A European spacecraft is on its way to Jupiter in a mission to explore whether its ocean-bearing moons can support life. The six-tonne probe, named Juice (Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer), blasted off on an Ariane 5 rocket on Friday at 1.14pm UK time from the European spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. Juice was due to […]
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ESA gearing up for mission to discover if Jupiter’s moons can support life
A European spacecraft is about to embark on a 6.6 billion km journey to explore whether Jupiter’s ocean-bearing moons can support life. The six-tonne probe, named Juice (Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer), will be heading towards the solar system’s biggest planet carrying 10 scientific instruments, in what is the European Space Agency’s (ESA) biggest deep-space mission […]
Europe’s upgraded Vega space launcher makes inaugural flight
The European Space Agency (ESA) has celebrated the first flight of its Vega-C rocket. Vega-C is an upgrade to the Vega rocket that made its debut in 2012 as a launcher specialising in lifting small payloads into space. The new rocket can carry heavier payloads than its predecessor while burning less fuel. ESA says Vega-C […]
ESA’s ExoMars rover closer to launch after landing test
The ExoMars rover is one step closer to landing on the red planet following a rehearsal of what happens after it touches down. The exercise involved simulating the UK-built Rosalind Franklin rover driving off its landing platform once it touches down on Mars. After the nerve-wracking descent to the surface of the planet, the rover […]
Irish Schools Compete to Design a Satellite in a Can
How big is a satellite? Well it doesn’t need to be any bigger than a drink can, according to the organisers of a competition for Irish schools, launched today by former NASA astronaut Greg Johnson. Colonel Johnson is President and Executive Director for the Centre for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), which manages the US National Laboratory […]
Today We Land on a Comet
We’ve talked about Rosetta before. The European Space Agency’s mission to Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko took 10 years to catch up with the comet, which is about the size of a city, and which we now know is shaped like a rubber duck! It’s also a rough uneven surface, with gravity 100,000 times less than Earth’s. Landing on it […]