Latest news with #CaroleMundell
AllAfrica
22-07-2025
- Science
- AllAfrica
With China, European Space Agency leaves politics to governments
The European Space Agency (ESA) has a comprehensive internal system in place to ensure that its collaboration with China will not raise security concerns or be affected by geopolitical changes, according to a senior director interviewed by Asia Times. After the ESA said in January 2023 that it would not send astronauts to China's Tiangong space station, it continued to work with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) on two scientific research programs. One of the two programs is the Einstein Probe (EP), a China-led X-ray space telescope mission. China launched the EP satellite to low Earth orbit (600 kilometers above the Earth) from Xichang Satellite Launch Centre on January 9 last year. Another mission is the Solar-wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer (SMILE), a 50-50 mission between the ESA and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). The SMILE satellite is scheduled to be launched from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana, located in northeastern South America, in 2026. It will operate in a highly elliptical orbit similar to a Molniya orbit (40,000 kilometers above the Earth). With SMILE, scientists can understand the Sun–Earth connection by measuring the solar wind and its dynamic interaction with Earth's magnetosphere. Carole Mundell, Director of Science at the European Space Agency (ESA), stated that there is no immediate risk to the ESA-China programs. 'I don't believe there's an immediate risk of that, in the sense that ESA is governed by its member states, and those 23 countries guide me as director of science on how to run the program,' Mundell told Asia Times in an interview on the sidelines of the UK Space Conference in Manchester on July 17. The X-ray telescope of the Einstein Probe Photo: ESA 'I have permission from our member states to collaborate with China, and that's how we've worked on Einstein Probe,' she said. ' It's how we've worked on SMILE.' 'We have robust security processes, and apply them to each national country's government. If components are coming, say from the UK or Belgium, we go through their normal export license control processes, and that is how we satisfy the international regulations.' She said any political challenges between the United States and China are between their governments, which are not ESA member states. She said when collaborating with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the ESA also follows its processes and US rules and regulations. 'We are a technical agency and an international civil service. We are not political, and we don't make decisions on policy,' she said. Mundell took up her current position at the ESA in March 2023. She gained her PhD in astrophysics from the University of Manchester and postdoctoral research fellowships at Jodrell Bank Observatory in the UK, and the University of Maryland in the US, specialising in the physics of accreting supermassive black holes and their role in galaxy evolution. She became the first woman Chief Scientific Adviser at the UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 2018 and first Chief International Science Envoy in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office until 2021. She was elected President of the UK Science Council in 2021. In March 2019, representing the UK government, she spent two weeks visiting scientific institutions and technology firms in Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Beijing, as well as the China National Space Agency (CNSA) and the National Space Science Center (NSSC). At that time, Wang Chi, the Director General of NSSC, briefly introduced the SMILE mission to her. China and the ESA targeted launching the mission in 2023. However, the launch date was postponed to 2026 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the past six years, the world's geopolitical environment has faced drastic changes, including Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the trade and chip wars between China and the US, and rising political tensions between China and the European Union (EU). On July 18, the EU approved the 18th round of sanctions against Russia, which targeted Russian energy and military firms, as well as two Chinese Banks. Beijing slammed the EU for its sanctions. Carole Mundell, Director of Science at the European Space Agency (ESA) Photo: Asia Times, Jeff Pao Mundell said the ESA can avoid falling foul of international politics due to its independent organizational structure. 'Twenty-three countries are contributing their funding to us this year. Their ministers will all come together and set our budgets in November,' she said. 'We're a membership organization in the same way that CERN is.' (CERN stands for Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire, or the European Organization for Nuclear Research in English.) While the ESA and the EU are separate organisations, they work closely together in many programs, including: the Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite (Iris2) to promote digital autonomy and provide a strategic asset for the EU; the EU's Galileo system, with a 28-satellite constellation and global ground stations to provide a global positioning service; the EU's Copernicus Earth observation satellites to mitigate the effects of climate change and ensure civil security. Under the Financial Framework Partnership Agreement signed in 2021, the EU will provide the ESA with about €9 billion (US$10.52 billion) of funding from 2021 to 2027. Last year, the ESA's full-year budget was €7.79 billion. China has not officially announced its investment in space exploration. According to China's government expenditure on space programs totaled $19.89 billion in 2024, compared to the United States' $79.68 billion and the EU's $3.71 billion. Mundell said that, as a scientist, she would not mind if other places invested more in climate monitoring than the ESA. 'During the pandemic, sometimes political leaders asked me, 'Who's got the best vaccine?' My answer was always: The competition is not about my vaccine being better than yours. It's about the best vaccine to prevent death and illness,' she said. 'For climate monitoring, the Earth is a complex system. We all have limited budgets. If you want to compete to get the best data on Earth observation, it's not a bad competition. That's fine. Go for it,' she said. 'It's better than being blind to the changes on our planet.' She hopes that other organizations will share their data and contribute to climate monitoring, following the example set by the ESA's Copernicus program. The EU and the ESA sent Copernicus Earth observation satellites to mitigate the effects of climate change and ensure civil security. Photo: ESA 'The Copernicus program has set a gold standard for Earth observation,' she said. 'In terms of data transparency, we share our data. We also add value by helping people who might not know what to do with them to get extra information out of them.' 'When I was in the UK Government, it was very interesting visiting one of the NSSC's climate institutes, because there was some local data which was then fed back into some of the UK models, which then helped build the global climate models,' she said, highlighting the importance of boosting international collaboration. The Paris-based ESA, which celebrated its 50th anniversary this year since its establishment on May 30, 1975, continues to explore new collaborations with Asian counterparts. In March this year, the ESA signed a letter of intent with Singapore's Office for Space Technology & Industry (OSTIn) to promote deeper collaboration. In May, the ESA and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) signed a joint statement of intent on cooperation for human space exploration, focusing on low Earth orbit, and in a secondary stage on the Moon. In July, the ESA announced that it would sign a framework agreement to strengthen cooperation with South Korea's newly established Korea Aerospace Administration (KASA). Read: China's patience wears thin with EU over medical device row
The Herald Scotland
14-07-2025
- Science
- The Herald Scotland
A chance to show the world Glasgow's scientific expertise
Gravitational waves – ripples in spacetime created by accelerating masses – were predicted by Einstein in 1916. It took almost a century to observe them, a breakthrough providing a new way to study our Universe. Gravitational waves are generated by some of the Universe's most extreme phenomena, such as the mergers of black holes. The energy carried by gravitational waves is phenomenal – if you could see gravitational waves, one black hole merger would outshine all the stars in the sky combined. However, once gravitational waves travel the astronomical distance to Earth, they are almost imperceptivity small. Detecting these ripples was one of the great challenges in experimental physics. After decades of research, the twin LIGO detectors in the US (using Glasgow technology) made their first detection in September 2015. This discovery required LIGO to measure a change in length equivalent to less than the size of a single proton over their 4 km length. This first gravitational-wave signal came from the merger of two black holes, each about 30 times the mass of our Sun. This was the first observation of two black holes merging – a unique test of Einstein's theories – and the first discovery of black holes of that size – a unique insight into the remains left by massive stars. Since 2015, the pace of discovery has exploded. The LIGO detectors are currently in their fourth observing run, joined by the European Virgo and the Japanese KAGRA detectors. This run has already yielded over 200 detections. These observations will deliver a more precise understanding of gravity, astrophysics and cosmology than ever before. This week, scientists will discuss the future of gravitational-wave science and plans for new observatories. The first space-based observatory will launch in the 2030s – the LISA mission of the European Space Agency (ESA). LISA will observe more of the gravitational-wave spectrum and detect signals from the mergers of black holes millions of the times the mass of our Sun. These colossal black holes reside in the centres of all galaxies, yet astrophysicists do not know how they form. As part of GR-Amaldi, Prof. Carole Mundell, Director of Science at ESA and University of Glasgow graduate, will give a free public lecture on ESA and LISA. The GR–Amaldi conference is an opportunity to show the world Glasgow's scientific expertise. Beyond developing gravitational-wave astronomy, spin-out technologies from our research have enabled advancements ranging from monitoring volcanos to generating bone tissue for transplants. The conference also reminds us of what can be achieved through international collaboration. Technological advancements have made gravitational-wave detection an (almost) everyday event. As new connections are made between the world's researchers, we look forward to the next generation of discoveries. Dr Christopher Berry is a senior lecturer in the School of Physics & Astronomy at the University of Glasgow and a member of the University's Institute for Gravitational Research. Agenda is a column for outside contributors. Contact: agenda@
Observer
05-07-2025
- Science
- Observer
First-Ever Images of Sun's South Pole Released by European Mission
Spacecraft and specialized telescopes have been studying the sun closely for decades, probing the secrets of its spots, flares and corona. But neither human nor robotic eyes had properly seen the north or south poles of the sun. The European Space Agency recently released the first clear images of the sun's south pole, which were captured in late March by its Solar Orbiter spacecraft. 'It's the first time ever that humanity has had an image of the poles of the sun,' said Carole Mundell, director of science for the European Space Agency. 'It's a wonderful achievement.' Scientists have had vague glimpses of the sun's poles before. However, those side-on views have been akin to 'looking through grass,' said Mathew Owens, a space physicist at the University of Reading in England, who added that it had been hard to work out what was happening at the poles and how they differed from other regions of the star. By studying its polar extremes, scientists hope to gain new insights into the sun and how it behaves. And the best is yet to come — later this year, humans will get our first images of the sun's north pole from Solar Orbiter. The $550 million Solar Orbiter, launched Feb. 10, 2020, into an orbit that caused it to fly by Venus repeatedly. These encounters give the spacecraft a gravitational kick, enabling it to push itself out of the plane of orbit that the planets follow around the sun and into a higher angle to view the poles. In March, after four flybys of Venus, the spacecraft swooped about 32 million miles over the sun's south pole at an angle of about 17 degrees, enough to provide first-ever snapshots of what it looks like. 'We've never had this view before,' said Nour Rawafi, a project scientist for NASA's Parker Solar Probe mission, which is currently flying closer to the sun than any spacecraft in history. 'Seeing the poles clearly is really going to open a new window in trying to understand the solar atmosphere and the interior of the sun.' The images reveal a speckled pattern of magnetic activity at the pole, caused by huge ruptures in the sun's surface as magnetic fields pour in and out. — JONATHAN O'CALLAGHAN / NYT
Yahoo
17-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Spacecraft unveils 1st-ever images of sun's south pole: 'Beginning of a new era'
Plenty of spacecraft and telescopes have throughout the years been able to observe the sun up close – with plenty more missions on the way. In late-December 2024, NASA's Parker Solar Probe got closer to the sun than any spacecraft before it. Earlier that same month, the European Space Agency sent a pair of satellites toward the sun to create "solar eclipses on demand." And in March, NASA sent four small satellites on its PUNCH mission to study how the sun's outer atmosphere becomes solar wind. But no spacecraft has ever gotten a good look at either of the sun's poles. Until now. In March, a spacecraft captured the first-ever clear images of the sun's south pole, which the European Space Agency released Wednesday, June 11. 'We reveal humankind's first-ever views of the sun's pole,' Carole Mundell, director of science for the European Space Agency, said in a statement. 'These new unique views from our Solar Orbiter mission are the beginning of a new era of solar science.' Here's a look at what the Solar Orbiter captured, and why ESA officials believe it will help scientists better understand our life-giving host star. Solar Orbiter: Newly-released photos capture the sun in highest resolution ever Before you saw the picture above, any image you have ever seen of the sun was taken from around its equator. Why? Because Earth, like all the planets in our solar system, orbits the sun along a line across a flat, disc-shaped plane in the sky known as the ecliptic. That means all the spacecraft we launch into orbit tend to do so as well. But by tilting the Solar Orbiter's orbit out of that plane, the ESA was able to reveal the sun from a brand new angle. The process began in February 2025 when the Solar Orbiter passed closely by Venus for a gravitational boost that allowed the spacecraft to push itself out of the orbital plane to see the sun at a higher angle. Then on March 23, the Solar Orbiter whizzed by the sun at an angle of 17 degrees, as compared to the 7 degree-orbit of all the planets and other sun-observing spacecraft, to get some historic snapshots of the south pole. A few days prior, the Solar Orbiter was also able to view the sun from an angle of 15 degrees below the equator while using its fleet of on-board instruments to observe the sun in different wavelengths – including visible light and ultraviolet light. The images were taken as the sun's peak activity, known as its solar maximum, begins to wind down. ESA scientists believe that studying the sun's polar regions could be key to unlocking secrets about the sun's 11-year solar cycle, which can cause space weather that disrupts satellites and even causes northern lights to flourish. "The sun is our nearest star, giver of life and potential disruptor of modern space and ground power systems, so it is imperative that we understand how it works and learn to predict its behavior," Mundell said. The Solar Orbiter launched February 2020 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida with 10 scientific instruments to study the sun. Its mission? Gather images of the sun from closer than any spacecraft before it and study the hot star's polar regions to understand things like the sun's atmosphere, its solar cycle and how solar wind forms. In November, the ESA released images the Solar Orbiter obtained in March 2023 that the agency said are the highest-resolution views of the sun's surface, known as the photosphere, to date. According to the ESA, the best views from the Solar Orbiter are yet to come. In the coming years, the Solar Orbiter will continue to orbit around the sun at even higher angles, reaching as much as 33 degrees in July 2029. Scientists at the ESA also expect to receive images of the north solar pole by October that the Solar Orbiter has already taken. 'This is just the first step," Daniel Müller, Solar Orbiter project scientist for the ESA, said in a statement. "In the coming years, the spacecraft will climb further out of the ecliptic plane for ever better views of the sun's polar regions." Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@ This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Spacecraft captures 1st-ever images of sun's south pole: See photos
Yahoo
15-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
European Space Agency reveals 3 key space missions threatened by Trump's NASA budget cuts
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. The European Space Agency (ESA) has revealed that three of the 19 missions it is planning or operating in collaboration with NASA are at risk as a result of President Trump's proposed budget cuts, which could slash finances available to the U.S space agency by 24%. During a press conference held on Thursday (June 12), ESA Director of Science Carole Mundell revealed that the space-based gravitational wave observatory LISA, the Venus orbiter EnVision, and the largest X-ray observatory ever planned, NewAthena, could be threatened if the proposed NASA budget cuts in Trump's FY26 budget go ahead. ESA thinks that at this initial stage, the impact can be mitigated on the other 16 missions in collaboration with NASA, but the remaining three missions may require a rethink if they happen at all. "We're looking at three potential missions that, should the budget proposal come to pass as written, would require recovery actions. That's LISA, EnVision, the NewAthena," Mundell said. ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher added: "This is an ongoing negotiation in the United States. It is not for us as ESA to comment on these negotiations or to interfere, but we are impacted in quite a number of domains that are, at least at the moment, proposed for cancellations or reductions. "This will require that some of the activities may be frozen. No decisions or cancellations have yet been made because the decisions on the side of the U.S. are not yet finalized. We need to wait for the final decisions from the U.S." Mundell continued by underlining how deeply ESA values the collaboration between Europe and NASA, but added that Europe does have or could acquire the technical capabilities to reduce to reproduce missing elements. "That's something that we're now working through," she number of missions that could be threatened if ESA is forced to repurpose funds extends beyond the three missions mentioned above. Though the Nov. 16, 2025 launch of the sea-level rise monitoring Sentinel-6B spacecraft will go ahead as planned, its sibling mission, Sentinel-6C, could also be impacted by the proposed budget cuts if they are passed successfully. "It was my proposal when I was director of Earth observation, to rename a satellite Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich [after former director of the Earth Science Division in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters from 2006 to 2019]," Aschbacher added. "It would be a pity if Sentinel-6C were not funded or supported, as it is a successor of the mission Michael Freilich, which is still in space. We offered our satellite to be named after a NASA Administrator as a very visible sign of the of the deepness of the cooperation between NASA and ESA." Proposed U.S. budget cuts could also impact the planned Mars rover Rosalind Franklin, previously known as the ExoMars rover. That is because the robotic explorer named after the esteemed British chemist was set to feature several components supplied by NASA. ESA may now seek to develop on its own the technologies for the three main elements of the rover set to be provided by NASA: its launcher, radio isotope heater unit, and aerobraking engine. This will take time and may impact the mission's timeline, which would have seen Rosalind Franklin head to Mars in 2028. Related Stories: — Trump administration proposes slashing NASA budget by 24% — Experts alarmed as White House proposes 'largest single-year cut to NASA in American history' — Trump's 2026 budget plan would cancel NASA's Mars Sample Return mission. Experts say that's a 'major step back' Of course, nothing is yet set in stone, with the U.S. Congress yet to have the final say on how to allocate federal dollars. A final decision on the FY 2026 Discretionary Budget is expected in Fall 2025. Meanwhile, ESA will meet in late November to finalize its own budget. This means that the space agency may have to move ahead with contingency planning and budgeting before the final outcome of proposed U.S. budget cuts is known. "The timing is expected to be maybe just before decisions are being made, and the fiscal year 26 budget will be known for sure. We need to assess on one side, how much it costs to wait, and how long we can wait," Aschbacher said. "There is a lot of analysis and options that need to be verified and need to be discussed."In brief, the main highlight, or the main point, is that we have agreed to make sure that Europe is increasing its resilience and autonomy to make sure that we have the technologies we need in the near future."
