Latest news with #OHBItalia
Al Etihad
10-06-2025
- Science
- Al Etihad
European Space Agency's new asteroid hunter opens its eye to sky
10 June 2025 12:03 SICILY (ALETIHAD) The European Space Agency's (ESA) newest planetary defender has opened its 'eye' to the cosmos for the first time. The Flyeye telescope's 'first light' marks the beginning of a new chapter in how to scan the skies for new near-Earth asteroids and by an insect's compound eye, ESA and OHB Italia designed Flyeye to capture a region of the sky more than 200 times as large as the full Moon in a single exposure – much larger than a conventional will use this wide field of view to automatically survey the sky each night independent from human operation and identify new asteroids that could pose a hazard to Earth. 'In the future, a network of up to four Flyeye telescopes spread across the northern and southern hemispheres will work together to further improve the speed and completeness these automatic sky surveys and to reduce the dependence on good weather at any individual site,' said ESA's Ernesto Doelling, Flyeye Project Manager.'The earlier we spot potentially hazardous asteroids, the more time we have to assess them and, if necessary, prepare a response,' said Richard Moissl, Head of ESA's Planetary Defence Office. 'ESA's Flyeye telescopes will be an early-warning system, and their discoveries will be shared with the global planetary defence community.'ESA's Near-Earth Object Coordination Centre (NEOCC) will verify any potential new asteroid detections made by the Flyeye telescopes and submit the findings to the Minor Planet Centre, Earth's hub for asteroid observational data. Astronomers, including experts from the NEOCC, will then carry out follow-up observations to further assess the hazard that the object may Aceti, Managing Director at OHB Italia, explained, 'The unique optical design of the Flyeye telescope is optimised for conducting large sky surveys while maintaining high image quality throughout the wide field of view."He added that the telescope is equipped with a one-metre primary mirror, which efficiently captures incoming light. This light is then divided into 16 separate channels, each equipped with a camera capable of detecting very faint objects. This enables simultaneous high-sensitivity observations over a large region of the sky. During operations, Flyeye's observation schedule will be optimised to consider factors such as Moon brightness and the work of other survey telescopes such as the NASA-funded ATLAS telescopes, the Zwicky Transient Facility and the upcoming Vera Rubin Telescope.
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Blue Skies Space to build satellite fleet around the moon to map the ancient universe
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. The Italian Space Agency has picked European company Blue Skies Space to build a fleet of satellites around the moon to map the ancient universe. Blue Skies has partnered with another space company, OHB Italia, to build the satellite fleet, called RadioLuna, which aims to see if small satellites around the moon can pick up faint FM radio signals from the early universe's so-called "Dark Ages," before the first stars were formed, OHB said in a statement These radio signals are hard to detect on Earth; there's too much human-made radio interference. The idea is that, on the far side of the moon, the airwaves should be quiet enough to pick up the fainter cosmic radio signals. If the satellites can detect the signals, researchers can use them to map the universe's early days. "We are grateful to the Italian Space Agency for funding this activity with our project partner OHB Italia to explore novel ways of delivering exciting science," Blue Skies co-founder and CEO Marcell Tessenyi said in a separate statement. A cost estimate and launch year for RadioLuna were not immediately available. Tessenyi said the RadioLuna project stemmed from the global drive to create an economy on the moon. "Programs by space agencies such as ESA Moonlight or NASA Artemis can provide the transport, communication and timing infrastructure to projects such as RadioLuna," Tessenyi added. The RadioLuna satellite network will use small cubesats equipped with commercial off-the-shelf components. The goal is to make the satellites simple and cost-effective. "RadioLuna is a challenge where scientific ambition meets engineering pragmatism," Roberto Aceti, OHB Italia managing director, said in the statement. "We are proud to contribute to the development of an observatory that could open new frontiers in our understanding of the early universe."
