Tag: European Commission
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Six firm launch contracts booked with Arianespace
Artist’s illustration of the Ariane 62 rocket. Credit: ESA–David Ducros, 2016 Arianespace has received its first two confirmed launch contracts for Europe’s new Ariane 6 rocket, and the company recently announced four more launch bookings to loft communications and weather satellites into orbit aboard Ariane 5 and Soyuz boosters from French Guiana. Two Ariane 6…
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German-British consortium wins deal to build eight more Galileo satellites
Artist’s illustration of Galileo navigation satellites in orbit. Credit: OHB Eight more satellites for Europe’s Galileo navigation fleet will be built by Germany’s OHB System AG and Britain’s Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. under a contract worth more than $350 million. The European Space Agency and the European Commission selected the same German-British industrial team that…
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Brexit raises question mark over UK’s role in some European space projects
SSTL engineers working in Guildford, England, test a navigation payload for Europe’s Galileo program. Credit: SSTL The future participation of major segments of Britain’s space industry in Europe’s Galileo navigation system and Copernicus environmental network, two multibillion-dollar flagship programs with dozens of satellites, is sure to be a significant part of negotiations as the UK…
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Photos: Vega rocket vaults off launch pad
Firing off the launch pad with more than a half-million pounds of thrust, a Vega rocket soared into space Monday night from French Guiana with Europe’s Sentinel 2B environmental satellite. The 98-foot-tall (30-meter), four-stage rocket, powered by Italian and Ukrainian propulsion, took off at 10:49:24 p.m. local time in French Guiana (0149:24 GMT; 8:49:24 p.m.…
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Environmental sentinel launched from French Guiana
The Vega rocket took off from the Guiana Space Center at 10:49 p.m. French Guiana time Monday. Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Photo Optique Video du CSG – G. Barbaste A European environmental satellite rode a solid-fueled Vega launcher from a tropical spaceport at the edge of the Amazon jungle into polar orbit Monday night, adding a…
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Live coverage: European environmental satellite launched by Vega rocket
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Vega rocket with the Sentinel 2A land imaging satellite. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter. Arianespace’s live video stream begins at approximately 0130 GMT (8:30 p.m. EST). Please ensure your browser is updated with the latest…
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Launch timeline for Vega rocket’s flight with Sentinel 2B
Europe’s fifth Sentinel Earth observation satellite will ride a four-stage Vega rocket into polar orbit 488 miles (786 kilometers) above Earth to begin tracking changes in agriculture and forestry patterns and monitoring natural disasters. The ascent will take nearly an hour following launch from French Guiana at 0149:24 GMT March 7 (8:49:24 p.m. EST March 6). Credit: Arianespace T+00:00:00 – Liftoff The Vega rocket’s first stage P80 solid rocket motor ignites and powers the…
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Europe’s next Sentinel land imaging satellite mated to rocket booster
Ground crews have mounted the fully-fueled Sentinel 2B spacecraft, the next mission in Europe’s multibillion-dollar Copernicus Earth observation satellite fleet, on top of a Vega rocket inside a protective gantry on its launch pad in French Guiana for blastoff next month. The satellite was encapsulated inside the Vega rocket’s Swiss-made composite nose shroud Feb. 15,…
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European engineers studying string of clock failures on Galileo navigation satellites
Artist’s concept of a Galileo satellite. Credit: OHB A wave of clock failures on Europe’s Galileo navigation satellites has not knocked any of the craft offline, but officials want to better understand the problem before launching more satellites into the fleet. Five of the 18 Galileo navigation craft currently in orbit have encountered clock anomalies,…
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Slow-motion replays and dramatic images from Thursday’s Ariane 5 flight
Don’t miss riveting slow-motion video of Thursday’s blastoff of four European navigation satellite satellites captured by high-speed cameras at the Ariane 5 rocket’s jungle launch pad, plus dramatic up-close snapshots showing the launcher’s climb into the sky on 2.9 million pounds of ground-shaking thrust. The 165-foot-tall (50-meter) rocket took off at 1306 GMT (8:06 a.m.…