ESA’s billion-star surveyor Gaia is now in its operational orbit around a gravitationally stable virtual point in space called ‘L2’, 1.5 million km from Earth. Gaia has been travelling towards L2 since 19 December, when, just before dawn local time, it was spectacularly launched from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. A day later, Gaia … Dowiedz się więcej
Climbing robots that mimic the stickiness of gecko lizard feet could work in space as well as on Earth, ESA has shown, raising the prospect of hull-crawling automatons tending future spacecraft. Robots crawling across spacecraft surfaces are a common sight in science fiction films from Silent Running to Wall-E. But, in reality, how might they … Dowiedz się więcej
When satellites reach the end of their working lives, they may pose a threat to other spacecraft as they continue to orbit in a dormant state for many decades. But now a new way to deorbit ageing satellites in a safe manner is nearing its first test in space. In the future, satellites might carry … Dowiedz się więcej
Three years of observations by ESA’s CryoSat satellite show that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is losing over 150 cubic kilometres of ice each year – considerably more than when last surveyed. The imbalance in West Antarctica continues to be dominated by ice losses from glaciers flowing into the Amundsen Sea. “We find that ice … Dowiedz się więcej
The hot and energetic Universe and the search for elusive gravitational waves will be the focus of ESA’s next two large science missions, it was announced today. Both topics will bridge fundamental astrophysics and cosmology themes by studying in detail the processes that are crucial to the large-scale evolution of the Universe and its underlying … Dowiedz się więcej
ESA’s three-satellite Swarm constellation was lofted into a near-polar orbit by a Russian Rockot launcher this afternoon. For four years, it will monitor Earth’s magnetic field, from the depth of our planet’s core to the heights of its upper atmosphere. The Swarm satellites will give us unprecedented insights into the complex workings of the magnetic … Dowiedz się więcej