Image: This graphic summarises significant measurement attempts of methane at Mars. Reports of methane have been made by Earth-based telescopes, ESA’s Mars Express from orbit around Mars, and NASA’s Curiosity located on the surface at Gale Crater; they have also reported measurement attempts with no or very little methane detected. More recently, the ESA-Roscosmos ExoMars […]
Archive | ESA
Aircraft nose job assessed in Hertz chamber
Image: ESA test facilities can test more than just space hardware: here, the 2.0m-diameter nose of an Airbus A340 aircraft is seen in ESA’s Hertz chamber, undergoing radio-frequency testing. “We had a rare gap in our test schedule and were able to accommodate a commercial customer,” explains ESA antenna engineer Eric Van Der Houwen. “SPECTO […]
Space Talks 2019: bringing space to you
The second series of European Space Talks concluded on 31 October, in a campaign that gave thousands of people, whether enthusiasts or professionals, the chance to share their passion for space. To source
Proba-2 watches Mercury transit
Video: 00:00:27 ESA’s Proba-2 had a ring-side seat for the transit of Mercury on 11 November 2019. Proba-2 monitors the Sun from Earth orbit and was able to spot Mercury’s transit as a small black disc – seen here moving from left to right across the face of the Sun. The images in this movie […]
Leading the way
Image: Four spacewalks in the coming weeks means a lot of prep work. ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano is gearing up the first in a series of historic extravehicular activities or EVAs taking place 15 November. He is pictured here creating tape flags that will be used to mark tubes during the spacewalks. The spacewalks are […]
Proba-2 watches Mercury transit
Image: ESA’s Proba-2 had a ring-side seat for the transit of Mercury on 11 November 2019. Proba-2 monitors the Sun from Earth orbit and was able to spot Mercury’s transit as a small black disc – seen here to the right of centre as it passed across the face of the Sun. The image was […]
Proba-2 watches Mercury transit
Image: ESA’s Proba-2 had a ring-side seat for the transit of Mercury on 11 November 2019. Proba-2 monitors the Sun from Earth orbit and was able to spot Mercury’s transit as a small black disc – seen here at the far left as it begins its journey across the face of the Sun. The image […]
Rosetta's ongoing science
Video: 00:04:38 On 12 November 2014 Philae became the first spacecraft to land on a comet as part of the successful Rosetta mission to study Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Five years later, and after the mission’s official end in 2016, Rosetta is continuing to provide insights into the origins of our Solar System. Rosetta’s instruments have already […]
Call for media to Seville
Press Release N° 20–2019 The ESA Council at Ministerial Level, Space 19+ – www.esa.int/space19plus , will take place at FIBES in Seville, Spain, on 27 and 28 November 2019. To source
Ten Suns for 10 years
Image: Last week marked a milestone for ESA’s Proba-2 satellite : 10 years of operation in orbit around the Earth. Since its launch on 2 November 2009, Proba-2 (PRoject for OnBoard Autonomy) has probed the intricacies of the Sun and its connection to our planet, imaging and observing our star and investigating how it drives […]
Luca to lead most challenging spacewalks since Hubble repairs
The date is set for ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano’s first spacewalk of his Beyond mission. Friday 15 November marks the start of a series of complex spacewalks to service the cosmic-particle-hunting Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS-02). To source
Call for media: Live event for Luca Parmitano’s first spacewalk of Beyond
Press Release N° 19–2019 Media are invited to join ESA and CERN experts at the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne, Germany, 15 November 2019, to watch ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano perform the first in a series of complex spacewalks to service the cosmic-particle-hunting Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS-02). To source
Holbox Island, Mexico
Image: The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission takes us over Holbox Island, off the Quintana Roo coast of Mexico. The island is separated from mainland Mexico by a shallow lagoon. This false-colour image has been processed in a way that highlights vegetation in bright red. Holbox Island is around 40 km long and only approximately 1.5 km […]