On 14 March 2016, the Roscosmos State Corporation and the European Space Agency (ESA) launched the jointly-developed ExoMars 2016 interplanetary mission, comprising the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) and the Schiaparelli lander, on a Proton rocket from Baikonur, thus marking the first phase in the European-Russian ExoMars cooperation programme. To source
Archive | Science
http://www.esa.int/rssfeed/Our_Activities/Space_Science
Powerful winds spotted from mysterious X-ray binaries
ESA’s XMM-Newton has discovered gas streaming away at a quarter of the speed of light from very bright X-ray binaries in two nearby galaxies. To source
Space Microscope to test universality of freefall
France’s Microscope satellite, carrying a set of ESA high-tech thrusters, lifted off last night from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, taking advantage of the same Soyuz launch that took the EU’s Sentinel-1B into orbit. To source
Hubble’s birthday bubble
Space science image of the week: A massive star has blown a giant bubble in space – and Hubble has finally seen it all To source
Pensive comet
Space Science Image of the Week: Suggestive of a face immersed in deep thoughts, this view reveals the complex terrains around Anuket on Rosetta’s comet To source
The colour-changing comet
Rosetta’s comet has been seen changing colour and brightness in front of the ESA orbiter’s eyes, as the Sun’s heat strips away the older surface to reveal fresher material. To source
Three thousand drawings to fly into space on Cheops
Thousands of children across Europe have taken part in a competition to submit drawings that will be miniaturised and sent into space onboard ESA’s Cheops astronomy satellite. To source
Integral sets limits on gamma rays from merging black holes
Following the discovery of gravitational waves from the merging of two black holes, ESA’s Integral satellite has revealed no simultaneous gamma rays, just as models predict. To source
Star-forming ribbon
Space science image of the week: A super-cold filament of dust contains 800 times as much matter as our Sun To source
Monster stars
Hubble has identified dozens of very massive stars in a stellar cluster, including nine over 100 times more massive than the Sun To source
Rosetta finds magnetic field-free bubble at comet
ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft has revealed a surprisingly large region around its host comet devoid of any magnetic field. To source
Proba-2's partial eclipse
ESA’s Sun-watching Proba-2 minisatellite watched the Pacific’s partial solar eclipse from up in Earth orbit To source
Let the science begin
After weeks of engineering tests, the LISA Pathfinder science team is ready to start work, demonstrating key technologies to observe gravitational waves from space To source