UNIVERSEH: The European Space University

Source: http://lk.astronautilus.pl/astros/366.htm

Definition: 

Kalpana Chawla, born in Karnal, India, in 1962, is first astronaut with an Indian descent. In her early years, her father took her to local flying clubs, where she developed her passion for flying. She moved to the U.S. to pursue degrees in engineering (Ph.D. in aerospace engineering from the University of Colorado) and eventually after graduation, she did research, focusing on vertical take-off and landing concepts. Her area was the development and implementation of efficient techniques for performing aerodynamic optimization. In 1994, Chawla was chosen as an astronaut candidate and took part in 2 space flights. The second flight ended tragically in 16.01.2003, as Space Shuttle Columbia exploded while being on the way back to the Earth, after 15 days and 22 hours spent in space. The explosion while re-entrng into Earth's atmosphere killed all seven astronauts on board, including Kalpana Chawla. 

Links to Videos/Articles:

https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/chawla_kalpana.pdf

https://www.space.com/17056-kalpana-chawla-biography.html

Illustration: http://www.astronaut.ru/as_rusia/lady62/foto/tereshkova02.jpg

Definition:

The first female cosmonaut, the 10^th person in the world to be sent into space. Valentina Tereshkova flew into space alone aboard Vostok-6 on June 16, 1963. The duration of the flight amounted to 2 days, 22 hours and 50 minutes, during which the spacecraft orbited the Earth 48 times.

Valentina Tereshkova was born in 1937 in the village of Bolshoye Maslennikovo in Yaroslavl Oblast, USSR. In 1960, she graduated from Yaroslavl Light Industry Training School as a cotton spinning technician, and in 1969 received a qualification from Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy as a pilot, cosmonaut and engineer. She enjoyed parachuting, which later turned out to be one of the criteria for cosmonaut selection. Following the spaceflight, she worked as a cosmonaut instructor until reaching mandatory retirement age in 1997. Later she continued working as a politician, which she had already been doing since 1966. Her daughter Elena is said to be the first child in the world whose parents are both cosmonauts.

Translation:

• French:
  
• German:
  
• Polish: Walentyna Tierieszkowa
  
• Russian: Валентина Терешкова
  
• Swedish:
  

Links to Videos/Articles:

http://www.astronaut.ru/crossroad/010.htm

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Терешкова,_Валентина_Владимировна

Source: Hoover, S. (2013, July 21). wikimedia commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=28974343

Barycenter is a theoretical point that has several meanings according to the field in which it is employed:

• In mathematics, this is the intersection point between the three medians of a triangle.
  
• In statistics, this is the average of a set of numbers.
  
• In physics, this is the center of mass of a system.
  

Detailed Definition:

The barycenter is a theoretical point usually with a mathematical value, which has different meanings depending on the field to which it is applied. From its etymology, Barycenter is usually used to express the center or average of a distribution of objects, values or data.

Originally, the mathematician and physicist Archimède introduced and described the notion of barycenter around 300 B.C.E. He first approached it from a physical perspective by stating: “Every heavy body has a well-defined centre of gravity in which all the weight of the body can be considered concentrated."

In astronomy, this notion describes the point around which a celestial body and its/their satellite(s) rotate. The illustration below depicts the barycenter with the red cross in the middle as well as the two bodies of different mass orbiting around it.

Etymology:

Barycenter comes from ancient Greek. Bary: βάρος (báros, “weight”) + center which comes from the Latin of centrum or even earlier from ancient Greek as kentron, κέντρον (single point). 

Sample Sentence:

"How well we understand the Solar System’s barycenter is critical as we attempt to sense even the smallest tingle to the web.”

Translations:

• Arabic: :مركز الثّقل
• French: Barycentre
• German: Baryzentrum (auch: Massenmittelpunkt)
• Italian: Baricentro
• Luxembourgish: Baryzentrum
• Polish: barycentrum, środek ciężkości
  
• Swedish: Barycentrum

Links to Videos/Articles:

Source: https://astronomy.com/news/2020/03/whats-the-difference-between-dark-matter-and-dark-energy

Definition:

Dark energy (not to be mistaken with dark matter) makes up approximately 68% of the universe, and it is distributed evenly not only in space, but also in time (therefore it has a global effect on the universe as a whole). This is a repulsive force, that accelerates the expansion of the universe. The rate of expansion and its acceleration can be measured by observations based on the Hubble law. The existence of dark energy is proven and its role in the universe can be described thanks to Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity. 

Example Sentence(s):

"Dark energy is generally accepted as contributing to the increased acceleration of the expanding universe, so understanding this relationship will help to refine how physicists and astrophysicists understand it."

"And there are still no final answers to the questions surrounding dark energy."

Translations:

• French: L'énergie sombre
• German: Dunkle Energie
  
• Polish: Ciemna energia
• Russian: тёмная энергия 
• Swedish: Mörk energi

Links to Videos/Articles:

Source: https://astronomy.com/news/2020/03/whats-the-difference-between-dark-matter-and-dark-energy

Definition: 

Dark matter (not to be mistaken with dark energy) makes up about 27% of the universe. Unlike normal matter, dark matter does not interact with electromagnetic forces. This means it does not absorb, reflect or emit light, therefore it can't be seen, but researchers can detect it and map it by measuring gravitational lensing. Because of these properties, it works like an attractive force, holding the universe together. 

In the 1930s, astronomer Fritz Zwicky studied images of around 1,000 galaxies that make up the Coma Cluster and speculated that some kind of matter must be keeping them together. Astronomers Vera Rubin and Kent Ford found a similar phenomenon when they studied the rotation rates of individual galaxies, with even more evidence of the features mentioned above.

The existence of dark matter is so widely accepted that it’s part of the "standard model of cosmology", although there is no solid evidence that it is real. There are many theories suggesting that physics beyond the Standard Model, such as supersymmetry and extra dimensions, exist. If other parallel universes exist, then physical features of each universe would be different, therefore the amount of dark matter in each universe would be different. Dark matter helps scientists gain a better understanding of the composition of our universe and how galaxies are held together. 

Sample Sentence(s):

"You can see the galaxy clusters that Professor Zwicky studied to discover Dark Matter."

"Dr. Shepherd's work enhances our profile in the area of Dark Matter exploration significantly."

Translations:

• French: Matière Noire
• German: Dunkle Materie
• Polish: Ciemna materia
• Russian: тёмная материя
• Swedish: Mörk materia

Links to Videos/Articles:

Sources:

https://wmap.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/bb_cosmo_infl.html

https://www.space.com/42261-how-did-inflation-happen-anyway.html

Definition:

Rapid expansion of the universe at its early stages of development (at around 10^-36 seconds after the Big Bang).

The Inflation Theory was developed in 1980 by Alan Guth, Andrei Linde, Paul Steinhardt, and Andy Albrecht and attempted to account for phenomena that could not be explained by the Big Bang Theory (the Horizon Problem, the Flatness Problem and the Monopole Problem). Nowadays, the Inflation Theory is considered to be an extension of the Big Bang Theory.

Translation

• French:
• German:
  
• Polish: inflacja kosmologiczna
  
• Swedish:
  

Sources: Stewart, P. (2018, June 8). Jupiter. flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/106648653@N05/42658035711

Definition:

As of 2021, the Great Red Spot is reported to be about 10,000 miles across and 300 miles deep into the atmosphere of Jupiter. However, according to NASA observations, it is shrinking and becoming taller, and it is not yet clear whether the Great Red Spot will stabilize or disappear completely.

Translation:

• French: la Grande Tache rouge
  
• German: der Große Rote Fleck
• Polish: Wielka Czerwona Plama
• Russian: Большое Красное Пятно 
• Swedish: Stora röda fläcken

Links to Videos/Articles: