ESAs

ERS-2 was launched in 1995, four years after ERS-1, the first European Remote Sensing satellite. At the time, these two satellites were the most sophisticated European Earth observation spacecraft ever developed, delivering new information to study Earth’s land, oceans, atmosphere, and polar ice, as well as being called upon to monitor natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods. In 2011, the mission was retired and the spacecraft was reorbited into a safe disposal orbit in compliance with ESA space-debris mitigation…

A groundbreaking European-made metal 3D printer has been launched to the International Space Station, marking the first time metal 3D printing will be performed in orbit. This initiative, which leverages a collaboration between ESA and Airbus, aims to demonstrate the potential of in-space manufacturing. Credit: Airbus Defence and Space SASMetal 3D printing will soon take place in orbit for the first time. A pioneering European-made metal 3D printer is on its way to the International Space Station (ISS) on the Cygnus NG-20…

Welcome to the new episode of the TNW Podcast — the show where we discuss the latest developments in the European technology ecosystem and feature interviews with some of the most interesting people in the industry. In today’s episode, Andrii and Linnea talk about a new European space mission, AI-generated podcasts, antiquated tech in German trains, and much more. In the interview section, we’re featuring a conversation with Oscar Kneppers, CEO of the Amsterdam Centre for Entrepreneurship, or…

ESA’s interplanetary mission, Juice, lifted off on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana on April 14, 2023, to begin its eight-year journey to Jupiter, where it will study in detail the gas giant planet’s three large ocean-bearing moons: Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa. Credit: ArianespaceESA’s 2024 agenda includes launching the Ariane 6 rocket, collaborating with NASA on Artemis, unveiling data from the Euclid telescope, and deploying several Earth observation satellites. The Galileo system will be…

This artist’s concept shows the European Space Agency’s ARIEL spacecraft on its way to Lagrange Point 2 (L2) — a gravitationally stable, Sun-centric orbit — where it will be shielded from the Sun and have a clear view of the sky. Credit: ESA/STFC RAL Space/UCL/Europlanet-Science Office Ariel, ESA’s mission to identify the chemical elements in exoplanetary atmospheres, successfully passed the spacecraft preliminary design phase and now moves from the ‘drawing board’ to the construction phase. Today, the preliminary…

The European Space Agency's Gaia mission has released a new focused data release, marking a significant contribution to astronomy, Universe Today reports. Gaia's primary mission is to precisely measure the positions, motions, and distances of over a billion stars, while also studying exoplanets. NASA says, “Gaia will detect and very accurately measure the motion of each star in its orbit around the center of the galaxy.” While it may not generate the stunning images like the NASA/ESA-run Hubble Space Telescope or the…

After the Radar for Icy Moon Exploration (RIME) antenna on ESA’s Juice mission encountered deployment issues post-launch, combined efforts from engineers at ESA, Airbus, and SpaceTech successfully rectified the problem. Suspecting ice formation as the issue, they heated the spacecraft by sun exposure, but when this didn’t work, they continued with the planned antenna deployment, which eventually dislodged the stuck pin and successfully deployed the antenna. (Juice flyby of Ganymede, artist’s impression.) Credit: ESAWhen…

This week, after nearly three decades of providing Europe access to space, the Ariane 5 heavy-lift rocket completed its final mission. On Wednesday, July 5, at 22:00 GMT, the rocket took off from the European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. Its final flight launched two payloads into geostationary orbit. The first was the 3,400kg Heinrich-Hertz-Satellit that will test advanced communication technologies on behalf of the German government. The second was the 3,750kg…

The European Space Agency (ESA) will launch the Euclid spacecraft to explore the dark mysteries of the universe on Saturday, US space agency NASA has said. Liftoff will be from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.“The ESA (European Space Agency) and SpaceX are targeting no earlier than 11:11 a.m. EDT Saturday, July 1, to launch the Euclid spacecraft,” NASA said in a statement.The mission will shed light on the nature of dark matter and dark energy – two of the biggest modern…

ESA’s Euclid mission is designed to explore the composition and evolution of the dark Universe. The space telescope will create a great map of the large-scale structure of the Universe across space and time by observing billions of galaxies out to 10 billion light-years, across more than a third of the sky. Euclid will explore how the Universe has expanded and how structure has formed over cosmic history, revealing more about the role of gravity and the nature of dark energy and dark matter. Credit: ESA/Euclid/Euclid…