Tag: Airbus Defense and Space
-
European communications relay satellite launched by Proton rocket
A commercial satellite designed to broadcast hundreds of television channels across Europe and better link European surveillance satellites and the International Space Station to scientists on the ground took off Friday from Kazakhstan aboard a Proton rocket. The Eutelsat 9B communications satellite carries conventional Ku-band transponders primed to beam television signals to homes and businesses…
-
Live coverage: Proton fires into space with Eutelsat 9B
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Proton rocket with the Eutelsat 9B communications satellite. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.
-
Laser-equipped satellite to inaugurate European data relay system
The Eutelsat 9B satellite and the hosted payload for the European Data Relay System are pictured before shipment to the Baikonur Cosmodrome for launch preparations. Credit: Airbus Defense and Space The first node of a space-based European laser communications network will soar into orbit Friday aboard a commercial Eutelsat broadcasting spacecraft, setting the keystone for…
-
Proton rocket rolled out for launch of Eutelsat satellite
Riding on its side aboard a rail car, a Proton rocket trekked to its launch pad Tuesday at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan with a Eutelsat television broadcast satellite ready for liftoff Friday. The Proton rocket reached Complex 200 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome early Tuesday, then hydraulic lifts hoisted the rocket vertical before mobile access…
-
LISA Pathfinder on station a million miles from Earth
Artist’s concept of the LISA Pathfinder science module separation from the spacecraft’s propulsion section. Credit: ESA/C.Carreau Europe’s LISA Pathfinder mission crafted to demonstrate the ability to detect gravitational waves — theorized ubiquitous cosmic signals that have so far eluded discovery — has arrived at its operating post around the L1 Lagrange point nearly a million…
-
Proton rocket launches with Russian-European comsat
Updated at 2 a.m. EST (0700 GMT) after launch. A Proton rocket lifted off at 2131 GMT (4:31 p.m. EST) with the Express AMU1/Eutelsat 36C satellite. Credit: TsENKI TV A Proton rocket lifted off from Kazakhstan on Thursday with a large European-built telecommunications satellite to broadcast television, radio and other services across Russia and sub-Saharan…
-
Take a last look at the Vega rocket’s middle-of-the-night liftoff
Europe’s LISA Pathfinder spacecraft, carrying high-tech thrusters and ultra-sensitive motion sensors to be used in a future gravitational wave detection mission, blasted off from French Guiana early Thursday aboard a nearly 100-foot-tall (30-meter) Vega rocket. After lifting off at 0404 GMT Thursday (1:04 a.m. French Guiana time; 11:04 p.m. EDT Wednesday), the four-stage Vega booster…
-
European probe blasts off on gravitational wave demonstration
Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Optique Video du CSG – S. Martin KOUROU, French Guiana — A solid-fueled Vega launcher fired through a low cloud deck and sped into orbit from the South American jungle early Thursday with a pioneering European spacecraft that marks a key step in a century-long quest to detect elusive gravitational waves predicted…
-
Photos: H-2A rocket launches satellite for Canadian company
A powerful H-2A launcher, boosted by four strap-on rocket motors and an upgraded second stage, lifted off from Japan on Tuesday with a multipurpose communications satellite for Ottawa-based Telesat. The 174-foot-tall (53-meter) rocket launched at 0650 GMT (1:50 a.m. EST) Tuesday from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan, and it deployed the Telstar 12…
-
Photos: Experimental LISA Pathfinder probe processed for launch
The European Space Agency’s LISA Pathfinder spacecraft, destined to test the concept of gravitational wave detection a million miles from Earth, is nearly ready for launch Dec. 2. The hexagonal spacecraft, plus a disposable propulsion module to get it to an observation post at the L1 Lagrange point, arrived at Europe’s spaceport in French Guiana…