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| Double Star update for European scientists |
| Important steps towards the realisation of a unique East-West collaboration were taken during a recent visit to Beijing by European scientists and engineers. During the week of 10-14 September, representatives from ESA and 10 European instrument teams took the opportunity to renew acquaintance with engineers working on the Double Star mission.
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| Date: 27 Sep 2001 |
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| Cluster quartet take a trip down Earth's tail |
| Everyone is familiar with animals' tails, but less well known is the fact that most planets have tails too - huge, magnetic tails filled with electrified gas rather than fur, flesh and muscle. Since the end of August, ESA's four Cluster spacecraft have been flying along the middle of the Earth's magnetotail, carrying out the most in-depth exploration of this region ever undertaken. |
| Date: 17 Sep 2001 |
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| Cluster spacecraft surf the plasma waves |
| ESA's four Cluster spacecraft continue to provide ground-breaking new information about the interaction between our nearest star - the Sun - and planet Earth. As they sail through the sea of plasma (electrons and protons) that fills near-Earth space, the identical instruments on the Cluster quartet are helping scientists to create the first three-dimensional views of this turbulent region. |
| Date: 30 Aug 2001 |
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| Cluster tunes in to the dawn chorus |
| The vacuum of space is hardly a suitable habitat for birds, but someone tuning in to the signals detected by the Wide Band Data (WBD) experiment on ESA's Cluster spacecraft might be forgiven for thinking that this was not the case. |
| Date: 09 Aug 2001 |
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| Cluster stars in Bristol |
| Scientists, VIPs and members of the media gathered in Bristol, UK, yesterday to celebrate the first anniversary of ESA's Cluster mission to explore the magnetosphere. |
| Date: 17 Jul 2001 |
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| Surfing and diving in the Earth's magnetosphere, Cluster celebrates one year of science excellence in orbit |
| Space scientists around the world are today celebrating the first anniversary of the European Space Agency's revolutionary Cluster mission to explore near-Earth space and study the interaction between the Sun and Earth. |
| Date: 16 Jul 2001 |
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| Cluster spacecraft surf the plasma waves |
| ESA's four Cluster spacecraft continue to provide groundbreaking new information about the interaction between our nearest star - the Sun - and planet Earth. |
| Date: 13 Jul 2001 |
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| Cluster - presentation of model to the city of Bristol and scientific update |
| On 16 July 2000, the first pair of Cluster satellites was launched from Baikonur in Kazakhstan. To mark the first anniversary of this unique mission to explore near-Earth space, the European Space Agency and the UK Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council will participate in a special ceremony and press event at The Mansion House in Bristol. |
| Date: 11 Jul 2001 |
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| Cluster - Presentation of model to the city of Bristol and science results overview |
| On 16 July 2000, the first pair of Cluster satellites was launched from Baikonour in Kazakhstan. To mark the first anniversary of this unique mission to explore near-Earth space, the European Space Agency and the UK Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council will participate in a
special ceremony and press event at The Mansion House in Bristol.
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| Date: 10 Jul 2001 |
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| East meets West on 'Double Star', a joint mission to explore Earth's magnetic field |
| A new phase in ESA-China scientific collaboration was officially given the green light today at ESA Headquarters in Paris with an historic agreement between ESA and the Chinese National Space Administration (CNSA) to develop a joint project known as 'Double Star'. |
| Date: 09 Jul 2001 |
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| Cluster's whispers probe the electrifying plasmasphere |
| An astronaut who exits a spacecraft without a spacesuit will die very quickly because there is no air to breathe. However, although space is often regarded as an airless vacuum, it is by no means empty. Spacecraft such as Cluster are built to detect and study the sparse 'soup' of electrified plasma - mostly electrons and protons - that populates near-Earth space. |
| Date: 25 Jun 2001 |
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| The 'ins and outs' of Cluster's celestial dance |
| Some 100 scientists and engineers gathered last week at
the European Space Technology Research Centre (ESTEC)
in the Netherlands for the 36th Cluster
Science Working Team (SWT) meeting. They were greeted
with the news that the four Cluster spacecraft - Rumba,
Salsa, Samba and Tango - are now dancing in a new
formation around the Earth. |
| Date: 11 Jun 2001 |
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| Cluster quartet move in step |
| Moving time has arrived for the four Cluster spacecraft. During the next few weeks, the satellites will carry out a series of manoeuvres that will increase their separation distances. Eventually, each spacecraft will have
drifted to a distance of 2000 km from its partners, compared to the current figure of 600 km. |
| Date: 21 May 2001 |
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| European delegation to China discusses |
| An exciting new East-West scientific collaboration recently took a further step towards acceptance
when a group of European Space Agency delegates and space scientists travelled to Beijing to meet
their Chinese counterparts. |
| Date: 19 Apr 2001 |
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| ESA's solar system missions to get star billing in Nice |
| Geophysicists attending next week's General Assembly of
the European Geophysical Society in Nice won't just be discussing the latest scientific research about the Earth. They will also be turning their attention to other bodies within our solar system and the missions Europe is sending to explore them. |
| Date: 20 Mar 2001 |
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| Cluster's new view of near-Earth space |
| Studies of near-Earth space will never be the same again, following the successful commissioning
of the European Space Agency's Cluster mission. |
| Date: 16 Feb 2001 |
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| Unique science results from Cluster's Lunar eclipse |
| In the summer of 1999, millions of people across Europe peered upwards at the sky in an
effort to see one of Nature's wonders - a total eclipse of the Sun. On 25 January, European
engineers and scientists witnessed an eclipse of a different kind - the passage of four Cluster
spacecraft through the outer part of the Moon's shadow. |
| Date: 12 Feb 2001 |
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| Cluster commences operations: first exciting results to be announced at media event in Paris |
| Six months after four Cluster spacecraft congregated in Earth orbit, scientists are beginning to gather the first scientific results from ESA's unique mission to explore the magnetosphere - the magnetic shield that surrounds our planet. |
| Date: 07 Feb 2001 |
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| Cluster cleared for scientific operations by Commissioning Review Board |
| Cluster's unique mission formally got under way yesterday when the ESA Commissioning Review
Board gave unanimous approval for the start of scientific operations. |
| Date: 02 Feb 2001 |
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| Courage pays off as Cluster completes cusp crossing in Arctic blizzard |
| Space scientists are a hard-working, dedicated group, and few
have worked harder than those involved in getting the four Cluster
spacecraft up and running. With this in mind, two members of the Cluster
ground-based community recently displayed courage and dedication
beyond the call of duty to support Cluster observations. |
| Date: 29 Jan 2001 |
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