Tag: ESA
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Endeavour moved to 39A as astronauts arrive and Crew-2 mission is cleared for launch
Shane Kimbrough, Megan McArthur, Thomas Pesquet, and Akihiko Hoshide have arrived at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for their upcoming launch to the International Space Station on the same day their spaceship, the Crew Dragon Endeavour, was moved to its sea-side launch pad. NASA and SpaceX are currently targeting launch of the Crew-2 mission…
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Mars Sample Return mission is underway with Perseverance
The successful landing of the Perseverance rover on Mars on February 18 was not just the start of its surface mission but also the start of a multinational, decade-long effort to obtain pristine samples of Mars and return them to Earth for intensive study. The Mars Sample Return project is the most complex robotic planetary…
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Astronauts complete second spacewalk to upgrade Space Station
NASA astronauts Mike Hopkins and Victor Glover have completed their second EVA (extravehicular activity, or spacewalk) outside the ISS in less than one week to continue upgrading the orbital outpost and accomplish miscellaneous tasks during US EVA-70. The duo performed a previous spacewalk last week dedicated largely to communications upgrades for the European Space Agency’s…
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TESS reveals triple-binary eclipsing star system & Sun-like star with extremely close exoplanets
The first-discovered triple-binary sextuple star system and a Sun-like star with five exoplanets orbiting within the distance of Mercury are just two recent examples of the extraordinary systems being investigated and discovered by scientist using data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS. The joint NASA-Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) mission is the cornerstone…
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Coronal heating & solar wind, returns from solar missions shed light on Sun’s mysteries
It’s one of the greatest mysteries in solar physics. Dubbed the coronal heating problem, the issue arises from the fact that the solar corona, or Sun’s atmosphere, is millions of degrees hotter than the layers directly below it. This goes against modeling that suggests the corona should be far cooler than the layers below it.…
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China lands on Moon after causing deep confusion by stopping broadcast
Eight days after launching from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in southern China, the nation’s Chang’e 5 mission has landed at Mons Rümker on the Moon to collect approximately 2 kg of material for near-immediate return to Earth. The Chang’e 5 lander began final descent at 09:58 EST (14:58 UTC) with an expected touchdown 15…
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Missing dark matter & shadows from a black hole, Hubble continues to unlock cosmic mysteries
It’s a constant of the universe. Dark matter – a key ingredient for the formation and evolution of galaxies is present in whatever galaxy is observed. That is until NGC 1052-DF2 was discovered – a galaxy missing most of its dark matter. A year later, galaxy NGC 1052-DF4 was discovered 45 million light years from…
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James Webb on track for October 2021 launch; final testing underway
In a virtual update, NASA and Northrop Grumman confirmed the James Webb Space Telescope remains on track for launch on 31 October 2021 atop an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou, French Guiana. Final pre-launch processing milestones with the telescope, meanwhile, continue at Northrop Grumman’s Redondo Beach, California, facility, with teams currently working toward shipment of…
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Vega fails during launch of European Earth observation satellites
Arianespace suffered another issue with its Vega rocket during the launch of two Earth observation satellites named SEOSAT-Ingenio and TARANIS for Spain and France, respectively. Liftoff from the Guiana Space Center near Kourou, French Guiana, was on time at 01:52:20 UTC on Tuesday, 17 November — which is 20:52:20 EST on Monday, 16 November). Vega…
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Cassini data sheds light on Saturn formation and Enceladus habitability
While its mission ended just over three years ago, data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft continues to help scientists unlock the mysteries of the Saturnian system that contains more than 80 identified moons. In particular, new and updated research has helped determine the drift rate of Titan away from Saturn, in turn leading to a better…