ESOC

Part of the larger European Space Agency ESA, the ESOC is undertaking some of the most compelling and contemporary research in the world and is charged with the mission control of all European non-manned missions to space.

Michael Yarbrough: Behind the Scenes: European Space Operations Centre Michael Yarbrough 2011

Distance is not the name of the game for Rosetta, though, and the scientists and engineers of ESOC will be operating at much higher stakes upon awakening the long-distance spacecraft.

Michael Yarbrough: Behind the Scenes: European Space Operations Centre Michael Yarbrough 2011

ESOC and Rosetta engineers plans to orbit and land on a comet, something that no space agency has ever successfully attempted.

Michael Yarbrough: Behind the Scenes: European Space Operations Centre Michael Yarbrough 2011

Distance is not the name of the game for Rosetta, though, and the scientists and engineers of ESOC will be operating at much higher stakes upon awakening the long-distance spacecraft.

Michael Yarbrough: Behind the Scenes: European Space Operations Centre Michael Yarbrough 2011

Seven years into a ten year mission, ESA and ESOC have committed a vast amount of time and effort to Rosetta, a mission whose goal is entirely novel to autonomous space exploration.

Michael Yarbrough: Behind the Scenes: European Space Operations Centre Michael Yarbrough 2011

Seven years into a ten year mission, ESA and ESOC have committed a vast amount of time and effort to Rosetta, a mission whose goal is entirely novel to autonomous space exploration.

Michael Yarbrough: Behind the Scenes: European Space Operations Centre Michael Yarbrough 2011

Part of the larger European Space Agency ESA, the ESOC is undertaking some of the most compelling and contemporary research in the world and is charged with the mission control of all European non-manned missions to space.

Michael Yarbrough: Behind the Scenes: European Space Operations Centre Michael Yarbrough 2011

Don't tell that to Dr. Diekmann and the control crew of ERS-2, an aging satellite that recently completed its scientific mission and is now being stepped through the Earth's atmosphere in a procedure that, once again, has never been attempted at ESOC.

Michael Yarbrough: Behind the Scenes: European Space Operations Centre Michael Yarbrough 2011

When ESOC scientist Dr. Heiner Klinkrad test-fired a one-centimeter projectile at a "mere" 8 kilometers per second into a solid aluminum block, the results were catastrophic.

Michael Yarbrough: Behind the Scenes: European Space Operations Centre Michael Yarbrough 2011

When ESOC scientist Dr. Heiner Klinkrad test-fired a one-centimeter projectile at a "mere" 8 kilometers per second into a solid aluminum block, the results were catastrophic.

Michael Yarbrough: Behind the Scenes: European Space Operations Centre Michael Yarbrough 2011