SOLARIS Industry Day – update

To support the preparation of the SOLARIS initiative on Space-Based Solar Power, to be proposed at ESA's Ministerial Council next month, the Agency organised the first SOLARIS Industry Day. The event took place at the ESTEC technical centre in the Netherlands and online on 18 October 2022. The Industry Day consisted of: Presentations from ESA outlining the Read More

ESA – Earth from Space: Svalbard

Extremely high temperatures recorded this summer caused record melting across Svalbard – one of the fastest warming places on the planet. The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission captured this rare, cloud-free acquisition of the Norwegian archipelago in August 2022. Located north of mainland Europe, Svalbard is around midway between the northern coast of Norway and the North Read More

ESA – A close encounter with a mysterious moon

In brief In 1877, the American astronomer Asaph Hall discovered two small moons circling the planet Mars, later named Phobos and Deimos after the Greek for ‘fear’ and ‘panic’. But it was excitement, rather than fear and panic, that characterised the close encounter with Phobos made by ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft in the run up Read More

The Incredible Adventures of the Hera mission – Tales of Terrific Technology

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. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPn2W5CYA1U Suitable for kids and adults Read More

27th edition of the ENAIRE Foundation Awards presented

The Aeronautical Journalism Award went to Marta Fajardo Fernández for her report "Nace Startical, la constelación satelital del espacio aéreo" (Startical, the satellite constellation for airspace, is born), on Radio Exterior de España and Radio-5 (RNE)The I+Drone Award was presented to the team from the Advanced Centre for Aerospace Technologies (FADA-CATEC) for their work Cooperative Read More

ESA -Earth from Space quiz with Samantha Cristoforetti

In brief ESA Education presents a new educational quiz featuring images of Earth from space taken by ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti. Have fun becoming an Earth Observer while learning about our home planet!  In-depth Astronauts have been taking pictures of Earth from space since 2000, when the first crew arrived at the International Space Station Read More

ESA astronauts help map Europe’s light pollution from space

In brief Most Europeans live under light-polluted skies. The first colour map of Europe at night created with images from the International Space Station shows a sharp increase in light pollution, and the resulting picture is not a pretty one for the environment. In-depth Over the last two decades, astronauts on the Station have witnessed Read More

Discovery funding transforms ESA patents into commercial success

Whether sending European spacecraft to distant frontiers, studying our home planet in greater detail than ever before, or designing new launch systems, ESA activities drive the development of new technologies. These technologies can be protected as patents, which ESA makes available to entities in its Member States for research or commercial uses. But there is a long way Read More