Tag: Mars
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Live coverage: ExoMars mission underway after Proton launch
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Proton rocket with Europe’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter and the Schiaparelli entry, descent and landing demonstrator module to Mars. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.
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ExoMars team has long wait to confirm launch success
Artist’s concept of the Proton rocket’s payload fairing releasing in flight, revealing the ExoMars spacecraft. Credit: ESA–David Ducros It will take more than 12 hours from liftoff of the European Space Agency’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter until engineers verify the mission is on track for Mars after a series of critical in-space maneuvers by the…
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Ambitious European-led Mars mission ready for liftoff
Artist’s concept of the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) deploying the Schiaparelli Entry Descent and Landing demonstrator module (EDM) just before arrival at Mars in October 2016. Credit: ESA–D. Ducros Humankind’s largest emissary to Mars in a generation is set for blastoff Monday, when Europe and Russia will dispatch a mission to unravel the mystery…
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Proton rocket reaches launch pad with Mars probe
A Russian Proton rocket rolled out to its launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Friday, riding a specially-built rail car with Europe’s ExoMars mission bound for the red planet. The ExoMars spacecraft, comprising a European-built orbiter and lander, is the only mission launching to Mars this year, scheduled for blastoff at 0931:42…
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InSight Mars lander escapes cancellation, aims for 2018 launch
The InSight lander in its cruise stage configuration prior to undergoing acoustic testing at Lockheed Martin. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Lockheed Martin The InSight Mars lander has won a reprieve from NASA’s top managers after persistent problems with one of the probe’s science instruments caused the mission to miss a narrow launch window planned for this month. The…
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Mars set to receive NASA InSight at the end of 2018
NASA’s Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission has received a new flight schedule following a two-year delay. The lander, which will study the deep interior of Mars, is now set to launch in May 2018, ahead of a projected landing in November of that year. NASA InSight Mission: InSight was…
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Assembly complete for ExoMars’ Proton launcher
Ground teams pose for a picture with the fully assembled Proton rocket with the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter and Schiaparelli lander. Credit: Khrunichev Europe’s ExoMars orbiter, due to begin a seven-month journey to the red planet March 14, has met its Russian Proton rocket booster as launch preparations enter the final stages at the Baikonur…
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Fate of NASA’s InSight Mars mission to be decided soon
Updated March 7. The back shell of the InSight spacecraft is lowered onto the lander in a clean room at Lockheed Martin. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Lockheed Martin NASA is close to deciding whether to spend an extra $150 million to send the InSight lander to Mars in 2018 or cancel the mission after an instrument problem made…
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Microsoft’s HoloLens headset wins rave review from astronaut Scott Kelly after year in space
Astronaut Scott Kelly wears a HoloLens headset on the International Space Station. (Credit: NASA) After his return from nearly a year in space, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly gave Microsoft’s HoloLens headset a big thumbs-up for work on the International Space Station – and for shooting down aliens in his spare time. “It worked great,” he said today…
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European Mars probe encapsulated for launch
The ExoMars spacecraft was encapsulated inside the Proton rocket’s payload fairing March 2. Credit: ESA – B. Bethge Europe’s ExoMars orbiter was enclosed inside the nose cone of its Proton rocket Wednesday ahead of its March 14 launch toward the red planet to sniff out the source of Martian methane. The fully-fueled Mars orbiter is…