European Space Agency
The European Space Agency is an intergovernmental organization of 22 member states dedicated to the exploration of space. Established in 1975 and headquartered in Paris, ESA has a worldwide staff of about 2,200
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This network of long grooves and scratches forms part of a giant fault system on Mars known as Tantalus Fossae, and is shown here as seen by ESA’s Mars Express. View the full article
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Video: 00:01:34 ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti and NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren, Robert “Bob” Hines and Jessica Watkins arrive to the International Space Station after docking at 01:37 CEST on Thursday 28 April 2022. Collectively known as Crew-4, the four astronauts were launched at 08:52 BST/09:52 CEST Wednesday 27 April from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida USA. Transit to the Station is expected to take under 24 hours. Samantha is the third ESA astronaut to travel to the orbital outpost in a 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 wil…
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Crew Dragon spacecraft Freedom, carrying ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti and her NASA colleagues Kjell Lindgren, Robert Hines and Jessica Watkins, docked to the International Space Station at 01:37 CEST Thursday 28 April. View the full article
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Video: 00:03:55 The Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon capsule carrying ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti and NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren, Robert “Bob” Hines and Jessica Watkins to the International Space Station lifts off from Launchpad 39A. Collectively known as Crew-4, the four astronauts were launched at 08:52 BST/09:52 CEST Wednesday 27 April from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida USA. Transit to the Station is expected to take under 24 hours. Samantha is the third ESA astronaut to travel to the orbital outpost in a Crew Dragon. During the journey she and Jessica will serve as mission specialists. Kjell is Crew-4 Commander and Bob is Crew-4 Pilot. Upo…
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Launcher integration for the inaugural flight of Vega-C began with the P120C solid-fuel first stage being delivered to the Vega Launch Zone (Zone de Lancement Vega, or ZLV) at Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana on 15 April 2022. P120C will also fly on Ariane 6, with two or four units serving as boosters depending on mission requirements. The interstage segment to join the P120C first stage with the Z40 second stage followed on the 22nd. For flight VV21, the principal payload will be LARES-2, a scientific mission of the Italian Space Agency (ASI). Also onboard will be six European research CubeSats. View the full article
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ESA Careers Week is just around the corner and we are excited to see you during this four-day virtual event from 2 - 5 May. Curious to know what’s on the agenda and how to register for the fair? Keep reading! View the full article
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Tune in to ESA Web TV this Wednesday 27 April to watch ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti begin her journey to the International Space Station. Launch is scheduled at 09:52 CEST (07:52 GMT), and live streaming will start at 06:00 CEST (05:00 GMT). View the full article
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Launched back in 2018, Aeolus has outlived its 36-month in-orbit design life – but going above and beyond, it continues to deliver excellent data. This shows that there’s life yet in the satellite, meaning ESA’s wind mission is now expected to continue shining a light on the wind for another year. View the full article
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Image: Hubble observations used to answer key exoplanet questions View the full article
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Image: ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti is all smiles after arriving at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA, last week with NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren, Bob Hines and Jessica Watkins. Collectively known as Crew-4, the astronauts flew in from Houston, Texas, USA, and are spending the days ahead in quarantine before being launched this week to the International Space Station on the SpaceX Crew Dragon Freedom. “This is getting real,” said Samantha. “It’s very emotional for me, that this final stretch to the launchpad has started with the landing here, on this runway.” Samantha recalled her childhood fascination watching the Space Shuttle launches in the 1…
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Week in images: 18-22 April 2022 Discover our week through the lens View the full article
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Europe experienced its warmest summer on record in 2021, accompanied by severe floods in western Europe and dry conditions in the Mediterranean. These are just some of the key findings from the Copernicus Climate Change Service’s European State of the Climate report released today. The in-depth report provides key insights and a comprehensive analysis of climate conditions in 2021, with a special focus on Europe and the Arctic. View the full article
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Since 2016, ESA’s Space Debris Office has published an annual Space Environment Report to provide a transparent overview of global space activities and determine how well these and other international debris-reduction measures are improving the long-term sustainability of spaceflight. Here are some of the key findings of the 2022 report. View the full article
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Each year on 22 April, people across the planet join forces to raise awareness about the depleting quality of the environment, the unequivocal effects of climate change and the importance of protecting our planet for future generations. We celebrate Earth Day every day at ESA. This week, this spectacular image of Earth is brought to you by the Meteosat Second Generation series of missions. View the full article
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If man’s best friend is a dog, then in the future astronauts’ closest companions might well be rovers. A technique allowing astronauts in orbit to control rovers exploring planetary surfaces has been developed by a research team from ESA, the German Aerospace Center DLR and European academia and industry, culminating in an Earth-based rover session commanded from the International Space Station. A paper published in the prestigious Science Robotics journal this week details their results. View the full article
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As one of the last milestones before liftoff at the end of the year, the first Meteosat Third Generation weather satellite is being fitted with its Lightning Imager. From geostationary orbit, 36 000 km above Earth’s surface, this state-of-the-art European instrument will continuously monitor lightning over more than 80% of Earth’s disc for early warnings of dangerous storms. Remarkably, it is capable of imaging relatively weak lightning events in full sunlight. View the full article
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Image: Celebrating Hubble’s 32nd birthday with a galaxy grouping View the full article
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Week in images: 11-15 April 2022 Discover our week through the lens View the full article
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Video: 00:01:24 Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana is preparing for the arrival of Ariane 6, ESA’s new heavy-lift rocket. The latest round of testing aims to validate the system of fuel lines and mechanical supporting arms that will keep Ariane 6 topped up with liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen in the critical moments before liftoff. This work is part of the final preparations of the new Ariane 6 launch complex and all the systems necessary for a launch. With the mobile gantry fully retracted – as for a launch – two articulated arms attached to the upper part of the Ariane 6 mast on the launch pad were separated and retracted while filled with hydrogen that is co…
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The Copernicus Sentinel-3 mission captured this impressive shot of the almost cloud-free Scandinavian Peninsula on 20 March. View the full article
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The test version of a unique satellite navigation receiver has been delivered for integration testing on the Lunar Pathfinder spacecraft. The NaviMoon satnav receiver is designed to perform the furthest ever positioning fix from Earth, employing signals that will be millions of times fainter than those used by our smartphones or cars. View the full article
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Image: A satisfying, audible ‘pop’ marked a successful piercing of the sealed Apollo 17 sample container using the ESA designed and built piercing tool. The tool forms part of a gas sampling system with a gas extraction manifold, designed and built by Washington University St Louis, USA. Francesca McDonald, science and project lead of ESA’s contribution to the Apollo Next-Generation Sample Analysis (ANGSA) programme, is pictured at the centre of this image with the piercing tool, which contains the pristine sample. Francesca and colleague, Timon Schild, delivered the ESA piercing tool to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in late 2021 in preparation of the opening of the spe…
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With the climate crisis continuing to tighten its grip, nations around the world are making efforts to reduce emissions of climate warming gases. To track action, countries report their greenhouse gas emissions to the UNFCCC – the body responsible for driving global action to combat climate change. While accurate and consistent reporting is crucial, very few countries exploit Earth observation satellite data to check and improve their estimates. Scientists have now devised new ways of comparing national greenhouse gas inventories with independent measurements taken from space. View the full article
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Video: 01:15:00 ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher shares the outcome of the ESA Council extraordinary meeting in this virtual Q&A with journalists. Additional updates are provided on ESA’s main programmes, the overall rollout of Agenda 2025 on the way to the ESA Ministerial Meeting in November 2022 as well as further implications of the current geopolitical situation on ESA’s activities. View the full article
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With help from a cryocooler, Webb's Mid-Infrared Instrument has dropped down to just a few degrees above the lowest temperature matter can reach and is ready for calibration. View the full article
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