Category: ESA

Mirror, mirror, on the Moon, how far away are you?  High-accuracy Tests is seeking the answer to this and more questions on general relativity, the gravitational dynamics of the Earth-Moon system and the deep lunar interior.   MoonLIGHT is a laser retroreflector, imaged here, which allows laser beams sent from Earth to be reflected back from Read More

The James Webb Space Telescope (Webb) is designed to answer fundamental questions about the Universe. With 100 times more sensitivity than the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, and a mirror which is nearly double the size of ESA’s Herschel Space Observatory, it can detect infrared light generated by galaxies as they formed more than 13.5 billion Read More

In brief The chance that ESA’s Solar Orbiter spacecraft will encounter space debris during its upcoming Earth flyby is very, very low. However, the risk is not zero and is greater than any other flyby ESA has performed. That there is this risk at all highlights the mess we’ve made of space – and why Read More

ESA’s Hera mission seen with its CubeSats in orbit around its target asteroid. Now NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test, DART, is on its way to test the kinetic impact technique of asteroid deflection, ESA’s Hera will be Earth’s next planetary defence mission, scheduled to fly to the same body that DART will impact next year. Read More

Space-enabled 5G technologies – which will transform connectivity and reinforce the internet of things – have come a step closer, thanks to the formation of a new partnership. ESA is working with Eureka, an international organisation for research and development funding and coordination, and its Celtic-Next cluster, which is developing next-generation communications for a digital Read More

ESA / One of the most comprehensive pictures of our changing planet is now available to the public. Thanks to the close collaboration between Google Earth, ESA, the European Commission, NASA and the US Geological Survey, 24 million satellite photos from the past 37 years have been embedded into a new layer of Google Earth Read More

by ESA ESA-sponsored medical doctor Nick Smith snapped this photo of the storage containers at Concordia research station in Antarctica shortly before sunset, 8 April 2021. The dark blue line at the horizon is the shadow of the Earth. The containers store food, recycling and the scientific samples of blood, saliva, and stool that Nick Read More

ESA The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission takes us over Bucharest – the capital and largest city of Romania. Click on the image to explore it in its full 10 m resolution and learn about the features in this stunning landscape. Bucharest lies on the southeast corner of the Romanian Plain, on the banks of the Dâmbovița Read More

ESA / Italy’s Mount Etna, Europe’s most active volcano, has recently been on explosive form, with 17 eruptions in less than three months. Instruments onboard three different satellites orbiting Earth have acquired imagery of the eruptions – revealing the intensity of the lava-fountaining eruptive episodes, known as paroxysms. Located on the east coast of Sicily, Read More

Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana is preparing Ariane 6's launch pad for extensive ‘combined tests’. These tests will prove the systems that will support Europe's newest launch vehicle before flight. Fin d'integration caisson LOX On the launch pad, engineers are installing the steel mini-mast structures that will protect the liquid oxygen cryogenic connection systems that Read More