Telemetry from Spaceship Earth

Perry Rhodan – World’s greatest SF series

10. May 2019

Ask the crew

11. May 2019

Published by Robert Eiba at 11. May 2019

FedCon 28 | Vortrag | ESA - Telemetry from Spaceship Earth

You may not always think about it, but we’re all space travellers – hurtling around our star on a “mostly harmless” Class M planet. Our Spaceship Earth keeps us safe from the void of space but like any spaceship, it needs care and maintenance – now more than ever. Without a user manual or diagnostic console, how do we learn about it though? Come along at FedCon 28 to see Planetary Scientist Cassie Stuurman and Spacecraft Operator Thomas Ormston of the European Space Agency as they tell you how we use our satellites to unlock the secrets of our own planet and others and how you can get involved!

We’ll take you on a journey to see how we can look from space and learn what’s happening on a planet hundreds of kilometres below us and how we can use that information to inform our decisions here on Earth. Discover the fleet of satellites that the European Space Agency has in orbit around our planet and how all of their different capabilities work together to give us the best data about our planet that has ever been collected. You’ll get the latest results of our measurements of Earth and what that means for our lives and the health of our planet. Finally, we’ll tell you how you can get involved – satellite data is freely available to all and we want to show you how you can get your hands on it and use it. So join us on the bridge of Spaceship Earth for journey into space to learn about our home!

Lecturer: Thomas Ormston, Cassie Stuurman

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

We are the European Space Agency, dedicated to the peaceful exploration and use of space for the benefit of everyone. Established in 1975, we now have 22 Member States and for more than 40 years we have promoted European scientific and industrial interests in space. We make space work for everyone. We build and launch rockets and satellites, train astronauts, watch over Earth, explore space and try to answer the big science questions about the Universe.

We use Earth observation satellites to monitor the health of our planet and to understand how it works. Satellite data and images help us to see the bigger picture regarding global change. Scientists and governments can use this data to understand, protect and manage our environment, safeguarding Earth for future generations. At FedCon this year you can hear all about it from a scientist and an engineer of ESA’s Earth Observation programme:

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. Cassie Stuurman - Cassie is an ESA scientist who specializes in measuring planetary phenomena using space-based radar. From Martian glaciers to Earth oceans, her work spans a number of missions and planets. Her primary focus is on Sentinel-1, an Earth-observing radar satellite mission with a variety of applications.