SPACENEWS

In brief ESPRIT is the name for ESA’s elements for the Lunar Gateway, and part of Europe’s contribution to the creation of the international outpost orbiting the Moon. The name is an abbreviation of European System Providing Refueling Infrastructure and Telecommunication, that shows the variety of functions that ESPRIT provides to the lunar Gateway. In-depth Read More

47% of the approaches authorised in Málaga in 2021 were green, the highest of any major European airportThe airports of Gran Canaria (43%), Palma (38%), Barcelona (36%) and Madrid (28%) also stood out in this metricThis helps save fuel in aircraft and reduces atmospheric emissionsThe average use of "green" descents in Spain between January and Read More

Swiss watch brand Omega has teamed up with ESA to launch the Marstimer: the first watch to display the time on Earth and Mars. Developed in partnership with ESA’s Mars exploration teams and tested at ESA ESTEC, this new watch is space-tough and Mars-mission ready. ESA/Omega Marstimer launch event The Marstimer watch was officially unveiled Read More

Two of the great space observatories, the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope and the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, have captured views of a unique experiment to smash a spacecraft into a small asteroid. Observations of NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) impact mark the first time that Webb and Hubble were used to simultaneously observe Read More

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

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

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

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

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

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