Tag: European Space Agency

  • LISA Pathfinder blasts off to blaze a trail for relativity’s biggest test

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    The LISA Pathfinder probe lifts off from the European Space Agency’s spaceport in Kourou. (ESA photo) The LISA Pathfinder probe is heading for a vantage point a million miles from Earth to help look for gravitational waves and add a missing piece to the evidence for general relativity. The European Space Agency said an Italian-built Vega rocket sent…

  • Live coverage: Vega rocket launches with LISA Pathfinder

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    Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Vega rocket rocket with the European Space Agency’s LISA Pathfinder mission. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.

  • Vega/LISA Pathfinder launch timeline

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    Follow the major events during the launch of Europe’s LISA Pathfinder gravitational probe testbed, from liftoff of its Vega rocket booster from French Guiana through deployment into its initial orbit. Credit: Arianespace T+00:00:00 – Liftoff The Vega rocket’s first stage P80 solid rocket motor ignites and powers the 98-foot-tall booster off the launch pad 0.3…

  • Finely-crafted experimental space probe ready for launch

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    Updated after launch postponement. Artist’s concept of the LISA Pathfinder probe. Credit: ESA KOUROU, French Guiana — A modest European-built spacecraft tuned to test the delicate, cutting edge technologies required to detect gravitational waves, a measurement that scientists say could yield unforeseen discoveries about the universe, is awaiting liftoff aboard a solid-fueled Vega rocket this…

  • LISA Pathfinder launch grounded to analyze Vega upper stage

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    Updated with more details. Artist’s concept of the LISA Pathfinder spacecraft separating from the fourth stage of the Vega rocket. Credit: ESA KOUROU, French Guiana — Launch managers in French Guiana have delayed liftoff of a European gravitational probe pathfinder at least one day to study the thermal extremes the upper stage of its Vega…

  • ExoMars orbiter and lander on display

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    The European Space Agency’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter and Schiaparelli lander were recently presented to the media as they prepare for a tandem launch to the red planet in March. The two spacecraft combined will weigh 4.3 metric tons, or about 9,480 pounds, when fully fueled for liftoff in a 12-day window opening March 14.…

  • ExoMars nears launch, thanks to nonstop work in factory

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    Artist’s concept of Europe’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter at Mars. Credit: ESA/ATG medialab Working around the clock to meet a 12-day launch window in March, European engineers are putting the final touches on a Mars orbiter that could shed light on whether tiny microbes or geologic activity still linger on the barren planet. A stationary…

  • Photos: Experimental LISA Pathfinder probe processed for launch

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    The European Space Agency’s LISA Pathfinder spacecraft, destined to test the concept of gravitational wave detection a million miles from Earth, is nearly ready for launch Dec. 2. The hexagonal spacecraft, plus a disposable propulsion module to get it to an observation post at the L1 Lagrange point, arrived at Europe’s spaceport in French Guiana…

  • Europe to develop satellite to map plant fluorescence

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    Artist’s concept of the FLEX satellite, in formation with a Sentinel satellite in the background, measuring plant fluorescence from orbit. Credit: ESA/ATG medialab The European Space Agency has selected a satellite mission to monitor the health of global vegetation over an atmospheric research project to track carbon in Earth’s atmosphere, officials announced Thursday. The competition…

  • Vega booster crowned with gravitational probe pathfinder

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    LISA Pathfinder and its orbit-raising propulsion module were enclosed inside the Vega rocket’s payload fairing Nov. 16. Credit: ESA-Manuel Pedoussaut, 2015 After criss-crossing Europe for a decade, the LISA Pathfinder satellite testbed has reached its last stop before launch in early December on a mission to demonstrate the delicate technologies required to detect elusive low-frequency gravitational…