Copernical Team
Virgin Galactic's first space tourists finally soar, an Olympian and a mother-daughter duo
NASA to Host Media for Asteroid Capsule Drop Test Briefing in Utah
Media are invited to Utah’s western desert on Wednesday, Aug. 30, to learn about NASA preparations and readiness to receive America’s first asteroid sample collected in space. Virgin Galactic takes off with its first tourists on flight to the edge of space
Hera's mini-radar will probe asteroid's heart
The smallest radar to fly in space has been delivered to ESA for integration aboard the miniature Juventas CubeSat, part of ESA's Hera mission for planetary defense. The radar will perform the first radar imaging of an asteroid, peering deep beneath the surface of Dimorphos—the Great Pyramid-sized body whose orbit was shifted last year by the impact of NASA's DART spacecraft.
"This delivery marks a definite milestone," comments Alain Hérique of Institut de Planétologie et d'Astrophysique de Grenoble (IPAG) at the University Grenoble Alpes in France, the instrument's principal investigator.
"We have been working hard in recent weeks to finalize the radar for its handover. But this is far from the end of our involvement. IPAG and our project partners will be following the process of integration, especially in terms of connection with the rest of the CubeSat, to optimize the performance of the finished instrument, and to calibrate its performance to ensure we interpret our science data as best we can once we are in space.
Micropatch algorithm improves ground-to-spacecraft software update efficiency
Course correction keeps Parker Solar Probe on track for Venus flyby
NASA's Parker Solar Probe executed a short maneuver on Aug. 3, 2023, that kept the spacecraft on track to hit the aim point for the mission's sixth Venus flyby on Monday, Aug. 21, 2023.
Operating on preprogrammed commands from mission control at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, Parker fired its small thrusters for 4.5 seconds, enough to adjust its trajectory by 77 miles and speed up—by 1.4 seconds—its closest approach to Venus. The precise timing and position are critical to that flyby, the sixth of seven approaches in which Parker uses the planet's gravity to tighten its orbit around the sun.
"Parker's velocity is about 8.7 miles per second, so in terms of changing the spacecraft's speed and direction, this trajectory correction maneuver may seem insignificant," said Yanping Guo, mission design and navigation manager at APL.
Take a journey around ESA’s sites
Take a journey around ESA’s sites
One ESA: a journey through Europe's space program
ESA’s Space Environment Report 2023
An overview of ESA's Space Environment Report 2023
To the Moon, together
Image:
The Artemis II astronauts, set to launch on a trip around the Moon next year, stand in front of the Orion spacecraft’s European Service Module-2 (ESM-2) that will provide everything they need to thrive on their voyage to Earth’s natural satellite.
From left, the skilled crew is composed of NASA’s Victor Glover, Canadian Space Agency’s Jeremy Hansen, and NASA’s Christina Koch and Reid Wiseman. Their collective experience underscores the collaborative essence of space exploration, as they prepare for the challenges of deep space travel and return.
The European Service Module-2 will provide crucial life support and necessary resources – water, air,
Solar System fingerprints found in memories of ESA flotilla
