Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

European Space Agency

(Encyclopedia)European Space Agency (ESA), multinational agency dedicated to the promotion, for exclusively peaceful purposes, of cooperation among European states in space research and technology. Member states in...

space probe

(Encyclopedia)space probe, space vehicle carrying sophisticated instrumentation but no crew, designed to explore various aspects of the solar system (see space exploration). Unlike an artificial satellite, which is...

space science

(Encyclopedia)space science, body of scientific knowledge as it relates to space exploration; it is sometimes also called astronautics. Space science draws on the conventional sciences of physics, chemistry, biolog...

outer space

(Encyclopedia)outer space: see space exploration. ...

space biology

(Encyclopedia)space biology: see exobiology.

space law

(Encyclopedia)space law, agreements governing the exploration and use of outer space, developed since the first launching (1957) by humans of a satellite into space. Space law, an aspect of international law, has g...

space-time

(Encyclopedia)space-time, central concept in the theory of relativity that replaces the earlier concepts of space and time as separate absolute entities. In relativity one cannot uniquely distinguish space and time...

space travel

(Encyclopedia)space travel: see space exploration; space science. ...

ISS

(Encyclopedia)International Space Station: see space exploration; space station. ...

Salyut

(Encyclopedia)Salyut, Soviet space station: see space exploration; space station. ...