European Space Agency

Video: 00:04:49 “ESA’s Juice mission has entered its final phase of development, with the spacecraft moving to an Airbus Defence & Space facility in Toulouse, France, for the next round of testing. The spacecraft has been fully integrated, and these tests will be done in full flight configuration, as Juice is scheduled for launch from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, in April 2023 The Juice mission is a perfect example of collaboration between several national space agencies and European industry. Its objective is to explore the gas giant Jupiter, its environment, and three of its moons: Europa, Callisto and Ganymede. By studying this planetary system, ESA hopes to learn more about the icy worlds around Jupiter and the origins and possibility of life in our Universe This report includes interviews of: Manuela Baroni, Juice AIT & Launcher Interface Engineer, ESA (English & Italian) Cyril Cavel, Juice Project Manager, Airbus Defence & Space (English) Access the related broadcast quality material. Download the animation Juice’s journey and Jupiter system tour. View the full article

The time has finally come for ESA’s Living Planet Symposium – one of the largest Earth observation conferences in the world. Follow our live streaming all week on ESA Web TV, starting with the Opening Ceremony on Monday 23 May at 09:00 (CEST). View the full article

ESA’s Living Planet Symposium – one of the largest Earth observation conferences in the world – is being held on 23–27 May in Bonn, Germany. Held every three years, the symposium brings together scientists and researchers, as well as industry and users of Earth observation data, from all over the world to present and discuss the latest findings on Earth science. View the full article

Image: Volunteers watching the skies View the full article

Image: A dazzling Hubble collection of supernova host galaxies View the full article

International collaboration among space agencies is central to the success of satellite Earth observation and data analysis. ESA, NASA and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) have continued their joined effort to develop a storytelling dashboard that combines their resources and expertise to strengthen our global understanding of the changing environment and its economic effects. View the full article

Video: 00:04:30 On 26 March and enduring temperatures of some 500 degrees Celsius from within the orbit of planet Mercury, Solar Orbiter returned spectacular imagery of the Sun during its first close encounter with our home star. Detailed new movies show activity in the solar atmosphere and reveal a variety of features, including something scientists are nicknaming ‘the hedgehog’ with spikes of hot gas reaching out in all directions. Solar Orbiter’s ten science instruments are now all working together for the first time. Some are looking at the Sun while others are simultaneously measuring the environment around the spacecraft, enabling scientists to join the dots from what they see happening at the Sun, to what Solar Orbiter ‘feels’ at its location in the solar wind millions of kilometres away. In the weeks around the close approach Solar Orbiter also observed several flares and even a coronal mass ejection, providing a taste of space weather forecasting at Earth. Scientists across Europe – and ESA’s partners around the world – are now working to interpret the vast amount of information Solar Orbiter is sending back that promises to transform our understanding of our nearest star. Solar Orbiter is a space mission of international collaboration between ESA and NASA. This report includes interviews with: - David Berghmans, EUI Principal Investigator - Daniel Müller, Solar Orbiter Project Scientist, ESA - Anik De Groof, Instrument Operations Scientist, ESA View the full article

Powerful flares, breathtaking views across the solar poles, and a curious solar ‘hedgehog’ are amongst the haul of spectacular images, movies and data returned by Solar Orbiter from its first close approach to the Sun. Although the analysis of the new dataset has only just started, it is already clear that the ESA-led mission is providing the most extraordinary insights into the Sun’s magnetic behaviour and the way this shapes space weather. View the full article

Image: Lunar eclipse captured by Samantha Cristoforetti aboard the International Space Station View the full article

Dozens of people who have set up start-up companies and fledgling businesses are pitching their ideas to investors today, as part of an ESA Investor Forum held in Berlin. View the full article

Week in images: 09-13 May 2022 Discover our week through the lens View the full article

Image: Fly far, fly true View the full article

Video: 00:01:00 ESA’s Gaia space telescope revolutionises our understanding of the Milky Way. It scans the sky to measure the position, movement, distance, and characteristics of billions of stars. It is creating the most precise map of our home galaxy yet, providing clues to its origin and evolution. Gaia not only studies the stars, but also what is in between them, as well as asteroids and planetary moons in our Solar System, binary stars and exoplanets, and quasars and galaxies outside of the Milky Way. Gaia provides us with a wealth of data, giving us a new sense of our place in the Universe. Gaia’s data release 3 will be made public on 13 June 2022: https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/gaia/data-release-3 View the full article

This striking, high-resolution image of the Arc de Triomphe, in Paris, was captured by Planet SkySat – a fleet of satellites that have just joined ESA’s Third Party Mission Programme in April 2022. View the full article

Image: The penultimate sunset at Concordia research station in Antarctica marks the beginning of a very exciting time for the 12-member crew: the coming of Antarctic night and the winter-over. ESA sponsored medical doctor Hannes Hagson and his crew mates are finally embarking on their ‘real’ mission in Antarctica: living and work in isolation for six months in the name of spaceflight research. The Italian-French outpost Concordia is located 3233 m above sea level where temperatures can drop to –80°C in the complete frozen darkness outside. The sun disappears behind the horizon for four months. No supplies or people can be flown in during the winter months; and the high altitude causes the crew to experience chronic hypobaric hypoxia or lack of oxygen in the brain. These conditions are as close to living on another planet as humans can get on Earth. For this reason, Hannes is facilitating biomedical experiments on himself and his crewmates to understand how humans cope with living in extreme isolation. From sleep studies to gut health measurements to mindful practices, the crew are poked and prodded to help researchers understand and overcome the challenges extreme environments, like space, pose to present and future explorers. This image was taken by Hannes on 3 May. The last full sunset took place the day after but appeared only as a thin sliver in the sky. Follow Hannes during his winter-over on the Chronicles from Concordia blog. View the full article

Forward to the Moon This is an interactive publication about our natural satellite View the full article

Could we capitalise on the Earth-based digital revolution to make our satellites smarter? ESA Discovery is funding 12 projects that will explore the potential of applying the latest developments in artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing paradigms to make satellites more reactive, agile and autonomous. This could generate new practical applications that support life on Earth and our exploration of other planets. View the full article

Video: 00:54:47 After almost six months of living and working on board the International Space Station, Matthias Maurer is back on Earth - and gives his first news conference in Europe. Watch the replay of this live Q&A (mostly in German language) between Matthias and the press, taking place at the ESA’s European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne, Germany. View the full article

ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer is back in Europe after 177 days in space. Watch the first press conference following his Cosmic Kiss mission at 11:45 CEST (10:45 BST) 11 May live on ESA Web TV. View the full article

Image: Click here to download the images used in this gif. The James Webb Space Telescope is aligned across all four of its science instruments, as seen in a previous engineering image showing the observatory’s full field of view. Now, we take a closer look at that same image, focusing on Webb’s coldest instrument: the Mid-Infrared Instrument, or MIRI. The MIRI test image (at 7.7 microns) shows part of the Large Magellanic Cloud. This small satellite galaxy of the Milky Way provided a dense star field to test Webb’s performance. Here, a close-up of the MIRI image is compared to a past image of the same target taken with NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope’s Infrared Array Camera (at 8.0 microns). The retired Spitzer was the first observatory to provide high-resolution images of the near- and mid-infrared Universe. Webb, by virtue of its significantly larger primary mirror and improved detectors, will allow us to see the infrared sky with improved clarity, enabling even more discoveries. For example, Webb’s MIRI image shows the interstellar gas in unprecedented detail. Here, you can see the emission from ‘polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons’ – molecules of carbon and hydrogen that play an important role in the thermal balance and chemistry of interstellar gas. When Webb is ready to begin science observations, studies such as these with MIRI will help give astronomers new insights into the birth of stars and protoplanetary systems. In the meantime, the Webb team has begun the process of setting up and testing Webb’s instruments to begin science observations this summer. Today at 17:00 CEST, Webb experts will preview these next two months of instrument preparations in a teleconference for media. Listen to the audio stream live at nasa.gov/live. Webb is an international partnership between NASA, ESA and CSA. MIRI is part of Europe’s contribution to the Webb mission. It is a partnership between Europe and the USA; the main partners are ESA, a consortium of nationally funded European institutes, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). View the full article

Today’s connected cars are dynamic, updateable devices – and, because they can be updated, they are well equipped to become tomorrow’s cars. ESA is working with European carmakers to ensure that connected vehicles harness the full potential of space. View the full article

Image: Matthias returns to Cologne View the full article

Video: 00:01:41 The Crew Dragon capsule carrying ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer and NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Thomas Marshburn and Kayla Barron home from the International Space Station splashed down off the coast of Florida, USA, on Friday 6 May 2022 at 05:43 BST/06:43 CEST. Its return marks the end of Crew-3’s almost six-month stay in orbit and the end of Matthias’s first mission, known as Cosmic Kiss. Crew-3 undocked from the International Space Station in Crew Dragon spacecraft Endurance at 06:20 BST/07:20 CEST Thursday 5 May. When a Crew capsule splashes down, it is met by nearby ships with experts ready to bring it on board, open the hatch, and welcome the astronauts home. After initial medical checks, the crew is transported by helicopter to shore. Now that his mission has come to an end, Matthias will return to ESA’s European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany, where he will participate in post-flight debriefings, provide samples for scientific evaluation and readapt to Earth’s gravity with the support of ESA experts. More info on Cosmic Kiss here. Access the related broadcast quality video material. View the full article

Week in images: 02-06 May 2022 Discover our week through the lens View the full article

Video: 00:02:28 The Crew Dragon capsule carrying ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer and NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Thomas Marshburn and Kayla Barron home from the International Space Station splashed down off the coast of Florida, USA, on Friday 6 May 2022 at 05:43 BST/06:43 CEST. Its return marks the end of Crew-3’s almost six-month stay in orbit and the end of Matthias’s first mission, known as Cosmic Kiss. Crew-3 undocked from the International Space Station in Crew Dragon spacecraft Endurance at 06:20 BST/07:20 CEST Thursday 5 May. When a Crew capsule splashes down, it is met by nearby ships with experts ready to bring it on board, open the hatch, and welcome the astronauts home. After initial medical checks, the crew is transported by helicopter to shore. Now that his mission has come to an end, Matthias will return to ESA’s European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany, where he will participate in post-flight debriefings, provide samples for scientific evaluation and readapt to Earth’s gravity with the support of ESA experts. More info on Cosmic Kiss here. View the full article