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In 1968 Shirley Chisholm became the first Black woman elected to the United States Congress. In 1972 she launched a campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, breaking another political barrier.
MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
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| Names | Atmospheric Remote-sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large-survey |
|---|---|
| Mission type | Space telescope |
| Operator | European Space Agency |
| Website | esa.int: Ariel arielmission |
| Mission duration | 4 years (planned)[1] |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Launch mass | 1,300 kg (2,900 lb) [2] |
| Dry mass | 1,000 kg (2,200 lb) |
| Payload mass | 300 kg (660 lb) |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 2031 (planned)[3] |
| Rocket | Ariane 62 |
| Launch site | Guiana Space Centre, Kourou, ELA-4 |
| Contractor | Arianespace |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Sun–Earth L2 orbit[1] |
| Main Cassegrain reflector | |
| Diameter | 1.1 × 0.7 m |
| Focal length | f/13.4 |
| Collecting area | 0.64 m2 |
| Wavelengths | visible and near-infrared |
| Instruments | |
| Telescope assembly (TA) Ariel infrared spectrometer (AIRS) Fine Guidance System (FGS) | |
 ESA insignia | |
Ariel (Atmospheric Remote-sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large-survey) is a planned space telescope and the fourth medium-class mission of the European Space Agency's Cosmic Vision programme. The mission is aimed at observing at least 1,000 known exoplanets using the transit method, studying and characterising the planets' chemical composition and thermal structures. Compared to the James Webb Space Telescope, Ariel will be a much smaller telescope with more observing time available for planet characterisation. Ariel was expected to be launched in 2029 aboard an Arianespace Ariane 6 together with the Comet Interceptor into the Sun-Earth Lagrange point L2.[4][5][6] However as of January 2026, it is likely to be delayed until 2031.[3]
The Ariel mission is being developed by a consortium of various institutions from eleven member states of the European Space Agency (ESA),[a] and international contributors from four countries.[b] The project is led by principal investigator Giovanna Tinetti of the University College London,[8][9] who had previously led the unsuccessful Exoplanet Characterisation Observatory (EcHO) proposal for the M3 Cosmic Vision launch slot.[10][11]; alongside RAL Space, STFC for the PLM engineering consortium leadership.
Operations of the mission and the spacecraft will be handled jointly by ESA and the consortium behind the mission's development, through a coordinated Instrument Operations and Science Data Centre (IOSDC).[7] A Mission Operations Centre (MOC) will be set up at the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany, while a concurrent Ariel Science Operations Centre (SOC) will be set up at the European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) near Madrid, Spain.[7] The MOC will be responsible for the spacecraft itself, while the SOC will be responsible for archiving mission data and scientific data downlinked from the spacecraft. The IOSDC will help develop results from the mission based on data received by the SOC.[7]
Ariel will observe 1,000 planets orbiting distant stars and make the first large-scale survey of the chemistry of exoplanet atmospheres.[12] The objective is to answer fundamental questions about how planetary systems form and evolve.[12] A spectrometer will spread the light into a spectrum and determine the chemical fingerprints of gases in the planets' atmospheres.[12] This will enable scientists to understand how the chemistry of a planet links to the environment in which it forms, and how its formation and evolution are affected by its parent star.[12] Ariel will study a diverse population of exoplanets in a wide variety of environments, but it will focus on warm and hot planets in orbits close to their star.[12]
The design of the Ariel spacecraft is based on that intended for the Exoplanet Characterisation Observatory (EChO) mission, and has heritage from the thermal design of the Planck space observatory.[7][13] The body of the spacecraft is split into two distinct modules known as the Service Module (SVM) and the Payload Module (PLM). The PLM will complete its Assembly, Integration and Test (AIT) at RAL Space, STFC. The PLM consists of three aluminium V-Grooves and three pairs of low conductivity fibreglass bipod struts supporting the PLM.[13] A basic horizontal telescope configuration is used for the PLM itself, housing all of the spacecraft's scientific instruments and its oval 1.1 m × 0.7 m (3 ft 7 in × 2 ft 4 in) primary mirror.[13][1] At launch, the spacecraft will have a fuelled mass of 1,300 kg (2,900 lb), and will have a dry mass of 1,000 kg (2,200 lb).[1] The PLM will account for around 300 kg (660 lb) of that mass.[1]
The Ariel telescope's assembly is an off-axis Cassegrain telescope followed by a third parabolic mirror to recollimate the beam. The telescope uses an oval 1.1 m × 0.7 m (3 ft 7 in × 2 ft 4 in) primary mirror; the imaging quality of the system is limited by diffraction for wavelengths longer than about 3 μm, and its focal ratio (f) is 13.4.[14] The system will acquire images in the visible and near-infrared spectrum.[14] The near-infrared sensor and its front-end driver board is the same as that of Euclid's NISP instrument. To operate its infrared spectroscope between 1.95–7.8 μm, the telescope will be cooled to a temperature of 55 K (−218.2 °C; −360.7 °F).[7][14]
Ariel's 1.1-m-diameter primary mirror will be the largest telescope mirror ever constructed completely from aluminium.[15][16] It will be built in a conventional way from a single large piece of metal.[17] However, for future space telescopes, ESA is developing techniques for joining together multiple aluminium segments to form a single large mirror.[18]
In August 2017, NASA conditionally selected Contribution to ARIEL Spectroscopy of Exoplanets (CASE) as a Partner Mission of Opportunity, pending the result of ESA's Cosmic Vision selection.[19] Under the proposal NASA provides two fine guidance sensors for the Ariel spacecraft in return for the participation of U.S. scientists in the mission.[20] CASE was officially selected in November 2019, with JPL astrophysicist Mark Swain as principal investigator.[21]
In March 2018, ESA officially selected Ariel as its fourth medium-class science mission. At that time, its launch was planned for 2028.[22][23][24] In November 2020, Ariel moved from study to implementation phase, with a launch scheduled for 2029.[25] On 7 December 2021, ESA announced that the €200 million contract to build Ariel's SVM had been awarded to Airbus Defence and Space.[26] In August 2023, Ariel passed its payload Preliminary Design Review.[27] On 6 December 2023, ESA approved the construction of Ariel while maintaining a targeted launch date of 2029.[28]
In October 2024, the mission's construction phase has started at Airbus in Toulouse, France with the assembly of Ariel's structural model.[29]
The Ariel spacecraft is expected to be launched in 2031[3] by Arianespace's Ariane 62 launch vehicle.[26][25][30][31] It will be launched from the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana,[30][31] from ELA-4 purpose-built for Ariane 6 launches.[32] Ariel will be launched to the Sun-Earth Lagrange point L2, in a position located at a distance of 1,500,000 km (930,000 mi) from Earth,[30] where it will encounter a very stable thermal environment that is required for its operations.[31]
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
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Source: Wikipedia. Article content is retrieved live through the MediaWiki API.
Ariel (Atmospheric Remote-sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large-survey) is a planned space telescope and the fourth medium-class mission of the European Space Agency's Cosmic Vision programme. The mission is aimed at observing at least 1,000 known exoplanets using the transit method, studying and characterising the planets' chemical composition and thermal structures. Compared to the James Webb Space Telescope, Ariel will be a much smaller telescope with more observing time available for planet characterisation. Ariel was expected to be launched in 2029 aboard an Arianespace Ariane 6 together with the Comet Interceptor into the Sun-Earth Lagrange point L2. However as of January 2026, it is likely to be delayed until 2031.
Ariel may refer to:
Ariel "Arik" Sharon (Hebrew: אֲרִיאֵל "אָרִיק" שָׁרוֹן, [aʁiˈ(ʔ)el ʃaˈʁon] ; 26 February 1928 – 11 January 2014) was an Israeli general and politician who served as the prime minister of Israel from March 2001 until April 2006. Born in Kfar Malal in Mandatory Palestine to Russian Jewish immigrants, he rose in the ranks of the Israeli Army from its creation in 1948, participating in the 1948 Palestine war as platoon commander of the Alexandroni Brigade and taking part in several battles. Sharon became an instrumental figure in the creation of Unit 101 and the reprisal operations, including the 1953 Qibya massacre, as well as in the 1956 Suez Crisis, the Six-Day War of 1967, the War of Attrition, and the Yom-Kippur War of 1973. Yitzhak Rabin called Sharon "the greatest field commander in our history". Upon leaving the military, Sharon entered politics, joining the Likud party, and served in a number of ministerial posts in Likud-led governments from 1977 to 1992 and 1996 to 1999. As Minister of Defense, he directed the 1982 Lebanon War. An official enquiry found that he bore "personal responsibility for ignoring the danger of bloodshed and revenge" before the Sabra and Shatila massacre of Palestinian refugees, for which he became known as the "Butcher of Beirut" among Arabs. He was subsequently removed as defense minister. From the 1970s through to the 1990s, Sharon championed construction of Israeli settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. He became the leader of the Likud in 1999, and in 2000, amid campaigning for the 2001 prime ministerial election, made a controversial visit to the Al-Aqsa complex on the Temple Mount, triggering the Second Intifada. He subsequently defeated Ehud Barak in the election and served as Israel's prime minister from 2001 to 2006. As Prime Minister, Sharon orchestrated the construction of the Israeli West Bank barrier from 2002 to 2003 and Israel's unilateral disengagement from the Gaza Strip in 2005. Facing stiff opposition to the latter policy within the Likud, in November 2005 he left Likud to form a new party, Kadima. He had been expected to win the next election and was widely interpreted as planning on "clearing Israel out of most of the West Bank", in a series of unilateral withdrawals. Following a stroke on 4 January 2006, Sharon remained in a permanent vegetative state until his death in 2014. Sharon remains a highly polarizing figure in Middle Eastern history. Most Israelis revere Sharon as a war hero and statesman, whereas Palestinians and Human Rights Watch have criticized him as a war criminal, with the latter lamenting that he was never held accountable.
Ariel is the fourth-largest moon of Uranus. Ariel orbits and rotates in Uranus's equatorial plane, which is almost perpendicular to the planet's orbit, giving the moon an extreme seasonal cycle. It was discovered on 24 October 1851 by William Lassell and named for a character in two different pieces of literature. As of 2019, much of the detailed knowledge of Ariel derives from a single flyby of Uranus performed by the space probe Voyager 2 in 1986, which managed to image around 35% of the moon's surface. There are no active plans at present to return to study the moon in more detail, although various concepts such as a Uranus Orbiter and Probe have been proposed. After Miranda, Ariel is the second-closest of Uranus's five major rounded satellites. Among the smallest of the Solar System's 19 known spherical moons (it ranks 14th among them in diameter), it is believed to be composed of roughly equal parts ice and rocky material. Its mass is approximately equal in magnitude to Earth's hydrosphere. Like all of Uranus's moons, Ariel probably formed from an accretion disc that surrounded the planet shortly after its formation, and, like other large moons, it is likely differentiated, with an inner core of rock surrounded by a mantle of ice. Ariel has a complex surface consisting of extensive cratered terrain cross-cut by a system of scarps, canyons, grabens and ridges. The surface shows signs of more recent geological activity than other Uranian moons, most likely due to tidal heating.
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →Madam C.J. Walker
