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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ESA’s Hera spacecraft for planetary defence is being prepared for a journey to the distant asteroid moon Dimorphos orbiting around its parent body Didymos. One of the first features Hera will look for is the crater left on Dimorphos by its predecessor mission DART, which impacted the asteroid to deflect its orbit. Yet a new impact simulation study reported in Nature Astronomy today suggests no crater will be found. The DART impact is likely to have remodelled the entire body instead – a significant finding for both asteroid science and planetary defence. View the full article
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Image: ERS-2 buckles and bends during final farewell View the full article
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Week in images: 19-23 February 2024 Discover our week through the lens View the full article
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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 o…
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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
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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
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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…
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Image: The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission takes us over Côte d'Ivoire in western Africa. View the full article
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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 evo…
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Image: Saying goodbye to ERS-2 View the full article
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Week in images: 12-16 February 2024 Discover our week through the lens View the full article
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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
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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…
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