Tag: CNES
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Vega launcher achieves on-target deployment of Earth-imaging satellites
Firing off a launch pad on the fringes of the Amazon rainforest, a European Vega rocket climbed into space Tuesday night and deployed a new optical surveillance craft for the Italian military and a French-Israeli environmental satellite to monitor vegetation, snow cover and coastal waterways. The Optsat 3000 and Venµs satellites lifted off at 0158:33…
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Live coverage: Arianespace launches 10th Vega rocket
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Vega rocket with the Optsat 3000 and Venµs Earth observation satellites. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter. Watch on a mobile device. Arianespace’s live video stream begins at approximately 0145 GMT (9:45 p.m. EDT).
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Timeline for Vega launch with Optsat 3000 and Venµs
A Vega rocket is set to deliver two satellites into similar but distinct orbits for the Italian military and the French and Israeli space agencies. Here are the key events scheduled during the European Vega rocket’s launch from French Guiana with the Italian military’s Optsat 3000 high-resolution reconnaissance satellite and the French-Israeli Venµs environmental satellite.…
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Two Israeli-built satellites set for launch Tuesday
The Optsat 3000 satellite, seen at top, awaits encapsulation inside the Vega rocket’s payload fairing last month. The Venµs spacecraft is closed up inside the black dual-payload structure below Optsat 3000. Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Photo Optique Video du CSG – S. Martin A European Vega rocket is scheduled to launch Tuesday from a tropical spaceport…
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Europe’s lightweight Vega launcher nears 10th flight
The Vega rocket’s solid-fueled Zefiro 23 second stage was hoisted on top of the launcher’s first stage last month on a launch pad at the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana. Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Photo Optique Video du CSG – P. Piron A solid-fueled Vega rocket has been stacked on a launch pad in…
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Operations resume at European-run launch base in French Guiana
An Ariane 5 rocket set to launch Brazilian and South Korean communications satellites was grounded March 20 when workers began a strike in French Guiana. The rocket is seen here March 2 during a transfer between the spaceport’s launcher integration building and final assembly building. Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Photo Optique Video du CSG – P.…
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InSight lander’s troubled seismometer passes major test
The InSight spacecraft is pictured in 2015 at Lockheed Martin’s assembly facility near Denver. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Lockheed Martin A balky interplanetary seismic instrument that ran into technical problems in 2015, forcing a two-year delay in the launch of NASA’s InSight lander to Mars, cleared a major test last week after engineers redesigned part of the sensor…
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Launches from Kourou temporarily suspended by social unrest
A barricade outside the Guiana Space Center. Credit: France Guyane The launch an Ariane 5 rocket with Brazilian and Korean communications satellites that was set for this week has been postponed indefinitely after protesters blocked access to the French Guiana spaceport. The heavy-lift launcher was scheduled to lift off Tuesday, but widespread protests and a…
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Ariane 5 launch pushed back to Wednesday by labor strikes in Kourou
The Ariane 5’s payload fairing is lowered over the Koreasat 7 satellite March 11. The main thruster of the SGDC communications craft, which will ride in the upper position inside the Ariane 5 fairing, is visible above Koreasat 7. Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Photo Optique Video du CSG – JM Guillon A work stoppage at the…
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NASA official says new mission selections on track despite InSight woes
Artist’s concept of the InSight lander on Mars. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech A $150 million cost overrun and two-year launch delay for NASA’s InSight Mars mission could mean fewer opportunities for new planetary science missions in the next few years, but the head of the agency’s science division said this week NASA will still approve development of…