Tag: European Space Agency

  • European space plane flies around the world on test flight

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    Artist’s concept of the Intermediate Experimental Vehicle. Credit: ESA Europe launched a sleek new space plane more than 250 miles above Earth on Wednesday, testing its maneuverability, on-board guidance systems, and a next-generation heat shield as the experimental vehicle glided through the atmosphere toward a pinpoint splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. The test flight marked…

  • European space plane flies around the world on test flight

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    in

    Artist’s concept of the Intermediate Experimental Vehicle. Credit: ESA Europe launched a sleek new space plane more than 250 miles above Earth on Wednesday, testing its maneuverability, on-board guidance systems, and a next-generation heat shield as the experimental vehicle glided through the atmosphere toward a pinpoint splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. The test flight marked…

  • ESA re-entry vehicle could pave way for reusable launcher

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    Artist’s concept of the Intermediate Experimental Vehicle. Credit: ESA European engineers are eager to test an experimental re-entry demonstrator Wednesday to validate technologies for future robotic exploration probes, winged space planes, and reusable rocket boosters. The European Space Agency’s Intermediate Experimental Vehicle — about the size of a family car — will take off at…

  • Live coverage: European mini-shuttle back on Earth

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

  • Photos: ESA re-entry testbed prepared for liftoff

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    Engineers have put the finishing touches on a prototype spaceship representing a leap in European space technology, aiming for liftoff Feb. 11 for a flight 260 miles into space and back to Earth for a pinpoint splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. The Intermediate Experimental Vehicle will blast off aboard a lightweight European Vega launcher from…

  • Europe’s re-entry demonstrator mated to Vega rocket

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    .@esa #ixv and #vega finally together for the last preparation phase! #VV04 #100minutemission pic.twitter.com/QMHTViKThh — ESA IXV (@esa_ixv) January 31, 2015 Launch crews in French Guiana have mounted an innovative European space plane on top of a solid-fueled Vega launcher for a Feb. 11 suborbital test flight. The European Space Agency’s Intermediate Experimental Vehicle was…

  • New discoveries from Rosetta put comet 67P in focus

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    This image from Rosetta’s OSIRIS narrow-angle camera shows part of a large fracture in the neck of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA Scientists have released new findings from the European Space Agency’s Rosetta mission, adding fresh pages to a catalog of comet data that officials promise will swell with more discoveries over the…

  • Woerner tapped as next ESA director general

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    DLR chairman Johann-Dietrich Woerner will take over as ESA’s director general on July 1, 2015. Credit: ESA–P. Sebirot, 2014 Johann-Dietrich Woerner, head of the German Aerospace Center, will take over as director general of the European Space Agency on July 1. Woerner will take over from Jean-Jacques Dordain, who has held the top post at…

  • Europe’s Venus Express mission is at its end

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    Artist’s concept of the Venus Express spacecraft during an “aerobreaking” campaign conducted in mid-2014. Credit: ESA-C. Carreau The European Space Agency’s Venus Express spacecraft has run out of fuel and will burn up in the atmosphere of Venus in January after a successful eight-year mission. Ground controllers lost contact with Venus Express on Nov. 28…

  • ESA member states commit funding for Orion service module

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    Artist’s concept of an Orion spacecraft with a European-built service module. Credit: ESA As a barebones Orion spacecraft awaits its first liftoff from Cape Canaveral, representatives from European governments agreed Tuesday to pay for the development of a power and propulsion element to take the crew capsule on longer voyages around the moon, to an…