by David Todd | Dec 15, 2015 | ESA, exploration, Science
While already announced in July, the formal signing ceremony for the construction of European Space Agency’s JUICE mission to explore Jupiter and the Jovian moon system was made with Airbus Defence and Space in December 2015. The contract is valued at €350.8...
by David Todd | Dec 15, 2015 | exploration, JAXA
The Japanese Akatsuki (Planet-C) spacecraft finally entered orbit around the planet Venus after a five-year odyssey. The spacecraft made an engine firing of an attitude control engine at 2351 GMT on 6 December 2015. Originally launched in May 2010, the...
by David Todd | Nov 27, 2015 | ESA, exploration, Seradata News
As part of the reorganisation of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) directorates, Dr David Parker, the Chief Executive of the UK Space Agency, has been recruited to head up the new Human Spaceflight and Robotic Exploration Directorate. There is no news yet as to who...
by David Todd | Nov 27, 2015 | exploration, Science, Technology
Planetary Resources, the asteroid mining company, has, in a news release, applauded the US Senate and President Obama for allowing the U.S. Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act (H.R. 2262) to go into law. While the International Outer Space Treaty officially...
by David Todd | Nov 9, 2015 | exploration, NASA, On a Lighter Note
Ever since when Voskhod 1 landed off course into the wilderness, subsequent Russian manned missions now carry a pistol on board their Soyuz spacecraft lest they also land off course and have to fight off bears and wolves. This column previously noted that the 9mm...
by David Todd | Oct 28, 2015 | Apollo, ESA, exploration, NASA, Orion, Seradata News, SLS
While the recent film “The Martian”, starring Matt Damon, whetted the appetite of the general public for long-range human exploration, in truth, any mission to Mars is at least 20 years away. Similarly, while NASA has recently revealed its initial “Journey to Mars”...
