How NASA’s OSIRIS-APEX asteroid probe survived its first close encounter with the sun

an animation of a cube-shaped spacecraft with two rectangular wing-like solar panels passing in front of the sun

OSIRIS-APEX emerged “unscathed” from its closest brush ever with our sun on January 2, scientists announced on Tuesday (May 28). The probe, originally known as OSIRIS-RExcompleted its sample return mission to asteroid Bennu and is now heading for the space rock Apophis on an extended mission. This new mission calls for OSIRIS-APEX to slide 25 … Read more

Europe seeks to emulate NASA’s revolutionary commercial payload program

Larger / A rendering of Thales Alenia Space’s proposed European cargo reentry vehicle. Thales Alecia Space The European Space Agency has awarded initial contracts to a Germany-based startup and one of the continent’s established aerospace companies to develop spacecraft to transport cargo to and from space stations in low Earth orbit. ESA announced the two … Read more