European Shock-Tube for High Enthalpy Research

Reports from the research team

European Shock-Tube for High Enthalpy Research - Reports from the research team

Setting up of the ESTHER hosting building foundations

The construction of the ESTHER facility hosting building progresses at a steady pace.

The building foundations groundwork has been initialized, with a special emphasis on the cradle which will hold the 20m long, by 80cm large, by 1m deep concrete slab where the ESTHER facility will be placed on.

Building site construction, back side (1/3)

Detail of the shock-tube slab craddle

Building site construction, back side (2/3)

Building site construction, back side (3/3)

Building site construction, front side

Another view of the shock-tube slab craddle

ESTHER building construction marches on

The first phase of the construction of the ESTHER hosting building is complete!

The terrain has been digged and everything is set-up for the placement of the building foundations.

Building site construction, front side (1/2)

Building site construction, front side (2/2)

Building site construction, back side (1/2)

Building site construction, back side (2/2)

Beginning of the ESTHER building construction

The construction of the ESTHER Shock-Tube hosting laboratory started yesterday (Tuesday 20th March).

A visit of the construction site has been carried out today, in company of Dr. Lionel Marraffa, who is supervising the project from the ESA side, and Prof. Vitor Leitão, the member of the directorate of IST in charge of the management and supervision of IST civil engineering works.

View of the construction site

Dr. Lionel Marraffa (ESA), Prof. Vitor Leitão (IST) and Dr. Mário Lino da Silva (IST-IPFN)

In Memoriam: Boris Gordiets

Boris Fedorovich Gordiets deceased today in Moscow, Russia.

Boris F. Gordiets was born in Chelabinsk, Russia, on September 23, 1941. He graduated as a engineer-physicist in 1963 from Moscow Physical-Technical
Institute, Dolgoprudniy, Russia and received the Candidate of Science and Doctor of Science degrees in 1968 and 1982, respectively. Since 1968, he was with the P.N. Lebedev Physical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia, where he was a Leading Scientist since 1986. He was an Invited Professor and Researcher in the Instituto Superior Técnico,  Lisbon, Portugal. He was also a Visiting Professor-Investigator at Barcelona University, Barcelona, Spain. His scientific interest were in theoretical investigations and modeling of kinetic processes in molecular physics, physics of gas lasers, atmospheric and ionospheric optics, and low-temperature plasmas.

New location for the ESTHER hosting building

The Instituto Tecnológico e Nuclear (ITN), a scientific campus located in Sacavém, in the northern outskirts of Lisbon, has been scheduled to be integrated into IST. This leads to a redefinition of the location of the ESTHER Kinetic Shock-Tube hosting building, which will be built – along with other new laboratories pertaining to IPFN – in the Sacavém ITN campus. The previous architecture plan for the hosting building has been essentially retained, with the exception that the hosting facility will now be a standalone building instead of being integrated into a larger building.

Architecture plan of the ESTHER hosting building