|
|
| Europa Jupiter System Mission: Presentations from third instrument workshop now available |
| The third instrument workshop for the Europa Jupiter System Mission (EJSM), a candidate L-class mission in ESA's Cosmic Vision science plan, was held on 18-20 January 2010 at ESA's European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in Noordwijk, the Netherlands. Presentations made at the workshop are now available to download from this website. |
| Date: 29 Jan 2010 |
|
|
| Multiple rifts in Earth's magnetic shield |
| The Earth's magnetic field protects our planet from most of the permanent flow of particles from the solar wind. Fissures in this magnetic shield are known to occur, enabling the solar wind to penetrate our near-space environment. A study based on data collected by the four ESA Cluster satellites and the CNSA/ESA Double Star TC-1 spacecraft, provides new insight into the location and duration of these ruptures in the Earth's magnetic shield. |
| Date: 20 Jan 2010 |
|
|
| XMM-Newton traces dark matter in faint, distant galaxy groups |
| Observations of faint and distant galaxy groups made with the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton observatory have been used to probe the evolution of dark matter. The results of the study are reported in the 20 January issue of The Astrophysical Journal. |
| Date: 20 Jan 2010 |
|
|
| ISSI Call for Proposals 2010 for International Teams in Space Science (incl. Geosciences) |
Announcement
The International Space Science Institute (ISSI) in Bern, Switzerland, invites proposals for establishing International Teams to conduct on its premises research activities in Space Sciences, based on the interdisciplinary analysis and evaluation of data from spacecraft and possible integration with ground data and theoretical models. For the purpose of this Call, Space Sciences include the Solar and Heliospheric Physics, Solar-Terrestrial Sciences, Space Plasma and Magnetospheric Physics, Planetary Sciences, Astrobiology, Cosmology, Astrophysics, Fundamental Physics, and Earth Sciences. |
| Date: 18 Jan 2010 |
|
|
| Herschel's HIFI instrument ready to resume operations |
| The HIFI instrument onboard ESA's Herschel observatory has been successfully switched on, after being inactive for more than 160 days due to an unexpected anomaly in the electronic system. This achievement brings Herschel back to its full observing capacity. HIFI was built specifically to observe water in a variety of celestial objects. Over the next three years HIFI spectra will be used to probe stellar environments and to study the role of gas and dust in the formation of stars and planets and the evolution of galaxies. |
| Date: 18 Jan 2010 |
|
|
| Announcement of Opportunity for ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter Instruments |
| ESA and NASA have today issued an announcement of opportunity soliciting proposals for scientific instruments for the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, one element of the joint ESA-NASA ExoMars programme. |
| Date: 15 Jan 2010 |
|
|
| ESA and NASA celebrate the fifth anniversary of Titan landing |
| Exactly five years ago today the European Space Agency's (ESA) Huygens Probe made history when it landed on Titan, the largest moon in the Saturnian system. The touchdown on the surface of Titan marked the first, and so far only, landing of a man-made probe in the outer Solar System. Today many of the scientists and engineers that worked on the mission will celebrate this anniversary in the science museum Cosmocaixa in Barcelona, Spain. They will share their memories with the public and reveal future projects, "much work remains to be done", says ESA's Huygens Project Scientist Jean-Pierre Lebreton, "Titan has many different environments to explore further with in situ probes". |
| Date: 14 Jan 2010 |
|
|
| Fundamental Physics Roadmap - draft document now available |
| The draft version of the Fundamental Physics Roadmap (FPR) document is now available. The FPR draft document will be presented to the scientific community and discussed at the FPR Workshop that takes place at ESTEC on 21-22 January 2010, after which the document will be finalized. |
| Date: 13 Jan 2010 |
|
|
| First Gaia mirrors completed |
| The Gaia project recently passed another major milestone with the completion of three of the 10 payload mirrors. Final acceptance for the M5 and two M4 mirrors was granted by Delivery Review Boards conducted at the premises of Advanced Mechanical and Optical Systems (AMOS) in Liege, Belgium, towards the end of 2009. |
| Date: 11 Jan 2010 |
|
|
| Huygens legacy conference to mark fifth anniversary of Titan landing |
| On 14 January 2005 the European Space Agency's Huygens probe separated from the Cassini spacecraft and landed on Saturn's moon Titan. The touchdown on the surface of Titan marked the first, and so far only, landing of a man-made probe in the outer Solar System. To mark the fifth anniversary of this remarkable event, scientists will gather from 13-15 January at the CosmoCaixa science museum in Barcelona, Spain, to review the key scientific and engineering achievements of Huygens, to evaluate the current understanding of Titan, and to consider future Titan exploration missions. |
| Date: 08 Jan 2010 |
|
|
| Rosetta's OSIRIS cameras reveal the nature of asteroid Steins |
| Close-up images of asteroid (2867) Steins, obtained with the OSIRIS cameras on Rosetta, have provided extensive new measurements of the physical properties of this main-belt asteroid. Steins is revealed to be a loosely-bound 'rubble pile' whose diamond shape has been honed by the YORP effect. This is the first time this effect has been seen in a main-belt asteroid. The results are reported by H. Uwe Keller and colleagues in the 8 January issue of Science magazine. |
| Date: 08 Jan 2010 |
|
|
| Hubble finds most distant primeval galaxies [heic1001] |
| The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has broken the distance limit for galaxies and uncovered a primordial population of compact and ultra-blue galaxies that have never been seen before. The data from the Hubble's new infrared camera, the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3), on the Ultra Deep Field (taken in August 2009) have been analysed by five international teams of astronomers. Some of these early results are being presented by various team members on 6 January 2010, at the 215th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Washington DC, USA. |
| Date: 05 Jan 2010 |
|
|
