ESA scientific director visits University of Luxembourg

The University’s space research ecosystem welcomed Prof. Carole Mundell, Scientific Director of the European Space Agency (ESA), on Thursday 18 January. The astrophysicist, who took up her position in March 2023, discovered various research projects currently led by scientists and students at the University.

With a microsatellite smaller than a credit card, the LuxMoon Surveyor project led by students from the Interdisplinary Space Master‘s programme at the Faculty of Science, Technology and Medicine (FSTM) is quite simply aiming for the moon.

“We imagined a lunar mission in line with Luxembourg’s space strategy, with two objectives: to analyse the lunar soil and lunar dust,” explains Barbara Symeon, student research assistant in the Space Master.

The software developed by the students is currently under evaluation before a potential integration into the Artemis space programme, which is dedicated to the return of man to the Moon in a few years’ time, using the Starship rocket from the American giant SpaceX.

Prof. Miguel Angel Olivares Mendez gave an update on the SpaceR Research Group, the LunarLab and the Zero-Gravity Lab, which are housed at and coordinated by the Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT). The space sector is one of the four priorities of the research centre dedicated to innovative technologies.

“Our applications have practical aims, such as handling and interacting with objects in space, but also refuelling or collecting waste,” explained Prof. Olivares Mendez.

This Luxembourg visit is a part of ESA‘s current space science programme Cosmic Vision, and in preparation for its successor Voyage 2050. Welcomed by the Luxembourg Space Agency (LSA) team, the astrophysicist also visited the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST) in Belval.

“We’re taking some ideas away that we’ll follow up on. We look forward to include them on future space missions,” said Prof. Mundell at the end of her visit.

This article was first published on 19 January by University of Luxembourg.