Image: The Cheops satellite positioned onto the fuelling stand at Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. The stand facilitates access to the propulsion module, easing fuelling activities. To source
Archive | ESA
Fractured ice sheets on Mars
Where the two hemispheres of Mars meet, the planet is covered in broken-up terrain: a sign that slow-but-steady flows of icy material once forged their way through the landscape, carving out a fractured web of valleys, cliffs and isolated mounds of rock. To source
Perspective view of Deuteronilus Mensae
Image: This image from ESA’s Mars Express shows a region of Mars named Deuteronilus Mensae. This oblique perspective view was generated using a digital terrain model and Mars Express data gathered on 25 February 2018 during orbit 17913. The ground resolution is approximately 13 m/pixel and the images are centred at about 25.5°E/44°N. This image […]
Topographic view of Deuteronilus Mensae
Image: This colour-coded topographic view shows a region of Mars named Deuteronilus Mensae. Lower parts of the surface are shown in blues and purples, while higher altitude regions show up in whites, yellows and reds, as indicated on the scale to the top right. This view is based on a digital terrain model of the […]
Quick reference: ESA's vision and goals for Space19+
Quick reference: ESA’s vision and goals for Space19+ To source
Cheops on the move
Image: The Cheops satellite during transfer from building S5C to the payload facility of S5A through the internal corridor, as part of launch preparations at Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guyana. The satellite is being moved on its multi-purpose trolley under the supervision of Airbus staff and with the support of the spaceport team. During all phases, a […]
A very good start
Image: The first spacewalk to service the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) could not have gone better. Lead spacewalker ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano is imaged here hitching a ride on the International Space Station’s 16-metre long robotic arm to kick off the first of four ventures to service the particle physics detector on 15 November. While […]
Using AI to predict Earth’s future
A recent ‘deep learning’ algorithm – despite having no innate knowledge of solar physics – could provide more accurate predictions of how the Sun affects our planet than current models based on scientific understanding. To source
The foreshock in Earth’s magnetic environment
Image: In this image, Earth is the dot to the left of the image and the large arc around it is our planet’s magnetic bow shock. The swirling pattern to the right is the foreshock region where the solar wind breaks into waves as it encounters reflected particles from the bow shock. The image was […]
Earth’s magnetic song recorded for the first time during a solar storm
Data from ESA’s Cluster mission has provided a recording of the eerie ‘song’ that Earth sings when it is hit by a solar storm. To source
This week we're under the space weather
This week, space weather experts are coming together in Liège, Belgium, for the main annual event in their calendar, European Space Weather Week. To source
Hibernating astronauts would need smaller spacecraft
If a sci-fi spaceship does not come with hyperdrive then it is usually fitted with hibernation capsules instead. In movies from 2001: A Space Odyssey to Event Horizon, Alien to Passengers, fictional astronauts get put into ‘suspended animation’ to cross the vastness of space. Now ESA has investigated how real life crew hibernation would impact […]
Orion A in infrared
Image: Stars form within giant clouds of gas and dust that pervade galaxies like our own Milky Way. This image depicts one such cloud, known as Orion A, as seen by ESA’s Herschel and Planck space observatories. At 1350 light years away, Orion A is the nearest heavyweight stellar nursery to us. The cloud is […]