Space News & Blog Articles

Week in images: 09-13 May 2022

Image: Fly far, fly true

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ESA’s Gaia space telescope revolutionises our understanding of the Milky Way. It scans the sky to measure the position, movement, distance, and characteristics of billions of stars. It is creating the most precise map of our home galaxy yet, providing clues to its origin and evolution. Gaia not only studies the stars, but also what is in between them, as well as asteroids and planetary moons in our Solar System, binary stars and exoplanets, and quasars and galaxies outside of the Milky Way. Gaia provides us with a wealth of data, giving us a new sense of our place in the Universe.

This striking, high-resolution image of the Arc de Triomphe, in Paris, was captured by Planet SkySat – a fleet of satellites that have just joined ESA’s Third Party Mission Programme in April 2022.

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The penultimate sunset at Concordia research station in Antarctica marks the beginning of a very exciting time for the 12-member crew: the coming of Antarctic night and the winter-over.

Forward to the Moon

Could we capitalise on the Earth-based digital revolution to make our satellites smarter?

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After almost six months of living and working on board the International Space Station, Matthias Maurer is back on Earth - and gives his first news conference in Europe.

ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer is back in Europe after 177 days in space. Watch the first press conference following his Cosmic Kiss mission at 11:45 CEST (10:45 BST) 11 May live on ESA Web TV.

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Click here to download the images used in this gif.

Today’s connected cars are dynamic, updateable devices – and, because they can be updated, they are well equipped to become tomorrow’s cars. ESA is working with European carmakers to ensure that connected vehicles harness the full potential of space.

Image: Matthias returns to Cologne

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The Crew Dragon capsule carrying ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer and NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Thomas Marshburn and Kayla Barron home from the International Space Station splashed down off the coast of Florida, USA, on Friday 6 May 2022 at 05:43 BST/06:43 CEST.

Week in images: 02-06 May 2022

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The Crew Dragon capsule carrying ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer and NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Thomas Marshburn and Kayla Barron home from the International Space Station splashed down off the coast of Florida, USA, on Friday 6 May 2022 at 05:43 BST/06:43 CEST.

The Rhine River, the longest river in Germany, is featured in this colourful image captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission. Along this river lies the city of Bonn: the host of this year’s Living Planet Symposium – one of the largest Earth observation conferences in the world – taking place on 23–27 May 2022.

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The Crew Dragon capsule carrying ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer and NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Thomas Marshburn and Kayla Barron home from the International Space Station splashed down off the coast of Florida, USA, on Friday 6 May.

ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer is safely back on Earth after splashing down off the coast of Florida, USA, at 05:43 BST/06:43 CEST today alongside NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Thomas Marshburn and Kayla Barron in Crew Dragon capsule Endurance.

Today, ESA and the Zooniverse launch Rosetta Zoo, a citizen science project that invites volunteers to engage in a cosmic game of 'spot the difference'. By browsing through pictures collected by ESA's Rosetta mission, you can help scientists figure out how a comet's surface evolves as it swings around the Sun.

The global trade in agricultural commodities provides food, fuel and fibre to consumers around the world. Commodity production, however, is also linked with negative environmental impacts, including the loss and degradation of forested land.

After almost six months aboard the International Space Station, ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer is coming home. Watch all the action, from undocking to splashdown, live on ESA Web TV.