Space News & Blog Articles

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Hera asteroid mission’s side-trip to Mars

ESA’s Hera asteroid mission for planetary defence will make a swingby of Mars next March, borrowing speed to help reach its target Didymos binary asteroid system.

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Signs of spiders from Mars

No sign of Ziggy Stardust – but ESA’s Mars Express has snapped the telltale traces of ‘spiders’ scattered across the southern polar region of Mars.

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Dead star lights up nearby galaxy 

While ESA's Integral was observing the sky, it suddenly spotted a burst of gamma-rays coming from the nearby galaxy M82. Only a few hours later, ESA’s XMM-Newton searched for an afterglow from the explosion but found none. Astronomers realised that the burst must have been an extra-galactic flare from a magnetar, a young neutron star with an exceptionally strong magnetic field.

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From space to soil

Soil sealing might not be a term that everyone's familiar with, but its effects are felt far and wide, particularly in urban areas.

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Virtual tour of ESA’s Test Centre

Image: Virtual tour of ESA’s Test Centre

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Space Team Europe for Ariane 6: Julien Guiridlian

Video: 00:02:19

They say it takes a village to raise a child. To launch a rocket, we have the combined expertise and passion of Space Team Europe. Julien Guiridlian is one of many making the first Ariane 6 launch possible and has been interviewed as part of a series highlighting some of the people that make up this dream team.

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Hubble celebrates 34th anniversary

In celebration of the 34th anniversary of the launch of the legendary NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope on 24 April, astronomers took a snapshot of the Little Dumbbell Nebula (also known as Messier 76, M76, or NGC 650/651) located 3400 light-years away in the northern circumpolar constellation Perseus. The photogenic nebula is a favourite target of amateur astronomers.

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Ariane 6 flies OOV-Cube: Internet of (wild) Things

Europe’s newest rocket soon launches, taking with it many space missions each with a unique objective, destination and team at home, cheering them on. Whether launching new satellites to look back and study Earth, peer out to deep space or test important new technologies in orbit, Ariane 6’s first flight will showcase the versatility and flexibility of this impressive, heavy-lift launcher. Read on for all about OOV-Cube, then see who else is flying first.

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Highlights from ESA basic astronaut training

Video: 00:02:37

ESA's newly graduated astronauts reach the end of one year of rigorous basic astronaut training. Watch the key moments during the journey of Sophie Adenot, Rosemary Coogan, Pablo Álvarez Fernández, Raphaël Liégeois, Marco Sieber, and Australian Space Agency astronaut candidate Katherine Bennell-Pegg. Selected in November 2022, the group began their training in April 2023.

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ESA astronaut class of 2022 graduation ceremony replay

Video: 00:57:15

Watch a replay of the ESA astronaut class of 2022 graduation ceremony.

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Six mind-blowing facts about Galileo

Did you know Galileo was born in the Netherlands in the 1990s? Europe’s own global navigation satellite system was developed in ESA’s technological heart, ESTEC, in Noordwijk, almost three decades ago. Since then, it has grown to become one of the most complex and critical infrastructures ever built in Europe, as well as the largest European satellite constellation and ground segment.

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10 ways Earth is interconnected

On this Earth Day, we reflect on the importance of protecting our planet for future generations. Understanding the Earth system and the complex interactions that shape our planet is paramount for addressing environmental challenges, mitigating climate change, preparing for natural disasters, managing resources sustainably and conserving biodiversity.

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ESA and the EU agree to accelerate the use of space

ESA will work closely with the EU to use space to improve life on Earth, following an agreement signed today by ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher (left) and the European Commission’s Director-General for Defence Industry and Space, Timo Pesonen.

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Week in images: 15-19 April 2024

Week in images: 15-19 April 2024

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Rare sighting of ‘doomed’ SOHO comet during solar eclipse

Image: Photo of total solar eclipse

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Watch live: ESA astronaut class of 2022 graduation ceremony

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Earth from Space: The Mekong Delta

Image: Earth from Space: The Mekong Delta

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Dubai floods seen from space

Image: Dubai floods seen from space

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Hubble goes hunting for small main-belt asteroids

Astronomers recently used a trove of archived images taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to visually snag a largely unseen population of smaller asteroids in their tracks. The treasure hunt required pursuing 37 000 Hubble images spanning 19 years. The payoff was finding 1701 asteroid trails, with 1031 of those asteroids uncatalogued. About 400 of these uncatalogued asteroids are about below a km in size.

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ESA selects four new Earth Explorer mission ideas

As humans exert greater pressure on natural processes, understanding the intricate workings of our Earth system is increasingly vital for effective action on mitigation and adaption strategies. ESA’s Earth Explorer missions yield a wealth of astonishing findings, serving as the bedrock of scientific research in this field. Now, four new concepts have been selected to undergo assessment study, one of which is destined to be the twelfth in this family of world-leading satellite missions.

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Ariane 6 launches: is it a plane? Aircraft spotting with ISTSat

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