Laurel MD (SPX) Sep 03, 2024
Twenty years ago the MESSENGER mission revolutionized our understanding of Mercury. We sat down with project head and former Carnegie Science director Sean Solomon to talk about how the mission came together and the groundbreaking work it enabled. Q: As the Principal Investigator of the MESSENGER mission, what were your personal highlights or proudest moments throughout the mission's durat

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.

Image: Mission control GO for Sentinel-2C launch

Green Bank, United States (AFP) Sept 2, 2024
Nestled between mountains in a secluded corner of West Virginia, a giant awakens: the Green Bank Telescope begins its nightly vigil, scanning the cosmos for secrets. If intelligent life exists beyond Earth, there's a good chance the teams analyzing the data from the world's largest, fully steerable radio astronomy facility will be the first to know. "People have been asking themselves t

The Copernicus Sentinel-2C satellite is ready for liftoff! Tune in to ESA WebTV on 4 September from 03:30 CEST to watch the satellite soar into space on the last Vega rocket to be launched from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. Sentinel-2C is scheduled to liftoff at 03:50 CEST.

Teams from across ESA and industry have worked continuously over the past four months to overcome a glitch that prevented BepiColombo’s thrusters from operating at full power. The ESA/JAXA mission is still on track, with a new trajectory that will take it just 165 km from Mercury’s surface on Wednesday.

Taking BepiColombo closer to Mercury than it’s ever been before, this flyby will reduce the spacecraft’s speed and change its direction. It also gives us the opportunity to snap images and fine-tune science instrument operations at Mercury before the main mission begins. Closest approach is scheduled for 23:48 CEST

Sydney, Australia (SPX) Aug 30, 2024
Researchers at the Beijing Institute of Technology have developed a sophisticated control strategy for spacecraft formations, enabling them to surround noncooperative targets effectively within a finite time. This development could play a key role in future space missions where precise formation flying and target interaction are crucial. The research team introduced a comprehensive model o

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Aug 30, 2024
On a remote patch of the windy, frozen Beaufort Sea north of Alaska, engineers from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California huddled together, peering down a narrow hole in a thick layer of sea ice. Below them, a cylindrical robot gathered test science data in the frigid ocean, connected by a tether to the tripod that had lowered it through the borehole. This test gave engin

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Aug 30, 2024
NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft, the largest ever built for planetary exploration, has been fitted with a set of gigantic solar arrays at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. These arrays, each measuring approximately 46.5 feet (14.2 meters) in length and 13.5 feet (4.1 meters) in height, are the largest ever developed by NASA for a planetary mission. Their size is crucial to harness the maximu