Satellites info


		The Rosetta mission is an interplanetary mission whose main objective is to rendezvous with and make measurements of comet 67P/Churuymov-Gerasimenko, in 2014. The spacecraft will also carry the Rosetta Lander (Surface Science Package) to the nucleus and deploy it onto the comet's surface. The long mission duration has required the introduction of extended hibernation periods.


		The Double Star mission is a joint project of ESA and Chineese Space Agency. It is planned to be a significant addition to ESA Cluster II mission. The latter consists of four similar spacecraft and is part of ESA's and NASA's Solar-Terrestrial Science Program (STSP). The purpose of the mission is to study small-scale structures in three dimensions in the Earth's plasma environment, such as those involved in the interaction between the solar wind and the magnetospheric plasma, in global magnetotail dynamics, in cross-tail currents


		The mission's primary objective is to flight-test solar electric primary propulsion on a Moon voyage. Another objective is to test new technologies for spacecraft and instruments. The spacecraft will also carry out a complete program of scientific observations in lunar orbit.


		The main objective is to search for sub-surface water from orbit and drop a lander on the Martian surface. The scientific instruments onboard the orbiter will perform a series of remote sensing experiments designed to shed new light on the Martian atmosphere, the planet's structure and geology. After coming to rest on the surface, the lander Beagle 2 will perform exobiology and geochemistry research.


		Venus Express mission aims at exploring the Venusian atmosphere, plasma environment and the surface geology of Venus from an orbit. The spacecraft will be placed in a highly elliptical Venusian orbit (~250 x 66000 km) of quasi-polar inclination and 24 hours period, after a 150 day cruise. The nominal mission lifetime is two Venusian years (2 x 224 days) after orbit insertion.


		The task of INTEGRAL will be to gather the most energetic radiation that comes from space. INTEGRAL will be the most sensitive gamma-ray observatory ever launched. It will detect radiation from the most violent events far away and from processes that made the universe habitable.


		The Cluster II mission consists of four similar spacecraft and is part of ESA's and NASA's Solar-Terrestrial Science Program (STSP). The purpose of the mission is to study small-scale structures in three dimensions in the Earth's plasma environment, such as those involved in the interaction between the solar wind and the magnetospheric plasma, in global magnetotail dynamics, in cross-tail currents, and in the formation and dynamics of the neutral line and of plasmoids.


		ESA's X-ray space observatory is the biggest scientific satellite ever built in Europe, its telescope mirrors are the most powerful ever developed in the world, and with its sensitive cameras it will see infinitely more than any previous X-ray satellite.


		A joint NASA/ESA mission to explore the Saturnian system, including Saturn's atmosphere, rings and magnetosphere, and some of its moons - Titan and the icy satellites. The spacecraft comprise NASA's Cassini Orbiter and ESA's Huygens Probe. Arrival at Saturn is expected on 1 July 2004. Cassini Orbiter mission duration at Saturn is four years.


		The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, SOHO, is an international cooperative project between ESA and NASA to study the Sun. This space-based Observatory is viewing and investigating the Sun from its deep core, through its outer atmosphere - the 'corona' - and the domain of the solar wind, out to a distance ten times beyond the Earth's orbit.


		The Hubble Space Telescope (Hubble) is a joint ESA/NASA project and was launched in a low-Earth orbit 600 km above the ground in 1990 by the Space Shuttle mission STS-31. It is a long-term spacebased observatory. The observations are carried out in visible, infrared and ultraviolet light. Hubble has in many ways revolutionised modern astronomy, being a highly efficient tool for making new discoveries, but also by driving astronomical research in general.


		Ulysses is a space mission designed to explore the unknown region of space above the poles of the Sun. Launched by the Space Shuttle Discovery in October, 1990, Ulysses flew by Jupiter in February, 1992, where a gravity assist manoeuvre placed the spacecraft in a unique solar polar orbit, allowing it to fly over the south pole of the Sun in 1994 and over the north pole in 1995. With the first phase of its mission successfully completed, Ulysses has now embarked on a second orbit of the Sun, which it will complete in December, 2001.