The pace of deploying Europe’s own satellite navigation system continued to increase with yesterday’s launch of the latest pair of Galileo satellites, doubling the number of satellites in space within nine months. Galileo 11 and 12 lifted off together at 11:51 GMT (12:51 CET, 08:51 local time) atop a Soyuz rocket from French Guiana. This…
Galileo Navigation Satellites Ready for Launch
Galileos 11 and 12 are on the launch pad, attached to the top of their Soyuz rocket in readiness for this week’s launch. Europe’s next navigation satellites are due for launch at 11:51 GMT (12:51 CET, 08:51 local time) on Thursday from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. Last Thursday the two satellites, already attached to…
Europe Launches Probe to Detect Ripples in Space Time
ESA’s LISA Pathfinder lifted off on December 3 on a Vega rocket from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on its way to demonstrate technology for observing gravitational waves from space. Gravitational waves are ripples in the fabric of spacetime, predicted a century ago by Albert Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, published on December 2,…
Photos of the Day: ExoMars Prepares to Leave Europe for Launch Site
The two ExoMars spacecraft of the 2016 mission are being prepared for shipping to the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan ahead of their launch in March. A joint endeavour with Russia’s Roscosmos space agency, ExoMars comprises two missions. The Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) and Schiaparelli make up the 2016 mission, while the 2018 mission will combine…
Tracking New Aerospace Missions from Down Under
For beachgoers, Australia’s pristine west coast is an ideal location to catch some rays. It is also ideal for catching signals from newly launched rockets and satellites, which is one reason why ESA is redeveloping its tracking capabilities down under. When rockets and their satellites leap into the sky from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French…
Ariane 5 Launches Sixth Time This Year
An Ariane 5 has delivered two telecom satellites, Arabsat-6B and GSAT-15, into their planned orbits. Liftoff of flight VA227 occurred on November 10 at 21:34 GMT (22:34 CET, 18:34 local time) from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. Arabsat-6B, with a mass at liftoff of 5798 kg and mounted in the upper position atop Ariane’s…
Orion’s European Module Ready for Testing
A test version of ESA’s service module for NASA’s Orion spacecraft arrived in the US yesterday after leaving its assembly site in Italy last weekend. The European Service Module is adapted from Europe’s largest spacecraft, the Automated Transfer Vehicle, which completed its last mission to the International Space Station in February. Just nine months later,…
Galileo Satellites Set for Year-Long Einstein Experiment
Europe’s fifth and sixth Galileo satellites – subject to complex salvage maneuvers following their launch last year into incorrect orbits – will help to perform an ambitious year-long test of Einstein’s most famous theory. Galileos 5 and 6 were launched together by a Soyuz rocket on 22 August 2014. But the faulty upper stage stranded…
Sentinel-3A Shown Off to Media, Specialists Prior to Shipping
Before the latest satellite for Copernicus is packed up and shipped to the Plesetsk cosmodrome in Russia for launch at the end of the year, the media and specialists were given the chance to see this next-generation mission centre-stage in the cleanroom. View more: Photos of the Day: Sentinel-3A Satellite Unveiled After 8 Years of…
Photos of the Day: Sentinel-3A Satellite Unveiled After 8 Years of Development
The above photo shows Sentinel-3A in the cleanroom at Thales Alenia Space in Cannes, France. On 15 October 2015, the media had a sneak preview of the satellite before it is packed and shipped to the Plesetsk launch site in Russia. Read more: Sentinel-3A Shown Off to Media, Specialists Prior to Shipping The mission is…