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Juice's flight through Earth's radiation belts

Tuesday, 03 September 2024 14:36
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During its recent flyby of Earth, ESA's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) travelled through the zones of charged particles that surround our planet. These two zones are known as the Van Allen radiation belts. The inner belt is mostly full of energetic protons, and the outer belt is mostly full of energetic electrons. The region between the two belts is mostly empty. 

The high levels of radiation in the Van Allen belts makes them very dangerous for electronics and humans, but they pale in comparison to Jupiter's own radiation belts. At Jupiter, extremely energetic electrons can get through even the thickest of shielding, so they could damage Juice's scientific instruments over time. 

Juice carries a radiation monitor called RADEM to continuously measure the spacecraft's exposure

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International Space Station
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

There's nothing to see here, or hear here, actually. That's the message NASA gave after reports of a strange noise heard by astronaut Butch Wilmore emanating from Boeing's Starliner docked to the International Space Station this weekend.

"A pulsing sound from a speaker in Boeing's Starliner spacecraft heard by NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore aboard the International Space Station has stopped," NASA posted to its social media accounts Monday.

It explained the mystery noise as feedback from the speaker that was the result of an audio configuration between the spacecraft and the ISS. Wilmore reported the sound as he was working inside Starliner on Saturday.

"The space station audio system is complex, allowing multiple spacecraft and modules to be interconnected, and it is common to experience noise and feedback," NASA stated. "The crew is asked to contact when they hear sounds originating in the comm system."

NASA also took the opportunity to state the feedback has "no technical impact to the crew, Starliner, or station operations, including Starliner's uncrewed undocking from the station no earlier than Friday, Sept.

Vega for ESA: the story

Tuesday, 03 September 2024 09:00
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Video: 00:05:40

Vega joined the family of launch vehicles at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana in 2012. At 30-m tall the rocket weighs 137 tonnes on the launch pad and reaches orbit with three solid-propellant powered stages before the fourth liquid-propellant stage takes over. By rocket standards Vega is lightweight and powerful, the first three stages burn through their fuel and bringing Vega and its satellites to space in just six minutes.

Specialising in launches of small satellites to orbits flying over Earth’s poles, Vega has an impressive roster of missions that it has sent to space. Flagship ESA missions

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ESA is part of the Big Science Business Forum 2024 event on 1–4 October in Trieste, Italy

ESA is part of the Big Science Business Forum 2024 event on 1–4 October in Trieste, Italy. This is where industry and Europe’s leading science organisations, research infrastructures and their collaborators will meet to inform, network and discuss business opportunities in a market valued at nearly €10 billion annually.

Sentinel-2C operators complete final rehearsals

Tuesday, 03 September 2024 08:30
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Mission control GO for Sentinel-2C launch

ESA mission controllers have completed the final phase of their simulation training for the critical launch and early orbit phase, confirming that everything is ready for the launch of Sentinel-2C.

Mission control GO for Sentinel-2C launch

Tuesday, 03 September 2024 07:00
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Mission control GO for Sentinel-2C launch Image: Mission control GO for Sentinel-2C launch
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