BepiColombo is due to launch on Saturday on an Ariane 5 rocket. The mission will get to Mercury in 2025 helping us learn a lot more about the planet that is the closest to the Sun.
A Kiwi perspective on astronomy and space science news and how to get the most out the night sky
Tag: ESA
Hubble having a bit of a glitch
The Hubble Space Telescope is currently in safe mode while technicians at NASA figure out what has gone wrong with a gyroscope that was found to be not performing properly. Hopefully it’s an easy fix and Hubble will be back to full operations soon.
Orbital ATK and the Cygnus spacecraft
Orbital ATK is one of the commercial providers of transport services to the International Space Station (ISS) with its Cygnus spacecraft.
Getting stuff to the ISS on HTV, ATK and Progress
The Japanese and Russia are the only non-US nations currently routinely sending cargo to the ISS. ESA did a few missions with the ATV.
ESA’s CHEOPS exoplanet hunting mission
ESA is planing on launching the CHEOPS satellite later this year. It will be used to collect more accurate information on exoplanets from systems known to already have exoplanets.
Spinoff technologies from space exploration
Space exploration drives a lot of technological development that has spinoffs for Earth-bound applications.
The week in space, in a minute, 12 May 2018
The week in space includes the launch of the Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket, the planned helicopter for Mars and the BepiColombo mission is getting closer to launch.
Weird Wednesday – Magnetars
Magnetars are a fascinating type of object that are really mind boggling. These incredibly powerful star remnants are worth giving a closer look.
Current missions on or around Mars
This short video has a look at the current missions that are either on Mars or whizzing around it.
The week in space in one minute
A wrap up of interesting space related news over the last week.
ESA’s Gaia satellite, the release of 1.7 billion star positions
The European Space Agency (ESA) has released the second batch of data collected by the Gaia satellite revealing the positions of around 1.7 billion stars.
Tiangong-1 demise, 1 April, no 1 April joke
The Chinese Tiangong-1 space station is predicted to conduct an uncontrolled re-entry sometime during 1 April 2018, NZ time.
Surfing the Martian Atmosphere
The European Space Agency launched the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter in 2016 and it is nearly in its target orbit around Mars and will soon begin is mission of looking for evidence of past life.
Kiwinauts to space
Kiwinauts to space is how we are going to try and inspire New Zealand to become a space faring nation and get a New Zealander into space – the first kiwinaut.
The future of the International Space Station
The International Space Station is due for retirement from 2024 when no one has yet committed any funds for its continued use. This articles reviews what options might then be available after 2024 to replace the current functions.
Who’s launching what
The rocket launch scheduled from Earth for the rest of December, if all goes well.