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Children’s film character Shaun the Sheep has completed his microgravity training ahead of the launch of his second animated feature film Farmageddon – and just in time for the 50th anniversary of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landing on the Moon. To source

Earth observation image of the week: Copernicus Sentinel-2 captures palm oil plantations in East Kalimantan – the Indonesian part of the island Borneo To source

Building a lunar base would be one of the next logical steps in our exploration of the Solar System, but the survival of a future crew depends on access to a reliable source of energy. An ESA Discovery & Preparation study explored how lunar regolith – the dust, soil and rock on the Moon’s surface […]

As the world celebrates 50 years since the first lunar landing, the team at ESA’s astronaut centre is looking to the future of lunar exploration. This includes developing prototypes for rock and soil sampling equipment to be used on the Moon. To source

Hasselblad cameras are synonymous with the Apollo missions. We visited Gothenburg to find out how a Swedish camera made it to the Moon. To source

NASA and ESA have a long term plan for Europe to deliver a the European Service Module for the Orion spacecraft. With NASA’s announcement to bring humans back to lunar surface before the end of 2024, it also decided that the third ESA-provided European Service Module will contribute to this mission. To source

Technology image of the week: China’s Chang’e-4 mission on the far side of the Moon is employing an ESA-developed LEON microprocessor To source

Tune in Saturday 20 July to watch the launch of Luca Parmitano to the International Space Station live from Baikonur, Kazakhstan. To source

Human and robotic exploration image of the week: Buzz Aldrin on the lunar surface, taken by Neil Armstrong after Apollo 11 Moon landing To source

Asteroid 2006 QV89, a small object 20 to 50 metres in diameter, was in the news lately because of a very small, 1-in-7000 chance of impact with Earth on 9 September 2019. To source

The first direct measurement of the bar-shaped collection of stars at the centre of our Milky Way galaxy has been made by combining data from ESA’s Gaia mission with complementary observations from ground- and space-based telescopes. To source

Dozens of very different commercial and institutional missions to the Moon are planned for the coming decades. These encompass everything from NASA’s manned Lunar Gateway research station and cubesats from start-ups and universities to commercial landers carrying rovers. The heightened interest in going to the Moon shows that there could be a market in providing […]

Half a century ago humans stepped on the Moon for the first time in a set of sorties that awed the world. Over the years since we have explored our Solar System with robotic scouts and established a permanent human presence in space with the International Space Station. To source