European Space Weather Week (ESWW)

What is the probability a solar storm will occur? – Will the solar panels of satellites in a geostationary orbit be damaged? – Can the sun cause radar blackouts disrupting air traffic?

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The Belgian instrument LaRa (for Lander Radioscience) has been selected for the ExoMars Platform 2018

Introduction
The European Space Agency (ESA) in collaboration with the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) has chosen the set of instruments to be put on the ExoMars platform to be launched in 2018. This platform is part of the ExoMars mission that will deliver in 2019 the ESA-built rover to the Martian surface. Among the chosen instruments is the Belgian transponder [...]

A team led by Belgian researchers of the Observatory selected by ESA

First discovery of a magnetic field in a normal delta Scuti star (*)

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The Perseids – Watching and Listening to Falling Stars

Like every year, Earth will pass mid August through the trajectory of the dust cloud left behind comet Swift-Tuttle very likely giving us a night sky filled with bright falling stars. The moon will be in a cooperative mood and won’t shed its light, thus promising a dark night. Meteors can also be heart on radio, when transmitted radio signals [...]

UPWARDS, a cutting-edge European project for global understanding of Mars

To prepare the future mission to Mars ( as e.g. the ESA mission ExoMars), a consortium of seven European scientific institutions, coordinated by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA-CSIC, Spain), will develop new analytical techniques to exploit data of existing missions to Mars. [...]

Prestigious European Grant for Dr. Véronique Dehant

The European Research Council (ERC) has announced the award of its prestigious Advanced Grants to 190 senior researchers. The funding, worth in total €445 million, will enable them and their teams to pursue ground-breaking ideas. One of these researchers is Dr. Véronique Dehant of ROB, with the project RotaNut: Rotation and Nutation of a wobbly Earth.
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Testing is underway on NASA’s next mission to Mars

A lander called InSight, an abbreviation for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, is scheduled to launch in March 2016. It will be the first mission devoted to understanding the interior structure of the Red Planet. [...]

ML 4.1 earthquake close to Ramsgate, Kent (UK)

Press release May 22, 2015 09:10

An ML 4.1 earthquake occured last night at 03h52 (local time) close to Ramsgate, Kent (UK).
The relatively great depth, estimated at 15 km, explains why no damage has been observed in the epicentral area, and why this event was felt in a broad area, up to a distance of 250 km from the epicenter. [...]

Award for Wei Huang

Wei Huang, a PhD student in the Operational Directorate “Reference System and Planetology” of the ROB, has obtained the best student paper award at the IEEE International Frequency Control Symposium and European Frequency and Time Forum 2015, in Denver, Colorado.

Wei Huang was awarded for his work on time transfer using the BeiDou satellite signals, the Chinese equivalent of the GPS. [...]