View source for European Retrievable Carrier

{{Short description|ESA space science satellite}}
{{Infobox spaceflight
| name                  = European Retrievable Carrier
| image                 = Eureca ESA382424.jpg
| image_caption         = EURECA deployment in 1992

| mission_type          = Materials science<br/>Astronomy
| operator              = [[ESA]]
| COSPAR_ID             = 1992-049B
| SATCAT                = 22065
| mission_duration      = Planned: 1 year <br/> Elapsed: {{Duration in days|1992|8|2|1993|7|1}} days

| spacecraft_bus        = 
| manufacturer          = [[Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm|MBB]]-ERNO
| dry_mass              = 
| launch_mass           = {{convert|4491|kg|lb}}
| power                 = 1,000&nbsp;watts

| launch_date           = 31 July 1992, 11:56:48&nbsp;UTC
| launch_rocket         = {{OV|104}}<br/>[[STS-46]]
| launch_site           = [[Kennedy Space Center|Kennedy]] [[Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39|LC-39B]]
| deployment_date       = {{start-date|2 August 1992}}
| launch_contractor     =

| disposal_type         = Recovered
| recovery_by           = {{OV|105}}<br/>[[STS-57]]
| recovery_date         = {{end-date|1 July 1993}}

| orbit_epoch           = 2 August 1992, 20:00:00&nbsp;UTC<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1992-049B|title=NASA – NSSDCA – Spacecraft – Trajectory Details|website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov|access-date=2018-05-01|archive-date=2019-07-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190726144436/https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1992-049B|url-status=live}}</ref>
| orbit_reference       = [[geocentric orbit|Geocentric]]
| orbit_regime          = [[Low Earth orbit|Low Earth]]
| orbit_periapsis       = {{convert|438|km|mi}}
| orbit_apoapsis        = {{convert|447|km|mi}}
| orbit_inclination     = 28.5&nbsp;degrees
| orbit_eccentricity    = 0.00066
| orbit_period          = 93.4&nbsp;minutes
| apsis                 = gee
}}

The '''European Retrievable Carrier''' ('''EURECA''') was an uncrewed 4.5-[[tonne]] satellite with 15 experiments.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://esapub.esrin.esa.it/br/br200/Eureca.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2011-04-12 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930220914/http://esapub.esrin.esa.it/br/br200/Eureca.pdf |archive-date=2007-09-30 }}</ref> It was a [[European Space Agency]] (ESA) mission and the acronym was derived from [[Archimedes]]' bathtub revelation "[[Eureka (word)|Eureka!]]".

It was built by the German [[Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm|MBB]]-ERNO and had automatic material science cells as well as small telescopes for solar observation (including x-ray).

It was launched 31 July 1992 by {{OV|104}} during [[STS-46]], and placed into an orbit at an altitude of {{convert|508|km|mi|abbr=on}}. EURECA was retrieved on 1 July 1993 by {{OV|105}} during [[STS-57]] and returned to Earth. It was designed to fly five times with different experiments but the following flights were cancelled.

EURECA is one of the few uncrewed space vehicles that have been returned to the Earth unharmed. It has been on display at the [[Swiss Museum of Transport]] in [[Lucerne]] since 2000.<ref>{{cite web|title=From Space to Lucerne|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q19wjSoVLlc|website=Eureca – a satellite on the road (again)! |via=YouTube |access-date=5 June 2017|archive-date=19 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200519034549/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q19wjSoVLlc&gl=US&hl=en|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Design==
[[Image:EURECA STS-57.jpg|thumb|left|EURECA retrieval in 1993]]

EURECA was made of high-strength carbon-fiber struts and [[titanium]] nodal points joined together to form a framework of cubic elements. Thermal control on EURECA combined both active and passive heat transfer and radiation systems. Active heat transfer was achieved by means of a [[freon]] cooling loop which dissipated the thermal load through two radiators into space. The passive system made use of multilayer insulation blankets combined with electrical heaters.

The electrical subsystem was powered by deployable and retractable solar arrays together with four 40 amp-hour [[Nickel–cadmium battery|nickel-cadmium batteries]]. When EURECA was in the Shuttle cargo bay, power was supplied by the Shuttle. The modular attitude and orbit control subsystem (AOCS) maintained attitude and spacecraft orientation and stabilization. An orbit transfer assembly, consisting of four thrusters, was used to boost EURECA to its operational attitude of {{convert|515|km|mi|abbr=on}} and return it to a retrievable orbit of about {{convert|300|km|mi|abbr=on}}.

EURECA was three-axis stabilized by means of a magnetic torque assembly together with a nitrogen reaction control assembly (RCA). Data handling was carried out by EURECAs data handling subsystem (DHS) supported by telemetry and command subsystems providing the link to the ground station.

==Experiments==
EURECA consisted of 15 experiments:<ref>EURECA Scientific Results, Advances in Space Research, Vol. 16, Issue 8 (1995) 1–140.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/heasarc/missions/eureca.html |title=The European Retrievable Carrier (EURECA) mission |access-date=2020-11-09 |archive-date=2020-10-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201018034148/https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/heasarc/missions/eureca.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
* Solution Growth Facility (SGF) (Belgium, Denmark, Norway) {{flagicon|Belgium}}{{flagicon|Denmark}}{{flagicon|Norway}}
* Protein Crystallization Facility (PCF) (Germany) {{flagicon|Germany}}
* [[Exobiology Radiation Assembly]] (ERA) (Germany) {{flagicon|Germany}}
* Multi-Furnace Assembly (MFA) (Italy) {{flagicon|Italy}}
* Automatic Mirror Furnace (AMF) (Germany) {{flagicon|Germany}}
* Surface Forces Adhesion Instrument (SFA) (Italy) {{flagicon|Italy}}
* High Precision Thermostat Instrument (HPT) (Germany) {{flagicon|Germany}}
* Solar Constant and Variability Instrument (SOVA) (Belgium) {{flagicon|Belgium}}
* Solar Spectrum Instrument (SOSP) (France) {{flagicon|France}}
* Occultation Radiometer Instrument (ORI) (Belgium) {{flagicon|Belgium}}
* Wide Angle Telescope for Cosmic Hard X-rays (WATCH) (Denmark) {{flagicon|Denmark}}
* Timeband Capture Cell Experiment (TICCE) (Great Britain) {{flagicon|United Kingdom}}
* Radio Frequency Ionization Thruster Assembly (RITA) (Germany) {{flagicon|Germany}}
* Inter-Orbit Communications (IOC) (France/the Netherlands) {{flagicon|France}} {{flagicon|Netherlands}}
* Advanced Solar Gallium Arsenide Array (ASGA) (Italy) {{flagicon|Italy}}

The WATCH instrument observed Cosmic X-rays in an extremely wide field of view, a 65 degree range capable of observing 1/4 of the sky.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/heasarc/missions/eureca.html|title=The European Retrievable Carrier (EURECA) mission|website=heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov|access-date=2018-07-23|archive-date=2019-07-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190726144420/https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/heasarc/missions/eureca.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The design is a Rotation Modulation Collimator, in which stripes of NaI(Tl) and CsI(Na) detectors make a [[Phoswich detector|phoswich]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/heasarc/missions/eureca.html|title=The European Retrievable Carrier (EURECA) mission|website=heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov|access-date=2018-07-23|archive-date=2019-07-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190726144420/https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/heasarc/missions/eureca.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Results==
WATCH monitored about 25 X-rays sources over the whole sky over the course of the mission, as well as detecting 19 cosmic gamma ray bursts.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/heasarc/missions/eureca.html|title=The European Retrievable Carrier (EURECA) mission|website=heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov|access-date=2018-07-23|archive-date=2019-07-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190726144420/https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/heasarc/missions/eureca.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Many of the gamma ray bursts were able to be localized to within 1 degree.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/heasarc/missions/eureca.html|title=The European Retrievable Carrier (EURECA) mission|website=heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov|access-date=2018-07-23|archive-date=2019-07-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190726144420/https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/heasarc/missions/eureca.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

In the summer of 2016, EURECA was transported to the [[Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology]] (Empa) in Dübendorf near Zurich where X-ray scans of the satellite were taken. The goal was to find out how EURECA's 11-month exposure to space had affected its structure and selected experiments it carried.<ref>{{cite web|title=Eureca X-Ray Scan|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BP9BzyXx3S4|website=Eureca – a satellite on the road (again)! |via=YouTube |access-date=5 June 2017|archive-date=22 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200422101621/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BP9BzyXx3S4&gl=US&hl=en|url-status=live}}</ref> EURECA was then brought back to the Swiss Museum of Transport in Lucerne and has since been exhibited in a new way, with both solar panels fully deployed for the first time.<ref>{{cite web|title=EURECA's last journey to Empa and back to Lucerne|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZeGLmdo92Y|website=Eureca – a satellite on the road (again)! |via=YouTube |access-date=5 June 2017|archive-date=23 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200423014420/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZeGLmdo92Y&gl=US&hl=en|url-status=live}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Spaceflight}}
*[[Long Duration Exposure Facility]] – NASA 1984–1990
*[[Space Flyer Unit]] – Comparable Japanese spacecraft 1995–1996

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{Commons category-inline|EURECA}}
*[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLxfX2ZqjT3A15bfayAUehw "Eureca - a satellite on the road (again)!" (Official YouTube channel for the X-ray examination of 2016)]

{{European human spaceflight}}
{{European Space Agency}}
{{Orbital launches in 1992}}
{{Sun spacecraft}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Space telescopes]]
[[Category:European Space Agency space probes]]
[[Category:Space science experiments]]
[[Category:European Space Agency satellites]]
[[Category:Spacecraft launched by the Space Shuttle]]
[[Category:Space hardware returned to Earth intact]]
[[Category:Spacecraft launched in 1992]]