ESA’s technical heart
Enabling & Support A replica of Europe's first radar satellite ERS-1 stands beside the entrance of ESA's largest establishment and technical heart: ESTEC, the European Space Research and Technology Centre, in Noordwijk, the Netherlands. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, essential testing for future space missions continues in ESTEC's laboratories and its full-sized satellite Test Centre. ESA-G. Porter Read More
The history of space debris creation
The millions of fragments of debris in orbit today are the direct result of 'fragmentation events' in the past. Of the 550 events known to date, those caused by propulsion have created the greatest amount of space debris. Energy left undisposed of on-board a satellite or rocket body can lead to explosions. For this reason, Read More
Ten years of safer skies with Europe’s other satellite navigation system
With 26 satellites in orbit and more than two billion receivers in use, Europe’s Galileo satellite navigation system has made a massive impact. But our continent has another satnav system that has been providing safety-of-life services for ten years now – chances are that you’ve benefited from it without noticing. EGNOS Its name is EGNOS, Read More
ESA Impact – March 2021 Council edition
Welcome to the March Council edition of ESA Impact, an interactive showcase of the best images and videos from the past few months. This edition of ESA Impact brings you icy images from our Earth observation missions, insights into space debris, and other stunning pictures including Mars Express studies for last month's Mars landing. Don’t Read More
Watch the Climate Detectives “Ask A Scientist” 2021 Webinar
Learn more about Earth's climate in this engaging webinar with Beniamino Abis from ESA-ESRIN. Beniamino was invited by ESA Education to talk to the students participating in the Climate Detectives school project and help them understand the role of forests in our planet’s climate, and how Earth observation satellites work. In the webinar, Beniamino explains in Read More
NASA – Get Ready for the Green Run Hot Fire Test
Join us Thursday, March 18, for the second “hot fire” of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket’s core stage at our Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. This hot fire is the last in our series of Green Run tests. During the hot fire test, engineers will power up all the core stage Read More
ESA – Moon Camp Challenge Deadline Extension
Due to the COVID-19 situation and the safety and containment measures in Europe and worldwide, ESA, Airbus Foundation and Autodesk have decided to extend the submission deadline of the Moon Camp Challenge. Teams now have the possibility to submit their Moon Camp Challenge project until 22 April 2021. We hope this extension of the deadline will allow Read More
ESA – Dynamic dunes
At first glance this captivating scene peering through wispy clouds and down onto a dune field is reminiscent of a satellite view of one of Earth’s deserts, but this is in fact a beautiful landscape on Mars. This spectacular dune field sits in the centre of Lomonosov crater, deep in the northern hemisphere of Mars Read More
Earth from Space: Strait of Gibraltar The Strait of Gibraltar is featured in this false-colour image captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission. Click on the image to explore it in its full 10 m resolution and learn about the features in this stunning landscape. The Strait of Gibraltar connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Atlantic Read More
ESA guide for download in several languages
This is ESA is an illustrated guide to what ESA is and what we do. It shows a range of our activities and missions at the cutting edge of space design and technology, from making space safer to monitoring climate change and exploring our Solar System. Available in all Member State languages, the brochure comes Read More