European Space Agency – Page 38

Space-based airplane tracking demonstrated by ESA satellite

May 7, 2015 Stephen Clark

An experimental receiver aboard a European satellite has picked up signals from more than 15,000 aircraft in the last two years, paving the way for future missions that could track global commercial air traffic from space.

NASA invites ESA to build Europa piggyback probe

April 10, 2015 Stephen Clark

After walking away from a previously planned joint mission to Jupiter, NASA has asked the European Space Agency if it can furnish a lander or ice-penetrating probe for a rejuvenated U.S.-led robotic spacecraft to visit Jupiter’s moon Europa.

Managers confident ahead of critical launch for Galileo navigation system

March 27, 2015 Stephen Clark

Confident in technical and procedural fixes implemented since a launch in August left two Galileo satellites in the wrong orbit, officials with Europe’s navigation program say Friday’s liftoff of two identical craft on a Soyuz rocket will try to fill the same slots in the fleet as targeted by last year’s failed mission.

Rosetta glimpses its own shadow on comet 67P

March 3, 2015 Stephen Clark

The sharp-eyed science camera on Europe’s Rosetta comet orbiter caught a view of the probe’s fuzzy shadow when controllers guided the spacecraft just a few miles over its subject’s nucleus last month.

ATV’s re-entry camera returned no images

February 22, 2015 Stephen Clark

A camera packed inside Europe’s Automated Transfer Vehicle failed to transmit images from inside the disposable supply ship as it plunged through Earth’s atmosphere Feb. 15 and broke apart over the South Pacific Ocean, the European Space Agency said Friday.

Photos from Rosetta’s Valentine’s Day comet close-up

February 16, 2015 Stephen Clark

Europe’s Rosetta spacecraft — six months into its mission at comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko — made its closest flyby of the comet’s boulder-strewn nucleus Saturday, capturing photos and measurements to help scientists unravel how the duck-shaped body is evolving on its path around the sun.

Video: Time lapse of ATV’s final departure from ISS

February 15, 2015 Stephen Clark

This time lapse video shows Europe’s Automated Transfer Vehicle backing away from the International Space Station for the last time Saturday.

Europe’s ATV space freighter bids final goodbye to space station

February 14, 2015 Stephen Clark

Europe’s fifth and final Automated Transfer Vehicle departed the International Space Station for the last time Saturday, closing out one of the European Space Agency’s flagship programs as the bus-sized spaceship heads for a destructive re-entry Sunday.

Rosetta approaches comet 67P for a closer look

February 14, 2015 Stephen Clark

The Rosetta spacecraft neared its comet Saturday, targeting a close flyby within four miles of the tiny world’s jagged nucleus to gain new up-close views of the comet and taste the growing vaporous cloud surrounding it.

Europe’s last ATV set to depart from space station

February 13, 2015 Stephen Clark

A European supply freighter is set to undock from the International Space Station on Saturday, heading for a destructive dive into Earth’s atmosphere about 30 hours later after a power system failure forced the cancellation of an experiment to observe the dynamics of the re-entry of a large spacecraft.