European Space Agency

Image: ERS-2 buckles and bends during final farewell View the full article

Week in images: 19-23 February 2024 Discover our week through the lens View the full article

Video: 00:03:29 Mission complete. ESA’s second European Remote Sensing (ERS-2) satellite has reentered Earth’s atmosphere over the North Pacific Ocean. The satellite returned at 18:17 CET (17:17 UTC) between Alaska and Hawaii. ERS-2 was launched almost 30 years ago, on 21 April 1995. Together with ERS-1, it provided invaluable long-term data on Earth’s land surfaces, ocean temperatures, ozone layer and polar ice extent that revolutionised our understanding of the Earth system. ERS-2’s reentry was ‘natural’. ESA used the last of its fuel, emptied its batteries and lowered the satellite from its altitude of 785 km to 573 km. This reduced the risk of collision with other satellites and space debris. As a result, it was not possible to control ERS-2 at any point during its reentry and the only force driving its descent was unpredictable atmospheric drag. As well as leaving a remarkable legacy of data that still continue to advance science, this outstanding mission set the stage for many of today’s satellites and ESA’s position at the forefront of Earth observation. The ERS-2 reentry is part of ESA's wider efforts to ensure the long-term sustainability of space activities. These include ESA's Clean Space initiative which promotes the development of new technologies for more sustainable space missions in collaboration with the wider European space community, as well as the Zero Debris Approach, which will even further reduce the debris left in both Earth and lunar orbits by future missions. View the full article

Image: This Copernicus Sentinel-3 image from October 2023 captures the plains of northern India and Pakistan under a white veil of haze and smoke. View the full article

The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has found the best evidence yet for emission from a neutron star at the site of a recently observed supernova. The supernova, known as SN 1987A, occurred 160 000 light-years from Earth in the Large Magellanic Cloud. SN 1987A was observed on Earth in 1987, the first supernova that was visible to the naked eye since 1604 — before the advent of telescopes. View the full article

Video: 00:15:00 Tracking ice lost from the world’s glaciers, ice sheets and frozen land shows that Earth is losing ice at an accelerating rate. Monitoring the cryosphere is crucial for assessing, predicting and adapting to climate change. The Copernicus Polar Ice and Snow Topography Altimeter (CRISTAL) mission will provide a full picture of the changes taking place in some of the most inhospitable regions of the world. It will carry – for the first time – a dual-frequency radar altimeter, and microwave radiometer, that will measure and monitor sea-ice thickness, overlying snow depth and ice-sheet elevations. These data will support maritime operations in the polar oceans and contribute to a better understanding of climate processes. CRISTAL will also support applications related to coastal and inland waters, as well as providing observations of ocean topography. CRISTAL is one of six Copernicus Sentinel Expansion missions that ESA is developing on behalf of the EU. The missions will expand the current capabilities of the Copernicus Space Component – the world’s biggest supplier of Earth observation data. This video features interviews with Kristof Gantois, CRISTAL Project Manager and Paolo Cipollini, CRISTAL Mission Scientist. View the full article

Playing a huge role in moderating the climate, oceans are fundamental to the functioning of our planet. Understanding more about how seawater temperatures are rising and how oceans are absorbing excess atmospheric carbon dioxide, as well as knock-on issues such as ocean acidification, is key for understanding climate change and for taking effective action. A recent scientific paper highlights just how satellites are becoming increasingly important in providing unique information on ocean health to guide climate mitigation and adaptation efforts. View the full article

Image: Ariane 6 ready for unloading View the full article

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Image: Ariane 6 arrives at Europe’s Spaceport via Canopée View the full article

Further embracing the New Space era, ESA is to develop two new Scout satellites: NanoMagSat and Tango. NanoMagSat will measure Earth’s magnetic field to help assess space weather hazards and continue on from ESA’s current Swarm mission. Tango will measure greenhouse-gas emissions from human activity and complements the upcoming Copernicus Carbon Dioxide Monitoring mission and the Sentinel-5 mission, as well as the current Sentinel-5P mission. View the full article

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It's 'Lights, camera and... action!' for ESA as the agency launches Film ESA, a dedicated film location guide. View the full article

Image: Before and after satellite images from the Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission show the scale of the oil spill that occurred off the shores of Trinidad and Tobago’s coastline earlier this week. View the full article

Image: The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission takes us over Côte d'Ivoire in western Africa. View the full article

Video: 00:12:27 The Arctic is experiencing disproportionately higher temperature increases compared to the rest of the planet, triggering a series of cascading effects. This rapid warming has profound implications for global climate patterns, human populations and wildlife. The Copernicus Imaging Microwave Radiometer mission (CIMR) will provide measurements to decision makers with evidence of change and impact in the polar regions – with a focus on the Arctic. The mission has the largest radiometer developed by ESA and will provide high-resolution measurements related to sea ice, the ocean, snow and ice-sheet surfaces. This will be crucial in understanding the evolution of the climate in the polar region. CIMR is one of six Copernicus Sentinel Expansion missions that ESA is developing on behalf of the EU. The missions will expand the current capabilities of the Copernicus Space Component – the world’s biggest supplier of Earth observation data. This video features interviews with Craig Donlon, CIMR Mission Scientist, Rolv Midthassel, CIMR Payload Manager, Claudio Galeazzi, CIMR Project Manager, Mariel Triggianese, CIMR Satellite Engineering and AIV Manager, and Marcello Sallusti, CIMR System Performance and Operations Manager. In the meantime Craig has changed his role but will retain his position as Mission Scientist. View the full article

Image: Saying goodbye to ERS-2 View the full article

Week in images: 12-16 February 2024 Discover our week through the lens View the full article

Today, ESA’s space telescope Euclid begins its survey of the dark Universe. Over the next six years, Euclid will observe billions of galaxies across 10 billion years of cosmic history. Learn how the team prepared Euclid in the months after launch for this gigantic cosmic quest. View the full article

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The Po Valley, nestled in northern Italy, is renowned for its picturesque landscapes and rich agricultural history. However, the region is also grappling with a persistent environmental challenge: air pollution. The unique geographical and meteorological conditions of the Po Valley contribute to fluctuations in air quality – impacting the health of its residents. View the full article

Image: See how the Sun changed between February 2021 and October 2023. As the Sun approaches the maximum in its magnetic activity cycle, we see more brilliant explosions, dark sunspots, loops of plasma, and swirls of super-hot gas. The Sun goes through a cycle of activity that lasts around 11 years. It is caused by the ‘solar dynamo’, the process that generates the Sun’s magnetic field. At the beginning of this cycle (the solar minimum) there is relatively little activity and few sunspots. Activity steadily increases until it peaks (the solar maximum) and then decreases again to a minimum. The most recent solar minimum was in December 2019, just two months before Solar Orbiter launched. The spacecraft’s early views (left) showed that in February 2021 the Sun was still relatively calm. We are now approaching solar maximum, which is expected to occur in 2025. Solar Orbiter’s more recent views, taken during a close approach to the Sun in October 2023 (right), show a striking increase in solar activity. This adds weight to recent theories [paper 1, paper 2] that the maximum could arrive up to a year earlier than expected. Solar Orbiter will help us predict the timing and strength of solar cycles. Although notoriously tricky, this is vital because solar activity can seriously affect life on Earth; extreme eruptions can damage ground-based electricity grids and disable orbiting satellites. The images were taken by Solar Orbiter’s Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) instrument. They reveal the Sun’s upper atmosphere, which has a temperature of around a million degrees Celsius. EUI helps scientists investigate the mysterious heating processes that occur in the Sun’s outer regions. Since EUI views the Sun in ultraviolet light, which is invisible to human eyes, the yellow colour is added to help us visualise our changing Sun. Solar Orbiter is a space mission of international collaboration between ESA and NASA, operated by ESA. The Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) instrument is led by the Royal Observatory of Belgium. View the full article

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Video: 00:04:36 ESA project astronaut Marcus Wandt from Sweden is back to Europe less than 24 hours after his return to Earth. Marcus is back to Cologne, Germany, after spending 20 days in space. He underwent initial medical checks aboard the boat before being flown by helicopter to shore and boarding a plane to Europe. Marcus waved to the people gathered to welcome him on his arrival at the military side of Cologne Bonn Airport. He will spend the next days participating in debriefings, providing samples for scientific evaluation and readapting to Earth’s gravity at ESA’s European Astronaut Centre (EAC) and the German Aerospace Centre’s (DLR) :envihab facility. Marcus returned to Earth on 9 February at 13:30 GMT/14:30 CET, marking the end of his Muninn mission to the International Space Station. Marcus blasted into space towards the Space Station on 18 January 2024. Marcus’s crewmates from Axiom Mission 3 were Walter Villadei from Italy, Alper Gezeravcı from Türkiye and Michael López-Alegría, representing both USA and Spain as a dual-citizen. During his time on board, Marcus supported nearly 20 European experiments and spent more than 100 hours conducting science and technology demonstrations. 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). Access the related broadcast quality video material. View the full article