Copernical Team
Week in images: 03 - 07 April 2021
Week in images: 03 - 07 April 2021
Discover our week through the lens
China says 'extremely low' risk of damage on Earth from rocket re-entry
China said Friday the risk of damage on Earth from a rocket which fell out of orbit after separating from Beijing's space station was "extremely low", after the United States warned it could crash down onto an inhabited area.
Military experts in the US expect the body of the Long March 5B rocket to fall to the surface some time around Saturday or Sunday, but warned it was difficult to predict where it will land and when.
But Beijing downplayed the risk of any damage on Friday.
"The probability of causing harm to aviation activities or (on people and activities) on the ground is extremely low," foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said.
Coldplay beam new song into space in chat with French astronaut
Coldplay gave new meaning to the idea of a single launch, playing new song "Higher Power" for the first time during a video link-up with French astronaut Thomas Pesquet.
Pesquet spoke with the British group from the International Space Station.
"We sent you some music, because right now we aren't able to play for anyone on Earth, so we thought we would just play for you," singer Chris Martin said before playing the song late Thursday.
"This is the premiere for the whole... galaxy," he added, saying the song was about "trying to find the astronaut in all of us, the person who can do amazing things.
BlackSky demonstrates growth and scalability with planned launch of additional satellites
BlackSky, a leading provider of real-time geospatial intelligence and global monitoring services that recently announced a planned business combination with Osprey Technology Acquisition Corp., has revealed it expects to launch two satellites on Rocket Lab's twentieth mission, "Running Out of Toes." The launch, which is scheduled to take place no earlier than May 15, 2021, will deploy BlackSky's China wants to send spacecraft to edge of solar system to mark 100th year of PRC
Chinese scientists are evaluating the feasibility of a project to send spacecraft to the edge of the solar system, said Wu Weiren, chief designer of China's lunar exploration program.
According to the project, the Chinese spacecraft will cover a distance about 100 times than that between the sun and Earth by 2049, when the People's Republic of China celebrates its 100th founding anniversar Earth from Space: Morbihan, France
The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission takes us over Morbihan – a French department in the south of Brittany.
Higher Power in space | Thomas Pesquet & Coldplay
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To celebrate the premiere of Coldplay's latest single 'Higher Power’, the band linked up for an extraterrestrial video chat with French ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet, who is currently on a six-month mission on board the International Space Station. A specially recorded performance of Higher Power - featuring dancing alien holograms - was beamed up to Thomas, who gave the track its very first play on board the Station. The song’s premiere followed a conversation which took in similarities between life on tour and life on the Space Station, how planet Earth looks from space and its fragility;
First Ariane 6 fairing at Europe’s Spaceport
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First Ariane 6 fairing at Europe’s Spaceport NASA Invites Public, Media to Watch Asteroid Mission Begin Return to Earth
NASA invites the public and the media to watch its first asteroid sample return mission begin a two-year cruise home at 4 p.m. EDT Monday, May 10, on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website. Basic structure for new generation of weather satellites
Six metres high, weighting 1000 kilograms and assembled from over 24,000 parts: These are the dimensions of the second generation of European weather satellites, which in future will collect weather data some 800 kilometres above us.
The basic structure of the second flight model was assembled in RUAG Space's clean rooms in Zurich and is now being delivered to customers by special 31-metre