Tag: ESA
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Lockheed Martin powers up Artemis 2 Orion, updates status on other capsules
Lockheed Martin has completed the first-time power-up of the Orion capsule for the Artemis 2 mission — the first Orion capsule that will be tasked with carrying humans. As work continues on that capsule, Lockheed Martin — the prime contractor for the Orion spacecraft — provided updates on the other three capsules, and three European…
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How Lockheed Martin, NASA will send a rocket to Mars to launch samples off the planet to a waiting European Orbiter
It’s an ask never before attempted: Launch samples off the surface of another planet for return to Earth — using a rocket you first have to launch from Earth using a bigger rocket and then land on Mars. Yet this is exactly the contract Lockheed Martin has won from NASA for their Mars Ascent Vehicle…
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Cosmonauts complete spacewalk to activate space station’s European Robotic Arm
Russian cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev and Denis Matveev carried out a spacewalk on April 18 to prepare the International Space Station’s new European Robotic Arm for use. The cosmonauts exited the Poisk module’s airlock at around 15:00 UTC and spent over six and a half hours working outside the station to complete their objectives, completing the…
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Euclid moving into final phase of testing following integration milestone
The European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) Euclid space telescope has moved closer to launch after prime contractor Thales Alenia Space mated the spacecraft’s service module and payload module. Euclid will aim to study the “dark universe” through visible-light and near-infrared astronomy. The mission had been slated to launch no earlier than the first quarter of 2023,…
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Solar Orbiter successfully completes historic close pass of the Sun
On March 26, 2022, the joint European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA Solar Orbiter spacecraft successfully completed its first close pass through the Sun’s corona, bringing the spacecraft’s specially-designed collection of instruments closer to the Sun than ever before. During the close pass, called perihelion, all ten of Solar Orbiter’s instruments operated simultaneously, working together…
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ISS in February: crew prepares for March arrivals, maintains science experiments, systems
The International Space Station (ISS) has emerged from the month of February 2022 on shakier ground than when it entered the month from a geopolitical standpoint based on events taking place 425 kilometers below it. Even with escalating tensions leading to the invasion of Ukraine, the month of February saw progress in the scientific experiments…
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Starlink loss highlights current space weather prediction capabilities, coming advancements
On February 8, 2022, SpaceX announced the loss of around 40 of the 49 Starlink satellites launched on the Starlink Group 4-7 mission from LC-39A on February 3. For spacecraft initially orbiting at low altitudes, as the Starlinks did at the time upon deployment, many factors can lead to a craft not reaching its final…
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Starlink loss highlights current space weather prediction capabilities, coming advancements
On February 8, 2022, SpaceX announced the loss of around 40 of the 49 Starlink satellites launched on the Starlink Group 4-7 mission from LC-39A on February 3. For spacecraft initially orbiting at low altitudes, as the Starlinks did at the time upon deployment, many factors can lead to a craft not reaching its final…
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New research from ESA’s CHEOPS observatory reveals rugby ball shape of strange exoplanet
Exoplanets all over the universe come in different sizes, compositions, colors, and temperatures. However, they typically don’t come in different shapes, as nearly every single planet ever discovered is thought to be spherical in shape — except for one. New data from the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Characterising Exoplanets Satellite (CHEOPS) space observatory, as well…
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James Webb Space Telescope fully deploys, Northrop Grumman marks sunshield success
At 18:17 UTC on January 8, 2022, the joint NASA, ESA (European Space Agency), and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) successfully deployed the starboard wing of its massive 6.5-meter mirror — marking the end of the observatory’s intense and critical deployment sequence. The feat capped an impressive series of engineering accomplishments,…