News archive

News archive

No more doubts about ESA's Venus Express!
Yesterday, ESA's Science Programme Committee (SPC) gave the final go-ahead for the Venus Express mission. The SPC, which met on 4 and 5 November 2002, unanimously confirmed its strong will to bring the mission to realisation. Furthermore, the Committee endorsed and agreed on a solution to the financial issues that had still cast serious doubts on the mission.
Published: 5 November 2002
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.
Published: 28 October 2002
Success for Rosetta's transatlantic link
With less than three months to go before Rosetta lifts off from Kourou spaceport in French Guiana, engineers from ESA, Alenia and Astrium are working feverishly to ensure that Europe's comet chaser meets its narrow launch window in January 2003.
Published: 28 October 2002
Ghosts found in space
For Halloween this year, watch out for some real ghosts cruising through space, destined never to 'cross over' to the other side. These ghosts are scientific satellites that have reached the end of their mission and experts have turned off all their instruments. Other satellites cross over into the Earth's atmosphere to be burned up on reentry, but these satellites will float on silently through the eerie darkness of space forever.
Published: 27 October 2002
ESA's good-natured DevILS
The European Space Agency (ESA) has started a 50-million-euro initiative to bring together Europe's leading aerospace companies for the next four years. The aim of DevILS is to develop 'intelligent', lightweight spacecraft systems that ESA can use on future missions. Having these 'plug-and-play' systems will allow Europe to create lighter spacecraft that perform better.
Published: 24 October 2002
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.
Published: 24 October 2002
Vacancy: Scientific and Technological Communication Officer
Vacancy in the Directorate of the Scientific Programme:
Published: 21 October 2002
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.
Published: 17 October 2002
At that star, turn left!
Our bodies contain proteins that are made of smaller molecules that can be either left- or right-handed, depending upon their structure. Regardless of which hand we use to write, however, all human beings are 'left-handed' at the molecular level. Life on Earth uses the left-handed variety and no one knows how this preference crept into living systems. In 2012, ESA's Rosetta lander will land on a comet to investigate, among other things, if the origin of this preference lies in the stars.
Published: 16 October 2002
Chinese satellites meet European instruments in London for space mission pre-nuptials
The hardware inside a Chinese space satellite is currently undergoing its final tests in London to make sure that it can 'talk' with the European science instruments it will be carrying, in advance of its mission launch in 2003.
Published: 11 October 2002
Exploding star takes astronomers by surprise
A partially exploding star, known as a nova, has recovered more quickly than expected, say scientists who have analysed new data from the ESA's XMM-Newton X-ray satellite. Nova explosions are not completely destructive phenomena. In fact, after an explosion occurs, the star recovers and starts shining again. Until now, astronomers have not known how long this process takes. In this case, however, the exploding star recovered in less than three years. This is surprising, given the fact that the original explosion released about 100 000 times the energy given out by our Sun in a single year.
Published: 11 October 2002
Challenges of landing on alien worlds
Three ESA missions are due to send down robotic 'spaceprobes' when they arrive at their alien destinations. Since these craft will be going where no one has gone before, how can scientists be sure what it will be like down there? How do you ensure that your spaceprobe is prepared for anything?
Published: 10 October 2002
Major award for the 'Father of Rosetta'
The Division for Planetary Sciences (DPS), the largest division of the American Astronomical Society, has announced that its prestigious Gerard P. Kuiper Prize has been awarded to Rosetta Interdisciplinary Scientist, Dr Eberhard Grün.
Published: 8 October 2002
ESA PR 63-2002 ESA's Integral satellite ready for lift-off from Baikonur
Follow the launch from one of the ESA establishmentsESA'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).
Published: 7 October 2002
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.
Published: 2 October 2002
Telescopic/Microscopic View of a Substorm
A powerful solar eruption occurred on 29 March 2001, which then released a coronal mass ejection toward the Earth. Early on 31 March 2001, since it is taking about 2 days for the CME to reach the Earth, a strong interplanetary shock struck the Earth, initiating one of the largest geomagnetic storms of this solar cycle.
Published: 1 October 2002
Space technology geared to the car
From 28 September to 13 October, the European Space Agency (ESA) makes its debut at the Paris Motor Show (Porte de Versailles, Hall 2/2, stand 515). Its presence might seem surprising but on closer analysis is fully justified; over 40 years of breakthroughs and advances have left the space sector ready to play a full role in the car industry.
Published: 26 September 2002
ESA to search for life, but not as we know it
This week, astrobiologists are discussing what ESA's Huygens spaceprobe might discover when it parachutes to the surface of Saturn's mysterious moon, Titan, in 2005. Titan possesses a rich atmosphere of organic molecules, which Huygens will analyse. Recently some scientists have begun to think that, by redefining life, in broader terms, what we may find on Titan may be life. If this is the case, it certainly will not be life as we know it...
Published: 19 September 2002
Ferrari red paint passes road test for trip to Mars
The symbol of Ferrari's extraordinary success, its red paint 'Rosso Corsa', has been given the green light to go into space, as it was declared officially 'space qualified' at a formal ceremony held today at INTESPACE in Toulouse, France. A specially constructed glass globe, known as FRED, containing the sample of paint was then integrated on to the Mars Express spacecraft, in readiness for the fastest journey Ferrari has ever made.
Published: 18 September 2002
Rosetta arrives in South America
The final leg of Rosetta's four-year race to the launch pad has now begun. After a 6500 km trip across the Atlantic Ocean, ESA's comet chaser arrived safely yesterday evening at the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana. The feverish activity to prepare the unique spacecraft for its January launch has now transferred from the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, to the tropical jungle of South America.
Published: 13 September 2002
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