News archive

News archive

Call for Mission Proposals for two Flexi-missions (F2 and F3)
Flexi-missions were introduced into the Horizons 2000 implementation concept in 1997 with the purpose of increasing the flexibility of the programme, basically by splitting each Medium size mission (M-missions) of Horizons 2000 into two Flexi-missions (F-missions). This new concept as well as other contingent reasons make the present call quite different from the M-mission calls which have been previously issued by the Science Directorate of ESA, the last one being the M3 call of 26 November 1992, which eventually resulted in the selection of the COBRAS/SAMBA (Planck) mission.
Published: 30 September 1999
INFO 12-1999: Planets, planets everywhere
Moon Craters Help us to Understand How Extrasolar Planets FormMore than a dozen planets orbiting other 'suns' have been found in the last few years, but... are they the rule or the exception? The European Space Agency's infrared space observatory, ISO has shown that the formation of extrasolar planets must be a very common event.
Published: 30 September 1999
ASCA AO-8 announced
The 8th Announcement of Opportunity (AO-8) for participation in theASCA (formerly Astro-D) observing program has been announced. This differs fromprevious ASCA AOs in thatit covers the final months in orbit with a more limited capability. Thisis because once Astro-E is launched (currently January 2000), the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) will nothave the manpower to continue ASCA operations at current levels.European observers may participate by submitting proposalsdirectly to the Japanese time allocation. The closing date is 12 October 1999.
Published: 29 September 1999
PR 40-1999: ESA's Mercury Mission Named BepiColombo in Honour of a Space Pioneer
Meeting in Naples 20-23 September, the European Space Agency's Science Programme Committee recognised the achievements of the late Giuseppe Colombo of the University of Padua by adopting his name for the Mercury project now being planned. Almost everything known until now about the planet Mercury comes from three passes by NASA's Mariner 10 in 1974/75, which were inspired by Colombo's calculations. He suggested how to put that spacecraft into an orbit that would bring it back repeatedly to Mercury. The Italian scientist also explained, as an unsuspected resonance, Mercury's peculiar habit of rotating three times in every two revolutions of the Sun.
Published: 29 September 1999
Companion to Comet Grigg-Skjellerup discovered using Giotto data?
On 13/14 March 1986, the European Space Agency's Giotto spacecraft obtained the first close-up pictures of a comet nucleus during its close flyby of Halley's Comet. An historic second comet encounter followed on 10 July 1992 when Giotto flew within 200 km of Comet Grigg-Skjellerup.
Published: 28 September 1999
Deep impact? New scale will evaluate impact threats.
In recent Hollywood blockbusters, asteroids and comets have threatened to collide with the Earth, only to be destroyed at the last minute by astronaut heroics. But such collisions are more than a topic for fiction - the threat from near-Earth objects (NEOs) is remote, but real.
Published: 28 September 1999
SOHO gets new, more robust computer software
Just like personal computers on Earth, ESA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory is getting a software upgrade of its own. After SOHO vanished in space in June 1998, engineers on two continents struggled for several weeks to regain control of the spacecraft. In December1998, the loss of the last working gyroscope caused major orientation problems and rapid fuel depletion. But once again, engineers and ground controllers put the satellite back in working order. By February 1999, an unprecedented solution - emergency software rushed up to SOHO - allowed it to reorient itself. Yet that fix, which has been working perfectly ever since, was only meant to be temporary.
Published: 28 September 1999
Another ice-making machine in the Solar System?
Icy cores of giant planets revealed by ISOUranus and Neptune are very different from Jupiter and Saturn, according to examinations of the giant planets by ESA's infrared space telescope, ISO. Jupiter and Saturn are mainly balls of gas but the more distant Uranus and Neptune contain relatively large cores of ice. This difference is confirmed by French and German astronomers who used ISO to measure heavy hydrogen in the planet's atmospheres. Although the result fits well with current ideas about planetary origins, it casts doubt on the part played by comets.
Published: 27 September 1999
XMM arrives in French Guiana
As scheduled, the Arianespace MN Toucan berthed at Kourou's Pariacabo harbour on the afternoon of 23 September after a ten-day crossing from Europe. A welcoming party was present as the ship lowered its rear access ramp, revealing its full load: the XMM giant container and eight others with various Ariane-4 and Ariane-5 rocket stages.
Published: 27 September 1999
Cluster II meets the media during London workshop
On 22 September, members of the Cluster II team took time off from athree-dayworkshop at Imperial College, London, to meet the press. During thebriefing, whichwas jointly organised by ESA and the UKs Particle Physics and AstronomyResearchCouncil (PPARC), members of the media were given an overview of the uniquemission to map the Earths magnetosphere in three dimensions, and informedof theprojects current status.
Published: 24 September 1999
Russian launcher for Integral
Russian Prime-Minister Vladimir Putin has signed agovernmental letter approving an arrangement between the European SpaceAgency (ESA) and the Russian Space Agency (RSA). According to thearrangement a Proton launcher will put ESA9s Integral, the InternationalGamma-RayAstrophysics Laboratory, into orbit. The spacecraft will be launched in 2001from Baikonur, Kazakhstan.
Published: 24 September 1999
IAF anniversary Congress reaches out to the next generation
More than 2000 space experts, scientists, engineers, managers and students from around the world are gathering early in October for the 50th anniversaryCongress of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF), to present and attend over 900 papers on the main theme: "Space - an integral part of theinformation age".This year's IAF Congress takes place from 4 to 8 October at the RAI Conference Centre in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. In parallel a large internationalexhibition with participants from space agencies and industrial firms and research institutions engaged in space activities around the world will be held at theRAI Centre. The exhibition will be open to the general public on two days, 7 and 8 October.
Published: 23 September 1999
SPC delegates meet again in Naples
Hosted in the historical building of the Astronomical Observatory of Capodimonte (Naples, Italy), ESA's Science Programme Committee met (22 and 23 September) for the second time since the key Brussels Ministerial meeting in May. The City of Naples gave a warm welcome to this group of eminent scientists not only from Europe but also from the United States, Russia and Japan.
Published: 23 September 1999
Sailing to the tropics with XMM
During the voyage by sea to French Guiana the XMM spacecraft in its transport container was watched over by two members of the project team, Jan van Dooren, ESA's XMM Quality Assurance Manager and his colleague from Dornier Amin Zumstein.
Published: 22 September 1999
Assembly of Rosetta STM starts in Turin
Assembling a spacecraft by taking it to pieces may sound rather illogical,but that is exactly what has happened to the Rosetta Structural and ThermalModel (STM). Since its delivery to the Alenia Aerospazio plant in Turinduring August, the STM was separated into two sections - the payload module(PM), which will carry the scientific experiments, and the service module(SM) which will house the satellite's main subsystems. Over the next fewmonths, engineers will be working in two shifts in order to carry out theassembly, integration and test programmes on each module before they are once again united in late October.
Published: 20 September 1999
Closing in on distant, infant galaxies
Detailed proposals for the construction of the Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST) were presented during the yearly NGST meeting. Representatives from the three major participants in the project, NASA, ESA, and CSA discussed scientific ideas and technological possibilities for "the space observatory of the next decade". NGST will be launched in late 2007 or early 2008.
Published: 20 September 1999
Closing in on distant, infant galaxies
Detailed proposals for the construction of the Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST) were presented during the yearly NGST meeting. Representatives from the three major participants in the project, NASA, ESA, and CSA discussed scientific ideas and technological possibilities for "the space observatory of the next decade". NGST will be launched in late 2007 or early 2008.
Published: 17 September 1999
Huygens fourth in-flight check-out
The fourth in-flight check-out of the Huygens Probe was successfully completed on 15 September 1999, as planned. All sub-systems and experiments performed as expected. Huygens can now sleep until the next wake-up call in early February 2000.
Published: 15 September 1999
Wake-up call for Huygens Probe tonight
ESA's Huygens probe will be woken from its seven-year sleep shortlyafter midnight tonight for a routine checkout. For the first time sincethe initial checkout just eight days after launch, Huygens flightcontrollers at ESA's control centre in Darmstadt will be able to followthe event in real time. The checkout begins at 01:00 Universal Time 15September.
Published: 14 September 1999
'Black Beauty' sails to the tropics
ESA's X-ray space observatory has left Europe for its French Guiana launch site. XMM, nicknamed the 'Black Beauty' by the team and engineers who have built it, sailed from Rotterdam on Sunday 12 September aboard the Arianespace 'MN Toucan'.
Published: 13 September 1999
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