ESOC Audio News Podcasts

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News and updates from the European Space Agency's Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany. Primary Format : News Also Listed as: News City : Darmstadt State/Province : Unknown Country : Germany Country : EU User Tags: User Votes: RSS Feed Website People found this Podcast Searching for: View this Podcast on a Google Map. Add to iTunes Text Only listing of ESOC Audio News Podcasts Trumix.com listings available of ESOC Audio News Podcasts Click Here to Update the directory of this podcasts programs.

Trumix.com listings available of ESOC Audio News Podcasts Build your own playlists with this podcast. Satellite navigation system guides visually-impaired pedestrians Seen from a distance, a blind man guided by his dog in the streets of Madrid seems quite sure of his way. In fact, he is not listening to music with his headphones but receiving directions to his destination: "turn to the right, turn to the left, continue straight ahead…" Thanks to a mobile phone combined with a position receiver and a voice synthesizer he can walk confidently through the city while being guided by satellite. Developed by ESA, with the Spanish firm GMV Sistemas, this devi ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Columbus delivered to KSC Bernardo Patti, ESA's project manager for the Columbus laboratory - one of Europe's main contributions to the International Space Station - talks about the module's transatlantic journey from Bremen, in Germany, to NASA's Kennedy Space Center, in Florida, the United States.ESApod audio programme Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website ISS update 2006 For over five years, astronauts from around the world have been living and working together 400 kilometres above the Earth on board the biggest outpost ever built in space. The International Space Station (ISS) is one of the largest research projects ever and involves Europe, the United States, Russia, Japan and Canada. Over the next few years, ISS operations will combine further growth and exploitation. Europe's involvement means thousands of engineers and scientists participate in leadin ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Craters revealed Geology, evolution and even the age of rocky planets and moons can be traced down by the study of impact craters - planetary scars left by the bombardment of asteroids and comets. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website ISD2006, Industry Space Days at ESTEC This year's ISD2006 brings together more than 700 representatives from small and medium enterprises (SMEs), system integrators, institutions, product suppliers and service providers to allow them to identify tomorrow's industrial strategies and business opportunities within the sector. Focus is on SMEs in Europe and Canada, and improving their involvement in space activities and fostering cross-fertilisation within the space sector. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website An asteroid named ESA Since the beginning of this year, a new name appears in the list of the known asteroids that inhabit our Solar System. The name is 'ESA', which stands for 'European Space Agency'. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website ESA showcased at ILA, Berlin ESA is participating at ILA together with the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), BDLI and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) in a special pavilion within the "International Space Village", entitled Space for Life, Europe in Space. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Something in the air? The atmosphere took centre stage at a five-day conference held by ESA in Frascati, Italy, with 250 scientists presenting and comparing results from ongoing atmospheric research from ESA’s Envisat satellite. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Via broadband from the Arctic Explorer Marc Cornelissen describes challenges of Arctic expedition from Greenland Ice Cap. With him are six students from the Climate Change College helping with ESA’s CryoSat-2 validation campaign. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Thoughts on Venus As Venus Express arrives at its namesake destination, ESA astronaut Claude Nicollier discusses the enigmatic planet and muses on its beauty and fascinating planetary evolution. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Thoughts on Venus As Venus Express arrives at its namesake destination, ESA astronaut Claude Nicollier discusses the enigmatic planet and muses on its beauty and fascinating planetary evolution. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Venus Express powers into orbit Confirmation that Venus Express had successfully entered orbit came from ESOC, ESA's Space Operations Centre, in Germany, today at 11:12 CEST. After a tense engine burn and blackout while the spacecraft swung behind Venus, mission controllers re-established the radio telemetry link with Venus Express marking successful arrival at the planet. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Venus Express powers into orbit Confirmation that Venus Express had successfully entered orbit came from ESOC, ESA's Space Operations Centre, in Germany, today at 11:12 CEST. After a tense engine burn and blackout while the spacecraft swung behind Venus, mission controllers re-established the radio telemetry link with Venus Express marking successful arrival at the planet. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Drama in mission control ESAPod goes to the heart of Venus Express and meets with a veteran ESA operations engineer in the mission control centre. The large, well-equipped Main Control Room enables flight controllers to work as a focussed team during critical events and gives them the central facilities they need to communicate with support teams worldwide. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Drama in mission control ESAPod goes to the heart of Venus Express and meets with a veteran ESA operations engineer in the mission control centre. The large, well-equipped Main Control Room enables flight controllers to work as a focussed team during critical events and gives them the central facilities they need to communicate with support teams worldwide. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Ears to the sky Venus Express is being telecommanded via the 35-meter deep-space station in Cebreros, Spain -- the newest station to join ESA's global ESTRACK network. Cebreros communicates at X-band Gigaherz radio frequencies, far higher than commercial FM radio frequencies and similar to the ultrahigh frequencies used by mobile phones. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Ears to the sky Navigating Venus Express is a devilishly difficult problem as computations must take into account all sources of gravity working on the spacecraft. ESA scientists use good old-fashioned classical physics first clarified by Newton, Kepler and others some 400 years ago. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Pathways in space Navigating Venus Express is a devilishly difficult problem as computations must take into account all sources of gravity working on the spacecraft. ESA scientists use good old-fashioned classical physics first clarified by Newton, Kepler and others some 400 years ago. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Critical manoeuvres "If something goes wrong, it could either fly by Venus or hit the planet." The Venus Express Project Manager, Don McCoy, recently spoke to ESAPod on the intense preparations for the critical April 11th orbit insertion. He says ESA mission control teams are well prepared for arrival. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Wavelength windows Gathering data from above Venus' thick atmosphere is very difficult. A remarkable series of spectral windows allow Venus Express instruments to 'see' through to the surface. The existence of these spectral windows was unknown until the early 1980s when they were discovered, as many key scientific phenomena are, by chance. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Pathways in space Navigating Venus Express is a devilishly difficult problem as computations must take into account all sources of gravity working on the spacecraft. ESA scientists use good old-fashioned classical physics first clarified by Newton, Kepler and others some 400 years ago. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Critical manoeuvres "If something goes wrong, it could either fly by Venus or hit the planet." The Venus Express Project Manager, Don McCoy, recently spoke to ESAPod on the intense preparations for the critical April 11th orbit insertion. He says ESA mission control teams are well prepared for arrival. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Wavelength windows Gathering data from above Venus' thick atmosphere is very difficult. A remarkable series of spectral windows allow Venus Express instruments to 'see' through to the surface. The existence of these spectral windows was unknown until the early 1980s when they were discovered, as many key scientific phenomena are, by chance. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Volcanoes and lava flows Earth's surface has been renewed over the eons by plate tectonics, volcanism and other processes. But Venus does not appear to have tectonic plate activity. What is certain is that the surface of Venus has been shaped by deformation of the crust and volcanic activity. Venus volcanism indicates that, at least in the past, the crust was laying on a liquid mantle, as on Earth. The key question is, are volcanoes still active on V ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Volcanoes and lava flows Earth's surface has been renewed over the eons by plate tectonics, volcanism and other processes. But Venus does not appear to have tectonic plate activity. What is certain is that the surface of Venus has been shaped by deformation of the crust and volcanic activity. Venus volcanism indicates that, at least in the past, the crust was laying on a liquid mantle, as on Earth. The key question is, are volcanoes still active on Venus today? Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Science from Above In Part 5 of ESA's special Venus Express Podcast series, we speak with Dr Gerhard Schwehm about the instruments onboard Venus Express and how scientific data can be gathered by planetary missions remotely from above. (Note: Part 4 will be posted in a couple of days.) Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Science from Above In Part 5 of ESA's special Venus Express Podcast series, we speak with Dr Gerhard Schwehm about the instruments onboard Venus Express and how scientific data can be gathered by planetary missions remotely from above. (Note: Part 4 will be posted in a couple of days.) Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Alien greenhouse Venus suffers from a runaway Greenhouse Effect responsible for transforming Earth's near-twin into one of the Solar System's most hellish places. Venus Express aims to unlock the mysteries behind this atmospheric collapse and gather data that scientists will use to better understand the Earth and Mars -- and whether life could exist in other solar systems. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Alien greenhouse Venus suffers from a runaway Greenhouse Effect responsible for transforming Earth's near-twin into one of the Solar System's most hellish places. Venus Express aims to unlock the mysteries behind this atmospheric collapse and gather data that scientists will use to better understand the Earth and Mars -- and whether life could exist in other solar systems. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Amateur eyes on a hot planet In Part 2 of ESA's special Venus Express Podcast series, we cover the Venus Amateur Observing Project, a unique proposal to engage amateur astronomers in observing Venus. The aim is to help scientists validate Venus Express data and gather scientifically useful images to complement the spacecraft's observations of the planet. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Amateur eyes on a hot planet In Part 2 of ESA's special Venus Express Podcast series, we cover the Venus Amateur Observing Project, a unique proposal to engage amateur astronomers in observing Venus. The aim is to help scientists validate Venus Express data and gather scientifically useful images to complement the spacecraft's observations of the planet. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The passion of Venus Venus, the 'Morning Star', is our closest planetary neighbour. Similar to Earth in size and mass, scientists once thought it should be a lot like our planet. Instead, Venus is entirely different, hidden by dense clouds of noxious gases, with a crushing surface pressure and burning-hot temperatures. Why did a planet apparently so similar to Earth evolve in a way so radically different over the last four thousand million years? ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The passion of Venus Venus, the 'Morning Star', is our closest planetary neighbour. Similar to Earth in size and mass, scientists once thought it should be a lot like our planet. Instead, Venus is entirely different, hidden by dense clouds of noxious gases, with a crushing surface pressure and burning-hot temperatures. Why did a planet apparently so similar to Earth evolve in a way so radically different over the last four thousand million years? How has an alien Greenhouse Effect contributed to atmospheric col ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website ESA astronaut Thomas Reiter mission to ISS ESA astronaut Thomas Reiter is scheduled to lift-off onboard NASA's Space Shuttle in May to join ISS Expedition 13. At a press event today at the European Astronaut Centre, the German-born Reiter spoke to the media and highlighted the scientific experiments he will oversee as part of ESA's first long-duration mission on the ISS. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website ESA astronaut Thomas Reiter mission to ISS ESA astronaut Thomas Reiter is scheduled to lift-off onboard NASA's Space Shuttle in May to join ISS Expedition 13. At a press event today at the European Astronaut Centre, the German-born Reiter spoke to the media and highlighted the scientific experiments he will oversee as part of ESA's first long-duration mission on the ISS. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Man-made Star Shines in the Southern Sky ESO astronomers have been able to create an "artificial star", 90 km high in the atmosphere, using a laser beam. This "star" can be put at any point in the sky, and it enables the adaptive optics of the VLT telescope to be used throughout the visible sky. Until now, adaptive optics required the light of a strong natural star as a reference - as of now, the artificial star will take this over. The new technology therefore enla ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Man-made Star Shines in the Southern Sky How to make the world's best Earthbound telescope even better Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Integral views the Earth Integral is ESA's 4-year-old orbiting astrophysics observatory, and is designed to look upwards into deep space to observe some of the universe's most violent sources, including exploding supernova stars and black holes. Recently, spacecraft controllers reoriented integral to look down in a unique Earth observation campaign designed in part to study what happens when the Earth's disk blocks the high-energy background radiatio ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Integral views the Earth Integral is ESA's 4-year-old orbiting astrophysics observatory, and is designed to look upwards into deep space to observe some of the universe's most violent sources, including exploding supernova stars and black holes. Recently, spacecraft controllers reoriented integral to look down in a unique Earth observation campaign designed in part to study what happens when the Earth's disk blocks the high-energy background radiation. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Sciamachy Observes Air Pollution The Sciamachy instrument on ESA's Envisat satellite is a powerful monitor of global air pollution. This clip provides an overview of recent interesting observations. These include the rapid increase of pollution in China over the past ten years, notably of nitrogene dioxid in the Beijing area, and unexplained sources of the greenhouse gas methane in the Ganges valley in India. Also air pollution in industrialed regions of Eur ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Sciamachy Observes Air Pollution The Sciamachy instrument on ESA's Envisat satellite is a powerful monitor of global air pollution. This clip provides an overview of recent interesting observations. These include the rapid increase of pollution in China over the past ten years, notably of nitrogene dioxid in the Beijing area, and unexplained sources of the greenhouse gas Methane in the Ganges valley in India. Also air pollution in industrialed regions of Europe is highlighed. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Smallest Planet outside Solar System Discovered The discovery of the first Earth-like planet outside our own Solar system was announced on 26 January 2005 by the scientific journal NATURE. This planet is not made of gas like all previously observed exoplanets but features a solid crust, like the Earth. It was detected using a promising new technique, with a telescope of the European Southern Observatory ESO, located in Chile. With the detection of more such planets, the s ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Smallest Planet outside Solar System Discovered The discovery of the first Earth-like planet outside our own Solar system was announced on 26 January 2005 by the scientific journal NATURE. This planet is not made of gas like all previously observed exoplanets but features a solid crust, like the Earth. It was detected using a promising new technique, with a telescope of the European Southern Observatory ESO, located in Chile. With the detection of more such planets, the search for extraterrestrial life will enter a new phase of explorati ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Galileo - The clock is ticking After the successful launch of GIOVE-on 28 December 2005 and the acquisition of a navigation signal on 12 January 2006, Galileo, Europe's own GPS, is underway from the drawing board into space. This ESApod video features highlight images of the launch of GIOVE and an outline of Galileo, and why this will eventually be the best positioning system in the world. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Galileo - The clock is ticking A glance at Europe's Galileo global navigation system, a few weeks after the launch of the first satellite Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website ESA Director General meets the press ESA Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain met the press at ESA headquarters in Paris this morning to take stock of ESA's 2005 activities and announce the main events for the upcoming year (voice of English translator).Grab this podcast! Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Huygens - One Year After Cassini-Huygens has provided stunning otherworldly images of Saturn and its moons. Highlights so far include ESA's landing of Huygens on Titan and Cassini's continued observations of the Saturn system. Today's video programme reviews the latest science results including the unknown origin of Titan's large quantities of atmospheric methane. Includes interviews with Huygens scientists and spectacular 3D animations. Grab this vo ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Huygens - One Year After Cassini-Huygens has provided stunning otherworldly images of Saturn and its moons. Highlights so far include ESA's landing of Huygens on Titan and Cassini's continued observations of the Saturn system. Today's video programme reviews the latest science results including the unknown origin of Titan's large quantities of atmospheric methane. Includes interviews with Huygens scientists and spectacular 3D animations. Grab this vodcast! Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website One Year After: Sounds of Alien Winds January 14th is the first anniversary of Huygens' decent to Titan. The mission is one of the Top 10 major scientific achievements of 2005 according to the prestigious US journal Science. In today's audio programme, we review the Huygens mission, speak with scientists and listen to audio recorded during the probe's descent. Grab this podcast! Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website ESA Provides Unique Satellite Delivery Service Europe's newest weather satellite, MSG-2, will be launched on 21 December 2005. ESOC, ESA's Space Operations Centre, will provide a custom satellite delivery service to EUMETSAT, handing over the spacecraft upon completion of the critical launch and early orbit phase. Interview with John Dodsworth and Nigel Head, Flight Operations Directors for the A and B mission control teams. Grab this podcast! Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website ESA Provides Unique Satellite Delivery Service Europe's newsest weather satellite, MSG-2, will be launched on 21 December 2005. ESOC, ESA's Space Operations Centre, will provide a custom satellite delivery service to EUMETSAT, handing over the spacecraft upon completion of the critical launch and early orbit phase. Interview with John Dodsworth and Nigel Head, Flight Operations Directors for the A and B mission control teams Grab this podcast! Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website ESA Ministerial Council Press Conference The ESA Ministerial Council took place on 5-6 December in Berlin. Ministers from ESA's 17 MemberStates discussed important new space programmes in the areas of Earth observation, planetary exploration, exploitation of the International Space Station and European launchers. Participants in the press conference were: Laurens-Jan Brinkhorst, Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs and Chairman of the ESA Ministerial Council; Jean-Jacques Dordain, ESA Director General; and Dietmar Wittig, Chairman o ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website ESA Ministerial Council Press Conference The ESA Ministerial Council took place on 5-6 December in Berlin. Ministers from ESA's 17 Member States discussed important new space programmes in the areas of Earth observation, planetary exploration, exploitation of the International Space Station and European launchers. Participants in the press conference were: Laurens-Jan Brinkhorst, Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs and Chairman of the ESA Ministerial Council; Jean-Jacques Dordain, ESA Director General; and Dietmar Wittig, Chairman ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Huygens and Mars Express Science Highlights - Part 1 First of a special two-part programme reporting from ESA headquarters in Pariswhere today the European Space Agency held a press conference presenting the latest science highlights from Huygens and Mars Express. The press event included senior scientists and principal investigators who announced the latest analysis and findings from these missions, two of the most successful space probes ever launched. Part 1 reports on today's news from Huygens and includes interviews with Huygens principl ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Huygens and Mars Express Science Highlights - Part 2 Second of a special two-part programme reporting from ESA headquarters in Paris where today the European Space Agency held a press conference presenting the latest science highlights from Huygens and Mars Express. Part 2 reports on Mars Express.Grab this podcast! Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Venus Express launch: ESOC mission control audio loop At 04:33 CET this morning, Venus Express was launched on a Soyuz-Fregat launcher from Baikonur, Kazakhstan; mission control operated from ESOC, ESA's Space Operations Centre, in Darmstadt, Germany. Today's Podcast includes audio clips from the communications loop used by flight controllers and includes the Flight Operations Director's pre-launch GO-NOGO "Roll-Call" at 03:38 CET as well as an interview with Ground Segment Mana ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Venus Express launch: ESOC mission control audio loop At 04:33 CET this morning, Venus Express was launched on a Soyuz-Fregat launcher from Baikonur, Kazakhstan; mission control operated from ESOC, ESA's Space Operations Centre, in Darmstadt, Germany. Today's Podcast includes audio clips from the communications loop used by flight controllers and includes the Flight Operations Director's pre-launch GO-NOGO "Roll-Call" at 03:38 CET as well as an interview with Ground Segment Manager Manfred Warhaut from the Main Control Room. Venus Express is n ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website SSETI Express: power problem Since Friday morning, the ground control station in Aalborg has not had any contact with SSETI Express. Thorough analysis over the weekend indicates that a failure in the electrical power system on board the spacecraft is preventing the batteries from charging, resulting in a shutdown of the satellite.Grab this podcast! Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website SSETI Express in safe mode; CubeSats deployed At 22:20 CEST last night, SSETI Express went into a safe mode due to an undervoltage caused by battery charging problems. The operations team is working actively to resume nominal operations of the satellite and is receiving tremendous help in the process from the amateur radio community.Grab this podcast! Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website First Internet-built student satellite successfully launched SSETI Express, a low Earth orbit spacecraft designed and built by European university students under the supervision of ESA's Education Department, was successfully launched this morning at 08:52 CEST from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome on a Russian Kosmos 3M launcher. At 10:29 CEST this morning, the ground control centre at the University in Aalborg (DK) received the first signals from the satellite.Grab this podcast! Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Venus Express preliminary investigations bring encouraging news Following the announcement of the Venus Express launch delay due to particulate contamination found in the launcher fairing where the spacecraft was installed, ESA staff and industry teams have started an inspection of the spacecraft. This recovery 'investigation procedure' has so far revealed a spacecraft in good status. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website SMART-1 in new orbit The SMART-1 flight control team at ESOC, in Darmstadt, Germany, have been very active for the past several weeks, repositioning the craft into a new orbit around the Moon. The requirement for the manoeuvre stems from the highly successful mission having been extended by one year until August 2006, necessitating using all onboard fuel to compensate for natural orbital drift. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Saturn's Radio Emissions - Part 2 In this example, it appears as though the three rising tones are launched from the more slowly varying narrowband emission near the bottom of this display. If this is the case, it represents a very complicated interaction between waves in Saturn's radio source region, but one which has also been observed at Earth. Time on this recording has been compressed such that 13 seconds corresponds to 27 seconds. Since the frequencies of these emissions are well above the audio frequency range, we ha ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Saturn's Radio Emissions - Part 1 Saturn is a source of intense radio emissions, which have been monitored by the Cassini spacecraft. The radio waves are closely related to the auroras near the poles of the planet. These auroras are similar to Earth's northern and southern lights. This is an audio file of radio emissions from Saturn. The Cassini spacecraft began detecting these radio emissions in April 2002, when Cassini was 374 million kilo meters from the planet, using the Cassini radio and plasma wave science instrument. ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website ESOC's 'Skunk Works' Strong on Innovation Today's audiocast looks at some of the less-widely-known activities taking place at ESOC with a focus on the Mission Control Technologies Unit, sometimes referred to as ESOC's 'Skunk Works.' Alessandro Donati, unit head, talks about his team's activities and how the unit is using innovation and well-thought-out processes to deliver tools and technologies to make mission controlling more efficient and effective. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website ESA operations at 30 years In this audio report, Gaele Winters reviews highlights from past mission operations with a focus on the Agency's Space Operations Centre (ESOC), in Darmstadt, Germany. He also describes ESOC's role in the Galileo navigation project, how the European network of centres is evolving in support of Galileo and how ESOC will support future activities including the joint Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) initiative. For background details and links to missions mentioned in the ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cryosat flight team in countdown to launch In September 2005, ESA will launch Cryosat, a satellite that will measure the actual thickness of the Earth's marine and continental ice sheets and obtain data directly related to global warming. Kate Adamson, a Cryosat operations engineer, talks about the flight simulation campaign, the ground segment readiness review and the growing excitement at ESA's Space Operations Centre. (MP3 5.1MB, 7:52) Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website