Envisat, the European Space Agency’s $3 billion, 17000-plus pound earth observation satellite will be the biggest–physically at least–risk to satellites operating in polar orbits for the next 150 years. What happens in 150 years to change things? It burns in. You would think the ESA has considered using whatever maneuver fuel is available to try [...]
Archive for the ‘ESA’ Category
The 17000 Pound Piece of Space Debris
Posted: July 26, 2010 in Envisat, ESA, European Space Agency, Polar Orbit, Space Debris, Space JunkTags: Space Junk
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The New Space Race?
Posted: July 14, 2010 in Beidou, China, Compass, ESA, Future Systems, Galileo, Glonass, GPS, Russia, Space RaceTags: China, Russia
The new space race will be for positioning, navigation, and timing. Why? It’s too important not to have, or conversely, it’s too important to have to depend on someone else for such space-provided services. Who is in the game? The U.S., Russia, China, and the ESA. Assuming war doesn’t break out (with selective disabling), cross-system [...]
Mars500 Mission
Posted: June 3, 2010 in ESA, European Space Agency, Manned Space, Mars, Mars500, TerrastronautsTags: Manned Space
Humble Pie sang of 30 days in the hole. Six ‘terrastronauts’ (I made that up in case you like it) are looking at 500 days of lock-up in a Moscow-based simulated spacecraft. The purpose is to serve as a sort of pathfinder-effort culminating in a manned mission to Mars. It’s all sponsored by the European [...]
