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Planet hunter Plato to fly on Ariane 6
29/01/2025
Today, the European Space Agency (ESA) Director of Science, Carole Mundell, ESA Director of Space Transportation, Toni Tolker-Nielsen, and Arianespace Chief Commercial Officer, Steven Rutgers, signed the launch agreement to fly ESA’s scientific mission Plato; the formal step took place at the European Space Conference in Brussels, Belgium.
Plato, PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars, is ESA’s groundbreaking mission to discover potentially habitable planets around stars similar to our Sun, and study thousands of exoplanets in detail, focusing on terrestrial ones.
Plato will board the Ariane 6 with two boosters for a launch from Europe’s Spaceport, in French Guiana, end of 2026, and will be placed into orbit around the Sun-Earth Lagrange point L2.
“This is the first science mission that our new rocket Ariane 6 will launch,” said Toni Tolker-Nielsen, “and the first mission that the versatile launcher will send to the Lagrange point 2, 1.5 million km from the launch pad, a new destination for our heavy-lift rocket to show its prowess.”
“Most of ESA’s Science flagship missions have been launched on Ariane rockets. From Rosetta to Webb and Juice, Arianespace has ensured exquisitely accurate delivery of our precious technologies into deep space, increasing mission lifetimes and scientific performance,” added Carole Mundell.
“So it comes naturally to launch Plato on Europe’s newest rocket, confident that it will take our spacecraft exactly where it must be.”
Ariane 6 first flight was in July last year with its second flight planned for next month, ramping up launches over the coming months. Ariane 6 is Europe’s newest heavy-lift rocket, designed to provide great power and flexibility at a lower cost than its predecessors.
The launcher’s configuration – with an upgraded main stage, a choice of either two or four powerful boosters and a new restartable upper stage – provides Europe with greater efficiency and possibility for launching all manner of missions.
“Plato’s launch with Ariane 6 continues Ariane’s key role in the quest to discover other worlds and answer fundamental questions about life beyond Earth,” remarked David Cavaillolès, CEO of Arianespace.
"We express our pride and gratitude towards our historic partner the European Space Agency for their trust. Our teams are most enthusiast to closely working together to bring this extraordinary European exploration spacecraft to orbit with Ariane 6.”
Planet hunter Plato will focus on the properties of rocky planets orbiting Sun-like stars. In particular, Plato will discover and characterise planets in orbits up to the habitable zone – the ‘goldilocks’ region around a star where the temperature is just right for liquid water to exist on a planet’s surface.
To achieve its feat, Plato will use 26 cameras to look at more than 200 000 stars and search for planets around them. The mission exploits the transit method to characterise these planets; when planets pass by the face of their host stars, they dim the starlight we receive.
By studying this dimming effect, we can learn about a planet’s size, mass and density.
Plato's scientific instrumentation, consisting of the cameras and electronic units, is provided through a collaboration between ESA and the Plato Mission Consortium. This Consortium is composed of various European research centres, institutes and industries.
The spacecraft is being built and assembled by the industrial Plato Core Team led by OHB together with Thales Alenia Space and Beyond Gravity.
https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Plato/Planet_hunter_Plato_to_fly_on_Ariane_6
https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Plato_factsheet
Space debris seen burning up over Michigan skies
Jan 29, 2025 / 07:39 AM EST
A clearing in the clouds Tuesday night allowed people in West Michigan to catch a stunning display overhead as space debris scattered and burned upon entering Earth’s atmosphere.
Instead of a meteor, which appears as one single light streaming across the sky, the signature contains many streaks.
This pattern is more indicative of debris colliding with the super-hot temperatures of Earth’s atmosphere.
Ryan Sorell was able to capture a video from East Grand Rapids.
According to NASA, most space debris is “human-generated objects” such as “pieces of spacecraft, tiny flecks of paint from a spacecraft, parts of rockets, or satellites that are no longer in use.”
Low Earth orbit is said to contain quite a bit of “space junk.” NASA reports most of these pieces are moving extremely fast, even reaching 18,000 miles per hour.
The NASA Orbital Debris Program in Houston, Texas works on mitigating the debris problem in space. It exists to reduce orbital debris and designs equipment to track and remove it from space.
https://www.wlns.com/news/michigan/space-debris-seen-burning-up-over-west-michigan-skies/
Buckley Space Force Base serving as ‘holding location’ for ICE detainees
Wed, 01/29/2025 - 05:01
Buckley Space Force Base in Aurora is serving as a staging ground and detention center for federal immigration enforcement, military officials confirmed Tuesday, as President Donald Trump’s administration moves forward with plans for an unprecedented campaign of mass deportations in Colorado and around the country.
In a written statement, Buckley’s office of public affairs said that the former Air Force base, a sprawling installation that houses 3,500 active-duty personnel on the eastern edge of the Denver metro area, is “providing facilities” to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement at the request of the Department of Homeland Security.
“ICE requirements for the facility include a temporary operations center, staging area, and a temporary holding location for the receiving, holding, and processing of criminal aliens,” a spokesperson said.
“This facility will be manned by ICE senior leaders, special agents, and analysts, as well as members of DHS Components and other federal law enforcement agencies.”
Aurora is home to a permanent ICE facility, a processing center operated by private prison company The GEO Group, which has a total potential capacity of 1,532 detainees.
The facility has long been the target of criticismfrom activists over allegations of inhumane conditions and dehumanizing treatment.
In his second term, Trump has vowed to carry out the “largest domestic deportation operation in American history.”
By his own estimation, his “deport them all” agenda would apply to more than 20 million people, though credible estimatesput the country’s true undocumented population at around 12 million.
Any program at that scale would require massive expansions of ICE’s detention capacity.
Stephen Miller, Trump’s top immigration adviser, told the New York Times last year that would shift from targeted enforcement operations to mass roundups, involving what he called “vast holding facilities that would function as staging centers” — plans that critics of Trump’s deportation agenda have likened to concentration camps.
Aurora has been singled out by Trump and his anti-immigration allies since last year, when a series of false and exaggerated allegations that a Venezuelan gang had “invaded and conquered” the city spread on social media.
During a Colorado campaign stop in October, Trump promised to launch an effort to round up and deport undocumented immigrants that he said would be called “Operation Aurora.”
Citing three unnamed administration sources, NBC News reported Tuesday that Aurora would be the target of “large-scale immigration arrests” beginning Thursday.
https://kiowacountypress.net/content/buckley-space-force-base-serving-holding-location-ice-detainees
The GSLV-F15/NVS-02 mission has been successfully accomplished. India reaches new heights in space navigation!
January 24, 2025
GSLV-F15 is the 17th flight of India’s Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) and 11th flight with Indigenous Cryo stage.
It is the 8th operational flight of GSLV with an indigenous Cryogenic stage and 100th Launch from the India’s Spaceport Sriharikota.
GSLV-F15 payload fairing is a metallic version with a diameter of 3.4 meters.
100th launch from Sriharikota
ISRO is preparing for its landmark 100th launch from Sriharikota.
GSLV F15 will lift-off from the second launch pad at 06:23 hrs on January 29, 2025, carrying the NVS-02 navigation satellite.
This will be the 100th launch to lift-off from Sriharikota. Over a span of 99 launches, various missions have been carried out from Sriharikota.
The GSLV-F15 with indigenous Cryogenic stage will place NVS-02 satellite into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit & the launch will take place from the Second Launch Pad (SLP) at Satish Dhawan Space Centre, SHAR.
Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC) is India's independent regional navigation satellite system designed to provide accurate Position, Velocity and Timing (PVT) service to users in India as well as to region extending about 1500 km beyond Indian land mass.
NavIC will provide two types of services, namely, Standard Positioning Service (SPS) and Restricted Service (RS).
NavIC's SPS provides a position accuracy of better than 20 m (2σ) and timing accuracy better than 40 ns (2σ) over the service area.
https://www.isro.gov.in/GSLV-F15_NVS-02_Mission.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWzg5Z-bcLo
https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/the-day-i-learned-about-death/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qa7icmqgsow
The Day I Learned About Death
January 28, 2025 8:47 PM
Today is the 39th anniversary of the Space Shuttle Challenger’s explosion upon takeoff, on January 28, 1986.
We lost seven astronauts that day — the first time we had ever lost any in-flight, and the first in my lifetime.
I have never forgotten the moment, even though I was only five years old; it was the first true national trauma I lived through. (It would not be the last.)
I suppose I could have waited until the 40th anniversary next year to write this reminiscence, as my editor suggested this morning, but, then again, you never know when you might errantly stumble down a manhole or in front of an El train, so I might as well get this down on paper quickly while these fingers still function.
There is more than mere insouciance to my words. I’ll never forget where I was that day or how it affected me; the Challenger catastrophe was no minor incident in my young life.
As a child of late 1980, I’m too young to have any solid recollection of Ronald Reagan’s 1984 reelection, or anything whatsoever of political or international importance until this exact moment.
My first real memory of things outside my family routine, of the “real world,” came with this. And how could it not have? For this was the moment when I was first forced to confront the reality of death.
That seems like a silly thing to say, but it is indubitably true for me. I was fortunate to have a rather peaceful, bucolic childhood; I hadn’t yet lost anyone or anything close to me.
The concept of death had only a notional meaning to me at that point, something barely considered let alone understood. Until that horrible day.
I was in kindergarten. I remember that we were all excited for the Challenger’s launch, because it meant we got to get out of class for the morning to watch it on television in the big room.
Furthermore, our teachers had been buzzing about it for weeks — a schoolteacher was going into space! — and it was going to be a fun festive day.
I remember the shuttle taking off from the launch pad, streaming up into the sky, and then . . . it was gone, gone in a flaming cloud of smoke. There were shouts in the room — not stunned silence but vocal disbelief.
I remember not being able to understand what had happened — was everybody okay? — until the horrified teachers came to the front of the room and told us that the shuttle had exploded.
I remember seeing some of the adults crying softly, which, as a five-year-old, is actually what utterly terrified me — I never wanted to feel that the adults in the room were vulnerable or emotionally distraught; that was my role, as a kid, not theirs.
My mother came to pick me up early from school that day. My father got home from work much earlier than usual.
I remember asking him naively, “Why didn’t the astronauts just use their parachutes to jump out of the shuttle?” and him gently trying to explain to me how that wasn’t possible.
All that time I simply could not process the reality of it: How could they be dead? Just like that? Were they scared? What about that poor teacher?
I had never seen anybody die. I had never even contemplated the idea of loss. I was confused and upset.
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Which is why I remember the speech Reagan delivered that afternoon, before dinnertime, so well.
Reagan’s address, written in an emotionally exhausted but poetically inspired whirlwind by legendary speechwriter Peggy Noonan, is only four minutes long, and I welcome you to watch it once again.
I cannot do so without getting a little emotional, suddenly remembering myself as that sad, scared, vulnerable five-year-old, faced with the reality of my heroes dying unexpectedly right in front of my eyes.
And I’ll never forget the moment when the president of the United States stopped to talk directly to me, that scared kid:
And I want to say something to the schoolchildren of America who were watching the live coverage of the shuttle’s takeoff. I know it is hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen.
It’s all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It’s all part of taking a chance and expanding man’s horizons. The future doesn’t belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave.
The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we’ll continue to follow them.
It was precisely what I needed to hear, and I do mean precisely. I didn’t suddenly have some amazing epiphany about death and the meaning of life — after all, I was only five.
But after listening to the president explain what had happened in those even tones of his, I no longer felt quite so queasy and bewildered.
And I remember feeling encouraged when he continued: “There will be more shuttle flights and more shuttle crews and, yes, more volunteers, more civilians, more teachers in space.
Nothing ends here; our hopes and our journeys continue.”
As an Xennial, Reagan is but the faintest of childhood memories for me — my political awareness didn’t dawn until the late Bush years.
I lived through and enjoyed the fruits of his policy victories, of course, but my sole true memory from the Reagan years is that of his reaction to the Challenger disaster.
And the reason is that I never forgot how a stranger on television could reach me in my first moment of great moral confusion, and calmly assure me that, despite tragedy, everything would be all right for America — and leave me asking my mother to explain, through her sniffling, what it meant to “slip the surly bonds of earth, and touch the face of God.”
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Scottish rocket launch boost to get Britain back into space race
29 January 2025
A landmark Scottish rocket launch is set to solidify the UK as a European leader in the space sector, following a £20 million government investment in UK launch company Orbex to build and launch a rocket from the shores of Scotland.
Tech Secretary Peter Kyle announced the investment today (29th January) at Brussels’ European Space Conference, positioning Britain as a leading international partner and cooperator in Europe’s access to space.
The investment will help to fund Orbex’s rocket Prime, the first UK-manufactured and UK-launched orbital rocket.
Prime is set to take off from late 2025 at Scottish spaceport SaxaVord, one of two licensed vertical launch spaceports in Europe.
It will catalyse the UK’s position as a leading small satellite manufacturer and global space leader, and support 140 highly paid jobs in the region as part of the government’s Plan for Change.
The investment will contribute to this government’s mission to grow the economy, boosting the UK’s ability to regularly launch rockets into orbit from its shores and attracting launch investment into the UK.
With European demand for satellites up to 2033 forecasted to be worth $50 billion, even 2% of this would bring around $1 billion in revenues for the UK economy alone.
Developing Britain’s launch capabilities is already helping to bring new jobs and economic benefits to communities and organisations across the UK.
So far, the Prime project has created more than 140 highly skilled jobs in Forres, with many more anticipated as the company continues to grow.
The launch of Prime will also help to inspire a new generation of British space professionals.
By showcasing the pivotal role of Britain in the space age, government is investing now to ensure a sector that is vibrant, innovative, and above all, successful in achieving our goal for the UK to become a leading European provider of small satellite launch.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/scottish-rocket-launch-boost-to-get-britain-back-into-space-race
https://www.esa.int/About_Us/Corporate_news/ESA_at_the_17th_European_Space_Conference_-_Day_1
https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/Copernicus/19_New_Space_signatures_for_Copernicus_Contributing_Missions
ESA at the 17th European Space Conference - Day 1
28/01/2025
The 17th European Space Conference began at the SQUARE in Brussels on Tuesday 28 January 2025. It’s the first iteration of the conference to feature the European Commissioner for Defence and Space, Andrius Kubilius.
In his opening keynote Commissioner Kubilius called for unity in the space ecosystem saying: "Who controls space, controls the future. If we want space to be a force for good, Europe must remain a leading space power."
He also emphasised the importance of this year's ESA Council at Ministerial level: "ESA Ministerial Council at the end of this year will be one of the decisive moments. To maximise the effect of our investments we need to work hand in hand."
The European Space Agency Director General gave an opening speech in which he said that a significant funding increase was needed both at ESA and EU levels: "Unity requires effort, vision, and determination.
If Europe is to succeed in space and on the global stage, we must act with urgency and purpose. We must increase investment, forge partnerships, and deliver the vision that will elevate Europe to new heights," he said.
Immediately following their speeches, Commissioner Kubilius and ESA Director General Aschbacher attended a joint press point available for review here.
Developments in Earth Observation
Sentinel-1D
Entrusted by the European Commission, ESA has signed a contract with Arianespace to secure an Ariane 6 rocket for the launch of the Sentinel-1D satellite, the fourth unit of the Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission scheduled for the second half of this year.
The Copernicus Sentinel-1D satellite will launch aboard Europe’s new two-booster Ariane 6 rocket, known as Ariane 62, to join its sibling, Sentinel-1C, which was launched last December.
Sentinel-1D will replace the older Sentinel-1A satellite, which has been in orbit for almost 11 years, well beyond its nominal lifetime.
Developed by ESA for the European Commission, the Sentinel-1 mission is based on a constellation of two identical satellites flying in the same orbit but 180° apart to optimise global coverage and data delivery for Copernicus.
Sentinel-5
ESA, Eumetsat, the European Commission, and Arianespace meanwhile announced an agreement to advance the launch of the first MetOp Second Generation weather satellite, which also carries the Copernicus Sentinel-5 mission, to August 2025 aboard an Ariane 6 rocket.
The announcement brings the launch of the MetOp Second Generation satellite, MetOp-SG-A1, forward from the third quarter of this year to August.
The Copernicus Sentinel-5 instrument to be carried on board the satellited for the European Commission measure the distribution of atmospheric trace gases such as ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, formaldehyde, glyoxal, carbon monoxide, and methane, as well as aerosols.
CO2M
Building on the initial contract to develop two satellites for the Copernicus Anthropogenic Carbon Dioxide Monitoring mission, the European Commission and ESA have now entrusted OHB System AG with the development of a third satellite.
This addition will accelerate global coverage, enabling faster and more comprehensive measurements of carbon dioxide and methane emissions from human activities to enhance the evaluation of climate mitigation efforts.
The three satellites will each carry a near-infrared and shortwave-infrared spectrometer to measure atmospheric carbon dioxide at high spatial resolution.
Copernicus Contributing Missions
Nineteen satellite data companies have signed agreements to provide new or enhanced services to the Copernicus programme in their roles as Copernicus Contributing Missions.
ESA and the European Commission consolidated their commitment to providing commercial complementary data through Copernicus Contributing Missions (CCMs), by welcoming 10 established and well-known Earth observation data supply companies which recently signed contracts as part of the CCMs activity.
Six of the new signatories are major European Space industry players that offer EO data from European satellites and four are well-known EO data providers offering commercial EO data from satellites that are not part of EU territory.
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There was also a symbolic ceremony for nine European space scale-ups already under contracts with ESA for CCM, which will become part of the Copernicus Space Data Ecosystem (CSDE), the key Copernicus data platform that offers free access to Copernicus Sentinel data on Earth’s land, oceans and atmosphere. The Copernicus Contributing Missions are commercial satellite missions that play a crucial role in delivering complementary Earth observation (EO) data to meet the needs of the Copernicus Services and the requirements of public authorities.
The CCM programme is funded by the European Commission and implemented by ESA.
Sentinel-2C
Sentinel-2C has been declared fully operational in a new milestone in the well-established collaboration between ESA and the European Commission. The satellite has now been handed over for its mission.
The third Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite was launched from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana aboard the final Vega rocket on 5 September 2024 at 03:50 CEST (4 September 22:50 local time).
Like its siblings, Sentinel-2A and Sentinel-2B, the satellite carries a multispectral imager that takes high-resolution images of Earth’s land, islands, and inland and coastal waters from its orbital altitude of 786 km.
Memorandum of Intent on Earth observation and oceans
The European Space Agency and Mercator Ocean International signed a landmark Memorandum of Intent to enhance their collaboration in Earth Observation and Digital Ocean activities.
This collaboration builds upon the longstanding partnership within the Copernicus programme.
Envision spacecraft
Europe is a step closer to returning to Venus as the European Space Agency awarded a contract to Thales Alenia Space to build the Envision spacecraft.
Following the discoveries of Venus Express, Envision will investigate the planet’s surface, interior and atmosphere with unrivalled accuracy.
ESA Director of Science Carole Mundell said “No other mission has attempted such a comprehensive investigation of our remarkably inhospitable neighbour.”
Contracts for IOD/IOV missions with European rideshare providers
The European Space Agency signed on behalf of the European Commission, a series of contracts with small satellite makers to ensure rapid access to orbit through rideshare services for future European innovations.
The contract signing is part of the In-Orbit Demonstration and Validation (IOD/IOV) programme managed by ESA on behalf of the European Commission.
The contracts were awarded to Aerospacelab, Berlin Space Technologies, D-Orbit, ISISPACE, LuxSpace and Open Cosmos.
The IOD/IOV programme ensures that innovative technologies can be effectively tested in space, reducing the time it would otherwise take to bring them to market.
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