Dawn of a new era: the revolutionary ion engine that took spacecraft to Ceres

Dawn of a new era: the revolutionary ion engine that took spacecraft to Ceres

The NASA spacecraft Dawn has spent more than seven years travelling across the Solar System to intercept the asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres. Now in orbit around Ceres, the probe has returned the first images and data from these distant objects. But inside

Earth’s gravity revealed in unprecedented detail

Earth’s gravity revealed in unprecedented detail

After just two years in orbit, ESA's GOCE satellite has gathered enough data to map Earth's gravity with unrivaled precision. Scientists now have access to the most accurate model of the 'geoid' ever produced to further our understanding of how Earth…