Space.com
• Elizabeth Howell, Robert Z. Pearlman
The European mission launched on Nov. 8, 2005, marking Europe’s first mission to Venus. A retrospective revisits why Venus Express mattered, placing the spacecraft’s significance in the context of Europe’s exploration of the planet.
ESA
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The European mission launched on Nov. 8, 2005, marking Europe’s first mission to Venus. A retrospective revisits why Venus Express mattered, placing the spacecraft’s significance in the context of Europe’s exploration of the planet.
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The European Space Agency’s Hera spacecraft has returned its first close-up images of the Didymos binary asteroid system, which NASA’s DART mission struck in humanity’s first deliberate test of asteroid deflection. The observations give Hera an initial view of the target it is traveling to study.
Amorim Cork Solutions is contributing its P50 cork-based thermal protection material to the European Space Agency’s DRACO mission. The mission is designed to capture rare in-flight data on how satellites break apart during atmospheric reentry, providing direct observations of a key phase of satellite disposal.
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The European Space Agency has awarded OHB a €554 million contract to develop the first Sentinel-3 Next Generation Topography satellite for the Copernicus program. The mission is intended to improve radar altimetry, extending Europe’s satellite capabilities for measuring ocean and land surface topography.
High activity
An orbiting atmospheric research spacecraft detected hydrogen chloride above fissures near a massive ancient Martian volcano, a finding researchers say may indicate volcanic activity beneath the surface. The region’s relatively young fissures also raise interest in whether subsurface heat and water could have created conditions comparable to Earth’s hydrothermal environments, where life can flourish.
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The European Space Agency’s Hera planetary-defense probe has imaged Didymos and its smaller moon Dimorphos as separate objects for the first time, as it approaches the binary asteroid system. Hera will investigate the aftermath of NASA’s DART collision, collecting data on kinetic-impact deflection and probing outstanding scientific questions about the asteroids.
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European Space Agency member states are scheduled to meet in Rome on Dec. 15 to decide the future of Europe’s human and robotic exploration program. The decision will set the direction for the agency’s exploration agenda as Europe looks beyond the International Space Station.
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