The Copernicus Anthropogenic Carbon Dioxide Monitoring (CO2M) mission will be the first satellite mission to measure how much carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere through human activity.
CO2M isn’t just a mission; it’s a crucial step in our commitment to understanding and mitigating climate change. It will offer unprecedented precision in monitoring carbon dioxide emissions from the combustion of fossil fuel at national and regional scales.
Its data will provide the EU with a unique and independent source of information to assess the effectiveness of policy measures and to track their impact towards decarbonising Europe ahead of the next Global Stocktake set to place in 2028.
The video features interviews with Valerie Fernandez, CO2M Mission Project Manager, Yannig Durand, CO2M Payload Manager and Yasjka Meijer, CO2M Mission Scientist.
We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
2409 new objects were launched into space in 2022, that’s more than ever before.
Last year though, also saw a record number of satellites reenter Earth’s atmosphere.
The rising number of reentries is not necessarily a bad thing. Disposing of satellites efficiently is one of the most important things for keeping low-Earth orbits safe.
However, most objects reenter in an uncontrolled manner: they are switched off at the end of their mission and left to fall and burn up in Earth’s atmosphere.
There is good news though. Advancing technology has seen a recent increase in “controlled reentries” for rocket bodies. A controlled reentry allows operators to remove their hardware from protected regions more quickly and with greater control over where, when and how it reenters – and even lands – at the cost of allocating some fuel to do so.
By the way, just because an older satellite wasn’t designed to be controlled during its descent doesn’t mean it’s impossible to do so. In July 2023, our teams guided the Aeolus satellite to burn up over uninhabited regions in the Atlantic and Antarctica, even though the satellite was designed in the late 1990s with no intention to control it in this way.
Impressions from the new ESA astronaut candidates after their first month of training at the European Astronaut Training in Cologne, Germany.
TheESA astronaut candidates of the class of 2022 Sophie Adenot, Pablo Álvarez Fernández, Rosemary Coogan, Raphaël Liégeois and Marco Sieber started basic astronaut training on 3 April 2023 in preparation for future space missions. The five trainees were selectedfrom 22 500 applicants from across ESA Member States.
The candidates are trainedto the highest level of standards as specified by the International Space Station partners.Basic training includes learning about space exploration, technical and scientific disciplines, space systems and operations, as well as spacewalks and survival training. Once they receive theESA astronaut certification, they will move on to the next phases of pre-assignment and mission-specific training.
We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
When a spacecraft launches on a mission to another planet it must first break free of the Earth’s gravitational field. Once it has done that, it enters interplanetary space, where the dominant force is the gravitational field of the Sun.
The spacecraft begins to follow a curving orbit, around the Sun, which is similar to the orbit of a comet. When this orbit brings it close to its target destination the spacecraft must fire a retrorocket to slow down and allow itself to be captured by the gravitational field of its target. The smaller the target, the more the spacecraft must slow down.
Sometimes passing a planet can result in the spacecraft being accelerated, even without the spacecraft firing any of its thrusters. This is known as the ‘slingshot’ effect. Such ‘gravity assist’ manoeuvres are now a standard part of spaceflight and are used by almost all our interplanetary missions. They take advantage of the fact that the gravitational attraction of the planets can be used to change the trajectory and speed of a spacecraft.
The amount by which the spacecraft speeds up or slows down is determined by whether it is passing behind or in front of the planet as the planet follows its orbit. When the spacecraft leaves the influence of the planet, it follows an orbit on a different course than before.
📹 @EuropeanSpaceAgency
★ Subscribe: http://bit.ly/ESAsubscribe and click twice on the bell button to receive our notifications.
We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
Get to know the ESA Astronaut Class of 2022 as they answer the following questions: – Why did you apply to become an astronaut? – Tell us about your background – How did you feel when you found out you would be part of ESA’s Astronaut Class of 2022? – What excites you most about human exploration, and how do you see yourself as part of this challenge? – What message do you have for young people today who are passionate about space and science?
00:00 – 00:02 – Intro 00:03 – 05:20 – Sophie Adenot from France 05:21 – 07:48 – Pablo Álvarez Fernández from Spain 07:49 – 11:33 – Meganne Christian from the United Kingdom 11:34 – 15:59 – Anthea Comellini from Italy 16:00 – 19:50 – Rosemary Coogan from the United Kingdom 19:51 – 23:45 – Sara García Alonso from Spain 23:46 – 27:10 – Raphaël Liégeois from Belgium 27:11 – 32:19 – John McFall from the United Kingdom 32:20 – 35:58 – Andrea Patassa from Italy 35:59 – 40:41 – Carmen Possnig from Austria 40:42 – 45:30 – Arnaud Prost from France 45:31 – 48:41 – Amelie Schoenenwald from Germany 48:42 – 54:05 – Marco Sieber from Switzerland 54:06 – 56:23 – Aleš Svoboda from Czech Republic 56:24 – 1:02:09 – Sławosz Uznański from Poland 1:02:10- 1:04:55 – Marcus Wandt from Sweden 1:04:56 – 1:08:47 – Nicola Winter from Germany
We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
It has been an exciting and busy summer for the European Space Agency, with development and testing of its new Ariane 6 launcher. At Europe’s spaceport in, French Guiana, a test model of the launcher’s central core was assembled for the first time. Ariane 6 is the first Ariane rocket to be assembled horizontally, which is simpler and less costly than more traditional vertical assembly. Then, the rocket was moved to its launchpad and placed upright in the massive mobile gantry for combined tests, to validate the compatibility between all components of the complete launch system. Soon more testing will be done on Ariane 6’s upper stage at a purpose-built @DLRde facility in Lampoldshausen, Germany.
★ Subscribe: http://bit.ly/ESAsubscribe and click twice on the bell button to receive our notifications.
We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
ESA and NASA are working hand in hand before the first Artemis mission to the Moon through a series of joint mission simulations. Teams based at the Erasmus Support Facility (ESF) at ESA’s ESTEC facility in The Netherlands, the German Space Operations Centre at ESA’s Columbus Control Centre in Oberphfaffenhofen and NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston are combining their expertise in a series of exercises to ensure a successful launch.
When it comes to simulations, it’s important that not everything goes perfectly right as it recreates – in real time – different stages of the mission to monitor the spacecraft’s position, propulsion, power, avionics and thermal properties. The European team, consisting of 40 people from ESA and industry, apply their considerable expertise from working on the European Service Module (ESM) to any unexpected problems. The ESM will provide power for the Orion spacecraft and propel it along its orbit to the Moon.
We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
ESA’s new Vega-C rocket lifted off for its inaugural flight VV21 at 15:13 CEST/13:13 UTC/10:13 local time from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. With new first and second stages and an uprated fourth stage, Vega-C increases performance to about 2.3 t in a reference 700 km polar orbit, from the 1.5 t capability of its predecessor, Vega. For flight VV21, Vega-C’s payload is LARES-2, a scientific mission of @AsiTVit and six research CubeSats from France, Italy and Slovenia.
We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
ESA’s Juice mission has entered its final phase of development, with the spacecraft moving to an @Airbus Defence and Space facility in Toulouse, France, for the next round of testing. The spacecraft has been fully integrated, and these tests will be done in full flight configuration, as Juice is scheduled for launch from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, in April 2023.
The Juice mission is a perfect example of collaboration between several national space agencies and European industry. Its objective is to explore the gas giant Jupiter, its environment, and three of its moons: Europa, Callisto and Ganymede. By studying this planetary system, ESA hopes to learn more about the icy worlds around Jupiter and the origins and possibility of life in our Universe
We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, Juice, is set to embark on an eight-year cruise to Jupiter starting April 2023. The mission will investigate the emergence of habitable worlds around gas giants and the Jupiter system as an archetype for the numerous giant planets now known to orbit other stars.
This animation depicts Juice’s journey to Jupiter and highlights from its foreseen tour of the giant planet and its large ocean-bearing moons. It depicts Juice’s journey from leaving Earth’s surface in a launch window 5–25 April 2023 and performing multiple gravity assist flybys in the inner Solar System, to arrival at Jupiter (July 2031), flybys of the Jovian moons Europa, Callisto and Ganymede, orbital insertion at Ganymede (December 2034), and eventual impact on this moon’s surface (late 2035).
An Ariane 5 will lift Juice into space from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou. A series of gravity assist flybys of Earth, the Earth-Moon system and Venus will set the spacecraft on course for its July 2031 arrival at Jupiter. These flybys are shown here in order – Earth-Moon (August 2024), Venus (August 2025), Earth (September 2026, January 2029) – interspersed by Juice’s continuing orbits around the Sun. Juice’s flyby of the Earth-Moon system, known as a Lunar-Earth gravity assist (LEGA), is a world first: by performing this manoeuvre – a gravity assist flyby of the Moon followed just 1.5 days later by one of Earth – Juice will save a significant amount of propellant on its journey.
Juice will start its science mission about six months prior to entering orbit around Jupiter, making observations as it approaches its destination. Once in the Jovian system, a gravity assist flyby of Jupiter’s largest moon Ganymede – also the largest moon in the Solar System – will help Juice enter orbit around Jupiter, where the spacecraft will spend four years observing the gas giant and three of its moons: Ganymede, Callisto and Europa.
Juice will make two flybys of Europa (July 2032), which has strong evidence for an ocean of liquid water under its icy shell. Juice will look at the moon’s active zones, its surface composition and geology, search for pockets of liquid water under the surface, and study the plasma environment around Europa, also exploring the moon’s tiny atmosphere and hunting for plumes of water vapour (as have been previously detected erupting to space).
A sequence of Callisto flybys will be used to study this ancient, cratered world that may too harbour a subsurface ocean, also changing the angle of Juice’s orbit with respect to Jupiter’s equator, making it possible to explore Jupiter’s higher latitudes (2032–2034).
A sequence of Ganymede and Callisto flybys will adjust Juice’s orbit – properly orienting it while minimising the amount of propellant expended – so that it can enter orbit around Ganymede in December 2034, making it the first spacecraft to orbit another planet’s moon. Juice’s initial elliptical orbit will be followed by a 5000 km-altitude circular orbit, and later a 500 km-altitude circular orbit.
Ganymede is the only moon in the Solar System to have a magnetosphere. Juice will investigate this phenomenon and the moon’s internal magnetic field, and explore how its plasma environment interacts with that of Jupiter. Juice will also study Ganymede’s atmosphere, surface, subsurface, interior and internal ocean, investigating the moon as not only a planetary object but also a possible habitat.
Over time, Juice’s orbit around Ganymede will naturally decay due to lack of propellant, and it will make a grazing impact onto the surface (late 2035).
The Juice launch itself will be a historical milestone for more reasons than one. It will be the final launch for Ariane 5, ending the launcher’s nearly three-decade run as one of the world’s most successful heavy-lift rockets. Its duties are being taken over by Ariane 6.
We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
As part of Agenda 2025, ESA will take preparatory steps towards a sample return mission from the moons of giant planets, and will foster innovation by challenging commercial companies to develop a next generation of competitively priced European space transportation systems.
Space science and planetary exploration have a unique inspirational power for engaging young generations in science, technology, engineering and maths, creating a highly educated workforce for the future.
Collaborating with the European space industry to foster innovation generates economic growth and new revenues, as well as creating new jobs for European citizens. All the money invested in space is spent on Earth.
We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
From one space flier to another, ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer shares a message of support for the James Webb Space Telescope (Webb) launch, from ESA’s Columbus science laboratory on the International Space Station.
Matthias is currently living and working in space for his first mission known as Cosmic Kiss. He describes the mission of Webb as part of humankind’s biggest adventure, as we explore the cosmos to understand our place within it.
Webb is the next great space science observatory following Hubble, designed to answer outstanding questions about the Universe and to make breakthrough discoveries in all fields of astronomy. It is an international partnership between the European Space Agency ESA, US space agency @NASA, and the @Canadian Space Agency, and will be launched on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.
Webb is designed to see farther into our origins: from the formation of stars and planets to the birth of the first galaxies in the early Universe, just as the International Space Station enables us to learn more about our home planet.
We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
The world’s next generation cosmic observatory, the James Webb Space Telescope, is due for launch on an Ariane 5 from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana in late December.
Developed and constructed over more than 30 years, Webb is a remarkable feat of engineering and technology – with the largest astronomical mirror ever flown in space, sophisticated new scientific instruments, and a sunshield the size of a tennis court.
Webb is an international partnership between @NASA, ESA and the @Canadian Space Agency and will reveal the Universe in a whole new light. Optimised for infrared wavelengths, its detectors will be able to look back to shortly after the very dawn of time, revealing the formation of the first galaxies, as well as study stars and planets in our own Milky Way.
We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
Soon another pair of Galileo satellites will be launched on top of a Soyuz from Europe spaceport in French Guiana. These satellites are the first of the so-called ‘Batch 3’, comprising of 12 additional first-generation Galileo satellites commissioned in 2017 to bring the constellation to full operational capability. They will be used to further expand the constellation up to 38 satellites and act as backups and spares for satellites that reach their end-of-life. This 11th Galileo launch also marks the 10 year anniversary of the first launch of the Galileo operational satellites and the start of the construction of the constellation. Ten years later Galileo is the most accurate satellite navigation system in the world and available on every recent smartphone and device. It is also two decades since satellite navigation was first introduced as a completely new activity in the European space sector.
Meanwhile ESA continues to ensure the future of the Galileo programme and European expertise in satellite navigation. For Galileo ESA has already commissioned a second generation of more powerful and flexible navigation satellites while new services are being developed to meet market demand.
★ Subscribe: http://bit.ly/ESAsubscribe and click twice on the bell button to receive our notifications.
We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
Join ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet on a tour of the International Space Station. On his second space mission Alpha, Thomas flew to space from Florida, USA, as part of Crew-2 in the @SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour together with @NASA astronauts Megan McArthur, Shane Kimbrough and @JAXA | 宇宙航空研究開発機構 astronaut Aki Hoshide
In this guided tour, a first shot in 4K, Thomas takes you through the modules of the International Space Station including the Dragon. Recorded in October 2021 the Space Station had just seen the departure of Soyuz MS-18 and the relocation of a Progress supply spacecraft. On board where also NASA astronaut Mark VandeHei and Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov.
Over 200 investigations are planned during Thomas’ time in space, with 40 European ones and 12 new experiments led by the French space agency @CNES.
We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
A collection of the best timelapse videos made during ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet’s second mission to the International Space Station, “Alpha” in 2021. The camera is setup to take pictures at intervals of two a second, and the pictures are then edited into this video that plays at 25 pictures a second. Most videos around 12 times faster than real speed.
Thomas shared this video on social media with the caption:
“Probably the last the timelapse from space, and fittingly here is a special edition “best of” montage: aurora, lightning, spacewalks, day views and spacecraft reentry in less than five minutes. Get comfy, cast it to your largest screen in the house and enjoy!”
Over 200 experiments are planned during Thomas’ time in space, with 40 European ones and 12 new experiments led by the French space agency @CNES.
We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
Timelapse video made during ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet’s second mission to the International Space Station, “Alpha”. On 17 October 2021 at 01:14 GMT the Soyuz MS-18 undocked from the Space Station to return to Earth, inside were @Roscosmos Media cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy (who had spent 191 days in space) and actress Yulia Peresild and Russian producer-director Klim Shipenko (who both spent 11 days in space). The trio landed on Earth just over three hours later. The camera for this timelapse was setup to take pictures at intervals of two a second, and the pictures are then edited into this video that plays at 25 pictures a second. The video is around 12 times faster than real speed.
Thomas shared this video on social media with the caption:
“Soyuz MS-18 departing two weekends ago already. Oleg left with Yulia and Klim and I see pictures of them back looking happy and healthy back on Earth. they were only in space for a few days though, a business trip, more than an expedition, for us and Oleg it will be a bit different: the physical and social readapting to Earth will require some work. This is a timelapse so it moves 12 times faster than in reality. I wasn’t the only one to film in the Cupola, and where the image shakes a bit is when one of my crewmates bumped the tripod! ”
Over 200 experiments are planned during Thomas’ time in space, with 40 European ones and 12 new experiments led by the French space agency @CNES.
We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
Time lapse of the stacking of the Orion spacecraft on top of the fully assembled Space Launch System (SLS) rocket at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on 21 October 2021, in preparation for the uncrewed Artemis I launch.
For Artemis I, the European Service Module will take the spacecraft more than 64 000 km beyond the Moon in a test flight to demonstrate its capabilities.
The European Service Module is ESA’s contribution to NASA’s Orion spacecraft that will send astronauts to the Moon and beyond. It provides electricity, water, oxygen and nitrogen as well as keeping the spacecraft at the right temperature and on course.
We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
These are exciting days at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana and throughout several sites in ESA Member States as the development of Ariane 6 enters its final phase. Ariane 6 parts are being shipped from Europe for combined tests on the new Ariane 6 launch base. These tests rehearse all activities and systems involving the rocket and launch base on an Ariane 6 launch campaign. On the final test, the Ariane 6 core stage will perform a static hot firing while standing on its recently inaugurated launch pad. It will be from this new launch base that ESA’s Ariane 6 rocket will soon be launched for the first time.
Meanwhile in Europe, Ariane 6’s upper stage will experience the conditions of space at a new test bench at @DLR in Lampoldshausen. After this, all is ready for the much anticipated first flight of ESA’s new heavy-lift rocket from Europe’s Spaceport.
★ Subscribe: http://bit.ly/ESAsubscribe and click twice on the bell button to receive our notifications.
We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
The James Webb Space Telescope, a once in a generation space mission, arrived safely at Pariacabo harbour in French Guiana on 12 October 2021, ahead of its launch on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport.
Webb was packed in a 30 m long container with additional equipment. It arrived from California on board the MN Colibri which sailed the Panama Canal to French Guiana on a 16-day voyage. The shallow Kourou river was specially dredged to ensure a clear passage and the vessel followed high tide to safely reach port.
The MN Colibri, like its sister vessel the MN Toucan, were built to ship Ariane 5 rocket parts from Europe to French Guiana. They were specifically designed to carry a complete set of Ariane 5 parts across the Atlantic, while having a low enough draft to enable them to follow a route along the shallow Kourou river to the Pariacabo harbour.
Webb will be the largest, most powerful telescope ever launched into space. As part of an international collaboration agreement, ESA is providing the telescope’s launch service using the Ariane 5 launch vehicle. Working with partners, ESA was responsible for the development and qualification of Ariane 5 adaptations for the Webb mission and for the procurement of the launch service by @arianespace.
Webb is an international partnership between @NASA, ESA and the @Canadian Space Agency.
We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
The European Space Agency is playing a vital role in humankind’s return to the Moon. In a few months @NASA will launch Artemis I from the Kennedy Space Center. The uncrewed mission will carry NASA’s Orion spacecraft incorporating ESA’s European Service Module (ESM-1), built and tested by Airbus Bremen, in Germany, with the help of 10 European nations. ESM-1’s main engine and 32 thrusters will propel Orion into orbit around the Moon and return it to Earth.
As Artemis I prepares for launch, the second European Service Module (ESM-2) is about to ship to the US with ESM-3 also currently under construction. The second Artemis mission, however, has a crucial difference: it will carry four astronauts for a lunar flyby. ESM-2 will provide propulsion, power, oxygen, water and life support as well as controlling the temperature in the orbiting crew module. ESM-3 will go one step further and put the first person on the Moon for 50 years.
We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
Timelapse video made during ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet’s second mission to the International Space Station, “Alpha”. The camera is setup to take pictures at intervals of two a second, and the pictures are then edited into this video that plays at 25 pictures a second. The video is around 12 times faster than real speed.
Thomas shared this video on social media with the caption: “A night #timelapse over South-East Asia. Green lights of squid fishing, bright city lights of Hong Kong and Shanghai followed by Seoul until the border of the Korean peninsula closes on a pitch black DPRK.”
Over 200 experiments are planned during Thomas’ time in space, with 40 European ones and 12 new experiments led by the French space agency #CNES.
Latest updates on the Alpha mission can be found via @esaspaceflight on Twitter, with more details on ESA’s exploration blog via thomaspesquet.esa.int.
Background information on the Alpha mission is available at www.esa.int/MissionAlpha with a brochure at www.esa.int/AlphaBrochure.
★ Subscribe: http://bit.ly/ESAsubscribe and click twice on the bell button to receive our notifications.
We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
Work is under way to sort and assess applications from more than 22 500 ESA astronaut hopefuls. The rigorous selection process will take around 18 months. Initial screening to ensure that basic criteria are met will be followed by medical and psychological tests, exercises and interviews.
ESA plans to recruit 4-6 new astronauts through this 2021-22 selection round to support the future of European space exploration. This is likely to include missions to the International Space Station as well as the Moon. As part of the selection process, ESA is also assessing the feasibility of flying an astronaut with a physical disability.
We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
Watch over one hour of our planet, seen from the International Space Station, in 4K resolution. This compilation was made from video taken by ESA astronauts, mostly by Thomas Pesquet during his first mission, Proxima, and ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst on his second mission, Horizons, as well as footage from Samantha Cristoforetti’s Futura mission and Paolo Nespoli’s Vita mission.
Flying 400 km above our amazing planet Earth, the Space Station travels at 28 800 km/h to stay in orbit. The videos are in real time and not sped up or edited. Most of the scenes were filmed in the European-built Cupola module, the Space Station’s observatory.
On 21 April 2001, the first ESA astronaut Umberto Guidoni arrived at the Space Station. Since then, the Space Station has grown immensely, as have the number of Europeans to have worked in it, together with the science experiments performed in orbit.
Europe contributes around 8% of the running costs of the International Space Station, but has built a large part of the structure, including ESA’s Columbus laboratory, the Cupola observatory, the Tranquillity and Harmony modules, as well as the computers that collect data and provide navigation, communications and operations for the Russian segment.
ESA also provided the Space Station with supplies and boosted its orbit through five Automated Transfer Vehicles, the heaviest and most versatile Space Station supply ferry. This programme evolved into the European Service Modules that ESA is supplying for @NASA’s Artemis programme, taking humans forward to the Moon and thus continuing the exemplary international collaboration beyond Earth’s orbit.
Since Umberto’s mission, there have been 26 further ESA astronaut missions to the International Space Station, with astronauts flying to Station on either the Russian Soyuz or US Space Shuttle spacecraft.
Thomas Pesquet’s second mission, Alpha, is the 28th mission for ESA, with ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer already lined up for his first flight later this year, and ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti scheduled for the 30th ESA International Space Station mission in 2022.
★ Subscribe: http://bit.ly/ESAsubscribe and click twice on the bell button to receive our notifications.
We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
The ExoMars team have performed important parachute drop tests as crucial preparation for a safe touchdown on Mars in 2023. The European Rosalind Franklin rover will search for signs of past life beneath the surface of Mars with its unique two metre drill and onboard laboratory. The Russian surface science platform Kazachok will study the environment at the landing site. Landing on Mars is always a challenging endeavour and all possible parameters are taken into account.
We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
ESA’s Jupiter Icy moons Explorer, Juice, has successfully completed rigorous thermal tests simulating the extreme coldness of space and the warmth of the Sun at ESA’s test centre ESTEC, in The Netherlands.
The spacecraft underwent a month of round-the-clock testing and monitoring in the Large Space Simulator, which recreates the vacuum of space and is able to simulate both hot and cold space environments. The spacecraft was subjected to temperatures ranging from 250 degrees to minus 180 degrees Celsius, showing that it can survive its journey in space.
Juice will launch in 2022 to our Solar System’s largest planet. It will spend over four years studying Jupiter’s atmosphere, magnetosphere and its icy moons Europa, Callisto and Ganymede, investigating whether the moons’ subsurface oceans are habitable for life.
We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
Soon Eutelsat Quantum will be launched into a geostationary orbit on board an Ariane 5 from Kourou. This advanced telecommunications satellite is revolutionary as it offers its users the ability to reconfigure the satellite while in orbit. This offers a previously unknown degree of flexibility during its 15-year lifetime. It allows for satellites of this type to be mass-produced, making them extremely interesting for commercial parties and industry. The satellite was developed as an ESA partnership project with operator @Eutelsat SA and prime contractor @Airbus working together with ESA to share the risk of developing this innovative piece of technology.
We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
Timelapse video made during ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet’s second mission to the International Space Station, “Alpha”.
ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet and @NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough performed three spacewalks in the span of 10 days to install two new solar arrays that will generate more electricity on the International Space Station.
The third and final spacewalk for the duo happened on June 25 to finish installing the second pair of new solar arrays. This spacewalk proceeded without problems, and the two new solar arrays are already working and supplying power to the Space Station.
The design of the new solar arrays will be used to power the lunar Gateway that will be built in an orbit around the Moon – the next outpost in space for the agencies that run the International Space Station.
Thomas has now spent exactly 33 hours on spacewalks, all with Shane over the course of two spaceflights.
Thomas posted this video on his social media channels with the caption: “Aki took another great timelapse of our last spacewalk to install the new solar panels… for now. Four more are set to be installed, but they are not on the Station yet. This timelapse is great because it shows how small we are compared to the huge layout of the Space Station (it is about the same size as a football field – both types: American football or actually-using-your-feet-football fields). Note how the solar arrays we are working on don’t move, this is because they were turned off and not following the Sun so were not generating power. As an extra precaution we didn’t connect the power cables until darkness!”
Over 200 experiments are planned during Thomas’ time in space, with 40 European ones and 12 new experiments led by the French space agency @CnesFrance.
We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
The ESA Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) team has been working very hard to prepare the spacecraft for the first test in the one-year long environmental test campaign. This is the so-called Thermal Balance Thermal Vacuum (TBTV) test.
Juice is in the Large Space Simulator (LSS), a unique facility in Europe (run by the European Test Center, at ESA/ESTEC in the Netherlands) that can simulate the vacuum and cold and hot temperature conditions in space, and also the Sun itself!
The TBTV started on 17 June with the closure of the LSS and the “pumping-down”, meaning the removal of air within the chamber to a pressure level of 10nbar (1/100 000 000th of the outside air pressure). This is the closest Juice will come to space conditions while on Earth. It will undergo 24/7 testing, ending on 16 July 2021.
In this episode this process is followed and several team members comment on the different moments.
Produced for ESA by Lightcurve Films. GoPro footage by ESA. Original music by William Zeitler.
★ Subscribe: http://bit.ly/ESAsubscribe and click twice on the bell button to receive our notifications.
We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
Timelapse video made during ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet’s second mission to the International Space Station, “Alpha”.
On Sunday 20 June 2021 Thomas and @NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough were helped into their spacesuits again for their fourth spacewalk together. This time it was to complete installation of the first new solar array and get ahead on the second.
During this spacewalk the duo unfolded the solar arrays that are rolled into tubes for transport, aligned them, connected data cables and secured them to the mounting bracket. Connecting the power lines must be done during the orbital night-time as a precaution to avoid any chance of electric shock.
As Thomas and Shane waited for the night to arrive, Shane’s helmet lights and camera partially detached from his helmet but Thomas used some wire to successfully reattach them as a temporary fix.
From there the spacewalk went smoothly. Shane and Thomas connected the new solar array, watched it unfurl and prepared for the installation of the second new solar array. The second spacewalk lasted 6 hours and 28 minutes, with the duo arriving back at the airlock at 20:10 CEST (19:10 BST).
This video shows scenes from this spacewalk. The images for this timelapse were taken by @JAXA | 宇宙航空研究開発機構 astronaut and Space Station commander Aki Hoshide.
Thomas posted this video on his social media with the caption: “We have to do EVAs, but someone has to keep running the Space Station while we are preparing, spacewalking, reconfiguring, preparing again… Aki has been rock solid taking care of the spaceship pretty much by himself, performing all the maintenance and the science experiments, AND ON TOP OF THAT he found the time to take timelapses of our little walks outside. The man is a machine!”
Over 200 experiments are planned during Thomas’ time in space, with 40 European ones and 12 new experiments led by the French space agency @CNES.
We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
Timelapse video made during ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet’s second mission to the International Space Station, “Alpha”.
On 16 June 2021 Thomas and @NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough went on a spacewalk to install a new solar array for the International Space Station. These arrays, called IROSA for ISS Roll-Out Solar Array, had to be taken from their storage area outside the Space Station and passed from spacewalker to spacewalker to the worksite. There the rolled arrays were to be secured, unfolded, connected and then unfurled.
During the spacewalk a small technical problem in Shane’s spacesuit required him to return to the airlock and restart his Display and Control Module. This module provides astronauts with continuous information on pressure, temperature and other vital data during a spacewalk. Though the restart was successful and Shane was in no danger, it delayed the duo’s work, preventing them from completing installation of the first new solar array as planned. A second spacewalk was done on 20 June to finish installing the first solar array.
This video shows scenes from the first spacewalk with Thomas being moved on the robotic arm, at the controls was NASA astronaut Megan McArthur. The images for this timelapse were taken by @JAXA | 宇宙航空研究開発機構 astronaut and Space Station commander Aki Hoshide.
Thomas posted this video on his social media with the caption: “We have to do EVAs, but someone has to keep running the Space Station while we are preparing, spacewalking, reconfiguring, preparing again… Aki has been rock solid taking care of the spaceship pretty much by himself, performing all the maintenance and the science experiments, AND ON TOP OF THAT he found the time to take timelapses of our little walks outside. The man is a machine!”
Over 200 experiments are planned during Thomas’ time in space, with 40 European ones and 12 new experiments led by the French space agency @CNES
We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
This timelapse was filmed under the stars on the Ariane 6 launch base at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.
Preparations are under way for the arrival of Ariane 6, Europe’s next-generation launch vehicle. Imagine yourself stepping out of the launcher assembly building or standing on the launch pad in front of the 90-metre high mobile gantry, to look at the stars.
Ariane 6, developed by ESA, has two versions depending on the required performance. This rocket will be capable of a wide range of missions to guarantee independent access to space for Europe and continue four decades of the Ariane adventure.
Credits: ESA – @CNES – @arianespace
★ Subscribe: http://bit.ly/ESAsubscribe and click twice on the bell button to receive our notifications.
We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
A timelapse from various angles of the launch of @SpaceX Falcon 9 with Crew Dragon Endeavour leaving Earth from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA.
The rocket lifted off at 10:49 BST (11:49 CEST, 05:49 local time) on 23 April 2021 from Launchpad 39A in Cape Canaveral with ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet, @NASA astronauts Megan McArthur and Shane Kimbrough, and @JAXA | 宇宙航空研究開発機構 astronaut Akihiko Hoshide. On 24 April at 11:08 CEST the Crew-2 caught up with the International Space Station and docked with its Harmony module, marking the start of Thomas’ Alpha mission.
Thomas is the first ESA astronaut to fly in space in a vehicle other than the Russian Soyuz or the US Space Shuttle, and the first ESA astronaut to leave Earth from Florida, USA, in over a decade. This is his second flight, his first mission called Proxima saw Thomas fly to the Space Station on a Soyuz from Baikonur in Kazakhstan and his expedition broke records for amount of hours spent on research at the time.
We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
The launch of Sputnik, humankind’s first satellite, in 1957 marked the dawn of a new era for the people of the ‘Pale Blue Dot’.
Decades later, our planet is now surrounded by spacecraft carrying out extraordinary work to study our changing climate, save lives following disasters, deliver global communication and navigation services and help us answer important scientific questions.
But these satellites are at risk. Accidental collisions between objects in space can produce huge clouds of fast-moving debris. These clouds can spread and damage additional satellites with cascading effect, eventually making the most useful orbits around Earth no longer safe for spacecraft or people.
Satellites today have to carry out collision avoidance manoeuvres to avoid possible impact with debris. These are costly, and hundreds of collision avoidance alerts are already issued every week. [add para space}
And this is nothing compared to what is coming. Several companies have begun to launch mega-constellations into low-Earth orbit to provide global internet access. They have great benefits, but could be a source of huge disruption if we do not change our behaviour.
Our current methods for avoiding collisions in space will become inadequate in just a few years – and even compliance with space debris mitigation guidelines may no longer be enough.
It’s time to act.
ESA is developing technologies for an automated collision avoidance system, as well as methods for refuelling, repairing and upgrading satellites in orbit, extending the lifetime of missions and potentially reducing the number of new satellites that need to be launched.
ESA is also working on debris removal missions that will fly up to dead spacecraft and debris objects, capture them and move them to safety – either by sending them down to burn up in Earth’s atmosphere or up into ‘graveyard orbits’.
By reaching into space, we have brought huge benefits down to Earth, providing technologies that enrich our societies, connect people in previously unimaginable ways and give us an incredible perspective and understanding of our planet.
We know what will happen if we continue on our current path, but we also know exactly what we need to do to change that fate and ensure humankind’s access to space is guaranteed for future generations.
We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
For the fourth time since 1978, ESA is recruiting new astronauts. Applications open 31 March and close 28 May 2021. Four new members of the European astronaut corps will be selected. Around 20 of the best remaining candidates will also be selected to a newly-established astronaut reserve, whose members may be called upon to fulfil specific missions. ESA’s last call for new astronauts was in 2008, when six candidates were appointed. They were joined by a further one candidate in 2015.
We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
In preparation for his second mission to the International Space Station, ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet is training for possible spacewalks at @NASA’s Johnson Space Center. His second six-month mission is called Alpha and will see Thomas launch as part Crew-2 on the @SpaceX Dragon spacecraft with NASA astronaut Megan Behnken and Shane Kimbrough and @JAXA | 宇宙航空研究開発機構 astronaut Aki Hoshide.
Watch this underwater spacewalk training session in 4K with audio from the astronauts and “mission control” recorded on 2 December 2020. Thomas is moved into position on a functional mockup of the International Space Station’s robotic arm to install hardware.
Astronauts practice spacewalks in NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory. The training pool is the largest indoor swimming pool in the world, holding over 23 million litres of water, but it is still not large enough to hold the complete Space Station. Instead, specific parts of the Station structure are used as needed for training.
Training underwater is as close as it gets to experiencing weightlessness on Earth so spending time in a full spacesuit is used to practise techniques for spacewalks and neutral buoyancy is substituted for microgravity. Support and training divers are on hand to guide the astronauts during their tasks. In space, the astronauts are aided by mission control and colleague astronauts on the Station.
Extra Vehicular Activities (known as EVAs or spacewalks) are the most challenging tasks for an astronaut. When venturing from their spacecraft in a self-contained spacesuit to carry out repairs or install new equipment outside the International Space Station safety and efficiency are vital.
It might be relaxing and soothing to watch this underwater spacewalk at home, but spacewalks are marathons that require concentration and physical exertion for six hours at a time, with no food or bathroom breaks.
We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
This timelapse video shows the hot firing model of the Ariane 6 upper stage being installed on the P5.2 test stand at the @DLR German Aerospace Center in Lampoldshausen, Germany on 16 February 2021.
After arrival from the @ArianeGroup facilities in Bremen, this 5.4 m-diameter upper stage was hoisted out of its container, tilted vertical and installed on the test stand.
Tests will simulate all aspects of flight including stage preparation such as fuelling with liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen, and draining its tanks.
Data will be gathered on non-propulsive ballistic phases, tank pressurisation to increase performance, Vinci engine reignitions, exhaust nozzle manoeuvres, ending with passivation where all remaining internal energy is removed. Tests will typically last about 18 hours each.
★ Subscribe: http://bit.ly/ESAsubscribe and click twice on the bell button to receive our notifications.
We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
In late 2019, ESA astronaut and geophysicist Alexander Gerst travelled to one of the harshest environments on Earth to learn more about our solar system, and to gather operational knowledge for missions to planetary surfaces such as the Moon. Travel with him to Antarctica and discover the many secrets held by meteorites in this documentary from the ice.
Since its inception in 1976, the US-led Antarctic Search for Meteorites (ANSMET) has recovered more than 22,000 specimens. These are rocks that fell from space, originating from several sources in our solar system, including the Moon and Mars. After each field season the newly recovered specimens are shipped (still frozen and sterile) to the Antarctic Meteorite laboratory at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. There they are thawed, dried, carefully examined, and shipped to planetary scientists world-wide. These rock fragments enable scientists to look beyond our planet, and Earth’s orbit, into the depths of space.
As a member of the 2019-2020 crew, Alexander gained and shared knowledge with his team mates and followed in the footsteps of great Antarctic explorers before him, spending weeks in a remote field camp, only a few hundred kilometres from the South Pole. The team recovered 346 meteorites during this season. His mission also shared many similarities with what astronauts will encounter when flying to the Lunar South Pole in the not-so-distant future – making it another valuable step in preparing for what might lie ahead.
We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
As anticipated, Pine Island Glacier, known as PIG for short, in Antarctica has just spawned a huge iceberg. At over 300 sq km, about the size of Malta, this huge berg very quickly broke into many ‘piglet’ pieces the largest of which is dubbed B-49. Thanks to images the Copernicus Sentinel satellite missions, two large rifts in the glacier were spotted last year and scientists have been keeping a close eye on how quickly these cracks were growing. This animation uses 57 radar images captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission between February 2019 and February 2020 (the last frame is from yesterday, 10 February 2020) and shows just how quickly the emerging cracks grew and led to this calving event.
Pine Island Glacier, along with its neighbour Thwaites Glacier, connect the centre of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet with the ocean – together discharging significant quantities of ice into the ocean. These two glaciers have been losing ice over the last 25 years. Owing to their extremely remote location, satellites play a critical role in measuring and monitoring Antarctic glaciology – revealing the timing and pace of glacial retreat in Antarctica. Since the early 1990s, the Pine Island Glacier’s ice velocity has increased dramatically to values which exceed 10 m a day. Its floating ice front, which has an average thickness of approximately 500 metres, has experienced a series of calving events over the past 30 years, some of which have abruptly changed the shape and position of the ice front.
These changes have been mapped by ESA-built satellites since the 1990s, with calving events occurring in 1992, 1995, 2001, 2007, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2018, and now 2020.
Mark Drinkwater, senior scientist and cryosphere specialist remarked, “The Copernicus twin Sentinel-1 all-weather satellites have established a porthole through which the public can watch events like this unfold in remote regions around the world. What is unsettling is that the daily data stream reveals the dramatic pace at which climate is redefining the face of Antarctica.”
We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out http://www.esa.int/ESA to get up to speed on everything space related.
![Space Station tour with your guide Thomas Pesquet | 4K [in French with English subtitles available]](https://video.kidibot.ro/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/11271-space-station-tour-with-your-guide-thomas-pesquet-4k-in-french-with-english-subtitles-available-150x150.jpg)
