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Using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, an international team of astronomers have found new galaxies in the Spiderweb protocluster. Their characteristics reveal the growth of galaxies in these large cosmic cities, with the finding that gravitational interactions in these dense regions are not as important as previously thought.
With the use of Webb’s capabilities, astronomers have now sought to better understand this protocluster and to reveal new galaxies within it. Infrared light passes more freely through cosmic dust than visible light, which is scattered by the dust. Webb’s infrared sensitivity allows scientists to observe regions of the Spiderweb that were previously hidden to us by cosmic dust, and to determine to what degree this dust obscures them.
This image shows the Spiderweb protocluster as seen by Webb’s NIRCam (Near-InfraRed Camera).
[Image description: Hundreds of galaxies appear in this view, which is set against the black background of space. There are many overlapping objects at various distances. They include large, blue foreground stars, some with eight diffraction spikes, and white and pink spiral and elliptical galaxies. Numerous tiny orange dots appear throughout the scene.]
Credits: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, H. Dannerbauer; CC BY 4.0
In time for its summer launch this year, Ariane 6 has arrived at the port of Pariacabo in Kourou, French Guiana – home of Europe’s Spaceport – and is ready to be assembled.
All the elements that make up the rocket are manufactured in mainland Europe and then transported by this novel ship, Canopée (canopy in French). It is the first custom-built transporter to use sails, reducing emissions and saving on fuel by up to 30%, and on this trip, it has travelled for 10 days covering over 7000 km.
The hybrid-propulsion vessel is 121 m long and has 37 m tall sails. Canopée rotates continuously between stop-offs to load each Ariane 6 stage and other parts and ship them across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe’s spaceport.
On this trip, Canopée brings the central core for Ariane 6’s first flight. Having collected the upper stage from Bremen, Germany, Canopée moved on to Le Havre, France, to load the main stage of Ariane 6.
The next-generation cargo ship has been designed for ArianeGroup to meet the complex requirements of Ariane 6 transport – the stages and engines of Ariane 6 are high-tech equipment that require delicate care during transport.
Canopée’s structure is tailored to carry large, fragile loads as well as navigate the shallow Kourou river to Pariacabo harbour. From here the various Ariane 6 components are offloaded and transported by road to the new Ariane 6 launch vehicle assembly building just a few kilometres away.
Here, the launcher stages are unpacked and installed on the assembly line for integration, and finally, liftoff.
Credits: ESA/CNES/Arianespace/Arianegroup/Optique Vidéo du CSG - P.Piron
The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has begun the study of one of the most renowned supernovae, SN 1987A (Supernova 1987A). Located 168,000 light-years away in the Large Magellanic Cloud, SN 1987A has been a target of intense observations at wavelengths ranging from gamma rays to radio for nearly 40 years, since its discovery in February of 1987. New observations by Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) provide a crucial clue to our understanding of how a supernova develops over time to shape its remnant.
This image reveals a central structure like a keyhole. This center is packed with clumpy gas and dust ejected by the supernova explosion. The dust is so dense that even near-infrared light that Webb detects can’t penetrate it, shaping the dark “hole” in the keyhole.
A bright, equatorial ring surrounds the inner keyhole, forming a band around the waist that connects two faint arms of hourglass-shaped outer rings. The equatorial ring, formed from material ejected tens of thousands of years before the supernova explosion, contains bright hot spots, which appeared as the supernova’s shock wave hit the ring. Now spots are found even exterior to the ring, with diffuse emission surrounding it. These are the locations of supernova shocks hitting more exterior material.
In this image blue represents light at 1.5 microns (F150W), cyan 1.64 and 2.0 microns (F164N, F200W), yellow 3.23 microns (F323N), orange 4.05 microns (F405N), and red 4.44 microns (F444W).
Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, M. Matsuura (Cardiff University), R. Arendt (NASA’s Goddard Spaceflight Center & University of Maryland, Baltimore County), C. Fransson (Stockholm University), J. Larsson (KTH Royal Institute of Technology), A. Pagan (STScI)
TerraMind’s any-to-any generative capabilities demonstrated on a scene over Boston. From left to right: (1) optical input, (2) synthetic radar generated from optical imagery, and (3) generated land use classification. TerraMind leverages dual-scale multimodal representations to capture both high-level semantics and fine-grained spatial details, enabling cross-modal generation even in zero-shot settings.
Credits: IBM
The 73rd International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2022), taking place from 18 to 22 September at the Paris Convention Centre in Paris, France. A week of lively interactions awaits the world space community, this year under the theme 'Space for @ll'. The congress will open its doors to the general public on 21 September.
Credits: ESA - P. Sebirot
The James Webb Space Telescope was transferred to the final assembly building at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana on 7 December 2021, to meet its Ariane 5 launch vehicle.
Stowed inside a special 23-tonne transport container, Webb was protected and monitored throughout the transfer.
Ariane 5 was already moved to the same building on 29 November. Here, adjustable platforms allow engineers to access the launch vehicle and its payload.
The next steps are to hoist Webb to the upper platform which has been prepared so that Webb can be integrated on Ariane 5’s upper stage and then encapsulated inside Ariane 5’s specially adapted fairing.
Webb is scheduled for launch on 22 December from Europe’s Spaceport. Ground teams have already successfully completed the delicate operation of loading the spacecraft with the propellant it will use to steer itself while in space.
Webb will be the largest, most powerful telescope ever launched into space. As part of an international collaboration agreement, ESA is providing the telescope’s launch service using the Ariane 5 launch vehicle. Working with partners, ESA was responsible for the development and qualification of Ariane 5 adaptations for the Webb mission and for the procurement of the launch service by Arianespace.
Webb is an international partnership between NASA, ESA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).
Find out more about Webb in ESA’s launch kit and interactive brochure.
Credits: ESA/CNES/Arianespace/Optique Vidéo du CSG - P Piron
How could the Hera mission team become certain their asteroid-explorer spacecraft was robust enough to be flown into space aboard a rocket? They took their spacecraft and shook it bodily, replicating the kind of vibrations it will experience on the day of launch.
The spacecraft is seen here on the Test Centre’s 640kN QUAD shaker, whose metal plate is moved vertically by a quartet of water-cooled electrodynamic shakers. The forward-facing side of Hera hosts the mission’s 1.13-m-diameter main antenna. Also seen are four of the red-tag-covered thrusters found on all corners of the spacecraft, which will manoeuvre Hera through space.
These tags were removed before the shaker was run, see this clip here.
“Our testing began with a low-level run to characterise the spacecraft, checking where the resonances are,” explains Paolo Martino, Hera systems engineer. “We already knew what to expect from a detailed ‘Finite Element Model’ of Hera’s structural behaviour, predicting what stresses will occur on various parts of the spacecraft.
“Next we did a full ‘sine run’, gradually building up in frequency and amplitude to the full-scale force of launch. Finally we performed another low-level sweep, to make sure that the spacecraft’s behaviour remained the same following this violent shaking. In the event, the shaker testing went smoothly. Together with Hera’s acoustic testing, this success gives us confidence in the mission’s ability to endure next year’s rocket lift-off and flight into space.”
Hera is Europe’s contribution to an international planetary defence experiment. Following the DART mission’s impact with the Dimorphos asteroid last year – modifying its orbit and sending a plume of debris thousands of kilometres out into space – Hera will return to Dimorphos to perform a close-up survey of the crater left by DART. The mission will also measure Dimorphos’ mass and make-up, along with that of the larger Didymos asteroid that Dimorphos orbits around.
Hera is scheduled for launch in October 2024, to rendezvous with the Didymos and Dimorphos asteroid system about two years later.
At approximately 3000 sq. m in area, ESA’s ESTEC Test Centre in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, is the largest satellite testing establishment in Europe, equipped with facilities to simulate every aspect of launch conditions and the orbital environment.
Hera is now undergoing various functional tests and preparation for its next important testing milestone – sustained operation in space-grade vacuum and temperature extremes within a thermal vacuum chamber, scheduled for early next year. These will be followed by testing of the inter-satellite links to keep Hera connected to the pair of CubeSats it will deploy around Dimorphos.
Credits: ESA-SJM Photography
Here comes the ride, soon to be fuelled, but in the meantime waiting upright.
Yesterday the Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft, inside the Soyuz FG rocket, made its way to the launchpad ahead of tomorrow’s Horizons launch. ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst, NASA astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor and Roscosmos commander Sergei Prokopyev will hitch a powerful ride to the International Space Station at approximately 11:12 GMT (13:12 CEST).
The nearly 50-m tall rocket is transported by train from Baikonur cosmodrome to the launch pad, a ride that takes a few hours. The crew are traditionally forbidden to watch the roll out, as it is considered back luck.
Once at the launch pad, the Soyuz is lifted into launch position and will be fuelled roughly 5 hours before launch.
In use since the 1960s, the Soyuz are the most reliable launch vehicles to date and currently the only way for humans to reach the Space Station and return to Earth.
The Soyuz FG launcher is a three-stage rocket that delivers its passengers to low-Earth orbit within nine minutes after liftoff. The first stage consists of four identical booster rockets strapped to the second stage core (the parts of the rocket painted grey). The third upper stage gives the spacecraft the final boost to enter orbit. The spacecraft is at the very top, encased in the fairing that protects the spacecraft from aerodynamic forces during launch.
Once in orbit, the Soyuz spacecraft makes its way to the International Space Station in a six-hour trip or a two-day journey.
The Soyuz’s flight time is determined by the phasing angle, or the degree to which a spacecraft must adjust its position within an orbit. In order for the Soyuz to approach the Station, it needs to enter the same orbit using a series of manoeuvres and orbit corrections.
The phasing angle is too wide for this launch to make a faster rendezvous with the Space Station. Instead of circling Earth four times to catch up, the trio take the 34-orbit, two-day trip to their space home.
The crew will spend two days in a very cramped space but the longer journey saves the Space Station fuel that it would otherwise needs to change altitude to allow the Soyuz to catch up faster.
The Soyuz spacecraft is not the only vehicle to visit the Space Station. Cargo vessels regularly visit the orbital outpost, meaning the Station’s orbit must be kept within certain altitudes.
See our infographics for a visual breakdown of the Soyuz MS spacecraft, the Soyuz FG rocket, its liftoff sequence as well as rendezvous and docking procedures.
While the crew were not watching the rollout, they have been busy with final checks and traditions, including a medical check-up and a press conference scheduled for today.
Tune in here on 6 June to watch the launch live. Broadcast begins at 10:15 GMT (12:15 CEST) with liftoff scheduled for 11:12 GMT (13:12 CEST).
Follow Alexander during his Horizons mission.
Credits: ESA–S. Corvaja
Launched on 25 April 2018, Sentinel-3B has already delivered some impressive first images from its ocean and land colour instrument, from its altimeter and from the optical channels of its radiometer. With the radiometer’s thermal-infrared channels now turned on, the satellite completes its set of firsts with an image that depicts thermal signatures over southern Italy, the Mediterranean Sea and Sicily – with the hotspot of Mount Etna clearly visible. This image shows the ‘brightness temperature’, which corresponds to radiation emitted from the surface. Further processing is needed to turn this into an actual temperature map. The land surface is shown in red–orange colours, corresponding to a brightness temperature range of 296–320K. The blue colours over the ocean correspond to a range of 290–295K. The dark blue–black areas correspond to clouds, which are opaque to thermal-infrared radiation and so prevent a view of the ocean or land surface.
Mount Etna, Europe’s largest and most active volcano, appears much hotter than the surrounding land. In a state of almost continuous unrest, the volcano is currently classified as having ‘minor activity’.
Over the oceans, the Sentinel-3 radiometer is important for providing sea-surface temperature measurements for oceanographic and weather forecasting centres. Over land, the instrument can be used, in particular, to monitor urban heat islands and wildfires.
Sentinel-3B joins its identical twin, Sentinel-3A, in orbit. This pairing of satellites increases coverage and data delivery for the European Union’s Copernicus environment programme.
Credits: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2018), processed by ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst landed on Earth for the second time on 20 December 2018 together with NASA astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergei Prokopiev. Their Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft landed in the steppe of Kazakhstan at 05:02 GMT (11:02 local time). The landing concluded Alexander’s Horizons mission that saw him take over command of the International Space Station during Expedition 57.
The trio’s landing in the Kazakh steppe marked the successful conclusion of over six months in space during which Alexander conducted over 60 European experiments, became the second ever European commander of the International Space Station, welcomed six resupply vehicles, installed the first commercial facility for research in the Columbus laboratory, delivered an important message on climate change for leaders at the COP24 climate change conference, captured real-time footage of a Soyuz launch abort and much, much more.
Horizons was Alexander’s second mission to the International Space Station – the first was Blue Dot in 2014.
Alexander will take his time to readapt to Earth’s gravity supported by ESA’s team of space medicine experts at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany. He will also continue to provide ground-based data for researchers to support experiments performed in space.
Credits: NASA/Bill Ingalls, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
The Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission takes us over the Mackenzie River, a major river system in the Canadian boreal forest. Its basin is the largest in Canada and is the second largest drainage basin of any North American river, after the Mississippi.
The Mackenzie River flows through a vast region of forest and tundra through the Northwest Territories from the Great Slave Lake to the Beaufort Sea in the Arctic Ocean. Its delta covers an area around 12 000 sq km, measuring more than 190 km from north to south and is around 80 km wide along the Arctic shore. The maze of branching and intertwining channels is dotted with numerous lakes and ponds.
This wintery, radar image combines three radar acquisitions from the Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission to show changes in land and water surfaces between three acquisition dates: 18 November 2019, 5 December 2019 and 10 January 2020. In the top of the image, parts of the frozen Arctic Ocean can be seen. The different colours are due to the movement and cracking of sea ice between the acquisition dates.
The landscape pictured here is very typical for these latitudes, with the whole region subject to a harsh winter climate. Many of the lakes are frozen during the winter months, with the exception of some of the lakes visible in black in the centre of the image, which are ice-free. One of the lakes appears red most likely due to new ice which has formed between image acquisitions.
The town of Inuvik lies along the east channel of the Mackenzie River delta, around 100 km from the Arctic Ocean and approximately 200 km north of the Arctic Circle. The hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk lies on the shores of the Arctic Ocean and is the only community in Canada on the Arctic Ocean that is connected to the rest of Canada by road.
Around 75% of the Mackenzie basin sits within a permafrost area. Permafrost, ground which remains completely frozen for at least two consecutive years, is common in high latitude regions. With increasing temperatures causing permafrost to thaw, it not only releases methane and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, but it can cause erosion, flooding and landslides.
Satellite data can be used to map permafrost, even in remote and inaccessible areas such as the Mackenzie River delta. The maps, using data from ESA’s Climate Change Initiative, are the longest, satellite-derived permafrost record currently available.
This image is also featured on the Earth from Space video programme.
Credits: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2019-20), processed by ESA,CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
ESA’s EarthCARE satellite encapsulated with the Falcon 9 rocket fairing being taken to the SpaceX launch facility at the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Once in orbit, this new satellite is set to revolutionise our understanding of how clouds and aerosols affect Earth’s climate.
Credits: ESA
Many small satellites might in the future do the same – or better – job as their single big equivalent. With that approach in mind, this high-frequency steerable antenna has been designed to link together orbital chains of shoebox-sized CubeSats.
CubeSats are mini-satellites built up from standardised 10 cm boxes, initially developed for educational uses but increasingly finding operational uses, such as constellations for telecommunications or Earth observation.
“The idea behind this project was to develop a steerable reflector antenna that is small enough to fit within half of a single CubeSat unit,” explains ESA antenna engineer Maarten van der Vorst.
“Stowed within the unit for launch, the antenna would then be deployed, then able to facilitate inter-satellite links between a constellation of CubeSats, for instance allowing individual satellites to swap data, or for one CubeSat ‘mothership’ to perform data downlink and uplink duties for the rest. With one antenna at the front and back of each satellite to transmit messages through an entire CubeSat chain, with our testing shows the antennas could operate across hundreds of kilometres of distance.”
This demonstrator antenna, which was built using hybrid manufacturing techniques – combining traditional machining with selective laser melting 3D printing – has been designed to operate at 60 GHz, offering high bandwidth despite its small size.
The project was led for ESA by PicoSats in Italy with ESTECO and the University of Trieste providing technical electromagnetic expertise and the antenna's pointing mechanism respectively. It was supported through ESA’s Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems Advanced Technology, ARTES-AT.
Credits: Picosats
The millions of fragments of debris in orbit today are the direct result of 'fragmentation events' in the past. Of the 550 events known to date, those caused by propulsion have created the greatest amount of space debris.
Energy left undisposed of on-board a satellite or rocket body can lead to explosions. For this reason, the international space debris mitigation guidelines require that satellites are 'passivated' at the end of their mission - for example by emptying fuel tanks and disconnecting batteries.
Because of these guidelines, and passivation technologies being developed by ESA and others, we expect a similar graph for the future to have far fewer propellant-fueled explosions in the future. However, as traffic in space rapidly increases, the number of collisions is expected to rise.
Find out how we know about the causes of debris-creating events, and how this can help us prevent them in the joint ESA-UN podcast that narrates this infographic.
Credits: ESA / UNOOSA
ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet visits the Vega Launch Complex - Zone de lancement Vega (ZLV) at Europe's Space Port in Kourou, French Guiana on 15 June 2022.
Credits: ESA-Manuel Pedoussaut
This is a new image of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. The first deep imaging of the field was done with Hubble in 2004. The same survey field was observed again by Hubble several years later, and was then reimaged in 2023. By comparing Hubble Wide Field Camera 3 near-infrared exposures taken in 2009, 2012, and 2023, astronomers found evidence for flickering supermassive black holes in the hearts of early galaxies. One example is seen as a bright object in the inset. Some supermassive black holes do not swallow surrounding material constantly, but in fits and bursts, making their brightness flicker. This can be detected by comparing Hubble Ultra Deep Field frames taken at different epochs. The survey found more black holes than predicted.
The image was created from Hubble data from the following proposals: 9978, 10086 (S. Beckwith); 11563 (G. Illingworth); 12498 (R. Ellis); and 17073 (M. Hayes). These images are composites of separate exposures acquired by the ACS and WFC3 instruments on the Hubble Space Telescope.
[Image description: This is a Hubble image of a black sky sprinkled with myriad galaxies of all shapes and sizes stretching back to nearly the beginning of the Universe. In the middle of the picture there is an inset box showing one sample pair of early galaxies. One galaxy is spiral-shaped and the other is spindle-shaped because it is a disc galaxy seen edge-on. The spindle-shaped galaxy has an active supermassive black hole that appears as a bright white spot. This is identified by comparing pictures of the same region taken at different epochs.]
Credits: NASA, ESA, M. Hayes (Stockholm University), J. DePasquale (STScI); CC BY 4.0
50 years of the European space Security and Education Centre (ESEC) at Redu in Belgium, was marked on 3 July 2018 with a visit from dignitaries, including François Bellot, Belgium’s Minister for Transport, and Willy Borsus, Minister-President of Wallonia, accompanied by ESA’s Director General Jan Wörner.
ESEC is a centre of excellence for space cyber security services, home to ESA's Proba mission control centres, the Space Weather Data Centre, and is also home to the ESA Academy Training and Learning Centre and the E-Robotics lab, as well as part of ESA’s ground station network.
Credits: ESA–G. Porter, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
After it's arrival at Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana ahead of launch, the James Webb Space Telescope is unboxed inside a dedicated spacecraft preparation facility where it will be examined to ensure that it is undamaged from its voyage and in good working order.
Credits: ESA/CNES/Arianespace/Optique vidéo du CSG - P.Piron
ESA's astronaut candidates of the class of 2022 at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany.
The five candidates are Sophie Adenot, Pablo Álvarez Fernández, Rosemary Coogan, Raphaël Liégeois, and Marco Sieber. The group is part of the 17-member astronaut class of 2022, selected from 22 500 applicants from across ESA Member States.
The astronaut candidates will be trained to the highest level for future space missions. Basic training includes learning about space exploration, technical and scientific disciplines, space systems and operations, as well as spacewalks and survival training.
The astronaut candidates are joined by Australian Space Agency astronaut candidate Katherine Bennell-Pegg.
Credits: ESA - P. Sebirot
This image shows the Rosalind Franklin rover mast with imaging suite, angled slightly downwards in an imaging test. The rover is a ‘ground test model’ – a replica rover situated at the Rover Operations Control Centre, in Turin, Italy, and used for rehearsing commands.
The camera suite sits about 2 m above surface level, and will provide panoramic views of the landscape around the rover, along with high resolution images of the surface. It can also image samples collected by the drill, before they enter into the onboard laboratory.
Towards the front of the rover in this view, in the direction in which the rover is ‘looking’ is a calibration target, which will play an essential role in calibrating the images once returned to Earth.
Credits: Thales Alenia Space
Europe strengthened its connection to space on Wednesday 27 January, as NASA astronauts Mike Hopkins (white suit with red stripes) and Victor Glover (plain white suit) installed the Columbus KA-band antenna (ColKa) outside ESA’s Columbus laboratory on the International Space Station.
This antenna will create an additional bi-directional KA-band data transmission for the Space Station, providing a direct link between the Columbus laboratory and Europe, for researchers and astronauts, at home broadband speeds.
Victor transported the fridge-sized unit from the airlock to the worksite on the Canadarm2 robotic arm, with assistance from NASA astronaut Kate Rubins and JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi inside the Station. There, he and Mike set to work unscrewing and screwing bolts to hold the antenna in place and routing cables for power and data, guided by the voice of ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen from NASA’s mission control centre in Houston.
Mike and Victor also connected power cables for external commercial research platform Bartolomeo, located outside Columbus. This connection will be continued during a future spacewalk.
Credits: NASA
Overview of missions studying the Sun and solar wind, and the Earth-Sun connection.
Credits: ESA-S.Poletti
ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission in the early hours of 5 September 2024 as the spacecraft sped by for its fourth of six gravity assist manoeuvres at the planet.
The image was captured at 00:11 CEST by the Mercury Transfer Module’s monitoring camera 2 (M-CAM 2), when the spacecraft was about 3459 km from the planet’s surface. The spacecraft’s closest approach of 165 km took place at 23:48 CEST.
The image is a nice teaser of what scientists would like to study in much more detail when BepiColombo starts is main science mission in early 2027. For the first time, BepiColombo saw Mercury’s south pole (top right). Sunlight never reaches the floor of some craters in this region, so despite the planet being very close to the Sun, the land remains freezing cold, making it likely that there is water ice present.
The surface of Mercury hosts many fascinating geological features, including four craters close to Mercury’s south pole. The large ring around the south pole indicates the area designated as the south polar region (the equivalent of Earth’s ‘polar circle’).
Also in the image are the Mercury Planetary Orbiter’s medium gain antenna (top centre) and magnetometer boom (right).
North is to the lower left.
More about BepiColombo's fourth Mercury flyby
[Image description: The complete disc of planet Mercury in the background with its grey, cratered, pock-marked surface. The image is lit from the left by the Sun. In the foreground are some spacecraft parts.]
Credits: ESA/BepiColombo/MTM; CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) moved into the Large Space Simulator on 29 May ahead of a month-long test campaign that will see the spacecraft subject to extreme temperature cycles under vacuum to replicate the extreme heating and cooling that the spacecraft will experience on its way to Jupiter. The Large Space Simulator is Europe's single largest vacuum chamber standing 15 m high and 10 m wide.
Once in the Jovian system Juice will make detailed observations of Jupiter and its three large ocean-bearing moons – Ganymede, Callisto and Europa – with a suite of remote sensing, geophysical and in situ instruments. The mission will investigate the emergence of habitable worlds around gas giants and the Jupiter system as an archetype for the numerous giant exoplanets now known to orbit other stars.
Credits: ESA/Lightcurve Films
Where does the topic of space come in the priorities of European citizens? Presented in this infographic, the answers may surprise you.
Two Harris Interactive studies conducted online for ESA in December 2018 and September 2019 reveal how passionate and concerned Europeans are about space and its challenges.
The studies used a representative sample of more than 5000 people from the five most populous countries in Europe (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and United Kingdom).
Study results, download the graphical summary:
Harris Interactive summary comparison December 2018 and September 2019:
Credits: ESA
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.
Its return marks the end of Crew-3’s almost six-month stay in orbit and the end of Matthias’s first mission, known as Cosmic Kiss.
Crew-3 undocked from the International Space Station in Crew Dragon spacecraft Endurance at 06:20 BST/07:20 CEST Thursday 5 May.
When a Crew capsule splashes down, it is met by nearby ships with experts ready to bring it on board, open the hatch, and welcome the astronauts home. After initial medical checks, the crew is transported by helicopter to shore.
Now that his mission has come to an end, Matthias will return to ESA’s European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany, where he will participate in post-flight debriefings, provide samples for scientific evaluation and readapt to Earth’s gravity with the support of ESA experts.
Credits: ESA - S. Corvaja
The Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) crew lifts off to the International Space Station atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from launchpad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA, on 25 June at 02:31 EDT, local time (07:31 BST/08:31 CEST).
ESA project astronaut Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski travels to his new home in space in the Dragon spacecraft. Sławosz is part of Axiom Mission 4 alongside Peggy Whitson (USA), Shubhanshu Shukla (India) and Tibor Kapu (Hungary).
During their journey on the Dragon spacecraft to the orbital outpost Sławosz and Tibor will serve as mission specialists, Shubhanshu will be the crew’s pilot and Peggy will be commander.
The Polish project astronaut is the second of a new generation of European astronauts to fly on a commercial human spaceflight opportunity with Axiom Space. Sponsored by the Polish government and supported by ESA, the Polish Ministry of Economic Development and Technology (MRiT), and the Polish Space Agency (POLSA), the mission will include an ambitious technological and scientific programme with several experiments led by ESA and proposed by the Polish space industry. The mission, known as Ignis will officially begin once Sławosz enters the Station.
Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski was selected in November 2022 as a member of the ESA astronaut reserve and joined ESA as a project astronaut on 1 September 2023 for training familiarisation at ESA’s European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany.
Follow Sławosz’s journey on the Ignis website, check our launch kit and connect with him on his Instagram and X accounts.
Credits: ESA - S.Corvaja
ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano was launched to the International Space Station from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on 20 July 2019 alongside NASA astronaut Drew Morgan and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov.
The trio travelled to the Station in a Soyuz MS-13 spacecraft and will spend more than six months living and working in orbit.
Beyond is Luca’s second space mission – his first was Volare in 2013. During the second part of this mission, known as Expedition 61, Luca will become the third European and first Italian commander of the International Space Station.
The most recent European commander was ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst during his Horizons mission in 2018. The first was ESA astronaut Frank De Winne during his OasISS mission in 2009.
During Beyond, Luca will support over 50 European experiments and more than 200 International experiments in microgravity. A number of these experiments, such as Grip and Grasp, are continuations from previous missions.
New experiments include BioRock, an experiment looking at the potential of microbes in extracting minerals from rocks on other planets, and NutrISS, which looks at the best strategies for monitoring and controlling changes in energy balance, metabolism and body composition during spaceflight.
Follow Luca's mission Beyond mission here and visit the blog for regular updates.
Credits: ESA - S. Corvaja
This stereoscopic image shows the northern tip of Mars’s Eumenides Dorsum mountains, near the martian equator. It was generated from data captured by the High Resolution Stereo Camera on ESA’s Mars Express orbiter on 16 October 2024 (orbit 26245). The anaglyph offers a three-dimensional view when viewed using red-green or red-blue glasses.
[Image description: A greyscale, slightly tinted image of Mars’ surface showing a large circular impact crater on the right side with a raised rim and flat centre. To the left, there is a broad area of rough, streaked terrain spreading diagonally, contrasting with the smoother surrounding plains. The image has a faint red and blue outline effect, indicating it is designed for 3D viewing.]
Credits: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin; CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
This graphic shows how oddly ‘light’ carbon monoxide forms in Mars’ atmosphere, based on new observations from ESA’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO).
The TGO observations show that a process at play in Mars’ atmosphere forms carbon monoxide (CO) containing less ‘heavy’ carbon than we would expect. The finding is consistent with the idea that a combination of sunlight and complex chemistry, rather than life, gave rise to the carbon-based compounds (‘organic matter’) we see on the martian surface.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) in Mars’ atmosphere is broken apart by sunlight, forming oxygen and CO. ‘Light’ CO2 is more easily broken down by sunlight than ‘heavy’ CO2, causing more ‘light’ CO to accumulate in the martian atmosphere. This suggests that the CO may then play a role in forming organic matter on Mars' surface, as this material was recently found to be equally enriched in ‘light’ carbon.
‘Light’ carbon, carbon-12, accounts for most of the carbon in the Solar System; ‘heavy’ carbon, or the isotope carbon-13, contains an extra neutron. Both are present in Mars' atmosphere. Measuring the relative amounts of each at Mars can reveal a great deal about an environment’s past and present as many short- and longer-term processes affect this ratio. For instance, on Earth, photosynthesis uses more ‘light’ than ‘heavy’ carbon, so plants and animals are often enriched in carbon-12. Excitingly, NASA's Curiosity rover has found carbon-12-enriched material on Mars’ surface; while martian biology is a possible cause, the new TGO results point in a different direction.
Alt-text: Infographic showing how oddly ‘light’ carbon monoxide forms in Mars' atmosphere. It shows carbon dioxide molecules being split by sunlight to form carbon monoxide and oxygen, with an illustration of Mars' red-hued surface below.
Credits: ESA (acknowledgement: work performed by ATG under contract to ESA), CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
The Nissan Navara ‘Dark Sky’ concept vehicle features a bespoke off-road trailer allowing a high-powered telescope to be safely transported to remote ‘dark-sky’ locations.
Visit our website to learn more about the Nissan Navara 'Dark Sky'
Credits: Nissan
What do you know about the Moon? This set of infographics illustrates the most frequently asked questions and facts about Earth’s natural satellite.
ESA is teaming up with international partners to explore the Moon as a destination for both robotic missions and human explorers.
Orion, the NASA spacecraft, will bring humans farther than they have ever been before relying on the European Service Module to return humans to the Moon and take advantage of the new technology for human space transportation. ESA is providing service modules that will provide propulsion, life support, power, air and water, and control the temperature in the crew module.
Luna-Resurs is a partnership with the Russian agency Roscosmos that will carry European technology to land precisely and safely on the Moon and to drill into the surface to extract and analyse samples of the lunar terrain.
The Agency is looking at how we could extract and process local resources into useful products and services, such as drinkable water or breathable oxygen on the Moon.
The Heracles mission could take of in 2028 to allow us to gain knowledge on human-robotic interaction while landing a spacecraft on the Moon to collect samples with a rover operated from an orbiting lunar gateway and send the samples back to Earth.
Credits: ESA
In November 2023, the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope observed a massive cluster of galaxies named MACS J0138.0-2155. Through an effect called gravitational lensing, first predicted by Albert Einstein, a distant galaxy named MRG-M0138 appears warped by the powerful gravity of the intervening galaxy cluster. In addition to warping and magnifying the distant galaxy, the gravitational lensing effect caused by MACS J0138 produces five different images of MRG-M0138.
In 2019, astronomers announced the surprising find that a stellar explosion, or supernova, had occurred within MRG-M0138, as seen in images from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope taken in 2016. When another group of astronomers examined the 2023 Webb images, they were astonished to find that seven years later, the same galaxy is home to a second supernova.
Two images of the supernova (circled) are seen in the Webb NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera), but an additional supernova image is expected to become visible around 2035.
In this image blue represents light at 1.15 and 1.5 microns (F115W+F150), green is 2.0 and 2.77 microns (F200W+277W), and red is 3.56 and 4.44 microns (F356W + F444W).
These observations were taken as part of Webb Director’s Discretionary Time program 6549.
Note: This post highlights data from Webb science in progress, which has not yet been through the peer-review process.
Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, J. Pierel (STScI), D. Newman (Carnegie), A. Pagan (STScI)
ESA’s Rosalind Franklin twin rover on Earth has drilled down and extracted samples 1.7 metres into the ground – much deeper than any other martian rover has ever attempted.
The first samples have been collected as part of a series of tests at the Mars Terrain Simulator at the ALTEC premises in Turin, Italy. The replica, also known as the Ground Test Model, is fully representative of the rover set to land on Mars.
The Rosalind Franklin rover is designed to drill deep enough, up to two metres, to get access to well-preserved organic material from four billion years ago, when conditions on the surface of Mars were more like those on infant Earth.
Rosalind Franklin’s twin has been drilling into a well filled with a variety of rocks and soil layers. The first sample was taken from a block of cemented clay of medium hardness.
Drilling took place on a dedicated platform tilted at seven degrees to simulate the collection of a sample in a non-vertical position. The drill acquired the sample in the shape of a pellet of about 1 cm in diameter.
The drill was developed by Leonardo, while Thales Alenia Space is the prime contractor for ExoMars 2022. The ExoMars programme is a joint endeavour between ESA and Roscosmos.
Credits: Thales Alenia Space
ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer is back in Cologne, Germany, after 177 days in space and 175 days aboard the International Space Station for his first mission ‘Cosmic Kiss’.
The Crew Dragon spacecraft carrying Matthias and his Crew-3 crew mates, NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Thomas Marshburn and Kayla Barron, splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Tampa, USA, at 06:43 BST/07:43 CEST on Friday 6 May. The journey from Space Station to splashdown took just over 23 hours.
After its water landing, the Crew Dragon capsule was hoisted aboard a recovery boat where the hatch was opened, and the astronauts were welcomed home.
Matthias underwent initial medical checks aboard the boat before being flown by helicopter to shore and boarding a plane to Cologne. He will spend the next weeks participating in debriefings, providing samples for scientific evaluation and readapting to Earth’s gravity at ESA’s European Astronaut Centre (EAC) and the German Aerospace Centre’s (DLR) ‘Envihab’ facility.
Credits: ESA - P. Sebirot
Part of Aarhus University’s Mars Simulation Laboratory in Denmark, this wind tunnel has been specially designed to simulate the dusty surface of planet Mars.
Constructed within an 8-m long, 2.5-m wide pressure chamber, the Aarhus Mars Simulation Wind Tunnel has attracted researchers from all over Europe and the United States, to test instruments and equipment for a wide range of Mars missions, including ESA’s ExoMars and NASA’s Mars 2020 rovers.
The air pressure within the wind tunnel can be taken down to less than one hundredth of terrestrial sea level and the temperature reduced to as low as -170°C using liquid nitrogen. Fans then blow the scanty atmosphere that remains at up to 30 m/s, along with Mars-style dust.
Researchers can evaluate how items such as sensors, solar panels and mechanical parts stand up to the clingy, abrasive particles, sourced from Mars-like, oxide-rich soil found in central Denmark.
“We’ve been in operation all through this decade,” comments Jonathan Merrison of Aarhus University’s Department of Physics and Astronomy, overseeing the facility. “We’re the only wind tunnel that not only reproduces the low pressure and low temperatures of Mars, but also allows the introduction of particulates of sand and dust.
“Probably about a third of the testing carried out here has been ExoMars related, then there have been users related to other ars missions, as well as industrial testing of high altitude terrestrial equipment.
“We are also a member of the Europlanet network, a grouping of planetary scientists supported by the European Union, supporting the usage of various planetary simulation facilities and analogues.”
The Aarhus Mars Simulation Wind Tunnel was based on a smaller, earlier version, which remains in use. Its development was supported by ESA’s Technology Development Element programme for promising new technologies as well as the philanthropic Villum Kann Rasmussen Foundation.
Credits: Aarhus University
The James Webb Space Telescope, a once in a generation space mission, arrived safely at Pariacabo harbour in French Guiana on 12 October 2021, ahead of its launch on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe's Spaceport.
Webb, packed in a 30 m long container with additional equipment, arrived from California on board the MN Colibri which sailed the Panama Canal to French Guiana. The shallow Kourou river was specially dredged to ensure a clear passage and the vessel followed high tide to safely reach port.
The MN Colibri, like its sister vessel the MN Toucan, were built to ship Ariane 5 rocket parts from Europe to French Guiana. They were specifically designed to carry a complete set of Ariane 5 parts across the Atlantic, while having a low enough draft to enable them to follow a route along the shallow Kourou river to the Pariacabo harbour.
Webb will be the largest, most powerful telescope ever launched into space. As part of an international collaboration agreement, ESA is providing the telescope’s launch service using the Ariane 5 launch vehicle. Working with partners, ESA was responsible for the development and qualification of Ariane 5 adaptations for the Webb mission and for the procurement of the launch service by Arianespace.
Webb is an international partnership between NASA, ESA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).
Credits: ESA/CNES/Arianespace/Optique vidéo du CSG - JM Guillon
The subject of this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope Picture of the Week is a supernova-hosting galaxy located about 600 million light-years away in the constellation Gemini. This picture was taken roughly two months after a supernova named SN 2022aajn was discovered in this galaxy. The supernova is visible as a blue dot at the centre of the image, brightening the hazy body of the galaxy.
Other than the announcement of its discovery in November 2022, SN 2022aajn has never been the subject of published research. Why, then, would Hubble observe this supernova? SN 2022aajn is what’s known as a Type Ia supernova, which results from the explosion of the core of a dead star. Supernovae of this type help astronomers measure the distance to faraway galaxies. This is possible because Type Ia supernovae are thought to be of the same intrinsic luminosity — no matter how bright they seem from Earth, they put out the same amount of light as other Type Ia supernovae. Thus, by comparing the observed brightness to the expected brightness, researchers can calculate the distance to the supernova and its host galaxy.
This seemingly simple measurement method is complicated by cosmic dust. The farther away a supernova is, the fainter and redder it will appear — but intergalactic dust can make a supernova appear fainter and redder as well. To understand this complication, researchers will use Hubble to survey a total of 100 Type Ia supernovae in seven wavelength bands from the ultraviolet to the near-infrared. This image combines data taken at four infrared wavelengths. Infrared light passes through dust more easily than visible or ultraviolet light. By comparing the brightness of the sampled supernovae across different wavelengths, researchers can disentangle the effects of dust and distance, helping to improve measurements of galaxies billions of light-years away and even the expansion of our Universe.
[Image Description: In the exact centre a supernova is seen as a small but bright blue dot. It lies atop the outer disc of a hazy-looking galaxy, which has a somewhat warped shape. Around this are a number of much more minor galaxies visible as glowing discs, and some points of light that are stars near to us, on a black background. X-shaped spikes around each star are optical artefacts from the telescope.]
Credits: ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. J. Foley (UC Santa Cruz)
This cutout from the new NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope short-wavelength infrared image of the Orion Nebula shows a young star and its protoplanetary disk being sculpted by the intense ultraviolet radiation and winds from the massive Trapezium stars that lie at the centre of the region. The Orion Nebula lies roughly 1300 light-years from Earth in the so-called 'sword' of the constellation of Orion the Hunter, and the image shows a region that is 4 by 2.75 light-years in size.
The object, known by its catalogue name d072-135, was first discovered by the Hubble Space Telescope at visible wavelengths, but the new Webb images reveal much more detail. The dusty disk around the central star is seen as a dark shadow or silhouette against the bright background light of the Orion Nebula and appears as an ellipse because the disk is oriented nearly edge-on. The disk is approximately 200 astronomical units in diameter, so more than three times the size of our Solar System out to Neptune.
Image description: A star and its circumstellar disk are seen the grey-blue background of the Orion Nebula. The star is white and is surrounded by the elliptical dark shadow of its disk, with bright red material streaming away from the disk on the bottom side and a mix of blues and greens on the top side. These glowing gases are shaped into a tail streaming away towards the upper right, with the reds, blues, and greens slowly fading and blending.
NASA, ESA, CSA / Science leads and image processing: M. McCaughrean, S. Pearson, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
European Robotic Arm (ERA) in the testing simulator. The ERA will help astronauts in assembly, servicing and maintenance.
Credits: ESA
Anthea Comellini was selected as a member of the ESA Astronaut Reserve in November 2022. She began her Astronaut Reserve training at the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) near Cologne, Germany, on 13 January 2025. The programme covers selected modules of ESA’s one-year basic training typically completed by career astronauts, equipping members of ESA’s Astronaut Reserve with the skills needed to support Europe’s future space exploration and scientific research. Training includes technical and operational skills, biology and radiation lessons, training in human behaviour and performance, winter survival exercises and initial spacewalk training familiarisation.
Credits: ESA - A. Conigli
The focus of this week’s Hubble Picture of the Week is the blue compact dwarf galaxy NGC 5253, located in the constellation Centaurus around 11 million light-years from Earth. This new image combines data taken with Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), using its Wide Field Channel, and with the older Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2). As a bonus for this Picture of the Week, there is also a second new image made using data from the High Resolution Channel (HRC) of ACS, a sub-instrument only operational for a few years that was optimised for detailed studies of environments dense with stars.
What has interested astronomers so much about this galaxy that three of Hubble’s instruments were used to study it in depth over ten years? It turns out to lie at the focus of a few areas of research where Hubble’s capabilities are essential. Dwarf galaxies are considered important for understanding the evolution of both stars and galaxies through time, since they resemble ancient, distant galaxies. NGC 5253 is called both a “starburst galaxy” and a “blue compact dwarf”: these names mean it is forming clusters of bright, massive stars at an exceptional rate. This Hubble image clearly shows the dense nebula which is being consumed to birth these stars, and which makes NGC 5253 a laboratory to investigate stellar composition, star formation and star clusters, all at once.
A tremendously high rate of star formation is a recipe for star clusters, but NGC 5253 goes beyond that: in a small region of the core, the star formation is so intense that the galaxy contains no less than three “super star clusters” (SSCs). SSCs are very bright, populous and massive open clusters which are believed to evolve into globular clusters. Globular clusters themselves offer unique insights into how stars form and evolve, but their origins are poorly understood. Astronomers were therefore eager to make use of the HRC sub-instrument, with its superb resolution, to hone in on these small, very dense clusters of stars.
[Image Description: An oval-shaped galaxy, made up of many point-like stars. It is softly lit from the centre, brightest and slightly blue at the very centre and fading to darkness at the edges. Surrounding the galaxy’s core are reddish clouds of gas and dust, most around or behind the core, but a few wisps are in front of it and block some light. Some faraway galaxies and two foreground stars can be seen around the galaxy.]
Credits: ESA/Hubble & NASA, A. Zezas, D. Calzetti; CC BY 4.0
ESA’s Rosalind Franklin twin rover on Earth has drilled down and extracted samples 1.7 metres into the ground – much deeper than any other martian rover has ever attempted.
The first samples have been collected as part of a series of tests at the Mars Terrain Simulator at the ALTEC premises in Turin, Italy. The replica, also known as the Ground Test Model, is fully representative of the rover set to land on Mars.
With the drill completely retracted, the rock is dropped into a drawer at the front of the rover, which then withdraws and deposits the sample into a crushing station. The resulting powder is distributed to ovens and containers designed to perform the scientific analysis on Mars.
The Rosalind Franklin rover is designed to drill deep enough, up to two metres, to get access to well-preserved organic material from four billion years ago, when conditions on the surface of Mars were more like those on infant Earth.
Rosalind Franklin’s twin has been drilling into a well filled with a variety of rocks and soil layers. The first sample was taken from a block of cemented clay of medium hardness.
Drilling took place on a dedicated platform tilted at seven degrees to simulate the collection of a sample in a non-vertical position. The drill acquired the sample in the shape of a pellet of about 1 cm in diameter.
Rosalind Franklin’s drill retains the sample with a shutter that prevents it from dropping out during retrieval. Once captured, the drill brings the sample to the surface and delivers it to the laboratory inside the rover.
The drill was developed by Leonardo, while Thales Alenia Space is the prime contractor for ExoMars 2022. The ExoMars programme is a joint endeavour between ESA and Roscosmos.
Credits: Thales Alenia Space
This oblique perspective view shows a slice of Mars imaged to mark a milestone for ESA’s Mars Express: its 25 000th orbit around the Red Planet.
It was generated from a digital terrain model and the nadir (downward-pointing) and colour channels of Mars Express’s High Resolution Stereo Camera. The vertical scale is exaggerated by a factor of approximately three, making the volcanoes look three times higher than they are in real life.
Three of Mars’s famously colossal volcanoes are shown creeping away over the planet’s sand-coloured horizon: from left to right, Arsia, Pavonis and Ascraeus Mons. The mound of Mars’s largest volcano, Olympus Mons, can be spied just at the top of the frame, while the fractured terrain of Noctis Labyrinthus, Mars’s ‘labyrinth of night’, can be seen in the foreground.
[Image description: This image shows a tan-coloured portion of Mars, with the curvature of the planet visible to the top right the frame. Four of Mars’s volcanoes can be seen in relief against the dark background, shown as darker mounds stretching away from the viewer.]
Credits: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
ESA astronauts Thomas Pesquet and Matthias Maurer were among the distinguished guests at the official inauguration of LUNA, Europe’s ‘Moon on Earth’ analogue facility, on 25 September 2024 in Cologne, Germany. This innovative facility, operated by ESA and the German Aerospace Agency (DLR), is designed to replicate the lunar surface and will play a crucial role in preparing astronauts for future missions to the Moon, including NASA’s Artemis programme.
LUNA features a 700-square-metre area covered in ‘regolith simulant,’ allowing astronauts and engineers to test space technology, conduct research, and simulate lunar operations in realistic conditions. With this state-of-the-art facility, Europe is at the forefront of space exploration, providing essential insights for upcoming lunar missions and beyond.
Credits: DLR/ESA
This image, which truly is a visual treat, was captured by Webb’s NIRCam, or Near-InfraRed Camera. NIRCam makes observations in the near-infrared, which spans wavelengths of light that are just longer than optical wavelengths. Like MIRI, it is equipped with a range of filters that cover its wavelength range of 0.6 to 5 micrometres, including 29 filters specifically intended for imaging. Data collected through eight of those filters were used to complete this impressive image, which picks out light emitted from the wealth of stars that might be obscured by dust at other wavelengths. Even though stars do not emit the majority of their light in the infrared, optical light is much more vulnerable to being scattered by dust than infrared light is, and so infrared instruments like Webb can provide the best opportunities to study stars in regions (like galaxies) that might also contain large amounts of dust.
In this image, the bright red-pink spots correspond to regions rich in ionised hydrogen, which is due to the presence of newly formed stars. The diffuse gradient of blue light around the central region shows the distribution of older stars. The compact light blue regions within the red, ionised gas, mostly concentrated in the spiral arms, show the distribution of young star clusters.
[Image Description: A close-up view of a spiral galaxy. The core glows very brightly from the multitude of stars there, which are so dense they appear like noise or static. Near the edges of the image, the density of the stars notably follows the galaxy’s spiral arms. The two arms are highlighted by patchy red gas, connecting in the galactic centre. The gas is very thread-like in the centre and thicker further out along the arms.]
Credits: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, A. Adamo (Stockholm University) and the FEAST JWST team
ESA Astronaut Luca Parmitano in the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center near Moscow, Russia, 19 June 2019 wearing the Sokol suit he will wear when he is launched to the International Space Station. Sokol suits, tailored to each astronaut, are worn in the Soyuz spacecraft as protection against air leaks.
Luca is training for his Beyond mission which will see him return to the International Space Station in 2019 as part of Expedition 60/61, alongside NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov.
Luca was the first of ESA’s 2009 astronaut class to fly to the International Space Station. His first mission Volare, meaning 'to fly' in Italian, took place in 2013 and lasted 166 days. Luca conducted two spacewalks and many experiments that are still running today.
Credits: ESA - S. Corvaja
Follow-up research on a 2023 image of the Sagittarius C stellar nursery in the heart of our Milky Way galaxy, captured by the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, has revealed ejections from still-forming protostars and insights into the impact of strong magnetic fields on interstellar gas and the life cycle of stars.
This image of the Milky Way captured by the MeerKAT radio telescope array puts Webb’s image of the Sagittarius C region in context. The MeerKAT image spans 1,000 light-years, while the Webb image covers 44 light-years.
At the center of the MeerKAT image the region surrounding the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole blazes bright. Huge vertical filamentary structures echo those captured on a smaller scale by Webb in Sagittarius C’s blue-green hydrogen cloud. Like a super-long exposure photograph, MeerKAT shows the bubble-like remnants of supernovas that exploded over millennia, capturing the dynamic nature of the Milky Way’s chaotic core.
Astronomers think the strong magnetic fields in the heart of the galaxy are shaping the filaments seen by MeerKAT and Webb, and may also play a role in suppressing star formation in the region. Though there is a rich cloud of raw star-making material in Sagittarius C, star formation rates are not as high as astronomers expect. Instead, magnetic fields may be strong enough to resist the gravity that would typically cause dense clouds of gas and dust to collapse and forge stars.
[Image description: Processed data collected by the MeerKAT radio telescope shows the plane of the Milky Way galaxy, with a graphic pullout highlighting a much smaller region on the right, captured by the James Webb Space Telescope’s near-infrared light observations. The MeerKAT image is colored in blue, cyan, and yellow, with a very bright white-yellow center that indicates the location of the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole. Painterly bubbles of various sizes, clouds, and vertical brushstroke-like streaks make up the radio image. The Webb inset shows stars and gas clouds in red, with an arching cloud of bright cyan that contains many straight, needle-like features that appear more crystalline than cloudy.]
Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, SARAO, S. Crowe (UVA), J. Bally (CU), R. Fedriani (IAA-CSIC), I. Heywood (Oxford); CC BY 4.0
Portrait of ESA astronaut candidate: Rosemary Coogan
ESA's astronaut candidates of the class of 2022 at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne.
The five candidates are Sophie Adenot, Pablo Álvarez Fernández, Rosemary Coogan, Raphaël Liégeois, and Marco Sieber. The group is part of the 17-member astronaut class of 2022, selected from 22 500 applicants from across ESA Member States.
The astronaut candidates will be trained to the highest level for future space missions. Basic training includes learning about space exploration, technical and scientific disciplines, space systems and operations, as well as spacewalks and survival training.
The astronaut candidates are joined by Australian Space Agency astronaut candidate Katherine Bennell-Pegg.
Credits: ESA - P. Sebirot
ESA's astronaut candidates of the class of 2022 at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany.
The five candidates are Sophie Adenot, Pablo Álvarez Fernández, Rosemary Coogan, Raphaël Liégeois, and Marco Sieber. The group is part of the 17-member astronaut class of 2022, selected from 22 500 applicants from across ESA Member States.
The astronaut candidates will be trained to the highest level for future space missions. Basic training includes learning about space exploration, technical and scientific disciplines, space systems and operations, as well as spacewalks and survival training.
The astronaut candidates are joined by Australian Space Agency astronaut candidate Katherine Bennell-Pegg.
Credits: ESA - P. Sebirot