ESA

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Hera Beats the Weather – Sets Sights on Dual Asteroid

The European Space Agency’s Hera spacecraft has lifted off on a unique mission to the binary asteroid pair Didymos and Dimorphos. The probe will seek new insights into planetary defense techniques that could protect the Earth from asteroid impacts in the future, following up on NASA’s DART mission which intentionally struck Dimorphos in September of 2022.

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ESAInternationalJapanNews and UpdatesPlanetary Science

BepiColombo Completes Mercury Flyby on New Trajectory

The joint European/Japanese BepiColombo mission completed its fourth encounter with Mercury on Wednesday, September 4th 2024. The flyby was the latest of many gravity assists the mission needs to decelerate itself into Mercury orbit, and took the spacecraft closer to the planet’s surface than ever before.

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Commercial CrewESAHuman SpaceflightInternationalInternational Space StationNews and UpdatesPolicy

Europe Eyes Future in Commercial Space

Throughout the tremendous rise of the commercial space ecosystem, Europe has been eyeing numerous partners in the private sector to facilitate access for the continent in a new and changing world – one that could rewrite the narrative for future space exploration.  

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ESAHuman SpaceflightInternationalNews and UpdatesPolicy

ESA’s 2022 Astronaut Class Graduates

On Monday, 22 April, ESA celebrated the graduation of its class of 2022 astronaut candidates. The ceremony, held at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany, signified the successful completion of basic training for the five European astronaut graduates and the Australian Space Agency’s first astronaut, all now eligible for spaceflight assignments.

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Cape CanaveralESAFrench GuianaInternationalNews and UpdatesSpaceX

ESA Shuffles Copernicus Sats Amidst Launcher Uncertainty

Amidst schedule delays and uncertainties surrounding the return to flight of the Vega launch vehicle, the European Space Agency and European Commission are considering the purchase of an American Falcon 9 rocket to launch their Sentinel-1C climate satellite, with a decision expected in the coming days or weeks.

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