European Space Agency

By Irene Klotz, Robert Wall
A number of initiatives were disclosed, but the talk of the show was SpaceX’s Starship booster catch, which happened just ahead of the IAC opening.
Space Exploration

By Irene Klotz, Robert Wall
The sense of scale is almost impossible to convey, a European Space Agency scientist says.
Space Exploration

By Robert Wall
The European Space Agency (ESA) is considering changes in its payment structure to ease the financial burden European space companies have been experiencing.
Budget, Policy & Regulation

By Robert Wall
Reaching the Moon to do something useful there involves preparation—which is now underway as agencies and companies aim to return humans to the lunar surface.
Space Exploration

By Irene Klotz
Liftoff of the Proba-3 mission is slated for Nov. 29 aboard an Indian PSLV-XL rocket, ESA said at the International Astronautical Congress in Milan this week.
Satellites

By Robert Wall
The total size of the constellation is now 13 spacecraft.
Satellites

By Robert Wall
The European Space Agency has awarded OHB a €280 million contract to build two satellites for the Harmony Earth observation mission which could launch in 2029.
Satellites

By Robert Wall
The European Space Agency (ESA) plans to deploy critical navigation and communications architecture to support future Moon missions.
Space Exploration

By Thierry Dubois
ESA and space tug startup D-Orbit are planning a demonstration and ensuing commercial mission for satellite life extension in geostationary orbit.
Satellites

By Graham Warwick
Our roundup of the main aerospace and defense stories making the news this week.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Robert Wall, Thierry Dubois
PLD Space’s ambitious vision injects a sense of entrepreneurial spirit into Europe’s space programs as the region worries about its global competitiveness.
Commercial Space

By Robert Wall
The European Space Agency plans to land two cubesats on a remote asteroid as it seeks to gather more data to inform its planetary defense mission.
Space Exploration

By Irene Klotz
NASA has added Rocket Lab to the list of teams hired to study alternative architectures for returning high-priority rock and soil samples from Mars.
Space Exploration

By Irene Klotz
The new mission, known as Hera, is a followup to NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART).
Space Exploration

By Robert Wall
ESA says the motor was successfully fired for a second time on Oct. 3, following a first test in May.
Launch Vehicles & Propulsion

By Robert Wall
ESA is still optimistic its Hera mission to survey the Dimorphos asteroid will launch Oct. 7 despite a technical glitch with a SpaceX Falcon 9 during a recent flight.
Space Exploration

By Thierry Dubois
The praise demonstrates that startups are eagerly awaiting the new form of competition in Europe.
Launch Vehicles & Propulsion

By Mark Carreau
Initial findings from studies of space radiation measurements taken during NASA’s 2022 Artemis I lunar mission were published Sept. 18 in the journal Nature.
Operations & Safety

By Thierry Dubois
Seeing business cases solidifying, manufacturers are striving to keep production costs low.
Satellites

By Robert Wall
Europe is planning to upgrade some of the software on its Ariane 6 heavy rocket to deal with a malfunction during the launcher’s inaugural mission.
Launch Vehicles & Propulsion

By Thierry Dubois
The deviation was precisely measured and the 2022 mission was deemed a success.
Space Exploration

By Garrett Reim
Boeing plans to launch its Q4S satellite in 2026 to demonstrate quantum entanglement swapping.
Satellites

By Robert Wall
Europe has now retired its Vega light launcher after the final mission that lofted the Copernicus Sentinel-2C Earth-observation satellite into orbit.
Space

By Thierry Dubois
Arianespace is gearing up to launch the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-2C Earth observation satellite on its last Vega light rocket.
Space

By Robert Wall
Airbus is dispatching the third European Service Module (ESM-3) to the U.S. for eventual use on NASA’s mission to return humans to the moon.
Space