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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Video: 00:09:27 The upcoming Copernicus Radar Observation System for Europe in L-band (ROSE-L) will provide continuous day-and-night all-weather monitoring of Earth’s land, oceans and ice, and offer frequent observations of Earth’s surface at a high spatial resolution. ROSE-L will carry an active phased array synthetic aperture radar instrument. The radar antenna will be the largest deployable planar antenna ever built measuring an impressive 40 sq m. ROSE-L will deliver many benefits including essential information on forests and land cover, leading to improved monitoring of the terrestrial carbon cycle and carbon accounting. The mission will also greatly extend …
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Image: The lush landscape of the island of Ireland and the coasts of Scotland, Wales and England, are pictured in this view from the Copernicus Sentinel-3 mission. View the full article
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For International Women's Day 2024, we're acknowledging the remarkable careers of the women in key Directorate positions at ESA: Simonetta Cheli, Geraldine Naja and Carole Mundell. Read about the impactful work, pivotal life experiences and their insights on fostering a more inclusive future. View the full article
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Image: ESA astronaut candidate Raphaël Liégeois from Belgium during a robotics session as part of his basic astronaut training at ESA’s European Astronaut Centre, near Cologne, Germany. View the full article
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Video: 00:03:29 After years of development and a rigorous testing programme, ESA’s EarthCARE satellite has left Munich, Germany, and is now on its away to SpaceX’s launch site in Vandenberg, California. Once it arrives, it will be put into storage for a few weeks until it is time to ready the satellite for liftoff – which is scheduled to launch in May on a Falcon 9 rocket. The Earth Cloud Aerosol and Radiation Explorer, or EarthCARE for short, is the most complex Earth Explorer mission to date. The new satellite will look at the role that clouds and aerosols play in heating and cooling Earth’s atmosphere – contributing to our understanding of climate change. With…
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Video: 00:01:44 The two central stages for Ariane 6’s first flight are being assembled in the launcher assembly building (BAL) at Europe’s Spaceport. The core stage and the upper stage for Europe’s new rocket Ariane 6 are set to fly in the Summer of 2024. Once assembled, the stages will be transferred to the launch pad. On the launch pad, the two stages will be raised into their vertical launch position inside the mobile assembly building. Here the two boosters for Ariane 6’s first flight will be added and then the payloads will be placed on top and be covered by the fairing – Ariane 6’s nose cone that splits vertically in two. The stages arrived at Europe’s Space…
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Image: Hera asteroid mission vs. absolutely nothing View the full article
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Ultrasound devices are commonplace in modern orbital medical kits, helping to facilitate rapid diagnoses of astronaut ailments or bodily changes. However it takes real-time guidance from experts on the ground to acquire medically useful ultrasound images. Once astronauts travel to the Moon or further into the Solar System such guidance will no longer be practical due to the time delay involved. A new ESA-led project aims to leverage AI and Machine Learning so that astronauts can perform close to expert quality ultrasound exams by themselves. View the full article
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Looking deep into space and time, two teams using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have studied the exceptionally luminous galaxy GN-z11, which existed when our 13.8 billion-year-old Universe was only about 430 million years old. View the full article
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Video: 00:05:01 ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen explains how two experiments involving virtual reality makes on International Space Station. The first is Virtual Assistance Mental Balance (VAMB) where Andreas gets to enjoy a calm setting in nature that helps him relax. The second one is VR for Exercise, where he cycles on the Space Station’s exercise bike and through different bike routes in Denmark on the VR headset, which has quickly become a favourite for Andreas. Access the related broadcast quality video material. View the full article
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Video: 00:23:34 Marco Sieber is one of ESA’s five astronaut candidates currently undergoing basic astronaut training at the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne. Join us as we speak to Marco about his first months of training and living in Germany, his background as a medical doctor, his favourite training lessons, and what he is excited about for the future of space exploration. This is the third episode of our ESA Explores podcast series introducing the ESA astronaut class of 2022. It was recorded in November 2023. Music and audio editing by Denzel Lorge. Cover art by Gaël Nadaud. View the full article
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Image: Help Me In Distress View the full article
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Week in images: 26 February - 1 March 2024 Discover our week through the lens View the full article
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Video: 00:07:30 Meet the people working on the testing of Ariane 6. Europe’s next rocket, Ariane 6, has passed all its qualification tests in preparation for its first flight, and now the full-scale test model will be removed from the launch pad to make way for the real rocket that will ascend to space. To make way for launch, teams from ArianeGroup, France’s space agency CNES and ESA have started to remove the Ariane 6 test model by disconnecting the cables and fuel lines that pass through the launch tower. Find out about the progress being made at the end of testing by the people who know Ariane 6 best. Featuring interviews with ESA’s launch system architect Pie…
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Image: This Copernicus Sentinel-2 image features the ice tongue of the Dawson-Lambton Glacier in Antarctica. View the full article
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Space has led to technological innovations with wide-ranging applications in healthcare. Beyond consumer gadgets, such as wireless headsets and scratch-resistant lenses, space exploration is a catalyst for understanding the human body and advancing scientific results that benefit people worldwide. Here are Europe’s top 5 stories in space for your health. Gravity affects everything we do and everything that happens inside and around us. On Earth’s surface, everything is subject to an average gravitational acceleration of 9.81 m/s2, or what we call 1 g. This acceleration keeps us grounded but it also influences all reactions and phenomena around us, from falling apples to c…
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Image: Proba-3's laser-precise positioning View the full article
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Video: 00:09:47 According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), global agricultural production will need to increase by 60% by 2050 to meet the food demands of the growing global population. A new satellite called Copernicus Hyperspectral Imaging Mission for the Environment, or CHIME, is being developed to support EU policies on the management of natural resources – ultimately helping to address the global issue of food security. CHIME will carry a unique visible to shortwave infrared spectrometer to provide routine hyperspectral observations to support new and enhanced services for sustainable agricultural and biodiversity management, as well as soil pr…
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The ESA Young Graduate Trainee call for applications closes on 7 March 2024. Don’t hesitate to apply and kick-start your career in space today! Positions are available in engineering, science, IT and business services. View the full article
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Using the unprecedented capabilities of the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, an international team of scientists has obtained the first spectroscopic observations of the faintest galaxies during the first billion years of the Universe. These findings help answer a longstanding question for astronomers: what sources caused the reionisation of the Universe? View the full article
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ESA’s Mars Express has captured an intriguing view near Mars’s north pole, imaging where vast sand dunes meet the many layers of dusty ice covering the planet’s pole. View the full article
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Video: 00:02:10 The largest components for the first flight model of Europe’s new rocket Ariane 6 arrived at the port of Pariacabo in Kourou, French Guiana on 21 February 2024 via the novel ship, Canopée (canopy in French). The Ariane 6 stages and components are all manufactured across Europe. On this trip, Canopée brought the central core for Ariane 6’s first flight. The main engine and the main stage were integrated in Les Mureaux, France, while the upper stage and insulation for the rocket’s exterior were built up in Bremen, Germany. The various Ariane 6 components are then offloaded and transported by road to the new Ariane 6 launch vehicle assembly building j…
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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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