Tag: European Space Agency

  • ESA reveals candidates for new space science missions

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    Earth’s protective barrier – the magnetosphere – shields it from some of the effects of the supersonic solar wind. Studying the interaction between this wind and the magnetosphere is important for our understanding of space weather. Credit: ESA The European Space Agency revealed plans Thursday to build and launch a joint space weather research satellite…

  • Tour comet 67P in Rosetta’s latest image release

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    The latest batch of images released from the European Space Agency’s Rosetta mission shows the brutal gray landscape of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in vivid detail. ESA posted 1,776 images from Rosetta’s navigation camera on the agency’s website Thursday, adding to a growing catalog of imagery of comet 67P since the probe arrived in August 2014. The…

  • Space-based airplane tracking demonstrated by ESA satellite

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    Aircraft positions picked up by ESA’s Proba-V minisatellite, using an experimental Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast (ADS-B) receiver. These signals are regularly broadcast from aircraft, giving flight information such as speed, position and altitude. All aircraft entering European airspace are envisaged to carry ADS-B in the coming years. Credit: ESA/DLR/SES An experimental receiver aboard a…

  • NASA invites ESA to build Europa piggyback probe

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    Artist’s concept of the Europa Clipper spacecraft. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech After walking away from a previously planned joint mission to Jupiter, NASA has asked the European Space Agency if it can furnish a lander or ice-penetrating probe for a rejuvenated U.S.-led robotic spacecraft to visit Jupiter’s moon Europa. NASA’s mission to Europa is scheduled to launch…

  • Managers confident ahead of critical launch for Galileo navigation system

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    Artist’s concept of two Galileo satellites launching aboard a Soyuz rocket. Credit: ESA–J. Huart, 2014 Confident in technical and procedural fixes implemented since a botched launch in August left two Galileo satellites in the wrong orbit, officials in charge of the European navigation system say Friday’s liftoff of two identical spacecraft on a Soyuz rocket…

  • Rosetta glimpses its own shadow on comet 67P

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    Close view of a 228 x 228 m region on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, as seen by the OSIRIS narrow-angle camera during Rosetta’s flyby at 12:39 UT on 14 February 2015. The image was taken six kilometers above the comet’s surface, and the image resolution is just 11 cm/pixel. Rosetta’s fuzzy shadow, measuring approximately 20 x 50…

  • ATV’s re-entry camera returned no images

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    Artist’s concept of Europe’s Automated Transfer Vehicle breaking up during re-entry. Credit: ESA A camera packed inside Europe’s Automated Transfer Vehicle failed to transmit images from inside the disposable supply ship as it plunged through Earth’s atmosphere Feb. 15 and broke apart over the South Pacific Ocean, the European Space Agency said Friday. The robotic…

  • Photos from Rosetta’s Valentine’s Day comet close-up

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    Europe’s Rosetta spacecraft — six months into its mission at comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko — made its closest flyby of the comet’s boulder-strewn nucleus Saturday, capturing photos and measurements to help scientists unravel how the duck-shaped body is evolving on its path around the sun. Rosetta flew just six kilometers — about 3.7 miles — from the…

  • Video: Time lapse of ATV’s final departure from ISS

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    This time lapse video shows Europe’s Automated Transfer Vehicle backing away from the International Space Station for the last time Saturday. Undocking occurred at 1342 GMT (8:42 a.m. EST) as the space station flew 257 miles over Mongolia. Credit: NASA/ESA Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.

  • Europe’s ATV space freighter bids final goodbye to space station

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    The fifth ATV mission — dubbed Georges Lemaitre — approaches the International Space Station before docking Aug. 12. Credit: Oleg Artemyev/Roscosmos Europe’s fifth and final Automated Transfer Vehicle departed the International Space Station for the last time Saturday, closing out one of the European Space Agency’s flagship programs as the bus-sized spaceship heads for a…