Latest CNES Stories

Following the debut of ESA's "˜Fly Your Thesis!' program in 2009, four teams of university students have been selected to conduct their microgravity experiments during a second series of parabolic flights aboard an aircraft.The teams, made up of students from five ESA Member States, were chosen from 12 teams whose proposals were short-listed in September 2009.During the final selection phase, all of the teams wrote a detailed scientific proposal and a technical proposal. They also had to...

As rescue workers scramble to provide assistance to hundreds of thousands of people following Haiti's earthquake, Earth observation satellite data continues to provide updated views of the situation on the ground.Following the 7.0-magnitude earthquake that hit Haiti on January 12, international agencies requested satellite data of the area from the International Charter on 'Space and Major Disasters'.The Charter, an international initiative aimed at providing satellite data free of charge to...

A major magnitude 7 earthquake struck the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince on January 12, causing major casualties and damage. The quake was followed by several aftershocks with magnitudes over 5.0.Such a powerful earthquake can make current maps suddenly out of date, causing additional challenges to rescue workers on the ground. Earth observation satellite images can help rescue efforts by providing updated views of how the landscape and the infrastructure have been affected.Following the...

After nearly 5 years of concurrent operations with the Afternoon Constellation, known as the "A-Train," the PARASOL satellite is going on another orbit "track." The A-Train includes a number of NASA satellites that orbit the Earth one behind the other on the same track and until this month, PARASOL has been part of that train.PARASOL is an Earth observation mission, managed by the French Space Agency (CNES). PARASOL stands for "Polarization and Anisotropy of...

Today at the Paris headquarters of the French space agency (CNES), Simonetta Di Pippo, ESA Director of Human Spaceflight, and Thierry Duquesne, CNES Director for Strategy, Programs and International Relations, signed an agreement that paves the way for the launch of a high-accuracy atomic clock to be attached to the outside of the European Columbus laboratory onboard the International Space Station (ISS). The PHARAO (Projet d'Horloge Atomique par Refroidissement d'Atomes en Orbite) atomic...

The site of a ground station for Galileo, Europe's global navigation satellite system, inside the Guiana Space Centre (CSG), near Kourou in French Guiana, was inaugurated on November 19.The site, which was made available by France's Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES), will play an essential role in the setting up of the Galileo system, since it will accommodate the most comprehensive of the Galileo ground segment stations. The Kourou station will consist of a telemetry, tracking and...

HAMPTON, Va., Oct. 20 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- An Earth observing satellite that provides new insight into the role that clouds and atmospheric aerosols play in regulating weather, climate, and air quality has hit its target two billion times. (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) The Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) mission, developed by NASA's Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va., and the French space agency Centre...

While the SMOS and Proba-2 launch campaigns are progressing well in Plesetsk, Russia, operations teams in France and Spain have also been getting ready for launch on November 2.Over the last couple of weeks, the operations teams have taken part in the final dress rehearsal for the Launch and Early Orbit Phase (LEOP) of the mission. This simulation campaign complements two earlier dry-runs that were carried out in January and March and which simulated normal operating conditions.This dress...

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and French Space Agency President Yannick d'Escatha signed four agreements in support of U.S. and French space cooperation during a ceremony Thursday at NASA Headquarters in Washington."The French Space Agency has a long history of participating with NASA in Earth and space science missions," Bolden said. "I am pleased to see this cooperation expand as we look to further engage the international community in exploring space."The Centre...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 18 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and French Space Agency President Yannick d'Escatha signed four agreements in support of U.S. and French space cooperation during a ceremony Thursday at NASA Headquarters in Washington. (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) "The French Space Agency has a long history of participating with NASA in Earth and space science missions," Bolden said. "I am pleased to see this cooperation...