Fire affects an estimated four million square kilometres of Earth’s land each year and is responsible for releasing aerosols and greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Understanding the influence that this has on atmospheric chemistry and representing these emissions in future climate predictions is, however, complex and remains poorly understood. To improve the situation, a team of scientists working as part of ESA’s Climate Change Initiative is using satellite observations, such as from Copernicus Sentinel-3, to gain a global view of land burned by fire.

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This recording was made on 18 November 2020 by the Heliospheric Imager (SoloHI) camera on board the ESA/NASA Solar Orbiter spacecraft.

Three Solar System planets are visible in the foreground: Venus (left), Earth (middle), and Mars (right). Stars are visible in the background, appearing to move in Solar Orbiter’s recording while the spacecraft travels around the Sun. The planets are also moving slightly in the SoloHI field-of-view, but their apparent motions are different because of their individual orbital motions around the Sun.

Venus is the brightest object in the video, roughly 48 million kilometres away from Solar Orbiter.

There are only six days to go until ESA publishes its Young Graduate Trainee opportunities on 1 February and they will remain open for a month. Mark the dates in your calendar! Find out more about this year's call for applications below.

Discover how next-generation connectivity is using space to improve urban living at an online seminar to be held on Wednesday 27 January.

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Lights, camera, action for NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins and Victor Glover. The duo will install European payloads outside the International Space Station during a spacewalk on 27 January, guided by the know-how of their colleagues.

ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen is seen in this image installing the Columbus Ka-band or ColKa terminal that will enable faster communication with Europe during a ‘dress rehearsal’ in the Neutral Buoyancy Lab at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas in 2018. 

Andrea will serve as ground IV, directing Mike and Victor through the installation of the small fridge-sized device by radio from NASA’s mission

Stuttgart, Germany (SPX) Jan 22, 2021
With its BALIS project, the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) is developing the world's first fuel cell powertrain for aircraft with an output in the megawatt range. In doing so, DLR is taking another step towards making hydrogen-powered, emission-free flight possible. Steffen Bilger, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Transport

Nottingham UK (SPX) Jan 20, 2021
The City of Nottingham is developing an intelligent energy management system (iEMS) for its Clean Mobil Energy project using OpenRemote's open-source IoT platform. This new data management solution will control the distribution of power between all system components, including a fleet of electric vehicles (EVs), battery storage and solar power. This enables the city's energy managers to ma

Munich, Germany (SPX) Jan 20, 2021
An international consortium of scientists, initiated by Reinhard Kienberger, Professor of Laser and X-ray Physics at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), several years ago, has made significant measurements in the femtosecond range at the U.S. Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC). However, on these miniscule timescales, it is extremely difficult to synchronize the X-ray pulse tha

Boston MA (SPX) Jan 21, 2021
Contemporary robots can move quickly. "The motors are fast, and they're powerful," says Sabrina Neuman. Yet in complex situations, like interactions with people, robots often don't move quickly. "The hang up is what's going on in the robot's head," she adds. Perceiving stimuli and calculating a response takes a "boatload of computation," which limits reaction time, says Neuman, who recentl

Washington DC (UPI) Jan 22, 2021
Scientists have set a new record for stable laser transmission, successfully sending laser signals from one point to another without interference from the atmosphere. The record transmission was made possible by a new "phase-stabilization" technology, which utilizes free-space, self-guiding optical terminals featuring mirrors to combat interference issues like phase noise and beam wande