Dream job astronaut More than 22,000 applications for space

Status: 23.06.2021 3:43 p.m.

Once into space – many have the dream. More than 22,000 people want to become astronauts and have applied to the European space agency ESA. However, this dream will only come true for six candidates. More than 22,000 people want a job in space: That’s how many applications the European Space Agency ESA received for astronaut training, the ESA announced. Among them are 3700 applicants from Germany. By the deadline last Friday, 5,400 women applied, which is a share of 24 percent – nine percentage points more than in the last call in 2008.

A “tough competition” for the dream job

The number of applicants also increased overall: in 2008 around 8,400 people were interested in training at ESA, less than half as many as now. The space agency now wants to select four to six candidates for astronaut training from the pool by October 2022 – but also a “reserve” of up to 20 people. ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher spoke of tough competition. “It is a dream job to be an astronaut.”

The selection process has six stages – the skills of the candidates are examined with, among other things, tests in the cognitive and technical areas. Applicants must have at least a master’s degree in natural sciences, engineering, mathematics or computer science. There are requirements for height, the age limit is 50 years. The new space crew should not be known until the end of next year.

For the first time also “para-astronauts”

For the first time, the space agency also wants to train so-called para-astronauts – those with physical impairments such as short stature or a handicap of the legs. More than 200 applications were received for this.

The role model for many is the German astronaut Alexander Gerst, who became known as “Astro-Alex”. He spent around half a year on the International Space Station ISS in 2014 and 2018. On his second mission, he was the first German to take command of the space station

Mr. David Parker – Director of ESA shared with the press: “We are entering a new phase – a stage where humans are likely to explore the “eighth continent”. The Moon is a repository of archives. With the Moonlight project our mission is to take an important step towards uncovering the wonders of the Solar System, which stores 4.5 billion years of history, yet we barely understand its secrets. mystery of the universe”. Moon with “satellite constellation” that Moonlight will build, in order to turn this place into “8th continent” – Photo: ESA. The space agency did not disclose the specific cost to carry out this mission, but according to information, a number of companies from the UK, EU and Canada have offered to work with ESA to develop the Moonlight project. They will provide telecommunications and navigation services for crews and robots. The ESA said: “The combination of many agencies and organizations will facilitate the exploration of more space on the Moon. This is one of the goals of the NASA Artemis mission to return humans to the Moon in 2024.” Upon learning of this project, dozens of international, institutional and commercial groups have offered to support ESA. Many of these initiatives come from major space organizations in China, India, Japan, and Russia, along with other astronaut nations and private companies. Outline the primitive base that ESA intends to build, which will start a large city in the future – Photo: ESA. These helpers saw benefits from being involved in the project as: Radio astronomers could set up observatories on the far side of the Moon, with the understanding that the signal would move relay information back to Earth easily and quickly. Commercial agencies could develop supporting new services and products, such as virtual reality games in which players control Moon robots. It is possible to name a number of agencies and organizations that propose to participate in the Moonlight project such as: British company Surrey Satellite Technology (SST) will participate in Moonlight and act as a service provider and producer. satellite output. “Our partnership with ESA will provide the world’s first lunar data relay service,” said SST CEO Phil Brownnett. Or London-based Inmarsat and MDA Space and Robotics Ltd (MDA UK), based at the Harwell Science and Innovation Facility in Oxfordshire, both leading the exploration of ideas. They will work on the development of the Lunar Navigation and Communication Service (LCNS) to support future scientific, exploration and commercial activities on the lunar surface. Yasrine Ibnyahya, Senior Director at Inmarsat said: “I am confident that the expertise and assets from Inmarsat can solve problems in the most efficient and cost-effective way. The Moonlight project is the first step to open up future opportunities, it can facilitate human exploration of space, develop technology and can be the basis for access to new resources. “.

Space Station Skylab was launched by the US Aerospace Agency (NASA) in 1973. The agency had planned Skylab to operate for at least 10 years, but that did not happen. The sun radiates more energy than expected, increasing Skylab’s pull back to Earth. Image: NASA . On the night of July 11, 1979, Skylab returned to Earth and exploded over the Indian Ocean, west of Australia. Debris from the 85-ton space station is scattered across fields and small towns. Although no one was injured, the town of Esperance (Australia) fined $ 400 to NASA for littering. However, this agency does not pay. Until 2009, a new radio station in California (USA) paid this fine. Photo: State Library of Western Australia. Not only Skylab, there have been many instances where objects from space fell uncontrollably down to Earth. November 10, 2013, satellite GOCE The European Space Agency (ESA) caught fire and plunged into the Atlantic due to running out of fuel a month ago. According to the Space , GOCE is used to map the Earth’s gravity. Previously, scientists were concerned that the 1-ton satellite could fall to the mainland. Image: Space . Atmospheric Research Satellites (UARS) was launched by NASA in September 1991 with space shuttle Discovery to analyze the Earth’s ozone layer. In December 2005, a satellite weighing 6.5 tons, worth $ 750 million, was stopped by NASA before it fell to Earth in September 2011. While most of the satellites were burned, the remaining 532 kg of UARS fell to Canada, Africa, parts of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans. Image: NASA . NASA launches satellites Pegasus 2 weighed 11.6 tons in 1965 to study asteroids orbiting the Earth. The data was sent back to NASA by Pegasus 2 for about 3 years, then kept on orbit for 11 years. On November 3, 1979, the satellite returned to Earth and then exploded, debris plunging down the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Image: NASA . Operated for 9 years from 1971 to 1982, Salyut 7 is the last space station in the Salyut program of the Soviet Union. On February 7, 1991, the 22-ton space station lost control, crashing to Earth after a period of time out of orbit while still connected to the Cosmos 1686 spacecraft. Both burned and exploded in the sky. Argentina, some fragments found in Capitan Bermudez region, no human casualties have been reported. Image: Space Age . On February 1, 2003, space shuttle Columbia exploded in the sky above Texas (USA) when returning to Earth, killing 7 astronauts. Investigations revealed that 82 seconds after the 100-ton ship took off, an insulating foam fell onto the carbon fiber board, puncturing the hull and damaging the body temperature protection while it was in service. speed 28,968 km / h. Although no one on the ground was injured, the Columbia event marked the second deadliest disaster in NASA’s space shuttle program. Image: NASA . Cosmos 954 , the secret satellite of the Soviet Navy used to spy on US nuclear submarines, launched on September 18, 1977 lost control. On January 24, 1978, a 3.8-ton satellite crashed northwestern Canada, causing radioactive debris to scatter over a large area. The Government of Canada asked the Soviet Union to pay $ 6 million for the search and cleanup campaign, but this country only accepted to pay $ 3 million. Image: NASA . On July 27, 2016, a boosters Long March 7 (Truong Chinh 7) China’s free fall, exploding in the American western skies. The image of a missile-generated light trail in the sky is widely shared on the Internet. The Long March missile chain is part of China’s plan to build an outer space station. Image: Matt Holt . Space Station Tiangong 1 (Heavenly Palace 1) China exploded over the southern Pacific on April 1, 2018. The 8-ton space station was launched in 2011, receiving 2 crew from 2012-2013 before completing the mission. In March 2016, China lost contact with Tiangong 1, allowing the space station to fall freely due to the gravity of the Earth. Image: CMSA . SpaceX’s test missile explodes again when it lands on the launch pad SpaceX’s Starship SN9 rocket landed and exploded on 2/2. This is the first phase prototype of a reusable rocket line that will help send people to Mars.

Photojournalists installed remote cameras to be ready to record the missile launch image on April 22. SpaceX’s Crew Dragon space shuttle, set to take off atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. It will take almost 24 hours to reach the space station, whose orbit is about 250 miles (400 km) from Earth. It was originally scheduled to launch on April 22 but had to be delayed for a day due to unfavorable weather forecast. This rocket launch marks NASA’s second return to service after nine years of stopping the shuttle from space in the United States. It is also the third crew flight to be launched into orbit under a public-private partnership between NASA and SpaceX, the rocket company founded and owned by billionaire high-tech entrepreneur Elon Musk. The crew this time has 4 members including two NASA astronauts, commander Shane Kimbrough (53 years old) and pilot Megan McArthur (49 years old), along with Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide (52 years old) and specialist Thomas Pesquet (43 years old), a French engineer with the European Space Agency. 6 months of space experiment Crew 2 is expected to spend about six months conducting scientific experiments and maintenance before returning to Earth in the fall. The four members of Crew 1, sent to the space station in November, are scheduled to return to Earth on April 28. Crew 2’s mission is also special in that the Falcon 9 launch vehicle using the same early stage booster has put Crew 1 in orbit. This is the first time that a proven booster device has been used again during a crew launch. Reusable booster vehicles, designed to fly back to Earth on their own and land safely after they separate from the missile’s remains a few minutes after launch. SpaceX’s reusable rocket strategy has pioneered more economical space travel. SpaceX has so far recorded more than 45 successful Falcon 9 landings, and the company has refurbished and reused the majority of them for multiple flights. However, all previous flights only carried cargo, not people, into space. The pilot of Crew 2, McArthur, will make history as the first female Pilot of the Crew and the second in her family to ride a shuttle. She is married to NASA astronaut Bob Behnken, who took a SpaceX demonstration flight last year. If all goes according to plan, they will arrive at the space station on Saturday. McArthur and her three friends and crew will be greeted by four astronauts of Crew 1 (three from NASA and one from Japan JAXA Aerospace Exploration Agency) and two crew members. Russian family and an American astronaut were on a Soyuz flight to the space station.

China’s Long March (Truong Chinh) 5B missile was launched last Thursday A Chinese uncontrolled 21-ton missile is falling on Earth and could land in densely populated areas, experts warn. China’s Long March (Truong Chinh) 5B rocket launched last Thursday is expected to fall back to Earth in the next few days. Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer who tracks objects orbiting the Earth, said SpaceNews that its path was “slightly further north than New York, Madrid and Beijing, and as far south as Chile and Wellington, New Zealand”. The missile can fall anywhere within this range, including oceans and densely populated or uninhabited areas, but most missiles will burn in the atmosphere. Satellite tracking devices have detected missiles longer than 30m cruise at speeds of more than 6.4km / s. China launched the Long March 5B at 11:23 a.m. local time last Thursday to make the first phase of their upcoming space station. The module that the missile carries, dubbed ‘Thien Hoa’, will be inhabited by the three crew members after the space station’s giant structure is complete. State media reported that China aims to complete the China Space Station, known as Tiangong (Tiangong) by the end of 2022, after several other modules have been launched. When completed, the Tiangong Space Station will orbit the Earth at an altitude of 340-450km. China aims to become a space power by 2030 to keep up with rivals, including the US, Russia and the European Space Agency, and create the most advanced space station around Earth. The ISS International Space Station, currently in orbit, takes 10 years and more than 30 missions to assemble since the launch of the first module in 1998. The ISS was supported by five space agencies – NASA (USA), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (Japan), ESA (Europe) and CSA (Canada) – but China was initially banned from the United States. However, the unsettled return of the missile could put an end to the Chinese celebration if the vehicle lands in an inhabited area. Cosmic debris watchers have observed it moving slowly and unpredictably to Earth over the past few days and it will be one of the largest uncontrolled debris on record. The Long March 5B is about 33m long, 5.3m wide and although more than 10 tons of space debris has been left in orbit for an uncontrolled return to ground flight, Mr McDowell said “by current standards. , it’s unacceptable to let it come back uncontrollably. ” Holger Krag, head of the European Space Agency’s Office of Space Safety Programs, told SpaceNews that: ‘China is aware of the potential danger of out-of-control’. “It is always difficult to judge the volume and amount of debris left over without knowing the design of the object, but the logical rule is about 20-40% China launched the Long March 5B in May 2020 to test the vehicle in preparation to send people to the moon, but the mission also ended with an uncontrolled return trip. The Long March 5B rocket entered space on 5 May 2020 and crashed to Earth a few days later, just off the coast of West Africa. This has been confirmed by Space Control Squadron 18, a unit of the US Air Force that tracks space debris in Earth orbit. The force says what’s remarkable not only about the size of the missile but also the extent of its uncontrolled dive zone. Before crashing into waters off the west coast of Mauritania, the rocket core flew over Los Angeles and New York.

Currently, there are 15 members participating in the ISS project, of which 5 main members are: Russia, the US, Canada, Japan and the European Space Agency. Construction of the station began in 1998, the first permanent expedition commenced operations in 2000. It was previously announced that, during a meeting with President Putin on Astronaut Day (April 12), Russia decided to withdraw from the ISS project from 2025 and start building its own Orbit Station. The first module for it will be the SEM, which was originally designed for the ISS. Roscosmos notes that the ISS modules have reached the end of their useful life. Usually IS structures are used for only 15 years, but most ISS modules, not only Russian ones, are more than two decades old. Ong Vladimir Soloviev, the leader of the flight division, spoke of the need to create the new station due to technical problems on the Russian segment on the ISS, namely detecting cracks that allow the air to escape. Although the cracks have been sealed, there are still small leaks. Russia decided to leave the ISS and build its own Space Station Mr. Soloviev predicts, after 2025 there will be mass technical problems with the parts of the station. Carrying out repairs and maintenance is extremely costly and downright dangerous. In October, Mr. Soloviev revealed the appearance of a new Russian orbital service station. Under the plan, it will include at least five modules: Basic part, target production, logistics warehouse, platform (slide) for spacecraft assembly, launch, reception and servicing, as well as one The commercial module can accommodate four travelers. According to the documents, for the purpose of being used in the Russian Orbital Station component, this module needs to be adapted to accommodate the “Angara-A5M” boosters from Vostochny aerospace, instead of missile “Proton-M” from Baikonur airport. In addition, on the module will have to replace the assembly from active to passive, place two cabin compartments for astronauts and adjust the systems in charge of movement and navigation, telemetry, communication. and heat guarantee. According to published documents, the plan to build Russia’s Orbital Station will be divided into two phases. Energy Science (NEM) modular model on the Russian Space Station In the first phase between 2025 and 2030, NEM, node, base, and entrance modules are expected to launch. In the second phase, from 2030 to 2035, Roscosmos will produce the target modules as well as the foundation for the maintenance of space apparatus. The Russian orbit station will fly in a Sun synchronous orbit – at an angle of 97 degrees from the equator, on which its solar panels will always receive light. Such orbits also allow the crew to see the North Pole every hour and a half, and every two days they see any point on our planet. In this connection, it is planned to have the part of the Earth-facing Station within the range of the observation system in various spectral bands – from optical to radar, and on the opposite side a device. are intended for monitoring outside of open spaces. To board the New Station in the first phase will be the manned transport “Progress” and the “Soyuz” manned, while in the second stage the manned train “Oriol”.

In April alone, ISS has been busy with flights up and down. On April 9, the Russian Soyuz rocket sent 1 American astronaut and 2 Russian astronauts to the ISS laboratory 420km from the Earth’s surface. Eight days later, another Soyuz rocket carried another trio of American and Russian astronauts back to Earth. On April 23, the US spacecraft SpaceX brought two more Americans, one Japanese and one French to connect to the ISS. However, such bustling scene on ISS is about to come to an end. Last week, Russia announced it would withdraw from the ISS by 2025. Despite the growing tensions between Russia and the US over the past decade, the two countries ‘space agencies continue to work closely with each other, along with 13 countries’ space agencies. According to the US Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), since 2000, ISS has welcomed 243 people from 19 countries. According to the Financial Times, Professor Anu Ojha, director of the UK National Aerospace Institute and an advisor to the European Space Agency (ESA), said: “I only hear positive things about astronauts and astronauts as they work together “. In the early years of building and assembling modules of ISS, since 1998, Russia and Western partners cooperated closely. “NASA and ESA cannot build a space station without Russian experts,” said Ojha. The Russians are masters of building modular space stations ”. The ISS station once welcomed astronauts from many countries Western countries need Russian rockets to carry materials and people to and from the ISS. This reliance increased when NASA decommissioned the space shuttle fleet in 2011 and Soyuz became the only passenger vehicle that could put astronauts in orbit. Only in 2020, NASA will begin to use the SpaceX spacecraft system of billionaire Elon Musk. For the Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos), cooperation with the West through the ISS also adds to the financial resources. NASA spent $ 3.9 billion to hire Soyuz to transport astronauts to the ISS from 2011 to 2019. Although astronaut Mark Vande Hei’s trip to the ISS in April may not be the last of an American on Russian rockets, the majority of non-Russian astronauts will travel on SpaceX or on Boeing’s Starliner, expected to go into service from 2022. During the first 15 years, the ISS crew focused on assembly and engineering work, which meant that the zero gravity work environment was only just being established. Recently, NASA astronaut Kate Rubins, who just returned to Earth in mid-April, recounted her hundreds of hours on the ISS to do biological experiments, from decoding DNA on a space station to growing human heart tissue and vegetables. . ISS’s most important area of ​​research is its attempt to understand the long-term effects of space travel on human health, in preparation for planned attempts at the Moon or travel to Mars. Other direction of cooperation For Russia, the decision to end ISS participation is expected to lead to more spatial cooperation with China. It is also part of the Kremlin’s broader pivot to Beijing. Since Western sanctions were first imposed on Moscow in connection with Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, Russia has doubled down on its efforts to strengthen ties with China. The two countries reached agreements on defense and space cooperation while bilateral trade nearly doubled compared to 2010, reaching $ 110 billion in 2019. In 2020, Roscosmos rejected an offer from the US to join NASA-led Artemis program, aimed at bringing people to stay longer on the Moon. In March, Russia and China agreed to jointly develop a base on the Moon to “promote the peaceful discovery and use of space for all mankind” (according to a memorandum of understanding between the two. country). Roscosmos last week also said it aims to set up its own Russian space station by 2030, using modules designed like the ISS. The Interfax news agency quoted Roscosmos Director, Dmitry Rogozin, as saying: “It is likely that by 2030, we can put a space station into orbit, that will be a huge breakthrough.” On Russian television, Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov said that in the future, on the Russian space station, in addition to astronauts, there will be the participation of artificial intelligence and robotics. He stressed that Russia is ready to consider for foreign crews to visit, but definitely the Russian space station must be national. Interfax quoted an unnamed source as saying that Russia planned to spend up to $ 6 billion to put this project into operation. China will also soon introduce the module to build the China Space Station (CSS). The ship carrying this module is scheduled to take off at the end of April. This is the culmination of the project that the Chinese government launched in 1992. After this module goes into space, China plans to launch at least 10 more times. Another launcher carries the remaining modules and cargo to complete the CSS assembly by the end of 2022. The 100-ton, T-shaped CSS will consist of three main modules: the 18-meter core module, called Tianhe, and two 14.4-meter lab modules, called Wentian, that are permanently attached to the sides. of the core module. As the station’s control and control center, Tianhe can accommodate 3 astronauts with a stay of up to 6 months. CSS has volume less than 1/4 the volume of ISS. Instead, configure 3 modules based on China’s need in doing the necessary scientific experiments. The 440-ton ISS with a construction cost of $ 150 billion will end its lifespan and should be returned to Earth expected by 2025. The future of the ISS is still under negotiation after the current cooperation agreements expire. by the end of 2024. According to NASA, from a technical point of view, the ISS can operate until the end of 2028. Of course, the ISS will be upgraded if it wants to last longer, especially electrical and communication systems. .

The first mission, the Luna 25, is scheduled to depart in October this year with the first trip to the South Pole (on the Moon), where Russian scientists will study water vein under the thick ice. “In the next decade, the Moon will be the focus of our program,” said Lev Zelenyi, scientific advisor at the Russian Federal Institute of Space Research, during an online presentation by the Academy of Sciences. Country held on March 23. Luna 25 ship during assembly and testing before launching to the Moon. Photo: Roscosmos. Many companies in Russia have begun to sketch lunar exploration programs. Meanwhile, the US is aiming to probe humans with the Artemis program, combined with robots to carry out missions on the Moon. In December, China transported the first new lunar soil sample to Earth in a series of ongoing missions called Chang’an. India and Israel promise to launch the next ship to the moon after two successful landings in 2019 (the Chandrayaan-2 and Beresheet). However, only the United States can match Russia’s space heritage on the Moon. The Putin administration is getting back to the space race by continuing a series of missions called Luna, following the tail numbers from the Luna 24 they stopped in 1976. “We want to show our steadfastness,” said Mr. Zelenyi. According to the Space , the Luna 25 is designed to study the permafrost beneath the lunar surface. Explorers hope to exploit them as a resource and gauge the danger posed by sharp pieces of moon dust. Upon landing, the ship will use cameras made by Europe to enhance the European Space Agency’s future lunar missions. Mr. Zelenyi emphasized, Luna 25 is just the beginning, the landfall on the Moon consists of a total of 5 missions with many stages being planned. The first Lunokhod-1 rover to operate on another planet. Photo: Wikipedia. In 2023 or 2024, Russia plans to launch the Luna 26 rocket, this time an orbital ship that searches for magnetic and gravitational anomalies on the Moon and captures highly accurate images of the locations. potential landing. Next, in 2025, along with the ship Luna 27, Russia will continue to return to the Moon. According to Mr. Zelenyi, this is the most important time. As the lander this year, Luna 27 will target the Antarctic and carry European landing software. Additionally, Luna 27 will be supported by a robot from the European Space Agency, which includes a drill that collects rock on the Antarctic Moon without melting compounds such as water ice found in the material. The lander will also carry a set of tools designed to study the solar wind. The solar wind is a stream of charged particles released from the sun’s upper atmosphere and traversing the solar system, affecting the Moon’s surface. The last two missions in the Luna mission series were told by Mr. Zelenyi that the launch date is not yet set. However, the Luna 28, also known as the Luna-Grunt, will be built directly aboard the ship before it to bring back to Earth frozen stored samples taken from the south pole of the Moon. Freezing the samples helps to retain water and other volatile compounds. “The specimens will be brought back, but different from those that have been brought back to earth before,” said Mr. Zelenyi. According to him, the specimen would be not only the topsoil (on the Moon) but all the volatiles and frozen impurities. This is the technical challenge. Eventually, mission Luna 29 will carry the new Lunokhod rover, continuing to merge with Soviet missions. In 1970, the Lunokhod-1 was the first rover to successfully operate on another planet. The car spent 10 months exploring the area known as the Mare Imbrium or Rainy Sea.