News
Vega-C with Smile inside its mobile hangar on the launch pad
14+ hour, 59+ min ago (213+ words) A view of'Vega-C'inside its mobile hangar on the launch pad at Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana, this rocket will carry Smile to space on flight VV29. Smile is due to launch on 19 May 2026. Preparations are taking place on the launch pad,…...
A Lyrid meteor from orbit
1+ day, 19+ hour ago (261+ words) The Expedition 74 crew on the International Space Station turned into meteor chasers as Earth passed through a cloud of dust and small debris left behind by comet Thatcher in 1861." Each year in mid-April, as some of these fragments enter Earth's…...
Looking for Lyrids from Orbit
1+ day, 19+ hour ago (291+ words) European Space Agency Looking for Lyrids from Orbit Thank you for liking You have already liked this page, you can only like it once! This timelapse was published by ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot on social media with the following caption:…...
ESA - Space for Kids - Can there be another Earth
3+ day, 1+ hour ago (504+ words) We know that there are eight planets in our Solar System, but did you know that astronomers have discovered thousands of planets beyond our Solar System? These are called extra-solar planets, or exoplanets for short." Yet out of all these…...
UK company starts work on Envision Venus voyager
3+ day, 8+ hour ago (252+ words) Engineers in the UK are helping develop a European Space Agency-led mission to uncover how Venus evolved into a hostile greenhouse world, assess whether it ever had conditions suitable for life, and shed light on the formation of Earth-like planets....
Plato: Europe's mission to find Earth-like planets
3+ day, 9+ hour ago (943+ words) Artist's impression of Plato. Have you ever looked up at the night sky and wondered" is there another world out there like ours? A planet with oceans, skies, maybe even something breathing under alien clouds?" That question sits right at…...
Bird's-eye view of a small chaotic area in Shalbatana Vallis
3+ day, 18+ hour ago (115+ words) European Space Agency This view was generated from the digital terrain model and the nadir and colour channels of the'High Resolution Stereo Camera'on'ESA's'Mars Express. It shows a bird's-eye view of part of a small patch of chaotic terrain within Shalbatana…...
The young minds space-proofing ESA's missions
3+ day, 16+ hour ago (1036+ words) Vacuum, extreme temperatures and aggressive radiation " engineers designing spacecraft need to be able to rely on materials that can resist such harsh conditions. In ESA's Materials, Environments and Contamination Control Section, research fellows, ESA Graduate Trainees (EGTs), National Trainees and…...
Waterworn chaos on Mars
3+ day, 18+ hour ago (193+ words) This month, ESA's Mars Express takes us to Shalbatana Vallis: a fascinating martian valley surrounded by signs of water, lava, craters and chaos. Shalbatana Vallis is an impressive channel near Mars's equator. This image, taken by Mars Express's High Resolution…...
Moving like an inchworm " a smarter robot for planetary exploration
5+ day, 19+ hour ago (326+ words) The inchworm may not be the first thing that springs to mind when you think of planetary explorers, but a recent ESA Discovery activity led by the University of Gothenburg looked to one of nature's most elegant crawlers for a…...