruster for next year's LISA Pathfinder mission.

This mission, testing technologies for gravitational wave detection, will be the most precisely controlled spacecraft ever flown, requiring thrusters that are sensitive enough to push back against the force of incoming sunshine.

.


Related Links
ESA Propulsion Laboratory
Space Technology News - Applications and Research






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








TECH SPACE
NTU research embraces laser and sparks cool affair
Singapore (SPX) Feb 01, 2013
Bulky and noisy air-conditioning compressors and refrigerators may soon be a thing of the past. With the latest discovery by scientists from Nanyang Technological University (NTU), current cooling systems which uses refrigerant harmful to the ozone layer could be replaced by a revolutionary cooling system using lasers. This discovery, published and featured on the cover of Nature, th ... read more


TECH SPACE
Building a lunar base with 3D printing

US, Europe team up for moon fly-by

Russia to Launch Lunar Mission in 2015

US, Europe team up for moon fly-by

TECH SPACE
How The World's Saltiest Pond Gets Its Salt; Implications For Water On Mars

Lockheed Martin Completes Assembly, Begins Environmental Testing of NASA's MAVEN Spacecraft

NASA Curiosity Rover Collects First Martian Bedrock Sample

Sampling Several Rock Targets

TECH SPACE
Supersonic skydiver even faster than thought

Ahmadinejad says ready to be Iran's first spaceman

Iran's Bio-Capsule Comes Back from Space

A Hero For Humankind: Yuri Gagarin's Spaceflight

TECH SPACE
Reshuffle for Tiangong

China to launch 20 spacecrafts in 2013

Mr Xi in Space

China plans manned space launch in 2013: state media

TECH SPACE
Progress docks with ISS

NASA to Send Inflatable Pod to International Space Station

ISS to get inflatable module

ESA workhorse to power NASA's Orion spacecraft

TECH SPACE
Ariane 5 Arrives At Kourou For 4th Automated Transfer Vehicle Mission

Rocketdyne Powers Atlas 5 Upper Stage, Placing New Landsat In Orbit

Arianespace Launches Six Globalstar Birds Using Starsem Soyuz

Final checkout underway for the Starsem Soyuz launch with Globalstar spacecraft

TECH SPACE
Direct Infrared Image Of An Arm In Disk Demonstrates Transition To Planet Formation

Kepler Data Suggest Earth-size Planets May Be Next Door

Earth-like planets may be closer than thought: study

Are Super-Earths Actually Mini-Neptunes?

TECH SPACE
New classes of magnetoelectric materials promise advances in computing technology

Mercury contamination in water can be detected with a mobile phone

Scientists team with business innovators to solve 'big data' bottleneck

Looking out for lasers




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement