Pentagon announces new mission for secretive space drone

The US Air Force said Wednesday it would be sending its high-tech X-37B space drone back into orbit this month—the sixth trip for the reusable vehicle that maneuvers around the Earth on secretive missions.

ESA to conduct BepiColombo flyby amid coronavirus crisis

Controllers at ESA's mission control center are preparing for a gravity-assist flyby of the European-Japanese Mercury explorer BepiColombo. The maneuver, which will see the mission adjust its trajectory by harnessing Earth's ...

Flying the final approach to Tranquility Base

As the Apollo 11 lunar module approached the Moon's surface for the first manned landing, commander Neil Armstrong switched off the autopilot and flew the spacecraft manually to a landing.

Rockets for education

Why rockets are so captivating is not exactly rocket science. Watching a chunk of metal defy the forces of gravity satisfies many a human's wish to soar through the air and into space.

Image: BepiColombo magnetometer boom deployed

The 2.5 m long boom carrying the magnetometer sensors onboard ESA's BepiColombo Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) has been successfully deployed. The sensors are now prepared to measure the magnetic field on the way to Mercury.

BepiColombo monitoring camera test image

An unusual view of part of the BepiColombo spacecraft stack, taken by one of the monitoring cameras (or 'selfie-cams') fixed to the Mercury Transfer Module, MTM. The camera is looking up towards the solar array drive (top ...

Mercury studies reveal an intriguing target for BepiColombo

A month before the planned launch of the joint ESA-JAXA BepiColombo mission to Mercury, two new studies shed light on when the innermost planet formed and the puzzle of its chemical composition. The findings will be presented ...

BepiColombo science orbiters stacked together

The two science orbiters of the joint ESA-JAXA BepiColombo mission are connected in their launch configuration and the European science orbiter and transport module have been given the go-ahead to be loaded with propellants.

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