European Space Agency

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Hundreds of satellite images spanning 30 years have been compiled to show the evolution of the Danube Delta – the second largest river delta in Europe. These findings were presented today at ESA’s Living Planet Symposium taking place this week in Bonn, Germany. View the full article

With well over 4000 scientists, academics, space industry personnel, institutional stakeholders, data users, students and citizens all gathered at the Living Planet Symposium, this world-renowned Earth observation event is already proving to be a bit like magic, especially after the gruelling two-year COVID pandemic. However, there’s also another kind of magic in the air creating a buzz – no, not the band Queen singing their hit single, but a potential new satellite mission called MAGIC that would shed new light on where Earth’s water is stored and how it moves from place to place. View the full article

Global climate change is the single most challenging issue faced by humanity – affecting every region, continent and ocean on Earth. It fuels a range of other top-level challenges such as food security, migration, biodiversity loss, risks to human health and economic losses. This week, at ESA’s Living Planet Symposium taking place in Bonn, high-level ESA representatives, along with a mix of academia and policy experts, came together to discuss ESA’s ‘Space for a Green Future Accelerator’ – a major ESA initiative aiming to accelerate the use of space in Europe. View the full article

While volcanic eruptions and earthquakes serve as immediate reminders that Earth’s insides are anything but tranquil, there are also other, more elusive, dynamic processes happening deep down below our feet. Using information from ESA’s Swarm satellite mission, scientists have discovered a completely new type of magnetic wave that sweeps across the outermost part of Earth’s outer core every seven years. This fascinating finding, presented today at ESA’s Living Planet Symposium, opens a new window into a world we can never see. View the full article

ESA’s Living Planet Symposium has opened with a flourish with over 4000 participants including scientists, academics, space industry representatives, institutional stakeholders, data users, students and citizens gathered to discuss the latest findings on our changing planet, as well as advances in satellite technologies, new opportunities in the commercial world, and ESA’s plans for the future. View the full article

Astronauts live and work in orbit along with teaming populations of microorganisms, which could present a serious threat to health – and even the structural integrity of spacecraft. To help combat such invisible stowaways, an ESA-led project is developing microbe-killing coatings suitable for use within spacecraft cabins. View the full article

Week in images: 16-20 May 2022 Discover our week through the lens View the full article

Video: 00:04:49 “ESA’s Juice mission has entered its final phase of development, with the spacecraft moving to an Airbus Defence & Space facility in Toulouse, France, for the next round of testing. The spacecraft has been fully integrated, and these tests will be done in full flight configuration, as Juice is scheduled for launch from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, in April 2023 The Juice mission is a perfect example of collaboration between several national space agencies and European industry. Its objective is to explore the gas giant Jupiter, its environment, and three of its moons: Europa, Callisto and Ganymede. By studying this planetary system, ESA hopes to learn more about the icy worlds around Jupiter and the origins and possibility of life in our Universe This report includes interviews of: Manuela Baroni, Juice AIT & Launcher Interface Engineer, ESA (English & Italian) Cyril Cavel, Juice Project Manager, Airbus Defence & Space (English) Access the related broadcast quality material. Download the animation Juice’s journey and Jupiter system tour. View the full article

The time has finally come for ESA’s Living Planet Symposium – one of the largest Earth observation conferences in the world. Follow our live streaming all week on ESA Web TV, starting with the Opening Ceremony on Monday 23 May at 09:00 (CEST). View the full article

ESA’s Living Planet Symposium – one of the largest Earth observation conferences in the world – is being held on 23–27 May in Bonn, Germany. Held every three years, the symposium brings together scientists and researchers, as well as industry and users of Earth observation data, from all over the world to present and discuss the latest findings on Earth science. View the full article

Image: Volunteers watching the skies View the full article

Image: A dazzling Hubble collection of supernova host galaxies View the full article

International collaboration among space agencies is central to the success of satellite Earth observation and data analysis. ESA, NASA and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) have continued their joined effort to develop a storytelling dashboard that combines their resources and expertise to strengthen our global understanding of the changing environment and its economic effects. View the full article

Video: 00:04:30 On 26 March and enduring temperatures of some 500 degrees Celsius from within the orbit of planet Mercury, Solar Orbiter returned spectacular imagery of the Sun during its first close encounter with our home star. Detailed new movies show activity in the solar atmosphere and reveal a variety of features, including something scientists are nicknaming ‘the hedgehog’ with spikes of hot gas reaching out in all directions. Solar Orbiter’s ten science instruments are now all working together for the first time. Some are looking at the Sun while others are simultaneously measuring the environment around the spacecraft, enabling scientists to join the dots from what they see happening at the Sun, to what Solar Orbiter ‘feels’ at its location in the solar wind millions of kilometres away. In the weeks around the close approach Solar Orbiter also observed several flares and even a coronal mass ejection, providing a taste of space weather forecasting at Earth. Scientists across Europe – and ESA’s partners around the world – are now working to interpret the vast amount of information Solar Orbiter is sending back that promises to transform our understanding of our nearest star. Solar Orbiter is a space mission of international collaboration between ESA and NASA. This report includes interviews with: - David Berghmans, EUI Principal Investigator - Daniel Müller, Solar Orbiter Project Scientist, ESA - Anik De Groof, Instrument Operations Scientist, ESA View the full article

Powerful flares, breathtaking views across the solar poles, and a curious solar ‘hedgehog’ are amongst the haul of spectacular images, movies and data returned by Solar Orbiter from its first close approach to the Sun. Although the analysis of the new dataset has only just started, it is already clear that the ESA-led mission is providing the most extraordinary insights into the Sun’s magnetic behaviour and the way this shapes space weather. View the full article

Image: Lunar eclipse captured by Samantha Cristoforetti aboard the International Space Station View the full article

Dozens of people who have set up start-up companies and fledgling businesses are pitching their ideas to investors today, as part of an ESA Investor Forum held in Berlin. View the full article

Week in images: 09-13 May 2022 Discover our week through the lens View the full article

Image: Fly far, fly true View the full article

Video: 00:01:00 ESA’s Gaia space telescope revolutionises our understanding of the Milky Way. It scans the sky to measure the position, movement, distance, and characteristics of billions of stars. It is creating the most precise map of our home galaxy yet, providing clues to its origin and evolution. Gaia not only studies the stars, but also what is in between them, as well as asteroids and planetary moons in our Solar System, binary stars and exoplanets, and quasars and galaxies outside of the Milky Way. Gaia provides us with a wealth of data, giving us a new sense of our place in the Universe. Gaia’s data release 3 will be made public on 13 June 2022: https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/gaia/data-release-3 View the full article

This striking, high-resolution image of the Arc de Triomphe, in Paris, was captured by Planet SkySat – a fleet of satellites that have just joined ESA’s Third Party Mission Programme in April 2022. View the full article

Image: The penultimate sunset at Concordia research station in Antarctica marks the beginning of a very exciting time for the 12-member crew: the coming of Antarctic night and the winter-over. ESA sponsored medical doctor Hannes Hagson and his crew mates are finally embarking on their ‘real’ mission in Antarctica: living and work in isolation for six months in the name of spaceflight research. The Italian-French outpost Concordia is located 3233 m above sea level where temperatures can drop to –80°C in the complete frozen darkness outside. The sun disappears behind the horizon for four months. No supplies or people can be flown in during the winter months; and the high altitude causes the crew to experience chronic hypobaric hypoxia or lack of oxygen in the brain. These conditions are as close to living on another planet as humans can get on Earth. For this reason, Hannes is facilitating biomedical experiments on himself and his crewmates to understand how humans cope with living in extreme isolation. From sleep studies to gut health measurements to mindful practices, the crew are poked and prodded to help researchers understand and overcome the challenges extreme environments, like space, pose to present and future explorers. This image was taken by Hannes on 3 May. The last full sunset took place the day after but appeared only as a thin sliver in the sky. Follow Hannes during his winter-over on the Chronicles from Concordia blog. View the full article

Forward to the Moon This is an interactive publication about our natural satellite View the full article

Could we capitalise on the Earth-based digital revolution to make our satellites smarter? ESA Discovery is funding 12 projects that will explore the potential of applying the latest developments in artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing paradigms to make satellites more reactive, agile and autonomous. This could generate new practical applications that support life on Earth and our exploration of other planets. View the full article