The Solar Orbiter mission with Czech devices on board takes off into space

7/2/2020Press releases

On Monday 10 February 2020 at 5:03 local time the Solar Orbiter spacecraft of the European Space Agency (ESA), which the Czech Republic significantly helped to prepare, will be launched into space from Florida's Cape Canaveral. Its task will be to study the Sun in a complex way, especially the solar magnetism, solar wind and the formation of high-energy particles. The spacecraft will also bring the very first view of both solar poles. New insights obtained from the measurements of the Solar Orbiter will help to better understand the Sun and its behaviour, which will enable to predict solar activity in a better way in the future and thus protect satellite systems as well as important ground infrastructures (energy networks, aviation, etc.) from the negative effects of currents and emission of high-energy particles coming from the Sun.

The Solar Orbiter mission with Czech devices on board takes off into space

Participation in the Solar Orbiter has been the largest involvement of Czech research institutes and companies in the preparation of a spacecraft since the Czech Republic joined the ESA in 2008. It is the ESA programmes that enable the Czech Republic to participate in the preparation of scientific missions and also in other perspective and technologically demanding space projects that would not be possible to implement in the Czech Republic itself.
Five Czech teams succeeded in the preparation of the spacecraft, working on four of the total of 10 devices which the spacecraft is equipped with:

control software and power supply for an X-ray spectrometer STIX (The Astronomical Institute of the CAS and the software company Evolving Systems Consulting),
mirrors for the METIS telescope for observation and spectroscopy of the solar corona (The Astronomical Institute of the CAS and the Institute of Plasma Physics of the CAS),
electronics for the SWA sensor of a solar wind analyser (Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University) and for the RPW device for measuring the magnetic and electric fields, electronics of the TDS digital wave analyser (The Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the CAS and a specialized CSRC workplace of the company BD Sensors).
It is an unprecedented level of involvement of Czech workplaces in one mission. Such a massive participation of Czech scientists and companies would not be possible without additional funding from commonly unavailable financial resources in ESA which were negotiated by the Ministry of Transport in 2011.

The Minister of Transport, who is responsible for coordinating the space activities of the Czech Republic, submitted a strategic document defining the direction of space activities to the Government in autumn 2019. The Government approved the National Space Plan 2020-2025 and provided investment in space activities of the Czech Republic, which are implemented through the ESA, in the amount of CZK 1.53 billion per year. This represents a year-on-year increase of 27% and a five-fold increase compared to 2008, when the Czech Republic joined the ESA as its 18^th member state.

The National Space Plan 2020 is a strategy of the Czech Republic for the development of the capacity and capabilities of its industry and academic sphere. The aim is to ensure competitiveness and maximize the return on public investment in space activities and related areas. Through the new space plan the Ministry of Transport wants to support the further growth of the space industry so that Czech companies can supply more complex components of satellites and launchers, such as whole instruments or complex subsystems of large satellites. The emphasis of the space plan is also put on ambitious projects which link the capacities of the academic sphere and Czech companies in order to create scientific excellence, to establish themselves on the commercial market and meet the needs of the state.

The Czech Republic implements most of its space activities through the European Space Agency (ESA), which it joined as a full member in late 2008. Since then, there has been a significant increase in the participation of Czech companies in space projects; now (2019), Czech companies are recognized members of international supply chains producing launchers, satellites and ground segments.

Without participation in the ESA projects it is almost impossible to get into the supply chains of companies such as Airbus, Thales, OHB or other large companies.

In 2008 – 2019, almost 400 projects were implemented by Czech companies and universities.

Space activities represent a unique opportunity for the future of the Czech Republic also thanks to the fact that the Czech Republic has acquired the seat of the European Global Navigation Satellite Systems Agency (GSA) (it has been based in Prague since 2012). This opened up further opportunities for Czech entities to develop applications for the Galileo satellite navigation system. Since 2021, the GSA has been transforming into an EU Agency for the Space Programme. The Copernicus Earth observation programme, the preparation of the Govsatcom satellite telecommunications program, and the concentration of EU capacities to protect the Earth from the negative effects of the outer space will also be managed from Prague. We must make the most of these opportunities, which other states can only envy us!

Image source: © ESA