Tag: European Space Agency

  • 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…

  • Rosetta approaches comet 67P for a closer look

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    A single-frame image of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko from Rosetta’s navigation camera taken Feb. 9 at a range of 105 km, showing part of the nucleus enveloped in jets of dust and gas. Credit: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM The Rosetta spacecraft neared its comet Saturday, targeting a close flyby within four miles of the tiny world’s jagged nucleus to gain…

  • Europe’s last ATV set to depart from space station

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    Artist’s concept of Europe’s Automated Transfer Vehicle docked with the International Space Station. Credit: ESA–D. Ducros, 2014 A European supply freighter is set to undock from the International Space Station on Saturday, heading for a destructive dive into Earth’s atmosphere about 30 hours later after a power system failure forced the cancellation of an experiment…

  • Engineers to assess reusability of Europe’s wingless space plane

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    Europe’s IXV re-entry demonstrator is lifted out of the Pacific Ocean onto the Nos Aries recovery ship after Wednesday’s test flight. Credit: ESA–Tommaso Javidi, 2015 Back on Earth after a whirlwind journey 20,000 miles around the world, an experimental re-entry demonstrator is on the way to Europe for post-flight inspections aimed at gathering design inputs…

  • Fire in the hole! Vega fires away from jungle spaceport

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    A solid-fueled Vega launcher zipped away from its launch pad in Kourou, French Guiana, with Europe’s IXV mission Wednesday, boosting a miniature lifting body spacecraft on a globe-spanning test flight to validate technologies for future space transportation systems. The fourth flight of the European Vega rocket — and its first in full daylight — blasted…