The FP7 ESPaCE Project

The purpose of the FP7 ESPaCE program

The FP7 ESPaCE project aims to strengthen the collaboration in the scientific community, at collecting new knowledge and developing new technology and products for the development of ephemerides and reference systems for natural satellites and space crafts. This project is a collaboration linking the expertise of the main European research centers involved in space science and dynamics: IMCCE, ROB, TUB, JIVE, CNES, DLR and TUD.
The main part of the activity focuses on the extraction and analysis of astrometric data from space measurements not yet applied to the system’s dynamics and to combine them with ground-based astrometric data. The project will also improve Europe's expertise in ultra-precise tracking of planetary probes and other deep space science missions. By these means, we intend to provide new models of the dynamics for several natural satellites, a description of their rotational properties, and improve spacecraft orbit determination methods for space science.
The project is organized in 11 work-packages: coordination (management), radio science, laser ranging, VLBI (Very Long Baseline Interferometry), digitized data handling, astrometry, definition of coordination reference frames and improvement of planetary coordinate knowledge, methods for determination of spacecraft and satellites, ephemerides, formation of databases, data access and distribution methods, educational and outreach activities.
The project will concentrate on reaching maximum synergy between all the work packages above in order to deliver to the professional and at-large communities the best scientific products adequate for the present-day cutting-edge space science and technology . The web sites are available at espace.oma.be (for general public) and espace.imcce.fr (for professional astronomers).

The members of the project

The laboratories involved in this project are described in dedicated pages:
- Institut de mécanique celeste et de calcul des éphémérides/Paris Observatory (IMCCE/OPM) in France
- Royal Observatory of Belgium (ROB) in Belgium
- Technical University of Berlin (TUB) in Germany
- Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE) in the Netherlands
- Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) in France
- Deutsches Zentrum fuer Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR) in Germany
- Technology University of Delft (TUD) in the Netherlands

The purpose of the present site

This site is dedicated to present the solar system to general public and students. It contains specific pages on the natural planetary satellites as follows:
- presentation of the satellites of Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.
- how where discovered the satellites of Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus,Neptune and Pluto.
- what space probes visit the satellites of Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.
- sizes and shapes of the satellites of Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.
- masses of the satellites of Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.
- orbital elements of the satellites of Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.
- more information on the satellites of Jupiter.

However, you may continue and visit the solar system using this icon .