Applicants from all ESA Member States to become an European astronaut
ESA began its search for new astronauts on 19 May, calling for applications from talented individuals who wish to join the European Astronaut Corps. Almost 10 000 individuals registered to begin the application process. At the close of the application phase which lasted a month, 8413 aspiring astronauts provided a medical certificate and finalised the online application form. This qualifies them for the next step in the selection process.
The world’s biggest space show - the 2008 International Astronautical Congress (IAC) - takes place in Glasgow, Scotland, between 29 September and 3 October 2008.
For the second time since April, ESA’s Jules Verne ATV was used to raise the orbit of the International Space Station yesterday. A record boost from the 20 minute burn of the Automated Transfer Vehicle’s main engines successfully lifted the altitude of the 300-tonne Station by around 7 km to an altitude of around 345 km above the Earth’s surface.
This Envisat image captures the marginal ice zone, a region that forms at the boundary of open and frozen oceans, of the Greenland Sea during the onset of spring melting.
Advanced ground penetration radar, originally developed to investigate the soil structure on the Moon and other planets on ESA planetary missions, is now being used in Canadian mines to spot hidden cracks and weaknesses in mine roofs.
ESA’s Jules Verne ATV was used for the first time yesterday to transfer in one step 811 kg of refuelling propellant to the International Space Station while the two vehicles orbited Earth at 28 000 km/h. With this premiere for Europe, Jules Verne becomes the first western spaceship to succeed in refuelling another space infrastructure in orbit.
The winners of the ‘Take your classroom into space’ Call for Education Ideas have been selected. The two best experiment ideas will be performed in space by ESA astronaut Frank De Winne during his spaceflight in 2009. Pupils throughout Europe will be able to compare results obtained in their classroom to those obtained in space.
The International Astronautical Federation (IAF) is organising, with European Space Agency (ESA) support, a symposium entitled ‘Celebrating Ten Years of the International Space Station’, to be held at UNESCO’s Paris headquarters (7, place de Fontenoy) on 9/10 July.
Eleven weeks into its integrated service to the International Space Station, Jules Verne ATV has followed up its successful automatic docking on 3 April 2008 by achieving all its scheduled objectives - and much more. ATV is providing capabilities never planned for before its mission.
Wilkins Ice Shelf has experienced further break-up with an area of about 160 km² breaking off from 30 May to 31 May 2008. ESA’s Envisat satellite captured the event – the first ever-documented episode to occur in winter.
Aspiring astronauts still have some time to fill in their online application forms before the closing date of Monday 16 June and, who knows, they may get the chance to join an elite team and fly in space.
Nearly four decades after humans first set foot on the Moon, our astronomical neighbour is still exerting a powerful attraction for would-be explorers. Several private teams of scientists have already started working to land the first ever commercially-funded robot on the surface, in a race worth millions in prize-money to the winners. EuroNews met these teams.
This Envisat image features the northern part of the country of Namibia. Namibia is located on the west coast of southern Africa between Angola and South Africa.
Yesterday evening, an Ariane 5 ECA launcher lifted off from Europe’s Spaceport at Kourou, in French Guiana, on its mission to place two telecommunications satellites into geostationary transfer orbits.
New medical equipment recently delivered to the Antarctic station Concordia will help understand how our bodies physically adapt to this extreme environment - knowledge which could help prepare for a future human mission to Mars. ESA is currently looking for a candidate with a medical background to support projects at the research base.
The joint ESA/NASA solar mission Ulysses has forever changed the way scientists view the Sun and its effect on the surrounding space. The mission’s major results and the legacy it leaves behind have been presented today at ESA Headquarters in Paris, in view of the impending conclusion of the mission on 1 July 2008.
ESA announces the launch of a new web portal embracing ESA’s health-related activities across all directorates of the Agency (