This week’s edition of the Earth from Space programme features a Copernicus Sentinel-3 image showing the scale of Britain’s heatwave as it baked in extreme temperatures in August.
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.
NASA will host a briefing to provide highlights from the first year-and-a-half of the Perseverance rover’s exploration of Mars.
The rover landed in Mars’ Jezero Crater in February 2021 and is collecting samples of rock and other materials from the Martian surface. Perseverance is investigating the sediment-rich ancient river delta in the Red Planet’s Jezero Crater.
Speakers: • Lori Glaze, director of NASA’s Planetary Science Division, NASA Headquarters • Laurie Leshin, JPL director • Rick Welch, Perseverance deputy project manager, JPL • Ken Farley, Perseverance project scientist, Caltech • Sunanda Sharma, Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals (SHERLOC) scientist, JPL • David Shuster, Perseverance returned sample scientist, University of California, Berkeley
On 15 September 2022, ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti conducted an in-flight call with the European Parliament from the International Space Station. In conversation with President Metsola and ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher, she provided insights into the importance Europe’s presence in space, as well as the scientific and technological progress enabled by its activities. The three also touched on Samantha’s upcoming commandership, life on the Station, and the pressing issue of space debris.
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.
Solar Orbiter has made the first ever remote sensing observation consistent with a magnetic phenomenon called a solar switchback – sudden and large deflections of the solar wind’s magnetic field. The new observation provides a full view of the structure, in this case confirming it has an S-shaped character, as predicted. Furthermore, the global perspective provided by the Solar Orbiter data indicates that these rapidly changing magnetic fields can have their origin near the surface of 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 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.
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.
Vice President Kamala Harris chairs the the National Space Council meeting at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson will deliver remarks.
The council advises the president on America’s space policy and strategy, and reviews the nation’s long-range goals for space activities.
The Small Magellanic Cloud has a simpler chemical composition than the Milky Way, making it similar to the galaxies found in the younger Universe, when heavier elements were more scarce. Because of this, the stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud burn hotter and so run out of their fuel faster than in our Milky Way. Though a proxy for the early universe, at 200 000 light-years away the Small Magellanic Cloud is also one of our closest galactic neighbours.
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.
Thousands of never-before-seen young stars are spotted in a stellar nursery called 30 Doradus, captured by the @NASA/ESA/@Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope. Nicknamed the Tarantula Nebula for the appearance of its dusty filaments in previous telescope images, the nebula has long been a favourite for astronomers studying star formation. In addition to young stars, Webb reveals distant background galaxies, as well as the detailed structure and composition of the nebula’s gas and dust.
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.
New images of the spectacular Phantom Galaxy, M74, showcase the power of space observatories working together in multiple wavelengths. In this case, data from the @NASA / ESA / @canadianspaceagency James Webb Space Telescope and the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope compliment each other to provide a comprehensive view of the galaxy.
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 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.
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.
Managers and engineers from NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama share their thoughts about the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket for #Artemis I. Van L. Strickland, SLS program operations manager; John Blevins, SLS chief engineer; and Sharon Cobb, SLS associate program manager, commend a diverse workforce for its effort and dedication to prepare the backbone of NASA’s return to the Moon. SLS will launch the Orion spacecraft on its mission beyond the Moon and back to Earth. Artemis I is scheduled to launch no earlier than Aug. 29, 2022, at 8:33 a.m. EDT from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39B in Florida.
A transmission spectrum of the hot gas giant exoplanet WASP-39 b, captured by Webb’s Near-Infrared Spectrograph on 10 July 2022, reveals the first definitive evidence for carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of a planet outside the Solar System. This is the first detailed transmission spectrum ever captured that covers wavelengths between 3 and 5.5 microns.
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.
Webb’s Jupiter observations will give scientists even more clues to Jupiter’s inner life since with giant storms, powerful winds, aurorae, and extreme temperature and pressure conditions, the planet has a lot going on.
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 Artemis I mission is almost ready for launch: it will send an uncrewed spacecraft beyond the Moon and back. Join this virtual Q&A to learn more about Europe’s contribution to the mission: ESA is overseeing the development of the European Service Module, that provides air, electricity and propulsion to the spacecraft. Participants to this media briefing include Josef Aschbacher, ESA Director General ; David Parker, ESA Director for Human and Robotic Exploration ; Jean-Marc Nasr, @Airbus EVP Space Systems and Marc Steckling, Airbus Head of Space Exploration.
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.
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 series of heatwaves we are currently experiencing in western Europe is a clear sign of human-induced global warming. ESA’s Clement Albergel explains how we monitor these events using satellites such as the Copernicus Sentinel-3 mission and puts them in the context of the long-term climate data record generated via ESA’s Climate Change Initiative.
Credits: ESA
★ 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.
Etched onto this thin Gallium Nitride (GaN) semiconductor wafer are hundreds of space-quality microwave integrated circuits. The transistor gate terminals are fabricated at a scale of 0.25 micrometres – a micrometre being a thousandth of a millimetre!
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 Orion spacecraft with European Service Module will fly farther from Earth than any human-rated vehicle has ever flown before. This video gives an overview of the first mission – without astronauts – for Artemis, focussing on ESA’s European Service Module that powers the spacecraft.
The spacecraft will perform a flyby of the Moon, using lunar gravity to gain speed and propel itself 70 000 km beyond the Moon, almost half a million km from Earth – further than any human has ever travelled, where it will inject itself in a Distant Retrograde Orbit around the Moon.
On its return journey, Orion will do another flyby of the Moon before heading back to Earth.
The total trip will take around 20 days, ending with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean without the European Service Module – it separates and burns up harmlessly in the atmosphere.
The second Artemis mission will have a simplified flight plan with only a flyby of the Moon but with four astronauts. The third Artemis mission will see astronauts taken to the lunar surface.
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.
The European Service Module has 33 thrusters, 11 km of electrical wiring, four propellant and two pressure tanks that all work together to supply propulsion and everything needed to keep astronauts alive far from Earth – there is no room for error.
★ 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.
To prepare Europe for future decision making on Space-Based Solar Power, ESA has proposed a preparatory programme for Europe, initially named SOLARIS, for the upcoming ESA Council at Ministerial Level in November 2022.
Space-based solar power is a potential source of clean, affordable, continuous, abundant and secure energy. This basic concept has been given fresh urgency by the need for new sources of clean and secure energy to aid Europe’s transition to a Net Zero carbon world by 2050. If Europe wants to benefit from this game-changing capability then we need to start investing now.
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 returned from his first mission to the International Space Station, known as ‘Cosmic Kiss’, on Friday 6 May 2022. Revisit some of the highlights of his first stay in orbit with us. During his mission, Matthias became the 600th person in space, conducted his first spacewalk, and supported over one hundred cutting-edge scientific experiments – the findings of which will improve life back here 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.
Chachani is the tallest of the mountains near the Peruvian city of Arequipa. The outskirts of the city and part of the airport runway are just visible in the centre bottom of the image.
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.
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 mission to return martian samples back to Earth will see a European 2.5 metre-long robotic arm pick up tubes filled with precious soil from Mars and transfer them to a rocket for an historic interplanetary delivery.
The sophisticated robot, known as the Sample Transfer Arm or STA, will play a crucial role in the success of the Mars Sample Return campaign. The joint endeavour between @NASA and ESA aims to bring back martian samples to the best labs in our planet by 2033.
The robotic arm will land on Mars to retrieve the sample tubes NASA’s Perseverance rover is currently collecting from the surface. Able to “see”, “feel” and take autonomous decisions, the Sample Transfer Arm will identify, pick up and transfer the tubes into the first rocket fired off another planet – the Mars Launch System.
Only after the robot closes the container’s lid, the martian samples will be launched for rendezvous with ESA’s Earth Return Orbiter (ERO) and bring the material back to Earth.
The Sample Transfer Arm is conceived to be autonomous, highly reliable and robust.
Its architecture mimics a human arm with a shoulder, elbow and wrist, and has its own built-in brain and eyes. The robot can perform a large range of movements with seven degrees of freedom.
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.
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 benefits of space station research and development, refining the architecture for the Mars Sample Return mission, and test firing a solid-rocket booster for our mega Moon rocket … a few of the stories to tell you about – This Week at NASA!
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.
ESA’s EarthCARE satellite mission will soon be launched to answer some critical scientific questions related to the role that clouds and aerosols play in reflecting incident solar radiation back out to space and trapping infrared radiation emitted from Earth’s surface. As engineers are preparing EarthCARE for its life in orbit, the satellite is being put through its paces at ESA testing facilities in the Netherlands – the largest satellite test facility in Europe, equipped to simulate every aspect of the space environment.
One of the first tests involved the deployment of the satellite’s 11 metre solar wing from its folded stowed configuration, which allows it to fit in the rocket fairing, to its fully deployed configuration as it will be in orbit around Earth.
This timelapse video shows this deployment test from various angles.
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 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.
The Webb Space Telescope’s new look at the cosmos, technology used to fine tune Webb improves the vision of millions on Earth, and a new climate study heads to the space station … a few of the stories to tell you about – This Week at NASA!
Producer: Andre Valentine Editor: Shane Apple Music: Universal Production Music Credit: NASA
Enjoy the inaugural flight of ESA’s new Vega-C rocket. The principal payload of this flight is LARES-2, a scientific mission of @AsiTV. Also onboard are six European research CubeSats.
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.
Enjoy the inaugural flight of ESA’s new Vega-C rocket. The principal payload of this flight is LARES-2, a scientific mission of @AsiTV. Also onboard are six European research CubeSats.
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.
Enjoy the inaugural flight of ESA’s new Vega-C rocket. The principal payload of this flight is LARES-2, a scientific mission of the @AsiTV. Also onboard are six European research CubeSats.
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.
NASA revealed the first five full-color images and spectrographic data from the world’s most powerful space telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope, a partnership with ESA (European Space Agency), and CSA (Canadian Space Agency). The world got its first look at the full capabilities of the mission at a live event streamed from the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, on July 12, 2022.
The event showcased these targets: – Carina Nebula: A landscape speckled with glittering stars and cosmic cliffs – Stephan’s Quintet: An enormous mosaic with a visual grouping of five galaxies – Southern Ring Nebula: A nebula with rings of gas and dust for thousands of years in all directions – WASP 96-b: A distinct signature of water in the atmosphere of an exoplanet orbiting a distant Sun-like star – SMACS 0723: The deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe to date
The full set of the telescope’s first full-color images and spectroscopic data are available at: https://nasa.gov/webbfirstimages
Webb’s first observations were selected by a group of representatives from NASA, ESA, CSA, and the Space Telescope Science Institute:
– WASP-96b: Webb’s detailed observation of this hot, puffy planet outside our solar system reveals the clear signature of water, along with evidence of haze and clouds that previous studies of this planet did not detect. With Webb’s first detection of water in the atmosphere of an exoplanet, it will now set out to study hundreds of other systems to understand what other planetary atmospheres are made of.
– Carina Nebula: Webb’s look at the ‘Cosmic Cliffs’ in the Carina Nebula unveils the earliest, rapid phases of star formation that were previously hidden. Looking at this star-forming region in the southern constellation Carina, as well as others like it, Webb can see newly forming stars and study the gas and dust that made them.
– Southern Ring: This planetary nebula, an expanding cloud of gas that surrounds a dying star, is approximately 2,000 light years away. Here, Webb’s powerful infrared eyes bring a second dying star into full view for the first time. From birth to death as a planetary nebula, Webb can explore the expelling shells of dust and gas of aging stars that may one day become a new star or planet.
– Stephan’s Quintet: Webb’s view of this compact group of galaxies, located in the constellation Pegasus, pierced through the shroud of dust surrounding the center of one galaxy, to reveal the velocity and composition of the gas near its supermassive black hole. Now, scientists can get a rare look, in unprecedented detail, at how interacting galaxies are triggering star formation in each other and how the gas in these galaxies is being disturbed.
– SMACS 0723: Webb has delivered the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant Universe so far – and in only 12.5 hours. This new image, a color composite of multiple exposures each about two hours long, is approximately the size of a grain of sand held at arm’s length. This deep field uses a lensing galaxy cluster to find some of the most distant galaxies ever detected. This image only scratches the surface of Webb’s capabilities in studying deep fields and tracing galaxies back to the beginning of cosmic 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.
