European Space Agency

Image: This wide view from the Copernicus Sentinel-3 mission captures an algae bloom around the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. View the full article

We're joining the global community this weekend in celebrating the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. As part of our efforts to inspire the next generation of scientists, engineers and space enthusiasts, we're featuring three young professionals working with us. Here's a glimpse into the projects they're working on, and stay tuned for their videos on ESA’s Instagram for a peek into a day in their lives at ESA. View the full article

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ESA’s very latest laboratory extension is portable in nature: hosted within a standard shipping container, this ESA Transportable Optical Ground Station, ETOGS, can be transported all across Europe as needed, to perform laser-based optical communications with satellites – including NASA’s Psyche mission, millions of kilometres away in space. View the full article

Video: 00:03:08 As part of his Huginn mission, ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen tested the Circadian Light experiment in his crew quarters where he sleeps. The light panel was installed above him and is designed to mimic the Sun’s light to give him a better day/night cycle, also known as the circadian rhythm. Made by SAGA Space Architects in Denmark, the light changes colour over the day, turning on in the early morning to wake up Andreas to then turn a whiter colour during the day. Like the sunset, the panel changes into a more reddish colour before turning off for the night. View the full article

Video: 00:01:05 Highlights of the Muninn mission with ESA project astronaut Marcus Wandt, from the countdown to launch to his work on the International Space Station. View the full article

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Throughout its 16-year working life, the second European Remote Sensing satellite, ERS-2, returned a wealth of information that revolutionised our perspective of our planet and understanding of climate change. 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. In 2011, ESA retired ERS-2 and began the process of deorbiting – and now it’s time for this pioneering satellite to reenter the atmosphere naturally and start to burn up. View the full article

Image: This false-colour image acquired by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission shows the city of Dubai and its surroundings in the United Arab Emirates. View the full article

Video: 00:01:18 Teams from ESA, France’s space agency CNES and ArianeGroup successfully completed the disconnection and retraction of the Ariane 6 cryogenic systems on 30 January 2024. These operations mark the start of dismantling the Ariane 6 test model to make way for its first launch. The combined test phase for Ariane 6 using propellants is now over and the European rocket is on track for its inaugural launch. The test model that is on the launch pad at Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, stands 62 m high. It is exactly the same as the ‘production model’ Ariane 6 rockets that will soon be launched, except that its boosters are not tested as part of the complete rocket. For this test, the fuel lines for the upper stage and main stage were disconnected. The yellow arms support the fuel lines that deliver liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen to the upper stage that is powered by the Vinci orbital engine. Instead of simply disconnecting the lines, the Ariane 6 teams approached the operations as more tests, or rehearsals, allowing the teams another chance to practice ahead of launch. Seconds before a liftoff, the cryogenic fuelling arms retract from the upper part of the rocket, removing the fuelling lines. The main stage is fuelled from the bottom of the rocket and these lines were also disconnected in the test. View the full article

Black holes are like temperamental toddlers. They spill food all the time, but ESA’s XMM-Newton has caught a black hole in the act of ‘flipping over the table’ during an otherwise civilised meal. This act prevents the galaxy surrounding the black hole from forming new stars, giving us insight into how black holes and galaxies co-evolve. View the full article

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Dedicated to delivering a wealth of new information on exactly how clouds and aerosols affect Earth’s climate, ESA’s EarthCARE satellite has had the chance to show off prior to engineers embarking upon the careful task of packing it up for its journey to the launch site in the US. View the full article

Video: 00:00:36 Join ESA project astronaut Marcus Wandt inside the seven-windowed cupola, the International Space Station's "window to the world" and and pan around to enjoy the view. The ESA - European Space Agency-built Cupola is the favourite place of many astronauts on the International Space Station. It serves not only as a unique photo spot, but also for observing robotic activities, arriving spacecraft and spacewalks. Marcus was launched to the International Space Station on the Dragon spacecraft as part of Axiom Mission 3 on 18 January 2024. His two-week mission on board is known as Muninn. Follow Marcus’s journey on the Muninn website, check our launch kit in English or Swedish and connect with Marcus on his Instagram and X accounts. Please accept the website cookies to see the YouTube version and experience the 360VR view. View the full article

Metal 3D printing will soon take place in orbit for the first time. A pioneering European-made metal 3D printer is on its way to the International Space Station on the Cygnus NG-20 resupply mission which launched yesterday. View the full article

A new treasure trove of images from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope showcases near- and mid-infrared portraits of 19 face-on spiral galaxies. This new set of exquisite images show stars, gas, and dust on the smallest scales ever observed beyond our own galaxy. Teams of researchers are studying these images to uncover the origins of these intricate structures. The research community’s collective analysis will ultimately inform theorists’ simulations, and advance our understanding of star formation and the evolution of spiral galaxies. View the full article

Galileo, already the world’s most precise satellite navigation system, now meets international standards to guide civil aviation from take-off to landing, complementing Europe’s EGNOS for the most critical operations. Galileo was not designed to comply with these strict safety requirements, so how did engineers at ESA achieve this feat? This is a tale of engineering excellence. View the full article

The first commercial flights of a programme that uses Iris satellite technology to help modernise air traffic management and reduce carbon emissions have taken place. View the full article

Week in images: 22-26 January 2024 Discover our week through the lens View the full article

Video: 00:01:25 Join ESA project astronaut Marcus Wandt inside the seven-windowed cupola, the International Space Station's "window to the world". The ESA - European Space Agency-built Cupola is the favourite place of many astronauts on the International Space Station. It serves not only as a unique photo spot, but also for observing robotic activities of the Canadian Space Agency's robotic arm Canadarm2, arriving spacecraft and spacewalks. Marcus was launched to the International Space Station on the Dragon spacecraft as part of Axiom Mission 3 on 18 January 2024. His two-week mission on board is known as Muninn. Follow Marcus’s journey on the Muninn website, check our launch kit in English or Swedish and connect with Marcus on his Instagram and X accounts. View the full article

Image: Space: 1977 View the full article

Image: Record-breaking Arctic cold weather has swept through much of the United States in the last few weeks. The eastern part of the country was particularly affected with thick snow blanketing most of the region, as this Copernicus Sentinel-3 image shows. View the full article

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Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope observed the smallest exoplanet where water vapour has been detected in its atmosphere. At only approximately twice Earth’s diameter, the planet GJ 9827d could be an example of potential planets with water-rich atmospheres elsewhere in our galaxy. View the full article