Space News & Blog Articles

Image: Ariane 6 science-after-school experiment sends back striking snaps

Image: The Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission brings us a false-colour radar image of central Ethiopia.

Next month, ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) will carry out the first combined lunar-Earth flyby. Preparations are under way at ESA mission control for this highly precise manoeuvre, which will harness the gravitational forces of the Moon and Earth in quick succession to line Juice up for the next stage of its journey to Jupiter.

The Farnborough International Airshow is set to return for its 76th edition from 22 to 26 July 2024, and ESA will be there to showcase the agency’s latest achievements and to highlight its next steps and future vision for Europe in space. 

Satellite navigation is not just about travel directions; its applications extend to search and rescue operations, agriculture, autonomous vehicles, sports and perhaps surprisingly, even health. ESA's NAVISP programme supports European companies in the creation of satnav-powered solutions with all sorts of applications – among them, emergency response and healthcare.

Launched in December 2013, ESA’s Gaia spacecraft is on a mission to map the locations and motions of more than a billion stars in the Milky Way with extreme precision.

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While no person could get this close during Ariane 6’s inaugural flight on 9 July 2024, several small cameras bravely witnessed its take-off from the launchpad.

30 years ago, on 16 July 1994, astronomers watched in awe as the first of many pieces of the Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet slammed into Jupiter with incredible force. The event sparked intense interest in the field of planetary defence as people asked: “Could we do anything to prevent this happening to Earth?”

Image: XMM-Newton and Euclid image of galaxy cluster Abell 2390

ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) will return to Earth on 19–20 August, with flight controllers guiding the spacecraft first past the Moon and then past Earth itself. This ‘braking’ manoeuvre will take Juice on a shortcut to Jupiter via Venus.

As climate change drives more frequent and severe weather events, the need for accurate and timely forecasting has never been more critical. And now, the next Meteosat Third Generation weather satellite has passed its environmental test campaign with flying colours, taking it a significant step closer to launch.

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The first launch of Ariane 6 is a collective success for all of Europe. First flights are no easy thing, but Europe now has a heavy-lift rocket able to launch any mission into any orbit. From Earth observation satellites that monitor our changing climate, predict the weather and assist emergency responders during disasters; to communication and navigation systems that keep Europeans in touch and in the right place; to deep space telescopes and explorers expanding our understanding of the Universe and our place within it – Ariane 6 has restored Europe’s autonomous access to space.

A duo of interacting galaxies known as Arp 142 commemorates the second science anniversary of the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope.

Week in images: 08-12 July 2024

Image: The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission takes us over the Hainan Strait in southern China.

If there had been an astronaut aboard the historic first launch of Europe’s Ariane 6 launcher, this is what they would have seen: images and videos from key phases of the flight were captured by the YPSat payload, a project led and undertaken by ESA Young Professionals in their own time.

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Launch of Ariane 6 VA262 on 9 July 2024 from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.

Image: Hera in the doghouse

An international team of astronomers has used more than 500 images from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope spanning two decades to detect seven fast-moving stars in the innermost region of Omega Centauri, the largest and brightest globular cluster in the sky. These stars provide compelling new evidence for the presence of an intermediate-mass black hole.

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Europe’s new rocket Ariane 6 powered into space on 9 July 2024 from a newly built dedicated launch pad in French Guiana. Liftoff occurred at 16:00 local time (20:00 BST, 21:00 CEST).