Remote control
They're millions of kilometres away from home. So how do unmanned spacecraft packed with scientific instruments know what to do?
On board every spacecraft you'll find a computer controlled by scientists back on Earth. It monitors how the craft is functioning, operates instruments and stores the results. Space investigators on Earth can monitor the evidence and decide what the craft's next move should be.
All the information is sent and received through Mission Control. For most European Space Agency missions this is at Darmstadt in Germany.
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It's all go at ESA mission control
Image: ESA |
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