Tag: European Space Agency
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Japan’s H3 Rocket Set for Second Launch Attempt Amidst Bid to Revitalize Space Program
Japan is gearing up for another launch attempt of its flagship rocket, the H3, this weekend, aiming to rejuvenate its space program following a setback during the booster’s maiden flight last year, which disrupted satellite and planetary exploration plans. Scheduled to launch from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan on Saturday, the second flight…
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“We are worried,” says European rocket chief at prospect of launch competition
There is “no guarantee” France’s ArianeGroup will continue to be Europe’s rocket launch company of choice, according to the head of the European Space Agency, after ESA member states agreed to introduce more competition to the market. Josef Aschbacher, the agency’s director-general, told the Financial Times that the decision at its space summit in Seville…
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Seven-minute hotfire test moves Europe’s Ariane 6 rocket closer to flight
The European Space Agency (ESA) declared success after an Ariane 6 rocket fired its core-stage engine in French Guiana for seven minutes on Thursday, clearing one of a handful of remaining hurdles before the new launcher can lift off on its first test flight. The Ariane 6’s inaugural launch, now scheduled for next year, has…
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Rocket Report: Tough times for Astra and Virgin; SpaceX upgrading launch pad
Welcome to Edition 6.19 of the Rocket Report! While we wait for SpaceX to launch the second full-scale test flight of Starship, a lot of the news this week involved companies with much smaller rockets. Astra is struggling to find enough funding to remain in business, and Virgin Galactic says it will fly its suborbital…
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Scientists show off the wide vision of Europe’s Euclid space telescope
The European Space Agency released the first five science images from the Euclid space telescope Tuesday, showing how the wide-angle observatory will survey familiar cosmic wonders like galaxies and stars to study the unseen dark energy and dark matter that dominate the Universe. Stationed nearly a million miles (1.5 million kilometers) from Earth, Euclid will…
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After the sting of Ariane 6, Europe finally embraces commercial rockets
Representatives from 22 European countries reached an agreement Monday to change the way the continent’s rockets are developed, moving from a government-driven approach to a commercial paradigm that appears to be modeled after how NASA and the US military do business. This is a big moment for the European Space Agency and its member states,…
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Trans-Atlantic joint venture aims to build new “international” space station
Voyager Space, one of several US companies formulating concepts for new commercial space stations, has established a joint venture with Airbus to co-develop an Earth-orbiting research outpost called Starlab. The companies announced the joint venture Wednesday, saying they plan to field a successor to the International Space Station. “The US-led joint venture will bring together…
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ESA still seems shy about sharing news on Ariane 6 rocket testing
Last month, a full-scale test model of Europe’s Ariane 6 was put to the test on its launch pad in the jungles of French Guiana. For the first time, the launch team at the tropical spaceport loaded cryogenic liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen into the Ariane 6 over the course of a marathon 26-hour test…
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Europe turns its new $1.5 billion space telescope on, and happily it works
Nearly one month after launching into space, a European telescope has begun taking its first images and data of the Universe. And to the delight of scientists at the European Space Agency, everything seems to be working rather well. As part of the months-long commissioning phase, both the telescope’s visual and infrared-light cameras have started…
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European satellite plunges back to Earth in first-of-its-kind assisted re-entry
The European Space Agency deftly guided one of its satellites toward a fiery re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere Friday, demonstrating a new method of post-mission disposal to ensure the spacecraft would not fall into any populated areas. The Aeolus satellite was relatively modest in size and mass—about 1.1 metric tons with its fuel tank empty—but ESA…