Press Releases — 2004

The European Space Agency’s Huygens probe was successfully released by NASA’s Cassini orbiter early this morning and is now on a controlled collision course toward Saturn’s largest and most mysterious moon, Titan, where on 14 January it will make a descent through one of the most intriguing atmospheres in the solar system to an unknown surface. The separation occurred at 02:00 UTC (03:00 CET): A few minutes after separation, Cassini turned back to Earth and relayed back information about the separation. This signal then took 1 hour and 8 minutes to cross the 1.2 billion kilometres separating the Cassini spacecraft and Earth. 

The countries participating in the Preparatory European Space Exploration Programme "Aurora" have recently confirmed and increased their contributions. 

Roberto Vittori will be the next ESA astronaut to fly to the International Space Station, on the 10-day Italian Soyuz mission, scheduled to be launched on 15 April next year from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The mission is called ENEIDE and takes its name from the epic tale written by the Latin poet Virgil in the 1st century BC. This story tells of the journey of Aeneas from Troy to Italy and the foundation of Rome. 

One year after Mars Express’ arrival at Mars, the mighty rules of celestial mechanics have again set Christmas as the date for a major ESA event in deep space. 

ESA’s SMART-1 is successfully making its first orbit of the Moon, a significant milestone for the first of Europe's Small Missions for Advanced Research in Technology (SMART) spacecraft. 

During the night of 15 to 16 November, ESA’s SMART-1 will reach the first of its closest approaches to the Moon after a 13-month journey. Then the spacecraft will begin adjusting its orbit around the Moon in preparation for a scientific investigation of its surface, starting in January. 

In preparation for the Women International Space Simulation for Exploration (WISE) study, which starts on 22 February next year, an official call for candidates to participate as test subjects was issued on 3 August. Over 700 women have responded in the 10 weeks since then, demonstrating strong interest in the study among potential participants. However, most of the applications are from France, where the WISE study is to take place, and ESA wishes to ensure that women from all over Europe get the chance to participate. 

From 10 to 14 October the ion engine of ESA’s SMART-1 carried out a continuous thrust manoeuvre in a last major push that will get the spacecraft to the Moon capture point on 13 November. 

To mark completion of the assembly of the Venus Express spacecraft, Alenia Spazio is holding a Venus Express Day on 4 October in Turin, Italy, in cooperation with Astrium SAS and the European Space Agency. 

One year after its launch on 27 September 2003, the SMART-1 spacecraft is in excellent health and preparing for the manoeuvres that will bring it into orbit around the Moon mid-November. The first mission phase, the aim of which was to test several innovative technologies, has been successfully completed. It included, in a first for Europe, testing of primary solar-electric propulsion and of a miniaturised payload for cruise science experiments, telecommunications and spacecraft navigation. 

Recent analyses of ESA’s Mars Express data reveal that concentrations of water vapour and methane in the atmosphere of Mars significantly overlap. This result, from data obtained by the Planetary Fourier Spectrometer (PFS), gives a boost to understanding of geological and atmospheric processes on Mars, and provides important new hints to evaluate the hypothesis of present life on the Red Planet. 

Completion of the cupola observation moduleDevelopment phase completion of the European-built observation module, or "cupola", for the International Space Station will be marked by a ceremony at the Alenia Spazio facility in Turin, Italy on Monday 6 September. The cupola, currently scheduled for launch in January 2009, is an observation and control tower for the ISS, with windows that will provide a panoramic view for observing and guiding operations on the outside of the station. The pressurised module will accommodate command and control workstations and other hardware, enabling crewmembers to control the station’s robotic arm - for attaching and assembling various station elements - and to communicate with other crewmembers in other parts of the station or outside during spacewalk activities. The cupola will also be used for observational applications in the areas of Earth observation and space science. 

ESA’s Mars Express has relayed pictures from one of NASA's Mars rovers for the first time, as part of a set of interplanetary networking demonstrations. The demonstrations pave the way for future Mars missions to draw on joint interplanetary networking capabilities. ESA and NASA planned these demonstrations as part of continuing efforts to co-operate in space exploration. 

In preparation for a 60-day Female Bed-Rest Study, which starts in January/February 2005, an official call for candidates to participate as test subjects has been issued. The study is a joint venture between the European Space Agency (ESA), the French space agency (CNES), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). It will be carried out by MEDES, the French Institute for Space Medicine and Physiology, in its clinical research facility at the Rangueil hospital in Toulouse, France. 

ESA astronaut Frank De Winne, a UNICEF goodwill ambassador since January 2003, and the Director General of UNICEF Belgium, Christian Wiener, will leave on 31 July for a short humanitarian mission to Darfur, Sudan. The Belgian Minister for Cooperation and Development, Armand De Decker, together with UNICEF Spain and UK representatives (Silvia Abascal Estrada, goodwill ambassador, UNICEF Spain; Elena Crego, Communications Officer, UNICEF Spain; Martin Bell, goodwill ambassador, UNICEF UK and David Bull, Executive Director, UNICEF UK) will be part of the delegation. 

Yesterday, 25 July at 09:05 CEST (15:05 local time) the Chinese National Space Administration successfully launched Tan Ce 2, the second of the Double Star science satellites. This marks the latest important milestone in the scientific collaboration between China and the European Space Agency.

The space agency leaders from the United States, Russia, Japan, Europe and Canada met at the ESA Technical Centre (ESTEC) in Noordwijk, The Netherlands, on 23 July 2004, to discuss International Space Station (ISS) cooperation activities. At this meeting, the ISS Partnership unanimously endorsed the ISS technical configuration and reviewed the status of ISS on-orbit operations and plans. The new ISS configuration is planned for completion by the end of the decade and will accommodate on-orbit elements from each of the ISS Partners. The configuration will enable increased utilization and will provide early opportunities for an enhanced crew of greater than three people. 

On 13 July ESA and EADS Space Transportation will sign a 1 billion Euro contract which allows Europe to start the initial exploitation of the International Space Station. The contract covers initial exploitation activities, in particular preparations for the operations of Columbus, ESA’s laboratory onboard the International Space Station, and the production of six European multifunctional cargo space ships, called "Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV)". 

After a seven-year cruise through the Solar System, the joint NASA/ESA/ASI Cassini-Huygens spacecraft last night successfully entered orbit around Saturn. The Cassini orbiter is now ready to begin its four-year survey of the planet and its moons, while the Huygens probe will be prepared for the next major mission milestone: its release toward the largest moon, Titan, in December. 

The ESA/NASA Cassini/Huygens mission (*), launched in October 1997, is currently heading for Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. The ESA probe Huygens will be the first ever to land on the surface of a moon in the outer Solar System, and as it does so, the NASA Cassini orbiter will continue to explore Saturn and its rings. 

ESA's comet-chaser Rosetta, whose 10-year journey to its final target Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko started on 2 March, is well on its way. The first phase of commissioning is close to completion and Rosetta has successfully performed its first scientific activity - observation of Comet Linear. 

Launched in October 1997, the ESA/NASA Cassini-Huygens mission* is currently heading for Saturn. While ESA’s Huygens probe will be the first ever to land on the surface of a moon in the outer Solar System, NASA’s Cassini orbiter will continue to explore Saturn and its rings. 

The Commission of Inquiry on Beagle 2, jointly set up in February between ESA and the British National Space Centre (BNSC), has recently concluded its investigations. A joint ESA/BNSC press conference in London on Monday 24 May will be the platform to expand on the lessons learned from the recommendations issued by the Commission of Inquiry and the action plan adopted to implement such recommendations. 

The 11-day DELTA mission to the International Space Station (ISS) came to a successful conclusion when the Soyuz TMA-3 command module, carrying Dutch ESA astronaut André Kuipers and the ISS Expedition 8 crew, touched down early this morning near the town of Arkalyk in Kazakhstan at 07:12 local time (02:12 Central European Summer Time) after a return flight of just over three hours. 

The DELTA mission, with European Space Agency astronaut André Kuipers from the Netherlands, and the ISS Expedition 9 crew, successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS) today. Docking by Soyuz TMA-4 with the nadir port of the Russian Zarya module took place at 07:01 Central European Time (CET). Following the scheduled post-docking checks, the hatch between the spacecraft and the ISS was opened at 08:27 CET.

The DELTA mission, with European Space Agency astronaut André Kuipers, and the ISS Expedition 9 crew lifted off today in the Soyuz TMA-4 spacecraft on flight 8S to the International Space Station. The launch took place from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 09.19 local time (05.19 Central European Time).

The launch of ESA’s Delta mission to the International Space Station (ISS) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan is currently scheduled for 19 April at 05:18 Central European Summer time (03:18 GMT - 09:18 local time). Docking with the ISS is scheduled for 21 April at about 07:00 CEST (05:00 GMT - 09:00 Moscow time), with the opening of the hatch at 08:25 CEST. The return to Earth is currently planned on 30 April. 

In the week that sees the 375th anniversary of the birth of the Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens, an international conference entitled ‘Titan: From Discovery to Encounter’ is taking place, from 13 to 17 April, at ESA’s European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), Noordwijk, the Netherlands. 

Fifteen years of fruitful cooperation in human spaceflight activities between Russia and the European Space Agency have set the stage for even closer cooperation. “Growing together” is the theme of a symposium to be held in Moscow on Friday 2 April, an occasion for ESA and the Russian Federal Space Agency, FKA (formerly Rosaviakosmos), to reflect on their shared achievements in human spaceflight over the past 15 years and their intentions for even closer cooperation in the short to long term. 

Today the Rosetta Science Working Team has made the final selection of the asteroids that Rosetta will observe at close quarters during its journey to Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Steins and Lutetia lie in the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. 

Europe’s Rosetta cometary probe has been successfully launched into an orbit around the Sun, which will allow it to reach the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in 2014 after three flybys of the Earth and one of Mars. During this 10-year journey, the probe will pass close to at least one asteroid. Rosetta is the first probe ever designed to enter orbit around a comet’s nucleus and release a lander onto its surface. For over a year it will conduct a thorough study of this remnant of the primitive nebula which gave birth to our Solar System about 5 billion years ago. 

After two successive delays, the launch of Rosetta is now scheduled for Tuesday 2 March at 04:17 a.m. or 04:37 a.m. Kourou time (08:17 or 08:37 a.m. CET) on board an Ariane-5 launcher from the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. 

A super-massive black hole has ripped apart a star and consumed a portion of it, according to data from ESA's XMM-Newton and NASA's Chandra X-ray observatories. These results are the best evidence yet that such a phenomenon, long predicted by theory, does actually happen. 

On 26 February at 04:36 a.m. Kourou time (07:36 a.m. GMT - 08:36 a.m. CET), Rosetta is scheduled to be launched on board an Ariane-5 launcher from the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. 

A pioneering demonstration of communications between the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter and NASA's Mars exploration rover, Spirit, has succeeded. 

Beagle 2, the British-built element of ESA's Mars Express mission, has failed to communicate since its first radio contact was missed shortly after it was due to land on Mars on Christmas Day. The Beagle 2 Management Board met in London on Friday 6 February and, following an assessment of the situation, declared Beagle 2 lost. 

With just 21 days to the launch of the European Space Agency's Rosetta comet mission, the spacecraft's lander has been named “Philae”. Rosetta embarks on a 10-year journey to Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko from Kourou, French Guiana, on 26 February. 

Mars Express, ESA’s first mission to Mars, will reach its final orbit on 28 January. It has already been producing stunning results since its first instrument was switched on, on 5 January. The significance of the first data was emphasised by the scientists at a European press conference today at ESA’s Space Operations Centre, Darmstadt, Germany.

ESA's Mars Express, successfully inserted into orbit around Mars on 25 December 2003, is about to reach its final operating orbit above the poles of the Red Planet. The scientific investigation has just started and the first results already look very promising. 

ESA’s Mars Express orbiter made its first attempt to establish contact with the Beagle 2 lander, after the two spacecraft separated on 19 December 2003. 

As of Wednesday 7 January 2004, and for the following three days, ESA’s Mars Express orbiter will be as little as 315 kilometres above the landing area of the still-silent Beagle 2. Since Christmas attempts to communicate with the tiny lander through NASA’s Mars Odyssey orbiter and radio telescopes on Earth have been unsuccessful. However, Mars Express and Beagle 2 are the only systems tested end-to-end, giving ESA more confidence of establishing contact with the lander in the coming days.