Nebula Public Library

Space debris is mainly constituted by small items which cannot be de-orbited by using specific satellites launched from the Earth due to costs and difficulty in miniaturizing robotic arms or other rigid actuation systems. In a long-period vision, small cleaning satellites, with a size comparable with the debris to remove, can be manufactured in Space. Traditional robotic systems would be extremely expensive and some also would have problems in grabbing objects with undefined shape.

Space missions benefit greatly by the capability of the on-board GNC system to adapt rapidly to unknown environment. Autonomous vision-based navigation is a particular technology under implementation in several ESA missions. One of the most interesting applications in that field is the proximity operations around a small asteroid, like those in HERA.
The goal of this activity was to develop a navigation algorithm with the capability to fly over an unknown terrain and achieve better navigation performances than current vision-based techniques based on unknown feature tracking.

The main objective of this activity was to develop and demonstrate new techniques which are expected to improve the current state-of-the-art Space Weather forecasting techniques and products related to Space Weather effects for Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) systems in the Arctic, with particular attention to the Greenland area. For this purpose, the activity investigated and tested innovative methods for monitoring and predicting Space Weather impacts on PNT in interested area.

Space system engineering is a complex activity, spanning multiple phases and involving different stakeholders using a variety of engineering approaches and tools. ESA has been investing in Model-Based System Engineering (MBSE) research for many years, developing different MBSE frameworks and Domain Specific Tools (DSTs). Recently, a broader need has been recognized to focus the MBSE efforts on semantic interoperability and associated model integration.