European Space Operations Centre
The European Space Operations Centre ( ESOC abbreviation for English European Space Operations Centre ) is one of the operational centers of the European Space Agency (ESA ), headquartered in Darmstadt. It was opened by the then Federal Minister of Research of the Federal Republic of Germany, Gerhard Stoltenberg on September 8, 1967.
ESOC is the mission control center for most space projects of the ESA. With its 800 employees, it manages a dozen projects simultaneously through a worldwide network of tracking stations, including the Deep Space Network NASA belongs.
During project planning, the experts recommend Team suitable launchers, air and orbits and ground connections. The increasing dangers caused by space debris - the thousands of fragments of spacecraft equipment orbiting the earth - are also monitored by ESA / ESOC. The Space Debris Office operates for an internationally renowned database. The center also houses the team of the new ESA program for " space situational awareness " Space Situational Awareness.
Ground stations
Under the name ESTRACK ESOC maintains a worldwide network of ground stations with antennas in Cebreros (Spain ), Villafranca del Castillo (Spain ), Maspalomas (Gran Canaria, Spain), Kiruna (Sweden), Kourou (French Guiana), Malindi ( Kenya), New Norcia (Australia), Perth (Australia), Redu (Belgium ) and Spitsbergen (Norway). A new ESA ground station for Europe's deep-space missions, was officially opened in Malargüe (Argentina ) in December 2012.
Mission Operations
The significance of the center has been increasing over the last decade with more and more European space missions. These include, inter alia, planetary missions, astronomy / space telescopes, earth observation and environmental monitoring as well as preliminary work in Manned Space (Automated Transfer Vehicle) and navigation (Galileo ( satellite navigation) ). At the current, major ESA missions, which are controlled by ESOC include: XMM -Newton, Integral, Cluster II, GOCE, Mars Express, Venus Express, Rosetta and Gaia.
In the environment of the ESOC also an information and business incubator has been set up for satellite navigation - the CESAH, " Center for Satellite Applications Hessen". It results from an initiative of ESA 's Technology Transfer ( " Business Incubation " ), State of Hesse, Darmstadt, Technical University and University of Darmstadt and other major companies in the region. So far CESAH has a total of 40 young companies and start-ups support in the development and launch of new services related to satellite navigation.