Video: 00:02:59

Last week, Ariane 6’s central core – the main body of the rocket – was stood tall at the launch zone and connected to its two solid-fuel boosters. This exciting moment means only one thing: it’s the start of the first launch campaign.

The main stage and upper stage make up the core stage, and they were autonomously driven at 3 km/h from the rocket assembly building to the launch pad, 800 m away. Then lifted by a crane, the Ariane 6 core was stood upright on the launch table.

The two boosters were transported to the launch pad

Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Apr 26, 2024
Astroscale Japan Inc., part of Astroscale Holdings Inc., has been chosen by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to participate in Phase II of the Commercial Removal of Debris Demonstration (CRD2) program. This initiative is among the first globally to focus on the removal of large-scale space debris. "We are deeply honored to have been selected as the commercial partner of the ne

Los Angeles CA (SPX) May 02, 2024
Advancements in space technology may soon allow humans and cargo to travel to Mars efficiently and quickly. Existing spacecraft require significant velocities due to the vast distances in space, necessitating propulsion systems with both high thrust and high specific impulse. Current technologies fall short of these requirements. Howe Industries is developing a propulsion system capable of

Los Angeles CA (SPX) May 02, 2024
The Great Observatory for Long Wavelengths (GO-LoW) seeks to unveil the elusive low-frequency radio sky, previously inaccessible to ground-based telescopes due to the Earth's ionosphere and challenging for traditional space missions because of the requirement for enormous telescopes to capture meter- to kilometer-scale wavelengths. These low frequencies are vital for studying exoplanetary and st

Los Angeles CA (SPX) May 01, 2024
In mid-May, NASA is slated to initiate the 2024 Sweden Long-Duration Scientific Balloon Campaign at the Esrange Space Center near Kiruna, Sweden, located north of the Arctic Circle. This endeavor will deploy four stadium-sized balloons, equipped with scientific missions and technology demonstrations, through early July. "NASA's Balloon Program is excited to conduct our long-duration balloo

Video: 00:00:48

This otherworldly, ever-changing landscape is what the Sun looks like up close. ESA's Solar Orbiter filmed the transition from the Sun's lower atmosphere to the much hotter outer corona. The hair-like structures are made of charged gas (plasma), following magnetic field lines emerging from the Sun's interior.

The brightest regions are around one million degrees Celsius, while cooler material looks dark as it absorbs radiation. 

This video was recorded on 27 September 2023 by the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) instrument on Solar Orbiter. At the time, the spacecraft was at roughly a third of the Earth’s distance from the Sun, heading for a closest approach of 43 million km on 7 October.

On the same day that this video