Copernical Team
ESA forges ahead with Destination Earth
The second phase of the European Union’s Destination Earth initiative has been approved at ESA Council. Destination Earth, also known as DestinE, will build digital models of Earth allowing greater insight into weather and climate dynamics and their impacts on society.
Media information session from ESA’s 322nd Council in Paris
Video:
00:45:51
ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher and Swiss ESA Council Chair Renato Krpoun give an update on the roll-out of decisions taken at the Space Summit in Seville, including the implications for space transportation and progress towards enabling a European commercial provider to deliver supplies to the International Space Station by 2028 and return cargo to Earth. The evolution of the European Spaceport in Kourou is also covered.
Furthermore, the briefing addresses upcoming, high-level political meetings on space and international cooperation projects that ESA runs with partners around the globe, as well as ESA’s contribution to Poland’s Earth observation
China's space program: Five things to know
When Chang'e-3 became the first Chinese craft to land on the moon 10 years ago, it kicked off nationwide celebrations—and a decade of major successes for a rapidly accelerating space program.
Since the December 14, 2013 landing, China has built a crewed space station, sent a robotic rover to Mars and become the first nation to make a controlled landing on the far side of the moon.
President Xi Jinping has described building China into a space power as "our eternal dream".
Here are five things to know about this space program:
A slow start
Chinese leader Mao Zedong declared his nation's space ambitions soon after the Soviet Union launched the world's first satellite, Sputnik 1, in 1957.
It took 13 years for China to launch its first satellite Dong Fang Hong, or "The East is Red"—named after the famous Communist revolutionary song it broadcast from orbit.
EUCOM, AFRICOM, Space Force activate new service component command
U.S. European Command, U.S. Africa Command and U.S. Space Force officially activated the U.S. Space Forces Europe and Africa component command at a ceremony in Ramstein, Germany, Dec. 8, 2023.
USSPACEFOR-EURAF is the newest service component under EUCOM and AFRICOM with their permanent headquarters at Ramstein Air Base. EUCOM and AFRICOM are the latest combatant commands to establish a spa Hydrosat Secures Contract with NRO for Thermal Imagery Evaluation
Hydrosat, a leader in thermal infrared data and analytics, has announced a significant advancement in its operations. The company has been awarded a 2.5-year contract by the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), under the Strategic Commercial Enhancements (SCE) Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) Commercial Electro-Optical Capabilities (CEC) Focus Area. This contract represents a key collaboration b Northrop Grumman tests enhanced GMD system in missile defense demonstration
Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC), a key player in defense technology, has recently supported a crucial test of the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system, conducted by the Missile Defense Agency (MDA). This test, known as FTG-12, showcased the capabilities of a stage selectable Ground-Based Interceptor (GBI) missile system, which engaged with an air-launched Intermediate Range Balli Spire Global secures major EUMETSAT contract for satellite weather data
Spire Global, Inc. (NYSE: SPIR), a leader in space-powered data and analytics, has been awarded a significant contract by EUMETSAT, the European meteorological satellite agency. This multi-million euro deal, spanning an initial period of two years from 2024 to 2026 with potential extensions, marks a significant step in advancing weather forecasting capabilities.
The contract, which include Eutelsat OneWeb set to revolutionize Libyan telecommunication services
Eutelsat Group (Paris:ETL) (LSE:ETL), a global satellite communications leader and the first to operate both Geostationary (GEO) and Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites, has announced a groundbreaking exclusive distribution agreement with Rawafed Libya for Telecommunications and Technology (RLTT), a prominent Libyan telecom operator. This partnership, which marks a significant expansion in Eutelsat NASA's Webb identifies tiniest free-floating brown dwarf
Using NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have identified the new record-holder for the smallest object that forms like a star: a tiny, free-floating brown dwarf with only three to four times the mass of Jupiter.
Brown dwarfs are objects that straddle the dividing line between stars and planets. They form like stars, growing dense enough to collapse under their own gravity, but UK's Orbex secures funding for carbon-neutral spaceport development
In a significant step towards advancing sustainable spaceflight, UK-based Orbex has secured a GBP3.3 million grant from the UK Space Agency as part of the European Space Agency's (ESA) Boost! initiative. This initiative is a component of ESA's Commercial Space Transportation Services and Support program, aimed at propelling the development of leading-edge space launch technologies.
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