Mars, the Moon and New Astronauts in ESA’s 2022 Program

Like every beginning of the year, the European Space Agency (ESA), with its CEO Josef Ashbacher in command, convened the media to detail the missions, launches and projects that it will develop throughout 2022.

As Aschbacher explained at a press conference connected, the ESA budget for this year amounts to 7,152 million euros, of which nearly three-quarters will go to Earth observation, space transport, navigation, and robotic and human space exploration programs.

Detail of the European Space Agency’s 2022 budget presented by its Director-General Josef Aschbacher. / AT THAT

The launch of the mission is scheduled for next February. Artemis I in orbit around the moon, the first NASA Orion spacecraft in which ESA participates with its European Service Module (ESM). Meanwhile, preparations continue for Artemis II, which will transport crew members.

In April, the Italian ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti he will begin his second mission to the International Space Station (ISS), where he will serve as commander of Expedition 68. That same month, German astronaut Matthias Maurer will return after carrying out a multitude of experiments in the orbital complex.

The new mission data expected Gaia 3 will be released between May and June, when the first images and spectra will also be released (Early release science) in james webb space telescope, led by NASA but with an important European contribution.

takeoff from wanderer from ExoMars 2022

But if there’s one key event for ESA this year, it’s the launch of wanderer Rosalind Franklin ExoMars, in collaboration with the Russian agency Roscosmos, which will leave for Mars in September in search of signs of life on the red planet. The vehicle for this mission has successfully completed several tests and in the absence of a few minor tweaks, all your components are ready.

“The programming margin is positive, the 35 m main parachute has already been tested, flight software testing is underway, operation tests have started, Russian electronics are being fixed and the launch campaign at the Baikonur Commodrome begins in April,” Aschbacher detailed about ExoMars 2022.

On the other hand, although the date has not yet been set, the maiden flights of the launchers ariane 6 (heavier) and Vega-C (light) from the European spaceport of Kourou, French Guiana, are also planned for this year. From the same place will also take off the first satellite Third-generation Meteosat.

Furthermore, in 2022 ESA continues to develop a new generation of Earth observation satellites such as FLEX, Biomass and EarthCARE, and to collaborate with the European Union on the development of six new Sentinel satellites for the Copernicus programme.

New European astronauts

At the end of the year, in November, the selection process for astronauts from ESA. This Tuesday it was confirmed that completed the first phase: Of the more than 23,000 applications submitted, 1,391 applications passed to the second phase, in which cognitive, technical, motor coordination and personality tests will be carried out. Among the finalists, it is planned to select an astronaut with a physical disability, a parastronaut.

THE space exploration with European humans is, along with other future missions such as bring samples of a frozen moon, “inspiring” projects for ESA, according to its director, who recognized that Europe lacks independent means to carry out transport and space exploration with humans, so it does not have its potential scientific, economic and political benefits.

“It’s a political election, a political debate is necessary,” Aschbacher said. In this sense, the decisions adopted in the ESA Ministerial Council to be held in Paris in November may be relevant, although before that, next February, the European Space Summit will be organized in Toulouse, also in France.

Rights: Creative Commons.

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