Tag: Germany
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Proton launch delayed to Saturday
The Proton rocket stands on its launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, awaiting liftoff with the Spektr-RG X-ray astronomy mission. Credit: Roscosmos Russian officials have delayed until Saturday the launch of a Proton rocket from Kazakhstan with the Spektr-RG X-ray astronomy observatory, an ambitious mission jointly developed with Germany to probe dark energy.…
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Proton rocket and astronomy satellite back on the launch pad after battery replacement
Poised to loft a Russian-German X-ray astronomy observatory into space Friday, a Proton rocket returned to its launch pad Tuesday at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan after a three-week delay to replace a drained battery on the vehicle. The Proton rocket departed its assembly building at Baikonur early Tuesday and rode a specialized rail car…
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Mars lander’s ground team begins inspection of stuck instrument
The InSight lander’s robotic arm camera captured this view of the stuck mole from the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package (HP3) instrument June 30, soon after the arm lifted and moved the instrument’s support structure. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech In a bit of interplanetary troubleshooting, the robot arm on NASA’s InSight Mars lander has lifted a…
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Russia postpones launch of X-ray astronomy mission
The Proton rocket with the Spektr-RG X-ray astronomy mission will return to an assembly building at the Baikonur Cosmodrome for troubleshooting ahead of another launch attempt as soon as July 12. Credit: Roscosmos Russian officials postponed the planned launch of a Proton rocket with an X-ray astronomy satellite Friday until no earlier than July 12…
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Russia to launch science mission probing dark energy
EDITOR’S NOTE: The launch of the Spektr-RG mission has been rescheduled for no earlier than Saturday, June 22, at 1217 GMT (8:17 a.m. EDT). Artist’s illustration of the Spektr-RG observatory in space. Credit: Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics A Russian-built satellite hosting an array of X-ray telescopes is awaiting launch Friday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome…
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Proton rocket, Russian-German astronomy satellite arrive at launch pad
A rocket-transporting railroad car ferried a Proton booster to its launch pad Friday at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for final checkouts and testing before the vehicle’s scheduled June 21 liftoff with the Russian-German Spektr-RG X-ray telescope. The Proton rocket began the trip to the Complex 81 launch pad Friday at around 6:30 a.m.…
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Scientists call on InSight’s robotic arm to assist stalled heat probe on Mars
The self-hammering mole, part of the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package (HP3) on NASA’s InSight lander, was only partially buried in the soil of Mars as of early June 2019, as shown in this illustration. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Later this month, ground teams will send commands for the InSight lander on Mars to use its…
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Russia ships X-ray astronomy satellite to launch site
The Spektr-RG astronomy satellite is prepared for shipment to the Baikonur Cosmodrome at an NPO Lavochkin facility in Khimki, Russia, near Moscow. Credit: Roscosmos A Russian X-ray astronomy satellite with major contributions from German and U.S. scientists and instrument developers arrived Thursday at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for a launch in June aboard a…
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InSight scientists not sure stalled Mars heat probe can be recovered
A camera on the end of the InSight lander’s robotic arm took this picture of the Heat and Physical Properties Package, or HP3, instrument’s support structure on the Martian surface March 28. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Ground teams analyzing data from a heat probe that got stuck soon after it started digging into the Martian crust under…
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InSight lander completes seismometer deployment on Mars
NASA’s InSight lander has placed a protective enclosure over a French-developed seismometer designed to detect tremors on Mars, completing the deployment of the first of two science instruments delivered to the Red Planet in November. Using its nearly 8-foot-long (2.4-meter) robotic arm, InSight followed commands beamed up from Earth to cover the seismometer package with…