All Articles in Space Exploration

October 20th, 2018 - The BepiColombo mission to explore Mercury was launched by Arianespace this evening from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana (South America). But scientists will have to be patient to discover the mysteries of the closest planet to the Sun. As they say, “all good things come to those who wait...” This time it will take seven years, on an incredible journey through the Solar System, before Mercury is in our crosshairs. No point getting hot under the collar either, since Mercury, as you probably know, is very “hot stuff” indeed. You’ll just have to cool your heels until BepiColombo reaches what Jacques Brel called the “unreachable star” in his famous song, “The Impossible Dream” (La Quête/”The Quest” in the original French).

BepiColombo probe will reveal the mysteries of the smallest and least explored planet in the Solar System

October 4th , 2018 – Thales Alenia Space, the joint company between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), announced today that it has signed a contract with OHB System AG for the new ESA program PLATO (PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars) . OHB System AG will be the prime contractor with Thales Alenia Space as a partner. PLATO will be the third medium-class (M3) science mission in ESA’s Cosmic Vision Program, following Solar Orbiter (M1) and Euclid (M2), and preceding Ariel (M4). The satellite will be launched in 2026 for an initial mission length of 4.5 years.

Cannes, September 4, 2018 - Thales Alenia Space, joint venture between Thales 67% and Leonardo 33%, announced today to have signed contracts with the European Space Agency (ESA) for the Phase A/B1 studies of two elements of LOP-G (Lunar Orbital Platform - Gateway), formerly known as the Deep Space Gateway.

The space probe took the farthest pictures ever taken at 6.12bn km helped by Thales.

Juno spacecraft reached Jupiter after a 5-year journey!