Bremen, Germany (SPX) Aug 25, 2023
Hera is complete. ESA's asteroid mission for planetary defence was built and prepared in two halves, but now, through a painstaking operation, they have been mated together to make a single spacecraft, ready for full-scale testing of its readiness for space. The mating took place at OHB Bremen in Germany, with Hera's Core Module raised more than 3 m above its Propulsion Module then gradual

New Delhi (AFP) Aug 26, 2023
India's budget Moon landing is a model for other countries aspiring to develop their own space programmes, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Saturday while praising the scientists behind the successful mission. Chandrayaan-3 - "Mooncraft" in Sanskrit - touched down on the lunar surface on Wednesday, making India the first nation to land an unmanned craft near the largely unexplored lunar s

Paris (AFP) Aug 27, 2023
Silicon Valley's favourite philosophy, longtermism, has helped to frame the debate on artificial intelligence around the idea of human extinction. But increasingly vocal critics are warning that the philosophy is dangerous, and the obsession with extinction distracts from real problems associated with AI like data theft and biased algorithms. Author Emile Torres, a former longtermist tur

Space Coast FL (SPX) Aug 26, 2023
Four astronauts from four different countries and agencies soared into orbit early Friday morning from NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft named Endurance atop a Falcon 9 rocket, kicking off a roughly 29-hour journey to the orbiting lab. The four-person crew took off from the historic Launch Pad 39A (LC-39A) at KSC at 3:27 a.m. EDT (0727 UTC) Satu

Confirmed by the World Meteorological Organization, July 2023 was the hottest month on record, with high-impact weather continuing through August. These records are based on air temperatures, but measurements of the temperature of Earth’s surface taken from space are also essential to tracking the impact of climate change, and to being better prepared for such extremes – especially when it comes to cities where stifling urban heat islands form.

The ESA/NASA Solar Orbiter spacecraft has discovered a multitude of tiny jets of material escaping from the Sun’s outer atmosphere. Each jet lasts between 20 and 100 seconds, and expels plasma at around 100 km/s. These jets could be the long-sought-after source of the solar wind.

Image: Proba-3: seeing in the dark

What is ESA? THIS is ESA

Explore this interactive illustrated guide to what ESA is and what we do - available in all ESA Member State langauges

Week in images: 21-25 August 2023

Discover our week through the lens

Video: 00:05:52

On 26 August 2023, at 09:27 CEST (08:27 BST), Crew-7 aboard the Crew Dragon spacecraft Endurance embarked on a journey to the International Space Station. Watch the full coverage of their launch from pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA.

Andreas serves as pilot and has become the first European to take that role. He is sitting next to Crew-7's commander and NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli. Andreas is responsible for the spacecraft’s performance and systems. Accompanying them are mission specialists Satoshi Furukawa from JAXA and Konstantin Borisov from Roscomos.

Andreas’s Huginn mission officially begins when Endurance docks with