Latest European Space Operations Centre Stories

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online The findings from the 6th European Conference on Space Debris were released during a press briefing at the ESA's European Space Operations Center (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany. The conference included over 350 worldwide participants representing all the major national space agencies, industry, governments, academia and research institutes. “There is a wide and strong expert consensus on the pressing need to act now to begin...

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online Hundreds of experts from all over the world will be meeting at Europe's largest-ever space debris forum next week to discuss the latest findings on the growing problem of space junk. Space debris not only poses problems to other satellites and spacecraft in orbit but it is also hazardous to astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Scientists believe there could be around 29,000 objects larger than 4 inches, 670,000...

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online The European Space Agency said Tuesday that its Herschel Space Observatory is beginning to wrap up its mission. Famous for its ability to view the sky in the entire wavelength range from far-infrared to submillimeter, the space observatory is beginning to run out of its supply of liquid helium coolant. ESA says Herschel is running on its last fumes and will be running empty in the coming weeks. Herschel first launched on May 14, 2009...

European Space Agency Report One of the world’s most sophisticated satellite tracking stations is nearing inauguration in Malargüe, Argentina, 1000 km west of Buenos Aires. The new station will ensure reliable communications with missions voyaging hundreds of millions of kilometers into our Solar System. ESA’s new tracking station, near the town of Malargüe in Mendoza province, joins two existing stations in Spain and Australia to provide global coverage for the Agency’s...

Yesterday, at 18:30 local time EUMETSAT took control of Metop-B operations, following the three-day Launch and Early Orbit Phase (LEOP) conducted by the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) of the European Space Agency (ESA). The handover follows the launch of Metop-B on 17 September. Since Monday evening, teams at ESA’s European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany, have been busy day and night during the Launch and Early Orbit Phase. As planned, they checked all of...

Later this month, Europe’s newest meteorology satellite, MetOp-B, will blast into space from Baikonur Cosmodrome. For mission control teams at ESA, liftoff marks the start of 72 hours of intense focus during the mission’s critical launch and early orbit phase. MetOp-B is the second of three MetOp polar-orbiting satellites procured on behalf of Eumetsat, the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites, by ESA from a European industrial consortium led by...

Since the launch of MSG-3, ESA’s mission controllers have been working to ensure that this latest weather satellite’s voyage to 36 000 km above the Equator runs smoothly. With MSG-3 healthy and now in its place of work, ESA has handed operations over to Eumetsat. The third Meteosat Second Generation satellite took to the skies on an Ariane 5 rocket on 5 July from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. Once fully operational, it will deliver essential information from...

[ Watch the Video ] redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports - Your Universe Online The latest in a series of European Space Agency (ESA) geostationary meteorological satellites was successfully launched into space late last week, the organization has announced. In a July 6 press release, ESA officials confirmed the Thursday launch of an Ariane 5 rocket carrying the third Meteosat Second Generation (MSG-3) probe. The vehicle departed from a spaceport at the Guiana Space Centre in...

Europe’s new meteorology mission is set to soar into space on an Ariane 5 from Kourou on 5 July. Just 34 minutes later, ESA’s team of expert mission controllers will begin shepherding the satellite through the critical first steps of its life. ESA developed the MSG series of satellites in close cooperation with Eumetsat – the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites – and ESOC is responsible for the complex ‘LEOP’ – the launch and early orbit...

Challenged to design a background for a small rover controlled from space, students in Germany have delivered a futuristic cityscape. The cool space art will be seen by astronauts in orbit via the rover’s camera eye as they remotely control their avatar later this year. The ultimate goal is for robot astronauts to roam around hazardous places like Mars and asteroids guided by human controllers safely orbiting overhead in their spacecraft. As a first step, ESA is linking the...