Category: Space

Imagine sending a spacecraft the size of an airline cabin bag to the Moon – what would you have it do? ESA issued that challenge to European teams last year, and two winners have now been chosen.

Artificial intelligence already helping astronauts on the International Space Station is also providing a promising approach for solving crimes. In an era of security concerns across Europe, the smart use of police data is critical for uncovering lead…

ESA has helped coastal authorities to track up to 70% more ships and pick up nearly three times more ship positions via satellite than was possible before.

A fascinating martian crater has been chosen to honour the German physicist and planetary scientist, Gerhard Neukum, one of the founders of ESA’s Mars Express mission.

In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue… In 2008 another Columbus sailed into space.

In everyday life we look and touch things to find out what they are made of. A powerful scientific technique does the same using lasers – and in two years’ time it will fly in space for the first time.

Astronauts on the International Space Station has begun running an experiment that could shine new light on how metal alloys are formed.

How humanity has mastered metallurgy is synonymous with progress, with historians labelling periods such as the B…

ESA’s next miniature satellite will be its first able to change orbit. Thanks to a compact thruster resembling a butane cigarette lighter, the cereal box-sized satellite will fly around its near-twin to test their radio communications.

When resources are limited, you have to work with what you have – especially in the harsh environment of space. Though the International Space Station is regularly restocked by cargo vessels, like today’s Dragon, self-sufficient spaceflight in the fut…

Which way is up in space? Planets are usually shown with the north pole at the top and the south pole at the bottom. In this remarkable image taken by ESA’s Mars Express, the Red Planet is seen with north at the bottom, and the equator at the top.

ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli landed back on Earth early this morning after 139 days in space. The ride home from the International Space Station required braking from 28 800 km/h to a standstill in barely three hours.

Europe has four more Galileo navigation satellites in the sky following their launch on an Ariane 5 rocket. After today’s success, only one more launch remains before the Galileo constellation is complete and delivering global coverage.

Europe’s next four Galileo navigation satellites are in place atop their Ariane 5, ready to be launched next Tuesday.

Laboratories on Earth hardly make the news, unless they come up with life-saving cures. So why would anyone care about a lab in space? The medicine you take on Earth begins with cell research, and the latest experiments on the International Space Stat…

The President of the Republic of Bulgaria, Mr Rumen Radev, was welcomed on a visit to ESA’s Headquarters in Paris on 4 December by the Agency’s Director General, Jan Wörner.

Launched on 13 October, the Sentinel-5P satellite has delivered its first images of air pollution. Even though the satellite is still being prepared for service, these first results have been hailed as exceptional and show how this latest Copernicus s…

ESA Director General Jan Wörner signed a Memorandum of Intent with Rolls-Royce today, as the two entities agree to investigate how space technology can be used to develop autonomous and remote-controlled ships.

ESA’s ground station in Western Australia routinely communicates with spacecraft at far-away places like Mars. Now, it’s using sunlight to generate electricity, significantly reducing energy costs.

ESA is considering extending its activities to a new region of the sky via a novel type of aerial vehicle, a ‘missing link’ between drones and satellites.

GomX-4B, ESA’s latest and largest technology-testing CubeSat, will be launched from China early next year, together with the near-identical GomX-4A. The pair will test intersatellite communication links and propulsion while orbiting up to 4500 km apart.

ESA’s first Earth observation satellite was launched on 23 November 1977. When the first Meteosat satellite took its place in the sky, it completed coverage of the whole globe from geostationary orbit and laid the foundations for European and world co…

Europe’s next four Galileo navigation satellites and the Ariane 5 rocket due to lift them into orbit are being readied for their 12 December launch from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

A mini-rover, tools once used on the Moon and lasers for 3D mapping are in the backpack of the explorers of tomorrow. The terrain will be hazardous and it will be dark in volcanic caves, but this equipment could one day help to scout other planets.&nb…

These striking features on Mars were caused by the planet’s crust stretching apart in response to ancient volcanic activity.

Climate scientists studying three decades of ozone measurements from seven satellites see a positive trend in global recovery thanks to international efforts to curb ozone-depleting substances.

An expedition of astronauts, planetary scientists and engineers is off to Spain’s Canary Island of Lanzarote to learn best how to explore uncharted planets. The training will equip space travellers with a geologist’s eye.

NASA’s Orion spacecraft aims to send humans further into space than ever before, and ESA’s European Service Module will provide the essentials for keeping the astronauts alive and on course.

A review of the programme by NASA to assess progress is now…

Arianespace has launched a Vega rocket to deliver an Earth observation satellite into orbit for the Kingdom of Morocco.

Life on Earth has a myriad of problems, but gravity isn’t one of them – staying grounded means organisms can soak up the light and heat that enables growth.

Enough heat to power hydrothermal activity inside Saturn’s ocean moon Enceladus for billions of years could be generated through tidal friction if the moon has a highly porous core, a new study finds, working in favour of the moon as a potentially hab…

ESA’s Strategy Department is investigating the role blockchain technologies could play in adapting the Agency for Space 4.0.

Want to help humanity’s exploration of our Solar System? Do you have a medical degree and are not afraid of the dark or the cold? ESA is looking for someone to spend over six months in Antarctica running research to prepare for missions to the Moon an…

With liftoff on the horizon, ESA’s Aeolus satellite is going through its last round of tests to make sure that this complex mission will work in orbit. Over the next month, it is sitting in a large chamber that has had all the air sucked out to simula…

ESA is offering graphic designers and artists a unique opportunity to feature their work on the rocket carrying the Cheops satellite.

When is the last time you used space technology? Probably a matter of minutes ago, if you took bearings on your phone, checked the weather or withdrew money. Starting today, European Space Week celebrates space for the rest of us – as a source of serv…

ESA’s Proba-V minisatellite has captured the forest fire raging in central Portugal, revealing blackened scars and columns of smoke as well as pinpointing active fire hotspots.

The United Nations has declared 30 June to be International Asteroid Day, and ESA is joining other space agencies, astronauts, scientists and even rock stars for a 24-hour global telethon.

The LISA trio of satellites to detect gravitational waves from space has been selected as the third large-class mission in ESA’s Science programme, while the Plato exoplanet hunter moves into development.

How do you prepare for space missions on Earth? One way is to simulate an expedition into space underwater. Yesterday, six aquanauts dived almost 20 m to the sea floor where they will spend 10 days living and working below the waves.

Derelict satellites could in future be grappled and removed from key orbits around Earth with a space tug using magnetic forces.

The invisible signals that Europe’s Galileo satellites are beaming down to the world are officially award-winning: the team behind their design has won the European Inventor Award, run by the European Patent Office.

Space is an inhospitable environment for the human body but we adapt remarkably well. Within hours, the brain adjusts to the lack of an up or down, as if floating is all it has ever known. Now researchers are learning how our internal clock simil…

Satellites are helping to predict favourable conditions for desert locusts to swarm, which poses a threat to agricultural production and, subsequently, livelihoods and food security.

A new video, based on measurements by ESA’s Gaia and Hipparcos satellites, shows how our view of the Orion constellation will evolve over the next 450 000 years.

Two further satellites have formally become part of Europe’s Galileo satnav system, broadcasting timing and navigation signals worldwide while also picking up distress calls across the planet.

This 70 km-wide crater and its surrounds offer a window into the watery past of the Red Planet.

Last year was the hottest on record, Arctic sea ice is on the decline and sea levels continue to rise. In this context, satellites are providing us with an unbiased view of how our climate is changing and the effects it is having on our planet.

ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet landed on the steppe of Kazakhstan today with Russian commander Oleg Novitsky in their Soyuz MS-03 spacecraft after six months in space. Touchdown was at 14:10 GMT after a four-hour flight from the International Space Stat…

The Ariane 5 rocket, operated by Arianespace, has carried its heaviest telecommunications payload ever to deliver the ViaSat-2 and Eutelsat-172B satellites into their planned orbits.

While the Copernicus Sentinel-3A satellite is in orbit delivering a wealth of information about our home planet, engineers are putting its twin, Sentinel-3B, through a series of vigorous tests before it is shipped to the launch site next year.

http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Human_Spaceflight/Astronauts/New_Horizons_for_Alexander_Gerst

The inquiry into the crash-landing of the ExoMars Schiaparelli module has concluded that conflicting information in the onboard computer caused the descent sequence to end prematurely.

Scientists observed the bleaching of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef early this year using satellite images. While capturing these events from space has been difficult in the past, Sentinel-2’s frequent revisits and its resolution makes it possible.

http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Human_Spaceflight/Caves/Exploring_underground_with_a_colliding_drone

Working inside the International Space Station is sometimes like assembling complex furniture but with the tools and paper instructions continually floating out of reach. Astronauts also face situations unforeseen by the instructions. Communication de…

Water conservation is a growing concern globally, and particularly for farmers in the USA, where decades of irrigating huge fields has depleted vital resources of fresh surface water and groundwater. An ESA spin-off that can help to preserve water sup…

Rapid acceleration of an Arctic glacier over the past year has been detected by the Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellites.

If you could fly a CubeSat to the Moon, what could such a tiny satellite do there? ESA posed this question – and now four proposals will be studied in more detail for possible flight over the coming decade.

Ariane 5 has delivered two telecom satellites, SGDC and Koreasat-7, into their planned orbits.

Work began today on building the UK’s latest rocket engine test facility, designed for firing the engine core of the ESA-backed SABRE propulsion system within three years.

Bricks have been 3D printed out of simulated moondust using concentrated sunlight – proving in principle that future lunar colonists could one day use the same approach to build settlements on the Moon.

Over two decades of observations by five radar satellites show the acceleration of ice loss of 30 glaciers in Western Palmer Land in the southwest Antarctic Peninsula.

Astronauts in space are valuable sources of scientific data. Researchers collect blood and urine samples to understand what effects living in weightlessness has on their bodies. For one experiment, investigators are interested in their breath.

Thanks to some high-tech improvements, ESA’s radio dish in Argentina will be ready to receive the rising torrent of scientific data beamed back by future missions exploring deep in our Solar System.

After nearly 13 years in orbit around Saturn, the international Cassini–Huygens mission is about to begin its final chapter: the spacecraft will perform a series of daring dives between the planet and its rings, leading to a dramatic final plunge into…

If anything should break in space, let it be records. The astronauts of Expedition 50 have done just that by setting a new record for most time spent on scientific research on the International Space Station.

With more than 750 000 pieces of dangerous debris now orbiting Earth, the urgent need for coordinated international action to ensure the long-term sustainability of spaceflight is a major finding from Europe’s largest-ever conference on space debris.

Thanks to social media and the power of citizen scientists chasing the northern lights, a new feature was discovered recently. Nobody knew what this strange ribbon of purple light was, so … it was called Steve.

Thanks to ESA, aircraft are using satcoms to share realtime information with other aircraft and ground stations to improve flight operations.

With around 90% of world trade carried by ships, making sure a vessel follows the fastest route has clear economic benefits. By merging measurements from different satellites, ESA is providing key information on ocean currents, which is not only makin…

A Soyuz rocket operated by Arianespace from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou will boost ESA’s upcoming exoplanet satellite into space.

Europe’s Galileo satnav network does more than let us find our way – it is also helping to save lives. Today sees a spotlight cast on Galileo’s Search and Rescue service, which pinpoints people in distress on land or sea.

At first glance this scene may seem nothing out of the ordinary, but the large elongated crater marks the imprint of an impacting body that may have broken into three before it hit Mars.

From 14 to 17 March 2017, 22 students from 11 different nationalities, including ESA Associate Member Canada, took part in a Concurrent Engineering Workshop.

When his father was diagnosed with a debilitating disease four years ago, it sparked Ivo Vieira into developing a novel means of communication for people coping with extreme limitations, building on technology originally explored to help ESA astronaut…

Two ancient sites on Mars that hosted an abundance of water in the planet’s early history have been recommended as the final candidates for the landing site of the 2020 ExoMars rover and surface science platform: Oxia Planum and Mawrth Vallis.

Discover our planet’s changing climate through the eyes of satellites with Climate from Space, a new digital book for iPad and Android tablets featuring interactive maps and video interviews with top scientists.

Around 250 million measurements taken by ESA’s CryoSat over the last six years have been used to create a unique 3D view of Antarctica, offering a snapshot of the undulating surface of this vast ice sheet.

Satellite radar scans of last year’s earthquake in New Zealand are changing the way we are thinking about earthquake hazards in regions where our planet’s tectonic plates meet.

Designers of future Moon missions and bases have to contend with a chilling challenge: how might their creations endure the fortnight-long lunar night? ESA has arrived at a low-cost way of surviving.