Tag

Esa

All articles tagged with #esa

space1 day ago•77 min saved

House-sized asteroid to skim Earth tonight, no danger expected

A 16-meter asteroid named 2026 GD will pass Earth tonight at about 0.65 lunar distances (roughly 156,000 miles) and then come within about 101,000 miles of the Moon later that evening, posing no threat to Earth or the Moon; it is on the ESA Risk List but carries an extremely small cumulative impact probability, and it won’t affect the Artemis 2 mission; the asteroid will continue on a long orbit with a next close approach expected around July 2031 near Venus.

via Space|

#astronomy #esa #near-earth-asteroid

technology12 days ago•3 min saved

ESA tests LEO-based navigation with Celeste satellites to augment Galileo

Two Celeste satellites (IOD‑1 and IOD‑2) were launched from New Zealand to validate a low‑Earth‑orbit navigation layer intended to complement Europe’s Galileo system, paving the way for an 11‑satellite constellation by 2027 and testing L‑ and S‑band signals for resilient positioning across diverse use cases.

via esa.int|

#celeste #esa #galileo

space14 days ago•4 min saved

Europe to redefine Gateway role as Artemis changes, decision due in June

With NASA suspending work on the lunar Gateway, ESA is assessing how to adjust its three Gateway-related contributions (the European Service Module, I-Hab, Lunar View, and Lunar Link) and will present a plan to the ESA June Council. The evaluation will cover whether ongoing Gateway developments can continue, be repurposed, or reallocated, how work should be performed (in Europe or the U.S.), changes to Artemis 3/4’s architecture, and how astronaut participation and funding already invested will be treated, all while coordinating with Canada, Japan, and the UAE.

via SpaceNews|

#artemis #esa #esm

space16 days ago•73 min saved

ESA to charter SpaceX mission under EPIC to keep four astronauts aboard ISS before retirement

ESA plans to charter a dedicated SpaceX Crew Dragon mission under the EPIC program to send four ESA astronauts to the International Space Station for about a month in early 2028, boosting European presence in space ahead of the ISS retirement (target 2030, with talks of extending to 2032) and involving international partners while ESA leads the mission.

via Space|

#astronauts #epic #esa

space17 days ago•4 min saved

NASA pivots from Gateway to a $20B Moon base plan

NASA will pause the Gateway lunar orbital station and redirect about $20 billion over seven years to build a permanent surface base near the Moon's south pole, reshaping the Artemis program with a focus on surface operations and partnerships.

via ScienceAlert|

#artemis #esa #gateway

technology18 days ago•2 min saved

Celeste aims to boost Galileo with first LEO-PNT demo

ESA will launch the Celeste LEO-PNT demonstration on 25 March from New Zealand’s Māhia Launch Complex, sending two satellites to test new navigation signals in low Earth orbit to complement Galileo and improve resilience; live coverage begins 09:53 CET with liftoff at 10:14 CET.

via European Space Agency|

#celeste #esa #galileo

space21 days ago•4 min saved

ESA Re-establishes Link with Proba-3 After Weeks of Silent Drift

ESA's Proba-3 regained contact after about a month of silence thanks to a rare sunlight window that provided power to the tumbling coronagraph satellite; engineers will carefully re-power and test the two-satellite formation as they continue to study the solar corona.

via The Daily Galaxy|

#communication-loss #esa #proba-3

space-exploration22 days ago•53 min saved

ESA's Proba-3 Coronagraph re-establishes contact after month-long silence

ESA says its Proba-3 Coronagraph spacecraft has reconnected with Earth after a month of silence; an anomaly in February disrupted attitude control and prevented safe-mode entry, and the spacecraft is now in safe mode with its solar panels powering the systems while health checks are conducted to assess possible damage as the Coronagraph and its Occulter continue their formation to study the solar corona by creating artificial eclipses.

via Space|

#coronagraph #esa #occulter

space1 month ago•3 min saved

Europe Fireball Breaks into Meteorites; ESA Probes Koblenz Roof Impact

The European Space Agency is investigating a weekend fireball that lit up skies across Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands, which broke apart into meteorites and punched a football-sized hole in a Koblenz, Germany home; no injuries were reported. ESA's planetary defence team is analyzing data on the object, thought to be a few metres wide, noting that such objects strike Earth periodically and are often not seen by telescopic surveys.

via ScienceAlert|

#esa #fireball #koblenz

space1 month ago•2 min saved

Mars Express Delivers High-Res 3D Crater Maps of Arabia Terra

ESA's Mars Express HRSC provides full-color, stereo 3D images of Mars at 10-meter resolution, with higher-detail glimpses (~2 meters) for select regions, revealing Arabia Terra’s dense cratered landscape and aiding topographic studies of the planet’s geology.

via PetaPixel|

#craters #esa #hrsc

space-exploration1 month ago•53 min saved

Proba-3 falters as ESA’s twin-satellite eclipse mission goes dark

Europe’s Proba-3 formation (two satellites designed to create artificial solar eclipses and study the corona) has lost contact after an anomaly caused one probe to lose orientation. The Coronagraph, which images the sun’s outer atmosphere, and its Occulter partner must stay precisely aligned about 150 meters apart; the incident has led to a progressive attitude loss and solar-power drain, pushing the spacecraft into survival mode. ESA says the root cause is under investigation and teams are exploring ways to steer the Occulter closer to the Coronagraph to diagnose the issue and reestablish contact, with updates expected as the investigation continues (reported after Feb. 14 anomaly, with March 6 ESA update cited).

via Space|

#coronagraph #esa #formation-flying

space-and-spaceflight1 month ago•15 min saved

JUICE Captures 120 Images of Interstellar Comet 3I/Atlas as It Recedes

ESA’s JUICE mission photographed interstellar comet 3I/Atlas in more than 120 JANUS images on November 6, 2025, a week after its closest approach to the Sun. The shots show a bright coma and a long tail, and scientists are analyzing the data (with results expected in late March). 3I/Atlas, discovered June 2025 by ATLAS, is only the third known interstellar visitor, and as it drifts away from the Sun, JUICE continues its deep-space observations on its way to Jupiter (arrival in 2031).

via Gizmodo|

#comets #esa #interstellar-objects

space1 month ago•52 min saved

Orbital 'ring of fire' eclipse: Proba-2 captures four space-view angles of Feb. 17, 2026

ESA’s Proba-2 satellite recorded four viewpoints of the Feb. 17, 2026 annular solar eclipse from orbit, including a spectacular “ring of fire” when about 93% of the Sun was obscured; the SWAP instrument imaged the Sun’s corona in extreme ultraviolet, with the most complete ring visible from remote Antarctica while other locations saw a partial eclipse.

via Space|

#annular-solar-eclipse #esa #proba-2

science1 month ago•1 min saved

Space View Captures Ring-of-Fire Eclipse

ESA’s Proba-2 spacecraft photographed an annular solar eclipse on 17 February 2026, showing a ring of fire as the Moon sat near apogee. The view from space accompanied Earth observations mainly from Antarctica, with partial sights in southern Chile/Argentina and southern Africa. ESA also notes three more European eclipses expected between 2026 and 2028.

via European Space Agency|

#astronomy #eclipse #esa

space2 months ago•4 min saved

ISS Crew 12 to Join Station Ahead of Schedule, Replacing Crew 11

Crew 12—NASA’s Jessica Meir, Jack Hathaway, ESA’s Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos’ Andrey Fedyaev—are set to launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral and dock with the ISS on Thursday, replacing Crew 11 who returned early due to a medical issue. The addition will bring the station to seven crew members and restore two-person NASA spacewalk capability. The flight was moved up after Artemis II was delayed, with the crew in quarantine at the Kennedy Space Center during preflight preparations.

via cbsnews.com|

#esa #international-space-station #nasa