Space News & Blog Articles

Part of Puglia, or Apulia, a region in southern Italy, is featured in this image captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission.

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The fourth European Service Module structure to power astronauts on NASA's Orion spacecraft to the Moon is now complete. The structure is seen here at a Thales Alenia Space site in Turin, Italy.

The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope will release its first full-colour images and spectroscopic data on 12 July 2022.

Image: Euclid gains solar power and protection

Media representatives are invited to join a virtual press event at 13 June 2022 from 10:00 to 11:00 CEST, to learn more about the new data set to be released by ESA’s Gaia mission.

Image: Plato’s cave: vacuum test for exoplanet detection

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Interview with ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer after the conclusion of his 177-day mission on the International Space Station. During his time in orbit, Matthias supported over 35 European experiments and even more international experiments on board. The outcomes of these experiments will advance our knowledge in areas ranging from human health to materials science, benefiting life on Earth and the future of space exploration. Other highlights included his spacewalk to improve and maintain the Space Station. More about the Cosmic Kiss mission: https://www.esa.int/cosmickiss

Image: Vacuum soak for satellite brain

With more than 5000 participants, 240 science sessions and over 1300 oral presentations, ESA’s Living Planet Symposium comes to a close with record-breaking numbers. Held on 23-27 May at the World Conference Center in the German city of Bonn, the symposium brought together world-class scientists, business leaders, representatives from space agencies and international organisations and industry from around the world. Throughout the week, they showcased the latest advances in Earth observation and highlighted the essential role of Earth observation for decision making regarding the ongoing climate crisis. As the week draws to a close, we look back at some of the highlights of the week.

Week in images: 23-27 May 2022

The world’s first mission to remove several small telecommunications satellites from orbit once they reach the end of their operational service is about to start building and testing its prototype spacecraft.

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Earth’s oceans are huge heat stores, soaking up 93% of the excess heat from human activity over the past 70 years. Ocean currents redistribute heat around the planet, from the Equator to the poles. Where this ocean heat goes influences weather patterns and regional climate. As well as absorbing heat, oceans are a natural carbon sink, absorbing a quarter of carbon dioxide emissions from human activity. This has led to the acidification of ocean water, threating marine life.
The amount of heat and carbon dioxide absorbed depends on a number of ocean variables, all of which can be measured from space.

Set off on your next adventure with the Paxi collection

With scientific excellence at the very heart of ESA’s FutureEO programme, participants at this week’s Living Planet Symposium have been making it clear that new research missions to advance Earth science must continue to be realised in the future.

The effects of our warming climate are seen across a multitude of measures, usually as incremental changes: more frequent extreme weather, heatwaves, droughts and wildfires. The cumulative impact of these changes, however, can cause fundamental parts of the Earth system to change more quickly and drastically. These ‘tipping points’ are thresholds where a tiny change pushes the system into an entirely new state.

For the first time ever recorded, in the late summer of 2021, rain fell on the high central region of the Greenland ice sheet. This extraordinary event was followed by the surface snow and ice melting rapidly. Researchers now understand exactly what went on in those fateful summer days and what we can learn from it.

Earth observation is already capable of supporting national climate action, but there are many more opportunities on the horizon, according to discussions today among leading scientists and policymakers at ESA’s Living Planet Symposium being held in Bonn, Germany.

Hundreds of satellite images spanning 30 years have been compiled to show the evolution of the Danube Delta – the second largest river delta in Europe. These findings were presented today at ESA’s Living Planet Symposium taking place this week in Bonn, Germany.

Global climate change is the single most challenging issue faced by humanity – affecting every region, continent and ocean on Earth. It fuels a range of other top-level challenges such as food security, migration, biodiversity loss, risks to human health and economic losses.