Space News & Blog Articles

Video: 00:03:29

ESA’s Euclid mission is designed to bring the dark side of the Universe to light. Based on the way galaxies rotate and orbit one another, and the way in which the Universe is expanding, astronomers believe that two unseen entities dominate the composition of our cosmos. They call these mysterious components dark matter and dark energy, yet to date we have not been able to detect either of them directly, only inferring their presence from the effects they have on the Universe at large.

Week in images: 12-16 June 2023

Image: Copernicus Sentinel-3’s wide view captures the eastern edge of the Mediterranean and surrounding countries.

The Paris Air Show, one the oldest and largest aerospace events in the world, is back at Le Bourget from 19 to 25 June. ESA is taking part to showcase the Agency’s latest accomplishments, highlight upcoming endeavours and present what’s next in the European Space Agency’s long-term ambitions. There will also be an intense week-long programme of lively panels and sessions, some of which will be livestreamed on ESA Web TV and Twitter. So, whether you are in Paris or not, you can join us at Le Bourget by watching our broadcasts! 

Image: As climate change increases the risk of wildfires across the globe, the spate of fires that hit Canada in May and June suggest that 2023 is on course to be the country’s worst fire season to date. These fires not only pose a serious threat to human life, wildlife, the environment and property, they also affect air quality.

ESA’s pair of Sun-watching Proba-3 satellites have been placed in take-off configuration, one on top of the other, for testing in simulated launch and space conditions at IABG in Germany, ahead of their planned lift-off next year.

Over 90 participants were up for the challenge to visualise just how much we know and don’t know in the Universe and explain the #CosmicMystery that ESA’s Euclid mission will soon begin to investigate. From songs, crochets and animations to apparel, paintings and baked goods, the creativity of participants amazed the judges.

As the current wildfires in Canada show, climate change is increasing the risk and extent of wildfires across the globe. ESA, along with the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts have taken a new approach by using realtime observations from ESA’s Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity satellite mission to better anticipate the outbreak of fires.

Image: Discharge test for launcher antenna

Europe’s Ariane 5 rocket is being prepared for its final flight. You can follow the launch live on ESA Web TV. Flight VA261 will lift off as soon as 16 June at 23:26 CEST, pending suitable conditions for launch. 

The ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission is gearing up for its next close flyby of Mercury on 19 June, when it will pass the planet’s surface at an altitude of about 236 km.

A second pair of satellites that use light to communicate with each other has been launched.

Video: 00:12:18

The level of practical expertise, technical and operational expertise required to operate in such a fast-paced, rapidly changing environment such as space needs to be permanently developed and improved to maintain the technical excellence at the right level. But the constant improvement of the technical and operational knowledge is an exciting journey. Nicolas has experienced this first-hand since he joined the European Space Agency Operation Centre as Ground Station Engineer. As a young engineer at ESA, you can gain extremely valuable expertise through launch campaigns, test and validation campaigns, time at the console in the operation control room together with your team, witnessing and learning from the whole life cycle of a real satellite mission, one impossible thing at the time.

Video: 00:11:18

Imagine you are singing in a choir. You are doing your best, just like everybody else. Suddenly, somebody turns to you and points out that you are not singing the right note. If you are told off in a harsh way, you may feel bad about it, and if this happens too often you might not only feel upset about the choir but might even leave it for good. Eventually, the whole choir could end if everybody just leaves.

Week in images: 05-09 June 2023

Image: The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission takes us over Cook Strait, which separates New Zealand's North and South Islands.

Image: Satnav from Earth to the Moon

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ESA’s exoplanet mission Cheops confirmed the existence of four warm exoplanets orbiting four stars in our Milky Way. These exoplanets have sizes between Earth and Neptune and orbit their stars closer than Mercury our Sun.