Copernical Team
Open doors for the ESA-ESRIN Open Day
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On Friday 29 September, the European Space Agency opened the doors of the ESA Centre for Earth Observation, ESRIN, to host the ESA Open Day in the framework of the European Researchers' Night. With a full program of presentations, interviews, interactive games, hands-on workshops and various activities, more than 1400 people, among adults and children, had the opportunity to deepen their knowledge of the activities and programs in which ESA is involved every day.
Earth from Space: Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines
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The heart of the Nueva Vizcaya Province on Luzon, the largest and most populated island of the Philippines, shows up brightly in this Copernicus Sentinel-2 false-colour image. ESA Impact 2023 – Quarter 3
ESA Impact 2023 – Quarter 3
Welcome to this edition of ESA Impact, an interactive publication covering stories and images from the third quarter of 2023.
Hypergravity odyssey of Earth’s tiniest plant
The smallest flowering plant on Earth might become a nutritious foodstuff for astronauts in the future, as well as a highly efficient source of oxygen. To help test their suitability for space, floating clumps of watermeal – individually the size of pinheads – were subjected to 20 times normal Earth gravity aboard ESA’s Large Diameter Centrifuge by a team from Mahidol University in Thailand.
Shoebox-sized space labs being launched by Vega
Among the smallest passengers aboard Europe’s Vega launch tonight are also the most ambitious in nature: twin miniaturised laboratories, or CubeSats, for the in-orbit demonstration of disruptive state-of-the-art space technologies.
Harmonizing satnav for aviation: SBAS experts meet
More than 150 000 aircraft and 5000 airports worldwide are equipped with Satellite-based Augmentation System (SBAS) technology for safer flying. Specialists overseeing these systems met from 19 to 21 September for the 38th SBAS Interoperability Working Group meeting, hosted by ESA in Toulouse, to coordinate efforts for seamless navigation.
6 things to know about NASA's asteroid-exploring Psyche mission
Small-scale magnetism leads to large-scale solar atmosphere
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Image comparing views of Sun with two Solar Orbiter instruments Guide stars found as Euclid's navigation fine tuned
Vega’s PRETTY CubeSat: unlocking satnav for Earth data
Our planet is being continuously bathed in radio signals from satnav satellites – which are useful for much more than just navigation. Dedicated space missions acquire these signal reflections to amass valuable environmental information. The shoebox-sized PRETTY CubeSat, flying on Europe’s next Vega launcher, will investigate a new frequency and novel observation angle to better measure the rate of climate change – at the same time as gathering radiation data on its surrounding space environment.