Category: ESA

The idea behind ESA’s GENESIS mission is simple: a fixed framework is needed to chart the relative positions of locations across our planet, and satellites in orbit serve as the foundation of this framework. Fix a satellite’s own position in space accurately enough and you can measure Earth under it much more precisely too.    Read More

The Making of Juice series takes the viewer behind the scenes of the European space industry, space technology and planetary science communities around ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) mission. Juice has a state-of-the-art science payload comprising remote sensing, geophysical and in situ instruments. This episode focuses on the geophysics instruments, which will explore the moons’ surface Read More

Have you herd? After his successful mission around the Moon, Shaun the Sheep is baaa-ck in the public eye. He left his home at Mossy Bottom Farm to unveil a commemorative portrait of a lunar trip that will go down in space history – no sheep has ever travelled so far. The plaque put up Read More

Agency Last February 30 Bachelor, Master and PhD students from 16 different ESA Member and Associate States successfully completed ESA Academy’s Ladybird Guide to Spacecraft Communications Training Course. In a brand-new format, the first 4 days were hosted at the European Space Security and Education Centre (ESEC) in Belgium as always, but an extra final Read More

The flag of Belgium flew proudly over ESA’s technical heart in the Netherlands as ESTEC was honoured with a visit by Thomas Dermine, Belgium’s State Secretary for Science Policy, Recovery Program and Strategic Investments, accompanied by new Belgian astronaut Raphaël Liégeois. Belgian flag flying over ESTEC The day’s event – an ESA Day in cooperation Read More

This inflatable fuel tank has been designed for future human landings on the Moon, where mass and volume will be in short supply. Intended to store cryogenic liquids or gases, these tanks could be delivered in compacted form then only inflated when needed – including through the processing of in-situ resources from the lunar surface. Read More

Part of southern Italy is featured in this wintery image, captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission.  Zoom in to explore this image at its full resolution or click on the circles to learn more. With the Ionian Sea to the east and the Tyrrhenian Sea to the west, the image features parts of Basilicata, Calabria Read More

Europe has just endured its second warmest winter on record. Much of southern and western Europe has been affected by substantial anomalies of soil moisture owing to this exceptionally dry and warm winter. Data from ESA’s Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity mission have been used to monitor the low levels of soil moisture across Europe. According Read More

The Making of Juice series takes the viewer behind the scenes of the European space industry, space technology and planetary science communities around ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) mission. Juice has a state-of-the-art science payload comprising remote sensing, geophysical and in situ instruments. This episode focuses on the in situ instruments, which will study the particle, Read More

Sat in a windowless office beneath ESA’s Main Control Room in Darmstadt, Germany, two Simulations Officers have complete control over the Juice spacecraft and ESA’s deep space ground stations across the globe – and they take full advantage. These aren’t the real 35-metre antennas or the actual spacecraft (currently in Kourou, French Guiana), but a Read More