Archive | ESA

Image: The heavy snowfall that hit Spain a few days ago still lies heavy across much of the country as this Copernicus Sentinel-3 satellite image shows. To source

The month of December comes with holidays for many, but for the International Space Station and mission controls around the world, science never rests. To source

Image: This Copernicus Sentinel-2 image of Madrid in Spain appears to have been taken in black and white. In fact, it is a true-colour image – but the heaviest snowfall in 50 years has blanketed the region, turning the landscape white. To source

Image: Prepping for a spacewalk typically means diving underwater to rehearse and fine-tune operations. In 2016, ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst performed such an underwater rehearsal for the Colka high speed radio , the brown box imaged above, that will be installed this month on the International Space Station. NASA astronauts Mike Hopkins and Victor Glover […]

Video: 00:02:20 Tour the Ariane 6 launch complex at Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana To source

Using information from ESA’s Swarm satellite constellation, scientists have made a discovery about how energy generated by electrically-charged particles in the solar wind flows into Earth’s atmosphere – surprisingly, more of it heads towards the magnetic north pole than towards the magnetic south pole. To source

Image: Cosmic neon lights To source

ESA signed a contract today with Thales Alenia Space to start building the European module for the lunar Gateway that will provide the new human exploration facility with communications and refuelling. To source

Image: The Sun in 2020 To source

Image: NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins performs the Grasp experiment in the Columbus module of the International Space Station ahead of the New Year. The experiment studies how the central nervous system, specifically hand-eye coordination, adapts to microgravity. Grasp stands for Gravitational References for Sensimotor Performance and seeks to better understand how the central nervous system […]

Video: 00:05:00 As the world leaves annus horribilis 2020 behind it looks towards 2021 with a mixture of relief and expectations. And so it goes for the European Space Agency, ESA who’s future looks bright and very much exciting. 2021 will be a year in which Vega-C will make its maiden flight, two ESA astronauts […]

Latest images reveal that the A-68A iceberg has shattered into multiple pieces, with two large fragments of ice breaking off from the main berg and floating away in the open ocean. Scientists using satellite data have not only been monitoring the iceberg’s journey across the South Atlantic Ocean, but have been studying the iceberg’s ever-changing […]