Space News & Blog Articles

Tune into the SpaceZE News Network to stay updated on industry news from around the world.

Webb mission page card link

Webb: seeing farther

Continue reading
  643 Hits

Webb: new target launch date

  425 Hits

A Christmas comet for Solar Orbiter

Comet Leonard, a mass of space dust, rock and ice about a kilometre across is heading for a close pass of the Sun on 3 January, and the ESA/NASA Solar Orbiter spacecraft has been watching its evolution over the last days.

  350 Hits

Webb flies Ariane 5: watch the launch live

ESA and NASA will be broadcasting live as the James Webb Space Telescope is launched to space on ESA’s Ariane 5 from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana at 12:20 GMT / 13:20 CET on Friday 24 December.

  472 Hits

Cupola in 360° | Cosmic Kiss

Video: 00:03:22

Join ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer inside the seven-windowed cupola, the International Space Station's "window to the world" and pan around to enjoy the view.

Continue reading
  435 Hits

Webb secured inside Ariane 5 fairing

Video: 00:01:22

On Friday 17 December, the Ariane 5 rocket fairing was closed around the James Webb Space Telescope. This protective fairing, or ‘nose cone’, will shield the telescope during liftoff and its journey through the atmosphere on 24 December. 

Continue reading
  416 Hits

Webb secured inside Ariane 5 fairing

On Friday 17 December, the Ariane 5 rocket fairing was closed around the James Webb Space Telescope. This protective fairing, or ‘nose cone’, will shield the telescope during liftoff and its journey through the atmosphere on 24 December.

  463 Hits

ESA to pick up as Webb phones home

  408 Hits

Dragon delivery – European science destined for space

The next SpaceX resupply vehicle is packed with European science, ready for delivery to the International Space Station just in time for Christmas.

  442 Hits

Webb launch confirmed for 24 December

The James Webb Space Telescope is confirmed for the target launch date of 24 December, at 12:20 GMT / 13:20 CET.

  369 Hits

Investing recovery and resilience funds in space projects

Green and digital transition in Europe will benefit from ESA expertise that supports national plans for investing recovery and resilience funds in space projects.

Continue reading
  396 Hits

Year in images 2021

Year in images 2021

Continue reading
  527 Hits

Press briefing Webb Telescope

Video: 00:45:03

Replay of the 16 December 2021 online press briefing about the James Webb Space Telescope.

Continue reading
  609 Hits

Opening a 50-year-old Christmas present from the Moon

A pretty special gift unwrapping will soon take place – a piercing tool built by ESA will open a Moon soil container from Apollo 17 that has gone untouched for nearly 50 years. The opening will allow the extraction of precious lunar gases which may have been preserved in the sample.

  463 Hits

Earth from Space: Kourou, French Guiana

Ahead of the upcoming Ariane 5 launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission takes us over Kourou – home to Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, an overseas department of France.

  387 Hits

Did black holes form immediately after the Big Bang?

How did supermassive black holes form? What is dark matter? In an alternative model for how the Universe came to be, as compared to the ‘textbook’ history of the Universe, a team of astronomers propose that both of these cosmic mysteries could be explained by so-called ‘primordial black holes’.

  514 Hits

Kitesurfing the white wilderness for science

In an astonishing feat of endurance, explorers Justin Packshaw and Jamie Facer Childs are a quarter of the way through a 3600-km kitesurf trek that takes them across the desolate heart of Antarctica. They are not pushing their physical and mental limits to the brink, facing howling gales and temperatures of –55°C just for the sake of adventure. They are gathering information to help scientists better understand how the body responds to extremes and taking unique measurements of their ice environment that will help complement ESA’s CryoSat mission to better understand how this giant ice sheet is evolving in response to climate change.

  389 Hits

Lunar robot wars

Image: Lunar robot wars

  448 Hits

ESA contract to advance Vega-C competitiveness

ESA’s Vega-C launch vehicle will fly in the second quarter of 2022 offering more performance to all orbits and extended mission flexibility at a similar cost to the current Vega. A new contract aims to widen these mission capabilities to capture new opportunities and satisfy emerging market needs to 2027.

  448 Hits

Swarm and Cluster get to the bottom of geomagnetic storms

The notion of living in a bubble is usually associated with negative connotations, but all life on Earth is dependent on the safe bubble created by our magnetic field. Understanding how the field is generated, how it protects us and how it sometimes gives way to charged particles from the solar wind is not just a matter of scientific interest, but also a matter of safety. Using information from ESA’s Cluster and Swarm missions along with measurements from the ground, scientists have, for the first time, been able to confirm that curiously named bursty bulk flows are directly connected to abrupt changes in the magnetic field near Earth’s surface, which can cause damage to pipelines and electrical power lines.

  454 Hits

Webb placed on top of Ariane 5

On Saturday 11 December, the James Webb Space Telescope was placed on top of the Ariane 5 rocket that will launch it to space from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.

  616 Hits

SpaceZE.com