Copernical Team
Successful Launch and Deployment of Dragon into Orbit by SpaceX
After some delays over the weekend, SpaceX has successfully launched its Crew Resupply Mission 28 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The initial launch was postponed due to unfavorable weather conditions, particularly high winds in the booster recovery zone.
The mission was successfully executed at 11:47 a.m. EDT Monday, with weather conditions deemed 60% favorable for liftoff. Spac European conference: Ready for the Moon
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Watch the replay of the high-level conference organised in cooperation with the Federal Chancellery of the Republic of Austria to discuss the geo-political, economic and societal potential of Europe’s future role in space exploration endeavours.
The aim of the conference is to open the debate in Europe following the release of the High Level Advisory Group (HLAG) on the future of human and robotic space exploration for Europe.
ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher and the Chancellor of Austria Karl Nehammer take part, as well as Ministers, heads of space agencies and other prominent guests.
The plenary conference is followed by
Nicolas Bobrinsky on innovation and risk management | ESA Masterclass
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Innovation is triggered by many drivers. One of these is the constant need for ESA to develop innovative solutions, such as unique spacecraft technologies.
In this first video, Nicolas recalls how he and his team had to think outside the box to find a solution for ESA to communicate with Ulysses. The spacecraft was flying around the north pole of the Sun, which is much farther in deep space than satellites had been launched up to that point.
The success of this solution motivated the decision to build ESA’s first deep-space communications antennas in New Norcia, in Australia, thus enabling many ESA scientific firsts in deep-space exploration.
The antennas would, some decades after,
Exploration of space industry best practice
ESA is reaching out to members of the industrial space sector, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), to take part in a survey on lessons learned in the space industry.
First Triton-X satellite starts journey for inaugural flight
The first satellite developed under the Triton-X multi-mission platform programme for low Earth orbit is on its way to be integrated onto the launcher for its inaugural flight.
Three Chinese astronauts return safely to Earth
Three Chinese astronauts working at the country's space station have returned safely to Earth, state media reported Sunday, hailing the mission as a "complete success".
The return capsule of the Shenzhou-15 spaceship touched down at a landing site in northern China's Inner Mongolia region, according to state news agency Xinhua.
Astronauts Fei Junlong, Deng Qingming and Zhang Lu emerged from the capsule in "good physical condition", Xinhua reported.
"The mission... was a complete success," it said.
Footage showed medical officials in white jumpsuits and face masks swaddling the astronauts in blue blankets and carrying them away from the arid landing site, where the copper-colored capsule lay flanked by red flags.
The trio had spent six months at the Tiangong space station, conducting spacewalks and a variety of scientific experiments.
China last week sent three more astronauts—including its first civilian in orbit—to the space station as part of the successor Shenzhou-16 mission.
The world's second-largest economy has pumped billions of dollars into its military-run space program in an effort to catch up with the United States and Russia.
SpaceX is keeping up cadence with Starlink Group 6-4 mission
At 8:20 a.m. EDT (1220 UTC) on Sunday, a Falcon 9 rocket launched 22 of SpaceX's brand-new "V2 Mini" internet satellites for its Starlink communications network from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) in Florida.
The rocket went upright at 3:20 a.m. earlier this morning and was originally scheduled to launch before sunrise at 5:56 a.m. EDT (0 Catastrophic failure assessment of sealed cabin for ultra large manned spacecraft
Hypervelocity impacts of Micrometeoroid and Orbital Debris (M/OD) seriously threaten the safety of manned spacecraft and astronauts in orbit. At present, M/OD above 10 cm, which can be monitored and predicted in advance, can usually be avoided by orbital maneuver. As for the small-size M/OD, because of the difficulty of monitoring, it is the main impact threat, as well as the main object of impa