http://cache.io9.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/io9.com.png http://io9.com/tag/european space agency http://io9.com/tag/european space agency

This is devastating news. The BBC is reporting that ExoMars — a joint program between NASA and the European Space Agency with Martian missions scheduled for 2016 and 2018 — is on the ropes, owing to America's budgetary woes. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5882698&view=rss&microfeed=true

Passenger planes capable of hypersonic speeds, or five times the speed of sound, have been a dream of engineers for decades. Now, there's a real plan in place to build one. It's just going to take a long time. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5872318&view=rss&microfeed=true

The asteroid belt is full of remnants of the ancient solar system, giant clumps of rock that might have formed a planet under different circumstances. Now we've found the first asteroid that's exactly how it was billions of years ago. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5854581&view=rss&microfeed=true

This image reveals the dark sediments and worn path of what was once a river delta, connecting a river with its lake terminus. Though this river bed has been dry for eons, it's proof that rivers once ran on Mars. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5837206&view=rss&microfeed=true

NASA has released a map charting the movement of massive ice sheets on the continent of Antarctica. By compiling these maps into animations like the one shown above, researchers can, for the very first time, examine how the outward flow of the continent's ice sheets could help us predict future rises in sea level. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5832760&view=rss&microfeed=true

Molecular windstorms are ripping through the universe at 10,000 times the speed of the most powerful Earth hurricane. These super-sized storms can strip galaxies of the raw materials needed to make new stars in just 100 million years. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5802807&view=rss&microfeed=true

This awesome video, courtesy of the European Space Agency, takes us through the optical, ultraviolet, microwave, and infrared wavelengths to reveal our neighboring galaxy Andromeda in quite literally every possible light. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5796258&view=rss&microfeed=true

Most of the craters created by meteorite and asteroid impacts are round, nothing like this strangely elongated, oval-shaped crater recently discovered on Mars. This crater just might be the trendiest meteorite landing spot on all of Mars. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5777714&view=rss&microfeed=true

At 1 PM yesterday in Moscow, three astronauts from the European Space Agency's 520-day simulated trip to Mars finally touched down on a 10 meter by 6 meter recreation of the planet's Gusev Crater. From the ESA: More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5761065&view=rss&microfeed=true

This is one of our closest galactic neighbors, the Andromeda Galaxy, seen in three different kinds of light: visible, infrared, and x-ray. These three very different views are then combined together to create one amazingly beautiful composite image. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5726299&view=rss&microfeed=true

The introduction of invasive species through the ballast water carried in ocean-going vessels is one of the biggest threats to marine environments. The ESA is using weapons hundreds of miles above the ocean surface in this environmental battle. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5721511&view=rss&microfeed=true

Planck and Herschel might sound like a particularly nerdy Vaudeville act, but they're actually two new space telescopes that scientists are hoping to use to discover the origins of the universe as we know it. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5237483&view=rss&microfeed=true

There is an organism living on this planet who can travel through space without a suit. Cute, unassuming little invertebrates, these organisms are called tardigrades, or water bears, and usually spend their days crawling around on a piece of nice wet moss in a forest, or meandering through our vast oceans. They only grow to be about 1.5 millimeters long, but over 1,000 species of them inhabit the planet, and they all have a superpower unmatched by any other species on Earth. No now knows why, but tardigrades can withstand temperatures as cold as liquid nitrogen, radiation doses that would kill a human 100 times over, thrive in an outer-space-like vacuum, and survive without water for years. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5023871&view=rss&microfeed=true

Growing up in Britain in the 1980s, I was ridiculously jealous of those living in America, because Back To The Future made it look so cool. Living in America today, I am now ridiculously jealous of those growing up in Britain. Why? Because the European Space Agency is inviting European university students to fly around in simulated zero-G as part of their education. If you people actually had time-traveling DeLoreans, it wouldn't hurt so much, you know. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5015577&view=rss&microfeed=true

Get ready for the first gadgets to be stamped with the words, "Made In Space." The European Space Agency has plans to manufacture lightweight metal compounds under zero-gravity conditions on the International Space Station. The new materials could boost the efficiency of hydrogen engines and make aircraft faster, more powerful and less expensive to build. If we can achieve the proper thrust-to-weight ratio, jet-powered aircraft could become cheap enough that everyone can afford one. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=389381&view=rss&microfeed=true

The European Space Agency successfully completed a major test of the Jules Verne Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) on Monday, moving within 11 meters of the International Space Station. Tomorrow, in a final test, it will reach the ISS dock. The Jules Verne ATV, seen here from the ISS, is an amazing multi-purpose vehicle that will take over the cargo-ferrying duties of the Soviet Progress vessels and the American Space Shuttle, schlepping critical supplies to astronauts on-board the ISS. It's essentially a beta version of the kinds of vehicles that will bring beer and donuts to moon bases for hungry lunar tourists. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=374843&view=rss&microfeed=true

NASA may have failed to prove there's an underground ocean on Saturn's moon Enceladus, but now scientists claim they've found outstanding new evidence that there may be a vast ocean under the surface of Saturn's largest moon, Titan. In this newly released image, Titan peeks out from behind Saturn while another moon, Tethys, streaks past the planet's shadowy rings. Click through for a gorgeous Titan gallery. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=371616&view=rss&microfeed=true

Here's an orthoimage of the famous Olympus Mons on Mars, with the different colors representing different elevations. It's just a taste of the 3-D goodness to come. The European Space Agency is getting ready to release a new high-resolution Digital Terrain Model dataset that will let researchers build their own 3-D models of Mars' topography. The data comes thanks to the High Resolution Stereo Camera on the ESA's Mars Express orbiter. Knowing exactly where the surface of Mars is in relation to other features will help scientists interpret radar data and other studies. And maybe make insanely detailed Mars globes. I totally want one. [ESA] More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=353111&view=rss&microfeed=true