European Space Agency

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Solar Orbiter is returning to Earth for a flyby before starting its main science mission to explore the Sun and its connection to ‘space weather’. During the flyby Solar Orbiter must pass through the clouds of space debris that surround our planet, making this manoeuvre the riskiest flyby yet for a science mission. View the full article

The world will be watching the milestone launch of NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test, DART, spacecraft on Wednesday, 24 November, intended to alter one small part of the Solar System forever. View the full article

Video: 00:03:27 Meet Hera, our very own asteroid detective. Together with two CubeSats – Milani the rock decoder and Juventas the radar visionary – Hera is off on an adventure to explore Didymos, a double asteroid system that is typical of the thousands that pose an impact risk to planet Earth. Suitable for kids and adults alike, this episode tells the story of the discovery of asteroids, in ‘The Curious Case of the Missing Planet’. Astronomers in the 18th century were sure there was a planet in the wide gap between Mars and Jupiter – and even formed a group called the Celestial Police to find it. But eventually it became clear there was no single world out there, just lots and lots of little ones. Fast forward to today and more than a million asteroids have been discovered, and Hera will perform close-up detection on two of them. Watch Episode 1 View the full article

Image: Testing mini-radar to peer inside asteroid View the full article

Image: Webb’s Ariane 5 upper stage was raised vertical in the launch vehicle integration building at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana View the full article

Arianespace announced liftoff of Vega’s twentieth flight from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana at 9:27 GMT (10:27 CET; 06:27 local time). Vega delivered three CERES payloads for the French Ministry of the Armed Forces. View the full article

Children of the world join Europe’s mission to Jupiter We received astounding works of art from kids in 63 countries who put their personal touch on Europe’s mission to the largest planet in our Solar System, the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE). View the full article

With more than 100 global leaders at COP26 having pledged to halt and reverse deforestation and land degradation by the end of the decade to help address the climate crisis, the health of the world’s forests is high on the political agenda. ESA’s Biomass mission will soon play a key role in delivering novel information about the of the state of our forests, how they are changing over time, and advance our knowledge of the carbon cycle. With launch scheduled for 2023, the mission is now in its last phases of development, having recently passed several key milestones. View the full article

Video: 00:02:42 ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer and NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn and Kayla Barron liftoff to the International Space Station in the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft “Endurance”. Collectively known as “Crew-3”, the astronauts were launched from launchpad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA at 02:03 GMT/03:03 CET Thursday 11 November. The spacecraft docked to the International Space Station at 00:32 CET Friday, 12 November/23:32 GMT Thursday, 11 November, marking the official start of Matthias's first mission. Crew-3 will spend around six months living and working aboard the orbital outpost before returning to Earth. It is the first space mission for Matthias, who’s become the 600th human to fly to space. He chose the name “Cosmic Kiss” for his mission as a declaration of love for space. Matthias has a background in materials science and looks forward to supporting a wide range of science and research in orbit. The work he carries out throughout his mission will contribute to the success of future space missions and help enhance life on Earth. Visit the Cosmic Kiss mission page to learn more about Matthias’s mission. View the full article

Image: After a series of delays due to weather and a minor crew medical issue, ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer was finally launched to the International Space Station on 11 November. But not before reading some final words of support, shared by ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano, as Matthias waited to drive to the launchpad. Alongside NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn and Kayla Barron, Matthias lifted off on board Space X Crew Dragon “Endurance” at 03:03 CET Thursday 11 November and arrived ahead of schedule to the Station in the early hours of 12 November. It is the first space mission for Matthias, who is the 600th human to fly to space, a number made possible by the wider team working to safely ferry astronauts to space. Matthias was surrounded by the team in the lead-up to the start of his Cosmic Kiss mission, and will be well-supported throughout. Standing next to Luca, now Head of Astronaut Operations, is ESA flight surgeon Maybritt Kuypers. Flight surgeons accompany astronauts to launch and welcome them back after landing, monitoring and ensuring their health and well-being pre-, during and post-flight. Luca was not the only astronaut in attendance. German ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst was also present this past week to offer his support, both to Matthias and his family and to a wider audience via media appearances. Now on board the Station, Matthias and his fellow Crew-3 mates are adjusting to their ‘space legs’. Matthias will sleep in the new CASA crew quarters prepared by ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet before he returned to Earth earlier this week. Over the next six months, Matthias will continue to support a wide range of European and international science experiments and technological research on the Station before handing off to the next ESA astronaut to fly, Samantha Cristoforetti. Welcome to space Matthias and go #CosmicKiss! View the full article

Week in images: 08 - 12 November 2021 Discover our week through the lens View the full article

Cancún, situated in Quintana Roo on the northeast coast of Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, is featured in this image captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission. View the full article

Video: 00:06:35 Relive the moment the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, Endurance, docked to the International Space Station with ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer and his NASA colleagues Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn and Kayla Barron on board. Docking took place at 01:10 CET (00:10 GMT) Friday 12 November, around 22 hours after Crew-3 was launched atop a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA. Crew Dragon docking is autonomous. Once docked, astronauts on Endeavour and aboard the Space Station conduct standard leak checks and equalise pressure between the two spacecraft before the hatch is opened. Crew-3’s arrival on board the International Space Station marks the official start of Matthias’s first space mission “Cosmic Kiss”. Over the next six months, Matthias will support over 35 European and many more international experiments in human research, biology, materials science, fluid physics, environmental science and radiation, and technology. For more information on science and operations Matthias will carry out in space, view the Cosmic Kiss mission brochure in English or German. Regular updates will also be provided on the ESA Cosmic Kiss mission page, ESA Exploration blog and Matthias’s Twitter, Facebook and Instagram channels. View the full article

The spacecraft carrying ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer and his NASA astronaut colleagues Raja Chari, Thomas Marshburn and Kayla Barron docked to the International Space Station at 00:32 CET Friday, 12 November (23:32 GMT Thursday, 11 November), marking the official start of Matthias’s first mission ‘Cosmic Kiss’. View the full article

Image: RadCube reaches out View the full article

The world’s population is expected to reach 9.7 billion in 2050, according to the UN Department of Economics and Social Affairs. Urban areas are already home to 55% of the world’s population and that figure is expected to grow to 68% by 2050. Rapid and unplanned urbanisation, combined with the challenges brought by climate change, can lead to an increase in air pollution, higher vulnerability to disasters, as well as issues related to the management of resources such as water, raw materials and energy. To improve the understanding of current trends in global urbanisation, ESA and the German Aerospace Center (DLR), in collaboration with the Google Earth Engine team, are jointly developing the World Settlement Footprint – the world’s most comprehensive dataset on human settlement. View the full article

Coverage of ESA astronaut Matthias’s Maurer’s journey to the International Space Station continues, with docking scheduled for 00:10 GMT/ 01:10 CET Friday 12 November and streaming live on ESA Web TV 2. Matthias and his NASA astronaut crew mates Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn and Kayla Barron were launched in SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft called Endurance from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA, at 02:03 GMT/03:03 CET Thursday 11 November. View the full article

Video: 00:06:58 ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer and NASA astronaut NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn and Kayla Barron liftoff to the International Space Station in the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft “Endurance”. Collectively known as “Crew-3”, the astronauts were launched from launchpad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA. They will spend around six months living and working aboard the orbital outpost before returning to Earth. It is the first space mission for Matthias, who will be the 600th human to fly to space. He chose the name “Cosmic Kiss” for his mission as a declaration of love for space. Matthias has a background in materials science and looks forward to supporting a wide range of science and research in orbit. The work he carries out throughout his mission will contribute to the success of future space missions and help enhance life on Earth. Visit the Cosmic Kiss mission page to learn more about Matthias’s mission. View the full article

Image: ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer and NASA astronaut Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn and Kayla Barron liftoff to the International Space Station in the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft “Endurance”. Collectively known as “Crew-3”, the astronauts were launched from launchpad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA. They will spend around six months living and working aboard the orbital outpost before returning to Earth. It is the first space mission for Matthias, who is the 600th human to fly to space. He chose the name “Cosmic Kiss” for his mission as a declaration of love for space. Matthias has a background in materials science and looks forward to supporting a wide range of science and research in orbit. The work he carries out throughout his mission will contribute to the success of future space missions and help enhance life on Earth. Visit the Cosmic Kiss mission page to learn more about Matthias’s mission. View the full article

Video: 00:01:28 After 199 days in space, ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet left the International Space Station together with alongside NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur and JAXA astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, marking the end of his second six-month mission known as Alpha. The return to Earth took ten hours, including a two-hour fly-around of the International Space Station, but this highlight reel shows the key moments of the journey in just a minute. From the Space Station to undocking, fly-around, reentry and splashdown off the coast of Florida, USA. Thomas and crew splashed down on 9 November 2021 at 03:33 GMT (04:33 CET). From there Thomas flew to Cologne, Germany, where he is being monitored by ESA’s space medicine team as he readapts to Earth’s gravity at ESA’s astronaut centre and German Aerospace Centre’s ‘Envihab’ facility. View the full article

A new satellite destined to be Europe’s prime mission for monitoring and tracking carbon dioxide emissions from human activity is being put through its paces at ESA’s Test Centre in the Netherlands. With nations at COP26 pledging net-zero emissions by 2050, the pressure is on to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases we pump into the atmosphere – but the race is also on to support the monitoring that shows targets are being met. ESA, the European Commission, Eumetsat and industrial partners are therefore working extremely hard to get the Copernicus Anthropogenic Carbon Dioxide Monitoring mission ready for liftoff in 2025. View the full article

A telecommunications satellite that can be reprogrammed in-orbit, offering unprecedented mission reconfiguration capacity, has successfully passed its in-orbit acceptance review. View the full article

Video: 00:04:56 ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet gives a brief interview in Cologne, Germany, less than 48 hours after leaving the International Space Station. He talks with ESA editor Julien Harrod about returning to Earth after his six-month International Space Station mission Alpha, how it feels to splash down in a SpaceX Crew Dragon, and the differences with the Russian Soyuz spacecraft that flew him to space on his first mission, Proxima, in 2017. After completing two six-month Space Station missions in five years, Thomas recounts the changes he saw while observing our planet Earth from 400 km above. Thomas is the first European to fly to the International Space Station and return on a commercial spacecraft. SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Endeavour transporting Crew-2 autonomously undocked from the International Space Station and after a series of burns, entered Earth’s atmosphere and deployed parachutes for a soft water-landing. Thomas and crew splashed down on 9 November 2021 at 03:33 GMT (04:33 CET). Thomas flew to Cologne, Germany, where he is being monitored by ESA’s space medicine team as he readapts to Earth’s gravity at ESA’s European Astronaut Centre (EAC) and German Aerospace Centre (DLR) ‘Envihab’ facility. Over 200 experiments were run during Thomas’ time in space, with 40 European ones and 12 new experiments led by the French space agency CNES. The experiments continue on Earth charting the astronauts physical adaptation to living with gravity again. Latest updates on the Alpha mission can be found via @esaspaceflight on Twitter, with more details on ESA’s exploration blog via thomaspesquet.esa.int. Background information on the Alpha mission is available at www.esa.int/MissionAlpha with a brochure at www.esa.int/AlphaBrochure. Access the related broadcast quality footage. View the full article

A team of astronauts, engineers and geologists is travelling to Spain’s Canary Islands, one of Europe’s volcanic hot spots, to learn how to best explore the Moon and Mars during ESA’s Pangaea geological training course. View the full article