A solar-powered airplane finished crossing the United States on Saturday, landing in New York City after flying over the Statue of Liberty during its historic bid to circle the globe, the project team said. The spindly, single-seat experimental aircraft, dubbed Solar Impulse 2, arrived at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport at about 4 a.m. local time after it took off about five hours beforehand at Lehigh Valley International Airport in Pennsylvania, the team reported on the airplane's website. Such a pleasure to land in New York! For the 14th time we celebrate sustainability," said the project's co-founder Andre Borschberg on Twitter after flying over the city and the Statue of Liberty during the 14th leg of the trip around the globe. The Swiss team flying the aircraft in a campaign to build support for clean energy technologies hopes eventually to complete its circumnavigation in Abu Dhabi, where the journey began in March 2015. The solar cr...
European scientists are meeting to consider their best option for exploring Europa, the moon of Jupiter
They have a number of ideas that could fit as add-ons to US missions that are likely to be launched in the 2020s. The concepts range from remote-sensing instruments to penetrators that would try to burrow beneath Europa's ice-encrusted surface. Whatever option is chosen, it will first have to win the support of the European Space Agency. The Paris-based organisation is about to issue a call for proposals to fill a medium-cost launch opportunity - and the invitation will cover the full gamut of space exploration, not just planetary science. Nonetheless, there is an offer on the table to Esa from its American counterpart, Nasa, to participate in the Europa ventures. These missions will likely include a probe, to be launched in 2022, that will make repeated passes of the moon. It is very probable also that Nasa will send another craft to make a soft landing. This could launch in 2022 with the first mission, or separately a couple of years later. ...