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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ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet with the Lumina experiment during his Alpha mission on the International Space Station, 25 August 2021.
Thomas commented on this picture: "Another black box experiment, called Lumina. Inside are fibre optic cables, not to bring us ultra-fast internet (it is already rather good to be honest, given that we’re in space!) but to test new technology to monitor radiation. This CNES experiment in collaboration with the radiation experts CERN, iXBlue and LabHC, will see if fibre optic cables are a viable technology to monitor the ionising radiation we receive inside the Space Station. Inside the box are kms of cables, that are both light-weight and take up little space, two premiums for spaceflight. "
The Lumina experiment will demonstrate the reliability of a fibre-optic dosimeter in measuring radiation ionising inside the International Space Station. The Lumina technology demonstration features two spools of kilometre-long fibres that will improve our understanding of how fibre optic cables cope with long-duration spaceflight. This knowledge is essential as we prepare to protect astronauts and hardware on longer missions farther from Earth.