ESA Archives - SlashGear

ESA proves carbon fiber reinforced plastic rocket tanks are viable

Shane McGlaun | Jul 29, 2021

ESA has made a breakthrough in its Future Launchers Preparatory Program, finding that carbon fiber reinforced plastic tanks are viable for rockets. The new work builds on earlier studies and has demonstrated a new design for a small-scale tank made of unique carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP). The material is leakproof when used with liquid hydrogen and is also compatible with liquid oxygen without using a metal liner.

Hubble telescope discovers evidence of water vapor on Jovian moon Ganymede

Shane McGlaun | Jul 27, 2021

Jupiter is an interesting planet and has multiple moons orbiting it. The largest moon orbiting Jupiter is called Ganymede, and it's very large indeed. In fact, Ganymede is the ninth largest object in the solar system, in addition to being the largest moon orbiting the planet. Scientists speculate that Ganymede may hold more water than all of Earth's oceans.

NASA & ESA partnership sounds “all-hands-on-deck” climate change alarm

Chris Davies | Jul 14, 2021

NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) are teaming up to tackle climate change, inking a new strategic partnership that will see the collected observations of Earth from space released freely. The collaboration comes amid ominous predictions for how changing global temperatures and rising sea levels will expand flooding, accelerate fires, and see even greater extremes in weather conditions.

NASA shares a beautiful image showing two massive galaxies taken by Hubble

Shane McGlaun | Jul 12, 2021

The Hubble Space Telescope is currently not working due to a hardware failure NASA has been unable to repair. Despite its nonfunctional nature at this time, NASA is still sharing some of the beautiful images the iconic telescope has taken. One image can be seen below in cropped form, with the full image further down in the story. The image shows a pair of enormous galaxies that immediately capture your attention.

ESA Plasma Kristall experiment at ISS is still going on after two decades

Shane McGlaun | Jul 6, 2021

The European Space Agency (ESA) recently celebrated 20 years of ESA astronauts living and working on the International Space Station. Since the ESA arrived on the ISS 20 years ago, it has been running an experiment in the weightless research center for that entire time. The experiment is called the Plasma Kristall (PK) suite, and it's investigating fundamental science.

ESA completes the first ExoMars high-altitude parachute drop test

Shane McGlaun | Jul 5, 2021

The European Space Agency (ESA) has announced that it has completed the first high-altitude drop test for the ExoMars parachute system. The successful test was completed after delays due to several weeks of bad weather and strong winds. ESA conducted a pair of drop tests in Kiruna, Sweden. The agency reports that the large 15 meter-wide first stage main parachute performed flawlessly at supersonic speeds.

NASA is hard at work on the Martian methane mystery

Shane McGlaun | Jun 30, 2021

There are numerous mysteries on Mars that scientists from around the world are working to solve. One of the most tantalizing of those mysteries is reports of methane detection on the Red Planet. Here on Earth, significant amounts of methane is produced by microbes helping livestock digest plants. The digestion process ends with livestock exhaling gas into the air.

ESA leverages spacecraft “housekeeping” data to learn more about cosmic rays

Shane McGlaun | Jun 30, 2021

The ESA has reported it is using data originally gathered for what it terms spacecraft "housekeeping" gathered aboard the Rosetta and Mars Express missions to learn more about cosmic rays. Cosmic rays are bursts of high-energy radiation, and the data gathered by the spacecraft helps scientists understand how cosmic rays behave at Mars and in the inner solar system. The housekeeping data gathered by the spacecraft and its components is typically used by engineering teams to monitor the health of the spacecraft and diagnose faults.

ESA contributes to wooden WISA Woodsat mission

Shane McGlaun | Jun 14, 2021

Building and launching satellites is an expensive proposition, and there are companies around the world looking to make that cheaper. The ESA has announced it will put the first wooden satellite into orbit. The sunlight is called the WISA Woodsat, and it's a 10x10x10 cm CubeSat nanosatellite built from standardized boxes.

ESA chooses Voyage 2050 mission themes

Shane McGlaun | Jun 13, 2021

The ESA has chosen its large-class science mission themes for the timeframe between 2035 and 2050. The missions fall under the Voyage 2050 umbrella and will focus in part on moons orbiting some of the massive planets in the solar system. The mission will also investigate temperate exoplanets and the early universe. ESA director of science Gunther Hasinger says that the selection of Voyage 2050 themes is pivotal for the ESA science program.

ESA and NASA team on a third exciting Venus probe: Here’s why

Chris Davies | Jun 10, 2021

NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) are collaborating on a new Venus probe, with EnVision headed to our distant Solar System neighbor as part of a trio of spacecraft set to unlock unprecedented insights. The ESA announced EnVision had been given the green-light today, with the new Venus orbiter to carry NASA's Synthetic Aperture Radar.

The James Webb Space Telescope launch is delayed (again)

Chris Davies | Jun 1, 2021

NASA has pushed back the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, another delay for the Hubble successor, though the aim is still to have the huge and complex instrument heading to its new home in space before the end of the year. The team behind the telescope project - a collaboration between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) - had previously intended to launch on October 31, 2021.