The European Space Agency has revealed that multiple current space missions are being impacted by the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. In an announcement on Wednesday, the agency said that it is dialing down its mission operations and sending a number of its mission control center personnel in Germany home to avoid the virus risk. Some instrument operations must be stopped as a result, among other things.
The European Space Agency has announced that its ExoMars mission has been postponed until 2022. The decision was made based on recommendations from a team tasked with determining what all still needs to be done in order to get launch authorization. Put simply, more time is needed to complete all of the tests necessary for the Mars spacecraft to be launched.
A new space mission is set to launch on February 7 and is called the Solar Orbiter. It's a collaboration between the ESA and NASA. The first launch window for the spacecraft will come on February 7 at 11:15 p.m. EST. The launch will happen at Cape Canaveral aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.
NASA and the European Space Agency have teamed up to send a new spacecraft called Solar Orbiter to study the Sun's poles. The space agencies announced the mission on Monday, explaining that this effort will involve snapping the first-ever images of our star's north pole and south pole. Assuming everything goes as planned, Solar Orbiter will be launched from Florida early next month.
The European Space Agency has finally discovered what went wrong during the descent of the Huygens probe it sent to Saturn's moon Titan as part of the Cassini-Huygens mission launched in 1997. Both the Cassini and the Huygens missions were successful, but the latter didn't perform without issue: the ESA says its probe started spinning the wrong direction during descent, a mystery that has now been solved.
The European Space Agency has shared a new image of Mars captured using the camera on its Mars Express spacecraft. In the photo, we see Mars' north pole covered with large sheets of snowy white ice surrounded by otherwise reddish and dusty landscape. The image is surprisingly clear and smooth, resembling something one may capture with a 4K drone camera or DSLR.
The European Space Agency has successfully launched its Cheops satellite as part of a mission to explore exoplanets that exist beyond our Solar System. Assuming everything goes according to plan, Cheops will be used to learn more about these distant planets, some of which are believed to be potentially capable of sustaining life. This is the first time the ESA has launched a mission dedicated to these planets.
The European Space Agency's Mars Express mission recently wrapped up its tracking of Phobos, the innermost moon orbiting Mars. Using the spacecraft's camera, the mission captured images of the oddly shaped moon from many angles, the collection of which have been assembled together into a video. Visible in the images are a number of the moon's features, including large craters and other marks.
The European Space Agency has announced the first-ever mission to retrieve a piece of space trash while it is in orbit around our planet. Called ClearSpace-1, the mission is taking place under a consortium being led by ClearSpace, a startup located in Switzerland. The ESA has granted the consortium permission to send in a final proposal for the project, which is scheduled to take place in March 2020.
The European Space Agency has announced that astronaut Luca Parmitano successfully navigated a rover through an obstacle course to collect a rock sample all the way from the International Space Station. The obstacle course was located in the Netherlands where the test took place on Monday. The ESA developed the technology used to remotely operate rovers from space.
The European Space Agency has published two concept images that show the hibernation pods and crew cabin that may be used as part of future long-term space missions involving human astronauts. The work comes from the ESA's Concurrent Design Facility, which was tasked with evaluating the use of hibernation in trips to other nearby planets including Mars.
If you're looking for a way to help experts make an impact on our planet, the ESA has pointed toward Lost at Night, a project that needs the public's help identifying areas of light pollution captured in images taken from space. The project intends to raise light pollution awareness, and it is now asking the public to help researchers in this field by cataloging the images.