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By European Space Agency
Video: 00:06:45 Smile is the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer, a brand-new space mission currently in the making. It will study space weather and the interaction between the solar wind and Earth’s environment.
Unique about Smile is that it will take the first X-ray images and videos of the solar wind slamming into Earth’s protective magnetic bubble, and its complementary ultraviolet images will provide the longest-ever continuous look at the northern lights.
In this first of several short videos, David Agnolon (Smile Project Manager) and Philippe Escoubet (Smile Project Scientist) talk about the why and the how of Smile. You’ll see scenes of the building and testing of the spacecraft’s payload module by Airbus in Madrid, including the installation of one of the European instruments, the Soft X-ray Imager from the University of Leicester.
Smile is a 50–50 collaboration between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). ESA provides the payload module of the spacecraft, which carries three of the four science instruments, and the Vega-C rocket which will launch Smile to space. CAS provides the platform module hosting the fourth science instrument, as well as the service and propulsion modules.
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By European Space Agency
ESA’s solar eclipse-making Proba-3 mission is about to leave Europe, to head to its launch site in India. The mission’s two spacecraft – which will manoeuvre precisely in Earth orbit so that one casts a shadow onto the other – have departed the facilities of Redwire Space in Kruibeke, Belgium. The pair will be flown to the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, near Chennai, for the launch campaign to begin.
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By NASA
2 min read
ESA/NASA’s SOHO Spies Bright Comet Making Debut in Evening Sky
The tail of comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS spanned the view of the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) on Oct. 10, 2024. ESA/NASA The ESA (European Space Agency) and NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) has captured images of the second-brightest comet to ever pass through its field of view during the spacecraft’s nearly 29-year career.
The bright comet is C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, which has been garnering a lot of attention from skywatchers recently, displaying a long, dusty tail in pre-dawn skies throughout late September and early October. (Comet McNaught, viewed in 2007, holds the record as the brightest comet SOHO has seen.)
Between Oct. 7 and 11, the comet blazed through the view of SOHO’s LASCO (Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph Experiment) instrument, which uses a disk to block out the bright light of the Sun so it’s easier to see details and objects near the Sun. This image, taken by SOHO on Oct. 10, 2024, shows the comet and its bright tail streaming from the upper left to the right. Mercury appears as a bright dot on the left.
After crossing through SOHO’s field of view, the comet will begin putting on an evening show for skywatchers around the world just after sunset starting Saturday, Oct. 12. Each day throughout October, the comet will gradually rise higher and higher in the western sky as it moves farther away from the Sun. But as it does, it will become fainter and fainter. Eagle-eyed skywatchers may be able to spot it with the naked eye for a few days, but after that, observers will likely need binoculars or a telescope to see it as it grows fainter.
Even if you are unable to spot this comet yourself, you can help SOHO search for others. Scientists and members of the general public have discovered more than 5,000 comets in SOHO imagery, and you can help find even more by visiting the Sungrazer Project.
By Vanessa Thomas
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
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Last Updated Oct 11, 2024 Related Terms
Comets Goddard Space Flight Center Heliophysics Heliophysics Division Skywatching SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) The Sun The Sun & Solar Physics Explore More
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By European Space Agency
Video: 00:20:48 ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice), is on an epic eight-year journey to Jupiter. This first episode of ‘The journey of Juice’ tells the story of Juice’s first months in space, from its launch on 14 April 2023 to its lunar-Earth gravity assist (LEGA for short) in August 2024. This flyby was not only the first double gravity assist manoeuvre of its kind, it was also a perfect opportunity to test out the spacecraft’s cameras and science instruments.
In this episode, Juice’s Mission Manager Nicolas Altobelli explains how the spacecraft will become the first ever human-made machine to orbit a moon of another planet, in this case Jupiter’s largest moon Ganymede.
You’ll also hear from Claire Vallat and Marc Costa at the European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) near Madrid, Spain. Juice will perform incredibly complex measurements once it reaches Jupiter, and the Science Operations team at ESAC is making sure we get the most out of every instrument.
Meanwhile, the Flight Control team at the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany, makes sure Juice is and stays on the right path. This episode shows what happened ‘behind the scenes’ before and during the lunar-Earth flyby, and stars Ignacio Tanco, Angela Dietz and members of the Juice Flight Control team as they do what they do best.
Finally, we highlight the ESA tracking station network (Estrack), another crucial component for Juice. Maintenance and Operations Engineer Belén Goméz gives a tour of the facility at Cebreros.
Following the very successful lunar-Earth flyby, Juice is now on its way to planet Venus for its next flyby. On 31 August 2025, this flyby will give Juice its second gravity boost. Tune back in next year for episode two of this series!
This series follows on from ‘The making of Juice’ series, which covered the planning, testing and launch of this once-in-a-generation mission.
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By European Space Agency
Video: 00:04:29 Watch the second episode of the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover mission – Europe’s ambitious exploration journey to search for past and present signs of life on Mars.
This episode starts with Rosalind searching for traces of life below the martian surface using a ground penetrating radar and a set of cameras.
The rover will dig, collect, and investigate the chemical composition of material collected by a drill. Rosalind Franklin will be the first rover to reach a depth of up to two metres deep below the surface, acquiring samples that have been protected from surface radiation and extreme temperatures.
Rosalind Franklin uses the WISDOM radar to help scientists on Earth decide where to drill. Besides identifying the most promising targets for sampling, WISDOM will help the rover avoid potential hazards, such as the presence of buried rocks that could damage the drill.
The scientific eyes of the rover are set on the Panoramic Camera suite known as PanCam. The Close-UP Imager (CLUPI) sits on the side of the drill box, a camera designed to acquire high-resolution, colour, close-up images of outcrops, rocks and soils. PanCam and CLUPI will help scientists find the most promising spots to drill. These instruments can also investigate very fine outcrop details and image drill samples before they are sent into the rover’s laboratory.
After the rover retracts its drill, the sample is in a special chamber at the tip. Under the reduced martian gravity (38% of Earth’s), the material drops onto a special “hand” that the rover can extend to the front to collect drill samples.
The mission will serve to demonstrate key technologies that Europe needs to master for future planetary exploration missions.
The ExoMars rover series show the rover and martian landscapes as true to reality as possible for a simulation.
Check ESA’s ExoMars website and our frequently asked questions for the latest updates.
Credits: ESA
Production: Mlabspace for ESA
3D animation: ESA/Mlabspace
Music composed by Valentin Joudrier
Watch all the videos from the ExoMars Rosalind Frankin mission series.
Access the related broadcst quality video material.
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