ESA - European Space Agency

📷 This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows spiral galaxy NGC 3430. Several other galaxies are located relatively nearby to this one, just out of frame; one is close enough that gravitational interaction is driving some star formation in NGC 3430.

🔗https://esahubble.org/images/potw2930a

✈️ We're at the Farnborough International Airshow this week!

🚀 Come along to see us in the in Hall 4.

🗓️ See our full programme

ESA gears up for the Farnborough International Airshow 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. 

: The Orion spacecraft, with its European Service Module, that will take astronauts around the and back for the first time in over 50 years, seen here with Rachid Amekrane, ESM Project Manager at Airbus Space, in the altitude chamber at
NASA's Kennedy Space Center (pic: NASA/E.Peters)

🔗https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2024/07/Artemis_II_no_pressure

NASA Artemis NASA’s Orion Spacecraft Canadian Space Agency

📷 This was our , 15-19 July 2024 👇
🔗https://www.esa.int/About_Us/Week_in_images/Week_in_images_15-19_July_2024

Coming up tomorrow and all next week!

✈️ Looking forward to Farnborough International Airshow show next week?

🚀 Come along to see us in the in Hall 4.

🗓️ See our full programme 👇

🔗https://www.esa.int/About_Us/Exhibitions/ESA_at_international_events_and_airshows/ESA_gears_up_for_the_Farnborough_International_Airshow Aerospace Global News UK Space Agency

That's almost it for ... but don't let the fun stop here. Go outside tonight*, look up at the Moon, and think about what it took to get there, how this event 55 years ago brought the world together - and how we'll be back there soon.

Check our ESA Space Shop and collections 👇
🔗https://www.esaspaceshop.com/collections/collections/artemis.html?p=1

(*Weather permitting)

😍 Shout out to Benedek at Figs Fan Photos, a photographer for LEGO, who sent us these great shots of the first NASA's Space Launch System launch and the Orion spacecraft with its European Service Module around the !

What do you think?

Airbus Space Thales Alenia Space NASA History

🌓 At ESA's mission control at ESA ESOC in Germany, we’re preparing to use the to boost our spacecraft to Jupiter!

😬 It’s part of a 'double gravity assist manoeuvre' that no one has ever tried before.

Europäische Weltraumorganisation ESA

Preparing for Juice’s daring double flyby 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...

Almost one month from now, our will be visited by a special voyager.

ESA's spacecraft will fly past the Moon and Earth on its way to Jupiter to study the giant planet and its Galilean moons, which are all but one larger than our Moon

🔗https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2024/07/Size_comparison_between_Earth_s_Moon_and_Jupiter_s_Galilean_moons

🌓 Update on Artemis missions to the Moon:

🚀 Today, NASA Artemis missions are taking us back, powered by ESA's European Service Modules that power and propel NASA’s Orion Spacecraft, and provide life-support and essential resources to astronauts in the Crew Module.

1️⃣ During Artemis I, our first European Service Module ESM-1 even took amazing selfies with the and Earth from the tips of its European-built solar arrays.

2️⃣ ESM-2 is now attached to its Crew Module at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. The combined NASA’s Orion Spacecraft is being tested in the run up to the launch next year, which will see astronauts orbiting the Moon for the first time since .

3️⃣ ESM-3 is going on summer holiday this year, setting sail from Airbus Space in Bremen. The module is leaving Europe for
NASA's Kennedy Space Center to be integrated with its Crew Module ahead of .

4️⃣5️⃣6️⃣ ESMs 4, 5 and 6 are currently being integrated at Airbus Space in Bremen after being built by Thales Alenia Space in Turin. These are destined for the Artemis missions that will build the lunar station around the Moon, in which ESA is a key partner.

🔗https://blogs.esa.int/orion/2024/07/18/artemis-ii-no-pressure/

NASA's Gateway Program NASA History

📡 ESA’s ground stations are supporting three missions this year. The image in the link shows our station in Kourou, French Guiana, in communication with the Intuitive Machines IM-1 mission back in February. Up next, iSpace Technologies !

CSG Centre spatial guyanais NASA Artemis

ESA stations support three Moon missions in 2024 Happy International Moon Day!ESA’s network of satellite communication stations – Estrack – continues to connect Earth and the Moon in 2024. ESA stations are supporting three new and returning partners this year: one of them carried ESA’s first scientific instrument to the lunar surface and a...

Teaming up to create the with , ESA and German Aerospace Center, DLR are establishing a one of a kind lunar analogue facility to test future exploration activities next door to ESA’s Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany.

The terrestrial outpost will be perfect for testing rovers and astronaut gear. To do so, LUNA recreates the Moon’s surface using 900 tonnes of volcanic sand, a Sun simulator for lunar day/night cycles and a gravity suspension system to mimic the Moon’s gravity – 1/6th of Earth’s.

Additional external modules such as and the EDEN-LUNA greenhouse will help us understand how everything works together — from autonomous systems to creating sustainable cycles for future stations on the .

A game-changer for testing and preparing for sustainable living and working on the Moon, is set to open in September. This week, the first sandbag was opened to distribute the regolith simulant in the LUNA hall. Stay tuned!

🔗 https://blogs.esa.int/exploration/as-the-dust-settles-first-sandbag-tapping-at-luna/
🔗 https://luna-analog-facility.de/en/

Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR) NASA Artemis Europäische Weltraumorganisation ESA

🌓 Check out our web documentary THE MOON, and create your own journey through the how and why of lunar exploration.

👉 https://lunarexploration.esa.int

International Moon Day | United Nations International Moon Day marks the anniversary of the first landing by humans on the Moon as part of the Apollo 11 lunar mission.

🌓Welcome to here on ESA - European Space Agency, where we'll be sharing items throughout the day on our past, present and future lunar exploration!

Forward to the Moon: interactive publication As Artemis sets its sights on the Moon, powered by the European Service Module (ESM), all eyes will again turn to the night sky. This interactive publication encourages us to look up at our natural satellite and think about how the Moon has inspired us, from Ancient Greece to the 21st  cen...

We've just published our annual Space Environment Report. 2023 saw continued growth in the space debris population, but mitigation efforts are on the rise.

ESA Space Environment Report 2024 Space Safety ESA Space Environment Report 2024 19/07/2024 45 views 3 likes ESA / Space Safety / Space Debris In brief Our planet is surrounded by spacecraft carrying out important work to study our changing climate, deliver global communication and navigation services and help us answer important sc...

😎 Who knew science after school could be so cool? (Ed: well, we did 😉 )

🌍 These beautiful images of Earth were taken by the experiment on the first flight, designed and built by a team of youngsters from the French amateur space club Garef Aérospatial.

🔗https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Space_Transportation/Ariane/Ariane_6_launches_PariSat_physics_in_space_after_school

📷 This week's is a false-colour radar image from Copernicus EU of central Ethiopia.

More details and hi res 👇
🔗https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2024/07/Earth_from_Space_Central_Ethiopia

(pic: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2023), processed by ESA)

🚀 Exciting Event Alert! 🚀
Join us at Pioneers of Tomorrow for a discussion that is quite literally out of this world!... "Reaching for the Stars"! 🌟
Hear from the incredible Dr Rosemary Coogan, ESA - European Space Agency Astronaut, and John McFall, member of ESA's Astronaut Reserve, about their exciting experiences and have the chance to meet them afterwards! 🧑‍🚀✨
📅 Date: Friday, 26th July
⏰ Time: 12:00 - 12:35
📍 Location: Main Stage
Don't miss this opportunity to hear from the stars themselves!
They will have Meet and Greet sessions at 11:10 - 11:30 and 12:35 - 12:50 (may be subject to change)🌌✨

✈️ Looking forward to Farnborough International Airshow show next week?

🚀 Come along to see us in the in Hall 4.

🗓️ See our full programme 👇

🔗https://www.esa.int/About_Us/Exhibitions/ESA_at_international_events_and_airshows/ESA_gears_up_for_the_Farnborough_International_Airshow Aerospace Global News UK Space Agency

The latest addition to the ESA ESTEC technical centre in the Netherlands, the Hertz 2.0 test facility, stands more than 22 m high beside its neighbouring sand dunes, but here is the view inside.

🔗https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2024/07/Heart_of_Hertz_2.0