ClearSpace-1 will be the first space mission to remove an item of debris from orbit, planned for launch in 2025. The mission is being procured as a service contract with a startup-led commercial consortium, to help establish a new market for in-orbit servicing, as well as debris removal. To source
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Satellites key to '10 Insights in Climate Science' report
A new easy-to-read guide, ‘10 New Insights in Climate Science’ has been presented to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s Executive Secretary, Patricia Espinosa, at the COP25 climate conference. To source
Nobel Prize laureates call to Space Station
Video: 00:54:35 Station on 6 December 2019. The call was made from Stockholm, Sweden, at the start of Nobel Week festivities. ESA astronaut Christer Fuglesang moderated the conversation between two of the Nobel Prize laureates in physics, Didier Queloz and Michel Mayor, and the Nobel Prize laureate in chemistry, Stanley Whittingham. To source
New biomass map to take stock of the world’s carbon
The first of a series of global maps aimed at quantifying change in carbon stored as biomass across the world’s forests and shrublands has been released today by ESA’s Climate Change Initiative at COP25 – the United Nation Climate Change Conference currently taking place in Madrid. To source
New reentry CubeSat in orbit
Image: ESA’s latest space mission has reached orbit. The Qarman CubeSat flew to space aboard SpaceX’s Dragon launched from Florida, USA, on Thursday 5 December, ahead of a planned rendezvous with the International Space Station on Sunday 8 December. From there, Qarman – seen here during plasma wind tunnel testing – will be deployed into […]
Hubble Spots Galaxy’s Dramatic Details
Some of the most dramatic events in the universe occur when certain stars die — and explode catastrophically in the process. When these star deaths, or supernovae, occur, their brightness can rival the light of a whole galaxy. The galaxy NGC 5468, shown in this Hubble image, has hosted a number of these supernovae the […]
Mato Grosso, Brazil
Image: The Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission takes us over part of the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso deep in the Amazon interior. This image combines three separate radar images from the Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission taken about two years apart to show change in crops and land cover over time. Unlike images from satellites carrying optical or […]
Earth from Space: Mato Grosso
Video: 00:02:33 In this week’s edition of the Earth from Space programme, the Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission takes us over part of the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso deep in the Amazon interior.See also Mato Grosso, Brazil to download the image. To source
Life of a foam
A fine coffee froth does not last forever. The bubbles that make the milk light and creamy are eventually torn apart by the pull of gravity. But there is a place where foams have a more stable life – in the weightless environment of the International Space Station, bubbles don’t burst so quickly and foams […]
Cheops: Europe's Exoplanet Mission
Video: 00:02:45 ESA’s first mission dedicated to investigating planets outside our solar system is scheduled for launch on a Soyuz rocket from the European spaceport in French Guiana on 17 December 2019. Cheops – Characterising ExOPlanet Satellite – will study known exoplanets that are orbiting bright stars. The aim is to obtain detailed information about […]
35-year data record charts sea-temperature change
Four trillion satellite measurements, taken over four decades from 1981 to 2018, have been merged to create a continuous global record that will help to understand the science behind Earth’s climate. A paper published recently in Nature Scientific Data describes how this new dataset of global sea-surface temperature is one of the longest satellite climate […]
Luca Parmitano Works to Upgrade a Cosmic Particle Detector
European Space Agency astronaut and current International Space Station Commander Luca Parmitano and crewmate Andrew Morgan (out of frame) performed the third spacewalk to repair the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer. To source
Sentinel-6 Mission
Video: 00:05:20 In a cleanroom in Ottobrunn, Germany, the latest Copernicus Sentinel satellite is ready for final testing before it is packed up and shipped to the US for liftoff next year. Designed and built to chart changing sea level, it is the first of two identical Sentinel-6 satellites that will be launched consecutively to […]