The photon enhanced thermionic emitter is a new solar energy harvester suitable for operations at high temperatures. We propose the use of a bio-inspired light-trapping structure to enhance the solar flux collection

The Optel-μ Implementation Study on ISS has been set up to assess the feasibility of an IOD (In Orbit Demonstration) of the Optel-μ Space Terminal on the ISS (International Space Station).
The Optel-μ system provides an optical data downlink from a LEO (Low Earth Orbit) S/C to an Optical Ground Station with a data rate up to 2Gbit/s. It is being developed by RUAG Space in the frame of the ARTES program

In the context of satellite remote sensing, “hyper-spectral” is a generic term that means that “many channels” are observed. For InfraRed (IR) instruments, this term is associated with thousands channels, but for the MicroWave (MW) domain, an instrument with hundred of channels is already considered to be hyper-spectral. There are two main alternative concepts in using hyper-spectral information in MW:

The approach of the ‘Interplanetary Meteoroid Environment for eXploration’ (IMEX) project is to build a model of meteoroid streams throughout the inner solar system. Our motivation for this model is the impact hazard to spacecraft. An understanding of the interplanetary environment, including the dust environment, is crucial for the planning of spacecraft missions in the inner solar system. Particles striking a spacecraft with high velocities can cause damage leading to the impairment or even failure of the spacecraft or its subsystems.

Biomass burning is a key Earth system process, a major element of the terrestrial carbon cycle and a globally highly significant source of certain atmospheric trace gases and (primarily fine mode) aerosols. Natural and anthropogenic biomass burning occurs on all continents except Antarctica, with an estimated average of 3.5 - 4.5 million km2 of vegetation burnt in global wildfires each year (though this does not include the very large numbers of "small" agricultural fires that are difficult to map using current coarse spatial resolution remote sensing datasets).

Thousands of man-made objects are currently in orbit around the Earth. These range from active satellites to flecks of paint, via spent rocket stages and fragments of satellite debris. Due to the drag of the very thin high altitude atmosphere, these objects have slowly decaying orbits, and will eventually re-enter the Earth's thicker, lower atmosphere. Most will be destroyed on entry due to the aerothermal heating experienced at hypersonic velocities at altitudes between 40 and 80km. However, some objects reach the ground.

The use of helicon sources as thrusters for space propulsion has been envisaged as a robust, scalable, reliable and long-life device. The Helicon Plasma Thruster (HPT) is presented as a potentially durable, throttlable and high thrust-to-power ratio device, with intermediate specific impulse and competitive thrust efficiency.

The BOUNCED project has assessed the behaviour of elastic tethers within flexible link Active Debris Removal (ADR) systems. This has been achieved by solving a multidimensional set of linear equations, through the separation of dynamic modes; and the construction of analytic and numeric models of the resulting system. These models can be used to simulate the behaviour of both single and multi material tethers across the full lifetime of a tether mission, from pretension, through re-entry burn and free body motion post burn, to re-entry.

The objective of the APPS study has been to investigate the feasibility, architectural and system design, and potential performance of a non-nuclear system whose single goal is to provide survival and servicing support to a planetary payload element, in order to ensure its operations despite the absence of sunlight for extended periods. The principle aim is to advance concepts and overall approaches to meet this goal, and to provide a framework for the future development of key technologies.

The awareness of the risk of uncontrolled accumulation of man-­‐made objects became significant in the late 70's and since then, a number of space debris mitigation guidelines have been published by various organizations. The general aim is to reduce the growth of space debris by ensuring that space systems are designed, operated, and disposed in a manner that prevents them from generating debris throughout their lifetime, assuring the sustainable space utilization.