On Wednesday, a group of new European astronauts were introduced. The European Space Agency ESA selected them from among approximately 22,500 applicants.
A group new European astronauts were introduced on Wednesday at the European Space Agency’s ESA meeting. ESA announced the names at the end of its ministerial meeting in Paris.
The organization named five astronauts at the event, three men and two women. They are Sophie Adeno from France, Pablo Alvarez Fernandez from Spain, Rosemary Coogan from Britain, Raphael Liegeois from Belgium and Marco Sieber from Switzerland.
The organization also chose an astronaut with a physical disability, whom it named a “parastronaut”. He is British John McFall. One of McFall’s legs was amputated above the knee due to the accident. He is a Paralympic track and field medalist in sprinting.
Evening News told at the beginning of the year, that there were more than 22,500 European applicants at the beginning.
Magazine presented in the spring of one of them, an astrophysicist from Helsinki Guerrilla Enestam. When 530 women and 831 men from a total of 25 different countries were selected to continue in the spring, Enestam was not among them.
At that time, eight women and 12 men from Finland had made it to the next round.
The previous selection was completed in 2009. At that time, the Finn was already in the top ten, but was eliminated.
To be an astronaut persons with a master’s degree in natural sciences, medicine, engineering, mathematics or information technology have been able to apply.
In addition, the requirements included three years of work experience.
These search criteria were met, for example, by those who once studied at Aalto University Blue Sea Rock, Juuso Mikkola and Timo Nikkanen. They told in the spring In Aalto University’s publicationwhy they ended up applying to become an astronaut.
Merikallio has changed his profession and moved from a space scientist to a veterinarian. Mikkola is an operational expert of the Air Force’s space capabilities.
Nikkanen is an engineer at Reaktor Space Lab. He designs and tests small satellites, also in ESA projects.
Finland joined the European Space Agency in 1995. Finland became ESA’s 14th member. Now there are already 22 member states.
ESA’s ministerial meeting emphasized that Europe’s role in space affairs must be strengthened.
One problem is that the ESA Ariane 6 launch vehicle is behind schedule. That is why Europe is currently unable to send all the satellites it wants into space itself,
says Yle
.
The Ariane 6 launch vehicle will not fly until the end of next year.
Cooperation in space with Russia is now almost over. The only thing left to do together is on the international space station ISS.
The Russians’ reliable Soyuz launchers are not available to others. The Russians’ own launch pad from the European Space Center in Kourou, located in South America, was used for the Soyuz in French Guiana.
Private the American space company Space X has brought new excitement and competition to the space industry. Its launchers are reusable. For example, Space X flies people and cargo to the International Space Station (ISS).
So Finland still does not have its own astronauts, but there is a lot of technology available. European satellites need, for example, 5G and 6G technologies for data transmission and encrypted data transmission.
ESA participates in the project now of course. For example, it has built the maintenance module of the Orion ship of the Artemis 1 flight that has already reached the Moon. It is responsible, among other things, for Orion’s electronics.
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