ESA: Ask the Crew at FEDCON

FedCon 27 | Vortrag | Perry Rhodan - Ausblick 2019

Perry Rhodan – Outlook 2019

4. April 2018

ESA: Flying Spacecraft for Real

12. April 2018

Published by Robert Eiba at 10. April 2018

FedCon 27 | Vortrag | ESA Special: Ask the Crew

Is there anything you wanted to know about the real world of space but were too afraid to ask? Now is your chance – come to the ESA panel Ask the Crew at FedCon to ask the real engineers of the Europe’s mission control your questions about what life is actually like flying spacecraft for the European Space Agency.

During the panel you’ll get to quiz six engineers from ESA’s European Space Operations Centre on any topic you want! You can find out everything from what it’s like to orbit Mars to how we dodge space junk or even just what sci-fi the team loves! Ask how mission control makes our missions successful and find out what makes us different from a starship bridge (hint: there are a lot more meetings!). It will be a completely open session so you are in the driving seat… come along and learn why really flying in space can be as weird and wonderful as any science fiction!

FedCon 27 | ESA Mission Controllers

Lecturer: ESA Mission Controllers

Duration: 60 min - The Lecture will be held in: english

The European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany is where the missions of the European Space Agency (ESA) come alive! Just under 200 km from FedCon is mission control for some of the most exciting science and exploration missions ever flown. The fleet of spacecraft flown from ESOC cover missions studying our own planet, missions that go beyond our Earth and explore the solar system and missions that look even further than that - peering into the very depths of time and space in the distant universe. The mission control team from ESOC are all real engineers that spend their days flying this fleet of spacecraft across the solar system and are here to add a little of the excitement of science fact to the science fiction. The six mission controllers that you'll be able to meet and hear from this year at FedCon are:

Aybike Demirsan – Aybike is a Young Graduate Trainee in the Cluster flight control team. The 4 Cluster spacecraft were launched back in 2000 and "dance" around each other monitoring the interaction between Earth's magnetic field and the solar wind.

Armelle Hubault & Chris White – Armelle and Chris are operations engineers working on the ExoMars mission. ExoMars is ESA's latest Mars mission - it only just arrived in its final orbit at Mars this year and is ready to start a busy science schedule investigating faint gasses in the Martian atmosphere.

Jana Mulacova – Jana works in Product Assurance for a whole range of different missions across ESOC. Her work is critical to ensure that no details are missed and that the teams at ESOC follow proper procedures and standards to ensure our missions are safe and successful.

Thomas Ormston – Thomas is an operations engineer working on the EarthCARE mission. EarthCARE is still preparing for launch and is part of ESA's Earth Observation programme – a series of missions ensuring that the best and most up to date information about our planet and its health is available to all.

Simon Wood – Simon is an operation engineer working for the Mars Express flight control team. Mars Express is ESA's first Mars mission and has been orbiting the red planet since 2003. It still delivers amazing science every day and Simon and the Mars Express team are working to ensure it continues as long as possible.