Tag: European Space Agency
-
Photos: Solar Orbiter encapsulated inside launch shroud
The Solar Orbiter spacecraft was encapsulated inside the Atlas 5 rocket’s payload fairing Jan. 20. Credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky The Airbus-built Solar Orbiter spacecraft has been closed up inside the payload fairing of a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket in preparation for liftoff from Cape Canaveral in February on a joint mission between the European…
-
ULA team completes countdown practice run before Solar Orbiter launch
A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket is pictured during a countdown dress rehearsal Friday at Cape Canaveral’s Complex 41 launch pad. Credit: United Launch Alliance United Launch Alliance teams loaded super-cold liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen into an Atlas 5 rocket Friday at Cape Canaveral during a countdown dress rehearsal for a planned launch…
-
Atlas 5 for Solar Orbiter launch returns to assembly building for inspections
The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket for the Solar Orbiter mission rolled out to Cape Canaveral’s Complex 41 launch pad Tuesday, Jan. 21, for a planned wet dress rehearsal Wednesday. Credit: United Launch Alliance United Launch Alliance moved its next Atlas 5 rocket off its Florida launch pad Wednesday for inspections after a cooling…
-
Photos: Ariane 5’s fiery climb to space from French Guiana
A European Ariane 5 rocket fired into a gloomy sky Thursday over French Guiana and streaked into space from the tropical launch base with 2.9 million pounds of thrust from two solid rocket boosters and a hydrogen-fueled Vulcain 2 main engine. Imagery released by Arianespace and CNES — operator of the Ariane 5 rocket and…
-
Photos: Ariane 5 rocket rolled out for first launch of 2020
A nearly 180-foot-tall (54.8-meter) Ariane 5 rocket rolled out of its integration hangar to the ELA-3 launch zone Wednesday at the Guiana Space Center in South America, moving into position for liftoff Thursday with two geostationary communications satellites. The Eutelsat Konnect and GSAT 30 satellites, owned by Paris-based Eutelsat and the Indian Space Research Organization,…
-
Live coverage: Ariane 5 launches telecom satellites for Eutelsat, ISRO
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of an Ariane 5 rocket with the Eutelsat Konnect and GSAT 30 communication satellites. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter. Arianespace’s live video webcast will begin approximately 15 minutes before launch and will be available on this page.
-
Arianespace opens busy year with successful Ariane 5 launch
An Ariane 5 rocket fires away from the ELA-3 launch pad in Kourou, French Guiana, Thursday with the Eutelsat Connect and GSAT 30 communications satellites. Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Photo Optique Video du CSG – JM Guillon The first of up to 22 launches on Arianespace’s schedule in 2020 successfully delivered a commercial European broadband satellite…
-
New European satellite design to debut on Ariane 5 launch Thursday
The Ariane 5 rocket with the Eutelsat Konnect and GSAT 30 communications satellites rolled to its launch pad in French Guiana on Wednesday. Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Photo Optique Video du CSG – P. Baudon A broadband communications satellite for Paris-based Eutelsat — built on a new Thales Alenia Space all-electric design with xenon plasma thrusters…
-
ESA’s Huygens probe landed on Saturn’s moon Titan 15 years ago
This mosaic of three frames taken by Huygens during its descent to Titan provides unprecedented detail of a ridge area, including a network of river channels. Credit: ESA/NASA/JPL/University of Arizona Fifteen years after accomplishing the first-ever landing on Saturn’s moon Titan, lessons learned from the European Space Agency’s Huygens spacecraft continue aiding designers of future…
-
Stacking of ULA’s next Atlas 5 rocket begins at Cape Canaveral
United Launch Alliance teams began stacking an Atlas 5 rocket inside a vertical hangar at Cape Canaveral Monday in preparation for an early February launch with the Solar Orbiter spacecraft, a joint U.S.-European probe that will take the first pictures of the sun’s poles. This week at Cape Canaveral’s Vertical Integration Facility, ULA technicians are…