Tag: ESA
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ESA delays Ariane 6 launch to the second half of 2021
The European Space Agency (ESA) has delayed the first launch of their upcoming heavy-medium rocket: the Ariane 6. Arianespace – the prime contractor for Ariane 6 – and ESA now expect it to launch NET (no earlier than) the second half of 2021, with at least six months of delay. Ariane 6 is a medium-heavy…
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Canadarm3 to support Lunar Gateway space station
Canada is marching forward with its international partners to establish a permanent research installation near the Moon, the Lunar Gateway. As it did for the Shuttle and Station programs before, the Canadian Space Agency, via a partnership with MacDonald, Dettwiler, and Associates, Inc., will build the next-generation robotic system: Canadarm3. This smart robotic system will…
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NASA outlines the near and far future of the Space Station
NASA has laid out plans for their future utilization of the International Space Station (ISS) over the next decade, including upgrades scheduled to be conducted on the outpost in the near term, its future use as an analog for human exploration missions beyond Earth Orbit, and the commercial expansion to the orbital outpost. During the…
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COVID-19 grips world space organizations
As world leaders grapple and struggle to control the coronavirus pandemic which leads to the COVID-19 disease, the world’s space organizations are also adopting various policies to help combat the spread of the illness and protect their workforces. While business remains largely “as usual” in the United States arena, Russian authorities are taking added measures…
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Soyuz ST-A Falcon Eye-2 launch delayed by a month
The launch of the Soyuz ST-A flight VS-24 carrying the Falcon Eye-2 satellite has been delayed from it’s March 6 launch date due to a malfunction on the Fregat-M upper stage. It is understood the mission will be delayed a month in total, with a preliminary launch target noted as April 6. Falcon Eye-2 is…
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ESA Solar Orbiter mission rides on ULA Atlas V to study the Sun
A mission years in the planning and building took its next great leap Sunday evening as the European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter blasts off on a 7-year mission to study the Sun. The probe launched atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 411 rocket from SLC-41 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, at…
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ESA’s Solar Orbiter ready to study the Sun, heading for Florida
Solar Orbiter is ESA’s (European Space Agency’s) first medium class mission with strong partnership from NASA. Part of the Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 Programme, the science platform has now completed all its European-based construction and integration tests and is ready to be shipped to its launch site at the end of October. Launch of Solar Orbiter…
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One on one ESA Director General Johann-Dietrich Wörner
Last Sunday (October 6th) the annual ESA-ESTEC open house day was held on the grounds of Europe’s largest Space facility, ESTEC in the Netherlands. This open day is part of world space week – and the week of science. This year’s theme of the open day was “Europe to the Moon”. Among the special guests…
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SpaceX reports a ‘bug’ in its alert system after ESA shifts spacecraft to avoid Starlink satellite collision
A computer-generated diagram shows the projected orbital paths of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite and the European Space Agency’s Aeolus satellite. (ESA Graphic via Twitter) The European Space Agency says it performed a collision avoidance maneuver over the Labor Day weekend to head off a potential crash between its Aeolus wind-measuring satellite and one of SpaceX’s Starlink…
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ESA promotes Vega’s evolution for independent European access to space
Arianespace’s future ambitions in the launch services market will be focused on two new launch vehicles. The Ariane 6 and Vega-C rockets will be tasked with covering a multitude of payload requirements and will evolve together via commonality of hardware. Vega-C is set to conduct her maiden flight in 2020 and is currently in the…