Back in July we tested a new capability for the Space Station. Filled with dry trash & foam, this big trash bag was jettisoned from a depressurised airlock on the #ISS & it burned up harmlessly in the Earth’s atmosphere.
Credits: Samantha Cristoforetti/ESA
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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 Copenhagen-Malmö Port stretches 10 km between Zealand and Amager and 7 km along the Sound. Adjacent to the modern port facilities a star-shaped fortification, known as Kastellet, can be seen. A relic of Copenhagen’s past, this fortress is more than 340 years old.
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 this week’s edition of the Earth from Space programme, the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission takes us over the department of Bouches-du-Rhône in southern France. It is from here where the first Meteosat Third Generation Imager satellite set sail on its journey to Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.
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 Samantha Cristoforetti will soon complete her second mission to the International Space Station, Minerva.
She was launched from Kennedy Space Center in late April, and since then has supported many European and international science experiments, as well as taken responsibility for all operations within the US Orbital Segment. In July 2022 she performed her first spacewalk, during which she carried out work in the Russian segment to bring the European Robotic Arm into operation.
This report provides a summary of the Minerva Mission, which will end shortly with Samantha’s return to 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.
Keeping fit and doing daily exercise is very important for astronauts on the ISS. Check out ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti’s video of what exercise she did in space today. What kind of exercise have you completed on Earth today?
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.
Shanghai, China is a significant global financial centre and it is also the site of one of the worlds busiest container ports because of its strategic location on the Yangtze River delta.
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 final pre-launch preparations for the first Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) satellite are underway. The first satellite, called MTG-I1, built by a European industrial consortium led by Thales Alenia Space carries two imagers: an advanced Flexible Combined Imager and, in a first for Europe, a Lightning Imager that will allow the earlier detection of storms and extreme weather events, as well as improve aviation safety.
Building on the long-standing partnership between ESA and Eumetsat, the MTG-I1 will be one of six satellites operating in a fleet, of three at a time, to ensure the continuity of data from the previous Meteosat satellites over the next 20 years. The first Meteosat was launched in 1977 and this third generation of spacecraft will be the most advanced yet, with improved image resolution and providing close to real time data for users, or ‘nowcasting’ of fast-developing, high-impact weather.
The launch is currently scheduled for the end of 2022.
The film includes soundbites from ESA Director of Earth Observation Programmes: Simonetta Cheli, ESA Meteosat Programme Manager: Paul Blythe, ESA Meteosat Third Generation Payload Manager: Donny Aminou and EUMETSAT, Meteosat Third Generation Programme Manager: Alexander Schmid.
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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.
This week’s edition of the Earth from Space programme features a Copernicus Sentinel-2 image of melt ponds in the province of Avannaata in West Greenland.
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.
Our astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti has become the new commander of the @iss, taking over from fellow Expedition 67 crew member @olegmks.
Samantha is the fifth European commander of the Space Station, following in the footsteps of our previous astronauts Frank De Winne, Alexander Gerst, Luca Parmitano and Thomas Pesquet. She‘s also the first European female to occupy the position.
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 spectacular images feature the spiral galaxy IC 5332, taken by the @NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and the NASA/ESA/ @Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope. The images display the powerful capabilities that both world-leading space telescopes provide, especially when combining their data.
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 night of 26 September 2022 will make space history – as the moment when @NASA’s DART spacecraft impacts the Dimorphos asteroid in an attempt to divert its course – humankind’s first planetary defence test. Next, in 2024, ESA launches its Hera spacecraft to investigate the post-impact asteroid. In fact, Hera is not one spacecraft but three: it carries with it ESA’s first deep-space CubeSats to make extra observations of its target.
With the Hera mission, ESA is assuming even greater responsibility for protecting our planet and ensuring that Europe plays a leading role in the common effort to tackle asteroid risks.
In this video, Ian Carnelli, Hera mission manager, and members of the Hera team, reflect on the DART impact and introduce Hera and its Milani and Juventas CubeSats.
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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.
All eyes are looking up as @NASA intentionally crashes the 550 kg DART spacecraft into an orbiting asteroid at high speed. Our Estrack network of ground stations, Europe’s ‘eyes on the sky’, will be particularly focused on the humanmade impactor, keeping track as it closes in on the 160-metre-wide moving target in the world’s first test of asteroid deflection.
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 wavelength combination used to create this image of the island of Marajó in Brazil is particularly useful for identifying different vegetation types and helps us to distinguish it very clearly from inland water bodies: water appears dark blue, while vegetation appears in a variety of bright colours.
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 this week’s edition of the Earth from Space programme, the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission takes us over Lake Trasimeno, the fourth largest lake in Italy.
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.
Meet Hera, our very own asteroid detective. Together with two small CubeSats – Milani the rock decoder and Juventas the radar visionary – Hera is off on an adventure to explore Didymos, a double asteroid system that is typical of the thousands that pose an impact risk to planet Earth.
Suitable for space enthusiasts young and old, this episode of ‘The incredible adventures of the Hera mission’ is all about craters. What are they? Why are they important? Why is NASA’s DART spacecraft about to collide with an asteroid to create the Solar System’s newest – and perhaps most important – crater? And why do we need Hera to unveil the secrets of this crater?
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.
Most striking about Webb’s new image is the crisp view of the planet’s dynamic rings — some of which haven’t been seen at all, let alone with this clarity, since the Voyager 2 flyby in 1989. In addition to several bright narrow rings, the Webb images clearly show Neptune’s fainter dust bands. Webb’s extremely stable and precise image quality also permits these very faint rings to be detected so close to Neptune.
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 astronauts Thomas Pesquet, Luca Parmitano, Alexander Gerst, and Matthias Maurer, together with the ESA Director General, will answer questions from journalists from the IAC in Paris. Andreas Mogensen will join remotely and Samantha Cristoforetti will connect directly from the ISS. A live not to be missed!
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 largest global space event takes place in Paris from 18 to 22 September 2022 and ESA, of course, will be there! Join us for the first live coming from the International Astronautical Congress with the ESA Director General and several Directors talking to the press. They will answer questions from journalists while focusing on ESA’s strategy, Agenda 2025 and the ambitious package that will be put forward at the ESA Ministerial in November.
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.
ESA astronauts Thomas Pesquet, Luca Parmitano, Alexander Gerst, and Matthias Maurer, together with the ESA Director General, will answer questions from journalists from the IAC in Paris. Andreas Mogensen will join remotely and Samantha Cristoforetti will connect directly from the ISS. A live not to be missed!
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 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.
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.
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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.
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 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.
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
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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.
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.
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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.
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.
