Copernical Team
NASA's Europa Clipper gets its wheels for traveling in deep space
The enormous spacecraft that will head to Jupiter's moon Europa uses four large reaction wheels to help keep it oriented.
Just as NASA's Mars rovers rely on robust wheels to roam the Red Planet and conduct science, some orbiters rely on wheels, too—in this case, reaction wheels—to stay pointed in the right direction. Engineers and technicians at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California recently installed four reaction wheels on Europa Clipper, which will rely on them during its journey at Jupiter's icy moon Europa.
ESA DG on Europe’s ambition for human spaceflight
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ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher talks about Europe’s ambition for the future of human spaceflight: a European astronaut, on a European spaceship and a European capsule.
ESA presents new generation of ESA astronauts
The European Space Agency has chosen 17 new astronaut candidates from more than 22 500 applicants from across its Member States. In this new 2022 class of ESA astronauts are five career astronauts, 11 members of an astronaut reserve and one astronaut with a disability.
ESA Council Meeting at Ministerial Level - Media Conference
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Watch the replay of the press conference that brings the Council Meeting at Ministerial Level in Paris (CM22) to a close. ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher, as well as the hosting minister and the CM22 chair, present the outcome of this high-level meeting that takes place on 22 and 23 November. ESA’s plans for the next three years reflect the needs to raise Europe up another level in space activities, and to ensure that space continues to serve European citizens.
Ministers back ESA’s bold ambitions for space with record 17% rise
Europe will strengthen its autonomy, leadership and sustainability in space, following today’s decision to increase ESA’s budget by 17% compared to the last Ministerial meeting in 2019.
Announcement of ESA's new class of astronauts
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ESA’s new class of astronauts is announced on Wednesday, 23 November 2022 at the Grand Palais Éphémère (GPE) in Paris. The new class includes career astronauts, reserve astronauts as well as astronauts with a physical disability for a feasibility project.
Last year and for the first time since 2008, ESA launched a call for applications and it received more than 22 500 valid applications. Today, ESA now reveals which of these were successful.
European Space Agency to vote on record budget, name new astronauts
The European Space Agency will vote on Wednesday on whether to spend billions more euros to keep up with rising competition in space, as well as unveiling its much-anticipated new crop of astronauts.
The ESA's 22 member states, whose ministers charged with space duties have been meeting in Paris since Tuesday, will decide on meeting the agency's request for a record 18.7 billion euros for new programs over the next three years.
The figure is more than 25 percent higher than the 14.5 billion euros agreed at the ESA's last ministerial council in 2019.
ESA director-general Josef Aschbacher told AFP that Europe risks "falling out of the race" in space if it does not expand the budget.
Satellite broadband firms join forces
A French and British firm joined forces in the fast-growing satellite broadband market on Tuesday.
French operator Eutelsat said it had signed a merger with British group OneWeb to seal its plan to create a new "champion" in the market.
The pair first announced plans to merge in July when they signed a memorandum of understanding to unite and become "a leading global player in connectivi 'Sail' to de-orbit would-be space junk
As the number of rocket launches, planetary missions and satellite activities continues to grow, so does junk in space, and many have been pondering the question of how to reduce the amount of debris orbiting Earth. Now, China may have found a solution with its newly deployed "sail" technology.
Hundreds of millions of items of human-made debris are continually circling Earth, including bro An early start to a long weekend - Sols 3660-3664
On a usual week of Curiosity operations, Friday plans take the longest since they span the whole weekend. This rare Monday morning, however, we're planning five sols to start covering Tuesday - Monday of operations so the team can spend Thanksgiving on Earth. When we plan a large chunk of sols like this, the first couple sols are lightweight with minimal risk activities from environmental sensor