Space News & Blog Articles

Video: 01:00:57

Watch the replay of the media briefing and the question-and-answer session outlining the progress achieved and the upcoming steps in the Ariane 6 development test campaign. Updates are given on tests conducted at Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, and at the German Aerospace Center DLR’s technical centre in Lampoldshausen, Germany.

Take your chance to meet astronauts, view spacecraft and peer behind the scenes of Europe’s space adventure at our ESA Open Day at ESTEC in the Netherlands on Sunday 8 October. Registration is now open.

Video: 00:01:01

On 1 September 2023 ESA’s all-new Ariane 6 launch vehicle fired its two upper stage engines to simulate the way they will have to operate together at German aerospace agency DLR’s engine test centre in Lampoldshausen, Germany. The test – of the new Vinci engine and a smaller Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) – took place on a purpose-built test bench.

Validation testing continues for ESA’s all-new Ariane 6 launch vehicle, with firing of its two upper stage engines to simulate the way they will have to operate together during a flight.

Week in images: 28 August - 01 September 2023

Image: Hera asteroid mission here

During his Huginn mission, ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen will run two experiments focusing on sleeping in space: Circadian Light and Sleep in Orbit.

Image: Chasing Chandrayaan and the super blue Moon

Video: 00:05:10

Space exploration presents unique health challenges for astronauts due to lack of gravity, isolation, and radiation exposure. ESA's SciSpacE activities aim to comprehend these effects and their implications for human well-being during extended missions.

Video: 00:03:06

Huginn, Andreas Mogensen's second mission to the International Space Station, is now underway. Together with Crew-7, the ESA astronaut launched aboard the Crew Dragon spacecraft Endurance on 26 August 2023, at 09:27 CEST (08:27 BST).

Dropcoal, short for Drop Coalescence, is a research project that studies how droplets form in space and on Earth. The results will grant insights into raindrop and cloud formation, fuel combustion and interactions between materials, all with broad implications for industry and academy. They also play a crucial role in administering medicine to astronauts during lengthy and far-reaching space missions.

Image:

The graceful winding arms of the grand-design spiral galaxy M51 stretch across this image from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope. Unlike the menagerie of weird and wonderful spiral galaxies with ragged or disrupted spiral arms, grand-design spiral galaxies boast prominent, well-developed spiral arms like the ones showcased in this image. This galactic portrait is a composite image that integrates data from Webb’s Near-InfraRed Camera (NIRCam) and the innovative Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI), half of which was contributed by Europe.

Image: Andreas Mogensen enters the Space Station

Video: 00:05:52

On 26 August 2023, at 09:27 CEST (08:27 BST), Crew-7 aboard the Crew Dragon spacecraft Endurance embarked on a journey to the International Space Station. Watch the full coverage of their launch from pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA.

Week in images: 21-25 August 2023

What is ESA? THIS is ESA

Image: Proba-3: seeing in the dark

The ESA/NASA Solar Orbiter spacecraft has discovered a multitude of tiny jets of material escaping from the Sun’s outer atmosphere. Each jet lasts between 20 and 100 seconds, and expels plasma at around 100 km/s. These jets could be the long-sought-after source of the solar wind.