News archive

News archive

A word from ESA's Director General
At a post-launch conference held between Kourou, Paris and ESOCDarmstadt, the Director General Of ESA Antonio Rodota said:"The launch of XMM represents a success for Europe. We are veryproud of our satellite, and of the Ariane-5 launcher. The flight hasfurther demonstrated the potential of the new vehicle and we expectmore successes of this kind.So you understand we really are proud tohave been on this first Ariane-5 commercial launch".
Published: 9 December 1999
Hubble SM3A : Shuttle launch now set for 18 December
Launch of STS-103 (Hubble Servicing Mission 3A) is currently set for 18 December 2:47 Central European Time.
Published: 9 December 1999
SOHO back to normal operations
While the spaceworld has had its eyes on the successful launch of ESA's XMM telescope, SOHO recovery teams have been busy at GSFC. As of 10 December at 01:00 UT, the SOHO spacecraft is back in Normal Mode.
Published: 9 December 1999
PR 52-1999: European astronauts set for Hubble challenge
Two of the European Space Agency's most experienced astronauts are preparing to board the Space Shuttle Discovery as part of the international crew to be launched on an end-of-the-year mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope.
Published: 8 December 1999
SOHO set for a return to normal operations
SOHO is performing maneuvres in preparation for a return toNormal Mode this evening. All instruments are in a safeconfiguration for the maneuvres.Yesterday, a momentum management was performed prior to aroll back to the nominal pointing position. The spacecraft was left inRoll Maneuvre Wheels mode for the night.
Published: 8 December 1999
Hubble Servicing Mission ESA Monitoring Centre
The essential events during Hubble Servicing Mission 3A (SM3A),currently scheduled for launch Sunday 12 December, will be covered livefrom the ESA Science web pages. Hourly reports during the mostinteresting parts of the mission will appear in 'The Hubble ServicingMission ESA Monitoring Centre', as well as access to a chat forum wherethe progress of the mission will be among the hot topics.
Published: 7 December 1999
Mars Express to learn lessons from Polar Lander loss
"Our hearts go out to our colleagues at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory over the probable loss of Mars Polar Lander," Rudi Schmidt, Mars Express project manager said today. "But risk will always be part of any space mission. We at Mars Express will forge ahead, taking on board all the lessons that we can from the polar lander failure."
Published: 7 December 1999
Mars Express to learn lessons from Polar Lander loss
"Our hearts go out to our colleagues at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory over the probable loss of Mars Polar Lander," Rudi Schmidt, Mars Express project manager said today. "But risk will always be part of any space mission. We at Mars Express will forge ahead, taking on board all the lessons that we can from the polar lander failure."
Published: 7 December 1999
Setting the stage for the launch of XMM
Whilst the engineers and technicians are making final preparations for the XMM launch on 10 December, ESA is setting the stage for the public and media launch coverage, both in French Guiana and in Europe.
Published: 7 December 1999
SOHO prepares to return to normal operations
Today and tomorrow, SOHO will be performing maneuvres in preparationfor a return to Normal Mode tomorrow evening. All instruments are ina safe configuration for the maneuvres.
Published: 7 December 1999
Mars Express leaps approval hurdle
The technical design for Mars Express took an important step towards approval last month. A team of 15 space engineers from ESTEC, who are not involved in the project, gave the design the thumbs up after spending a week scrutinising it at the prime contractor's, Matra Marconi Space (MMS), Toulouse. "The team went to Matra to turn the design upside down and find weak points. They didn't find any show stoppers," says Rudi Schmidt, Mars Express Project Manager.
Published: 6 December 1999
Rosetta STM arrives at ESTEC
After a five day journey across Europe, the Structural and Thermal Model(STM) of the Rosetta spacecraft has arrived safely at the European SpaceResearch and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in The Netherlands.
Published: 5 December 1999
SOHO in CRP mode until 8 December
SOHO is in Coarse Roll Pointing (CRP) mode at a roll angle of -76degrees. The current plan is to leave the spacecraft in thatconfiguration until Wednesday 8 December. Some instruments (MDI, EIT,LASCO and SWAN) are performing observations with some precautionary procedures (so-called 'safing flags') in place.
Published: 5 December 1999
Eta Carinae - ISO tells the true story
In 1843 the stellar system Eta Carinae suffered a violent explosion which caused it to become, in just a few decades, an amazingly beautiful nebula with two huge round blobs of material symmetrically distributed. For years astronomers have been looking for the cause of the explosion, and to explain the strange hourglass shape. A team of astronomers using ESA's infrared space telescope, ISO, have now succeeded, putting the blame firmly on a previously undetected very massive 'donut' of dust which squeezes the nebula at its centre. They publish their discovery in the current issue of the journal Nature (2 December).
Published: 2 December 1999
Europe prepares its own Mars mission, as NASA's probe lands on Mars
Just before NASA's Mars Polar Lander bounces to a gentle halt on Mars tomorrow, it will jettison two small probes that will crash into the planet and penetrate its surface. Four years later, in December 2003, another probe will land on the red planet to take a look underground. Called Beagle 2, it will hitch a ride to Mars on Europe's Mars Express mission. NASA's probes will be looking mainly for water and ice, but Beagle 2 will also be searching for the signs of life.
Published: 1 December 1999
SOHO back out of ESR
As of Thursday 2 December, 19:42 UT, SOHO is no longer in Emergency Sun Reacquisition (ESR) mode, after a successful transition to CoarseRoll Pointing (CRP) mode.
Published: 1 December 1999
SOHO recovery actions continue
On Tuesday 1 December at 18:46 UT another SOHO spacecraftemergency was declared in order to secure Deep Space Network (DSN) contact with 34-metre antennas, after amanual triggering of the Emergency Sun Reacquisition (ESR) mode at about 18:40 UT.At about 18:10 UT, SOHO was in the middle of astationkeeping (orbit trim) manoeuvreRoll Pointing (CRP) mode was invoked automatically and the thruster burns were aborted. The cause of this anomaly is yet to be determined.
Published: 1 December 1999
SOHO ESR ends
As of Monday 29 November, 18:35 UT, SOHO is no longer in Emergency SunReacquisition (ESR) mode. The SOHO spacecraft emergency that was declaredto ensure adequate Deep Space Network (DSN) coverage has officiallyended. Instruments are in safe configuration and appear to beunscathed from the episode.
Published: 30 November 1999
SOHO recovery continues
Recovery of the SOHO spacecraft to normal science operations is proceeding with maneuvres to compensate for stay of about 21 hours in ESR mode, which perturbed the angularmomentum, orbit and roll of the spacecraft.
Published: 30 November 1999
SOHO in safe mode
Over the Thanksgiving weekend the joint ESA/NASA SOHO recovery team stepped into action once again when the SOHO spacecraft switched to Emergency Sun Reacquisition mode(ESR) on Sunday 28 November. ESR is the safe mode that is automatically triggered to protect the spacecraft in the event of any unforeseen circumstance.
Published: 28 November 1999
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