Los Angeles CA (SPX) Dec 17, 2024
More than a century after astronomer Percival Lowell speculated about water canals on Mars, researchers continue to grapple with the question of liquid water on the red planet. Liquid water is essential for habitability, but Mars' low temperatures, minimal atmospheric pressure, and limited water vapor make its presence unlikely under current conditions. Dark surface features called recurri

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Dec 17, 2024
NASA has finalized its comprehensive strategy for sustaining human presence in low Earth orbit (LEO), outlining a clear path to advance microgravity research, technology, and exploration for global benefit. The Low Earth Orbit Microgravity Strategy, developed with input from industry, academia, and international partners, marks a critical step as the agency prepares for the transition from the I

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Dec 17, 2024
Are the spacecraft, rovers, and debris from human exploration of Mars merely trash cluttering the Red Planet, or are they invaluable artifacts chronicling humanity's steps into interplanetary exploration? University of Kansas anthropologist Justin Holcomb contends these items deserve preservation and cataloging to document this significant phase of human history. Holcomb's new study, title

ESA has officially signed a launch service contract with Avio for the upcoming FORUM mission. Scheduled for launch in late 2027, FORUM—short for Far-infrared Outgoing Radiation Understanding and Monitoring—will lift off on a Vega-C rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.

Step into the holidays with this picturesque ‘winter wonderland’ scene at the south pole of Mars, captured by ESA’s Mars Express.

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Watch the replay of the media information session in which ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher and ESA Council Chair Renato Krpoun (CH) update journalists on the key decisions taken at the ESA Council meeting, held at ESA Headquarters in Paris on 17 and 18 December 2024.

Four pioneering ESA Technology CubeSats reentered Earth’s atmosphere over the last few months. Each was only about the size of a shoebox or smaller, but despite their diminutive dimensions the missions left an outsize legacy in terms of demonstrating innovative space technology, industrial capacity building and scientific data return.