The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
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This ESA-backed facility has been designed to fulfil researchers’ most extreme needs for speed: the European Shock Tube for High Enthalpy Research, ESTHER, can reproduce high-velocity shock flows equivalent to a meteor entering Earth’s atmosphere – or an interplanetary spacecraft returning home.
The process begins with laser ignition of low-pressure gas to pierce a pair of diaphragms to encounter higher-pressure gas in turn, their interaction giving rise to shock waves that can achieve plasma shock flows in excess of 12 km/s – unparalleled across Europe.
Spacecraft returning from interplanetary missions will reenter Earth’s atmosphere at higher velocities than those in Earth orbit. This means they require a new generation of thermal protection systems.
Measuring 16 m long and 8 cm wide, ESTHER will help to validate those designs in various gas combinations to represent different planetary atmospheres, becoming a vital engineering resource for future European space exploration. It will also recreate natural reentry events for scientists.
The development of ESTHER backed through ESA’s Technology Development Element to support promising new space technology. The facility is hosted at the Institute for Plasmas and Nuclear Fusion in Lisbon, which is an Associated Laboratory of Instituto Superior Técnico, within the Universidade de Lisboa.