1.
Albert Einstein ATV
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The Albert Einstein ATV, or Automated Transfer Vehicle 004, was a European unmanned cargo resupply spacecraft, named after the German-born physicist Albert Einstein. It was built to supply the International Space Station with propellant, water, air, and dry cargo and it was the fourth and penultimate ATV to be built, following the Edoardo Amaldi, which was launched in March 2012. Albert Einsteins components were constructed in Turin, Italy, and Bremen, Germany, the spacecraft left Bremen for Kourou on 31 August 2012 to begin launch preparations. Albert Einstein was launched on an Ariane 5ES rocket from the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, the launch was conducted by Arianespace on behalf of the European Space Agency. At the time of its launch, Albert Einstein was the heaviest spacecraft launched to orbit by an Ariane rocket. The ATV docked successfully with the ISS at 14,07 UTC on 15 June 2013, after a successful five-month mission, Albert Einstein re-entered the Earths atmosphere and was destroyed, as planned, on 2 November 2013. The Albert Einstein supplied the ISS with dry cargo, fuel, water, in addition, the ATV used its own thrusters and fuel supply to reboost the ISS, to counteract the drag the residual atmosphere imposes on the station. The total cost of the Albert Einstein mission was approximately 450 million euros, a full cargo breakdown is provided in the following table, Source, ESA Albert Einstein arrived at the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana, in September 2012. It was launched successfully on an Ariane 5ES rocket at 21,52,11 UTC on 5 June 2013, after launch, Albert Einstein spent ten days conducting orbital manoeuvres before docking with the ISS. In addition, docking with the ISS could not occur before 11 June, no damage to the docking port was detected, and so the ATVs docking proceeded as planned. The ATV docked successfully with the ISS at 14,07 UTC on 15 June 2013, the hatch opening was delayed by a day due to concerns raised by Roscosmos that the cargo had not been disinfected satisfactorily. On 19 June 2013, Albert Einstein conducted its first reboost of the ISS, a further reboost was undertaken on 10 July 2013, where a burn of just less than 10 minutes provided a delta-v change of 1.45 m/s, this operation consumed 199 kilograms of propellant. By 12 July 2013, all the dry cargo had been unloaded from Albert Einstein, on 23 and 28 July Albert Einstein suffered a transient fault with two of its three computers, numbers 2 and 3. While only a computer was required to operate the ATV. However, by 29 July a restart had been performed on both units, bringing all three of the ATVs computers back on-line without impacting the mission schedule, the pipelines were then purged to avoid any complications during Albert Einsteins undocking from the ISS. Albert Einstein undocked safely from the ISS at 08,55 UTC on 28 October 2013, on 2 November, it re-entered Earths atmosphere and burnt up, along with a payload of ISS waste, over the Pacific Ocean. ATV4 official site, mission brochure and mission blog via ESA
2.
Airbus Defence and Space
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Airbus Defence and Space is a division of Airbus Group responsible for defence and aerospace products and services. The division was formed in January 2014 during the restructuring of European Aeronautic Defence and Space, and comprises the former Airbus Military, Astrium. It is the second largest space company after Boeing and one of the top ten defence companies in the world. Airbus Defence and Space has its headquarters in Toulouse, France, and is led by Dirk Hoke. The company is divided into three sections, Military Aircraft, Space Systems, and Communication-Intelligence-Security, with its presence in 35 countries, the company employs 40,000 people from 86 nationalities and contributes to 21% of Airbus Group revenues. In 2015 Airbus ranked 100th on the Fortune Global 500 list, the two companies envisaged including the French company Aérospatiale, the other major European aerospace company, but only after its privatisation. The first stage of integration was seen as the transformation of Airbus from a consortium of British Aerospace, DASA, Aérospatiale. The merger of British Aerospace and MES to form BAE Systems was announced on 19 January 1999, DASA and the Spanish aircraft company Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA agreed to merge on 11 June 1999. On 14 October 1999 DASA agreed to merge with Aérospatiale-Matra to create the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company,10 July 2000 was Day One for the new company which became the worlds second-largest aerospace company after Boeing and the second-largest European arms manufacturer after BAE Systems. In January 2001 Airbus Industrie was transformed from an inherently inefficient consortium structure to a joint stock company, with legal. On 16 June 2003 EADS acquired BAEs 25 % share in Astrium, EADS paid £84 million, however due to the lossmaking status of the company BAE invested an equal amount for restructuring. It was subsequently renamed EADS Astrium, and had the divisions Astrium Satellites, Astrium Space Transportation, on 1 July 2003 EADS Defence & Security Systems was founded with the merger of the activities of missile systems, defence electronics, military aircraft and telecommunications of the EADS Group. Tom Enders became the first CEO of the new division, the predecessor company was established in January 1999 as the Airbus Military Company SAS to manage the Airbus A400M project, taking over from the Euroflag consortium. In May 2003, the company was restructured as Airbus Military Sociedad Limitada prior to the execution of the production contract, the Military Transport Aircraft Division was a division of EADS which designs, manufactures and commercialises EADS-CASA light and medium transport aircraft, and headquartered in Madrid, Spain. In 1999 was Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA in the EADS Group incorporated, in Spain it was still referred to as EADS-CASA. The division manufactured tanker, transport and mission aircraft including Airbus A330 MRTT, Airbus A400M, CASA C-212 Aviocar, CASA/IPTN CN-235, after the merger, it also acquired the production of Eurofighter Typhoon, which was earlier under Cassidian. Eurocopter, which was earlier under Airbus Military, was reorganized as Airbus Helicopters, Astrium was formed in 2000 by the merger of Matra Marconi Space with the space division of DaimlerChrysler Aerospace AG and Computadores Redes e Ingeniería SA. Henceforth Astrium was a joint venture between EADS and BAE Systems, on 16 June 2003 the minority shareholder, BAE Systems, sold its 25% share to EADS, making EADS the sole shareholder
3.
European Space Agency
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The European Space Agency is an intergovernmental organisation of 22 member states, dedicated to the exploration of space. Established in 1975 and headquartered in Paris, France, ESA has a staff of about 2,000. The main European launch vehicle Ariane 5 is operated through Arianespace with ESA sharing in the costs of launching, after World War II, many European scientists left Western Europe in order to work with the United States. The meeting was attended by representatives from eight countries, including Harrie Massey. The Western European nations decided to have two different agencies, one concerned with developing a system, ELDO, and the precursor of the European Space Agency. The latter was established on 20 March 1964 by an agreement signed on 14 June 1962, from 1968 to 1972, ESRO launched seven research satellites. ESA in its current form was founded with the ESA Convention in 1975, ESA has 10 founding member states, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. These signed the ESA Convention in 1975 and deposited the instruments of ratification by 1980, during this interval the agency functioned in a de facto fashion. ESA launched its first major scientific mission in 1975, Cos-B, ESA joined NASA in the IUE, the worlds first high-orbit telescope, which was launched in 1978 and operated very successfully for 18 years. A number of successful Earth-orbit projects followed, and in 1986 ESA began Giotto, its first deep-space mission, to study the comets Halley and Grigg–Skjellerup. Hipparcos, a mission, was launched in 1989 and in the 1990s SOHO, Ulysses. Recent scientific missions in co-operation with NASA include the Cassini–Huygens space probe, as the successor of ELDO, ESA has also constructed rockets for scientific and commercial payloads. Ariane 1, launched in 1979, brought mostly commercial payloads into orbit from 1984 onward, the successor launch vehicle of Ariane 5, the Ariane 6 is already in the definition stage and is envisioned to enter service in the 2020s. The beginning of the new millennium saw ESA become, along with agencies like NASA, JAXA, ISRO, CSA and Roscosmos, one of the major participants in scientific space research. Although ESA had relied on co-operation with NASA in previous decades, especially the 1990s, changed circumstances led to decisions to rely more on itself, a 2011 press issue thus stated, Russia is ESAs first partner in its efforts to ensure long-term access to space. ESA maintains its scientific and research projects mainly for astronomy-space missions such as Corot, launched on 27 December 2006 and this is the reason space exploration is an integral part of overall space activities. It has always been so, and it will be more important in the future. ESA describes its work in two overlapping ways, For the general public the various fields of work are described as Activities, Member states participate to varying degrees in the mandatory and optional space programmes
4.
Arianespace
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Arianespace SA is a French multinational company founded in 1980 as the worlds first commercial launch service provider. It undertakes the production, operation, and marketing of the Ariane programme, the main launch vehicles offered by the company are the Ariane 5, the Soyuz-2 as a medium-lift alternative, and the Vega as a lighter one. As of 2008, more than 240 commercial launches have occurred since May 22,1984, Arianespace states that the total number of launch contracts signed since Ariane launches commenced operations in 1984 is 285. Arianespace uses the Centre Spatial Guyanais in French Guiana as a launch site and it has its headquarters in Courcouronnes, Essonne, France, near Évry. On 21 October 2011 Arianespace launched the first Soyuz rocket ever from outside former Soviet territory, the payload was two Galileo navigation satellites. Arianespace primary shareholders are its suppliers, in the nations of the European Union. In 2004, Arianespace held more than 50 percent of the market for boosting satellites to geostationary transfer orbit. According to an Arianespace managing director, Its quite clear theres a significant challenge coming from SpaceX. Therefore things have to change … and the whole European industry is being restructured, consolidated, rationalised and streamlined, in early 2014, Arianespace requested additional subsidies from European governments to face the competition from SpaceX and unfavorable changes in the Euro-Dollar exchange rate. Overall Arianespace signed 11 contracts in 2014 until September, with two additional being in a stage of negotiations. Currently Arianespace operates 3 launch vehicles, including two versions of Ariane 5, Additionally Arianespace offers optional back-up launch service on H-IIA through Launch Services Alliance, new Ariane 6 vehicle is in development. It would be wise in league of Ariane 5 and has tentatively its first test flight in 2020 as of 2016. The Arianes Cup is a competition organized on behalf of the Industrials participating in the Ariane programme. Europa rocket NewSpace Comparable Launch Provider Company United Launch Alliance International Launch Services Space Exploration Technologies Antrix Corporation
5.
CNES
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The Centre national détudes spatiales is the French government space agency. Its headquarters are located in central Paris and it is under the supervision of the French Ministries of Defence and it operates from the Toulouse Space Center and Guiana Space Centre, but also has payloads launched from space centres operated by other countries. The president of CNES is Jean-Yves Le Gall, CNES is member of Institute of Space, its Applications and Technologies. CNES benefits from the second largest national budget allocated to space, CNES was established under President Charles de Gaulle in 1961. CNES was responsible for the training of French astronauts, until the last active CNES astronauts transferred to the European Space Agency in 2001. As of January 2015, CNES is working with Germany and a few governments to start a modest research effort with the hope to propose a LOX/methane reusable launch vehicle by mid-2015. If built, flight testing would not start before approximately 2026. Hammaguir missile range built in Algeria,1963 Cats launched into space via Véronique rockets. 1965 First French satellite put in orbit,1969 French Guiana Space Centre completed. Commercial competition in space is fierce, so launch services must be tailored to space operators’ needs, the new versions of Ariane 5 can launch large satellites or perform dual launches while the Vega and Soyuz-2 are small and medium-lift launchers. CNES is taking part in the Galileo navigation programme alongside the European Union, in addition to Spot and the future Pleiades satellites, CNES is working for the defence community as prime contractor for the Helios satellites. France’s contribution to the International Space Station is giving French scientists the opportunity to perform experiments in microgravity. The CNES is studying formation flying, a technique whereby several satellites fly components of a much heavier, CNES is collaborating with other space agencies in a number of projects. Joint missions with NASA result in PARASOL and CALIPSO satellites, CNES plays a major role in the construction and operation of the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity satellite. In December 2006, CNES announced that it would publish its UFO archive online by late January or mid-February, most of the 6,000 reports have been filed by the public and airline professionals. Jacques Arnould, an official for the French Space Agency, said that the data had accumulated over a 30-year period and that they were often reported to the Gendarmerie. In the last two decades of the 20th century, France was the country whose government paid UFO investigators, employed by CNESs UFO section GEPAN, later known as SEPRA. On March 22,2007, CNES released its UFO files to the public through its website, the CNES has several tracking stations
6.
Austria
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Austria, officially the Republic of Austria, is a federal republic and a landlocked country of over 8.7 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Hungary and Slovakia to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, the territory of Austria covers 83,879 km2. The terrain is mountainous, lying within the Alps, only 32% of the country is below 500 m. The majority of the population speaks local Bavarian dialects of German as their native language, other local official languages are Hungarian, Burgenland Croatian, and Slovene. The origins of modern-day Austria date back to the time of the Habsburg dynasty, from the time of the Reformation, many northern German princes, resenting the authority of the Emperor, used Protestantism as a flag of rebellion. Following Napoleons defeat, Prussia emerged as Austrias chief competitor for rule of a greater Germany, Austrias defeat by Prussia at the Battle of Königgrätz, during the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, cleared the way for Prussia to assert control over the rest of Germany. In 1867, the empire was reformed into Austria-Hungary, Austria was thus the first to go to war in the July Crisis, which would ultimately escalate into World War I. The First Austrian Republic was established in 1919, in 1938 Nazi Germany annexed Austria in the Anschluss. This lasted until the end of World War II in 1945, after which Germany was occupied by the Allies, in 1955, the Austrian State Treaty re-established Austria as a sovereign state, ending the occupation. In the same year, the Austrian Parliament created the Declaration of Neutrality which declared that the Second Austrian Republic would become permanently neutral, today, Austria is a parliamentary representative democracy comprising nine federal states. The capital and largest city, with a population exceeding 1.7 million, is Vienna, other major urban areas of Austria include Graz, Linz, Salzburg and Innsbruck. Austria is one of the richest countries in the world, with a nominal per capita GDP of $43,724, the country has developed a high standard of living and in 2014 was ranked 21st in the world for its Human Development Index. Austria has been a member of the United Nations since 1955, joined the European Union in 1995, Austria also signed the Schengen Agreement in 1995, and adopted the euro currency in 1999. The German name for Austria, Österreich, meant eastern realm in Old High German, and is cognate with the word Ostarrîchi and this word is probably a translation of Medieval Latin Marchia orientalis into a local dialect. Austria was a prefecture of Bavaria created in 976, the word Austria is a Latinisation of the German name and was first recorded in the 12th century. Accordingly, Norig would essentially mean the same as Ostarrîchi and Österreich, the Celtic name was eventually Latinised to Noricum after the Romans conquered the area that encloses most of modern-day Austria, around 15 BC. Noricum later became a Roman province in the mid-first century AD, heers hypothesis is not accepted by linguists. Settled in ancient times, the Central European land that is now Austria was occupied in pre-Roman times by various Celtic tribes, the Celtic kingdom of Noricum was later claimed by the Roman Empire and made a province
7.
Belgium
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Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a sovereign state in Western Europe bordered by France, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, and the North Sea. It is a small, densely populated country which covers an area of 30,528 square kilometres and has a population of about 11 million people. Additionally, there is a group of German-speakers who live in the East Cantons located around the High Fens area. Historically, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg were known as the Low Countries, the region was called Belgica in Latin, after the Roman province of Gallia Belgica. From the end of the Middle Ages until the 17th century, today, Belgium is a federal constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. It is divided into three regions and three communities, that exist next to each other and its two largest regions are the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders in the north and the French-speaking southern region of Wallonia. The Brussels-Capital Region is a bilingual enclave within the Flemish Region. A German-speaking Community exists in eastern Wallonia, Belgiums linguistic diversity and related political conflicts are reflected in its political history and complex system of governance, made up of six different governments. Upon its independence, declared in 1830, Belgium participated in the Industrial Revolution and, during the course of the 20th century, possessed a number of colonies in Africa. This continuing antagonism has led to several far-reaching reforms, resulting in a transition from a unitary to a federal arrangement during the period from 1970 to 1993. Belgium is also a member of the Eurozone, NATO, OECD and WTO. Its capital, Brussels, hosts several of the EUs official seats as well as the headquarters of major international organizations such as NATO. Belgium is also a part of the Schengen Area, Belgium is a developed country, with an advanced high-income economy and is categorized as very high in the Human Development Index. A gradual immigration by Germanic Frankish tribes during the 5th century brought the area under the rule of the Merovingian kings, a gradual shift of power during the 8th century led the kingdom of the Franks to evolve into the Carolingian Empire. Many of these fiefdoms were united in the Burgundian Netherlands of the 14th and 15th centuries, the Eighty Years War divided the Low Countries into the northern United Provinces and the Southern Netherlands. The latter were ruled successively by the Spanish and the Austrian Habsburgs and this was the theatre of most Franco-Spanish and Franco-Austrian wars during the 17th and 18th centuries. The reunification of the Low Countries as the United Kingdom of the Netherlands occurred at the dissolution of the First French Empire in 1815, although the franchise was initially restricted, universal suffrage for men was introduced after the general strike of 1893 and for women in 1949. The main political parties of the 19th century were the Catholic Party, French was originally the single official language adopted by the nobility and the bourgeoisie
8.
Czech Republic
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The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, is a nation state in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west, Austria to the south, Slovakia to the east and Poland to the northeast. The Czech Republic covers an area of 78,866 square kilometres with mostly temperate continental climate and it is a unitary parliamentary republic, has 10.5 million inhabitants and the capital and largest city is Prague, with over 1.2 million residents. The Czech Republic includes the territories of Bohemia, Moravia. The Czech state was formed in the late 9th century as the Duchy of Bohemia under the Great Moravian Empire, after the fall of the Empire in 907, the centre of power transferred from Moravia to Bohemia under the Přemyslid dynasty. In 1002, the duchy was formally recognized as part of the Holy Roman Empire, becoming the Kingdom of Bohemia in 1198 and reaching its greatest territorial extent in the 14th century. Following the Battle of Mohács in 1526, the whole Crown of Bohemia was gradually integrated into the Habsburg Monarchy alongside the Archduchy of Austria, the Protestant Bohemian Revolt against the Catholic Habsburgs led to the Thirty Years War. After the Battle of the White Mountain, the Habsburgs consolidated their rule, reimposed Roman Catholicism, the Czech part of Czechoslovakia was occupied by Germany in World War II, and was liberated in 1945 by the armies of the Soviet Union and the United States. The Czech country lost the majority of its German-speaking inhabitants after they were expelled following the war, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia won the 1946 elections. Following the 1948 coup détat, Czechoslovakia became a one-party communist state under Soviet influence, in 1968, increasing dissatisfaction with the regime culminated in a reform movement known as the Prague Spring, which ended in a Soviet-led invasion. Czechoslovakia remained occupied until the 1989 Velvet Revolution, when the communist regime collapsed, on 6 March 1990, the Czech Socialistic Republic was renamed to the Czech Republic. On 1 January 1993, Czechoslovakia peacefully dissolved, with its constituent states becoming the independent states of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. The Czech Republic joined NATO in 1999 and the European Union in 2004, it is a member of the United Nations, the OECD, the OSCE, and it is a developed country with an advanced, high income economy and high living standards. The UNDP ranks the country 14th in inequality-adjusted human development, the Czech Republic also ranks as the 6th most peaceful country, while achieving strong performance in democratic governance. It has the lowest unemployment rate in the European Union, the traditional English name Bohemia derives from Latin Boiohaemum, which means home of the Boii. The current name comes from the endonym Čech, spelled Cžech until the reform in 1842. The name comes from the Slavic tribe and, according to legend, their leader Čech, the etymology of the word Čech can be traced back to the Proto-Slavic root *čel-, meaning member of the people, kinsman, thus making it cognate to the Czech word člověk. The country has traditionally divided into three lands, namely Bohemia in the west, Moravia in the southeast, and Czech Silesia in the northeast. Following the dissolution of Czechoslovakia at the end of 1992, the Czech part of the former nation found itself without a common single-word geographical name in English, the name Czechia /ˈtʃɛkiə/ was recommended by the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs
9.
Denmark
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The term Danish Realm refers to the relationship between Denmark proper, the Faroe Islands and Greenland—three countries constituting the Kingdom of Denmark. The legal nature of the Kingdom of Denmark is fundamentally one of a sovereign state. The Faroe Islands and Greenland have been part of the Crown of Denmark since 1397 when the Kalmar Union was ratified, legal matters in The Danish Realm are subject to the Danish Constitution. Beginning in 1953, state law issues within The Danish Realm has been governed by The Unity of the Realm, a less formal name for The Unity of the Realm is the Commonwealth of the Realm. In 1978, The Unity of The Realm was for the first time referred to as rigsfællesskabet. The name caught on and since the 1990s, both The Unity of The Realm and The Danish Realm itself has increasingly been referred to as simply rigsfællesskabet in daily parlance. The Danish Constitution stipulates that the foreign and security interests for all parts of the Danish Realm are the responsibility of the Danish government, the Faroes received home rule in 1948 and Greenland did so in 1979. In 2005, the Faroes received a self-government arrangement, and in 2009 Greenland received self rule, the Danish Realms unique state of internal affairs is acted out in the principle of The Unity of the Realm. This principle is derived from Article 1 of the Danish Constitution which specifies that constitutional law applies equally to all areas of the Danish Realm, the Constitutional Act specifies that sovereignty is to continue to be exclusively with the authorities of the Realm. The language of Denmark is Danish, and the Danish state authorities are based in Denmark, the Kingdom of Denmarks parliament, with its 179 members, is located in the capital, Copenhagen. Two of the members are elected in each of Greenland and the Faroe Islands. The Government ministries are located in Copenhagen, as is the highest court, in principle, the Danish Realm constitutes a unified sovereign state, with equal status between its constituent parts. Devolution differs from federalism in that the powers of the subnational authority ultimately reside in central government. The Self-Government Arrangements devolves political competence and responsibility from the Danish political authorities to the Faroese, the Faroese and Greenlandic authorities administer the tasks taken over from the state, enact legislation in these specific fields and have the economic responsibility for solving these tasks. The Danish government provides a grant to the Faroese and the Greenlandic authorities to cover the costs of these devolved areas. The 1948 Home Rule Act of the Faroe Islands sets out the terms of Faroese home rule, the Act states. the Faroe Islands shall constitute a self-governing community within the State of Denmark. It establishes the government of the Faroe Islands and the Faroese parliament. The Faroe Islands were previously administered as a Danish county, the Home Rule Act abolished the post of Amtmand and these powers were expanded in a 2005 Act, which named the Faroese home government as an equal partner with the Danish government
10.
Finland
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Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a sovereign state in Northern Europe. A peninsula with the Gulf of Finland to the south and the Gulf of Bothnia to the west, the country has borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north. Estonia is south of the country across the Gulf of Finland, Finland is a Nordic country situated in the geographical region of Fennoscandia, which also includes Scandinavia. Finlands population is 5.5 million, and the majority of the population is concentrated in the southern region,88. 7% of the population is Finnish people who speak Finnish, a Uralic language unrelated to the Scandinavian languages, the second major group are the Finland-Swedes. In terms of area, it is the eighth largest country in Europe, Finland is a parliamentary republic with a central government based in the capital Helsinki, local governments in 311 municipalities, and an autonomous region, the Åland Islands. Over 1.4 million people live in the Greater Helsinki metropolitan area, from the late 12th century, Finland was an integral part of Sweden, a legacy reflected in the prevalence of the Swedish language and its official status. In the spirit of the notion of Adolf Ivar Arwidsson, we are not Swedes, we do not want to become Russians, let us therefore be Finns, nevertheless, in 1809, Finland was incorporated into the Russian Empire as the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland. In 1906, Finland became the nation in the world to give the right to vote to all adult citizens. Following the 1917 Russian Revolution, Finland declared itself independent, in 1918, the fledgling state was divided by civil war, with the Bolshevik-leaning Reds supported by the equally new Soviet Russia, fighting the Whites, supported by the German Empire. After a brief attempt to establish a kingdom, the became a republic. During World War II, the Soviet Union sought repeatedly to occupy Finland, with Finland losing parts of Karelia, Salla and Kuusamo, Petsamo and some islands, Finland joined the United Nations in 1955 and established an official policy of neutrality. The Finno-Soviet Treaty of 1948 gave the Soviet Union some leverage in Finnish domestic politics during the Cold War era, Finland was a relative latecomer to industrialization, remaining a largely agrarian country until the 1950s. It rapidly developed an advanced economy while building an extensive Nordic-style welfare state, resulting in widespread prosperity, however, Finnish GDP growth has been negative in 2012–2014, with a preceding nadir of −8% in 2009. Finland is a top performer in numerous metrics of national performance, including education, economic competitiveness, civil liberties, quality of life, a large majority of Finns are members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, though freedom of religion is guaranteed under the Finnish Constitution. The first known appearance of the name Finland is thought to be on three rune-stones. Two were found in the Swedish province of Uppland and have the inscription finlonti, the third was found in Gotland, in the Baltic Sea. It has the inscription finlandi and dates from the 13th century, the name can be assumed to be related to the tribe name Finns, which is mentioned first known time AD98. The name Suomi has uncertain origins, but a candidate for a source is the Proto-Baltic word *źemē, in addition to the close relatives of Finnish, this name is also used in the Baltic languages Latvian and Lithuanian
11.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
12.
Germany
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Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular destination in the world. Germanys capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, other major cities include Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity, a region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward, beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation, in 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, the establishment of the national socialist dictatorship in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in 1990, the country was reunified. In the 21st century, Germany is a power and has the worlds fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled. It upholds a social security and universal health system, environmental protection. Germany was a member of the European Economic Community in 1957. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999, Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD. The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world, the English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz popular, derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- people, the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a mine in Schöningen where three 380, 000-year-old wooden javelins were unearthed
13.
Greece
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Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, historically also known as Hellas, is a country in southeastern Europe, with a population of approximately 11 million as of 2015. Athens is the capital and largest city, followed by Thessaloniki. Greece is strategically located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, situated on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to the northeast. Greece consists of nine regions, Macedonia, Central Greece, the Peloponnese, Thessaly, Epirus, the Aegean Islands, Thrace, Crete. The Aegean Sea lies to the east of the mainland, the Ionian Sea to the west, the Cretan Sea and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Greece has the longest coastline on the Mediterranean Basin and the 11th longest coastline in the world at 13,676 km in length, featuring a vast number of islands, eighty percent of Greece is mountainous, with Mount Olympus being the highest peak at 2,918 metres. From the eighth century BC, the Greeks were organised into various independent city-states, known as polis, which spanned the entire Mediterranean region and the Black Sea. Greece was annexed by Rome in the second century BC, becoming a part of the Roman Empire and its successor. The Greek Orthodox Church also shaped modern Greek identity and transmitted Greek traditions to the wider Orthodox World, falling under Ottoman dominion in the mid-15th century, the modern nation state of Greece emerged in 1830 following a war of independence. Greeces rich historical legacy is reflected by its 18 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, among the most in Europe, Greece is a democratic and developed country with an advanced high-income economy, a high quality of life, and a very high standard of living. A founding member of the United Nations, Greece was the member to join the European Communities and has been part of the Eurozone since 2001. Greeces unique cultural heritage, large industry, prominent shipping sector. It is the largest economy in the Balkans, where it is an important regional investor, the names for the nation of Greece and the Greek people differ from the names used in other languages, locations and cultures. The earliest evidence of the presence of human ancestors in the southern Balkans, dated to 270,000 BC, is to be found in the Petralona cave, all three stages of the stone age are represented in Greece, for example in the Franchthi Cave. Neolithic settlements in Greece, dating from the 7th millennium BC, are the oldest in Europe by several centuries and these civilizations possessed writing, the Minoans writing in an undeciphered script known as Linear A, and the Mycenaeans in Linear B, an early form of Greek. The Mycenaeans gradually absorbed the Minoans, but collapsed violently around 1200 BC and this ushered in a period known as the Greek Dark Ages, from which written records are absent. The end of the Dark Ages is traditionally dated to 776 BC, the Iliad and the Odyssey, the foundational texts of Western literature, are believed to have been composed by Homer in the 7th or 8th centuries BC. With the end of the Dark Ages, there emerged various kingdoms and city-states across the Greek peninsula, in 508 BC, Cleisthenes instituted the worlds first democratic system of government in Athens
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Republic of Ireland
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Ireland, also known as the Republic of Ireland, is a sovereign state in north-western Europe occupying about five-sixths of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, which is located on the part of the island. The state shares its land border with Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom. It is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the Celtic Sea to the south, Saint Georges Channel to the south-east, and it is a unitary, parliamentary republic. The head of government is the Taoiseach, who is elected by the Dáil and appointed by the President, the state was created as the Irish Free State in 1922 as a result of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. It was officially declared a republic in 1949, following the Republic of Ireland Act 1948, Ireland became a member of the United Nations in December 1955. It joined the European Economic Community, the predecessor of the European Union, after joining the EEC, Ireland enacted a series of liberal economic policies that resulted in rapid economic growth. The country achieved considerable prosperity between the years of 1995 and 2007, which known as the Celtic Tiger period. This was halted by a financial crisis that began in 2008. However, as the Irish economy was the fastest growing in the EU in 2015, Ireland is again quickly ascending league tables comparing wealth and prosperity internationally. For example, in 2015, Ireland was ranked as the joint sixth most developed country in the world by the United Nations Human Development Index and it also performs well in several national performance metrics, including freedom of the press, economic freedom and civil liberties. Ireland is a member of the European Union and is a member of the Council of Europe. The 1922 state, comprising 26 of the 32 counties of Ireland, was styled, the Constitution of Ireland, adopted in 1937, provides that the name of the State is Éire, or, in the English language, Ireland. Section 2 of the Republic of Ireland Act 1948 states, It is hereby declared that the description of the State shall be the Republic of Ireland. The 1948 Act does not name the state as Republic of Ireland, because to have done so would have put it in conflict with the Constitution. The government of the United Kingdom used the name Eire, and, from 1949, Republic of Ireland, for the state, as well as Ireland, Éire or the Republic of Ireland, the state is also referred to as the Republic, Southern Ireland or the South. In an Irish republican context it is referred to as the Free State or the 26 Counties. From the Act of Union on 1 January 1801, until 6 December 1922, during the Great Famine, from 1845 to 1849, the islands population of over 8 million fell by 30%
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Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
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Luxembourg
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Luxembourg /ˈlʌksəmbɜːrɡ/, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east and its culture, people and languages are highly intertwined with its neighbours, making it essentially a mixture of French and Germanic cultures. It comprises two regions, the Oesling in the north as part of the Ardennes massif. With an area of 2,586 square kilometres, it is one of the smallest sovereign states in Europe, Luxembourg had a population of 524,853 in October 2012, ranking it the 8th least-populous country in Europe. As a representative democracy with a monarch, it is headed by a Grand Duke, Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg. Luxembourg is a country, with an advanced economy and the worlds highest GDP per capita. Luxembourg is a member of the European Union, OECD, United Nations, NATO, and Benelux, reflecting its political consensus in favour of economic, political. The city of Luxembourg, which is the capital and largest city, is the seat of several institutions. Luxembourg served on the United Nations Security Council for the years 2013 and 2014, around this fort, a town gradually developed, which became the centre of a state of great strategic value. In the 14th and early 15th centuries, three members of the House of Luxembourg reigned as Holy Roman Emperors, in the following centuries, Luxembourgs fortress was steadily enlarged and strengthened by its successive occupants, the Bourbons, Habsburgs, Hohenzollerns and the French. After the defeat of Napoleon in 1815, Luxembourg was disputed between Prussia and the Netherlands and this arrangement was revised by the 1839 First Treaty of London, from which date Luxembourgs full independence is reckoned. In 1842 Luxembourg joined the German Customs Union, the King of the Netherlands remained Head of State as Grand Duke of Luxembourg, maintaining a personal union between the two countries until 1890. At the death of William III, the throne of the Netherlands passed to his daughter Wilhelmina and this allowed Germany the military advantage of controlling and expanding the railways there. In August 1914, Imperial Germany violated Luxembourgs neutrality in the war by invading it in the war against France and this allowed Germany to use the railway lines, while at the same time denying them to France. Nevertheless, despite the German occupation, Luxembourg was allowed to maintain much of its independence, in 1940, after the outbreak of World War II, Luxembourgs neutrality was again violated when the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany entered the country, entirely without justification. A government in exile based in London supported the Allies, sending a group of volunteers who participated in the Normandy invasion. Luxembourg was liberated in September 1944, and became a member of the United Nations in 1945. Luxembourgs neutral status under the constitution formally ended in 1948, in 2005, a referendum on the EU treaty establishing a constitution for Europe was held
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Netherlands
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The Netherlands, also informally known as Holland is the main constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a densely populated country located in Western Europe with three territories in the Caribbean. The European part of the Netherlands borders Germany to the east, Belgium to the south, and the North Sea to the northwest, sharing borders with Belgium, the United Kingdom. The three largest cities in the Netherlands are Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague, Amsterdam is the countrys capital, while The Hague holds the Dutch seat of parliament and government. The port of Rotterdam is the worlds largest port outside East-Asia, the name Holland is used informally to refer to the whole of the country of the Netherlands. Netherlands literally means lower countries, influenced by its low land and flat geography, most of the areas below sea level are artificial. Since the late 16th century, large areas have been reclaimed from the sea and lakes, with a population density of 412 people per km2 –507 if water is excluded – the Netherlands is classified as a very densely populated country. Only Bangladesh, South Korea, and Taiwan have both a population and higher population density. Nevertheless, the Netherlands is the worlds second-largest exporter of food and agricultural products and this is partly due to the fertility of the soil and the mild climate. In 2001, it became the worlds first country to legalise same-sex marriage, the Netherlands is a founding member of the EU, Eurozone, G-10, NATO, OECD and WTO, as well as being a part of the Schengen Area and the trilateral Benelux Union. The first four are situated in The Hague, as is the EUs criminal intelligence agency Europol and this has led to the city being dubbed the worlds legal capital. The country also ranks second highest in the worlds 2016 Press Freedom Index, the Netherlands has a market-based mixed economy, ranking 17th of 177 countries according to the Index of Economic Freedom. It had the thirteenth-highest per capita income in the world in 2013 according to the International Monetary Fund, in 2013, the United Nations World Happiness Report ranked the Netherlands as the seventh-happiest country in the world, reflecting its high quality of life. The Netherlands also ranks joint second highest in the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, the region called Low Countries and the country of the Netherlands have the same toponymy. Place names with Neder, Nieder, Nether and Nedre and Bas or Inferior are in use in all over Europe. They are sometimes used in a relation to a higher ground that consecutively is indicated as Upper, Boven, Oben. In the case of the Low Countries / the Netherlands the geographical location of the region has been more or less downstream. The geographical location of the region, however, changed over time tremendously
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Norway
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The Antarctic Peter I Island and the sub-Antarctic Bouvet Island are dependent territories and thus not considered part of the Kingdom. Norway also lays claim to a section of Antarctica known as Queen Maud Land, until 1814, the kingdom included the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Iceland. It also included Isle of Man until 1266, Shetland and Orkney until 1468, Norway has a total area of 385,252 square kilometres and a population of 5,258,317. The country shares a long border with Sweden. Norway is bordered by Finland and Russia to the north-east, Norway has an extensive coastline, facing the North Atlantic Ocean and the Barents Sea. King Harald V of the Dano-German House of Glücksburg is the current King of Norway, erna Solberg became Prime Minister in 2013, replacing Jens Stoltenberg. A constitutional monarchy, Norway divides state power between the Parliament, the Cabinet and the Supreme Court, as determined by the 1814 Constitution, the kingdom is established as a merger of several petty kingdoms. By the traditional count from the year 872, the kingdom has existed continuously for 1,144 years, Norway has both administrative and political subdivisions on two levels, counties and municipalities. The Sámi people have an amount of self-determination and influence over traditional territories through the Sámi Parliament. Norway maintains close ties with the European Union and the United States, the country maintains a combination of market economy and a Nordic welfare model with universal health care and a comprehensive social security system. Norway has extensive reserves of petroleum, natural gas, minerals, lumber, seafood, the petroleum industry accounts for around a quarter of the countrys gross domestic product. On a per-capita basis, Norway is the worlds largest producer of oil, the country has the fourth-highest per capita income in the world on the World Bank and IMF lists. On the CIAs GDP per capita list which includes territories and some regions, from 2001 to 2006, and then again from 2009 to 2017, Norway had the highest Human Development Index ranking in the world. It also has the highest inequality-adjusted ranking, Norway ranks first on the World Happiness Report, the OECD Better Life Index, the Index of Public Integrity and the Democracy Index. Norway has two names, Noreg in Nynorsk and Norge in Bokmål. The name Norway comes from the Old English word Norðrveg mentioned in 880, meaning way or way leading to the north. In contrasting with suðrvegar southern way for Germany, and austrvegr eastern way for the Baltic, the Anglo-Saxon of Britain also referred to the kingdom of Norway in 880 as Norðmanna land. This was the area of Harald Fairhair, the first king of Norway, and because of him
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Poland
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Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe, situated between the Baltic Sea in the north and two mountain ranges in the south. Bordered by Germany to the west, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south, Ukraine and Belarus to the east, the total area of Poland is 312,679 square kilometres, making it the 69th largest country in the world and the 9th largest in Europe. With a population of over 38.5 million people, Poland is the 34th most populous country in the world, the 8th most populous country in Europe, Poland is a unitary state divided into 16 administrative subdivisions, and its capital and largest city is Warsaw. Other metropolises include Kraków, Wrocław, Poznań, Gdańsk and Szczecin, the establishment of a Polish state can be traced back to 966, when Mieszko I, ruler of a territory roughly coextensive with that of present-day Poland, converted to Christianity. The Kingdom of Poland was founded in 1025, and in 1569 it cemented a political association with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by signing the Union of Lublin. This union formed the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest and most populous countries of 16th and 17th century Europe, Poland regained its independence in 1918 at the end of World War I, reconstituting much of its historical territory as the Second Polish Republic. In September 1939, World War II started with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, followed thereafter by invasion by the Soviet Union. More than six million Polish citizens died in the war, after the war, Polands borders were shifted westwards under the terms of the Potsdam Conference. With the backing of the Soviet Union, a communist puppet government was formed, and after a referendum in 1946. During the Revolutions of 1989 Polands Communist government was overthrown and Poland adopted a new constitution establishing itself as a democracy, informally called the Third Polish Republic. Since the early 1990s, when the transition to a primarily market-based economy began, Poland has achieved a high ranking on the Human Development Index. Poland is a country, which was categorised by the World Bank as having a high-income economy. Furthermore, it is visited by approximately 16 million tourists every year, Poland is the eighth largest economy in the European Union and was the 6th fastest growing economy on the continent between 2010 and 2015. According to the Global Peace Index for 2014, Poland is ranked 19th in the list of the safest countries in the world to live in. The origin of the name Poland derives from a West Slavic tribe of Polans that inhabited the Warta River basin of the historic Greater Poland region in the 8th century, the origin of the name Polanie itself derives from the western Slavic word pole. In some foreign languages such as Hungarian, Lithuanian, Persian and Turkish the exonym for Poland is Lechites, historians have postulated that throughout Late Antiquity, many distinct ethnic groups populated the regions of what is now Poland. The most famous archaeological find from the prehistory and protohistory of Poland is the Biskupin fortified settlement, dating from the Lusatian culture of the early Iron Age, the Slavic groups who would form Poland migrated to these areas in the second half of the 5th century AD. With the Baptism of Poland the Polish rulers accepted Christianity and the authority of the Roman Church
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Portugal
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Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. It is the westernmost country of mainland Europe, to the west and south it is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean and to the east and north by Spain. The Portugal–Spain border is 1,214 kilometres long and considered the longest uninterrupted border within the European Union, the republic also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira, both autonomous regions with their own regional governments. The territory of modern Portugal has been settled, invaded. The Pre-Celts, Celts, Carthaginians and the Romans were followed by the invasions of the Visigothic, in 711 the Iberian Peninsula was invaded by the Moors, making Portugal part of Muslim Al Andalus. Portugal was born as result of the Christian Reconquista, and in 1139, Afonso Henriques was proclaimed King of Portugal, in the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal established the first global empire, becoming one of the worlds major economic, political and military powers. Portugal monopolized the trade during this time, and the Portuguese Empire expanded with military campaigns led in Asia. After the 1910 revolution deposed the monarchy, the democratic but unstable Portuguese First Republic was established, democracy was restored after the Portuguese Colonial War and the Carnation Revolution in 1974. Shortly after, independence was granted to almost all its overseas territories, Portugal has left a profound cultural and architectural influence across the globe and a legacy of over 250 million Portuguese speakers today. Portugal is a country with a high-income advanced economy and a high living standard. It is the 5th most peaceful country in the world, maintaining a unitary semi-presidential republican form of government and it has the 18th highest Social Progress in the world, putting it ahead of other Western European countries like France, Spain and Italy. Portugal is a pioneer when it comes to drug decriminalization, as the nation decriminalized the possession of all drugs for use in 2001. The early history of Portugal is shared with the rest of the Iberian Peninsula located in South Western Europe, the name of Portugal derives from the joined Romano-Celtic name Portus Cale. Other influences include some 5th-century vestiges of Alan settlements, which were found in Alenquer, Coimbra, the region of present-day Portugal was inhabited by Neanderthals and then by Homo sapiens, who roamed the border-less region of the northern Iberian peninsula. These were subsistence societies that, although they did not establish prosperous settlements, neolithic Portugal experimented with domestication of herding animals, the raising of some cereal crops and fluvial or marine fishing. Chief among these tribes were the Calaicians or Gallaeci of Northern Portugal, the Lusitanians of central Portugal, the Celtici of Alentejo, a few small, semi-permanent, commercial coastal settlements were also founded in the Algarve region by Phoenicians-Carthaginians. Romans first invaded the Iberian Peninsula in 219 BC, during the last days of Julius Caesar, almost the entire peninsula had been annexed to the Roman Republic. The Carthaginians, Romes adversary in the Punic Wars, were expelled from their coastal colonies and it suffered a severe setback in 150 BC, when a rebellion began in the north
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Romania
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Romania is a sovereign state located in Southeastern Europe. It borders the Black Sea, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Hungary, Serbia and it has an area of 238,391 square kilometres and a temperate-continental climate. With over 19 million inhabitants, the country is the member state of the European Union. Its capital and largest city, Bucharest, is the sixth-largest city in the EU, the River Danube, Europes second-longest river, rises in Germany and flows in a general southeast direction for 2,857 km, coursing through ten countries before emptying into Romanias Danube Delta. The Carpathian Mountains, which cross Romania from the north to the southwest are marked by one of their tallest peaks, Moldoveanu, modern Romania was formed in 1859 through a personal union of the Danubian Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. The new state, officially named Romania since 1866, gained independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1877, at the end of World War I, Transylvania, Bukovina and Bessarabia united with the sovereign Kingdom of Romania. Romania lost several territories, of which Northern Transylvania was regained after the war, following the war, Romania became a socialist republic and member of the Warsaw Pact. After the 1989 Revolution, Romania began a transition back towards democracy and it has been a member of NATO since 2004, and part of the European Union since 2007. A strong majority of the population identify themselves as Eastern Orthodox Christians and are speakers of Romanian. The cultural history of Romania is often referred to when dealing with artists, musicians, inventors. For similar reasons, Romania has been the subject of notable tourist attractions, Romania derives from the Latin romanus, meaning citizen of Rome. The first known use of the appellation was attested in the 16th century by Italian humanists travelling in Transylvania, Moldavia, after the abolition of serfdom in 1746, the word rumân gradually fell out of use and the spelling stabilised to the form român. Tudor Vladimirescu, a leader of the early 19th century. The use of the name Romania to refer to the homeland of all Romanians—its modern-day meaning—was first documented in the early 19th century. The name has been officially in use since 11 December 1861, in English, the name of the country was formerly spelt Rumania or Roumania. Romania became the predominant spelling around 1975, Romania is also the official English-language spelling used by the Romanian government. The Neolithic-Age Cucuteni area in northeastern Romania was the region of the earliest European civilization. Evidence from this and other sites indicates that the Cucuteni-Trypillian culture extracted salt from salt-laden spring water through the process of briquetage
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Spain
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By population, Spain is the sixth largest in Europe and the fifth in the European Union. Spains capital and largest city is Madrid, other urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago, in the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by Germanic tribes and later by the Moors. Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a power and a major developed country with the worlds fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP. Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the span is the Phoenician word spy. Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean the land where metals are forged, two 15th-century Spanish Jewish scholars, Don Isaac Abravanel and Solomon ibn Verga, gave an explanation now considered folkloric. Both men wrote in two different published works that the first Jews to reach Spain were brought by ship by Phiros who was confederate with the king of Babylon when he laid siege to Jerusalem. This man was a Grecian by birth, but who had given a kingdom in Spain. He became related by marriage to Espan, the nephew of king Heracles, Heracles later renounced his throne in preference for his native Greece, leaving his kingdom to his nephew, Espan, from whom the country of España took its name. Based upon their testimonies, this eponym would have already been in use in Spain by c.350 BCE, Iberia enters written records as a land populated largely by the Iberians, Basques and Celts. Early on its coastal areas were settled by Phoenicians who founded Western Europe´s most ancient cities Cadiz, Phoenician influence expanded as much of the Peninsula was eventually incorporated into the Carthaginian Empire, becoming a major theater of the Punic Wars against the expanding Roman Empire. After an arduous conquest, the peninsula came fully under Roman Rule, during the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule but later, much of it was conquered by Moorish invaders from North Africa. In a process took centuries, the small Christian kingdoms in the north gradually regained control of the peninsula. The last Moorish kingdom fell in the same year Columbus reached the Americas, a global empire began which saw Spain become the strongest kingdom in Europe, the leading world power for a century and a half, and the largest overseas empire for three centuries. Continued wars and other problems led to a diminished status. The Napoleonic invasions of Spain led to chaos, triggering independence movements that tore apart most of the empire, eventually democracy was peacefully restored in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Spain joined the European Union, experiencing a renaissance and steady economic growth
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Sweden
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Sweden, officially the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and Finland to the east, at 450,295 square kilometres, Sweden is the third-largest country in the European Union by area, with a total population of 10.0 million. Sweden consequently has a low density of 22 inhabitants per square kilometre. Approximately 85% of the lives in urban areas. Germanic peoples have inhabited Sweden since prehistoric times, emerging into history as the Geats/Götar and Swedes/Svear, Southern Sweden is predominantly agricultural, while the north is heavily forested. Sweden is part of the area of Fennoscandia. The climate is in very mild for its northerly latitude due to significant maritime influence. Today, Sweden is a monarchy and parliamentary democracy, with a monarch as head of state. The capital city is Stockholm, which is also the most populous city in the country, legislative power is vested in the 349-member unicameral Riksdag. Executive power is exercised by the government chaired by the prime minister, Sweden is a unitary state, currently divided into 21 counties and 290 municipalities. Sweden emerged as an independent and unified country during the Middle Ages, in the 17th century, it expanded its territories to form the Swedish Empire, which became one of the great powers of Europe until the early 18th century. Swedish territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were gradually lost during the 18th and 19th centuries, the last war in which Sweden was directly involved was in 1814, when Norway was militarily forced into personal union. Since then, Sweden has been at peace, maintaining a policy of neutrality in foreign affairs. The union with Norway was peacefully dissolved in 1905, leading to Swedens current borders, though Sweden was formally neutral through both world wars, Sweden engaged in humanitarian efforts, such as taking in refugees from German-occupied Europe. After the end of the Cold War, Sweden joined the European Union on 1 January 1995 and it is also a member of the United Nations, the Nordic Council, Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Sweden maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides health care. The modern name Sweden is derived through back-formation from Old English Swēoþēod and this word is derived from Sweon/Sweonas. The Swedish name Sverige literally means Realm of the Swedes, excluding the Geats in Götaland, the etymology of Swedes, and thus Sweden, is generally not agreed upon but may derive from Proto-Germanic Swihoniz meaning ones own, referring to ones own Germanic tribe
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Switzerland
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Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a federal republic in Europe. It consists of 26 cantons, and the city of Bern is the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in western-Central Europe, and is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland is a country geographically divided between the Alps, the Swiss Plateau and the Jura, spanning an area of 41,285 km2. The establishment of the Old Swiss Confederacy dates to the medieval period, resulting from a series of military successes against Austria. Swiss independence from the Holy Roman Empire was formally recognized in the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. The country has a history of armed neutrality going back to the Reformation, it has not been in a state of war internationally since 1815, nevertheless, it pursues an active foreign policy and is frequently involved in peace-building processes around the world. In addition to being the birthplace of the Red Cross, Switzerland is home to international organisations. On the European level, it is a member of the European Free Trade Association. However, it participates in the Schengen Area and the European Single Market through bilateral treaties, spanning the intersection of Germanic and Romance Europe, Switzerland comprises four main linguistic and cultural regions, German, French, Italian and Romansh. Due to its diversity, Switzerland is known by a variety of native names, Schweiz, Suisse, Svizzera. On coins and stamps, Latin is used instead of the four living languages, Switzerland is one of the most developed countries in the world, with the highest nominal wealth per adult and the eighth-highest per capita gross domestic product according to the IMF. Zürich and Geneva have each been ranked among the top cities in the world in terms of quality of life, with the former ranked second globally, according to Mercer. The English name Switzerland is a compound containing Switzer, a term for the Swiss. The English adjective Swiss is a loan from French Suisse, also in use since the 16th century. The name Switzer is from the Alemannic Schwiizer, in origin an inhabitant of Schwyz and its associated territory, the Swiss began to adopt the name for themselves after the Swabian War of 1499, used alongside the term for Confederates, Eidgenossen, used since the 14th century. The data code for Switzerland, CH, is derived from Latin Confoederatio Helvetica. The toponym Schwyz itself was first attested in 972, as Old High German Suittes, ultimately related to swedan ‘to burn’
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United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
26.
Low Earth orbit
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A low Earth orbit is an orbit around Earth with an altitude between 160 kilometers, and 2,000 kilometers. Objects below approximately 160 kilometers will experience very rapid orbital decay, with the exception of the 24 human beings who flew lunar flights in the Apollo program during the four-year period spanning 1968 through 1972, all human spaceflights have taken place in LEO or below. The International Space Station conducts operations in LEO, the altitude record for a human spaceflight in LEO was Gemini 11 with an apogee of 1,374.1 kilometers. All crewed space stations to date, as well as the majority of satellites, have been in LEO, objects in LEO encounter atmospheric drag from gases in the thermosphere or exosphere, depending on orbit height. Due to atmospheric drag, satellites do not usually orbit below 300 km, objects in LEO orbit Earth between the denser part of the atmosphere and below the inner Van Allen radiation belt. The mean orbital velocity needed to maintain a stable low Earth orbit is about 7.8 km/s, calculated for circular orbit of 200 km it is 7.79 km/s and for 1500 km it is 7.12 km/s. The delta-v needed to achieve low Earth orbit starts around 9.4 km/s, atmospheric and gravity drag associated with launch typically adds 1. 3–1.8 km/s to the launch vehicle delta-v required to reach normal LEO orbital velocity of around 7.8 km/s. Equatorial low Earth orbits are a subset of LEO and these orbits, with low inclination to the Equator, allow rapid revisit times and have the lowest delta-v requirement of any orbit. Orbits with an inclination angle to the equator are usually called polar orbits. Higher orbits include medium Earth orbit, sometimes called intermediate circular orbit, orbits higher than low orbit can lead to early failure of electronic components due to intense radiation and charge accumulation. Although the Earths pull due to gravity in LEO is not much less than on the surface of the Earth, people, a low Earth orbit is simplest and cheapest for satellite placement. It provides high bandwidth and low communication time lag, but satellites in LEO will not be visible from any point on the Earth at all times. Earth observation satellites and spy satellites use LEO as they are able to see the surface of the Earth more clearly as they are not so far away and they are also able to traverse the surface of the Earth. A majority of satellites are placed in LEO, making one complete revolution around the Earth in about 90 minutes. The International Space Station is in a LEO about 400 km above the Earths surface, since it requires less energy to place a satellite into a LEO and the LEO satellite needs less powerful amplifiers for successful transmission, LEO is used for many communication applications. Because these LEO orbits are not geostationary, a network of satellites is required to provide continuous coverage, lower orbits also aid remote sensing satellites because of the added detail that can be gained. Remote sensing satellites can also take advantage of sun-synchronous LEO orbits at an altitude of about 800 km, envisat is one example of an Earth observation satellite that makes use of this particular type of LEO. The LEO environment is becoming congested with space debris due to the frequency of object launches and this has caused growing concern in recent years, since collisions at orbital velocities can easily be dangerous, and even deadly
27.
Ariane (rocket family)
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Ariane is a series of a European civilian expendable launch vehicles for space launch use. The name comes from the French spelling of the mythological character Ariadne, France first proposed the Ariane project and it was officially agreed upon at the end of 1973 after discussions between France, Germany and the UK. The project was Western Europes second attempt to develop its own following the unsuccessful Europa project. The Ariane project was code-named L3S, Arianespace launches Ariane rockets from the Guiana Space Centre at Kourou in French Guiana. Ariane 1 was a launcher, derived from missile technology. Arianes 2 through 4 are enhancements of the basic vehicle, the major differences are improved versions of the engines, allowing stretched first- and third-stage tanks and greater payloads. The largest versions can launch two satellites, mounted in the SPELDA adapter, such later versions are often seen with strap-on boosters. These layouts are designated by suffixes after the generation number, first is the total number of boosters, then letters designating liquid- or solid-fueled stages. For example, an Ariane 42P is an Ariane 4 with two solid-fuel boosters, an Ariane 44LP has two solid, two liquid boosters, and a 44L has four liquid-fuel boosters. Ariane 5 is a complete redesign. The two storable lower stages are replaced with a single, cryogenic core stage and this simplifies the stack, along with the use of a single core engine. Because the core cannot lift its own weight, two solid-fuel boosters are strapped to the sides, the boosters can be recovered for examination, but are not reused. The upper stage is storable and restartable, powered by a single Aestus engine, on 4 May 2007, an Ariane 5-ECA rocket set a new commercial payload record, lifting two satellites with a combined mass of 9.4 tonnes. By January 2006,169 Ariane flights had boosted 290 satellites, attesting to the ubiquity of Ariane launch vehicles, Frances Cerise satellite, which was orbited by an Ariane in 1995, struck a discarded Ariane rocket stage in 1996. The incident marked the first verified case of a collision with a piece of catalogued space debris, on February 16,2011, the 200th Ariane rocket was launched, successfully carrying the Johannes Kepler ATV into low Earth orbit. Flyable models of the Ariane 4 and 5 are available as kits from Noris Raketen in Germany, Ariane 5 scale models are offered French Heller Joustra S. A in 1/125 scale, Arianespace in 1/125 and 1/100 scale, and Dragon Models Limited in 1/400 scale. ESA links to several models on its website, including Ariane 4. In 1987 Lambert Shelter built a 5.40 metre long flyable model of the Ariane, now displayed at the Hermann Oberth Space Travel Museum in Feucht
28.
Atlas V
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Atlas V is an active expendable launch system in the Atlas rocket family. Atlas V was formerly operated by Lockheed Martin, and is now operated by the Lockheed Martin-Boeing joint venture United Launch Alliance, the RD-180 engines are provided by RD Amross, while Aerojet Rocketdyne provides both the RL10 engines and the strap-on boosters used in some configurations. The standard payload fairing sizes are 4 or 5 meters in diameter, fairings sizes as large as 7.2 m in diameter and up to 32.3 m in length have been considered. The rocket is assembled in Decatur, Alabama and Harlingen, Texas, the Atlas V was developed by Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services as part of the US Air Force Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program and made its inaugural flight on August 21,2002. The vehicle operates out of Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services continues to market the Atlas V to commercial customers worldwide. The Atlas V first stage, the Common Core Booster, is 12.5 ft in diameter and 106.6 ft in length and it is powered by a single Russian RD-180 main engine burning 627,105 lb of liquid oxygen and RP-1. The booster operates for four minutes, providing about 4 meganewtons of thrust. Thrust can be augmented with up to five Aerojet strap-on solid rocket boosters, the Atlas V is the newest member of the Atlas family. Compared to the Atlas III vehicle, there are numerous changes, compared to the Atlas II, the first stage is a near-redesign. The 1.5 staging technique was dropped on the Atlas III, the RD-180 features a dual-combustion chamber, dual-nozzle design and is fueled by a kerosene/liquid oxygen mixture. The main-stage diameter increased from 10 feet to 12.5 feet, as with the Atlas III, the different mixture ratio of the engine called for a larger oxygen tank compared to Western engines and stages. The first stage no longer use stainless steel monocoque balloon construction. The tanks are aluminum and are structurally stable when unpressurized. Use of aluminum, with a thermal conductivity than stainless steel. The tanks are covered in a polyurethane-based layer, accommodation points for parallel stages, both smaller solids and identical liquids, are built into first stage structures. The Centaur upper stage uses a pressure stabilized propellant tank design, the inertial navigation unit located on the Centaur provides guidance and navigation for both the Atlas and Centaur, and controls both Atlas and Centaur tank pressures and propellant use. The Centaur engines are capable of multiple in-space starts, making possible insertion into low Earth parking orbit, followed by a coast period, a subsequent third burn following a multi-hour coast can permit direct injection of payloads into geostationary orbit. The standard payload fairing sizes are 4 or 5 meters in diameter, the 4. 2-meter fairing, originally designed for the Atlas II booster, comes in three different lengths, the original 9-meter high version, as well as fairings 10 meters and 11 meters high
29.
Delta IV Heavy
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Delta IV is an expendable launch system in the Delta rocket family. The rockets main components are designed by Boeings Defense, Space & Security division and built in the United Launch Alliance facility in Decatur, final assembly is completed at the launch site by ULA. The rockets were designed to launch payloads into orbit for the United States Air Force Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program, Delta IV rockets are available in five versions, Medium, Medium+, Medium+, Medium+, and Heavy, to cover a range of payload size and weight. Delta IV was primarily designed to satisfy the needs of the U. S. military, the rockets are assembled at the Horizontal Integration Facility for launches from SLC-37B at Cape Canaveral, and in a similar facility for launches from SLC-6 at Vandenberg Air Force Base. While the Delta-IV retains the name of the Delta family of rockets, a primary change in the design is that the first stage uses liquid hydrogen fuel, rather than the kerosene fuel of earlier Delta boosters, and thus used a new engine, the Rocketdyne RS-68s. The Delta IV entered the space launch market when global capacity was already higher than demand. Furthermore, as a design it has had difficulty finding a market in commercial launches. In 2003, Boeing pulled the Delta IV from the market, citing low demand. In 2005, Boeing stated that it sought to return the Delta IV to commercial service, all of Delta IVs launches, with the exception of its debut launch carrying the Eutelsat W5 commercial communications satellite, were paid for by the US government. In 2015, ULA stated that a Delta IV Heavy is sold for nearly $400 million, the United States Air Force funds Delta IV engineering, integration, and infrastructure through contracts with Boeing Launch Services. On August 8,2008 the USAF Space and Missile Systems Center increased the cost plus award fee contract with BLS for $1.656 billion to extend the period of performance through the end of FY09, in addition a $557.1 million option was added to cover FY10. In March 2015, ULA announced plans to phase out all Delta IV launchers except the Delta IV Heavy by 2018, the Delta IV will be largely replaced by the Atlas V. On October 4,2012, a Delta IV M+ experienced an anomaly in the upper stages RL10-B-2 engine which resulted in lower than expected thrust. By December 2012 ULA had determined the cause of the anomaly to be a fuel leak, after two more successful launches, further investigation led to the delay of Delta flight 365 with the GPS IIF-5 satellite. Originally scheduled to launch in October 2013, the vehicle lifted off on February 21,2014, the Vulcan rocket is planned to replace the Atlas V and Delta IV rockets. Vulcan is projected to enter service by 2019, using the Blue Origin BE-4 methane-fuelled rocket engine. The Delta IV Heavy and Atlas V are expected to stay in service for a few years after Vulcans inaugural launch, and the Heavy is expected to be discontinued in the late 2020s. The first stage of a Delta IV consists of one, or in the Heavy variety three, Common Booster Cores powered by a Rocketdyne RS-68 engine, which burns liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen
30.
Falcon 9 Full Thrust
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Falcon 9 Full Thrust—also known as Falcon 9 v1.2 —is a partially reusable low earth orbit launch vehicle and the first to use propulsive vertical landing of its first stage. The same first stage has been used twice to successfully launch payloads into orbit and it is the third version of the SpaceX Falcon 9 orbital launch vehicle. Designed in 2014–2015, it began operations in December 2015. Over 50 launches are planned for it over the years 2017–2019.0, Falcon 9 Full Thrust is a substantial upgrade over the older Falcon 9 v1.1 rocket, which flew its last mission in January 2016. At that time, the performance was reserved for SpaceX to conduct reusability testing with the Falcon 9 v1.1 while still achieving the specified payloads for customers. Many engineering changes to support reusability and recovery of the first stage had been made on this earlier v1.1 version, SpaceX indicated they had room to increase the payload performance for the Falcon 9 Full Thrust, or decrease launch price, or both. In 2015, SpaceX announced a number of modifications to the previous version Falcon 9 v1.1 launch vehicle, since the first flight in late 2015, SpaceX has been referring to the full thrust upgrade Falcon 9 merely as Falcon 9. However, it is the major version of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle following the Falcon 9 v1.0. The Falcon 9 Full Thrust was first launched on 22 December 2015, what were also doing is modifying the structure a little bit. I want to be building only two versions, or two cores in my factory, any more than that would not be great from a customer perspective and its about a 30% increase in performance, maybe a little more. What it does is it allows us to land the first stage for GTO missions on the drone ship, according to a SpaceX statement in May 2015, Falcon 9 Full Thrust would likely not require a recertification to launch for United States government contracts. Shotwell stated that It is a process and that It will become quicker and quicker to certify new versions of the vehicle. SES S. A. a satellite owner and operator, announced plans in February 2015 to launch its SES-9 satellite on the first flight of the Falcon 9 Full Thrust. In the event, SpaceX elected to launch SES-9 on the flight of the Falcon 9 Full Thrust. The upgraded first stage began acceptance testing at SpaceXs McGregor facility in September 2015, the first of two static fire tests was completed on 21 September 2015 and included the subcooled propellant and the improved Merlin 1D engines. The rocket reached full throttle during the fire and was scheduled for launch no earlier than 17 November 2015. The second mission, SES-9, occurred on 4 March 2016, SpaceX maintains that it has designed its engines so that they can withstand cracking in the turbines, but it’s also working on ways to get rid of the problem. A principal objective of the new design was to facilitate booster reusability for a range of missions
31.
H-IIB
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H-IIB is an expendable launch system used to launch H-II Transfer Vehicles towards the International Space Station. H-IIB rockets are liquid-fuelled with solid-fuel strap-on boosters and are launched from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan, Mitsubishi and JAXA have been primarily responsible for design, manufacture, and operation of H-IIB. H-IIB made its first flight in 2009, and has made a total of five flights through 2015. H-IIB is able to carry a payload of up to 8,000 kilograms to GTO, compared with the payload of 4, 000-6,000 kg for the H-IIA and its performance to LEO is sufficient for the 16,500 kg HTV. The first H-IIB was launched in September 2009, the H-IIB launch vehicle is a launch vehicle developed jointly by JAXA and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to launch the H-II Transfer Vehicle. Before launch, two Captive Firing Tests were conducted on the H-IIB and this was later discovered to have been due to a manual supply valve not being open. The test was rescheduled for 1 April, but then postponed due to a leak in a pipe associated with the launch facilitys fire suppression system. The test was rescheduled for 2 April, when it was conducted at 05,00 GMT. Following this, the second test, which involved a 150-second burn of the first stage, was scheduled for 20 April and this was successfully conducted at 04,00 GMT on 22 April, following a two-day delay due to unfavourable weather conditions. A ground test, using a mockup of the rocket was subsequently conducted on 11 July. By 2009, the development program of the H-IIB had cost approximately 27 billion yen, the H-IIB launch vehicle is a two-stage rocket. The first stage uses liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen as propellants and has four solid rocket boosters powered by polybutadiene. The first stage is powered by two LE-7A engines, instead of one for the H-IIA and it has four SRB-As attached to the body, while the standard version of H-IIA has two SRB-As. In addition, the body of the H-IIB is 5. 2m in diameter compared with 4m for the H-IIA. The total length of the first stage is extended by 1m from that of H-IIA, as a result, the H-IIB first stage holds 70% more propellant than that of the H-IIA. The second stage is powered by a single LE-5B engine, the first launch of the H-IIB occurred on 10 September 2009 at 1701 UTC. It successfully launched the HTV-1, which was on a mission to resupply the International Space Station, Comparison of orbital launchers families Comparison of orbital launch systems JAXA | H-IIB Launch Vehicle Development Status of the H-IIB Launch Vehicle. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Volume 45 Number 4 H-2B rocket 3D model
32.
Long March 5
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Long March 5 is a Chinese heavy lift launch system developed by China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology. CZ-5 is the first Chinese vehicle with new design focusing on liquid rocket propellants from the ground up, currently, two CZ-5 vehicle configurations are planned for different missions, with a maximum payload capacity of ~25,000 kilograms to LEO and ~14,000 kilograms to GTO. The Long March 5 is planned to match the capabilities of American EELV heavy-class vehicles such as the Delta IV Heavy. The CZ-5s maiden launch occurred on November 3,2016 at 12,43 UTC, the Chinese government approved the development of the rocket in 2007 following two decades of feasibility study. It will be manufactured at a facility in Tianjin, a city near Beijing. The first CZ-5 rocket to be launched completed production and testing in Tianjin manufacturing facility around August 16,2016 and it is to be shipped to launch centre on Hainan island within weeks. The Chief Designer for the CZ-5 rocket was Long Lehao, the main objective for the CZ-5 rocket was to fulfill Chinas requirement for large payload to LEO and GTO missions for the next 20–30 years. The CZ-5 project was announced in February 2001, with initial development slated to begin in 2002. However, funding was finally granted in 2007 as revealed by the developers during the Northeast China exhibition. On October 30,2007, construction for the CZ-5 production plant began in the TEDA West area near the Binhai New Area in Tianjin city. Building a completely new facility that is close to the harbor will solve logistical problems associated with over-land transport of the large-sized rocket to launching centers. Instead, the rockets will be transported by sea from Tianjin to a new facility at Wenchang on Hainan Island. When the production facility is completed in 2012, it would be capable of an output of thirty CZ-5s annually. As of July 2012, development of the 1,200 kN thrust LOX/kerosene engine was test fired, New photos of CZ-5 and of its tests were released in March 2015. CZ-5 carrier rocket was shipped from North Chinas Tianjin port at 20th September 2015 for a rehearsal of a scheduled Change-5 lunar mission planned around 2017, the first test flight was scheduled for 2014 but this has slipped to 2016. The chief designer of CZ-5 is Mr. Li Dong of the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, the CZ-5 family will include three primary modular core stages of 5. 2-m diameter. The total length is 60.5 metres and the weight at launch is 643 tons, boosters of various capabilities with diameters ranging from 2.25 metres and 3.35 metres would be assembled from three modular core stages and strap-on stages. There would be a choice of engines with different liquid rocket propellants,1,200 kN thrust LOX/kerosene engines or 500 kN thrust LOX/LH2 engines on first stage, the upper stage would use improved version of YF-75 engines
33.
Proton-M
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The Proton-M, GRAU index 8K82M or 8K82KM, is a Russian heavy-lift launch vehicle derived from the Soviet-developed Proton. It is built by Khrunichev, and launched from sites 81 and 200 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, commercial launches are marketed by International Launch Services, and generally use Site 200/39. The first Proton-M launch occurred on 7 April 2001, the engines in this stage can swivel tangentially up to 7° from the neutral position, providing full thrust vector control. The rationale for this design is logistics, the diameter of the oxidizer tanks, however, within Baikonur the fully assembled stack is transported again by rail, as it has enough clearance. The second stage uses a cylindrical design. It is powered by 3 RD-0210 engine and 1 RD-0211 engine, the RD-0211 is a modified version of the RD-0210 used to pressurize the propellant tanks. The second stage is joined to the first stage through a net instead of a closed inter-stage, Thrust vector control is provided by engine gimballing. The third stage is also of a cylindrical design. It contains the system that controls the first 3 stages. It uses 1 RD-0213 which is a version of the RD-0210. The nozzles of the RD-0214 can turn up to 45°, they are placed around, the Proton-M features modifications to the lower stages to reduce structural mass, increase thrust, and utilise more propellant. A closed-loop guidance system is used on the first stage, which more complete consumption of propellant. This increases the rockets performance slightly compared to previous variants, and it can place up to 21 tonnes into low Earth orbit. With an upper stage, it can place a 3 tonne payload into geosynchronous orbit, efforts were also made to reduce dependency on foreign component suppliers. Most Proton-M launches have used a Briz-M upper stage to propel the spacecraft into a higher orbit. Launches have also made with Blok-DM upper stages, six launches were made with the Blok DM-2 upper stage carrying GLONASS spacecraft. The DM-03 will be used for a total of five launches, as of 2013, no Proton-M launches have been made without an upper stage. Commercial launches conducted by ILS use two kinds of fairings, PLF-BR-13305 short faring, both fairings have a diameter of 4.35 m
34.
Guiana Space Centre
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The Guiana Space Centre or, more commonly, Centre Spatial Guyanais is a French and European spaceport to the northwest of Kourou in French Guiana. The European Space Agency, the French space agency CNES, and this was the spaceport used by the ESA to send supplies to the International Space Station using the Automated Transfer Vehicle. The location was selected in 1964 to become the spaceport of France, in 1975, France offered to share Kourou with ESA. Commercial launches are bought also by non-European companies, ESA pays two thirds of the spaceports annual budget and has also financed the upgrades made during the development of the Ariane launchers. Since April 4,2017, the centre has been occupied by 30 labor union leaders in the midst of the 2017 social unrest in French Guiana, Kourou is located approximately 500 kilometres north of the equator, at a latitude of 5°10. The near-equatorial launch location provides an advantage for launches to low-inclination Earth orbits compared to launches from spaceports at higher latitude, the proximity to the equator also makes maneuvering satellites for geosynchronous orbits simpler and less costly. Originally built in the 1960s under the name of CECLES, the ELV pad located at 5. 236°N52. 775°W /5.236, one Europa-II was launched from the site, before the programme was cancelled. The pad was demolished, and subsequently rebuilt as the first launch complex for Ariane rockets, renamed ELA, it was used for Ariane 1 and Ariane 2 and 3 launches until being retired in 1989. It was again refurbished for the Vega with the first launch performed on 13 February 2012, the ELA2 pad, located at 5. 232°N52. 776°W /5.232, -52.776 had been used for Ariane 4 launches until 2003. ELA3 has been active for Ariane 5 launches since 1996 and this facility is located at 5. 239°N52. 768°W /5.239, -52.768 and covers an area of 21 square kilometres. ESA has built ELS at 5. 305°N52. 834°W /5.305, the first Soyuz launch from ELS was postponed several times, but launched on October 21,2011. ELS is located on the territory of Sinnamary commune,27 km from Kourou harbor and it is 10 km north of the site used for the Ariane 5 launches. Russia will use the Guiana Space Centre in addition to Baikonur Cosmodrome, the Guiana location has the significant benefit of greatly increased payload capability, owing to the near equatorial position. A Soyuz rocket with a 1.7 tonnes to geostationary transfer orbit performance from Baikonur, the ELS project is being co-funded by Arianespace, ESA, and the European Union, with CNES being the prime contractor. The project has a projected cost of approximately €320 million, where €120 million are allocated for modernizing the Soyuz vehicle, the official opening of the launch site construction occurred on 27 February 2007. Excavation work however, had begun several months beforehand. By October 2010,18 launch contracts had been signed, Arianespace has ordered 24 launchers from Russian industry. On October 21,2011, two Galileo IOV-1 & IOV-2 satellites were launched using a Soyuz-ST rocket, in the first Russian Soyuz vehicle ever launched from Europes Spaceport in French Guiana, astrium assembles each Ariane 5 launcher in the Launcher Integration Building
35.
ELA-3
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ELA-3, short for Ensemble de Lancement Ariane 3, is a launch pad and associated facilities at the Centre Spatial Guyanais in French Guyana. ELA-3 is operated by Arianespace as part of the launch system for Ariane 5 rockets. As of October 2016,88 launches have been carried out from it, ELA-3 is 21 square kilometres in size. As of 5 October 2016, the launch from ELA-3 is scheduled to occur on 17 November 2016
36.
XMM-Newton
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It is the second cornerstone mission of ESAs Horizon 2000 programme. Originally scheduled for a mission, the spacecraft remains in good health and has received mission extensions through 2016. As of February 2016, more than 4,300 papers have been published about either XMM-Newton or the results it has returned. In 1982, even before the launch of XMM-Newtons predecessor EXOSAT in 1983, the XMM mission was formally proposed to the ESA Science Programme Committee in 1984 and gained approval from the Agencys Council of Ministers in January 1985. That same year, several working groups were established to determine the feasibility of such a mission, at this workshop, it was proposed that the spacecraft contain 12 low-energy and 7 high-energy X-ray telescopes. In June 1988 the European Space Agency approved the mission and issued a call for investigation proposals, improvements in technology further reduced the number of X-ray telescopes needed to just three. In June 1989, the instruments had been selected and work began on spacecraft hardware. A project team was formed in January 1993 and based at the European Space Research and Technology Centre in Noordwijk, the XMM Survey Science Centre was established at the University of Leicester in 1995. The three flight mirror modules for the X-ray telescopes were delivered by Italian subcontractor Media Lario in December 1998, XMM left the ESTEC integration facility on 9 September 1999, taken by road to Katwijk then by the barge Emeli to Rotterdam. On 12 September, the spacecraft left Rotterdam for French Guiana aboard Arianespaces transport ship MN Toucan, the Toucan docked at the French Guianese town of Kourou on 23 September, and was transported to Guiana Space Centres Ariane 5 Final Assembly Building for final launch preparation. Launch of XMM took place on 10 December 1999 at 14,32 UTC from the Guiana Space Centre. XMM was lofted into space aboard an Ariane 504 rocket, and placed into an elliptical, 40-degree orbit that had a perigee of 838 km. Forty minutes after being released from the Ariane upper stage, telemetry confirmed to ground stations that the solar arrays had successfully deployed. 9-degree inclination. This resulted in the making one complete revolution of the Earth approximately every 48 hours. Immediately after launch, XMM began its Launch and Early Orbit phase of operations, on 17 and 18 December 1999, the X-ray modules and Optical Monitor doors were opened, respectively. Instrument activation started on 4 January 2000, and the Instrument Commissioning phase began on 16 January, on 3 March, the Calibration and Performance Validation phase began, and routine science operations began on 1 June. During a press conference on 9 February 2000, ESA presented the first images taken by XMM, whereas the program had formally been known as the High Throughput X-ray Spectroscopy Mission, the new name would reflect the nature of the program and the originator of the field of spectroscopy. Including all construction, spacecraft launch, and two years of operation, the project was accomplished within a budget of 689 million €, because of the spacecrafts good health and the significant returns of data, XMM-Newton has received several mission extensions by ESAs Science Programme Committee
37.
Envisat
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Envisat is a large inactive Earth-observing satellite which is still in orbit. Operated by the European Space Agency, it was the worlds largest civilian Earth observation satellite and it was launched on 1 March 2002 aboard an Ariane 5 from the Guyana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana, into a Sun synchronous polar orbit at an altitude of 790 km. It orbits the Earth in about 101 minutes, with a cycle of 35 days. After losing contact with the satellite on 8 April 2012, ESA formally announced the end of Envisats mission on 9 May 2012, Envisat cost €2.3 billion to develop and launch. The mission is due to be replaced by the Sentinel series of satellites, the first of these, Sentinel 1, has taken over the radar duties of Envisat since its launch in 2014. Envisat was launched as an Earth observation satellite and its objective was to service the continuity of European Remote-Sensing Satellite missions, providing additional observational parameters to improve environmental studies. Dimensions 26 m ×10 m ×5 m Mass 8,211 kg, including 319 kg of fuel and a 2,118 kg instrument payload. Power Solar array with a load of 3560 W. Envisat carries an array of nine Earth-observation instruments that gathered information about the Earth using a variety of measurement principles. A tenth instrument, DORIS, provided guidance and control, several of the instruments were advanced versions of instruments that were flown on the earlier ERS1 and ERS2 missions and other satellites. MERIS measures the reflectance of the Earth in the spectral range. MERIS was built at the Cannes Mandelieu Space Center, AATSR can measure the sea surface temperature in the visible and infrared spectra. Because of its wide angle lens it is possible to very precise measurements of atmospheric effects on how emissions from the Earths surface propagate. AATSR is the successor of ATSR1 and ATSR2, payloads of ERS1, AATSR can measure Earths surface temperature to a precision of 0.3 K, for climate research. Among the secondary objectives of AATSR is the observation of environmental parameters such as content, biomass. SCIAMACHY compares light coming from the sun to light reflected by the Earth, SCIAMACHY is an image spectrometer with the principal objective of mapping the concentration of trace gases and aerosols in the troposphere and stratosphere. Its high spectral resolution over a range of wavelengths can detect many trace gases even in tiny concentrations. The wavelengths captured also allow detection of aerosols and clouds. SCIAMACHY uses 3 different targeting modes, to the nadir, to the limbus, rA-2 is a dual-frequency Nadir pointing Radar operating in the Ku band and S bands, it is used to define ocean topography, map/monitor sea ice and measure land heights
38.
Rosetta (spacecraft)
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Rosetta was a space probe built by the European Space Agency launched on 2 March 2004. Along with Philae, its lander module, Rosetta performed a study of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. During its journey to the comet, the spacecraft flew by Mars and it was launched as the third cornerstone mission of the ESAs Horizon 2000 programme, after SOHO / Cluster and XMM-Newton. On 6 August 2014, the reached the comet and performed a series of manoeuvres to eventually orbit the comet at distances of 30 to 10 kilometres. On 12 November, its lander module Philae performed the first successful landing on a comet, communications with Philae were briefly restored in June and July 2015, but due to diminishing solar power, Rosettas communications module with the lander was turned off on 27 July 2016. On 30 September 2016, the Rosetta spacecraft ended its mission by hard-landing on the comet in its Maat region, the probe is named after the Rosetta Stone, a stele of Egyptian origin featuring a decree in three scripts. The lander is named after the Philae obelisk, which bears a bilingual Greek and it was one of ESAs Horizon 2000 cornerstone missions. The spacecraft consisted of the Rosetta orbiter, which featured 12 instruments, the Rosetta mission orbited Comet Churyumov–Gerasimenko for 17 months and was designed to complete the most detailed study of a comet ever attempted. The spacecraft was controlled from the European Space Operations Centre, in Darmstadt and it has been estimated that in the decade preceding 2014, some 2,000 people assisted in the mission in some capacity. In 2007, Rosetta made a Mars gravity assist on its way to Comet Churyumov–Gerasimenko, the spacecraft also performed two asteroid flybys. The craft completed its flyby of asteroid 2867 Šteins in September 2008, later, on 20 January 2014, Rosetta was taken out of a 31-month hibernation mode as it approached Comet Churyumov–Gerasimenko. Rosettas Philae lander successfully made the first soft landing on a comet nucleus when it touched down on Comet Churyumov–Gerasimenko on 12 November 2014. On 5 September 2016, ESA announced that the lander was discovered by the narrow-angle camera aboard Rosetta as the made a low,2.7 km pass over the comet. The lander sits on its side wedged into a crevice of the comet. During the 1986 approach of Halleys Comet, international space probes were sent to explore the comet, after the probes returned valuable scientific information, it became obvious that follow-ons were needed that would shed more light on cometary composition and answer new questions. Both ESA and NASA started cooperatively developing new probes, the NASA project was the Comet Rendezvous Asteroid Flyby mission. The ESA project was the follow-on Comet Nucleus Sample Return mission, both missions were to share the Mariner Mark II spacecraft design, thus minimising costs. In 1992, after NASA cancelled CRAF due to budgetary limitations, after the spacecraft launch, Gerhard Schwehm was named mission manager, he retired in March 2014
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Automated Transfer Vehicle
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The Automated Transfer Vehicle, originally Ariane Transfer Vehicle or ATV, was an expendable cargo spacecraft developed by the European Space Agency. It was operated in conjunction with the Ariane 5 heavy-lift launch vehicle, a total of five ATVs, Jules Verne, Johannes Kepler, Edoardo Amaldi, Albert Einstein, and Georges Lemaître were launched. Following several delays to the programme, the first of these was launched in March 2008 and it was an unmanned platform that operated with a high level of automation, such as its docking sequence, at no point was it used for transporting passengers. On 2 April 2012, the ESA announced that the ATV program would be terminated following the launch of the fifth ATV in 2014, further use of the ATV has been proposed. In 2012, ESA member states decided that the ATV would be adapted to serve as the module of the NASA Orion spacecraft. On 9 December 1998, the ESA awarded a million contract to proceed with development work on the ATV to French aerospace company Aérospatiale. P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia, prior to 2000, DASA was to serve as the prime contractor for production, after which the role would be gradually transferred to Aérospatiale. At the point at which the contract had been awarded, it was envisioned that the first flight of the ATV would be conducted during September 2003. By May 2003, it was set to be launched sometime during late 2004.1 billion contract between the ESA and the prime contractor, in October 2005, it was clarified that the new launch date for the first ATV would be during 2007. In September 2006, it was announced that the stage of testing on the Ariane 5s customised ATV stage was within its final phase. In December 2006, it was announced that the first ATV had completed its vacuum test, marking the completion of the key tests. Following multiple restructuring and ownership changes, the contractor for the ATV became Airbus Defence and Space. In order to facilitate the relationship between the contractor and the ESA, an integrated ESA team at the Les Mureaux site was established and maintained for the duration of the development, Airbus Defence and Space builds the ATVs in its facility in Bremen. According to the German Aerospace Center, the development cost of the ATV was approximately €1.35 billion, reportedly, each ATV spacecraft was costed at roughly US$300 million, which did not include launch costs. Within the Airbus Defence and Space led project, Thales Alenia Space is responsible for the cargo carrier section of the ATV and manufactures these at the firms facility in Turin. On 31 July 2007, the first ATV, Jules Verne, arrived at the ESA spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on 9 March 2008, Jules Verne was launched on top of an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou. On 3 April 2008, Jules Verne succeeded in automatically docking with the ISS, proving the capabilities of the ESAs first fully automated, the arrival of the ATV came at a time at which there were public concerns over the logistical practicality of supplying the ISS. Under the proposal, which had been issued by a joint venture between EADS and Boeing, the ATV would be launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, using a Delta IV rocket, ultimately, the proposal was not awarded with a corresponding contract
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Herschel Space Observatory
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The Herschel Space Observatory was a space observatory built and operated by the European Space Agency. It was active from 2009 to 2013, and was the largest infrared telescope ever launched, carrying a single 3. 5-metre mirror and instruments sensitive to the far infrared and submillimetre wavebands. Herschel was the fourth and final mission in the Horizon 2000 programme, following SOHO/Cluster II, XMM-Newton. The observatory was carried into orbit in May 2009, reaching the second Lagrangian point of the Earth–Sun system,1,500,000 kilometres from Earth, about two months later. Herschel is named after Sir William Herschel, the discoverer of the spectrum and planet Uranus. The observatory was capable of seeing the coldest and dustiest objects in space, for example, cool cocoons where stars form, the observatory sifted through star-forming clouds—the slow cookers of star ingredients—to trace the path by which potentially life-forming molecules, such as water, form. The telescopes lifespan was governed by the amount of coolant available for its instruments, when that coolant ran out, at the time of its launch, operations were estimated to last 3.5 years. It continued to operate until 29 April 201315,20 UTC, in 1982 the Far Infrared and Sub-millimetre Telescope was proposed to ESA. The ESA long-term policy-plan Horizon 2000, produced in 1984, called for a High Throughput Heterodyne Spectroscopy mission as one of its cornerstone missions, in 1986, FIRST was adopted as this cornerstone mission. It was selected for implementation in 1993, following a study in 1992–1993. The mission concept was redesigned from Earth-orbit to the Lagrangian point L2, in 2000, FIRST was renamed Herschel. After being put out to tender in 2000, industrial activities began in 2001, as of 2010, the Herschel mission is estimated to cost 1,100 million €. This figure includes spacecraft and payload, launch and mission expenses, during the mission, Herschel made over 35,000 scientific observations and amass more than 25,000 hours worth of science data from about 600 different observing programs. The mission involved the first space observatory to cover the far infrared. At 3.5 metres wide, Herschel carried the largest optical telescope ever deployed in space and it was made not from glass but from sintered silicon carbide. The light reflected by the mirror was focused onto three instruments, whose detectors were kept at temperatures below 2 K, the instruments were cooled with over 2,300 litres of liquid helium, boiling away in a near vacuum at a temperature of approximately 1.4 K. The supply of helium on board the spacecraft was a limit to the operational lifetime of the space observatory. Herschel carried three detectors, PACS An imaging camera and low-resolution spectrometer covering wavelengths from 55 to 210 micrometres, the spectrometer had a spectral resolution between R=1000 and R=5000 and was able to detect signals as weak as −63 dB
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Planck (spacecraft)
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The mission substantially improved upon observations made by the NASA Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe. The project was started around 1996 and was initially called COBRAS/SAMBA and it was later renamed in honour of the German physicist Max Planck, who derived the formula for black-body radiation. On 21 March 2013, the missions first all-sky map of the microwave background was released. At the end of its mission Planck was put into a heliocentric orbit, the final deactivation command was sent to Planck in October 2013. Planck has a resolution and sensitivity than WMAP, allowing it to probe the power spectrum of the CMB to much smaller scales. It also observes in 9 frequency bands rather than WMAPs 5, the dominant foreground radiation depends on frequency, but could include synchrotron radiation from the Milky Way at low frequencies, and dust at high frequencies. The spacecraft carries two instruments, the Low Frequency Instrument and the High Frequency Instrument, both instruments can detect both the total intensity and polarization of photons, and together cover a frequency range of nearly 830 GHz. The cosmic microwave background spectrum peaks at a frequency of 160.2 GHz, Plancks passive and active cooling systems allow its instruments to maintain a temperature of −273.05 °C, or 0.1 °C above absolute zero. From August 2009, Planck was the coldest known object in space, NASA played a role in the development of the mission and contributes to the analysis of scientific data. The LFI has three bands, covering the range of 30–70 GHz, covering the microwave to infra-red regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. These detection assemblies are divided into 6 frequency bands, each with a bandwidth of 33%, of these six bands, only the lower four have the capability to measure the polarisation of incoming radiation, the two higher bands do not. On 13 January 2012, it was reported that the supply of helium-3 used in Plancks dilution refrigerator had been exhausted. By this date, Planck had completed five full scans of the CMB, the LFI was expected to remain operational for another six to nine months. A common service module was designed and built by Thales Alenia Space in its Turin plant, the overall cost is estimated to be 700 million € for the Planck and 1,100 million € for the Herschel mission. Both figures include their missions spacecraft and payload, launch and mission expenses, structurally, the Herschel and Planck SVMs are very similar. On both spacecraft, a design was used for the avionics, attitude control and measurement, command and data management, power. All units on the SVM are redundant, on each spacecraft, the power subsystem consists of a solar array, employing triple-junction solar cells, a battery and the power control unit. For Planck, the solar array is fixed on the bottom of the satellite
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Galileo (satellite navigation)
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The €5 billion project is named after the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei. The use of basic Galileo services will be free and open to everyone, the higher-precision capabilities will be available for paying commercial users. Galileo is intended to provide horizontal and vertical measurements within 1-metre precision. Galileo is to provide a new search and rescue function as part of the MEOSAR system. Satellites will be equipped with a transponder which will relay distress signals from emergency beacons to the Rescue coordination centre, which will then initiate a rescue operation. At the same time, the system is projected to provide a signal and this latter feature is new and is considered a major upgrade compared to the existing Cospas-Sarsat system, which does not provide feedback to the user. The first Galileo test satellite, the GIOVE-A, was launched 28 December 2005, as of December 2016 the system has 18 of 30 satellites in orbit. Galileo started offering Early Operational Capability on 15 December 2016 and is expected to reach Full Operational Capability in 2019, the complete 30-satellite Galileo system is expected by 2020. In 1999, the different concepts of the three main contributors of ESA for Galileo were compared and reduced to one by a joint team of engineers from all three countries. The first stage of the Galileo programme was agreed upon officially on 26 May 2003 by the European Union, the system is intended primarily for civilian use, unlike the more military-orientated systems of the United States, Russia, and China. The European system will only be subject to shutdown for military purposes in extreme circumstances and it will be available at its full precision to both civil and military users. On 17 January 2002, a spokesman for the stated that, as a result of US pressure and economic difficulties. A few months later, however, the situation changed dramatically, European Union member states decided it was important to have a satellite-based positioning and timing infrastructure that the US could not easily turn off in times of political conflict. The European Union and the European Space Agency agreed in March 2002 to fund the project, the starting cost for the period ending in 2005 is estimated at €1.1 billion. The required satellites were to be launched between 2011 and 2014, with the system up and running and under control from 2019. The final cost is estimated at €3 billion, including the infrastructure on Earth, the plan was for private companies and investors to invest at least two-thirds of the cost of implementation, with the EU and ESA dividing the remaining cost. The base Open Service is to be available without charge to anyone with a Galileo-compatible receiver, by early 2011 costs for the project had run 50% over initial estimates. Galileo is intended to be an EU civilian GNSS that allows all users access to it, initially GPS reserved the highest quality signal for military use, and the signal available for civilian use was intentionally degraded
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Ammonium perchlorate
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Ammonium perchlorate is an inorganic compound with the formula NH4ClO4. It is a colorless or white solid that is soluble in water, perchlorate is a powerful oxidizer and ammonium is a good fuel. This combination explains the usefulness of this material as a rocket propellant and its instability has involved it in a number of accidents, such as the PEPCON disaster. Ammonium perchlorate is produced by reaction between ammonia and perchloric acid and this process is the main outlet for the industrial production of perchloric acid. The salt also can be produced by metathesis reaction of ammonium salts with sodium perchlorate. This process exploits the low solubility of NH4ClO4, which is about 10% of that for sodium perchlorate. Like most ammonium salts, ammonium perchlorate decomposes before melting, mild heating results in production of hydrogen chloride, nitrogen, oxygen, and water. 4 NH4ClO4 →4 HCl +2 N2 +5 O2 +6 H2O The combustion of AP is quite complex and is widely studied, AP crystals decompose before melting, even though a thin liquid layer has been observed on crystal surfaces during high-pressure combustion processes. Strong heating may lead to explosions, pure crystals cannot sustain a flame below the pressure of 2 MPa. AP is a Class 4 oxidizer for particle sizes over 15 micrometres and is classified as an explosive for particle sizes less than 15 micrometres, the primary use of ammonium perchlorate is in making solid fuel propellants. When AP is mixed with a fuel, it can generate self-sustained combustion at far under atmospheric pressure. It is an important oxidizer with a history of use in solid rocket propellants — space launch, military, amateur. Some breakable epoxy adhesives contain suspensions of AP, upon heating to 300 °C, the AP degrades the organic adhesive, breaking the cemented joint. Perchlorate itself confers little acute toxicity, for example, sodium perchlorate has an LD50 of 2-4 g/kg and is eliminated rapidly after ingestion. However, chronic exposure to perchlorates, even in low concentrations, has shown to cause various thyroid problems
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Aluminium
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Aluminium or aluminum is a chemical element in the boron group with symbol Al and atomic number 13. It is a silvery-white, soft, nonmagnetic, ductile metal, Aluminium metal is so chemically reactive that native specimens are rare and limited to extreme reducing environments. Instead, it is combined in over 270 different minerals. The chief ore of aluminium is bauxite, Aluminium is remarkable for the metals low density and its ability to resist corrosion through the phenomenon of passivation. Aluminium and its alloys are vital to the industry and important in transportation and structures, such as building facades. The oxides and sulfates are the most useful compounds of aluminium, despite its prevalence in the environment, no known form of life uses aluminium salts metabolically, but aluminium is well tolerated by plants and animals. Because of these salts abundance, the potential for a role for them is of continuing interest. Aluminium is a soft, durable, lightweight, ductile. It is nonmagnetic and does not easily ignite, a fresh film of aluminium serves as a good reflector of visible light and an excellent reflector of medium and far infrared radiation. The yield strength of aluminium is 7–11 MPa, while aluminium alloys have yield strengths ranging from 200 MPa to 600 MPa. Aluminium has about one-third the density and stiffness of steel and it is easily machined, cast, drawn and extruded. Aluminium atoms are arranged in a cubic structure. Aluminium has an energy of approximately 200 mJ/m2. Aluminium is a thermal and electrical conductor, having 59% the conductivity of copper. Aluminium is capable of superconductivity, with a critical temperature of 1.2 kelvin. Aluminium is the most common material for the fabrication of superconducting qubits, the strongest aluminium alloys are less corrosion resistant due to galvanic reactions with alloyed copper. This corrosion resistance is reduced by aqueous salts, particularly in the presence of dissimilar metals. In highly acidic solutions, aluminium reacts with water to form hydrogen, primarily because it is corroded by dissolved chlorides, such as common sodium chloride, household plumbing is never made from aluminium
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Hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene
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Hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene is an oligomer of butadiene terminated at each end with a hydroxyl functional group. It reacts with isocyanates to form polyurethane polymers, HTPB is a translucent liquid with a color similar to wax paper and a viscosity similar to corn syrup. The properties vary because HTPB is a rather than a pure compound. A typical HTPB is R-45HTLO. 4-2.6, which means there is one additional hydroxyl group located along the chain for every two oligomeric units. This provides side-to-side linkage for a stronger cured product, HTPB is usually cured by an addition reaction with di- or poly-isocyanate compounds. Polyurethanes prepared from HTPB can be engineered for specific properties, polyurethanes may be highly elastic or tough. An important application of HTPB is in solid rocket propellant and it binds the oxidizing agent and other ingredients into a solid but elastic mass. The cured polyurethane acts as a fuel in such mixtures, for example, HTPB is used in all 3/4 stages of the Japanese M-5 rocket satellite launchers and PSLV rocket developed by ISRO for satellite launches. JAXA describes the propellant as HTPB/AP/Al=12/68/20, which means, proportioned by mass, HTPB plus curative 12%, ammonium perchlorate 68%, similar propellants, often referred to as APCP are used in larger model rockets. A typical APCP produces 2–3 times the specific impulse of the black powder propellant used in most smaller rocket motors, HTPB is also used as a hybrid rocket fuel. With N2O as the oxidizer, it is used to power the SpaceShipTwo hybrid rocket motor developed by SpaceDev
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Vulcain
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Vulcain is a family of European first stage rocket engines for the Ariane 5. Its development began in 1988 and the first flight was completed in 1996, the updated version of the engine – Vulcain 2 was first successfully flown in 2005. Both members of the family use liquid oxygen/liquid hydrogen cryogenic fuel, as of 2012 no new version of the engine is in development. The development of Vulcain, carried out by a European partnership and it first flew in 1996 powering the ill-fated flight 501 without being the cause of the disaster, and had its first successful flight in 1997. In 2002 the upgraded Vulcain 2 with 20% more thrust first flew on flight 517, the cause was due to flight loads being much higher than expected, as the inquiry board concluded. The first successful flight of the Vulcain 2 occurred in 2005 on flight 521, although different upgrades to the engine have been proposed, there is no current program to develop an uprated version of the engine. If there will ever be one, it is likely that the new engine would be introduced after the PA batch of 30 Ariane 5 ECAs ordered on 10 May 2004 will be expended. On 17 June 2007 Volvo Aero announced that in spring of 2008 it expected to hot-fire test a Vulcain 2 nozzle manufactured with a new sandwich technology, the Vulcain engines are gas-generator cycle cryogenic rocket engines fed with liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. The engine operating time is 600 s in both configurations,3 m tall and 1.76 m in diameter, the engine weighs 1686 kg and provides 137 t of thrust in its latest version. The oxygen turbopump rotates at 13600 rpm with a power of 3 MW while the hydrogen turbopump rotates at 34000 rpm with 12 MW of power, the total mass flow rate is 235 kg/s, of which 41.2 kg/s are of hydrogen. The main contractor for the Vulcain engines is Snecma Moteurs, which provides the liquid hydrogen turbopump. The liquid oxygen turbopump is the responsibility of Avio, and the gas turbines power the turbopumps. – Volvo Aero Development of the turbines for the Vulcain 2 turbopumps, – Volvo Aero High cycle fatigue of Vulcain 2 LOx turbine blades. – Volvo Aero An efficient concept design process, – Volvo Aero Vulcain 2 nozzle. – Volvo Aero EADS N. V. – EADS welcomes contract signature for 30 Ariane 5 launchers at ILA2004 in Berlin Three billion Euros contract for 30 Ariane 5 launchers – EADS Astrium
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Specific impulse
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Specific impulse is a measure of the efficiency of rocket and jet engines. By definition, it is the total impulse delivered per unit of propellant consumed and is equivalent to the generated thrust divided by the propellant flow rate. If mass is used as the unit of propellant, then specific impulse has units of velocity, if weight is used instead, then specific impulse has units of time. Multiplying flow rate by the gravity before dividing it into the thrust. In rockets, this means the engine is more efficient at gaining altitude, distance and this is much less of a consideration in jet engines that employ wings and outside air for combustion to carry payloads that are much heavier than the propellant. Specific impulse includes the contribution to impulse provided by air that has been used for combustion and is exhausted with the spent propellant. Jet engines use air, and therefore have a much higher specific impulse than rocket engines. The specific impulse in terms of propellant mass spent is in units of distance per time and this is higher than the actual exhaust velocity because the mass of the combustion air is not being accounted for. Actual and effective exhaust velocity are the same in rocket engines not utilizing air, Specific impulse is inversely proportional to specific fuel consumption by the relationship Isp = 1/ for SFC in kg/ and Isp = 3600/SFC for SFC in lb/lbf-hr. The amount of propellant is normally measured either in units of mass or weight, however, if propellant weight is used, an impulse divided by a force turns out to be a unit of time, and so specific impulses are measured in seconds. These two formulations are both used and differ from each other by a factor of g0, the dimensioned constant of gravitational acceleration at the surface of the Earth. Note that the rate of change of momentum of a rocket per unit time is equal to the thrust, the higher the specific impulse, the less propellant is needed to produce a given thrust during a given time. In this regard a propellant is more efficient the greater its specific impulse and this should not be confused with energy efficiency, which can decrease as specific impulse increases, since propulsion systems that give high specific impulse require high energy to do so. It is important that thrust and specific impulse not be confused, the specific impulse is a measure of the impulse produced per unit of propellant expended, while thrust is a measure of the momentary or peak force supplied by a particular engine. In many cases, propulsion systems with high specific impulses—some ion thrusters reach 10,000 seconds—produce low thrusts. When calculating specific impulse, only propellant that is carried with the vehicle use is counted. Air resistance and the inability to keep a high specific impulse at a fast burn rate are why all the propellant is not used as fast as possible. If an engine weighs more in order to gain a specific impulse, it may not be as efficient in gaining altitude, distance
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