French Guiana - Kourou: Nasa to launch newest space telescope with an ESA Ariane 5 rocket on Christmas Day

Dangerously high winds will keep Nasa’s newest space telescope on the ground for at least an extra day, with the launch now targeted for Saturday – Christmas Day – at the earliest. Nasa announced the latest delay Tuesday. Upper-level high wind could force a rocket off-course or even damage or destroy it.

The James Webb space telescope will soar from French Guiana on South America’s northeastern coast, aboard a European Ariane rocket. Launch managers will meet again Wednesday to assess the weather.

The $10bn infrared observatory is considered the successor to the Hubble space telescope, in orbit since 1990.

Read more at: Nasa to launch newest space telescope on Christmas Day | Nasa | The Guardian

French Guiana - ESA: Getting the New European Ariane 6 Space Vehicle launch pad ready by July 2020

The New ESA Ariane 6

When Euronews visited, around 500 people were active on the site from six in the morning until ten at night, with attention focused on two key elements of the pad – firstly the huge flame trench which will take the hot gases away from the rocket on launch, and the new building in which the Ariane 6 will be built.

Every element of the new launcher has been built with efficiency and savings in mind, as Europe’s space sector seeks to halve the cost of launching an Ariane 6 compared to today’s heavyweight Ariane 5.

One of the key innovations is that the Ariane 6 will be built horizontally, like the Americans and Russians already do, rather than vertically. This allows for big economies in terms of air conditioning costs and the need for special safety equipment for staff working on high-level platforms.

Didier Coulon, who manages the site for the European Space Agency, explains the steps a rocket will go through: “Once we’ve assembled the launcher, it will be put on a transporter, and we send it to the launch zone, and there it’s raised up vertically, we then bring along the boosters, and at that moment we carry our a general check of the launcher, and that gives the green light to bring along the upper composite with the satellite inside. Once we’ve done that we pull back the 90 metre high mobile portico and we go ahead with the launch.“

Read more: Race to build Ariane 6 rocket launch pad | Euronews

ESA: European Space Exploration - Great success - Europe's comet-chasing Rosetta probe reaches target

The Rosetta probe drew close to its study subject, the prosaically-named 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet, closely monitored by European Space Agency officials at mission control in Darmstadt, Germany.

The orbital entry on Wednesday was triggered by a firing of thrusters to bring the craft into the first of a series of "pyramidal" paths around the comet's nucleus, which has been likened to a rubber duck because of its odd shape.

ESA's Twitter account for the mission tweeted a photo of the comet's nucleus, along with a succession of greetings in different European languages.

The arrival marked a key moment for the 1.3-billion-euro ($1.76-billion) project examining the formation of the solar system. If all goes according to plan, Rosetta will carry out its first landing on the comet in November, sending a robot chemistry laboratory named Philae to the comet's surface.

Rosetta took off from Earth aboard an Ariane 5 rocket on March 2, 2004, from ESA's launchpad in French Guiana. The space agency has likened its unprecedented journey to a game of "cosmic billiards."

To reach its present position, the craft had to make four flybys of Earth and Mars, using the gravitational force of each as a slingshot. Rosetta then entered a 31-month hibernation period as the sun became too weak for its solar panels, coming back to life in January this year.

The latest maneuvers, to bring the probe within about 100 kilometers (60 miles) of the comet, have involved the craft making a series of braking maneuvers. The probe will eventually be steered into position some 10 kilometers from the nucleus' surface.

Astrophysicists believe comets, icy clusters left over from the formation of the planets 4.6 billion years ago, could be the key to understanding how the planets coalesced and formed around the sun. It is also thought they might harbor clues as to the source of the water that formed the Earth's oceans, as well as the origins of life itself.

Read more: Europe's comet-chasing Rosetta probe reaches target | News | DW.DE | 06.08.2014

European Space Agency: Last ESA cargo mission heads for space station

Europe;s Ariane 5, Lifting Worlds heaviest Payload

The International Space Station (ISS) is getting a new load of groceries courtesy of ESA’s Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV)-5 Georges Lemaître which lifted off today. The 20-tonne unmanned cargo ship was launched atop an Ariane 5 rocket at 23:44 GMT (1:44 am CEST July 30) from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. The final flight of the ATV program, it carries six tonnes of supplies to the station.

The fifth and last of the European ATVs that have flown since 2008, ATV-5 is named after Georges Lemaître, the Belgian professor of physics and Catholic priest who first proposed the theory of the Big Bang. The 20,275 kg (44,698 lb) spacecraft is the heaviest ATV to fly and the heaviest payload flown by an Ariane 5, and has the largest power and cargo capacity of any spacecraft currently visiting the ISS.

ATV-5 is carrying 6.6 tonnes of cargo to the ISS, including ESA’s Electromagnetic Levitator designed to study the casting of alloys in a weightless environment, and several other science experiments. In addition, the craft is also carrying breathable gases, food, drinking water, spare parts, and general supplies. Because there isn't a washing machine on the station, ATV-5 is also carrying fresh clothes and a supply of high-tech ESA Spacetex t-shirts, which the space agency says will stay fresher longer.

Read more: Last ESA cargo mission heads for space station

European Space Adency: ATV-4 scheduled for June liftoff

ESA ATV enroute to Intl. Space Station

ESA's space freighter ATV Albert Einstein will be the heaviest spacecraft ever launched into space by an Ariane rocket when it lifts off to the International Space Station on 5 June.

Albert Einstein is the fourth in the five-vessel Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV)-series of space cargo freighters and is undergoing final integration and cargo loading at Europe's Spaceport in Kourou French Guiana.

It will launch on board an Ariane 5 ES launcher, delivering over 2500 kg of dry cargo to the International Space Station. It will also haul fuel, water, and oxygen to space, as well as carrying its own fuel to reboost the Station's orbit.

The total mass of ATV Albert Einstein with all its cargo is 20 235 kg, making this spacecraft the heaviest ever lofted into orbit by an Ariane rocket, beating the previous Ariane launch record by over 500 kg set last year by its predecessor ATV Edoardo Amaldi. 

Read more: ATV-4 scheduled for June liftoff

French Guiana: ESA Ariane 5’s sixth launch of 2012

Ariane 5 launcher lifts off on 52nd successful mission

Last Saturday an Ariane 5 launcher lifted off from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana on its mission to place two telecommunications satellites, Eutelsat-21B and Star One-C3, into their planned transfer orbits.

Liftoff of flight VA210, the 66th Ariane 5 mission, came at 21:05 GMT (22:05 CET; 18:05 French Guiana). The target injection orbit had a perigee altitude of 250 km, an apogee altitude at injection of 35 786 km and an inclination of 2°.  The satellites were accurately injected into their transfer orbits about 28 minutes and 33 minutes after liftoff, respectively.

Eutelsat-21B will be positioned above the equator at 21.5°E. It will deliver telecommunications services, data services for corporate networks and governmental administrations, and IP access in Europe, North and West Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia.

Star One-C3, to be positioned at 75°W or 84°W, will provide direct TV broadcast, telephone and long-distance domestic communications services for Brazil and South America.

The payload mass for this launch was 9216 kg; the satellites totalled 8250 kg, with payload adapters and dispensers making up the additional 966 kg.

Flight VA210 was Ariane 5’s 52nd successful launch in a row since December 2002.

Read more: ESA Portal - Ariane 5’s sixth launch of 2012

European Space Agency (ESA) marks a milestone year

Europe's Ariane rocket laucher

Arianespace is probably best-known as the launch services operator for the European Space Agency, and thus closely associated with Ariane rocket operations from Europe's spaceport at Kourou, French Guiana.

The firm, founded in 1980 and headquartered in France, has as its principle shareholders French space agency CNES and EADS Astrium, along with space companies in 10 European countries. Arianespace is also active at the Baikonur cosmodrome via Starsem, its joint subsidiary with Russia.

But it would be a mistake to think of Arianespace as just Europe's launch operator. Its record so far of 206 Ariane launches, 26 Soyuz launches (including 24 from Baikonur) and the first launch, earlier this year, of ESA's new Vega render it responsible for orbiting more than half of the commercial satellites now flying.

Indeed, Arianespace commands 64% of the Asia-Pacific satellite launch market and is optimistic it will improve that already-dominant market share.

The company's most recent launch occurred on 15 May, when an Ariane 5 ECA hoisted Japan's JCSAT-13 and Vietnam's Vinasat-2 into geostationary orbit, from Kourou. The dual mission marked the 62nd launch of the Ariane 5, and its 48th success in a row.

Read more: ESA marks a milestone year

French Guiana: Vega set for its inaugural flight

On 13 February, the European Space Agency will perform the first qualification flight of its brand new Vega launch vehicle.

The very first Vega will lift off from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, to release nine satellites into orbit and add a new capability to Europe’s fleet of launch systems. The first mission, designated VV01, is scheduled for liftoff during a two-hour launch window during 10:00–12:00 GMT (11:00–13:00 CET; 07:00–09:00 local time)

This program was supported by seven ESA member states: Belgium, France, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.  Designed to provide Europe with a safe, reliable, competitive and efficient launch capacity for scientific and Earth observation payloads, Vega is compatible with payload masses ranging from 300 kg to 2500 kg, depending on the type and altitude of the orbit required by the customers.

This new capacity will complement the family of launch services already available from French Guiana: the Ariane 5 heavy-lift vehicle and the Soyuz medium-class launcher, introduced October 2011.

For more: ESA Portal - Vega set for its inaugural flight

IHT: Space for Europe - by Giovanni Bignami

The planned European manned Hermes Space vehicle

For the complete report from the International Herald Tribune click on this link

Space for Europe - by Giovanni Bignami

When the aging Shuttle brings the European Space Agency's Columbus module up to the International Space Station on Thursday and its crew screws it all together, participating nations will finally be close to using its relatively short exploitation period. Scientists from around the world will only have about 10 years to use the facility - for it is also aging, having taken a good two decades to build. Now is the time, especially for Europe, to start planning the post-space station future of manned space travel. The Shuttle will be abandoned in two years. Access to the space station will then only be possible with that old workhorse, the Soyuz, based on essentially the same technology that shot Yuri Gagarin into orbit in 1961. Now that the Cold War is over, Soyuz is open to Americans and Europeans alike, but the cost of a ticket is likely to go up.The Kourou spaceport offers Europe an opportunity to give a long-term, post-ISS future to its manned space program. European decision-makers need to take an initiative that will establish a strong collaboration with NASA and demonstrate the innovative spirit and boldness of European industry and science.Certainly, the high-lift Ariane launcher, equipped with its Automatic Transfer Vehicle (which will have its maiden flight on Feb. 22 from Kourou) could come in handy for a new orbital infrastructure.