SPACENEWS

ESA Applications are open for ESA’s first astronaut selection in over a decade, and all qualified candidates are encouraged to put themselves forward. Vacancy notices “Astronaut” and “Astronaut (with a physical disability)” have been posted to jobs.esa.int. Applications must be submitted via this site before 28 May 2021 to be considered for selection and important Read More

Our galaxy is surrounded by numerous ‘satellite’ galaxies, the largest being the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). The LMC is a complex mix of stars, gas and molecular clouds, and hosts many fascinating celestial objects and features – including the huge and luminous region of 30 Doradus, otherwise known as the Tarantula Nebula. This nebula is Read More

The ESAIL microsatellite for making the seas safer has picked up more than two million messages from 70 000 ships in a single day. The reliable high-performance satellite was developed as an ESA Partnership Project to help European and Canadian space companies succeed in the competitive global telecommunications market. It enables industry, maritime authorities and governments Read More

ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti has started training at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, USA. Set to launch for her second mission in spring 2022, Samantha is already getting reacquainted with International Space Station systems in a series of refresher courses. Date: 03-19-2021 Location: Bldg 9, ISS Mockups Subject: SpaceX Crew-4 ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti Read More

ESA As part of its Boost! programme, ESA has signed two new contracts which support UK-based Orbex and Skyrora in their separate proposals for new commercial launch services for small satellites. These services are set to start in the UK from 2022. ESA has awarded €7.45 m of co-funding to Orbex and its partners, and Read More

ESA / The Gariep Dam, the largest dam in South Africa, is featured in this false-colour image captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission. Click on the image to explore it in its full resolution and learn about the features in this stunning landscape. The Gariep Dam, visible in the bottom right of the image, lies Read More

ESA / One of the cheapest experiments ever flown in orbit has finished operating after 22 months on the International Space Station. Running on a Raspberry Pi Zero costing just a few Euros, ESA’s CryptIC payload was exploring cryptography techniques running on off-the-shelf hardware, to ensure cybersecurity for future low-cost space missions. Satellites might be Read More

Safety & Security ESA New observations of asteroid Apophis – thought to pose a slight risk of impacting Earth in 2068 – rule out any chance of impact for at least a century. After 17 years of observations and orbit analysis, ESA is removing the enormous asteroid from its Risk List. Estimated at about 350 Read More

The enormous Ever Given container ship, wedged in Egypt’s Suez Canal, is visible in new images captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission. The giant container ship ran aground in the canal on 23 March on its journey from China to the Netherlands. The image on the left, captured on 21 March, shows routine maritime traffic Read More

• ENAIRE highlighted this during the conference "Drones and Spanish talent: Pioneering R&D projects in the aeronautical sector", organised by Garrigues and AEDAE, where the most innovative drone projects developed in Spain were showcased. • ENAIRE, in coordination with the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda (MITMA), is leading the implementation of the recently Read More