Germany – Spaceflight Now

Earth observation, deep space exploration big winners in new ESA budget

November 29, 2019

European Space Agency member states on Thursday committed nearly 12.5 billion euros ($13.8 billion) to fund ESA programs over the next three years, promising money to grow Europe’s fleet of satellites studying Earth’s changing climate, contribute to NASA-led lunar exploration efforts, and continue ESA’s participation in the International Space Station until 2030.

China’s Kuaizhou launcher flies for second time in four days

November 19, 2019

Demonstrating a quick turnaround launch capability, China launched a light-class, solid-fueled Kuaizhou 1A rocket Sunday, four days after the same type of satellite booster fired into orbit from the same launch pad.

Ground teams studying setback with InSight’s subsurface heat probe

October 29, 2019

The self-hammering mole on NASA’s InSight lander partially backed out of the ground over the weekend, the latest setback for a German-built science instrument designed to measure heat flowing from the interior of Mars.

German X-ray telescope achieves ‘first light’

October 23, 2019

Astronomers are elated with the first X-ray images from a German telescope on Russia’s Spektr-RG astronomy mission, demonstrating the instrument’s ability to observe galaxies near and far as scientists seek answers to questions about dark energy.

Russia launches international X-ray astronomy mission

July 13, 2019

A Proton rocket and Block DM upper stage climbed into space Saturday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan with Spektr-RG, an astronomical observatory with dual X-ray telescopes developed by Russian and German scientists on the hunt for the signature of dark energy.

Live coverage: Proton rocket lifts off with X-ray astronomy observatory

July 13, 2019

A Proton rocket lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan with the Spektr-RG X-ray astronomy mission at 1230:57 GMT (8:30:57 a.m. EDT) Saturday.

Proton launch delayed to Saturday

July 12, 2019

Russian officials have delayed until Saturday the launch of a Proton rocket from Kazakhstan with the Spektr-RG X-ray astronomy observatory, an ambitious mission jointly developed with Germany to probe dark energy.

Proton rocket and astronomy satellite back on the launch pad after battery replacement

July 9, 2019

Poised to loft a Russian-German X-ray astronomy observatory into space Friday, a Proton rocket returned to its launch pad Tuesday at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan after a three-week delay to replace a drained battery on the vehicle.

Soyuz rocket and Fregat upper stage deliver 33 satellites to three different orbits

July 5, 2019

A new Russian weather satellite, a CubeSat to test a Silicon Valley startup’s water-based propulsion system, and eight more members of Spire’s commercial fleet of multipurpose nanosatellites were among 33 spacecraft that rode a Soyuz rocket into orbit Friday from Russia’s Far East.

Live coverage: Soyuz rideshare mission lifts off from Vostochny Cosmodrome

July 4, 2019

A Soyuz-2.1b rocket lifted off at 0541 GMT (1:41 a.m. EDT) Thursday from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia’s Far East, carrying a new Russian weather satellite and 32 secondary payloads into polar orbit.