The ESA (European Space Agency) and SpaceX are targeting no earlier than 11:11 a.m. EDT Saturday, July 1, to launch the Euclid spacecraft. Euclid is an ESA mission with contributions from NASA that will shed light on the nature of dark matter and dark energy, two of the biggest modern mysteries about the universe.

Video: 00:02:58

In June 2023, representatives from ESA, the French space agency CNES, Ariane 6 and launch operator Arianespace met at ArianeGroup’s rocket factory in Les Mureaux, near Paris, to see how the all-new Ariane 6 is taking shape.  

Ariane 6 builds on the heritage of its hugely successful predecessor, Ariane 5. But it will lift more payload at less cost and fly more often, to give Europe one of the world’s most flexible, reliable launch systems. 

ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher acknowledged a temporary gap in launch capability that will mark the period between Ariane 5’s final flight and the beginning

The 54^th edition of the Paris Air Show, held from 19 to 25 June, just came to an end. The week-long show, one the oldest and largest aerospace events in the world, welcomed institutional and trade visitors on the first four days, while on the last three days it opened its doors to space and aviation enthusiasts, students and children with their families. With more than 20 000 people visiting the ESA/CNES pavilion in the last three public days, the Paris Air Show 2023 showcased the successes and ambitions of the European Space Agency for

An international team of scientists have used data collected by the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope to detect a molecule [1] known as the methyl cation (CH3+) for the first time, located in the protoplanetary disc surrounding a young star. They accomplished this feat with a cross-disciplinary expert analysis, including key input from laboratory spectroscopists. 

Image:

On Friday 23 June, Euclid was secured to the adaptor of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Engineers attached the satellite to the adaptor that will be placed on the upper stage of the Falcon 9 rocket, which will launch Euclid into space. ESA’s new cosmological mission Euclid is getting ready for lift-off with a target launch date of 1 July 2023 from Cape Canaveral in Florida (USA).

ESA's Euclid mission is designed to help us uncover the great cosmic mystery of dark matter and dark energy. The space telescope will observe more than a third of the sky with

Video: 00:02:37

On 22 June 2023 at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, engineers rolled back the mobile gantry protecting Ariane 6 on its launch pad. The exercise helped validate ground systems and prepare for a series of engine fire tests.

Access the related broadcast quality video material.

Image: Spacesuit design: Alberto Piovesan

Stennis Space Center MS (SPX) Jun 24, 2023
Aerojet Rocketdyne and NASA completed a certification test series yesterday for the new RS-25 production engines that will propel NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) exploration rocket for Artemis missions, beginning with Artemis V. This test series ensures the new engines will perform with the same reliability and robustness of their predecessors. "With the completion of this 12-test campaig

Washington DC (SPX) Jun 24, 2023
During a ceremony at the Willard InterContinental Hotel in Washington on Wednesday, June 21, India became the 27th country to sign the Artemis Accords. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson participated in the signing ceremony for the agency and Taranjit Singh Sandhu, India's ambassador to the United States, signed on behalf of India. The Artemis Accords establish a practical set of principles to

Braunschweig, Germany (SPX) Jun 24, 2023
Astronomic observations indicate the existence of so-called "dark matter" which makes up more than 80% of all matter and, as far as we know, interacts with ordinary visible matter only via gravity. In particular, no proof for the interaction with photons (the elementary particles of which also light is composed), has yet been established - hence the term "dark" for this type of matter. It remain