Latest news with #spaceagency
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
European Space Agency reveals 3 key space missions threatened by Trump's NASA budget cuts
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. The European Space Agency (ESA) has revealed that three of the 19 missions it is planning or operating in collaboration with NASA are at risk as a result of President Trump's proposed budget cuts, which could slash finances available to the U.S space agency by 24%. During a press conference held on Thursday (June 12), ESA Director of Science Carole Mundell revealed that the space-based gravitational wave observatory LISA, the Venus orbiter EnVision, and the largest X-ray observatory ever planned, NewAthena, could be threatened if the proposed NASA budget cuts in Trump's FY26 budget go ahead. ESA thinks that at this initial stage, the impact can be mitigated on the other 16 missions in collaboration with NASA, but the remaining three missions may require a rethink if they happen at all. "We're looking at three potential missions that, should the budget proposal come to pass as written, would require recovery actions. That's LISA, EnVision, the NewAthena," Mundell said. ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher added: "This is an ongoing negotiation in the United States. It is not for us as ESA to comment on these negotiations or to interfere, but we are impacted in quite a number of domains that are, at least at the moment, proposed for cancellations or reductions. "This will require that some of the activities may be frozen. No decisions or cancellations have yet been made because the decisions on the side of the U.S. are not yet finalized. We need to wait for the final decisions from the U.S." Mundell continued by underlining how deeply ESA values the collaboration between Europe and NASA, but added that Europe does have or could acquire the technical capabilities to reduce to reproduce missing elements. "That's something that we're now working through," she number of missions that could be threatened if ESA is forced to repurpose funds extends beyond the three missions mentioned above. Though the Nov. 16, 2025 launch of the sea-level rise monitoring Sentinel-6B spacecraft will go ahead as planned, its sibling mission, Sentinel-6C, could also be impacted by the proposed budget cuts if they are passed successfully. "It was my proposal when I was director of Earth observation, to rename a satellite Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich [after former director of the Earth Science Division in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters from 2006 to 2019]," Aschbacher added. "It would be a pity if Sentinel-6C were not funded or supported, as it is a successor of the mission Michael Freilich, which is still in space. We offered our satellite to be named after a NASA Administrator as a very visible sign of the of the deepness of the cooperation between NASA and ESA." Proposed U.S. budget cuts could also impact the planned Mars rover Rosalind Franklin, previously known as the ExoMars rover. That is because the robotic explorer named after the esteemed British chemist was set to feature several components supplied by NASA. ESA may now seek to develop on its own the technologies for the three main elements of the rover set to be provided by NASA: its launcher, radio isotope heater unit, and aerobraking engine. This will take time and may impact the mission's timeline, which would have seen Rosalind Franklin head to Mars in 2028. Related Stories: — Trump administration proposes slashing NASA budget by 24% — Experts alarmed as White House proposes 'largest single-year cut to NASA in American history' — Trump's 2026 budget plan would cancel NASA's Mars Sample Return mission. Experts say that's a 'major step back' Of course, nothing is yet set in stone, with the U.S. Congress yet to have the final say on how to allocate federal dollars. A final decision on the FY 2026 Discretionary Budget is expected in Fall 2025. Meanwhile, ESA will meet in late November to finalize its own budget. This means that the space agency may have to move ahead with contingency planning and budgeting before the final outcome of proposed U.S. budget cuts is known. "The timing is expected to be maybe just before decisions are being made, and the fiscal year 26 budget will be known for sure. We need to assess on one side, how much it costs to wait, and how long we can wait," Aschbacher said. "There is a lot of analysis and options that need to be verified and need to be discussed."In brief, the main highlight, or the main point, is that we have agreed to make sure that Europe is increasing its resilience and autonomy to make sure that we have the technologies we need in the near future."
The Guardian
11-06-2025
- Science
- The Guardian
Sun's south pole revealed for first time, in images from Solar Orbiter spacecraft
The sun's uncharted south pole has been revealed for the first time in striking images beamed back from the Solar Orbiter spacecraft. The joint European Space Agency (ESA) and Nasa mission swooped below the planetary plane and, for the first time, captured the sun's mysterious polar regions. The groundbreaking observations also mapped a chaotic patchwork of magnetic activity at the sun's pole that scientists say is key to understanding how the sun's field flips roughly every 11 years. 'Today we reveal humankind's first-ever views of the sun's pole,' said Prof Carole Mundell, the ESA's director of science. 'The sun is our nearest star, giver of life and potential disruptor of modern space and ground power systems, so it is imperative that we understand how it works and learn to predict its behaviour. These new unique views from our Solar Orbiter mission are the beginning of a new era of solar science.' The $1.3bn mission, which launched in 2020, shows the sun's south pole as recorded mid-March, when the craft had dipped to an angle of 15° below the solar equator to perform the mission's first high-angle observations. While the Earth – like a bar magnet – has a clear north and south, the sun's magnetism flips roughly every 11 years. The sun is currently at a solar maximum, the period when it builds up to a polarity flip, in which the south pole will become magnetic north and when sun spots and solar flares are most active. Solar Orbiter's first magnetic field measurements reveal a fragmented mosaic of both north and south polarity at the base of the sun. This patchwork of north and south had been predicted in computer models, but had never been confirmed in observations. Scientists say that tracking the dramatic changes in the sun's polar magnetic fields will be crucial to improving forecasting of the solar cycle. 'We didn't know what exactly to expect from these first observations – the sun's poles are literally terra incognita,' said Prof Sami Solanki, who leads the instrument mapping the magnetic field and is based at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Germany. The sun's magnetic cycle occurs because it does not rotate as a solid object, with its equator spinning faster (every 26 days) than its poles (33 days). This stretches and twists magnetic field lines around the sun until they become so unstable that north and south eventually flip. Prof Lucie Green, of UCL's Mullard Space Science Laboratory, who has worked on the mission since 2005, said: 'Everything in the atmosphere of the sun and whole character of the sun is generated by its magnetic field and how that changes over time. It goes from being a fairly quiet star to being really active and dynamic star with explosions in the atmosphere. Although the models predicted that the field should be mixed up, it's something else to actually see it.' In five or six years, the sun will reach its next solar minimum, during which its magnetic field is at its most orderly and the sun has the lowest levels of activity. Current models and predictions of the 11-year solar cycle fall short of being able to predict exactly when and how powerfully the sun will reach its most active state. The only previous mission to have flown above the sun's poles was Nasa's Ulysses probe, launched in 1990, but while it took measurements of the sun's magnetic field and solar wind, it did not have a camera. Solar Orbiter will continue to orbit around the Sun at a 17° tilt angle until 24 December 2026, when its next flight past Venus will tilt its orbit to 24° and in 2029, the spacecraft will rise to an angle of 33° above the planetary plane.
Yahoo
31-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Trump Drops Jared Isaacman as Nominee for NASA Chief
White House says next space agency leader should be completely aligned with 'President Trump's America First agenda.'
The National
28-05-2025
- General
- The National
SpaceX's latest Starship test flight ends with another explosion
The test flight ended in failure as the rocket spun out of control and disintegrated during re-entry over the Indian Ocean
Malay Mail
19-05-2025
- Science
- Malay Mail
‘Mission could not be accomplished': India space agency fails 101st try, satellite lost
NEW DELHI, May 19 — India's space agency failed in its landmark mission after an Earth observation satellite atop a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) was lost shortly after lift-off on Sunday. 'Today 101st launch was attempted, PSLV-C61 performance was normal till 2nd stage. Due to an observation in 3rd stage, the mission could not be accomplished,' the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said on social media platform X. The 22-hour countdown to launch the EOS-09 Earth observation satellite from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh state began on Saturday morning. The PSLV rocket, introduced in the 1990s, is considered the space agency's trusted workhorse. PSLVs failed only twice before Sunday's setback, local media reported. — Bernama
