SPACENEWS

The bright variable star V 372 Orionis takes centre stage in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, which has also captured a smaller companion star in the upper left of this image. Both stars lie in the Orion Nebula, a colossal region of star formation roughly 1450 light years from Earth. V 372 Orionis is a Read More

• As part of the 2025 Flight Plan in its Digital Sky Initiative, a new procedure was launched in the summer of 2022 to improve traffic flow management by applying airspace occupancy monitoring • ENAIRE and EUROCONTROL representatives meet at the Barcelona Air Control Centre to analyse and share best practices • A safe and Read More

• The flexible use of airspace and the management of new scenarios involving the mass use of drones and high-altitude and space operations are examples of collaboration • Civil-military coordination yields safer, more efficient and sustainable aviation, while ensuring the safe completion of surveillance, security and control of sovereign airspace, and spatial surveillance missions Javier Read More

Did you know that ESA is researching human hibernation for long distance spaceflight to Mars or beyond? Hibernating astronauts could be the best way to save mission costs, reduce the size of spacecraft by a third and keep crew healthy on their way to Mars. An ESA-led investigation suggests that human hibernation goes beyond the Read More

The mission to return martian samples back to Earth will see a European 2.5 metre-long robotic arm pick up tubes filled with precious soil from Mars and transfer them to a rocket for an historic interplanetary delivery. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xn0SqlCr_jY The sophisticated robot, known as the Sample Transfer Arm or STA, will play a crucial role in Read More

We’re marking 20 years of the European Centre for Space Records in ESA ESRIN, Frascati, one of the physical homes of the ESA Archives, by giving access to our digital holdings in a new web portal. For the first time, the digital content of the historical collections of the ESA Archives will be made freely Read More

The proper functioning of moving parts within a satellite, such as mechanisms used within payloads or to deploy solar arrays, is essential to keep it alive and healthy. A novel method of monitoring such parts is now being investigated: the direct printing of strain gauges, wires and connectors onto flexible mechanism elements – like nerves Read More

Satellite imagery confirms an enormous iceberg, around five times the size of Malta, has finally calved from Antarctica’s Brunt Ice Shelf. The new berg, estimated to be around 1550 sq km and around 150 m thick, calved when the crack known as Chasm-1 fully extended northwards severing the west part of the ice shelf. This Read More

An ambitious new development phase of ESA’s 5G/6G Hub has begun. The agency is extending the facility’s satellite-enabled communications technologies and pursuing new collaborations with industry, as part of its drive to accelerate the 5G digital transformation of the European economy. Visualisation of ESA’s 5G/6G Hub ESA has selected information technology firm CGI to lead Read More

ESA and the European Commission have signed a contribution agreement to build a Copernicus mirror site in the Philippines – the first of its kind in southeast Asia. The new CopPhil initiative will enhance the response capability and resilience of the Philippines to natural and human made disasters through the strategic use of space data. Read More