ESA’s Optical Ground Station, perched high on the slopes of Tenerife’s Mount Teide volcano, has now been peering skyward for a quarter of a century. Originally designed for laser-based communications with satellites, it is today additionally employed for tracking space debris and near-Earth asteroids as well as supporting world-class science: this year’s Physics Nobel Prize winner used the station for a quantum teleportation experiment that extended to the neighboring island of La Palma.

Over the last four years, ESA’s Aeolus mission has been delivering unique profiles of Earth’s winds from space, improving operational weather forecasts, climate models and more – all showing that its novel laser technology is advancing science and being used for important practical applications. Adding to the list of Aeolus’ successes, a recent report highlights that the mission has also brought economics benefits to Europe to the tune of €3.5 billion, and that a follow-on mission could more than double this figure.

Short animation featuring key moments of the Mars Sample Return campaign: from landing on Mars and securing the sample tubes to launching them off the surface and ferrying them back to Earth.

NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) are developing plans for one of the most ambitious campaigns ever attempted in space: bringing the first samples of Mars material safely back to Earth for detailed study. European scientists are part of an international team giving advice on what samples to choose for return and the best analysis methods to use once they land on Earth.

The diverse

Astronomy is driven by big questions, and they don’t come much bigger than wondering how the first stars and galaxies began to form – eventually giving rise to our own existence.

Scotland-based launch startup Skyrora are focused on making a first orbital launch attempt late next year, building on experience from a suborbital attempt in Iceland.

The post Skyrora working towards 2023 orbital launch after suborbital failure appeared first on SpaceNews.

With first ignition, ESA’s reusable, next-generation Prometheus rocket engine development project has taken a step toward hot fire testing. Ongoing work at prime contractor ArianeGroup’s facilities in Vernon, France is being carried out using the Themis reusable stage demonstrator as a test bed. 

The 100-ton thrust class Prometheus features extensive use of new materials and manufacturing techniques designed to reduce its cost to just a tenth of Ariane 5’s Vulcain 2, an upgraded version of which – Vulcain 2.1 – powers the core stage of Ariane 6. 

United Launch Alliance CEO Tory Bruno is advising the U.S. Space Force to preemptively buy heavy launch services as rockets could be in short supply over the next several years. 

The post Tory Bruno: DoD should ‘block buy’ heavy launch services as supply is tight  appeared first on SpaceNews.

Boeing is reorganizing its defense and space business, a sector of the company that last month reported nearly $3 billion in losses in the third quarter.

The post Boeing reorganizes defense unit, Kay Sears to lead space and launch business appeared first on SpaceNews.