Latest Rokot Stories

The three satellites that make up ESA’s Swarm magnetic field mission were presented to the media on Feb 17. Following a demanding testing program, the satellites were displayed in the cleanroom before they are shipped to Russia for their July launch. Swarm is ESA’s first constellation of Earth observation satellites designed to measure the magnetic signals from Earth’s core, mantle, crust, oceans, ionosphere and magnetosphere, providing data that will allow scientists to study the...

ESA and Eurockot today signed contracts for launching two ESA satellites: Sentinel-2A and Sentinel-3A will fly in 2013 on Rockot vehicles from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia for Europe’s GMES program. The contract signing by Matthias Oehm, Chief Executive Officer of Eurockot Launch Services GmbH, and Volker Liebig, Director of ESA’s Earth Observation Programs, took place at the historic Chamber of Commerce of Bremen, Germany. The Senator for Economics, Labor and Ports of...

ESA has awarded a contract to Eurockot for the launch of two of its Earth observation missions. The first will be the next Earth Explorer: Swarm, a constellation of three satellites to study Earth's magnetic field.With the successful launch of the CryoSat-2 Earth Explorer less than 24 hours ago, this new contract highlights ESA's commitment to learning more about Earth from the vantage point of space.The contract covers the launch of ESA's Swarm magnetic-field mission and a 'ticket' for one...

Into its second week in orbit, Proba-2's spacecraft platform has proven to be in excellent health. This leaves the way clear for commissioning the many new technology payloads aboard the mini-satellite, among the smallest ever flown by ESA.As ESA's full-sized Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission soared skyward by Rockot launcher on 2 November, it had a smaller companion. Piggybacking along was Proba-2, which occupies less than a cubic meter in volume with only one fifth of SMOS's...

The European Space Agency launched two new satellites on Monday in an effort to gather more data on global climate change.The ESA on Monday launched the second satellite in its Earth Explorer series, known as the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission.Additionally, ESA launched the Proba-2 satellite along with SMOS in order to demonstrate technology for ESA's future space probes.Both satellites were lifted into space from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia aboard a Rockot launch...

In readiness for launch on November 2, ESA's SMOS and Proba-2 satellites "“ encapsulated in the launcher fairing "“ have been transported from the cleanroom and installed in the launch tower at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia.This morning, the "˜upper composite' of satellites joined to the Breeze-KM upper stage and sealed within the fairing was transported by rail from the cleanroom in the integration facilities to the launch pad. It took around four hours for the train to...

As preparations for the launch of SMOS and Proba-2 continue on schedule, the engineers and technicians at the Russian launch site say goodbye as both satellites are encapsulated within the half-shells of the Rockot fairing. Volker Liebig, ESA's Director of Earth Observation Programs, said, "Today, with the encapsulation of the SMOS satellite in the launcher fairing, we have made an important step towards the launch of this key environmental mission, which will investigate two parameters of...

After leaving Thales Alenia Space in the south of France on September 15, ESA's SMOS Earth Explorer has arrived safely at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia, where it will be prepared for launch on November 2.The Antonov aircraft carrying the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) satellite, along with seven containers of support equipment, arrived at Arkhangelsk early in the morning of September 16. Once unloaded from the aircraft, the precious cargo was transported by truck to the...

Proba-2 has reached Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia, where it is being prepared for launch this November. Among the smallest satellites ever built by ESA, it was transported there aboard an Ilyushin cargo plane.Proba-2 is a mission of ESA's General Support Technology Program (GSTP) , building on almost eight years of operational experience gained with Proba-1. While standard satellites are lorry-sized structures, the Probas occupy less than a cubic meter. But this small scale does not...

Following an agreement between ESA, Krunichev Space Centre and Eurockot Launch Services, ESA's next Earth Explorer mission SMOS and a secondary payload, the technology demonstrator Proba-2 satellite, will now launch on November 2 2009.The new November launch date follows a rescheduling of the previously announced date of September 9. Both the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) satellite and the secondary payload Proba-2, which is ESA's second Project for Onboard Autonomy mission, will...