European Student Moon Orbiter
The European Student Moon Orbiter ( ESMO , German European Student Moon Orbiter ) was a planned lunar mission of European students. 23 student teams from 19 universities in the area of the ESA member and partner countries worked together on the mission. A total of over 300 students were involved. ESMO was founded by the Student Space Exploration and Technology Initiative and taken over as an official mission by the European Space Agency (ESA) in 2008 . There it was directed as part of an “educational mission”. In 2009, Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL) took over the mission management as Prime Contractor. ESMO was scheduled to launch in 2014 and be launched onto a geostationary transfer orbit by a launcher . From there it would have gone via a weak stability boundary transfer to the L1 and then to the moon. The project was terminated prematurely by ESA in 2012 for cost reasons.
Mission objectives
ESMO was founded mainly to give students hands-on experience in running a satellite mission. This included the development of a satellite as well as getting to know the process and structure of a satellite mission and an insight into how ESA works.
Teams
23 European university teams participated in the mission. The following list gives an overview of the responsibilities:
| university | responsibility |
|---|---|
| University of Tartu , Estonia | Assembly, integration & verification |
| University of Tartu, Estonia | Operations |
| Czech Technical University Prague , Czech Republic | Attitude Interface Module |
| Milan Polytechnic , Italy | Attitude and Orbit Control Subsystem |
| Bucharest Polytechnic University , Romania | Attitude and Orbit Control Subsystem |
| Bucharest Polytechnic University, Romania | Structure |
| University of Stuttgart , Germany | Propulsion system - gas feed |
| SUPAERO , France | Star tracker |
| Wroclaw University of Technology , Poland | Communication system |
| Milan Polytechnic, Italy | Drive system - Liquid Feed |
| University of Warwick , UK | Electrical Power System |
| Technical University of Munich , Germany | Ground segment |
| Technical University of Munich, Germany | LunaNet |
| University of Vigo , Spain | Ground station |
| University of Oviedo , Spain | Harness |
| University of Glasgow , UK | Mission analysis & flight dynamics |
| University of Liège , Belgium | Small angle camera |
| University of Maribor , Slovenia | Onboard data processing |
| University of Bucharest , Romania | Radiation monitor |
| University of Ljubljana , Slovenia | radar |
| Academy of Mining and Metallurgy Cracow , Poland | Space Environment and Effects Analysis |
| University of Southampton , UK | System engineering |
| Warsaw University of Technology , Poland | Thermal Control System |
| Warsaw University of Technology, Poland | configuration |
| University of L'Aquila / University of La Sapienza , Italy | Microwave radiometer |
Web links
- ESA - ESMO homepage
- SSIMUC - Student Satellite Initiative Munich e. V.
- Deutschlandfunk report on the ESMO ground station in Raisting
- Report on the ESMO activities at the Technical University of Munich
Individual evidence
- ↑ ESA: European Student Moon Orbiter ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English)
- ↑ ESA concludes student ESMO Moon orbiter project. ESA, April 17, 2012, archived from the original on June 3, 2012 ; accessed on June 3, 2012 .
