The venerable Hubble Space Telescope is like a gift that keeps on giving. Not only is it still making astronomical discoveries after more than thirty years in operation. It is also making discoveries by accident! Thanks to an international team of citizen scientists, with the help of astronomers from the European Space Agency (ESA) and …
Hubble Has Accidentally Discovered Over a Thousand Asteroids Read More »
A surprise appearance of a new comet made the April 8th total solar eclipse all the more memorable. Any dedicated ‘umbraphile’ will tell you: no two eclipses are exactly the same. Weather, solar activity, and the just plain expeditionary nature of reaching and standing in the shadow of the Moon for those brief moments during …
There Was a Doomed Comet Near the Sun During the Eclipse Read More »
The BepiColombo mission, a joint effort between JAXA and the ESA, was only the second (and most advanced) mission to visit Mercury, the least explored planet in the Solar System. With two probes and an advanced suite of scientific instruments, the mission addressed several unresolved questions about Mercury, including the origin of its magnetic field, …
The Solar Wind is Stripping Oxygen and Carbon Away From Venus Read More »
A view of the Crew Dragon Endurance as it prepared to undock from the International Space Station following 197 days at the orbiting outpost. Image: NASA A journey of more than half a year orbiting around the world is coming to an end for the four-member team of the SpaceX Crew-7 mission. The Crew Dragon …
Crew-7 begins journey home following six-month stay at the International Space Station Read More »
The Ariane 6 rocket photographed at dusk in French Guiana. During a briefing on Thursday, Nov. 30, ESA officials discussed a summer timeframe for the first launch of the rocket. Image: ESA Lengthy delays for the debut of Europe’s future flagship rocket may have an end in sight. During a briefing with press on Thursday, …
ESA Director General: Ariane 6 aiming for summer 2024 debut Read More »
This illustration shows a concept for multiple robots that would team up to ferry to Earth samples of rocks and soil being collected from the Martian surface by NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover.Credit: NASA/ESA/JPL-Caltech The next decade will be a critical time for the exploration of Mars with the multi-agency Mars Sample Return (MSR) being the …
The dozen spacecraft for the penultimate flight of an Arianespace Vega rocket prior encapsulation in the payload fairing. Image: Airbus Space A pair of Earth observation satellites along with ten auxiliary payloads will launch aboard Arianespace’s penultimate Vega rocket into sun-synchronous orbit on Friday. The light launch vehicle, which began flying in 2012, is set …
