Latest news with #Ariane6
Yahoo
20 hours ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Venturi Space Shows Off Its Pitch for a New Lunar Lander
Monaco-based Venturi Space has debuted a new design for a next-generation lunar rover that it's calling Mona Luna. It's a pitch that it hopes the European Space Agency (ESA) will pick up during its ministerial conference later this year. It includes a new deformable wheel design and a sleek, futuristic look, with instruments held near the center to protect against harsh moon temperature swings throughout the day/night cycle. The Venturi Space pitch is that the ESA already has a lunar launch vehicle in the Ariane 6, and a lunar lander in the Argonaut for future payload delivery to the Moon. But what it doesn't have, though, is a lunar rover, and Venturi wants to be the company to provide it, as reports. Mona Luna is a next-generation rover design that looks sleek and futuristic, eschewing the gangly, many-limbed rovers we're used to seeing exploring Mars in recent years. That's because the Mona Luna keeps most of its instruments internally to better protect them against the extreme elements and temperature swings that can be experienced on the moon's surface. In the above concept video, Venturi shows the rover opening its back panel to reveal a number of modular sensors and tools, which the articulating arm can attach and detach to and from at will. That allows a single arm to provide the full functionality of the rover, cutting back on overall costs and weight in the design. It also allows each instrument to have the same level of flexible control. Another technology Venturi is pioneering for this design is its deformable wheels. These wheels are capable of handling extreme temperature swings from -240 degrees C to 130 degrees C while retaining the same strength and support so that the rover can continue to operate even in the lunar south pole. This hyper-mobile wheel design should also let the rover traverse more demanding surface conditions, letting it travel where previous rovers would be unable to even attempt. Although the rover's weight is 1650 pounds, with payloads, it could reach as high as 4,400 pounds. The wheels are designed to handle that while still maintaining the ability to reach nine miles per hour or up to 12 miles per hour with lighter payloads. If Venturi is successful in convincing the ESA to provide some of its budget for a rover contract, it will be able to show proof of its concepts before a potential 2030+ mission. The wheel technologies are being used in the next generation of NASA's own lunar vehicle, the Flex Rover, currently under development at California-based Astrolab. That vehicle is expected to launch for a lunar south pole mission sometime in 2026 or 2027.
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
ESA at 50: looking back and launching forward
The European Space Agency marked its 50th anniversary in May, kicking off a landmark year of mission launches and strategic planning. With the ESA Ministerial Council set to meet in November, Director General Josef Aschbacher reflected on five decades of progress and outlined the agency's future in exploration, climate science, navigation, and global collaboration. Since its founding in 1975, ESA has contributed to a broad range of scientific and technological areas. One of its most notable moments came in 2014 with the Rosetta mission, when the Philae lander became the first human-made object to land on a comet. The event drew global attention and is considered a major milestone in robotic space exploration. Copernicus and Galileo ESA has also developed long-running programmes such as Copernicus and Galileo, which continue to serve scientific, environmental, and practical purposes. Copernicus, the European Union's Earth observation programme, uses satellite data to monitor environmental changes. According to ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher, 'Without those satellites that we have built - and Europe has built many of those - we would not understand the extent of climate change.' Ariane 6 rocket debuts successfully restoring Europe's space independence New objectives? Read more on RFI EnglishRead also:Vega-C launch marks milestone for Europe's space programmeEurope's new Ariane 6 rocket set for inaugural launch from French Guiana
Time of India
13-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
EU faces heat over millions paid to Musk firms
The EU handed over hundreds of millions of euros to companies belonging to the world's richest man, Elon Musk , a key ally of US President Donald Trump and frequent critic of the bloc, a document seen by AFP showed Tuesday. German Green EU lawmaker Daniel Freund sent a letter in March to the European Commission, asking for information about EU funding to Musk-linked businesses. In a response to Freund, the European Commission said it paid around 159 million euros ($176 million) to automaker Tesla to build charging stations for electric cars in 2023. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 2025 Top Trending local enterprise accounting software [Click Here] Esseps Learn More Undo It also said in 2024, the EU commissioned Musk's SpaceX to launch satellites for the European Galileo satellite system , in a contract worth around $197 million. The commission said it used SpaceX "due to delays in the commissioning of Ariane 6, the standard launch vehicle for Galileo". Live Events The EU also paid Musk's X 630,000 euros for paid advertising on the social media platform until it suspending use of such services in October 2023. Discover the stories of your interest Blockchain 5 Stories Cyber-safety 7 Stories Fintech 9 Stories E-comm 9 Stories ML 8 Stories Edtech 6 Stories Transatlantic relations have hit historic lows since Trump returned to the White House in January and Musk has attacked the EU's digital laws as censorship. Critics including Freund cite that as good reason for the EU to pull the plug on payments to the tech billionaire. "This man is an outspoken enemy of the EU and our core values. It is unacceptable that we continue to pay the richest man in the world hundreds of millions," Freund said on X.
The Hindu
13-05-2025
- Business
- The Hindu
EU faces heat over millions paid to Musk firms
The EU handed over hundreds of millions of euros to companies belonging to the world's richest man, Elon Musk, a key ally of U.S. President Donald Trump and frequent critic of the bloc, a document seen by AFP showed On Tuesday (May 13, 2025). German Green EU lawmaker Daniel Freund sent a letter in March to the European Commission, asking for information about EU funding to Musk-linked businesses. In a response to Mr. Freund, the European Commission said it paid around 159 million euros ($176 million) to automaker Tesla to build charging stations for electric cars in 2023. It also said that in 2024, the EU commissioned Mr. Musk's SpaceX to launch satellites for the European Galileo satellite system, in a contract worth around $197 million. The commission said it used SpaceX 'due to delays in the commissioning of Ariane 6, the standard launch vehicle for Galileo'. The EU also paid Mr. Musk's X 630,000 euros for paid advertising on the social media platform until it suspends the use of such services in October 2023. Transatlantic relations have hit historic lows since Mr. Trump returned to the White House in January and Mr. Musk has attacked the EU's digital laws as censorship. Critics, including Mr. Freund, cite that as good reason for the EU to pull the plug on payments to the tech billionaire. 'This man is an outspoken enemy of the EU and our core values. It is unacceptable that we continue to pay the richest man in the world hundreds of millions,' Mr. Freund said on X.
Local Norway
31-03-2025
- Science
- Local Norway
European orbital rocket crashes in Norway shortly after launch
The Spectrum rocket, developed by German start-up Isar Aerospace, started smoking from its sides, then crashed back to Earth with a powerful explosion just after launching from Norway's Andøya Spaceport in the Arctic, in live video broadcast on YouTube. Isar Aerospace, which had said it did not expect to reach orbit with the launch, said the two-stage rocket fell into the sea, adding that "the launch pad seems to be intact". Andøya Space, the Norwegian public firm that operates the spaceport, said "crisis response" measures had been activated following the "incident". Regional police said no injuries or damage beyond the rocket itself had been reported. Orbital rockets are designed to place loads such as satellites into or beyond Earth's orbit. 'Great success' Ahead of the launch, which had been repeatedly postponed due to weather conditions, Isar Aerospace had downplayed expectations, saying the goal was not to reach orbit in its first attempt. "Our first test flight met all our expectations, achieving a great success. We had a clean liftoff, 30 seconds of flight and even got to validate our Flight Termination System," said Daniel Metzler, the firm's co-founder and chief executive. In an online press conference following the launch, Metzler insisted Isar was "very well positioned" to take advantage of the rocket-to-satellite market, adding that the company would "make the adjustments that are necessary" to the spacecraft. Two more Spectrum rockets are already in development, the company said. The 28-metre (92-foot) tall, two-metre diameter rocket has a one-tonne carrying capacity, but was unloaded for the test flight. Spectrum's blast-off was the first of an orbital launch vehicle from the European continent, excluding Russia, and Europe's first financed almost exclusively by the private sector. Advertisement "Today is an important day for German and European space travel," said German Economy Minister Robert Habeck. "Isar Aerospace can and will make a decisive contribution to securing Europe's independent access to space." A first European orbital launch attempt was made in 2023 by billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit. It attempted to use a Boeing 747 to launch a rocket into orbit from southwest England, but failed, and the company folded. 'New Space' Europe has had no access to Russian space stations or launchers since Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, which sent diplomatic relations on a downward spiral. Europe's space industry has also seen delays in the development of the Ariane 6 rocket and the suspension of the Vega-C satellite launcher after an accident. It wasn't until March 6, when the first commercial flight of an Ariane 6 rocket took off from French Guyana, that Europe was able to regain launch independence after several months without its own access to space for heavy payloads. While the US already has giants such as Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos-founded Blue Origin, in Europe, commercial space activities driven by private companies -- dubbed "New Space" -- are still in their infancy. Advertisement Isar Aerospace was founded in 2018 in Munich. Europe is also home to Germany's HyImpulse and Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA), French groups Latitude and MaiaSpace and Spain's PLD Space, all racing to establish themselves as key players in the sector. Sunday's launch generated "tonnes of data that the teams can now evaluate and learn from", an Isar Aerospace commentator said on the YouTube live stream. In parallel with the development of new rockets, a number of spaceport projects have emerged across Europe, from the Portuguese Azores to the British Shetland Islands, Norway's Andoya and Esrange in neighbouring Sweden, many vying to be the first to launch.
