EURECA (
EUropean
REtrievable
CArrier) was an unmanned 4.5 tonne satellite with 15 experiments. It was an ESA mission and the acronym was derived from
ArchimedesArchimedes of Syracuse was a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer. Although few details of his life are known, he is regarded as one of the leading scientists in classical antiquity...
' bathtub revelation;
Eureka!Eureka is an exclamation used as an interjection to celebrate a discovery.-Archimedes:...
.
It was build by the German
MBBMesserschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm was a German aerospace company formed as the result of several mergers in the late 1960s. Among its best-known products was the MBB Bo 105 light twin helicopter...
-ERNO and had automatic material science cells as well as small telescopes for Solar observation (including x-ray).
It was launched 31 July 1992 by
STS-46STS-46 was a NASA space shuttle mission launched in 1992.-Crew:-Mission parameters:*Mass:**Orbiter landing with payload: 94,676 kg**Payload: 12,164 kg*Perigee: 425 km*Apogee: 437 km...
-
AtlantisSpace Shuttle Atlantis is one of the three currently operational orbiters in the Space Shuttle fleet of NASA, the space agency of the United States...
, and put into an orbit at an altitude of 508 km.
Discussion
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EURECA (
EUropean
REtrievable
CArrier) was an unmanned 4.5 tonne satellite with 15 experiments. It was an ESA mission and the acronym was derived from
ArchimedesArchimedes of Syracuse was a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer. Although few details of his life are known, he is regarded as one of the leading scientists in classical antiquity...
' bathtub revelation;
Eureka!Eureka is an exclamation used as an interjection to celebrate a discovery.-Archimedes:...
.
It was build by the German
MBBMesserschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm was a German aerospace company formed as the result of several mergers in the late 1960s. Among its best-known products was the MBB Bo 105 light twin helicopter...
-ERNO and had automatic material science cells as well as small telescopes for Solar observation (including x-ray).
It was launched 31 July 1992 by
STS-46STS-46 was a NASA space shuttle mission launched in 1992.-Crew:-Mission parameters:*Mass:**Orbiter landing with payload: 94,676 kg**Payload: 12,164 kg*Perigee: 425 km*Apogee: 437 km...
-
AtlantisSpace Shuttle Atlantis is one of the three currently operational orbiters in the Space Shuttle fleet of NASA, the space agency of the United States...
, and put into an orbit at an altitude of 508 km. EURECA was retrieved on 1 July 1993 by
STS-57STS-57 was a Shuttle-Spacehab mission of that launched June 21, 1993 from Kennedy Space Center, Florida.-Crew:-Mission parameters:**Mass:**Orbiter landing with payload: 101,657 kg**Payload: 13,074 kg...
-
EndeavourSpace Shuttle Endeavour is one of three currently operational orbiters in the Space Shuttle fleet of NASA, the space agency of the United States. Endeavour is the fifth and final spaceworthy NASA space shuttle to be built, constructed as a replacement for Challenger...
and returned to Earth. It was designed to fly five times with different experiments but the following flights were cancelled.
EURECA is one of the few unmanned space vehicles that have been returned to the Earth unharmed. EURECA has been on display at the
Swiss Transport MuseumThe Swiss Transport Museum or Verkehrshaus der Schweiz, in Lucerne, is a museum, opened in July 1959 and exhibiting all forms of transport as well as communications...
in
LucerneLucerne is a city in Switzerland. It is the capital of the Canton of Lucerne and seat of the district with the same name. With a population of 57,890, Lucerne is the most populous city in Central Switzerland and a focal point of the region...
since 2000.
Configuration
EURECA was made of high-strength carbon-fiber struts and titanium nodal points joined together to form a framework of cubic elements. Thermal control on EURECA combined both active and passive heat transfer and radiation systems. Active heat transfer was achieved by means of a freon cooling loop which dissipated the thermal load through two radiators into space. The passive system made use of multilayer insulation blankets combined with electrical heaters.
The electrical subsystem was powered by deployable and retractable solar arrays together with four 40 amp-hour nickel-cadmium batteries. When EURECA was in the Shuttle cargo bay, power was supplied by the Shuttle. The modular attitude and orbit control subsystem (AOCS) maintained attitude and spacecraft orientation and stabilization. An orbit transfer assembly, consisting of four thrusters, was used to boost EURECA to its operational attitude (515 km) and return it to retrievable orbit (about 300 km).
EURECA was three-axis stabilized by means of a magnetic torque assembly together with a nitrogen reaction control assembly (RCA). Data handling was carried out by EURECAs data handling subsystem (DHS) supported by telemetry and command subsystems providing the link to the ground station.
Experiments
EURECA consisted of 15 experiments:
- Solution Growth Facility (SGF) (Belgium)
- Protein Crystallization Facility (PCF) (Germany)
- Exobiology and Radiation Assembly (ERA) (Germany)
- Multi-Furnace Assembly (MFA) (Italy)
- Automatic Mirror Furnace (AMF) (Germany)
- Surface Forces Adhesion Instrument (SFA) (Italy)
- High Precision Thermostat Instrument (HPT) (Germany)
- Solar Constant and Variability Instrument (SOVA) (Belgium)
- Solar Spectrum Instrument (SOSP) (France)
- Occultation Radiometer Instrument (ORI) (Belgium)
- Wide Angle Telescope (WATCH) (Denmark)
- Timeband Capture Cell Experiment (TICCE) (Great Britain)
- Radio Frequency Ionization Thruster Assembly (RITA) (Germany)
- Inter-Orbit Communications (IOC) (France/the Netherlands)
- Advanced Solar Gallium Arsenide Array (ASGA) (Italy)