ESA's force-feedback rover controlled from a nation away

A controller in Germany operated ESA's gripper-equipped Interact rover around a simulated moonscape at the Agency's technical heart in the Netherlands, to practice retrieving geological samples. At the same time a smaller ...

The way forward to Mars

The path that ExoMars 2022 will follow to reach the Red Planet is set. The trajectory that will take the spacecraft from Earth to Mars in 264 days foresees a touchdown on the martian surface on 10 June 2023, at around 17:30 ...

Image: Modeling Gaia's avionics on the ground

A full-size working model of Gaia's internal systems arrived in Germany this week. The Avionics Model is mounted in a circular set-up representing the systems on the actual satellite, now orbiting the Sun–Earth L2 point ...

Fostering Curiosity: Mars Express relays rocky images

(Phys.org)—For the first time, ESA's Mars orbiter has relayed scientific data from NASA's Curiosity rover on the Red Planet's surface. The data included detailed images of 'Rocknest3' and were received by ESA's deep-space ...

Last look at weather satellite

(Phys.org)—As preparations for the launch of Europe's latest weather satellite continue on track, the team in Kazakhstan has said farewell to MetOp-B as it was sealed in the Soyuz rocket fairing. Liftoff is set for 16:28 ...

Weather satellite to be delivered in orbit to Eumetsat

Later this month, Europe's newest meteorology satellite, MetOp-B, will blast into space from Baikonur Cosmodrome. For mission control teams at ESA, liftoff marks the start of 72 hours of intense focus during the mission's ...

Rosetta to sleep through loneliest leg of comet mission

On 8 June, mission controllers will have the first opportunity to switch ESA's Rosetta comet-hunter into deep-space hibernation for 31 months. During this loneliest leg of its decade-long mission, Rosetta will loop ever closer ...

Planck satellite manoeuvre aims at L2 arrival

(PhysOrg.com) -- Beginning today, ESA's Planck satellite will carry out a critical mid-course manoeuvre that will place the satellite on its final trajectory for arrival at L2, the second Lagrange point of the Sun-Earth system, ...