Copernical Team
To orbit and back with Space Rider
Europe’s bid to deliver a return-to-Earth service for in-orbit transportation and research projects is rapidly taking shape, with teams working on the Space Rider spacecraft gearing up for a series of drop tests in 2023. Drop tests with small-scale models will be followed by a full-scale test in anticipation of inaugural flight towards the end of 2024.
GO for Artemis I
‘Twas the day before launch and all across the globe, people await liftoff for Artemis I with hope.
NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the Orion spacecraft with its European Service Module, is seen here on Launch Pad 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA, on 12 November.
After much anticipation, NASA launch authorities have given the GO for the first opportunity for launch: tomorrow, 16 November with a two-hour launch window starting at 07:04 CET (06:04 GMT, 1:04 local time).
Artemis I is the first mission in a large programme to send astronauts around and on the Moon
ESA Technology Strategy for Europe’s future in space
ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher’s Agenda 2025 has set the future course of Europe in space, building on the Agency’s Technology Strategy which details how our continent is developing the essential technology to get it where it is going. Reflecting four years of progress since it was first unveiled and the new guidance from Agenda 2025, ESA has now updated the Technology Strategy accordingly. It has been released in time for the Agency’s Council at Ministerial Level in Paris on 22 – 23 November, demonstrating the fundamental role of technology across all ESA missions and programmes.
NASA's moon rocket on track for Wednesday launch attempt
NASA started the countdown Monday for this week's planned liftoff of its new moon rocket, although hurricane damage could cause yet another delay for the test flight.
Hurricane Nicole's high winds caused a 10-foot (3-meter) section of caulking to peel away near the crew capsule at the top of the rocket last Thursday. Mission managers want to make sure the narrow strip won't damage the rocket if it breaks off during liftoff.
SFL contracted for 15 additional HawkEye 360 RF geolocation microsatellites
Space Flight Laboratory (SFL) has been contracted to support development of Clusters 7 through 11 in the HawkEye 360 radio frequency (RF) geolocation microsatellite constellation. Under the Flex Production program, SFL is designing, assembling, and integrating Cluster 9 at its Toronto headquarters and is providing technical support for the integration of Clusters 7, 8, 10 and 11 at HawkEye 360's
The road to the Moon
The birth of a spacecraft takes many years from design through to assembly, testing and launch. Here we speak to Airbus engineer Paolo Artusio about how the ESM-1, the European Service Module which will propel the Orion spacecraft to the Moon, took shape. For Artusio, the moment a programme transitions to its assembly, integration and test (AIT) phase is: "When engineers' dreams leave thei
Why go back to the Moon
On September 12, 1962, then US president John F. Kennedy informed the public of his plan to put a man on the Moon by the end of the decade. It was the height of the Cold War and America needed a big victory to demonstrate its space superiority after the Soviet Union had launched the first satellite and put the first man in orbit. "We choose to go to the Moon," Kennedy told 40,000 people
ASU microsat will be launched as part of NASA'S Artemis 1 mission
A satellite designed by ASU researchers to detect evidence of water-ice on the moon will begin its journey through space on NASA's Artemis 1 mission, scheduled to launch later this month. NASA's Lunar Polar Hydrogen Mapper, or LunaH-Map, was designed by ASU researchers and is the first ASU-led NASA mission. The small satellite, about the size of a shoebox, will orbit the moon to collect da
NASA's CAPSTONE probe overcomes malfunction, reaches orbit around the moon
NASA's CAPSTONE CubeSat probe arrived in orbit around the moon Sunday night in a major win for the space agency following a major engine malfunction over the summer that nearly derailed the mission. CAPSTONE had to fire its engines twice more to get back to the moon, where it entered a highly elliptical near rectilinear halo orbit or NRHO about 7:39 p.m., NASA said. The U.S. spac
Beyond Gravity passes CDR for critical mechanism for NASA's Gateway
The Gateway space station, an essential element of NASA's Artemis program, will serve as humanity's first space station in lunar orbit supporting crewed and uncrewed missions to the surface of the Moon and future deep space exploration missions. NASA contracted Maxar, a provider of comprehensive space solutions and secure, precise, geospatial intelligence, to manufacture the PPE, which wil