Tag: European Space Agency
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Launcher contracts signify shift in Europe’s rocket industry
Artist’s concepts of the Vega C (left) and Ariane 6 (right) rockets. Credit: ESA–J. Huart and D. Ducros, 2015 Europe’s next-generation launcher family has moved a step closer to reality with the signature of nearly $3.8 billion in contracts for development of the Ariane 6 rocket and an upgraded version of the lightweight Vega booster.…
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Orion service module still seen as schedule driver
Artist’s concept of the Orion spacecraft with the European service module’s distinctive X-wing solar panels. Credit: NASA The pace of the European Space Agency’s development of a power and propulsion module for NASA’s Orion crew capsule will likely determine when an unpiloted test flight of the spaceship and its heavy-lift rocket will take off, NASA…
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New contact with intractable comet lander
Artist’s concept of the Philae lander. Credit: DLR Europe’s Rosetta comet probe re-established momentary contact with the Philae lander late Thursday, renewing hopes of starting up the craft’s research instruments after two weeks of radio silence dampened the moods of scientists. Thursday’s contact, which lasted 12 minutes before failing, was the first time ground controllers…
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New satellite joins Europe’s growing Earth observing network
The Vega rocket with Sentinel 2A blasted off at 0151:58 GMT Tuesday (9:51:58 p.m. EDT Monday) from Kourou, French Guiana. Credit: ESA–M. Pedoussaut, 2015 A new satellite to monitor crops, pollution and the growth of cities blasted off Monday from a tropical spaceport in French Guiana, adding another piece to Europe’s multibillion-dollar fleet of spacecraft…
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Photos: Vega launch lights up French Guiana
Monday night’s blastoff of a Vega rocket from the northern shore of South America dispatched a 2,500-pound Earth imaging satellite for Europe and put on a light show across the tropical spaceport at the edge of the Amazon. The 98-foot-tall rocket launched at 10:51:58 p.m. local time Monday (0151:58 GMT Tuesday; 9:51:58 p.m. EDT Monday)…
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Live coverage: Vega rocket deploys second Sentinel satellite
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Vega rocket with the Sentinel 2A land imaging satellite. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.
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‘Europe’s Landsat’ in the starting blocks
Artist’s concept of the Sentinel 2A satellite in orbit. Credit: ESA/ATG medialab The first in a planned multi-decade series of European land imaging satellites is fastened on top of a solid-fueled Vega launcher at a French Guiana space base for liftoff Monday, kicking off a mission to track everything from global crop growth to urban…
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For comet scientists, elation and redemption at Philae’s wakeup
Artist’s concept of Philae. Credit: ESA Research teams across Europe spent the last half-year meticulously going through a wish list of experiments for the Philae comet lander without knowing whether they would ever get a chance to execute the tasks. With Philae now awake after a seven-month slumber, scientists are eager to turn on the…
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Engineers seek to stabilize radio link with comet lander
Rosetta’s navigation camera captured this view of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko awakened by the sun June 5. Credit: ESA/Rosetta/NavCam Emboldened by renewed contact with Europe’s comet lander, engineers are repositioning the mission’s Rosetta mothership this week to establish a reliable a communications link with the dishwasher-sized Philae landing craft, a prerequisite for resuming a science campaign abbreviated…
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Comet lander wakes up!
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION Artist’s concept of the Philae lander. Credit: DLR The European Space Agency’s Philae comet lander, out of power and presumably lost after bouncing into heavily shadowed terrain last November, phoned home Saturday after finally getting enough sunlight on its solar panels to transmit data to the Rosetta orbiter…