ESA business boosts small space companies
ESA continues to break down barriers and create more opportunities for small companies to get involved in space. Start-up companies and small enterprises offer agile and bespoke development adding value to Europe’s future space economy. One of the greatest concerns for a startup entering the space domain is securing its first contract. However, by 2020 Read More
After DART comes Hera
The night of 26 September 2022 will make space history - as the moment when NASA's DART spacecraft impacts the Dimorphos asteroid in an attempt to divert its course - humankind's first planetary defence test. Next, in 2024, ESA launches its Hera spacecraft to investigate the post-impact asteroid. In fact, Hera is not one spacecraft Read More
Webb’s icy instrument reveals complex structures
These spectacular images feature the spiral galaxy IC 5332, taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope (left) and the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope (right). The images display the powerful capabilities that both world-leading space telescopes provide, especially when combining their data. The winding spiral structure of the galaxy IC 5332 is portrayed in amazing Read More
Hera team congratulates NASA asteroid impactors
ESA’s Hera mission team congratulates their counterparts in NASA’s DART mission team for their historic impact with the Dimorphos asteroid. Moving at 6.1 km per second, the vending-machine-sized Double Asteroid Redirect Test spacecraft struck the 160-m diameter asteroid at 01:15 CEST (00:15 BST) in the early hours of Tuesday morning, in humankind’s first test of Read More
ESA to capture light from deflected asteroid’s new plume
In brief On 26 September, NASA will purposefully crash their DART spacecraft into the 160 m wide Dimorphos asteroid, in the first-ever test of deflection by means of ‘kinetic impact’. The moment the spacecraft collides with the asteroid a plume of material is expected to be thrown into space, which will tell us a great Read More
United Launch Alliance Successfully Launches National Security Mission with Nation’s Proven Heavy Lift Vehicle
Delta IV Heavy continues to deliver high priority missions in support of National Security A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV Heavy rocket carrying the NROL-91 mission for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) lifted off on Sept. 24 at 3:25 p.m. PDT from Space Launch Complex-6 at Vandenberg Space Force Base. To date ULA has Read More
Artemis I Managers Wave Off Sept. 27 Launch, Preparing for Rollback
NASA is foregoing a launch opportunity Tuesday, Sept. 27, and preparing for rollback, while continuing to watch the weather forecast associated with Tropical Storm Ian. During a meeting Saturday morning, teams decided to stand down on preparing for the Tuesday launch date to allow them to configure systems for rolling back the Space Launch System Read More
Watch NASA’s First-Ever Attempt at Deflecting an Asteroid
In just a few days, you can watch live as NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) deliberately crashes into a faraway asteroid. DART is humanity’s first attempt to change the motion of an asteroid in space by intentionally crashing a spacecraft into it. DART’s target asteroid is not a threat to Earth but is Read More
ESA – Pillar of light
A vertical beam of sunlight appears to shoot up into the sky outside Concordia research station in Antarctica in this image taken by ESA-sponsored medical doctor Hannes Hagson. Known as a sun pillar, this optical phenomenon occurs when sunlight is reflected from tiny ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere. Though it appears to reach from Read More
Portuguese Space Agency promotes aerospace sector with European competition
EuRoC – European Rocketry Challenge is the European rocket launch competition aimed at university studentsThe competition takes place between the 11th and 18th of October, in Ponte de Sor and in Campo Militar de Santa Margarida (Portugal), with the participation of 21 European teams The Portuguese Space Agency promotes, for the third consecutive year, the Read More