ESA Space Science

Our Juice mission is on an epic eight-year journey to Jupiter and you can follow along with the series 'The journey of Juice' 👇 https://lnkd.in/emaSbd3C #esa #science #juice #jupiter

🚨 Smile update 🚨 After a textbook launch by Vega-C that placed Smile in a low Earth orbit, the CAS team, with ESA's support, has been busy with critical tests after separation concerning among others: 🛞 reaction wheels 📣 small thrusters 📡 S-band comms 🖥️ onboard computer Last Sunday the teams carried out the first main engine burn to raise Smile's orbit, followed by another one on Wednesday. Both burns and all other satellite tests went perfectly. Over the next 20 days, ten more burns will gradually elongate Smile’s orbit until it reaches 121 000 km above the North Pole. At the end of June the commissioning of the Payload Module and scientific instruments is expected to begin. Until the end of August, the teams will switch the Payload Module and science instruments on, open the covers, deploy the magnetometer boom, calibrate the instruments and acquire the first images. Stay tuned for more. #esa #science #smile Video credit: ESA/CNES/Avio 2026

🚀 Join us at ILA Berlin 2026 (10-14 June) for a week of panels, conferences and media opportunities at the Space Pavilion under the theme #Space4Future.   ESA will host a programme of media briefings, a live in-flight call with astronaut Sophie Adenot aboard the ISS, and panels covering planetary defence, Earth observation, exploration and Europe’s independent access to space.   Programme and media accreditation 👉 https://lnkd.in/eFEqj8G9   Josef Aschbacher ILA Berlin - Pioneering Aerospace BDLI Bundesverband der Deutschen Luft- und Raumfahrtindustrie e.V. (German Aerospace Industries Association) German Aerospace Center (DLR)

Which comes first, the galaxy or the black hole?  Scientists have long thought it could be the galaxy, but new Webb results reveal a different story. Using the unprecedented imaging and spectroscopic power of the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, researchers have mapped the motion and composition of gas orbiting a black hole in the centre of Abell2744-QSO1, a tiny galaxy more than 13 billion light-years away.  The results suggest that the 50-million-solar-mass black hole predates its host galaxy, possibly forming within the first second of the Big Bang, and must have been immense from the start. Read more 👉 https://lnkd.in/e4p4Er6e #esa #science #webb

How do university laboratories and local aerospace companies get their hardware onto key space science missions?   The answer is ESA's PRODEX programme (PROgramme de Développement d'Expériences scientifiques).   Right now, the European Space Agency - ESA manages over 400 active Prodex contracts. These partnerships bring together academic research and commercial space industry. They directly fund the development of highly advanced scientific instruments and experiments across Earth observation, microgravity, and space science missions, such as:   🛰️ ESA Space Science: #Smile, #Plato, #CometInterceptor, #Envision, #LISAmission, #ExoMars, #NewAthena, and #Arrakihs.   🧑🚀 Orbital Labs: Instrumentation for the International #SpaceStation.   🌍 Global Partnerships on non-ESA missions including NASA's Commercial Lunar Payloads Services #CLPS, JAXA's #Solar_C, and #POLAR2.   By participating in Prodex, 17 European nations boost their national scientific know-how, forge industrial and institutional cooperation, and increase their competitiveness in the space domain.   👇 Read about recent and upcoming successes: https://lnkd.in/eAwvmPVy

Follow a total solar eclipse with us! ☀️ 🌑 🌍 Join us for the 12 August 2026 total solar eclipse either in person in León, Spain or follow our live broadcast from wherever you are. All details, including educational resources, are available here 👉 esa.int/solareclipse #esa #science #SolarEclipse #TotalSolarEclipse

Lately, it's been all Smile(s) for us:   🚀 Vega-C successfully brought Smile to space 😊 The team was beaming with joy 🌙 And then there was the Moon 👇

Missed the Smile launch? We have you covered. Watch the replay here 👉 https://lnkd.in/eU5yuN6B #esa #science #smile European Space Agency - ESA / Chinese Academy of Sciences

What is Smile set out to discover? This groundbreaking mission will observe Earth’s magnetosphere in X-rays while capturing the northern lights in ultraviolet, offering an entirely new way to see how our planet defends itself from solar storms. #esa #science #smile European Space Agency - ESA / Chinese Academy of Sciences

Smile begins her mission! The Inspector is on her way to reveal how exactly Earth’s invisible shield protects us against the solar wind! Smile will be the first mission to look at Earth’s magnetic shield with X-ray vision, to reveal where and how it is hit by the solar wind. Smile will use ultraviolet vision to record the northern lights for 45 hours at a time, becoming the first mission to observe them for so long, and the first since 2008 to observe the full circle of auroras around the North Pole in ultraviolet light. “We are about to witness something we've never seen before – Earth’s invisible armour in action,” said ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher. For the first time in history, we have reached the point where our scientific tools and technologies have advanced enough that we can get to the bottom of how exactly this defence against the solar wind works. “[Smile] builds on ground-breaking scientific and technological heritage from previous missions, including Cluster and XMM-Newton, taking tried-and-tested technologies and applying them in a new way to reveal Earth’s magnetic environment like never before”, declared Professor Carole Mundell, ESA’s Director of Science. Smile is a collaboration between the European Space Agency - ESA and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. “The mission is made possible thanks to a smooth collaboration between ESA and CAS, with contributions from partners across Europe. It marks the first time that ESA and China have jointly selected, designed, implemented, launched and operated a mission together, and we are all really excited for the major scientific discoveries that we expect to come from Smile over the next three years", declared ESA Smile Project Manager David Agnolon. The launch is just the beginning. During the next month, Smile will be slowly increasing her altitude through 11 engine burns, ultimately ending up in an extremely elliptical orbit that takes her 121 000 km above the North Pole to collect data, before descending to 5000 km above the South Pole to efficiently deliver it to eagerly awaiting scientists on Earth. The data collection will begin in earnest in July, after the team has unfolded booms, opened camera covers, and verified that everything works as expected. Read more https://lnkd.in/dz5Y3iRr #esa #science #smile