Space News & Blog Articles

ESA Highlights: the best of ESA in 2023

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Ice is without doubt one of the first casualties of climate change, but the effects of our warming world are not only limited to ice melting on Earth’s surface. Ground that has been frozen for thousands of years, called permafrost, is thawing – adding to the climate crisis and causing serious issues for local communities.

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Live conversation between ESA astronaut and commander of the International Space Station (ISS) Andreas Mogensen and the 2023 Nobel Prize laureates Ferenc Krausz (in physics) and Moungi Bawendi (in chemistry). The event took place at the Nobel Prize Museum in Oslo which was connected to the ISS. Andreas showed a Nobel Prize he brought with him to the Space Station.

The winning entry to a Europe-wide data visualisation contest was announced and showcased last week at COP28. The ‘Little Pictures’ competition challenged the continent’s creative talent to design compelling illustrations using the range of global observation records available from ESA, the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (Eumetsat) and European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), to highlight the key changes taking place across the climate.             

Like a shiny, round ornament ready to be placed in the perfect spot on the holiday tree, supernova remnant Cassiopeia A (Cas A) gleams in a new image from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope. However, this scene is no proverbial silent night – all is not calm.

Week in images: 04-08 December 2023

Image: The powerful Hurricane Otis has been captured in this Copernicus Sentinel-3 image when it was approaching Mexico’s southern Pacific coast in October 2023.

Tropical forests are clearly critical to Earth’s climate system, but understanding exactly how much carbon they absorb from the atmosphere, store and release is tricky to calculate, not least because measuring and reporting methods vary. With these measurements paramount for nations assessing the action they are taking to combat the climate crisis, new research shows how differences in estimates of carbon flux associated with human activity can be reconciled.

As the planet warms, many parts of the Earth system are undergoing large-scale changes. Ice sheets are shrinking, sea levels are rising and coral reefs are dying off.

To make the future of Galileo a reality, ESA and European industry are hard at work developing ultra-precise atomic clocks, system testbeds, ground mission and ground control segments and, of course, the satellites. Airbus Defence and Space, who is building six of the Galileo Second Generation constellation satellites, presented their first flight model structure to the programme’s stakeholders last week.

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The Copernicus Anthropogenic Carbon Dioxide Monitoring (CO2M) mission will be the first satellite mission to measure how much carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere through human activity.

Image: All-in-one YPSat, Ariane 6 bound

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ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen called several ESERO establishments in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Finland where over 1000 students were waiting to ask questions about life in space and how science on the International Space Station can benefit life on Earth. Check it out to learn more about how water is recycled on the Space Station and what you need to be a good astronaut.

In a significant step towards a more sustainable future, ESA and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding during Earth Information Day at COP28 currently taking place in Dubai.

Delegates from around 200 countries are convened at the United Nations COP28 summit in Dubai to assess the action they are taking to combat the climate crisis. With satellites fundamental to understanding and monitoring climate change, ESA has awarded a contract to Airbus to take the TRUTHS satellite mission to its next development phase.

Six years of hard work and dedication paid off in spectacular fashion today, as the Educational Irish Research Satellite, EIRSAT-1, successfully blasted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. Hitching a ride on a Space-X Falcon-9 launcher, the tiny satellite – measuring just 10.7cm x 10.7cm x 22.7cm – has now made history as Ireland’s first satellite!

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On 1 December 2023, at 19:19 CET (18:18 GMT), Ireland's first satellite EIRSAT-1 launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, USA. 

Week in images: 27 November - 01 December 2023

Image: The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission shows us an amazing view of the tropical island of Tutuila, the largest in the American Samoa archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean.

Image: After being grounded on the ocean floor for well over four decades, the largest iceberg in the world is on the loose.

Video: 00:12:34

Almost 200 countries are gathering in Dubai to attend the biggest climate event of the year. COP28 – the 2023 United Nations climate change summit – isn’t just another conference though. For the first time, country representatives will assess the progress they’ve made towards cutting their greenhouse gas emissions through a process called the ‘global stocktake’.