The third Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellite, Sentinel-1C, has launched aboard a Vega-C rocket, flight VV25, from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. The rocket lifted off on 5 December 2024 at 22:20 CET (18:20 local time).
Sentinel-1C extends the legacy of its predecessors, delivering high-resolution radar imagery to monitor Earth’s changing environment, supporting a diverse range of applications and advance scientific research. Additionally, Sentinel-1C introduces new capabilities for detecting and monitoring maritime traffic.
The launch also marks Vega-C’s ‘return to flight’, a key step in restoring Europe’s independent access to space. Vega-C is the evolution of the Vega family of rockets and delivers increased performance, greater payload volume and improved competitiveness.
📹 ESA – European Space Agency 📸 ESA/CNES/Arianespace/Arianegroup
The third Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite, Sentinel-2C, has launched aboard the last Vega rocket, flight VV24, from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. The rocket lifted off on 5 September at 03:50 CEST (4 September 22:50 local time).
Sentinel-2C was the last liftoff for the Vega rocket – after 12 years of service this was the final flight, the original Vega is being retired to make way for an upgraded Vega-C.
🎥 ESA – European Space Agency Credits: ESA/CNES/Arianespace
The Copernicus Sentinel-2C satellite lifted off on 5 September at 03:50 CEST (4 September 22:50 local time) aboard the last Vega rocket, flight VV24, from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.
Sentinel-2C will continue the legacy of delivering high-resolution data that are essential to Copernicus – the Earth observation component of the EU Space Programme. Developed, built and operated by ESA, the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission provides high-resolution optical imagery for a wide range of applications including land, water and atmospheric monitoring.
Sentinel-2C was the last liftoff for the Vega rocket – after 12 years of service this was the final flight, the original Vega is being retired to make way for an upgraded Vega-C.
Credits: ESA/CNES/Arianespace
Chapters: 00:00 Waiting for liftoff 01:10 Liftoff 04:25 Second stage separation 06:18 Sentinel-2C separation 06:46 Acquisition of signal 07:23 Statements
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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.
Sentinel-2C is ready for launch! The new satellite will soon join its Copernicus Sentinel-2 family in orbit – where it will continue to provide detailed views of Earth’s land and coastal waters.
The mission is based on a constellation of two identical satellites: Sentinel-2A and Sentinel-2B. The constellation was originally designed to monitor land surfaces – but its scope has since expanded.
It now covers a wide range of applications including deforestation, water quality, monitoring natural disasters, methane emissions and much more. Sentinel-2C, once in orbit, will replace the Sentinel-2A unit – prolonging the life of the Sentinel-2 mission – ensuring a continuous supply of data for Copernicus, the Earth observation component of the EU Space Programme.
Tune in to ESA WebTV on 4 September from 03:30 CEST to watch the satellite soar into space on the last Vega rocket to be launched from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.
Credits: ESA – European Space Agency
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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.
Europe’s new rocket Ariane 6 powered Europe into space taking with it a varied selection of experiments, satellites, payload deployers and reentry demonstrations that represent thousands across Europe, from students to industry and experienced space actors.
This inaugural flight, designated VA262, is a demonstration flight to show the capabilities and prowess of Ariane 6 in escaping Earth’s gravity and operating in space. Nevertheless, it had several passengers on board.
Ariane 6 was built by prime contractor and design authority ArianeGroup. In addition to the rocket, the liftoff demonstrated the functioning of the launch pad and operations on ground at Europe’s Spaceport. The new custom-built dedicated launch zone was built by France’s space agency CNES and allows for a faster turnover of Ariane launches.
Ariane 6 is Europe’s newest heavy-lift rocket, designed to provide great power and flexibility at a lower cost than its predecessors. The launcher’s configuration – with an upgraded main stage, a choice of either two or four powerful boosters and a new restartable upper stage – will provide Europe with greater efficiency and possibility as it can launch multiple missions into different orbits on a single flight, while its upper stage will deorbit itself at the end of mission.
ESA’s main roles in the Ariane 6 programme is as contracting authority – managing the budget from Member States participating in the Ariane 6 development programme; and as launch system architect – ensuring that the rocket and launch pad infrastructure work together.
Ariane 6 is the latest in Europe’s Ariane rocket series, taking over from Ariane 5 featuring a modular and versatile design that can launch missions from low-Earth orbit and farther out to deep space.
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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 ESA project astronaut Marcus Wandt to the International Space Station on Axiom Mission 3 (Ax-3). Marcus’s mission is called Muninn.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will lift off from launch pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA, on 18 January 2024. Marcus will fly as a mission specialist on the Dragon spacecraft. The other Axiom 3 crew members are Walter Villadei from Italy and Alper Gezeravcı from Türkiye. They will fly under the command of Michael López-Alegría, representing both USA and Spain as a dual-citizen.
Marcus is the first of a new generation of European astronauts to fly on a commercial human spaceflight opportunity with Axiom Space. His mission is supported by ESA and the Swedish National Space Agency (SNSA).
During his two-week mission, Marcus will devote much of his time to scientific activities and technology demonstrations that could shape the way we live and work on Earth. In total, he will run around 20 experiments.
Marcus Wandt was selected in November 2022 as a member of the ESA astronaut reserve after a year-long selection process. The 2022 ESA recruitment campaign received over 22 5000 applications from across its Member States.
Timestaps of the video: 00:00:00 – 02:10:44 – Pre-Launch programme 02:10:45 – 02:35:38 – Liftoff
Follow Marcus’s journey on the Muninn website, check our launch kit and connect with him on his Instagram and X accounts.
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 July 2023 local time, the last Ariane 5 blasted off from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. Relive the moment from up close in this 360° video showing the liftoff and Ariane 5 soaring to orbit.
The audio comes from the camera itself that was clamped to a steel cable on a northern ramp surrounding the Ariane 5 flame trench – about 50 m from the ZL3 launchpad. Despite being so close to the launch pad, the camera was only protected against humidity and rain. A solar panel provided extra power to the camera as it had to record for a long time to capture the liftoff as no people are allowed so close to near the launchpad during the countdown and blastoff.
Europe’s Ariane 5 rocket completed its final flight, placing two payloads – the German aerospace agency DLR’s Heinrich Hertz experimental communications satellite and the French communications satellite Syracuse 4b – into their planned geostationary transfer orbits. Total payload mass at liftoff was about 7700 kg – 7000 kg for the two satellites, and the rest for payload adapters and carrying structures.
The development of the Ariane series of launch vehicles is an expression of Europe’s position, dating to the 1960s, that participation in the new space age demanded an independent launch capability. Several European countries thus joined forces to develop a launch vehicle. This project, called Europa, was ultimately unsuccessful but in 1975 the European Launcher Development Organisation created to oversee it was merged with the European Space Research Organisation to create ESA, which initiated the Ariane programme.
That spirit of co-operation ultimately delivered Ariane 5 and the smaller Vega series of launch vehicles. ESA continues this work with its Member States and industrial partners to meet new market realities with Ariane 6, the newest launch vehicle in the Ariane family.
Credits: ESA-Manuel Pedoussaut
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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 117th and final launch of Europe’s Ariane 5 rocket capped a series which began in 1996. Commercial, institutional and scientific payloads included such iconic missions as Rosetta, the James Webb Space Telescope and Juice. Seen here is the launch campaign for VA261 on 5 July 2023, to close the Ariane 5 book; onboard were German aerospace agency DLR’s Heinrich Hertz experimental communications satellite and French communications satellite Syracuse 4b.
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.
Ariane 5 for flight VA260 carrying ESA’s Juice mission is seen here fully integrated and ready for rollout for its planned 13 April 2023 launch from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.
Juice – JUpiter ICy Moons Explorer – is humankind’s next bold mission to the outer Solar System. After an eight-year journey to Jupiter, it will make detailed observations of the gas giant and its three large ocean-bearing moons: Ganymede, Callisto and Europa. This ambitious mission will characterise these moons with a powerful suite of remote sensing, geophysical and in situ instruments to discover more about these compelling destinations as potential habitats for past or present life. Juice will monitor Jupiter’s complex magnetic, radiation and plasma environment in depth and its interplay with the moons, studying the Jupiter system as an archetype for gas giant systems across the 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.
The first Meteosat Third Generation Imager (MTG-I1) satellite lifted off on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana on 13 December at 21:30 CET.
From geostationary orbit, 36,000 km above the equator, this all-new weather satellite will provide state-of-the art observations of Earth’s atmosphere and realtime monitoring of lightning events, taking weather forecasting to the next level. The satellite carries two completely new instruments: Europe’s first Lightning Imager and a Flexible Combined Imager.
MTG-I1 is the first of six satellites that form the full MTG system, which will provide critical data for weather forecasting over the next 20 years. In full operations, the mission will comprise two MTG-I satellites and one MTG Sounding (MTG-S) satellites working in tandem.
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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 uncrewed Artemis I test flight saw Orion travel around the Moon and farther than any spacecraft designed to carry humans and return them to Earth. Artemis is the international lunar exploration programme that is taking humankind to the Moon. This first mission provided a first test of both NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) and the Orion moonship that was propelled by the European Service Module’s 33 engines beyond the Moon and into deep space. Future European Service Modules will provide electricity, propulsion and cabin thermal control for astronauts on lunar missions as well as breathable atmosphere and drinking water.
Launched by the first SLS on 16 November at 06:47 GMT/07:47 CET (01:47 local time) from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Florida, Orion flew a 25-day mission that saw it fly by the Moon twice. Passing as close as 130 km from the lunar surface, the spacecraft used the Moon’s gravity to sling it into lunar orbit and then later return it on course to Earth.
The first lunar flyby occurred on 21 November at 12:44 GMT/13:44 CET, with the ESM firing its main engine to send Orion behind and around the Moon. Ten days after liftoff, Orion entered the Moon’s orbit at 12:44 GMT/13:44 CET on 25 November when the ESM fired its main engine.
NASA’s Orion spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific Ocean at 17:40 GMT/18:40 CET on 11 December, after travelling around the Moon and farther than any spacecraft designed to carry humans and return them to Earth. Just 40 minutes before splashdown, and having delivered Orion safely back to Earth, ESA’s European Service Module (ESM) with its Crew Module Adapter detached from the capsule. As planned, the ESM burned up harmlessly in the atmosphere as the Orion Crew Module guided itself through re-entry, orienting the capsule with its own thrusters, releasing its three parachutes and gracefully splashing down off the coast of San Diego, USA.
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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 new Vega-C rocket lifted off for its inaugural flight VV21 on 13 July 2022 at 15:13 CEST/13:13 UTC/10:13 local time from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. This video features shots of the launch from different angles.
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 the Italian space agency ASI 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.
Crew Dragon Freedom is launched to the International Space Station, carrying ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti and @NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren, Robert “Bob” Hines and Jessica Watkins.
Collectively known as Crew-4, the four astronauts were launched from @NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA.
Samantha is the third ESA astronaut to travel to the orbital outpost in a @SpaceX Crew Dragon. During the journey she and Jessica will serve as Mission Specialists. Kjell is Crew-4 Commander and Bob is Crew-4 Pilot.
Upon arrival, Crew-4 will be greeted by the Space Station’s current crew – including ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer. Samantha and Matthias will enjoy a brief handover in orbit before he returns to Earth with Crew-3.
Samantha first flew to space in 2014 for her @AsiTV-sponsored mission Futura. Her ESA space mission, known as Minerva, will officially begin once she reaches the Station.
Throughout her mission, Samantha will hold the role of US Orbital Segment (USOS) lead, taking responsibility for all operations within the US, European, Japanese and Canadian modules and components of the Space Station. She will support around 35 European and many more international experiments in orbit.
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 lifted off on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, at 13:20 CET on 25 December 2021 on its exciting mission to unlock the secrets of the Universe.
This timelapse shows highlights of the launch campaign from the arrival of Webb in French Guiana through to liftoff.
Every launch requires meticulous planning and preparation. For Webb, this process began about 15 years ago. Webb arrived from California on board the MN Colibri which sailed the Panama Canal to Pariacabo harbour in French Guiana. The shallow Kourou river was specially dredged to ensure a clear passage and the vessel followed high tide to safely reach port on 12 October 2021.
Though the telescope weighs only six tonnes, it was more than 10.5 m high and almost 4.5 m wide when folded. At Europe’s Spaceport it was unpacked inside a dedicated spacecraft preparation facility fitted with walls of air filters to protect the telescope from contamination during preparations for launch.
After its arrival in the final assembly building, Webb was lifted slowly about 40 m high and then carefully manoeuvred on top of Ariane 5 – one of the most delicate operations during the entire launch campaign. A ‘shower curtain’ about 12 m high and 8 m in diameter was installed in between two platforms, to create a closed-off space around Webb to avoid any contamination.
On the day of encapsulation, the fairing was lowered over the observatory and locked in place for liftoff. A laser guiding system assisted this particularly delicate operation for a perfect fit inside Ariane 5’s fairing.
Ariane 5 with Webb was rolled out from the final assembly building to the launch pad on 22 December. On 25 December, Ariane 5 performed the flawless launch of this once in a generation mission. Ariane 5’s highly precise launch meant that Webb saved its own fuel which can be used to significantly extend its expected lifetime of 10 years.
Webb is the largest, most powerful telescope ever launched into space. As part of an international collaboration agreement, ESA has provided 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. ESA has also provided the workhorse spectrograph NIRSpec and 50% of the mid-infrared instrument MIRI, in collaboration with the University of Arizona. 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.
Highlights of the launch campaign for the James Webb Space Telescope, from its arrival at Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, weeks of launch preparations, to launch on board an Ariane 5, and separation of the spacecraft and solar panel deployment.
Now in space and on its way to L2, Webb will undergo a complex unfolding sequence. In the months after, the instruments will be turned on and their capabilities tested. After half a year in space, Webb will start its routine science observations.
Webb will see farther into our origins: from the Universe’s first galaxies, to the birth of stars and planets, to exoplanets with the potential for life, and our own Solar System.
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 astronaut Matthias Maurer and @NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn and Kayla Barron liftoff to the International Space Station in the @SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft “Endurance”.
Collectively known as “Crew-3”, the astronauts were launched from launchpad 39A at @NASAKennedy in Florida, USA at 02:03 GMT/03:03 CET Thursday 11 November.
The spacecraft docked to the International Space Station at 00:32 CET Friday, 12 November/23:32 GMT Thursday, 11 November, marking the official start of Matthias’s first mission ‘Cosmic Kiss’.
Crew-3 will spend around six months living and working aboard the orbital outpost before returning to Earth. It is the first space mission for Matthias, who’s become the 600th human to fly to space. He chose the name “Cosmic Kiss” for his mission as a declaration of love for space.
Matthias has a background in materials science and looks forward to supporting a wide range of science and research in orbit. The work he carries out throughout his mission will contribute to the success of future space missions and help enhance life 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.
At 7:27 p.m. EST on Sunday, Nov. 15, 2020, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon “Resilience” spacecraft lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Aboard are astronauts Michael Hopkins, Shannon Walker, and Victor Glover of NASA and Soichi Noguchi of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency). The four are on the way to the International Space Station for a six-month science mission.
How do rockets lift off from the ground and how fast do they go? Can we launch rockets from other planets? ESA rocket scientist Kate Underhill answers these questions and offers more fun facts about launchers in this episode of Meet The Experts.
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.
ESA’s Solar Orbiter spacecraft has sent back its first images of the Sun. At 77 million kilometres from the surface, this is the closest a camera has ever flown to our nearest star. The pictures reveal features on the Sun’s exterior that have never been seen in detail before.
Launched on 10 February 2020, the spacecraft completed its commissioning phase and first close-approach to the Sun in mid-June. Since then, science teams have been processing and examining this early data.
The spacecraft is currently in its cruise phase, on its way to Venus, but will eventually get even closer to the Sun.
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.
The first images from ESA’s Solar Orbiter, captured around the spacecraft’s first close pass of the Sun, some 77 million kilometres from its surface, are already exceeding expectations revealing interesting new phenomena on our parent star.
This animation shows a series of close-up views captured by the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) at wavelengths of 17 nanometers, showing the upper atmosphere of the Sun, or corona, with a temperature of around 1 million degrees.
These images reveal a multitude of small flaring loops, erupting bright spots and dark, moving fibrils. A ubiquitous feature of the solar surface, uncovered for the first time by these images, have been called ‘campfires’. They are omnipresent minuature eruptions that could be contributing to the high temperatures of the solar corona and the origin of the solar wind.
Captured on 30 May 2020, when Solar Orbiter was roughly halfway between the Earth and the Sun, these are the closest views of the Sun ever taken, allowing EUI to see features in the solar corona of only 400 km across. As the mission continues, Solar Orbiter will go closer to the Sun and this will increase the instrument’s resolving power by a factor of two at closest approach.
The colour on this image has been artificially added because the original wavelength detected by the instrument is invisible to the human eye.
The circle in the lower left corner indicates the size of Earth for scale.
The extended grey shape visible at times moving across the field (00:00-00:25; 01:00-01:28; 01:50-02:00; 02:52-03:27) is not a solar feature but is caused by a sensor artefact.
Solar Orbiter is a space mission of international collaboration between ESA and NASA.
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.
The first images from ESA’s Solar Orbiter are already exceeding expectations and revealing interesting new phenomena on the Sun.
This animation combines a series of views captured with several remote-sensing instruments on Solar Orbiter between 30 May and 21 June 2020, when the spacecraft was roughly halfway between the Earth and the Sun ¬– closer to the Sun than any other solar telescope has ever been before.
The red and yellow images were taken with the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) in the extreme ultraviolet region of the electromagnetic spectrum, at wavelengths of 30 and 17 nanometers, respectively.
The close-up views by EUI show the upper atmosphere of the Sun, or corona, with a temperature of around 1 million degrees. With the power to see features in the solar corona of only 400 km across, these images reveal a multitude of small flaring loops, erupting bright spots and dark, moving fibrils. A ubiquitous feature of the solar surface, uncovered for the first time by these images, have been called ‘campfires’. They are omnipresent minuature eruptions that could be contributing to the high temperatures of the solar corona and the origin of the solar wind.
The EUI images are followed by three views based on data from the Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager (PHI) instrument. The blue and red view is a ‘tachogram’ of the Sun, showing the line of sight velocity of the Sun, with the blue side turning to us and the red side turning away. The following view is a magnetogram, or a map of magnetic propertied for the whole Sun, featuring a large magnetically active region in the lower right-hand quadrant of the Sun. The yellow-orange view is a visible light image and represents what we would see with the naked eye: there are no sunspots visible because the Sun is displaying only low levels of magnetic activity at the moment.
On larger scales, the Metis coronograph blocks out the dazzling light from the solar surface, bringing the fainter corona into view. Metis observes the corona simultaneously in visible light (shown in green) and ultraviolet light (shown in red) for the first time with unprecedented temporal coverage and spatial resolution. These images reveal the two bright equatorial streamers and fainter polar regions that are characteristic of the solar corona during times of minimal magnetic activity.
On even grander scales, the Heliospheric Imager (SoloHI) telescope takes images of the solar wind – the stream of charged particles constantly released by the Sun into outer space – by capturing the light scattered by electrons in the wind. The first-light image from SoloHI is shown at the end, as a mosaic of four separate images from the instrument’s four separate detectors. In this view, the Sun is located to the right of the frame, and its light is blocked by a series of baffles; the last baffle is in the field of view on the right-hand side and is illuminated by reflections from the solar array. The partial ellipse visible on the right is the zodiacal light, created by sunlight reflecting off the dust particles that are orbiting the Sun. The signal from the solar wind outflow is faint compared to the much brighter zodiacal light signal, but the SoloHI team has developed techniques to reveal it. Planet Mercury is also visible as a small bright dot near the lower edge of the upper left tile.
Solar Orbiter is a space mission of international collaboration between ESA and NASA.
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.
Highlights from the preparation and liftoff of ESA’s Sun-exploring mission Solar Orbiter.
Solar Orbiter lofted to space aboard the US Atlas V 411 rocket from NASA’s spaceport in Cape Canaveral, Florida at 04:03 GMT (05:03 CET) on 10 February 2020.
An ESA-led mission with strong NASA participation, Solar Orbiter carries a set of ten instruments for imaging the surface of the Sun and studying the environment in its vicinity. The spacecraft will travel around the Sun on an elliptical orbit that will take it as close as 42 million km away from the Sun’s surface, about a quarter of the distance between the Sun and Earth. The orbit will allow Solar Orbiter to see some of the never-before-imaged regions of the Sun, including the poles, and shed new light on what gives rise to solar wind, which can affect infrastructure 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 http://www.esa.int/ESA to get up to speed on everything space related.
ESA’s new Sun-exploring mission Solar Orbiter lofted to space aboard the US Atlas V 411 rocket from NASA’s spaceport in Cape Canaveral, Florida at 04:03 GMT (05:03 CET) on 10 February 2020.
Solar Orbiter, an ESA-led mission with strong NASA participation, carries a set of ten instruments for imaging the surface of the Sun and studying the environment in its vicinity. The spacecraft will travel around the Sun on an elliptical orbit that will take it as close as 42 million km away from the Sun’s surface, about a quarter of the distance between the Sun and Earth. The orbit will allow Solar Orbiter to see some of the never-before-imaged regions of the Sun, including the poles, and shed new light on what gives rise to solar wind, which can affect infrastructure 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 http://www.esa.int/ESA to get up to speed on everything space related.
As the year comes to a close, it is once again time to look back and reflect on some of the achievements and highlights of European spaceflight. The new Gaia star catalogue and the launch of Cheops are keeping ESA at the forefront of space science, as will Solar Orbiter, being prepared for launch next year. The Copernicus programme continues to be the largest Earth observation programme in the world, with ESA preparing even more missions. On the Space Station, Luca Parmitano became the third European to command an ISS expedition. During his second mission, he made some of the space programme’s most complex and demanding spacewalks. At the end of 2019, the ESA Space19+ ministerial conference agreed to give ESA its largest budget ever and expressed continued support for Europe’s independent access to space with Ariane 6 and Vega-C.
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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.
ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano has arrived on the International Space Station following a six-hour flight in the Russian Soyuz MS-13 spacecraft alongside NASA astronaut Drew Morgan and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov.
The trio were launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 16:28 GMT (18:28 CEST) on Saturday 20 July and orbited Earth four times before docking to the Station’s Zvezda service module at 22:50 GMT (00:50 CEST).
This mission to the International Space Station is the second for Luca, the third for Alexander and the first for Drew. They were warmly welcomed by NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Nick Hague and current International Space Station commander Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos, bringing the number of humans in orbit to six.
This clip shows highlights from preparations prior to launch, liftoff, docking and hatch opening as the crew start to settle into their new home and workplace.
Luca will live and work in orbit for the six-month duration of his Beyond mission. There, he will support over 50 European experiments and more than 200 international experiments in microgravity.
During the latter part of his mission, Expedition 61, he will take up the role of Space Station commander. He is the first Italian and third European astronaut ever appointed to this role, after ESA astronauts Alexander Gerst in 2018 and Frank De Winne in 2009.
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.
The ride to the International Space Station sees astronauts launched on top of a rocket fuelled by 300 tonnes of propellant. Where on Earth do astronauts take off? When do they experience weightlessness for the first time? And how long does the trip take?
Watch in just over a minute the events from launch to docking. This video is based on a training lesson for ESA astronauts, and it features footage taken from inside the Soyuz spacecraft.
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.
Following the launch of Aeolus on 22 August 2018, scientists have been busy fine-tuning and calibrating this latest Earth Explorer satellite. Aeolus carries a revolutionary instrument, which comprises a powerful laser, a large telescope and a very sensitive receiver. It works by emitting short, powerful pulses – 50 pulses per second – of ultraviolet light from a laser down into the atmosphere. The instrument then measures the backscattered signals from air molecules, dust particles and water droplets to provide vertical profiles that show the speed of the world’s winds in the lowermost 30 km of the atmosphere. These measurements are needed to improve weather forecasts. As part of the working being done to calibrate this novel mission, scientists have been taking similar measurements from an aircraft carrying an airborne version of Aeolus’ instrument. The pilot flies the plane under the satellite as it orbits above so that measurements of wind can be compared.
ESA is 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.
This year saw ESA’s science exploration mission BepiColombo begin its seven year cruise to the innermost planet of our Solar System: Mercury. This timelapse recalls some of the preparations that went into readying the mission at Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.
The mission, a joint endeavour between ESA and JAXA, comprises three spacecraft modules: ESA’s Mercury Planetary Orbiter and JAXA’s Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter that will study all aspects of Mercury from their complementary orbits around the planet, and ESA’s Mercury Transfer Module that will bring them to the planet using a combination of solar electric propulsion and nine planetary flybys.
The video includes testing of the individual spacecraft units, stacking of the three modules and a protective sunshield into their launch configuration, integration of the spacecraft inside the launcher fairing, roll out to the launch pad, and finally launch itself. The mission lifted off at 01:45:28 GMT on 20 October 2018.
ESA is 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.
Highlights from the days up to and including the exciting launch of the ESA-JAXA BepiColombo mission to Mercury.
BepiColombo launched at 01:45 GMT from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. It will make a seven year cruise to Mercury, flying by Earth once, Venus twice and Mercury six times before entering orbit.
It is the first European mission to Mercury, the smallest and least explored planet in the inner Solar System, and the first to send two spacecraft to make complementary measurements of the planet and its dynamic environment at the same time. The mission comprises two science orbiters: ESA’s Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and JAXA’s Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO). The ESA-built Mercury Transfer Module (MTM) will carry the orbiters to Mercury using a combination of solar electric propulsion and gravity assist flybys.
ESA is 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.
This edition of #Space comes from the coast of northern Norway, where we’ve come to the Andøya Space Centre to meet scientists working on a new satellite called Aeolus. This mission carries revolutionary laser technology to measure the wind around the entire globe. Lofted into orbit in August 2018 on a Vega rocket from French Guiana, Aeolus has only just begun its life in space. Engineers are now busy commissioning the mission to ensure that it will soon be ready to deliver novel data on winds. This will be used to improve our understanding of the atmosphere and to improve weather forecasts.
ESA is 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.
Ένας ευρωπαϊκός δορυφόρος που ονομάζεται Αίολος θα μετρήσει για πρώτη φορά τους ανέμους από το διαστημα, υποσχόμενος να βελτιώσει σημαντικά την πρόβλεψη του καιρού.Η εκπομπή #Space και ο Τζέρεμι Γουίλκς βρέθηκε στην ακτή της βόρειας Νορβηγίας,στο διαστημικό κέντρο Andøya για να συναντήσει επιστήμονες που εργάζονται σε ένα νέο δορυφόρο με το όνομα Αίολος, ο οποίος μετράει τον άνεμο γύρω από τον πλανήτη μας για πρώτη φορά. Οι ερευνητές ειναι στο στάδιο της επικύρωσης και αξιολόγησης όλων των μετρήσεων που λαμβάνουν από το δορυφόρο σε τροχιά. Με την εκτόξευση του πυραύλου Vega ξεκινά μια πρωτοποριακή αποστολή για τις καιρικές συνθήκες.
Στα τέλη Αυγούστου του τρέχοντος έτους, ο πολυαναμενόμενος δορυφόρος Αίολος του Ευρωπαϊκού Οργανισμού Διαστήματος εκτοξεύτηκε στο διάστημα, ταξιδεύοντας γρήγορα και χαμηλά, μόλις 320 χιλιόμετρα πάνω από τα κεφάλια μας.
ESA is 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 című műsorunkban ezúttal Észak-Norvégiából jelentkezünk, ahol az Andøya űrközpontban tudósokkal találkoztunk, akik egy új műholdon, az Aeolus-on dolgoznak. Ez egyedülálló módon az űrből méri a Föld szeleit. A tudósok jelenleg azon dolgoznak, hogy kalibrálják és érvényesítsék a méréseket, amelyeket a föld körüli pályáról kapnak. A Vega-rakéta robajával úttörő időjárási küldetés kezdődik: az Európai Űrügynökség régóta várt Aeolus-műholdját augusztus végén kilőtték az űrbe. A műhold gyorsan és alacsonyan repül, mindössze 320 kilométeres magasságban.
ESA is 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.
ESA’s Earth Explorer Aeolus satellite lifted off on a Vega rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, at 21:20 GMT (23:20 CEST, 18:20 local time) on 22 August 2018. Aeolus carries one of the most sophisticated instruments ever to be put into orbit. The first of its kind, the Aladin instrument includes revolutionary laser technology to generate pulses of ultraviolet light that are beamed down into the atmosphere to profile the world’s winds – a completely new approach to measuring the wind from space. By profiling the lowermost 30 km of the atmosphere, Aeolus will give scientists global information on the speed of the wind in near-real time. This will improve our understanding of how wind, pressure, temperature and humidity are interlinked. This new mission will also provide insight into how the wind influences the exchange of heat and moisture between Earth’s surface and the atmosphere. These aspects are important for understanding climate change. As well as advancing science and improving weather forecasts, data from Aeolus will be used in air-quality models to improve forecasts of dust and other airborne particles that affect public health.
Europe’s next four Galileo satellites lifted off at 11:25 GMT (13:25 CEST, 08:25 local time) on 25 July from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana atop an Ariane 5 launcher.
This unique video shows a full launch of the Soyuz MS-09: from liftoff to orbit.
Watch the launch from inside the crew capsule with first-ever shots from outside the spacecraft recorded by cameras fixed to the exterior of the Soyuz.
The intense launch lasts less than ten minutes whereby the Soyuz spacecraft is propelled 1640 km and gains 210 km altitude. Every second for nine minutes, the spacecraft accelerates 50 km/h on average as the rocket’s boosters burn their fuel and are discarded.
See the astronaut’s reactions and what the spacecraft looks like as the main steps are carried out to get into orbit:
-00:12 Launch command issued
-00:10 Engine turbopumps at flight speed
-00:05 Engines at maximum thrust
00:00 Launch
+1:54 Separation of emergency rescue system
+1:57 First stage separation
+2:38 Fairing separation
+4:48 Second stage separation
+4:58 Tail adapter separation
+8:45 Third stage engine cut off having arrived in orbit
+8:49 Soyuz separation, deploy solar arrays and antennae
The astronauts, from left to right, are NASA astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor, Roscosmos commander Sergei Prokopyev and ESA astronaut and flight engineer Alexander Gerst launched in the Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the International Space Station on 6 June 2018. ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer and ESA television host Richard Hollingham provide commentary taken from the live event.
Hunched in their Sokol flight suits that offer protection in case of fire or depressurisation, the trio stay in the crew capsule of the Soyuz – the only module that is also designed to survive a return to Earth. The bags above their heads contain supplies for the International Space Station as every bit of space is used.
During a Soyuz launch astronauts typically experience forces of up to 4g – having to work while being pressed into their seats with a force that is four times more than the gravity felt on Earth. The Soyuz commander uses a stick to press buttons as they are too far away from the control panel.
The fluffy toys above the astronauts’ heads are mascots and good luck charms but also serve as a simple but effective test to see when the spacecraft is in orbit: when they start to float the spacecraft is weightless and orbiting Earth. Above Sergei is the mascot for the 2018 FIFA soccer World Cup held in Russia. Alexander took German children television icon “Die Maus” with him.
The launch went as planned as the 50-m tall Soyuz rocket propelled the astronauts to their cruising speed of around 28 800 km/h.
For this launch the astronauts took 34 orbits of Earth over two days to arrive at their destination spending their time in the cramped orbital module of the Soyuz that is no larger than a car. With limited communications and living space the astronauts had time to adapt to weightlessness and reflect on their mission ahead. They aligned their spacecraft with the International Space Station and approached the orbital outpost for docking on 8 June 2018. The files for this video were downloaded by the astronauts after arriving at the Space Station.
Alexander is a returning visitor to the International Space Station, the first of ESA’s 2009 class of astronauts to be sent into space for a second time. During the second part of his mission Alexander will take over as commander of the International Space Station, only the second time an ESA astronaut will take on this role so far.
At 11:12 GMT (13:12 CEST), 6 June 2018, ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst was launched into space alongside NASA astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor and Roscosmos commander Sergei Prokopyev in the Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft from Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
See in this time-lapse how the Sentinel-3B satellite was prepared for its liftoff on 25 April 2018 from Plesetsk in Russia.
Sentinel-3B joined its twin, Sentinel-3A, in orbit. The pairing of identical satellites provides the best coverage and data delivery for Europe’s Copernicus programme – the largest environmental monitoring programme in the world. The satellites carry the same suite of cutting-edge instruments to measure oceans, land, ice and atmosphere.
Credits: Directed by Stephane Corvaja, ESA; Edited by Manuel Pedoussaut, Zetapress; Music by Hubrid-Rockot
The Copernicus Sentinel-3B satellite spent six weeks at the Plesetsk cosmodrome in Russia being carefully prepared for liftoff. After being shipped from France to the launch site, the satellite was tested, joined to the rocket launch adapter, sealed from view in the fairing and taken by train to the launch pad. Sentinel-3B lifted off on 25 April 2018 at 17:57 GMT (19:57 CEST).
It joins its twin, Sentinel-3A, in orbit. The pairing of identical satellites provides the best coverage and data delivery for Europe’s Copernicus programme – the largest environmental monitoring programme in the world. The satellites carry the same suite of cutting-edge instruments to measure oceans, land, ice and atmosphere. While these data are fed primarily into the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service, all the Copernicus services benefit to produce knowledge and information products in near-real time for a wide range of applications. The Sentinel-3 mission is essential for applications for ocean and coastal monitoring, numerical weather and ocean prediction, sea-level change and sea-surface topography monitoring, ocean primary production estimation and land-cover change mapping.
ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli, NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik and Roscosmos commander Sergey Ryazansky launched to the International Space Station on 28 July from Baikonur Cosmodrome on their Soyuz MS-05 spacecraft.
Paolo, Randy and Sergey will spend five months in space working and living on the International Space Station.
