Right now the Cassini spacecraft is flying between the rings of Saturn and the planet itself, a daring trajectory chosen to conclude a unique exploration mission.
To find out what that orbit means, and to look back at some of Cassini-Huygens finest moments, we met up with key members of the science team in the UK for this edition of Space.
Die Cassini-Huygens-Mission am Saturn startete vor zwanzig Jahren, 2004 schwenkte die Doppel-Sonde in ihre Umlaufbahn um den Saturn ein. Im Dezember 2004 koppelte der Lander Huygens von der Cassini-Sonde ab und setzte im Januar 2005 auf dem Titan auf. Die Mission entdeckte unter anderem ein Eismeer auf dem Saturn-Mond Enceladus und fliegt jetzt zwischen den Ringen des Saturn und dem Planeten selbst. Im September soll Cassini mangels Treibstoffvorräten in der Saturn-Atmosphäre verglühen.
Die Saturn-Spezialisten des Mullard Space Science Laboratory (MSSL) in Südengland verfolgen die Mission und erforschen das Sonnensystem des pittoresken Planeten. Die Cassini-Sonde wird gerade auf ihre finale Umlaufbahn gebracht, um nächstmögliche Eindrücke vom Saturn zu gewinnen.
Thomas Pesquet reflects on living on the International Space Station after his six-month Proxima mission. Beyond science and technology the voyage often reveals more than the destination. A message for all humans.
As Marcel Proust wrote in his book The Prisoner: “The only true voyage of discovery, … would be not to visit strange lands but to possess other eyes, to behold the universe through the eyes of another, of a hundred others, to behold the hundred universes that each of them beholds, that each of them is.”
The footage was shot with the Space Station’s highest resolution camera at resolutions between 4K and 6K and available here in Ultra High Definition (3840×2160 pixels). Download the full high-resolution file from ESA’s video archive: http://www.esa.int/spaceinvideos/Videos/2017/05/New_eyes
During Proxima, Thomas performed around 50 scientific experiments for ESA and France’s space agency CNES as well as take part in many research activities for the other Station partners.
The mission is part of ESA’s vision to use Earth-orbiting spacecraft as a place to live and work for the benefit of European society while using the experience to prepare for future voyages of exploration further into the Solar System.
On 28 May 2014, ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst and NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman under the command of Russian cosmonaut Maxim Suraev rocketed into space in a Soyuz spacecraft. This was their voyage.
For Alexander and Reid it was the first time they saw Earth from space.
Strapped atop 274 tonnes of rocket propellants delivering 26 million horsepower, it took only six hours to reach their destination, International Space Station.
Alexander worked as a geophysicist and volcanologist before he was selected as an ESA astronaut in 2009. His Blue Dot mission included an extensive scientific programme of experiments in physical science, biology, and human physiology as well as radiation research and technology demonstrations. All experiments make use of the out-of-this-world laboratory to improve life on Earth or prepare for further human exploration of our Solar System.
Acting NASA Administrator Robert Lightfoot discussed the agency’s Fiscal Year 2018 budget request on May 23, during an agencywide town hall State of NASA address at NASA Headquarters in Washington. The address also was broadcast on NASA Television and streamed on the agency’s homepage and mobile apps.
On May 23, the Acting Administrator Robert Lightfoot gave a State of NASA address at Headquarters to rollout the Fiscal Year 2018 Budget proposal. This video highlights the future-facing vision of those plans.
Science Max brings you a special compilation including some of our favourite episodes from season 1. Tune in and prepare for a heap of science madness!
Have you ever done a science experiment and wondered “What would this be like if it were HUGE?” Welcome to Science Max, the exciting new series that turbocharges all the science experiments you’ve done at home.
In season 1, join Phil as he builds rocket cars, uses elastic energy to hurl pumpkins on a giant catapult, builds a bridge out of pasta that can hold a human, find magnets powerful enough to float Phil off the ground, and many more experiments taken to the MAX!
Also, check out the free WIRED channel on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Android TV. Here you can find your favorite WIRED shows and new episodes of our latest hit series Masterminds.
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On May 16, NASA held a media event at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, to highlight the recent arrival of the barge Pegasus with the first core stage test article for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. NASA modified Pegasus to accommodate the massive SLS core stage, increasing the barge’s length and weight-carrying capacity. The core stage test article – manufactured at the agency’s Michoud Assembly Facility, in New Orleans – is the first of four core stage test articles scheduled to be delivered to Marshall for testing. This delivery marks a critical milestone toward Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1), the first flight of SLS and NASA’s Orion spacecraft. It also brings the agency a step closer to sending humans to deep space destinations – including Mars. Also, Lightfoot Discusses Future Exploration Goals, Ochoa, Foale Inducted into Hall of Fame, and Virtual Tour of Meteorite Lab!
Science Max brings you a special compilation including some of our favourite episodes from season 1. Tune in and prepare for a heap of science madness!
Have you ever done a science experiment and wondered “What would this be like if it were HUGE?” Welcome to Science Max, the exciting new series that turbocharges all the science experiments you’ve done at home.
In season 1, join Phil as he builds rocket cars, uses elastic energy to hurl pumpkins on a giant catapult, builds a bridge out of pasta that can hold a human, find magnets powerful enough to float Phil off the ground, and many more experiments taken to the MAX!
Thomas Pesquet will shortly be returning to Earth after a six-month stay onboard the International Space Station. Named Proxima, this mission is the ninth long-duration flight for an ESA astronaut.
Thomas’s in-orbit schedule includes around 50 experiments for ESA and the French Space Agency CNES, and he’s so far carried out two maintenance spacewalks alongside station commander Shane Kimbrough.
Outside the International Space Station, Expedition 51 Commander Peggy Whitson and Flight Engineer Jack Fischer of NASA conducted a spacewalk May 12 to replace an avionics box responsible for routing power and data commands to experiments on the orbital outpost. In addition to that work, the two spacewalkers installed a data cable for the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer and a new high definition camera on the station’s truss. The spacewalk was the 200th in support of space station assembly and maintenance since 1998, the ninth for Whitson, who vaulted into third place on the all-time list for most spacewalking hours, and the first for Fischer.
On May 12, Peggy Whitson and Jack Fischer conducted a spacewalk outside the International Space Station. This was the 200th spacewalk in support of station assembly and maintenance. Prior to the outing, during their pre-breathe activities in the airlock, the spacewalkers had to share Whitson’s service and cooling umbilical (SCU), due to an issue with the SCU connected to Fischer’s suit. That device provides electricity, cooling and communications during the pre-breathe phase of a spacewalk. Despite a late start, the pair completed the primary task of replacing an avionics box that supplies electricity and data connections to the science experiments on the orbital laboratory. It was Whitson’s ninth spacewalk and the first for Fischer. Also, Exploration Mission-1 Announcement, Future Space Station Crew Previews Mission, Humans to Mars Summit 2017, James Webb Space Telescope at JSC, and Martian New Year in Mars, PA!
Earth from Space is presented by Kelsea Brennan-Wessels from the ESA Web-TV virtual studios. In the 229th edition, Sentinel-2 takes us over the border of the US states Utah and Colorado.
NASA helped the town of Mars, Pennsylvania ring in the Martian New Year, May 5-6. Citizens of the town, just north of Pittsburgh, invited the agency to help celebrate Mars New Year, which happens about every two Earth years. Activities included two days of science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics or (STEAM) activities, to encourage young people to pursue careers in these fields of study, which are critical to NASA’s journey to Mars.
Science Max brings you a special compilation including some of our favourite episodes from season 1. Tune in and prepare for a heap of science madness!
Have you ever done a science experiment and wondered “What would this be like if it were HUGE?” Welcome to Science Max, the exciting new series that turbocharges all the science experiments you’ve done at home.
In season 1, join Phil as he builds rocket cars, uses elastic energy to hurl pumpkins on a giant catapult, builds a bridge out of pasta that can hold a human, find magnets powerful enough to float Phil off the ground, and many more experiments taken to the MAX!
ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet takes us on a six-minute tour of the International Space Station, recorded 23 March 2017 during his Proxima mission.
During his Proxima mission, Thomas will perform around 50 scientific experiments for ESA and France’s space agency CNES as well as take part in many research activities for the other Station partners.
The mission is part of ESA’s vision to use Earth-orbiting spacecraft as a place to live and work for the benefit of European society while using the experience to prepare for future voyages of exploration further into the Solar System.
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has successfully passed the center of curvature test at Goddard Space Flight Center, in Greenbelt, Md. This important optical measurement of Webb’s fully assembled primary mirror was the final test held at Goddard before the telescope is shipped off for end-to-end cryogenic testing at Johnson Space Center in Houston. When that’s complete, the world’s most advanced observatory goes to Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems in Redondo Beach, California, for final assembly and testing. Webb is targeted for launch in 2018 on a mission to help unravel some of the greatest mysteries of the universe. Also, Cassini Update, NASA Visits Midwest Company Helping Build Orion, Orion’s Launch Abort System Motor Tested, Wind Tunnel Tests Continue with SLS, and Community College Aerospace Scholars!
As a centre of excellence for mission operations since 1967, ESA’s ‘mission control’ delivers expertise and experience in a unique mix that serves the scientific and engineering goals of ESA, and enables economically vital European programmes like Copernicus and Galileo.
ESOC is home to highly specialised teams who control and navigate spacecraft, manage ESA’s worldwide tracking station network, and build the ground systems that enable satellites to conduct their missions. Spacecraft flown from ESOC are studying our planet and helping us understand climate change through realtime Earth data, and are exploring our Sun and Solar System or peering deep into the mysteries of time and space.
The centre is unique and unparalleled in its ability to control sophisticated probes, and to design, develop and build everything needed on ground to successfully fly satellites in space.
Our world is about systems, communication and exploration; our passion is for humanity’s voyages into the Universe.
Earth from Space is presented by Kelsea Brennan-Wessels from the ESA Web-TV virtual studios. Learn about land reclamation around Amsterdam in the 228th edition.
Artificial intelligence or AI is intelligence displayed by machines such as computers, in a way similar to us, humans.
It’s able to observe its environment, learn and solve problems.
Bricks have been 3D printed out of simulated moondust using concentrated sunlight. This ESA project took place at the DLR German Aerospace Center facility in Cologne, with a 3D printer table attached to a solar furnace, baking successive 0.1 mm layers of moondust at a temperature of 1000°C. A 20 x 10 x 3 cm brick for building can be completed in around five hours. DLR Cologne’s solar furnace has two working setups: as a baseline, it uses 147 curved mirror facets to focus either actual sunlight into a high temperature beam, employed to melt together the grains of regolith. But this mode is weather dependent, so a solar simulator was subsequently employed as well – based on an array of xenon lamps more typically found in cinema projectors.
Science Max brings you a special compilation including some of our favourite episodes from season 1. Tune in and prepare for a heap of science madness!
Have you ever done a science experiment and wondered “What would this be like if it were HUGE?” Welcome to Science Max, the exciting new series that turbocharges all the science experiments you’ve done at home.
In season 1, join Phil as he builds rocket cars, uses elastic energy to hurl pumpkins on a giant catapult, builds a bridge out of pasta that can hold a human, find magnets powerful enough to float Phil off the ground, and many more experiments taken to the MAX!
On April 24 aboard the International Space Station, NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson set a new record for cumulative time spent in space by a U.S. astronaut. President Donald Trump marked the milestone with a call from the Oval Office, with First Daughter Ivanka Trump, and NASA astronaut Kate Rubins – to the station, where Whitson was joined by NASA’s Jack Fischer. Whitson, who in 2008 became the first woman to command the space station, also holds the record for most spacewalks by a female astronaut. NASA worked with the Department of Education, on behalf of the White House, to make the president’s call to the station available to schools across America. Whitson encouraged students to think about how the steps they take in the classroom today could someday help NASA make the next giant leap in space exploration. Also, First Live 4K Broadcast from Space, Kate Rubins Visits National Institutes of Health, Cassini Begins its Grand Finale, and 2017 Astrobiology Science Conference!
Acting NASA Administrator Robert Lightfoot recognizes the 2017 National Small Business Week; a time to celebrate the critical contributions of America’s entrepreneurs and small business owners. NASA honors its 2016 Agency Small Business Advocate Award winners and acknowledges the contributions made by NASA civil servant personnel throughout the Agency. The Agency 2016 Small Industry Award winners are also highlighted and they recognize the outstanding Small Business Prime Contractor, Small Business Subcontractor, Large Business Prime Contractor, and Mentor-Protégé Agreement that support NASA in achieving its mission.
