esa

In a 26 March update, ESA announced that after the very first two mirrors were warmed by just 34 degrees, Euclid’s sight was restored, with the telescope’s optics achieving a 15% gain in sensitivity. The process only took a few minutes, with the mirror being warmed from -147 to -113 degrees. The procedure was so successful...

I’m always happy to see more missions to the ice moons!

Following ESA’s announcement that the maiden flight of Ariane 6 would not occur until 2024, The Exploration Company announced in September 2023 that it had shifted its 40-kilogram Mission Bikini demonstrator to an ISRO PSLV rideshare flight. When the announcement was made, the rideshare mission was expected to be launched in...

A newly devised procedure to de-ice Euclid’s optics has performed significantly better than hoped. Light coming in to the visible ‘VIS’ instrument from distant stars was gradually decreasing due small amounts of water ice building up on its optics. Mission teams spent months devising a procedure to heat up individual...

A fresh, icy crust hides a deep, enigmatic ocean. Plumes of water burst through cracks in the ice, shooting into space. An intrepid lander collects samples and analyses them for hints of life....

The European Union has reached an agreement with the United States that will allow for the launch of four Galileo navigation satellites on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket....

The European Space Agency has revealed that a few layers of ice approximately the width of a strand of DNA have begun to impact its Euclid telescope’s optics....

The European Space Agency has published a call to begin work on a demonstrator of a reusable launch vehicle upper stage....