European Space Agency

The ESA/NASA Solar Orbiter spacecraft is speeding towards its historic first close pass of the Sun. On 14 March, the spacecraft will pass the orbit of Mercury, the scorched inner planet of our Solar System, and on 26 March it will reach closest approach to the Sun. View the full article

Week in images: 28 February - 4 March 2022 Discover our week through the lens View the full article

The dusty faces of the Moon and Mars conceal unseen hazards for future explorers. Areas of highly oxidising material could be sufficiently reactive that they would produce chemical burns on astronauts’ unprotected skin or lungs. Taking inspiration from a pioneering search for Martian life, a Greek team is developing a device to detect these ‘reactive oxygen species’ – as well as harvest sufficient oxygen from them to keep astronauts breathing indefinitely. View the full article

Today, the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission takes us over the Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe. The mountain range forms a natural border between France and Spain with the small, landlocked country of Andorra sandwiched in between. View the full article

Image: Aerial antenna for Venus mission test View the full article

Human-induced climate change is causing dangerous and widespread disruption in nature, affecting the lives of billions of people around the world, according to the latest state of the climate report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published this week. The report utilises satellite observations as crucial input, including several long-term datasets of key aspects of the climate, known as Essential Climate Variables, generated via Europe’s leading research teams working as part of ESA’s Climate Change initiative. View the full article

Video: 00:04:00 Twenty years ago, on the first of March 2002, ESA launched a new satellite to monitor our planet from space: Envisat. This research mission, which carried 10 instruments, would become a beacon for the development of future Earth observation satellites. In orbit for 10 years, double its projected lifespan, this flagship mission provided science with a wealth of data on the health of our planet and climate change – a treasure trove of data that is still used today. Thanks to the Heritage Space Programme, ESA ensures these precious data are preserved and made accessible for future generations. This report includes interviews with : - Simonetta Cheli, Director of Earth Observation, ESA–ESRIN, Frascati, Italy in English, French & Italian - Henri Laur, Former Envisat Mission Manager, ESA–ESRIN, Frascati, Italy in English & French Access the related broadcast quality video material. View the full article

Press Release N° 6–2022 We deplore the human casualties and tragic consequences of the war in Ukraine. We are giving absolute priority to taking proper decisions, not only for the sake of our workforce involved in the programmes, but in full respect of our European values, which have always fundamentally shaped our approach to international cooperation. View the full article

Video: 00:02:58 Europe’s Columbus laboratory is a hive of activity in this 360° timelapse as ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer works on an experiment called Fluidics and his NASA colleague Raja Chari carries out activity in the Veggie plant habitat. Developed by French space agency CNES and co-funded by Airbus, the Fluidics experiment investigates how liquids behave in space. It was first run by ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet in 2017 during his Proxima mission. Made up of six small, transparent spheres housed in the black centrifuge seen here, the experiment studies two phenomena. The first is ‘sloshing’ or how liquids move in enclosed spaces. The second is wave turbulence. Understanding the underlying physics of how liquids move in space will help improve the fuel economy of spacecraft and our knowledge of Earth’s oceans. By observing how surface forces behave in reduced gravity and singling out interactions, scientists aim to improve climate models for forecasting sea states and better understand wave formation on Earth. Fluidics is just one of many European and international science experiments Matthias is supporting throughout his six-month Cosmic Kiss mission. Visit the Cosmic Kiss mission page on the ESA portal to find out more about his activities in orbit. Access the other Cosmic Kiss 360º videos. View the full article

Image: Happy 100 days in space to ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer. The first-time space flier marked the milestone on 19 February 2022 and what a busy 100-days it been. In a Twitter post marking the milestone, Matthias wrote, “100 days may sound like a lot, but it feels like I've only just arrived.” Even before launching for his Cosmic Kiss mission on a SpaceX Dragon as part of Crew-3, Matthias was on the science, providing researchers with pre-flight measurements for a variety of experiments. Since arriving, Matthias has continued to be poked and prodded while working, exercising and even sleeping, all in the name of science and exploration. Experiments like Myotones and EasyMotion are tracking the biochemical properties of his muscle properties as well as optimising them for fitness in space. Matthias sports a breathing mask and devices strapped to his chest during cycling exercises for DLR’s Metabolic Space experiment, aimed at improving cardiopulmonary diagnostics. Other wearables like thermal sensors monitor his core temperature and circadian rhythms – known to alter in microgravity – for long-standing studies tracking this change in astronauts on the Space Station. Matthias is even being studied in his sleep. He wears a headband to bed that monitors different sleep phases and sleep efficiency for the DREAMS experiment. Of course, astronauts aren’t the only subjects of space experiments. Matthias and his fellow Crew-3 mates have facilitated a host of other studies on materials science, acoustics, biofilms and more. Read a more in-depth breakdown of the science on board here. What does Matthias have to say about all that? “There is still so much to learn & discover. I'm enjoying every #CosmicKiss moment up here & looking forward to many more mission highlights.” Keen to share his mission with everyone, Matthias has been prolifically posting exciting content across his platforms. Make sure to follow Cosmic Kiss on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube the Cosmic Kiss mission page and in regular Space Station updates from ESA. View the full article

Week in images: 21 - 25 February 2022 Discover our week through the lens View the full article

To celebrate the recent data release from Landsat 9, this week we take a closer look at a part of Washington state – the northwesternmost state of the US – through the lens of Landsat 9. View the full article

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According to a new study, the world’s largest lakes are being hit by severe heatwaves six times as frequently as they were around two decades ago. Using data from ESA’s Climate Change Initiative, the study states that severe lake heatwaves are twice as likely to occur on average, compared to a pre-industrial climate. View the full article

Video: 00:12:24 Are you curious to know how a telescope works? Join ESA astronomer Giovanna Giardino as she gives an insight into the inner workings of the world’s largest telescope in space, the extraordinary James Webb Space Telescope. Find more episodes in the Meet the Experts series here. View the full article

Video: 00:01:00 The NIRSpec instrument is the workhorse near-infrared spectrograph on board the James Webb Space Telescope and is provided by ESA. NIRSpec will allow scientists to study objects embedded in shrouds of gas and dust, to find out more about how galaxies formed and evolved, and to characterise the atmospheres of exoplanet to determine if water is present. The primary goal of NIRSpec is to enable large spectroscopic surveys of astronomical objects like stars or distant galaxies. This is made possible by its powerful multi-object spectroscopy mode, which will make use of use of roughly a quarter of a million tiny configurable shutters, which are each comparable in size to the width of a human hair, to conduct simultaneous spectroscopic observations of multiple sources in a single exposure. In this mode, Webb will be able to obtain spectra of up to 200 targets simultaneously, making for very efficient use of Webb’s valuable observing time. NIRSpec will also offer integral-field and fixed-slit spectroscopy modes that will facilitate detailed studies of individual astronomical objects. Video about NIRSpec’s multi-object spectograph Video about the NIRSpec integral field units technology NIRSpec fact sheet More about Webb’s science instruments Credit: ESA/ATG medialab View the full article

The ESA YGT call for applications closes 28 February 2022. Don’t hesitate to apply and kick-start your career in space today! Positions are available in engineering, science, IT and business services. Find out more and apply now. View the full article

Video: 00:06:06 Join ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer on a 360° fly-through of Europe’s Columbus laboratory, Japan’s Kibo Module and the Crew Dragon capsule on the International Space Station. Matthias has been living and working on the International Space Station for around 100 days, following the launch of Crew-3 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on 11 November 2021. He will spend approximately six months in orbit for his Cosmic Kiss mission. Much of this time is being spent inside the Columbus lab supporting European and international science. Columbus is ESA’s single largest contribution to the International Space Station and was also the first permanent European research facility in space. In this video you can see the different experiment racks in the module as he flies through, including NASA’s Veggie greenhouses omitting a pink light. Find out more about Matthias and his Cosmic Kiss mission on the ESA mission webpage. Access the other Cosmic Kiss 360º videos. View the full article

Image: ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst visited Thales Alenia Space in Turin recently to test out and provide feedback on accommodations for the next human outpost in space, the lunar Gateway. As the name implies, the Gateway will be located within the Moon’s orbit and is being built by Thales Alenia Space on behalf of ESA. Among its components is the International Habitation Module or I-Hab. As crew quarters are designed with humans in mind, Alex both toured the mock-up and stepped into the crew quarter simulator to provide some experienced feedback. After two missions to the International Space Station – Blue Dot (2014) and Horizons (2018) – totalling 362 days in space, Alex is no stranger to living in special conditions. Using virtual gear, Alex experienced an immersive environment representing the interior of I-Hab, as if he were present on the lunar Gateway in orbit around the Moon. What did he think? Overall, the feedback was positive. Alex provided some recommendations that will help Thales Alenia Space’s design team improve the next iterations. Alex and fellow ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano similarly assisted this process in 2021, but due to Covid-19 restrictions were only able to do so remotely. Involving astronauts in the module design process allows engineers to capitalise on the astronauts’ experience aboard the International Space Station. Their feedback will guide upcoming design phases, to support a user-centered approach. “Exciting to see and work on the future of lunar exploration,” said Alex. “The Gateway will be different to the International Space Station but an evolution of over two decades of living and working in low-Earth orbit. Next destination: lunar orbit.” I-Hab is a major part of the Gateway, and together with the communications and refuelling module ESPRIT and ESA’s service module for the lunar spacecraft Orion, Europe is proving to be a vital partner in the Artemis programme and humankind’s return to the Moon. More images are available on Alexander Gerst's Flickr page. View the full article

Image: ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst visited Thales Alenia Space in Turin recently to test out and provide feedback on accommodations for the next human outpost in space, the lunar Gateway. As the name implies, the Gateway will be located within the Moon’s orbit and is being built by Thales Alenia Space on behalf of ESA. Among its components is the International Habitation Module or I-Hab. As crew quarters are designed with humans in mind, Alex both toured the mock-up and stepped into the crew quarter simulator to provide some experienced feedback. After two missions to the International Space Station – Blue Dot (2014) and Horizons (2018) – totalling 362 days in space, Alex is no stranger to living in special conditions. Using virtual gear, Alex experienced an immersive environment representing the interior of I-Hab, as if he were present on the lunar Gateway in orbit around the Moon. What did he think? Overall, the feedback was positive. Alex provided some recommendations that will help Thales Alenia Space’s design team improve the next iterations. Alex and fellow ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano similarly assisted this process in 2021, but due to Covid-19 restrictions were only able to do so remotely. Involving astronauts in the module design process allows engineers to capitalise on the astronauts’ experience aboard the International Space Station. Their feedback will guide upcoming design phases, to support a user-centered approach. “Exciting to see and work on the future of lunar exploration,” said Alex. “The Gateway will be different to the International Space Station but an evolution of over two decades of living and working in low-Earth orbit. Next destination: lunar orbit.” I-Hab is a major part of the Gateway, and together with the communications and refuelling module ESPRIT and ESA’s service module for the lunar spacecraft Orion, Europe is proving to be a vital partner in the Artemis programme and humankind’s return to the Moon. View the full article

Week in images: 14 - 18 February 2022 Discover our week through the lens View the full article

The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission takes us over Tenerife – the largest of Spain’s Canary Islands. View the full article

The ESA/NASA Solar Orbiter spacecraft has captured the largest solar prominence eruption ever observed in a single image together with the full solar disc. View the full article

Video: 00:04:40 English - 100 days of Cosmic Kis On 11 November 2021, ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer was launched to the International Space Station for his first mission, Cosmic Kiss. Around 100 days later, we reflect on some highlights from space. Matthias flew to the Station on a SpaceX Crew Dragon alongside NASA astronauts and fellow first-time fliers Kayla Barron and Raja Chari, and NASA spaceflight veteran Tom Marshburn. Collectively known as Crew-3, they were welcomed as members of Expedition 66 by Commander Anton Shkaplerov, cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov and NASA’s Mark Vande Hei. While in orbit, Matthias is supporting over 35 European and many more international experiments. The outcomes of these experiments will advance our knowledge in areas ranging from human health to materials science, physics, Earth observation, technology development and more. Matthias is expected to spend approximately six months in orbit and there are many more highlights to come. Find out more about the science he’s supported to date in this 100 days of Cosmic Kiss science round-up. Access the related broadcast quality video material. German - 100 Tage Cosmic Kiss Am 11. November 2021 startete der ESA-Astronaut Matthias Maurer zu seiner ersten Mission "Cosmic Kiss" zur Internationalen Raumstation ISS. Rund 100 Tage später blicken wir auf einige Höhepunkte aus dem Weltall zurück. Matthias flog an Bord eines SpaceX Crew Dragon zusammen mit den NASA-Astronauten und Erstfliegern Kayla Barron und Raja Chari sowie dem NASA-Raumfahrtveteranen Tom Marshburn zur ISS. Gemeinsam als Crew-3 bekannt, wurden sie von Kommandant Anton Shkaplerov, Kosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov und NASA-Astronaut Mark Vande Hei als Mitglieder der Expedition 66 begrüßt. Im Orbit unterstützt Matthias über 35 europäische und viele weitere internationale Experimente. Die Ergebnisse dieser Experimente werden unser Wissen in den Bereichen Humanmedizin, Materialwissenschaft, Physik, Erdbeobachtung, Technologieentwicklung und mehr vorantreiben. Matthias wird voraussichtlich etwa sechs Monate in der Umlaufbahn verbringen, und es werden noch viele weitere Höhepunkte folgen. Bleibt dran und erfahrt mehr über seine Mission auf der Cosmic Kiss Missions-Webseite der ESA. View the full article

Video: 00:12:41 ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher speaks at the start of the ESA Council Meeting at Ministerial Level, part of the Space Summit in Toulouse, on 16 February 2022. Watch the other Space Summit videos. View the full article