UNIVERSEH: The European Space University

Image/Video/Audio Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/98/Kepler_laws_diagram.svg

Short Definition:

Detailed Definition:

Etymology:

Sample Sentence(s):

Translations of Terms/Concepts into Partner Languages [Multiple fields for entering the translation of the term in each partner language, additional languages can potentially be added, e.g. Russian, Chinese, Portuguese]

French: 

German:

Polish:

Swedish:

Links to Videos/Articles:

Image:

Image: Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=38097918

Short Definition:

Detailed Definition:

NASA. (1965, June). Apollo Pad Abort Test #2. Retrieved from https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/Apollo_Pad_Abort_Test_-2.jpg

Short Definition:

Launch escape system (LES) or launch abort system (LAS) is a system in rockets that will separate a capsule with crew and move it away from the rocket in case of emergency such as pending rocket explosion. This is a safety measure necessary to evacuate the crew when their presence in the rocket is life-threatening.

Detailed Definition:

LES is attached to the capsule and usually has thrusters and a little fuel. It is just enough to propel it for a short time and send the capsule away from the rocket. It can be placed above capsule as a tower (as in Apollo) or be a part of capsule (as in Crew Dragon). LES doesn't have to be detachable from the capsule with crew, but if it is (as towers), it will be separated as soon as it runs out of fuel or when it is no longer needed. When LES finished working, capsule can land or splash with its own parachutes. Nowadays all crewed missions are equipped with some kind of launch escape system.

Etymology:

Launch – from Old French lancier– to fling, hurl, throw, castEscape – Old French eschaper– free oneself from confinementSystem – from Late Latin or Greek systema– an arrangement, organized whole, a whole compounded of parts

Sample Sentences:

The launch escape system provided a critical safety measure for astronauts in case of a rocket malfunction.

Translations:

References:

McHale, S. (2014, February). Soyuz launch escape system. Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20140221212224/http://suzymchale.com/ruspace/soyescape.html

Clark, S. (2010, February). Orbital sees bright future for Orion launch abort system. Retrieved from https://spaceflightnow.com/news/n1002/18orionlas/

Source: Law, L. (2015, February 25). Night sky with light pollution from Coachella Valley. flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/115357548@N08/16026201013

Short Definition:

Light pollution is the effect of excessive or poor use of artificial outdoor light sources. There are several negative impacts from it: it disrupts both the human sleep and natural patterns of wildlife, it is a factor in the increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and obscures the celestial bodies in the night sky.

Detailed Definition:

Light pollution, also referred to as luminous pollution, is the negative consequence of excess of artificial light and its misuse. There are several major repercussions to the increasing amounts of light in the night sky, such as sky glow, disruption of natural body rhythms in both human and animals, and the obscured ability of celestial object observation. The sky glow is the over presence of artificial light in densely populated areas after sunset, which results in disruptions of melatonin hormone in humans, causing sleep deprivation, fatigue, headaches, stress, and anxiety. Studies indicate a connection between the low melatonin levels and cancer. Light pollution also impacts the behaviour of animals, such as migration patterns, wake-sleep habits and habitat formation. Sky glow impairs the research of the night sky, obscuring stars and other celestial bodies.

Etymology:

"light" - Old English leht, West Saxon leoht, German Licht - brightness, radiant energy, that which makes things visible

"pollution" - Late Latin pollutionem, Latin polluere - defilement, to soil, defile, contaminate

Sample Sentence(s):

"Light pollution disrupts astronomers in their study of space."

"It is increasingly difficult to appreciate the beauty of the evening sky, as the light pollution obscures the visibility of stars."

Translations of Terms/Concepts into Partner Languages

French: Pollution lumineuse

German: Lichtverschmutzung

Polish: Zanieczyszczenie światłem

Swedish: Ljusförorening

Links to Videos/Articles:

https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/light-pollution

https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/mapmaker-light-pollution

https://planetfacts.org/light-pollution/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdIGJNVUwmE

Short Definition
Liu Yang is a taikonaut, a term used for Chinese astronauts, and a military transport pilot. She was born on October 6, 1978, in Zhengzhou, China. Today she is known for being the first Chinese woman to venture into space, achieving this milestone on June 16, 2012, as part of the Shenzhou 9 mission.

Detailed Definition
Liu Yang is an only child who was born into a working-class family with roots in Linzhou, Anyang. Her journey towards the skies began soon after high school when she was encouraged by a teacher to pursue aviation. Joining the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force in 1997, she amassed an impressive 1,680 hours of flight experience, rising to the rank of major and deputy head of a flight unit. Notably, Liu Yang showcased her courage and skill when she successfully landed her fighter jet after a bird collision, an event that earned praise from state media.
In May 2010, Liu Yang was recruited into China's second class of prospective astronauts. Following two years of rigorous training, she demonstrated exceptional skills during testing, leading to her selection in March 2012 as a crew candidate for the Shenzhou-9 mission.

Soon after, on June 16, 2012, Liu Yang launched into space, accompanied by commander Jing Haipeng and operator Liu Wang. This milestone mission marked China's first successful crewed space docking with the Tiangong 1 space module. During the mission, Liu Yang took charge of conducting medical experiments.

Etymology
N/A

Sample Sentence(s)

"[…] having Liu Yang on board will not only help the country's aspiring space program test equipment designed for women in preparation for the building of an orbiting space station, but it will also expand the social impact of human space missions." Wolchover, N. (2012, June 15). Who Is China’s First Female Astronaut? livescience.com. https://www.livescience.com/34002-china-female-astronaut.html

Links to Videos/Articles:

●       Wolchover, N. (2012, June 15). Who Is China’s First Female Astronaut? livescience.com. https://www.livescience.com/34002-china-female-astronaut.html

●       China’s first female astronaut ready for new space mission. (2022, June 4). CGTN. https://news.cgtn.com/news/2022-06-04/China-s-first-female-astronaut-ready-for-new-space-mission-1aAKaX706GI/index.html

●       Gregersen, E. (Invalid Date). Liu Yang. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Liu-Yang

●       CGTN. (2022, September 6). Liu Yang: No preferential treatment for being a woman in space [Video]. YouTube.

Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Orbitalaltitudes.svg

Short Definition:

The Low Earth Orbit (in short, LEO) is an orbit that is relatively low compared to typical space orbits. An object orbiting Earth above 100 km and below 2000 km can be described as orbiting on Low Earth Orbit. In terms of orbiting time, a low Earth orbit have an orbiting period of 128 minutes or less. Low Earth Orbit is often used as temporary orbit for spacecrafts travelling further into space. 

Detailed Definition:

The Low Earth Orbit (LEO in short) is a zone around Earth from a 100 km (Kármán line) to about 2000 km above Earth's surface. Due to orbits shape varying from circles to ellipses, better description is done using time. A body orbiting at the Low Earth Orbit has an orbiting time around 128 minutes or less. The pull of gravity in the LEO is only slightly less than on the Earth's surface, and the orbiting body still encounters atmospheric drag from present gas particles. Due to this, the LEO is often used as a transitive stage for spaceships traveling further into space, as the mean orbital velocity needed to maintain a stable low Earth orbit is about 7.8 km/s, rather than being used as a stable orbit due to constant need of course correction. The most famous spacecraft orbiting in the LEO is the International Space Station, orbiting at around 400 km above Earth’s surface.

Etymology:

Low - From Middle English lowe, lohe, lāh, from Old Norse lágr (“low”)
Earth - From Middle English erthe, from Old English eorþe ("ground, soil, dirt")
Orbit - From Middle English orbite, orbita, from Latin orbita (“course, track, impression, mark”)

Sample Sentence(s):

"The International Space Station is the largest modular space station currently in the Low Earth Orbit."
"The Low Earth orbit requires the lowest amount of energy for satellite placement."

Translations:

French: 

Orbite terrestre basse

German:

Niedrige Erdumlaufbahn

Polish:

Niska orbita okołoziemska

Swedish:

Låg omloppsbana

Links to Videos/Articles:

https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2020/03/Low_Earth_orbit
https://www.space.com/low-earth-orbit

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meridian_(astronomy)

Short definition: 

Detailed Definition:

In astronomy, a meridian is an imaginary line in the sky that runs from due north to due south, passing through the observer's location and the zenith. The zenith is the point in the sky that is directly overhead. The meridian is used to measure the altitude of objects in the sky, as well as their right ascension and declination. The meridian also marks the boundary between the eastern and western halves of the sky, with objects east of the meridian being in the morning sky and those west of the meridian being in the evening sky.

Etymology:

Latin - medius ‘middle’ + dies ‘day’.

Sample Sentence(s):

"The planet Venus will cross the meridian at 8:00 pm tonight."

"The altitude of the North Star above the horizon can be measured relative to the observer's meridian."

"The meridian passage of a celestial object is the time it crosses the observer's meridian."

Translations:

French:

Le Meridien

German:

Höhepunkt

Polish:

Południk

Links to videos/articles:

https://astronomy.swin.edu.au/cosmos/m/meridian

https://www.britannica.com/science/celestial-meridian

Short definition: A meteorite is a piece of rock or metal originating from space that has landed on the Earth’s surface. Before a meteorite enters the Earth’s atmosphere, it’s called a meteoroid. The phenomenon of a meteoroid burning up and leaving a glowing trail behind is called a meteor.

Detailed definition: A meteorite is a piece of debris, usually of a comet, asteroid, or meteoroid, that has survived its passage through the Earth’s atmosphere and reached the surface. Meteorites vary greatly in size: some, that are called micrometeorites, are less than 1mm in size, and very few are large enough to leave an impact crater. The biggest meteorite ever found - the Hoba meteorite in Namibia - weighs about 60 tons. Most meteorites are stony, and only about 6% of meteorites are iron meteorites or a mix of stone and metal. 

Etymology: meteor (from Greek ta meteōra"the celestial phenomena, things in heaven above") + -ite

Sample sentence(s): Commonly, chondrules can make up 75% of the volume of the meteorites in which they occur. (Source: Cambridge English Corpus | Cambridge University Press | ELT. (n.d.). Cambridge.es. https://www.cambridge.es/en/)

Translations: French: météorite

German: Meteorit

Italian: meteorite

Polish: Meteoryt

Swedish: Meteorit

Links to Videos/Articles:

Alexander, C. M., & Wetherill, G. W. (2023, May 11). Meteorite | Definition, Types, Identification, & Facts. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/science/meteorite

meteorite. (n.d.). https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/meteorite/

Science with Thomas Stevenson. (2022, August 9). What is a Meteorite? [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/Cv82yiksbl8

Short definition: A meteoroid is a small rocky or metallic body in space that has not yet entered the Earth's atmosphere. When a meteoroid enters the Earth’s atmosphere at a high speed and burns up, it leaves a glowing trail, which is called a meteor.

Detailed definition: Meteoroids are defined as objects significantly smaller than asteroids, ranging in size from grains to objects up to a meter wide. Objects smaller than meteoroids are called micrometeoroids or space dust. Most meteoroids are fragments from comets or asteroids, containing extraterrestrial nickel and iron.
When meteoroids enter the Earth’s atmosphere at a high speed (usually over 20 km/s), due to aerodynamic heating they leave a glowing trail, which is widely known as a “shooting star”. This phenomenon is called a meteor. If a meteoroid survives its passage through the Earth’s atmosphere and lands on the surface, it’s called a meteorite.

Etymology: Meteoroid comes from meteor + -oid. -oid is a suffix coming from Ancient Greek εἶδος (eîdos, “form, likeness”), which means “resembling; having the likeness of”.

Sample sentence(s): It was found that meteoroids from cometary sources were typically of porous, aggregate compositions with relatively low densities. (Source: Cambridge English Corpus | Cambridge University Press | ELT. (n.d.). https://www.cambridge.es/en/)

Translations:

French: Météoroïde

German: Meteoroid

Italian: Meteoroide

Polish: Meteoroid

Swedish: Meteoroid

Source: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milchstraße#/media/Datei: Artist's_impression_of_the_Milky_Way_(updated_-_annotated).jpg 5th November 2021

Definition:

A large spiral galaxy consisting of several hundred billion stars, dust and gas.The galaxy that includes our solar system, with the name describing the galaxy's appearance from earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye.

Etymology:

The term Milky Way is a translation of the Latin via lactea, from the Greek γαλακτικός κύκλος (galaktikos kýklos), meaning "milky circle”.

Translations:

• English: Milky Way (neutr.) – [ˌmɪlkiː ˈweɪ]
  
• French: voie Lactée (f) [vwa lak.te]
  
• German: Milchstraße (f) [ˈmɪlç.ˌʃtʁaː.sə]
• Polish: Droga Mleczna [ˈdrɔ.ɡa ˈmlɛt͡ʂ.na]
• Portuguese: Via Láctea (f) [ˈvia̝ ˈlakte̯a̝]
• Russian: Млечный Путь [ˈmlʲet͡ɕnɨj ˈputʲ]
• Swedish: Vintergatan  [ventərˈkɔɑːtan]