TalTech Space Centre

Last week our team member Tanel Neemre had the amazing opportunity to attend the ESA Academy’s Space Systems Engineering Course 2023 in Belgium alongside 30 university students from 16 different nationalities.🤩

✨A series of lectures and practical exercises led by ESA experts were covered throughout the four days of teaching at ESEC-Galaxia. During this time the team concentrated on the Mars Sample Return Mission, working on the mission requirements, top-level design, concept of operations, trade-offs, systems budgets and margins along with risk management and launch and early operations.

✨Along with the lengthy study sessions, the group had the chance to tour ESEC-Redu ground station and mission control center of the European Space Agency.

Today in space history
✨1958: With the first successful launch of a satellite, Explorer 1 the United States entered the Space Age. It obtained cosmic radiation measurements and led to the discovery of the Van Allen radiation belt.
✨1971 - Apollo 14 launch

Images credit: NASA

What is Attitude Determination and Control System?🧐
The ADCS or Attitude Determination and Control System is part of the satellite which is responsible for keeping the desired orientation of the satellite, for example the side with a camera towards Earth. For that, the ADCS contains sensors for determining the orientation of the satellite, and actuators for changing the orientation.
--Reio, ADCS team member