Space News & Blog Articles

Image: Mini space thruster that runs on water

Are you a creative visionary with a passion for climate action? Enter ESA’s latest competition to showcase your talent by transforming decades of satellite climate data into impactful visuals to help bridge the gap between climate science, policy makers and the wider public. The winner will have the unique opportunity to display their data visualisation at the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) taking place later this year.

ESA project astronaut Marcus Wandt from Sweden will travel to the International Space Station (ISS) on Axiom Mission 3 (Ax-3) no earlier than January 2024.

A new streaming platform is set to inspire the next generation of scientists, engineers, and astronauts, bringing the wonders of space closer to classrooms than ever before. Schools across Europe are invited to embark on this cosmic journey!

A new investigation by an international team of astronomers using data from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope into K2-18 b, an exoplanet 8.6 times as massive as Earth, has revealed the presence of carbon-bearing molecules including methane and carbon dioxide. The discovery adds to recent studies suggesting that K2-18 b could be a Hycean exoplanet, one which has the potential to possess a hydrogen-rich atmosphere and a water ocean-covered surface.

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In a significant leap forward for meteorology, the preliminary data obtained by Meteosat Third Generation’s two instruments, the Flexible Combined Imager (FCI) and the Lightning Imager (LI), were successfully combined today for the first time – highlighting their complementary capabilities. This first set of animations gives us a preview of the system’s future impact.

ESA satnav receiver vans – driving between the busy heart of Rotterdam, quiet countryside, and the Agency’s ESTEC technical centre – have confirmed that Galileo signals now provide a first position fix more rapidly, while also offering improved robustness in challenging environments and streamlined access to time information.

ESA is testing kombucha cultures, famous for their fermentative properties and potential health benefits, to assess their resilience in space. These cultures hold great promise for supporting humans on the Moon and Mars.

Image: ESA project astronaut Sławosz Uznański from Poland inside the Columbus mockup at EAC.

Week in images: 04-08 September 2023

As of 1 September 2023, Sławosz Uznański joined ESA as a project astronaut anticipating flying on a future space mission.

ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen will film thunderstorms and lightning shooting up towards space as part of the climate science of the Huginn mission.

Image: Artificial star

Image: X-ray mission lifts off to study high-energy Universe

Scientists have used Solar Orbiter’s EUI camera in a new mode of operation to record part of the Sun’s atmosphere at extreme ultraviolet wavelengths that has been almost impossible to image until now. This new mode of operation was made possible with a last-minute ‘hack’ to the camera and will almost certainly influence new solar instruments for future missions. 

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On 5 September 2023, teams from France’s space agency CNES and Arianegroup under the lead of ESA carried out a complete Ariane 6 launch sequence on its launch pad at Europe’s spaceport in French Guiana. The test ended with a hot-fire of the launcher’s core stage and startup of the Vulcain 2.1 engine.

As quantum technology continues to shape our future, quantum entanglement remains a crucial element in unlocking valuable space applications, but how robust is it?

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.

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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.