Space News & Blog Articles

Image: Aeolus control team wraps up successful reentry operations

Week in images: 24-28 July 2023

Video: 00:01:47

In the month after its launch on 1 July, Euclid has travelled 1.5 million kilometres from Earth towards the Sun-Earth Lagrange point L2, meaning it has ‘arrived’ at its destination orbit.

Image: The Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission takes us over the Río de la Plata estuary between Argentina and Uruguay.

Image: Astronaut Andreas Mogensen undergoing VR training for EVA emergencies

When astronauts return to the Moon they will be bringing along a new generation of spacesuits, designed to withstand the harsh conditions of the lunar surface. But in keeping their human occupants safe and comfortable, these suits might also become a fertile environment for harmful microbial life – especially as astronauts will potentially be sharing suits with one another.

Aeolus reentry - LIVE

Video: 00:46:24

On Tuesday 25 July, the four crew members of Crew-7, Jasmin Moghbeli (NASA), Andreas Mogensen (ESA), Satoshi Furukawa (JAXA) and Konstantin Borisov (Roscosmos) hosted a news conference where they talk about their upcoming mission to the International Space Station.

Image: Webb snaps detailed infrared image of actively forming stars

Video: 00:02:42

After a remarkable life in orbit, Aeolus is out of fuel and out of time - it’s returning to Earth this week. Planned before any regulations were put in place on ‘end-of-life’ disposal, the Earth explorer was designed to naturally return through our atmosphere.

On 10 July 2023, a volcano some 30 km from Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik, erupted following heightened seismic activity in the area. Satellites orbiting above us have captured the molten lava and smoke plume puffing from the Litli-Hrútur volcano.

Astronaut Frank Rubio aboard the International Space Station collaborated with a small team of robots on Earth to accomplish a complex task – a first test of a new approach to combine human and robotic capabilities for our return to the Moon and beyond. 

Satellites will soon be used to keep an independent eye on airborne planes, under a deal agreed between ESA and Spire Global, a company that provides space-based data, analytics and space services.

Globally, more than 70% of the freshwater withdrawn from Earth’s surface or from underground is used to irrigate crops. The need to produce more food for a growing population against the backdrop of climate change is challenging enough, but satellites reveal that extracting water doesn’t just affect the local environment – there are knock-on consequences for many aspects of the Earth system.

Teams preparing Ariane 6 for its inaugural flight successfully completed for the first time a launcher preparation and countdown sequence, on 18 July at Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

New measurements by the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope’s Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI) has detected water vapour in the inner disc of the system PDS 70, located 370 light-years away. This is the first detection of water in the terrestrial region of a disc already known to host two or more protoplanets.

Image: Rhodes wildfire forces thousands to flee

Image: New Galileo station goes on duty

Week in images: 17-21 July 2023

Video: 00:05:00

ESA’s wind mission Aeolus is coming home. After five years of improving weather forecasts, the satellite will return in a first-of-its-kind assisted reentry. At ESA’s Space Operations Centre in Germany, mission control will use the satellite’s remaining fuel to steer Aeolus during its return to Earth.

Image: This Copernicus Sentinel-2 image highlights the colours of autumn over the southern part of New York state in the US.