Tag: European Space Agency
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JWST beset by another problem as Northrop Grumman revamps training
The telescope element of the Webb observatory was unpacked from its shipping container March 8 after arriving at Northrop Grumman’s factory in Redondo Beach, California. Credit: NASA/Chris Gunn Engineers working on the James Webb Space Telescope, which had its launch delayed to 2020 earlier this year, recently discovered another problem during testing at the observatory’s…
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Photos: Modified Russian ballistic missile blasts off with European satellite
Check out photos of Wednesday’s launch of a Russian Rockot booster, derived from a decommissioned Soviet-era nuclear missile, with Europe’s Sentinel 3B Earth observation satellite. The 95-foot-tall (29-meter) Rockot launcher lifted off at 1757 GMT (1:57 p.m. EDT; 8:57 p.m. local time) from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in far northern Russia. Comprised of two booster stages…
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Animated GIF shows ‘snow’ on Rosetta’s comet – and sends chills around the world
An image from the Rosetta probe shows the Cliffs of Hathor on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Specks and streaks cover the frame. Some of them are dust particles, others are background stars. The star cluster NGC 2362 is prominent near the upper left edge of the picture. (ESA / Rosetta / MPS / OSIRIS / UPD /…
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Live coverage: Europe’s next environmental sentinel lifts off
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Rockot launcher with Europe’s Sentinel 3B environmental monitoring satellite. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.
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European environmental observer launched by Russian rocket
A new European satellite carrying instruments to track changes in the world’s oceans, measure receding ice sheets and chart vegetation growth climbed into orbit Wednesday on top of a Russian Rockot launcher. The successful launch added the seventh satellite to the Copernicus Earth-observing fleet, a network of environmental observatories funded by the European Union in…
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Photos: Sentinel 3B satellite prepared for launch from Plesetsk Cosmodrome
Europe’s Sentinel 3B environmental satellite was shipped to the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia’s far northern Arkhangelsk region in March for a month-long campaign to prepare the spacecraft for liftoff aboard a Rockot launcher. The remote military base, nestled in a forest around 500 miles (800 kilometers) north of Moscow, is Russia’s primary launch site for…
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Spaceflight reserves two rideshare missions on Vega rocket
Artist’s concept of the Vega rocket’s Small Spacecraft Mission Service dispenser deploying multiple satellites in orbit. Credit: ESA Spaceflight Industries has booked reservations for two commercial rideshare missions on Arianespace’s Vega rocket, officials announced Tuesday, beginning with a proof-of-concept flight in early 2019 of a new Italian-built multi-payload dispenser tailored to accommodate small satellites and…
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Potential contamination not a concern for space station’s new lightning instrument
A view inside the Dragon spacecraft’s trunk, housing (clockwise from upper left) the Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor, the Materials ISS Experiment Flight Facility — a materials exposure experiment platform — and the Pump Flow and Control Subassembly. Credit: SpaceX Scientists working on a new lightning detection instrument mounted outside the International Space Station said Tuesday they…
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Dragon cargo capsule reaches space station for second time
SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft arrives at the International Space Station Wednesday. Credit: NASA/JAXA/Norishige Kanai A commercial Dragon spacecraft glacially approached the International Space Station on Wednesday, allowing a robotic arm controlled by Japanese astronaut Norishige Kanai to reach out and grapple the supply ship as it soared 250 miles over Africa, completing SpaceX’s 14th mission to…
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Video: Falcon 9 rocket lifts off on SpaceX’s 14th station cargo mission
Packed with food, hardware and experiments in biology, Earth science and space technology, a Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon supply ship lifted off Monday from Cape Canaveral destined for the International Space Station. The 213-foot-tall (65-meter) rocket took off at 4:30:38 p.m. EDT (2030:38 GMT) from Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad, then turned to…