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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The 40-year-old mystery of what causes Jupiter’s X-ray auroras has been solved. For the first time, astronomers have seen the entire mechanism at work – and it could be a process occurring in many other parts of the Universe too. View the full article
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Week in images: 05 - 09 July 2021 Discover our week through the lens View the full article
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Using measurements from ESA’s Earth Explorer Swarm mission, scientists have developed a new tool that links the strength and direction of the magnetic field to the flight paths of migrating birds. This is a huge step forward to understanding how animals use Earth’s magnetic field to navigate vast distances. View the full article
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The Gulf of Martaban, an arm of the Andaman Sea located in southern Myanmar, is featured in this false-colour image captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission. View the full article
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Trying to explain satellite communication to children is no easy task, so why not let robot host ROBert help? In the third of the ROBert Knows videos created by ESA and PLAYMOBIL, ROBert examines how satellite communication works with a little help from our own expert Director of TIA, Elodie Viau. View the full article
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Webb launch kit Interactive infographics and background information to prepare for Webb's launch View the full article
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Image: A touch of sun View the full article
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For the hundreds of millions of people living in coastal regions around the world, rising seas driven by climate change pose a direct threat. In order for authorities to plan appropriate protection strategies, accurate information on sea-level rise close to the coast is imperative. For various reasons, these measurements are difficult to get from satellites. However, new ESA-funded research demonstrates how a specific way of processing satellite altimetry data now makes it possible to determine sea-level change in coastal areas with millimetre per year accuracy, and even if the sea is covered by ice. View the full article
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Image: The heart of the Exospheric Mass Spectrometer (EMS) is visible in this image of the key sensor that will study the abundance of lunar water and water ice for upcoming missions to the Moon. This spectrometer is being delivered to NASA today as part of the PITMS instrument for its launch to the Moon later this year. EMS is based on an ‘ion trap’, an ingenious detector device that allows researchers to identify and quantify sample atoms and molecules in a gas and allows to establish a corresponding mass spectrum. Scientists at The Open University and RAL Space are developing EMS under an ESA contract. Lunar molecules entering the sensor are bombarded by electrons e…
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Video: 00:05:12 The European Robotic Arm (ERA) will be launched to the International Space Station together with the Russian Multipurpose Laboratory Module, called ‘Nauka’. ERA is the first robot able to ‘walk’ around the Russian segment of the Space Station. It has the ability to anchor itself to the Station and move back and forward by itself, hand-over-hand between fixed base-points. This 11-metre intelligent space robot will serve as main manipulator on the Russian part of the Space Station, assisting the astronauts during spacewalks. The robot arm can help install, deploy and replace elements in outer space ERA is 100% made-in-Europe. A consortium of European…
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Week in images: 28 June - 02 July 2021 Discover our week through the lens View the full article
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After several weeks of bad weather and strong winds, the latest pair of high-altitude drop tests of the ExoMars parachutes took place in Kiruna, Sweden. The 15 m-wide first stage main parachute performed flawlessly at supersonic speeds, while the 35 m-wide second stage parachute experienced one minor damage, but decelerated the mock-up of the landing platform as expected. View the full article
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Part of the Frisian Islands, a low-lying archipelago just off the coast of northern Europe, is visible in this image captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission. View the full article
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Image: The heatwave now hitting parts of western Canada and the US has been particularly devastating. This Copernicus Sentinel-3 image shows land surface temperature. View the full article
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The international James Webb Space Telescope has passed the final mission analysis review for its launch on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. View the full article
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Three more nano-satellites have been launched as part of ESA’s efforts to boost the European space industry, fostering innovation and creating jobs. View the full article
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ESA is diversifying its online presence with the launch of a Pinterest channel and is reaching out to this highly creative audience to plan a space-themed Halloween party around the launch of the international Webb mission later this year. View the full article
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Image: For Asteroid Day, the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission takes us over the Shoemaker Impact Structure (formerly known as Teague Ring) in Western Australia. View the full article
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Image: Eye of ESA’s asteroid mission View the full article
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As ESA’s Hera mission for planetary defence probes the Didymos twin asteroid system, it will be joined by a pioneering pair of breadbox-sized ‘CubeSats’. Juventas will perform radar soundings while Milani will image the bodies in a wider range of colours beyond what human eye can see, to prospect the mineral makeup of individual asteroid boulders. View the full article
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An advanced telecommunications satellite that can be completely repurposed in orbit has arrived at its launch site of Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. View the full article
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The latest ESA Impact is out now! View the full article
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ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet and NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough performed three spacewalks in the span of 10 days to install two new solar arrays that will generate more electricity on the International Space Station. View the full article
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Image: Retro meets retrofit: The Novespace Air Zero G aircraft is seen here next to Douglas the 1962 VW Transporter. The two are in Paderborn, Germany for the 76th ESA Parabolic Flight Campaign. The refitted A310 Air Zero G aircraft flies in parabolas that offer teams from various research institutes and universities altered states of gravity to perform experiments and technology demonstrations. Experiments span many disciplines including complex fluidics and human physiology, and this campaign is no exception. Running from 25 June to 1 July, the 76th campaign features an experiment studying the effect of gravity on hydrodynamics to better protect spacecraft and scie…
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