spacetoday.net: space news from around the webin association with SpaceNews


European ministers agree on Ariane 5 upgrade, Orion participation
Posted: Thu, Nov 22, 2012, 1:13 PM ET (1813 GMT)
ESA Ministers from the 20 member states of the European Space Agency (ESA) concluded their two-day meeting Wednesday, agreeing to develop an upgraded version of the Ariane 5 launch vehicle and to provide a service module for NASA's Orion spacecraft. ESA ministers decided to pursue development of an upgraded Ariane 5, called the Ariane 5 Midlife Evolution (ME), to increase the vehicle's payload capacity. ESA selected that option over immediate development of a successor vehicle, Ariane 6; ESA decided to instead fund design studies on the Ariane 6 and defer a decision on its development until 2014. Ministers also agreed to build a service module for NASA's Orion spacecraft as its contribution to ISS operations after 2017. Officials also made decisions on other ESA programs, including rejecting a German-led proposal for a robotic lunar lander mission but agreeing to cooperate with Russia on the ExoMars program.
<<previous article   next article>>
news in brief
Starship explodes during preparations for static-fire test
Posted: Sun, Jun 22 6:52 AM ET (1052 GMT)

French government leads investment in Eutelsat
Posted: Sat, Jun 21 8:38 AM ET (1238 GMT)

NASA further delays Ax-4 launch
Posted: Sat, Jun 21 8:34 AM ET (1234 GMT)

news links
Friday, July 4
The Inevitable Militarization Of Space?
Eurasia Review — 9:40 am ET (1340 GMT)


about spacetoday.net   ·   info@spacetoday.net   ·   mailing list