Tag: European Space Agency

  • ESA plans for Rosetta’s grand finale on comet 67P

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    Artist’s concept of the Rosetta spacecraft with a real image of comet 67P in the background. Credit: ESA/ATG medialab/Rosetta/NAVCAM European Space Agency flight controllers are plotting to send the Rosetta spacecraft on a controlled descent to the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko next year to join the Philae landing probe, which made a bouncy touchdown on…

  • Oxia Planum tops list of landing sites for ExoMars rover

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    Artist’s concept of the ExoMars rover. Credit: ESA Scientists have selected Oxia Planum, a shallow basin connected to dried up channels carved by ancient water flows, as the prime landing site for Europe’s first Mars rover set for launch in 2018. Balancing engineering constraints on altitude and slopes with each candidate landing site’s scientific promise,…

  • Launch campaign begins for Europe’s trailblazing gravity probe

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    ESA’s LISA Pathfinder spacecraft is seen inside IABG’s test center near Munich on Aug. 31. Credit: ESA–P. Sebirot, 2015 A compact European space probe, already fitted with a propulsive boost stage to send it a million miles from Earth, has arrived at its French Guiana launch base for liftoff in early December aboard a solid-fueled…

  • ESA hopes to commit to 2018 Mars rover launch by December

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    The ExoMars 2018 rover will be assembled by Airbus Defense and Space at its facility in Stevenage, UK. A “Mars Yard” test array has been constructed at the Stevenage plant. Credit: Airbus Defense and Space With the flagship-class ExoMars program nearing the finish line after a decade in development, European Space Agency officials want to…

  • Launch of European Mars mission delayed two months

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    Artist’s concept of the Schiaparelli lander separating from the Trace Gas Orbiter on final approach to Mars. Credit: ESA/ATG medialab Officials expect to delay next year’s launch of a European Mars orbiter and lander about two months — from January to March — to remove faulty pressure transducers from the landing craft’s braking system, the…

  • The surface of Rosetta’s comet is changing

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    This sequence of ten images showing changes in the Imhotep region on Comet 67P/Chruymov-Gerasimenko were taken with the OSIRIS narrow-angle camera on Rosetta between May 24 and July 11, 2015. Credit: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA Views from Europe’s Rosetta comet orbiter show mysterious markings appearing on the nucleus of Comet 67P in recent months,…

  • The surface of Rosetta’s comet is changing

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    This sequence of ten images showing changes in the Imhotep region on Comet 67P/Chruymov-Gerasimenko were taken with the OSIRIS narrow-angle camera on Rosetta between May 24 and July 11, 2015. Credit: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA Views from Europe’s Rosetta comet orbiter show mysterious markings appearing on the nucleus of Comet 67P in recent months,…

  • Launch brings Galileo navigation system into double digits

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    A Soyuz rocket lifted off from French Guiana at 0208:10 GMT Friday (10:08:10 p.m. EDT) with Europe’s next two Galileo navigation satellites. Credit: ESA–Manuel Pedoussaut, 2015 A Russian rocket released two Galileo navigation satellites nearly 15,000 miles above Earth early Friday, adding to a growing fleet giving Europe an independent space-based positioning system tracking automobiles,…

  • Live coverage: Soyuz launches to expand Europe’s navigation system

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    Video provided by Arianespace Mission Status Center Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Soyuz rocket from French Guiana with two Galileo navigation satellites. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.

  • Photos: Two more Galileo navigation satellites primed for flight

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    The next pair of spacecraft to join Europe’s Galileo navigation system are positioned for liftoff late Thursday aboard a Soyuz rocket. The photos below show the arrival of the satellites in French Guiana in late July from their factory at OHB System in Bremen, Germany, fueling of the craft by technicians in special hazmat suits,…