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| ESA INFO 10-2002 Integral's first look at the gamma-ray Universe |
| ESA's gamma-ray satellite, Integral, is fully operational. Today Integral's first ground-breaking images of the high-energy Universe were presented in Paris, France. Astronomers call such initial observations 'first light'. |
| Date: 18 Dec 2002 |
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| ESA PR 79-2002 ESA presents Integral's first images |
| Integral, the European Space Agency's gamma-ray satellite, has taken its first images and collected its first scientific data. These 'first-light' images confirm that Integral is working superbly. Everyone involved with the project is highly satisfied with its performance so far. |
| Date: 11 Dec 2002 |
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| ESA PR 69-2002 XMM-Newton closes in on space's exotic matter |
| A fraction of a second after the Big Bang, all the primordial soup of matter in the Universe was 'broken' into its most fundamental constituents. It was thought to have disappeared forever. However scientists strongly suspect that the exotic soup of dissolved matter can still be found in today's Universe, in the core of certain very dense objects called neutron stars. |
| Date: 06 Nov 2002 |
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| Everyone wants gamma-ray eyes! |
| Even before ESA's Integral gamma-ray observatory was launched, astronomers were competing to win time to use this state-of-the-art observatory. The Integral Science Operations Centre in Noordwijk, The Netherlands, received hundreds of excellent proposals. ESA expects Integral to revolutionise the way we think about the violent Universe. Understandably, everyone wants to play a part in that process. |
| Date: 29 Oct 2002 |
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| Integral makes its first measurements |
| After a successfull launch on 17 October 2002, experts say that ESA's Integral spacecraft is in very good health, orbiting Earth. |
| Date: 24 Oct 2002 |
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| ESA PR 66-2002 Europe opens a window onto a violent Universe |
| The European Space Agency has today launched a new observatory set to revolutionise the branch of astrophysics that seeks to unravel the secrets of the highest-energy - and therefore the most violent - phenomena in the Universe. This comes 20 years after the end of ESA's COS-B mission, which produced a complete map of the sky in the high-energy gamma-ray waveband. |
| Date: 17 Oct 2002 |
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| ESA PR 63-2002 ESA's Integral satellite ready for lift-off from Baikonur |
| Follow the launch from one of the ESA establishments
ESA's Integral (International Gamma Ray Astrophysics Laboratory) satellite, will be launched by a Proton launcher from Baikonur, Kazakhstan on 17 October at 06:41 CEST (Central European Summer Time).
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| Date: 07 Oct 2002 |
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| ESA INFO 8-2002 Integral - tracking extreme radiation across the Universe |
| Integral is the International Gamma Ray Astrophysics Laboratory of the European Space Agency. It is a cooperative mission with Russia and is scheduled for launch on 17 October 2002 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, on a Russian Proton rocket, the Russian contribution to the programme. It is the world's most advanced gamma-ray telescope and will provide first-hand observations of the celestial objects that release some of the most energetic radiation of the Universe. In particular, scientists have designed Integral to simultaneously capture gamma rays, X-rays, and visible light from these objects, allowing astronomers on Earth to fully analyse them. |
| Date: 02 Oct 2002 |
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| Stamp of approval for ESA at AMPHILEX 2002 |
| In the same way as you had the great explorers of the past, ESA's pioneering activities in space make it today's new pioneer. To celebrate this European spirit of adventure, which goes back centuries, ESA is there at this year's international philatelic fair, AMPHILEX 2002. Its large stand will carry the banner 'Discovering The New Frontier'. |
| Date: 26 Aug 2002 |
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| Space delivers the Philosopher's Stone |
| For centuries, alchemists searched for the Philosopher's Stone - said to turn base metals into gold and hold the secret of eternal life. However, alchemists did not have much success in their quest. Creating an element like gold is an amazing achievement that requires enormous amounts of energy and extreme conditions - like those provided by massive exploding stars in supernovae explosions. |
| Date: 11 Jul 2002 |
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| Extreme machine simulates space conditions |
| Conditions in space are unlike anything we experience on Earth. Incredible extremes of temperature that can switch in an instant, startling vacuum conditions, not to mention radiation - it's a tough life for a spacecraft. So it is essential to make sure they are prepared to withstand these conditions before they are launched into this wholly unfriendly environment. |
| Date: 07 May 2002 |
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| INTEGRAL Science Data Centre to be presented to the press |
| While ESA's INTEGRAL spacecraft prepares for launch in October 2002, the INTEGRAL Science Data Centre at Versoix (Switzerland) is getting ready for operations. On 11 April 2002, the doors of the centre - which will prepare and distribute the INTEGRAL data to the worldwide astronomical community - will be open to the European scientific community and to the press. |
| Date: 28 Mar 2002 |
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| ESA receives IBIS gamma-ray imager after successful calibration |
| After six years of sometimes painfully difficult
development, the construction of the world's largest
and most sensitive gamma-ray imaging camera has finished.
Following calibration tests in Milan, the fully assembled
IBIS telescope has now been transported from Italy to
ESA's European Space Research and Technology Centre in the Netherlands
to be integrated on the INTEGRAL spacecraft. |
| Date: 21 Nov 2001 |
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| Discus thrower captured by gamma rays |
| Once in orbit, space telescopes can produce heavenly pictures. ESA's new gamma-ray observatory INTEGRAL - just a year away from launch - will be focusing on some of the
highest energy celestial sources. Before seeing the
stars, one of INTEGRAL's four instruments has been
taking some down-to-Earth but surprising pictures - a famous discus thrower and a bottle of champagne.
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| Date: 26 Oct 2001 |
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| Danish Space Minister visits INTEGRAL |
| The Dutch morning mist enveloped the Danish flag on 25 September when the country's Minister for Information Technology and Research, Mrs Birte Weiss, arrived at ESA's European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC). The Minister was accompanied by a party of Danish Parliamentarians led by Mrs Lise Haekkerup, Vice Chairperson of the Danish Parliamentary Research Committee. The visit coincided with the formal delivery of the Danish JEM-X instrument to fly on ESA's INTEGRAL mission.
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| Date: 27 Sep 2001 |
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| Irish astronomers eager to use European gamma-ray space observatory |
| The status of INTEGRAL - the International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory of the European Space Agency (ESA) - and the Irish involvement in the mission are being presented at a press conference organised in Dublin on 4 October by the Royal Irish Academy (RIA), Enterprise Ireland and ESA. |
| Date: 26 Sep 2001 |
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| Whole lot of shakin' goin' on! |
| Spacecraft are built to be as sturdy and as light as possible but their ride into space can be a bit rough. To ensure they will survive the launch
and function as planned in orbit, all satellites are submitted to
strenuous vibration tests before launch. |
| Date: 19 Sep 2001 |
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| INTEGRAL spacecraft delivered to ESA |
| After being assembled by prime contractor Alenia Spazio, INTEGRAL has now been delivered to ESA's ESTEC facility in the Netherlands. Environmental and system tests are now to take place on the gamma-ray observatory in view of a launch in October 2002. |
| Date: 30 Jul 2001 |
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| INTEGRAL road circus - motorized Hannibal's army on Europe's highways |
| Summer migrations in Europe tend to be southwards. But one caravan, composed of some thirty lorries, has started off in the other direction, from Italy to the Netherlands: ESA's INTEGRAL spacecraft is moving house. |
| Date: 11 Jul 2001 |
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| JEM-X eager to discover new cosmic 'animals' |
| Like many of Copenhagen's inhabitants, Dr Niels Lund cycles to work everyday, a 5 km distance from his home to the Danish Space Research Institute. For the past six years, his thoughts whilst peddling have been set on the successful completion of JEM-X, one of the four science instruments aboard ESA's gamma-ray observatory INTEGRAL. |
| Date: 03 Jul 2001 |
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