The European Space Agency has formally ordered seven Ariane 6 flights to take place between 2021 and 2023. The order has allowed ArianeGroup, the conglomerate building the Ariane 6, to start production of the first batch of 14 launch vehicles. It has not been...
The construction of the FLEX – the Fluorescence Explorer spacecraft which is to study “vegetation fluorescence” to determine global photosynthetic activity – has been officially ordered. Having been originally selected in Novemer 2015 as the...
Europe’s space programme had its share of political ups and downs in November. The most surprising news was the unexpected firing of Roberto Battiston as head of the Italian Space Agency by the Italian government. He had been in post for four years. Save for a very...
In the third successful launch since the Soyuz FG non-fatal launch failure of the Soyuz MS-10 crewed launch, a Soyuz ST-B with an Fregat M successfully lifted off from the Sinnamary launch site near Kourou in French Guiana. Launch time was at 0047 GMT on 7 November....
At 0145 GMT on 20 October 2018, an Ariane 5 ECA rocket successfully launched the Bepi-Columbo unmanned joint mission to Mercury. There are two main spacecraft plus a carrier spacecraft on the mission. The Mercury Transfer Module (MTM) can be regarded as the main...
The commercial communications satellite operator Eutelsat has made a five-launch booking with Arianespace for its new Ariane 6 launch vehicle. The launches are set to take place from July 2022 to 2027. While launch orders and options have been received from ESA...
