PIX4607323: Artist's view of the New Horizons probe near Pluto - New Horizons over Pluto and Charon - Artist's view of the New Horizons probe near Pluto and its largest satellite Charon. The New Horizons probe was launched on 19 January 2006 to Jupiter, then Pluto and Charon, which it will reach in 2015 and Kuiper's objects in 2020. Nasa's New Horizons unmanned spacecraft approaches dwarf planet Pluto and its moon Charon. New Horizons has been en route to Pluto since its launch from Earth in 2006 and is scheduled to make its closest approach on 14 July 2015. New Horizons is about the size and shape of a grand piano and weighed 1,054 pounds at launch. The high - gain dish antenna is about 7 feet in diameter and is employed for communication with the Earth. In this image the New Horizons spacecraft is about 15,000 miles from Pluto (upper right), 27,000 miles from its largest moon Charon (lower left) and 2.97 billion miles from the Earth. This side of the spacecraft on the left can be seen the Visible/Near Infrared Multi - Spectral Imager and the Short Wavelength Infrared Spectral Imager (aka “” Ralph”), and the Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph (aka “” Alice””). On the right extending about four feet from the main body of the spacecraft is the radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) which provides constant electric power for the 10 year mission from heat produced by 24 pounds of plutonium - 238. While little is known about Pluto's appearance, here this Kuiper belt dwarf planet is realized as a frozen world covered with various ices, hosting a thin atmosphere of nitrogen, methane and other hydrocarbons too possibly, with a significantly weathered surface as Pluto's 248 - year orbit alternately brings it closer then further from the warmth of the sun / Bridgeman Images
PIX4607482: Project Daedalus - Vue d'artiste - Daedalus project - Artist view - Daedalus was an interstellar space probe project written in the 1970s. The aim was to make a probe capable of examining the Barnard star system in order to study possible planets. A crewed starship based on the British Interplanetary Society's 1970's Daedalus design fires its nuclear pulse engine in interstellar space. The engine, capable of producing 0.01 gravity acceleration, boosts the ship to 10 percent the speed of light after ten years of thrust, Dixon, Don (b.1951) / Bridgeman Images
TEC4608049: The central switch point of the Swiss railway company in Bale, Switzerland. Architects Pierre De Meuron and Jacques Herzog, construction 1998-1999. Located behind the Munchenstein Bridge, like a giant monolith, this impressive building stands above the railways. For many, this specialised industrial construction is an architectural impertinence. This cube is coated with copper with a red gold tone whose reflections change according to the lighting and angle of view. Photography 10/06/05., Herzog, Jacques (b.1950) and Meuron, Jacques de (b.1950) / Bridgeman Images
PIX4606351: Probe Mars 3 - Mars 3 spacecraft - The landing gear of the Mars-3 probe was the first aircraft to land intact on Mars soil on December 2, 1971. Unfortunately, due to a heavy dust storm, it only operated for 20 seconds. The Soviet Mars 3 lander separates from its mother craft above Mars. The timing is unfortunate as the planet is experiencing a global dust storm. March - 3 was launched to Mars on May 28, 1971. On December 2, 1971 it's descent capsule made a soft landing on the surface of Mars. This mission was not successful, because of a dust storm on the Mars surface / Bridgeman Images
PIX4606570: Mars Exploration Rover - Artist's View - Mars Exploration Rover - Artist's View - Mars Exploration Rover is a Martian exploration mission composed of two probes housing two identical rovers, Spirit and Opportunity MER - A, the Spirit robot launched on June 10, 2003, landed on January 3, 2004 in the Gusev crater. MER - B, the Opportunity robot launched on July 8, 2003, landed on January 24, 2004 on Meridiani Planum / Bridgeman Images
LBY4640504: L'Ancien siege de L'est Republicain, 5bis avenue Foch (architect Pierre Lebourgeois, 1913) in Nancy (Meurthe and Moselle). In Nancy, Art Nouveau takes the name of Ecole de Nancy, or Alliance provincial des industries d'art, thanks in particular to the emblematic figure of Emile Galle. Glassware, furniture, stained glass, ceramics, leather, ironwork, architecture, etc. participate in this vast movement of renovation of decorative arts that still marks the city today., Lebourgeois, Pierre (1879-1971) / Bridgeman Images
PIX4640335: Artist view of an interstellar ship Ramjet - Boussard Interstellar Ramjet Engine - Artist view - Artist view of a spacecraft propelled with the help of the hydrogen collected in space; this hydrogen is captured at the front of the ship and then sent to a nuclear reactor or transformed to ensure propulsion. The Boussard Interstellar Ramjet engine concept uses interstellar hydrogen scooped up from its environment as the spacecraft passes by to provide propellant mass. The hydrogen is then ionized and then collected by an electromagnetic field / Bridgeman Images
LBY4640647: An architectural building, 22 rue de la Commanderie (Architect Georges Biet, 1903) in Nancy (Meurthe et Moselle). In Nancy, Art Nouveau takes the name of Ecole de Nancy, or Alliance provincial des industries d'art, thanks in particular to the emblematic figure of Emile Galle. Glassware, furniture, stained glass, ceramics, leather, ironwork, architecture, etc. participate in this vast movement of renovation of decorative arts that still marks the city today., Biet, Georges Emile (1869-1955) / Bridgeman Images
PIX4641848: Mercury - Atlas 8: Portrait Walter Schirra - Astronaut Walter M. Wally” Schirra, one of the original seven astronauts for Mercury Project selected by NASA on April 27, 1959. The MA-8 (Mercury - Atlas) mission with Sigma 7 spacecraft was the third manned orbital flight by the United States, and made the six orbits in 9 - 1/4 hours.” 1962. / Bridgeman Images
PIX4640586: Space Shuttle of the Future - Artist's View - Terrene shuttle on launch pad - Artist's view of a space shuttle of the future on his shooting pad. An imagined space shuttle of the future awaits launch in hazy twilight. This shuttle is referred to as “” terrene”” (meaning “” of the Earth”) to differentiate it from other space shuttles that may one day operate from the surface of the Moon and other planets / Bridgeman Images
PIX4641345: The European launch vehicle Vega - 2015 - European Vega Launcher - 2015: Launch of the European launch vehicle Vega, 11 February 2015; aboard the experimental space aircraft IXV. Vega VV04 carrying ESA's experimental spaceplane, IXV, lifted off from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on 11 February 2015. IXV will be released at 320 km and will then coast to 420 km before beginning a long glide back through the atmosphere. In the process, IXV will gather data on reentry conditions to help guide the design of future spaceplanes / Bridgeman Images
PIX4642307: Station Mir - Panel damage.10/1997 - Mir station with damaged solar panel. 10/1997 - The Mir space station seen from the shuttle Atlantis. A solar panel damage to the Spektr module is visible. One of the solar array panels on the Spektr Module shows damage incurred during the impact of a Russian unmanned Progress re - supply ship with collided with the space station on June 25, 1997 / Bridgeman Images
PIX4642513: LDEF Satellite - The LDEF (Long Duration Exposure Facility) satellite is being examined at the Kennedy Space Center in February 1990. This satellite remained in space for more than five years then was brought back to Earth to analyse the 57 experiments on board, intended to better understand the consequences of a long stay in space. / Bridgeman Images
PIX4642794: Communication satellite Hot Bird 7A - Hot Bird 7A satellite communication - View of the communication satellite Hot Bird 7A in clean room at the Guyanese Space Centre on 11 February 2006. Eutelsat's Hot Bird 7A direct broadcasting satellite is mated on top of the first fully operational Ariane 5 ECA launcher in the Final Assembly Building (BAF) of the Guiana Space Centre (CSG), Europe's spaceport, on February 11, 2006, in preparation for its launch on March 11 / Bridgeman Images
PIX4642928: Artemis communication satellite - Artemis satellite communication. Artwork - Artist's view of the European satellite Artemis (Advanced Relay and Technology Mission). Communication and relay satellite for other satellites, it was launched in July 2001. Built by ESA with an industrial team led by Italy's Alenia Spazio, Artemis carries three payloads plus a number of experiments developed to demonstrate new telecommunications technologies. The L - band Land Mobile (LLM) payload provides relay for two - way voice and data communications between fixed Earth stations and land mobiles - trucks, trains or cars - anywhere in Europe and North Africa. LLM is also broadcasting corrective GPS - like navigation signals for the European Global Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) programme, Europe's first satellite navigation system and a forerunner to the Galileo global navigation system. The other two primary payloads are designed to provide direct high data rate communications links between satellites and with ground stations in Europe. The Semiconductor laser Inter - satellite Link Experiment (SILEX) sends and receives data over a laser beam through an optical terminal equipped with a telescope. It has successfully been used with other terminals onboard France's Spot 4 remote sensing satellite or at a ground - based observatory on the Pico de Teide, in Tenerife, Canary Islands. The S/Ka - band Data Relay (SKDR) terminal provides high data rate communication links with low Earth orbiting satellites like Envisat, and will be used for communications with the Columbus laboratory onboard the International Space Station (ISS). The 3,106 - kg Artemis was launched on July 12, 2001, atop an Ariane 5G vehicle (V142) from the Guiana Space Centre, Europe's space port, in French Guiana. An anomaly during the upper stage burn resulted in a performance shortfall and Artemis had to use its onboard propellant and experimental ion thrusters to reach its final geostationary orbit. It / Bridgeman Images
PIX4643593: Bepicolombo will be a mission to explore the planet Mercury, carried out jointly by the Japanese Space Agency and the European Space Agency. Its launch is scheduled for October 2018, to reach Mercure in 2025. Two probes form the Bepicolombo mission, the Mercury Planet Orbiter (DFO), which will perform a complete mapping of the surface of Mercury and the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO), which will study the Mercurian magnetosphere. Here, the transfer module needed during the trip separates from the probe. / Bridgeman Images