European Space Agency – Page 28

Lost Philae lander found on comet

September 5, 2016 Stephen Clark

Scientists culling through images taken last week by the Rosetta spacecraft’s sharp-eyed science camera have finally pinpointed the exact spot the Philae lander settled on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko after a daring descent nearly two years ago, the European Space Agency announced Monday.

Images from European satellite reveal possible impact with space junk

August 31, 2016 Stephen Clark

A minuscule particle of orbital debris or a pebble of space rock struck Europe’s Sentinel 1A radar imaging satellite Aug. 23, officials said Wednesday, leaving an imprint nearly twice the size of a basketball on one of the spacecraft’s solar panels.

Ariane 6 rocket holding to schedule for 2020 maiden flight

August 13, 2016 Stephen Clark

Europe’s top rocket contractor is pressing ahead with development of the Ariane 6 rocket, a versatile launcher with half the cost of Europe’s current Ariane 5 booster, keeping the new vehicle on track for its 2020 debut.

ExoMars orbiter fine-tunes path toward red planet

July 28, 2016 Stephen Clark

A European spacecraft cruising toward Mars fired its main engine Thursday, tweaking its trajectory and helping set up for carefully-choreographed simultaneous maneuvers Oct. 19 to place part of the tandem mission into orbit around the red planet and deposit a stationary battery-powered lander on the Martian surface.

Scientists to land, and switch off, Rosetta comet probe in September

July 2, 2016 Stephen Clark

The European Space Agency’s Rosetta mission will end Sept. 30 with a dicey descent to the core of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, a risky, but potentially rewarding finale punctuated by commands to automatically safe the probe’s rocket thrusters and turn off its radio transmitter.

Photos: Soyuz crew capsule parachutes to landing in Kazakhstan

June 20, 2016 Stephen Clark

A Soyuz spacecraft carrying a three-man crew parachuted to the flat grasslands of Kazakhstan on Saturday, returning home from the International Space Station with cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, NASA astronaut Tim Kopra and British flight engineer Tim Peake.

Soyuz spacecraft brings home three-man station crew

June 18, 2016 William Harwood

A Russian cosmonaut, a NASA astronaut and a British flier strapped into a Soyuz spacecraft, undocked from International Space Station and plunged back to Earth Saturday, safely landing on the steppe of Kazakhstan to close out a 186-day mission.

Live coverage: Space station crew concludes 186 days in orbit

June 17, 2016 Stephen Clark

Veteran Soyuz commander Yuri Malenchenko, outgoing space station skipper Tim Kopra and British astronaut Tim Peake departed the International Space Station early Saturday aboard the Soyuz TMA-19M capsule and landed in Kazakhstan at 0915 GMT (5:15 a.m. EDT).

Three station fliers set for Saturday return to Earth

June 17, 2016 William Harwood

Three space station crew members made final preparations Friday for undocking and landing in Kazakhstan early Saturday to close out a 186-day stay in orbit.

LISA Pathfinder success bolsters plan for gravitational wave observatory

June 8, 2016 Stephen Clark

Europe’s LISA Pathfinder mission — a fundamental physics lab launched last year to a point a million miles from Earth — has demonstrated the mind-boggling technology required for a future space-based observatory to listen for faint, low-frequency vibrations emitted by invisible objects in the most distant pockets of the universe, scientists said this week.