European Space Agency
- ESA launches new lunar simulation facilitywww.theengineer.co.uk ESA launches new lunar simulation facility - The Engineer
A new facility designed to simulate the lunar surface and prepare astronauts for return to the Moon has opened in Cologne.
- Juice confirms that Earth is habitablewww.esa.int Juice confirms that Earth is habitable
During its flyby of Earth on 20 August, ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) found ingredients for life in Earth’s atmosphere.
I think they are missing a "still" in the title...
- The Vega rocket never found its commercial niche. After tonight, it’s gone.arstechnica.com The Vega rocket never found its commercial niche. After tonight, it’s gone.
The larger Vega-C will take over, primarily to launch European government satellites.
Vega lifted off for the final time on 2024-09-05 at 01:50 UTC.
- ESA Open Day at ESTEC 2024: Registration openwww.esa.int ESA Open Day at ESTEC 2024: Registration open
Now’s your chance to meet astronauts, view spacecraft and peer behind the scenes of Europe’s space adventure at our ESA Open Day at ESTEC in the Netherlands on Sunday 6 October from 10:00 to 17:00. Registration is now open.
- Sentinel-2C Launch Thread (final flight of Vega)
Welcome everyone! The final flight of Vega has arrived.
| Scheduled for (UTC) | 2024-09-05 01:50 | | --- | --- | | Scheduled for (local) | 2024-09-04 22:50 (GFT) | | Launch site | ELV, Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana, France | | Launch vehicle | Vega | | Payloads | Sentinel 2C | | Mission success criteria | Successful launch and deployment into Sun-Synchronous Orbit |
Livestreams
| Stream | Link | | --- | --- | | Arianespace (English) | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZzcOxxeMyA | | Arianespace (Français) | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgrF4wPqS8E | | Space Affairs | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vELtvL2syE | | The Launch Pad | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y59evtZ0mE0 |
Stats
☑️ 1st Vega mission of 2024, 24th and final Vega mission overall
☑️ 2nd Arianespace mission of 2024, 298th mission overall
Payload info
> Sentinel-2 is an Earth observation mission developed by ESA as part of the Copernicus Programme to perform terrestrial observations in support of services such as forest monitoring, land cover change detection, and natural disaster management.
>The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission provides high-resolution optical imagery for a wide range of applications including land, water and atmospheric monitoring. The mission is based on a constellation of two identical satellites flying in the same orbit but 180° apart: Sentinel-2A and Sentinel-2B. Together, they cover all of Earth’s land and coastal waters every five days. > >The satellites each carry a high-resolution multispectral imager that generates optical images in the visible, near-infrared and shortwave-infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum. From their altitude of 786 km, they provide continuous imagery in 13 spectral bands with resolutions of 10 m, 20 m and 60 m, with a large swath width of 290 km. > >Sentinel-2C is the third in the Sentinel-2 series. Once commissioned in orbit, it will replace its predecessor, Sentinel-2A. Later, Sentinel-2D will replace Sentinel-2B. This all ensures the continuity of imagery for Copernicus Services and beyond.
Please feel free to post updates and questions in the comments!
- ESA delays BepiColombo orbital insertion because of thruster problemspacenews.com ESA delays BepiColombo orbital insertion because of thruster problem
ESA is adjusting the trajectory of its BepiColombo mission to Mercury, delaying its orbital insertion by nearly a year to compensate for a thruster problem.
- Ariane 6 Demo Flight Launch Thread! (ESA Rideshares)
Welcome everyone! It's time for another new rocket!
| Scheduled for (UTC) | 2024-07-09 19:00 | | --- | --- | | Scheduled for (local) | 2024-07-09 16:00 (GFT) | | Launch site | ELA-4, Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana | | Launch vehicle | Ariane 62 | | Payloads | Multiple | | Mission success criteria | Successful launch and deployment of payloads into Low Earth Orbit |
Livestreams
| Stream | Link | | --- | --- | | ESA (English) | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0oFpOJaIYc | | ESA (Français) | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfNPzSOalEU | | ESA (Deutsch) | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_87OnvB_fQ | | ESA (clean feed) | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogXamYYJpQk | | Arianespace (English) | | | Arianespace (Français) | | | Space Affairs | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQhzzFK5sgs | | Spaceflight Now | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ch6wPRb4Og | | NASASpaceflight | | | Everyday Astronaut | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1WGk5XSNXk | | The Launch Pad | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPAG2TG63oA |
Stats
☑️ 1st ever Ariane 6 mission
☑️ 1st ESA mission of 2024, 15th mission overall
Payload info
- SpaceCase SC-X01: Test platform for reentry technologies such as new-generation ablative materials for thermal protection systems.
- GRBBeta: 1U CubeSat – Gamma Ray Burst detection
- ISTSAT: 1U CubeSat – Characterisation of aircraft’s ‘cone of silence’ and in-flight performances of a custom-made Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) system.
- 3Cat4: 1U CubeSat – Techno demo Flexible Microwave Payload.
- OOV-Cube: Microsatellite – IoT agriculture use case demo.
- CuriumOne: With a duplicate ASTRIS Engineering Qualification Model PCB as primary payload.
Please feel free to post updates and questions in the comments!
- A snaking scar on Marswww.esa.int A snaking scar on Mars
A fascinating feature takes centre stage in this new image from ESA’s Mars Express: a dark, uneven scar slicing through marbled ground at the foot of a giant volcano.
- Europe aims to end space access crisis with Ariane 6's inaugural launchspacenews.com Europe aims to end space access crisis with Ariane 6's inaugural launch
Europe aims to end space access crisis with Ariane 6's inaugural launch Q&A about Ariane 6 with Toni Tolker-Nielsen, ESA Director of Space Transportation.
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/16921003
> Interview with Toni Tolker-Nielsen, ESA director of space transportation
- ESA-China moon cooperation could end with Chang’e-6spacenews.com ESA-China moon cooperation could end with Chang’e-6
ESA-China moon cooperation could end with Chang’e-6 European-Chinese cooperation in lunar exploration could come to an end despite successful collaboration in the ongoing Chang’e-6 mission.
- First detection of negative ions on the Moonwww.esa.int First detection of negative ions on the Moon
The first ESA instrument to land on the Moon has detected the presence of negative ions on the lunar surface produced through interactions with the solar wind.
- ESA and Vast to study cooperation on future commercial space stationsspacenews.com ESA and Vast to study cooperation on future commercial space stations
ESA has signed an agreement with Vast to study how the agency could use and support the company’s commercial space stations.
>ESA and Vast signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) June 6 during the ILA Berlin air show, agreeing to study collaboration on the commercial space stations that Vast plans to develop, starting with the Haven-1 station Vast plans to launch in the second half of next year. > >According to the statement, ESA and Vast will study potential use of Vast stations by ESA and its member states. They will also look for roles for European industry for providing components for Vast’s stations, as well as use of future European crew and cargo spacecraft.
- Ariane 6 inaugural launch targeted for 9 July
Fingers crossed for our new European launcher 🤞
- ESA Reveals Timeline for Final Push to Maiden Ariane 6 Flight
TLDR:
June 18 : wet dress rehearsal
Launch: first two weeks of July
Tentative date to be announced during ILA airshow between 5-9 of June
- CNES, Decathlon, Spartan Space and MEDES to Develop Spacesuit
The French space agency CNES has announced a partnership with Spartan Space, the Institute of Space Medicine and Physiology (MEDES), and the sporting goods retailer Decathlon to develop a European intra-vehicular activity (IVA) spacesuit.
- EarthCARE launched to study role of clouds and aerosols in Earth's climatewww.esa.int EarthCARE launched to study role of clouds and aerosols in Earth's climate
ESA’s EarthCARE satellite, poised to revolutionise our understanding of how clouds and aerosols affect our climate, has been launched. This extraordinary satellite embarked on its journey into space on 29 May at 00:20 CEST (28 May, 15:20 local time) aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from the Vandenberg Space...
- Watch EarthCARE launch livewww.esa.int Watch EarthCARE launch live
ESA's EarthCARE mission is ready for lift-off! Follow the live coverage and launch today 28 May on ESA WebTV or ESA YouTube. Live coverage begins at 23:30 CEST where we'll hear from our mission scientists and spacecraft operators, then follow the launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 from&...
ESA’s Earth Cloud Aerosol and Radiation Explorer (EarthCARE) mission is getting ready for lift-off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Vandenberg, California, with a target launch date of no earlier than 28 May 2024. Save the date and watch the launch live on ESA WebTV or ESA YouTube.
- EU and ESA seek increased competitiveness of European space sectorspacenews.com EU and ESA seek increased competitiveness of European space sector
European officials adopted a resolution to increase the competitiveness of Europe’s space industry, but companies say the measure falls far short.
- Airbus to build ESA space science satellitespacenews.com Airbus to build ESA space science satellite
ESA has awarded Airbus Defence and Space a contract to build a spacecraft that will provide a unique view of the sun.
- ESA's Euclid celebrates first science with sparkling cosmic viewswww.youtube.com ESA's Euclid celebrates first science with sparkling cosmic views
ESA is releasing a new set of full-colour images captured by the space telescope Euclid. Five new portraits of our cosmos were captured during Euclid’s early...
- Mars rover mission will use pioneering nuclear power sourcewww.nature.com Mars rover mission will use pioneering nuclear power source
The radioactive unit will help to deliver Europe’s first Mars rover to the planet’s surface.
Can I ask how everyone personally feels about using nuclear material for space exploration? For the rovers heating elements it will be just a couple of grams but for generating electricity via a RTG a spacecraft would require several kilograms of radioactive material.
- Europe is uncertain whether its ambitious Mercury probe can reach the planetarstechnica.com Europe is uncertain whether its ambitious Mercury probe can reach the planet
"We are working hard on resolving these uncertainties."
- Webb hints at atmosphere around rocky exoplanetwww.esa.int Webb hints at atmosphere around rocky exoplanet
Researchers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope may have detected atmospheric gases surrounding 55 Cancri e, a hot rocky exoplanet 41 light-years from Earth. This is the best evidence to date for the existence of a rocky planet atmosphere outside our Solar System.
Researchers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope may have detected atmospheric gases surrounding 55 Cancri e, a hot rocky exoplanet 41 light-years from Earth. This is the best evidence to date for the existence of a rocky planet atmosphere outside our Solar System.
