European Space Agency

Ariane 5 has delivered two telecommunications satellites, MEASAT-3d and GSAT-24, into their planned geostationary transfer orbits. View the full article

View the full article

Film fans, gamers and future metaverse users will be able to experience high-quality videos, games and extended reality environments live and uninterrupted from anywhere, as satellites link up with terrestrial-based next-generation 5G and 6G connectivity. View the full article

Passengers on board commercial airline easyJet will speed to their destinations faster and greener, thanks to an ESA-backed initiative to digitalise the skies. View the full article

Crowds at the Berlin International Airshow – which will focus on innovation, new technology and sustainability – are set to be wowed by space. View the full article

The ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission is gearing up for its second close flyby of Mercury on 23 June. ESA’s spacecraft operation team is guiding BepiColombo through six gravity assists of the planet before entering orbit around it in 2025. View the full article

Week in images: 13-17 June 2022 Discover our week through the lens View the full article

Part of the Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, which lies along the coast of southeast Alaska, is featured in this image captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission. View the full article

ESA has put forward its ambitious plans for the next three years and beyond to increase European autonomy, leadership and responsibility in space. View the full article

The European Space Agency is currently looking for a new Director of Science and new Director of Technology, Engineering and Quality, to join its executive board and support the Director General, with responsibility for relevant ESA activities and overall objectives. View the full article

View the full article

ESA’s new medium-lift Vega-C rocket is nearly ready for its inaugural flight, with its four fully-stacked stages now ready for payload integration, final checks and launch from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. Flight VV21 will lift off as soon as 7 July, pending suitable conditions for launch. View the full article

As the European Space Agency prepares to begin operations of its next-generation Vega-C and Ariane 6 launch systems complemented by the reusable Space Rider orbital transportation system, work is underway to define the future of European space transportation capabilities for the coming decade and beyond. View the full article

Video: 00:02:03 ESA’s Council at Ministerial level will take place in November 2022, a crucial milestone as Europe sets out its ambitions and plans for space activities in the coming years and decades. View the full article

Press Release N° 30–2022 The next steps in exploring and using space for the benefit of European citizens were this week on the agenda at ESA’s Council meeting in ESA/ESTEC, the Netherlands on 14 and 15 June. The possibility of the first-ever European astronaut to set foot on the Moon, a telecommunication satellite for lunar exploration and a mission to return precious rock samples from Mars were all discussed. View the full article

Image: Hera asteroid mission’s first step View the full article

The media information session following the 308th ESA Council will be streamed on 15 June from 12:40 to 13:15 CEST at esawebtv.esa.int. Join us to hear more about the cooperation between ESA and NASA. View the full article

How does ESA enable the European space industry to prosper in the global market? People attending this week’s VivaTech show in Paris – which will showcase how innovation and technology can build a more sustainable and inclusive society – will discover how. View the full article

Entrepreneurs, fledgling firms and established space companies are to receive a boost with the launch of the European Centre for Space Economy and Commerce. View the full article

Video: 00:54:56 Watch the replay of the press event "New data from our Milky Way". Gaia experts and scientists present the findings and answer questions from journalists. Gaia is ESA’s mission to create the most accurate and complete multi-dimensional map of the Milky Way. Read more Access the related broadcast quality video material View the full article

Video: 00:05:00 Since its launch in 2013 ESA’s Gaia observatory has been mapping our galaxy from Lagrange point 2, creating the most accurate and complete multi-dimensional map of the Milky Way. By now two full sets of data have been released, the first set in 2016 and a second one in 2018. These data releases contained stellar positions, distances, motions across the sky, and colour information, among others. Now on 13 June 2022 a third and new full data set will be released. This data release will contain even more and improved information about almost 2 billion stars, Solar System objects and extragalactic sources. It also includes radial velocities for 33 million stars, a five-time increase compared to data release 2. Another novelty in this data set is the largest catalogue yet of binary stars in the Milky Way, which is crucial to understand stellar evolution. This video includes interviews with : Frédéric Arenou, CNRS Research Engineer & Gaia Collaboration Scientist, Observatoire de Paris – PSL (in English & French) Paola Sartoretti, CNRS Research Engineer & Gaia Collaboration Scientist, Observatoire de Paris – PSL- (English) Read more Access the related broadcast quality video material View the full article

Today, ESA’s Gaia mission releases its new treasure trove of data about our home galaxy. Astronomers describe strange ‘starquakes’, stellar DNA, asymmetric motions and other fascinating insights in this most detailed Milky Way survey to date. View the full article

ESA Impact June Council edition Great images and videos of two ESA astronauts on the ISS, preparations for the Artemis mission to the Moon, and more View the full article

View the full article

Week in images: 06-10 June 2022 Discover our week through the lens View the full article