The experts behind Gaia's arrival at nothingness

With a final, modest, thruster burn yesterday afternoon, ESA's billion-star surveyor finalised its entry into orbit around 'L2', a virtual point far out in space. But how do you orbit nothing? And who can show you how to ...

ESA's Cluster satellites in closest-ever 'dance in space'

(Phys.org) —Since 2000, the four identical satellites of the Cluster quartet have been probing Earth's magnetosphere in three dimensions. This week, two of them made their closest-ever approach, just 4 km, enabling valuable ...

Planck satellite manoeuvre aims at L2 arrival

(PhysOrg.com) -- Beginning today, ESA's Planck satellite will carry out a critical mid-course manoeuvre that will place the satellite on its final trajectory for arrival at L2, the second Lagrange point of the Sun-Earth system, ...

Image: ExoMars mission control team

This week, the ExoMars mission control team at ESA's centre in Darmstadt, Germany, is training to prepare for next month's arrival at the Red Planet.

Simulating the formation-flying future of space

(PhysOrg.com) -- All space missions are difficult. Docking a pair of spacecraft is tough but flying multiple satellites together in formation is the real cutting edge.

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