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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Making sure equipment stays at the right temperature is a headache for engineers and designers. Cooling the semiconductor that powers your device to display this text is becoming harder as chips get hotter.
An efficient way of getting rid of excess heat is by boiling it away. Liquid evaporates from the surface of a liquid while bubbles carry heat from deep down, but the process is complex and not fully understood by physicists – yet.
Experiments on parabolic flights have shown that vapour bubbles behave very differently on otherplanets or in space. In weightlessness the bubbles don’t detach from a heat source but stick to it and form a large heat-transferring cavity, offering great potential to help space engineers keep their satellites cool.