Dark and bright: ESA chooses next two science missions
The powerful influence of the Sun and the nature of the mysterious 'dark energy' motivate ESAs next two science missions. Solar Orbiter and Euclid were selected today by ESA's Science Programme Committee for implementation, with launches planned for 2017 and 2019. These two missions are medium-class missions and are the first in ESA's Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 Plan. Read more
European space concepts enter competition The European Space Agency (Esa) has selected four new mission concepts to compete for a launch opportunity at the start of the 2020s. The mission ideas cover a broad range of disciplines, from investigations of black holes and general relativity to a near-Earth asteroid sample-return and studies of planets orbiting far-away stars. Read more
The call will go out to Europe's scientists next week to come up with ideas for the next great space mission. The European Space Agency (Esa) will fund the winning proposal to the tune of several hundred million euros. The satellite - or even flotilla of craft if that is what the best concept requires - would be launched in the 2020-22 time frame. Read more
The competition to find the next great European space mission has seen three ideas move to the front of the field. The European Space Agency's (Esa) Science Programme Committee (SPC) will meet next month to consider the current status of the candidates. Read more
Details of M-class Cosmic Vision candidates now available
A series of formal presentations on the 6 medium-class candidate missions in the Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 plan was made to a large gathering of Europe's scientific community on 1 December. This meeting marks the end of the assessment phase and the start of the down-selection process. The assessment study reports are now available. Read more
Europe's scientists have presented the six dream space missions they would like to fly before 2020. The concepts ranged from a quest to map the "dark" components shaping the cosmos, to a plan to find far-off planets that most resemble Earth. The European Space Agency (Esa) will probably carry just three or four of the ideas forward for further study. Read more