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Ariane 5 bows out in style: dual payloads, perfect delivery
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By European Space Agency
Video: 00:11:10 In 2024, ESA continued to drive Europe’s innovation and excellence in space, equipping the continent with advanced tools and knowledge to address global and local challenges. The year saw pioneering missions, cutting-edge satellites and the pivotal restoration of Europe’s independent access to space.
The first Ariane 6 launch was perhaps ‘the’ highlight of the year but it was only one of many achievements. We saw the last Vega launch and then the return to flight of Vega-C, the more powerful, upgraded version carrying Sentinel-1C.
Far away in our Solar System, the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo spacecraft performed twoMercury flybys in 2024, needed so that it can enter orbit around Mercury in 2026. Juice also performed a crucial gravity assist, this time becoming the first spacecraft to conduct a Moon-Earth double flyby on its way to Jupiter.
Twenty years after ESA’s Rosetta was launched and 10 years since its historic arrival at the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, we launched another spacecraft to a small body, the Hera planetary defence mission to investigate asteroid Dimorphos.
2024 was an important year for Europe’s Galileo constellation which continued to expand with the launch of four new satellites and an updated Galileo ground system. The year also saw the launch of ESA’s Proba-3 mission: two precision formation-flying satellites forming a solar coronagraph to study the Sun’s faint corona.
In human spaceflight, Europe continues to contribute to science from the ISS as Andreas Mogensen’s Huginn mission continued into 2024. Andreas even met up in space with ESA project astronaut Marcus Wandt who was launched on his Muninn mission, making it the first time two Scandinavians were in space together.
Meanwhile the latest class of ESA astronauts completed basic training and graduated in April. Two of them, Sophie and Raphaël, were then assigned to long-duration missions to the ISS in 2026.
We made crucial steps for Europe in gaining access to the Moon: the inauguration of our LUNA facility with DLR, and the delivery of a third European Service Module for NASA’s Orion spacecraft as part of the Artemis programme.
Europe is also contributing to the international Lunar Gateway and developing and ESA lunar lander called Argonaut. These landers will rely on ESA Moonlight, the programme to establish Europe’s first dedicated satellite constellation for lunar communication and navigation.
As 2024 draws to a close, ESA’s achievements this year have reinforced Europe’s role in space. ESA’s journey continues to explore new frontiers, shaping the space landscape for generations to come.
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By NASA
3 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
A drone is shown flying during a test of Unmanned Aircraft Systems Traffic Management (UTM) technical capability Level 2 (TCL2) at Reno-Stead Airport, Nevada in 2016. During the test, five drones simultaneously crossed paths, separated by different altitudes. Two drones flew beyond visual line of sight and three flew within line-of-sight of their operators. More UTM research followed, and it continues today.NASA / Dominic Hart Package delivery drones are coming to our doorsteps in the future, and NASA wants to make sure that when medication or pizza deliveries take to the skies, they will be safe.
In July, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for the first time authorized multiple U.S. companies to fly commercial drones in the same airspace without their operators being able to see them the entire flight. Getting to this important step on the way to expanding U.S. commercial drone usage required considerable research into the concept known as flight that is Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) – and NASA helped lead the way.
For BVLOS flights to become routine, trusted automation technology needs to be built into drone and airspace systems, since pilots or air traffic controllers won’t be able to see all the drones operating at once. To address these challenges, NASA developed several key technologies, most notably Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM), which allows for digital sharing of each drone user’s planned flight details.
“NASA’s pioneering work on UTM, in collaboration with the FAA and industry, set the stage for safe and scalable small drone flights below 400 feet,” said Parimal Kopardekar, NASA’s Advanced Air Mobility mission integration manager. “This technology is now adopted globally as the key to enabling Beyond Visual Line of Sight drone operations.”
With UTM, each drone user can have the same situational awareness of the airspace where drones are flying. This foundation of technology development, led by NASA’s UTM project, allows drones to fly BVLOS today with special FAA approval.
Drones can fly BVLOS today at the FAA test site and at some other selected areas with pre-approval from the FAA based on the risks. However, the FAA is working on new regulation to allow BVLOS operations to occur without exemptions and waivers in the future.
The NASA UTM team invented a new way to handle the airspace — a style of air traffic management where multiple parties, from government to commercial industry, work together to provide services. These include flight planning, strategic deconfliction before flights take off, communication, surveillance and other focus areas needed for a safe flight.
This technology is now being used by the FAA in approved parts of the Dallas area, allowing commercial drone companies to deliver packages using the NASA- originated UTM research. UTM allows for strategic coordination among operators so each company can monitor their own drone flight to ensure that each drone is where it should be along the planned flight path. Test sites like Dallas help the FAA identify requirements needed to safely enable small drone operations nationwide.
NASA is also working to ensure that public safety drones have priority when operating in the same airspace with commercial drones. In another BVLOS effort, NASA is using drones to test technology that could be used on air taxis. Each of these efforts brings us one step closer to seeing supplies or packages routinely delivered by drone around the U.S.
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Learn more about how drone package delivery works in this FAA video.FAA Facebook logo @NASA@NASAaero@NASA_es @NASA@NASAaero@NASA_es Instagram logo @NASA@NASAaero@NASA_es Linkedin logo @NASA Explore More
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Last Updated Dec 10, 2024 EditorLillian GipsonContactJim Bankejim.banke@nasa.gov Related Terms
Drones & You Advanced Air Mobility Aeronautics Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate Air Traffic Management – Exploration Airspace Operations and Safety Program Ames Research Center Armstrong Flight Research Center Glenn Research Center Langley Research Center UAS Traffic Management View the full article
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By NASA
Many team members at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston may recognize Alicia Baker as the talented flutist in the Hispanic Employee Resource Group’s Mariachi Celestial band. Or, they may have worked with Baker in her role as a spacesuit project manager, testing NASA’s prototype spacesuits and preparing Johnson’s test chambers to evaluate vendor spacesuits.
Alicia Baker in a spacesuit test chamber at Johnson Space Center.NASA/David DeHoyos They might be surprised to learn that Baker juggled these responsibilities and more while also caring for her late husband, Chris, as he fought a terminal illness for 16 years.
“It was hard taking care of a loved one with cancer and working full-time,” Baker said. “My husband was also disabled from a brain tumor surgery, so I had to help him with reading, writing, walking, and remembering, while managing the household.”
Baker worked closely with her manager to coordinate schedules and get approval to telework so that she could work around her husband’s medical appointments and procedures. She also took medical leave when her husband entered hospice care in 2020. Baker said her manager’s flexibility “saved her job” and allowed her to continue providing for her family. She was even able to advance from project engineer to test director to project manager during this time period.
Alicia Baker and her husband Chris on their wedding day. Image courtesy of Alicia Baker Baker is one of the many Johnson employees who are or have been a caregiver for a loved one. These caregivers provide help to a person in need who often has a medical condition or injury that affects their daily functioning. Their needs may be temporary or long-term, and they could be physical, medical, financial, or domestic in nature.
Recognizing the challenging and critical role caregivers play in their families, the Johnson community provides a variety of resources to support team members through the Employee Assistance Program. Additionally, Johnson’s No Boundaries Employee Resource Group (NoBo) supports caregivers through its programs and initiatives.
Baker participates in both the support group and NoBo activities and takes comfort in sharing her and her husband’s story with others. “I would do it all over again,” she said of her caregiver role.
Now she looks forward to future missions to the Moon, when NASA astronauts will conduct spacewalks on the lunar surface while wearing new spacesuits. “Then I can say I helped make that possible!” Throughout all of her experiences, Baker has learned to never give up. “If you have a dream, keep fighting for it,” she said.
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