The European Space Agency has built an optical ground station sited at the Observatorio del Teide operated by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias. This station, equipped with a 1m telescope, has a multipurpose configuration for in-orbit commissioning and checkout of laser communication payloads. Since November 2001, the bidirectional link with

Mounted on the International Space Station(ISS), the Extreme Universe Space Observatory, on-board the Japanese Experimental Module (JEM-EUSO), relies on the well established fluorescence technique to observe Extensive Air Showers (EAS) developing in the earth's atmosphere. Focusing on the detection of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECR) in the

The Extreme Universe Space Observatory (EUSO) on-board the Japanese Experimental Module (JEM) of the International Space Station aims at the detection of ultra high energy cosmic rays from space. The mission consists of a UV telescope which will detect the fluorescence light emitted by cosmic ray showers in the atmosphere. The mission, currently

We report on observations of the pulsar/Be star binary system PSR J2032+4127/MT91 213 in the energy range between 100 {GeV} and 20 {TeV} with the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array and Major Atmospheric Gamma Imaging Cherenkov telescope arrays. The binary orbit has a period of approximately 50 years, with the most recent periastron

Helioseismic instruments aboard SOHO are making possible a more accurate way of investigating the internal structure of the Sun. Making use of the different techniques and characteristics of these instruments, it is possible to measure solar oscillations as variations of the photospheric velocity (GOLF, MDI) or as irradiance and radiance

The point spread function of a segmented-mirror telescope is severely affected by segment misalignment, which can nullify the performance of adaptive optics systems. The piston and tilt of each segment must be precisely adjusted in relation to the other segments. Furthermore, the direct detection of the alignment error with natural stars would be