Space News & Blog Articles

Image: Part of southern Italy is featured in this wintery image, captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission.

ESA Impact 2023 – Quarter 1

Welcome to this edition of ESA Impact, an interactive publication covering stories and images from the first quarter of 2023.

Video: 00:15:59

The Making of Juice series takes the viewer behind the scenes of the European space industry, space technology and planetary science communities around ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) mission.

Juice has a state-of-the-art science payload comprising remote sensing, geophysical and in situ instruments. This episode focuses on the remote sensing instruments, which will study the atmosphere of Jupiter and the surfaces and exospheres of the icy moons.

Juice’s camera (JANUS) will image Jupiter’s clouds and geological features on the moons in high resolution. The Moons and Jupiter Imaging Spectrometer (MAJIS) will observe cloud features and atmospheric constituents on Jupiter, and will characterise ices and minerals on the icy moon surfaces. The Sub-millimeter Wave Instrument (SWI), will investigate the temperature structure, composition and dynamics of Jupiter's atmosphere, and the exospheres and surfaces of the icy moons. A UV imaging spectrograph (UVS) will characterise the composition and dynamics of the exospheres of the icy moons, study the Jovian aurorae, and investigate the composition and structure of the planet's upper atmosphere.

The documentary includes interviews with (in order of appearance) Leigh Fletcher, Juice interdisciplinary scientist, Cecilia Tubiana, JANUS operation manager, Randy Gladstone, UVS principal investigator, Emma Bunce, J-MAG and UVS co-investigator, Francois Poulet, MAJIS principal investigator, Giuseppe Piccioni, MAJIS co-principal investigator, Paul Hartogh, SWI principal investigator, Miriam Rengel SWI co-investigator.

Access the other episodes of 'The Making of Juice’

ESA space telescopes have observed the brightest gamma-ray burst ever seen. Data from this rare event could become instrumental in understanding the details of the colossal explosions that create gamma-ray bursts (GRBs).

Video: 00:12:07

The Making of Juice series takes the viewer behind the scenes of the European space industry, space technology and planetary science communities around ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) mission.

Juice has a state-of-the-art science payload comprising remote sensing, geophysical and in situ instruments. This episode focuses on the in situ instruments, which will study the particle, magnetic, radio and plasma environment in the Jupiter system.

A magnetometer (J-MAG) equipped with sensors will characterise the Jovian magnetic field and its interaction with that of Ganymede, and will study the subsurface oceans of the icy moon. The Particle Environment Package (PEP) comprises a suite of sensors to characterise the plasma environment of the Jupiter system and the icy moons. The Radio and Plasma Wave Investigation (RPWI) will characterise the radio emission and plasma environment of Jupiter and its icy moons. A radiation monitor (RADEM) will also track how much radiation the spacecraft is being exposed to, while also being used for science.

The documentary includes interviews with (in order of appearance) Norbert Krupp, Juice interdisciplinary scientist and co-investigator of the PEP instrument, Michele Dougherty, principal investigator of J-MAG, Jan-Erik Wahlund, principal investigator of RPWI, Patrícia Gonçalves, team leader for RADEM, and Stas Barabash, principal investigator of PEP.

Access the other episodes of 'The Making of Juice’

An international team of researchers has used the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope to measure the temperature of the rocky exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 b. The measurement is based on the planet’s thermal emission: heat energy given off in the form of infrared light detected by Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). The result indicates that the planet’s dayside has a temperature of about 500 kelvins (roughly 230°C), and suggests that it has no significant atmosphere.

The two spacecraft forming ESA’s Proba-3 mission for precise formation flying in orbit are now complete. All the instruments and sensors allowing them to manoeuvre to millimetre scale precision relative to one another have been integrated aboard, and the pair are fully wrapped in multi-layer insulation – ready to be tested in simulated space conditions.

At its 315th session on 22 and 23 March 2023, the ESA Council approved a series of nominations and extensions of contracts for ESA directors:

Week in images: 20-24 March 2023

Discover our week through the lens

Image: ESA in miniature

Image: This Copernicus Sentinel-2 image features the diverse landscape surrounding Monterrey, the capital of the northeast state of Nuevo León, Mexico.

Video: 01:03:07

Watch the replay of the media information session to hear about further transformation measures and ambitious, new ideas for space exploration following ESA's 315th Council, taking place in the freshly renovated ESA HQ Nikis building in Paris.

ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher and ESA Council Chair Anna Rathsman will cover the following topics: the implementation steps of the results of CM22, including the transformation of ESA to be fit for the future, the Space Summit planned for November 2023, as well as the public release of certain official ESA documents. Moreover, the final report and recommendations of the “HLAG”, the High Level Advisory Group for Exploration, will be presented and discussed. Further ESA Programme progress reports will be given e. g. on: Earth Observation, Space Safety/Operations, Space Transportation, Planetary Sciences, etc.

Ever since its launch in 1990, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has been an interplanetary weather observer, keeping an eye on the ever-changing atmospheres of the largely gaseous outer planets. And it’s an unblinking eye that allows Hubble’s sharpness and sensitivity to monitor a kaleidoscope of complex activities over time. Today new images are shared of Jupiter and Uranus.

The videos of the first Moon landing with astronauts bouncing around the lunar surface are looking like a lot of fun - but jumping around on the Moon could also be good for astronaut's muscles, bones and the cardiorespiratory system.

Video: 00:02:20

In the week of 13-17 March 2023, more than 1400 students attended the ESA School Days event at ESRIN, the ESA Centre for Earth Observation located in Frascati, near Rome, Italy. The students and their teachers, coming from Lazio and other Italian regions, discovered more about ESA and the projects it is involved in, thanks also to creative hands-on labs, a visit to the Earth observation multimedia centre and the launch of rocket models. During the full-day visit, the focus was on themes such as Earth observation, satellites in orbit, ESA launch programmes, asteroid tracking, and how space exploration and ESA’s activities benefit daily life. 

Italian:

Nella settimana del 13-17 marzo 2023, più di 1400 studenti hanno preso parte all’evento ESA School Days a ESRIN, il Centro ESA per l’Osservazione della Terra situato a Frascati, vicino Roma. È stata questa un’occasione, per gli studenti e per i loro insegnanti provenienti dalle scuole del Lazio e di altre regioni italiane, per conoscere meglio l’ESA e scoprire i numerosi progetti spaziali in cui l’Agenzia è coinvolta, grazie anche ai laboratori creativi, alla visita al centro multimediale di Osservazione della Terra e al lancio di razzo modelli. Nel corso della visita di un giorno sono stati approfonditi temi quali Osservazione della Terra, satelliti in orbita, programmi di lancio dell’ESA, ricerca e monitorraggio di asteroidi, e come l’esplorazione dello spazio e le attività dell’ESA portino beneficio alle attività quotidiane qui sulla Terra.

Video: 00:03:03

After five years of intensive refurbishment works, the Headquarters of the European Space Agency has reopened its doors on rue Mario Nikis in Paris, France. As flexible as it is ultra-modern, ‘ESA HQ Mario Nikis’ is the very embodiment of a European organisation at the cutting edge of high technology and is resolutely open to the city it calls home.

Join us on 23 March to hear about ambitious new ideas for space exploration from ESA's 315th Council, taking place in the freshly renovated ESA HQ Mario Nikis building in Paris.