Video: 00:01:36

LUNA recreates the Moon's surface on Earth next to ESA’s Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne, Germany. The collaborative project between ESA and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) will provide a training ground for astronauts and a test centre for technology, equipping partners and users with the knowledge to go forward to the Moon.

Access the related broadcast quality video material: LUNA stock shots, LUNA close-ups, LUNA animation, ESA EAC stock shots, LUNA interviews

Image: On 20 September, the Copernicus Sentinel-2C satellite captured its first stunning image of the Moon, achieved by rolling the satellite sideways in a unique manoeuvre. Although Sentinel-2C is primarily designed for Earth observation, this image – intended for calibration and cross-mission comparisons – exceeded expectations.

London, UK (SPX) Sep 25, 2024
Vodafone and Intelsat have announced an extended partnership to enhance satellite connectivity services for organizations operating in remote or challenging environments, including disaster zones. This collaboration aims to supplement Vodafone's terrestrial networks with satellite-based broadband services, ensuring businesses, governments, and NGOs can maintain connectivity in underserved region

Berlin, Germany (SPX) Sep 25, 2024
A study led by the National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF), with contributions from Radboud University's Marijke Haverkorn, has provided critical new insights into the Milky Way. The research reveals a magnetic halo surrounding our galaxy, challenging existing models of its structure and evolution. The discovery highlights magnetised structures extending over 16,000 light-years (150 qua

Brussels, Belgium (AFP) Sept 25, 2024
Elon Musk's X is in hot water with the EU for allegedly breaking new content rules - and the world's richest man risks multibillion-dollar fines even he might find prohibitive. The European Union could decide within months to take action against X, including possible fines, as part of a probe into whether the social platform is breaching a landmark content moderation law, the Digital Servic

Paris, France (SPX) Sep 25, 2024
A new mystery in space is leading to a groundbreaking planetary defense mission aimed at making Earth safer. The European Space Agency's (ESA) Hera mission is now preparing to follow up on a critical experiment that began in 2022. On September 26, 2022, NASA's DART spacecraft impacted the Dimorphos asteroid at 6.1 km/s. This event altered Dimorphos's orbit around its larger companion, Didy

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Sep 25, 2024
NASA and the Republic of Korea's newly established Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA) have signed a joint statement of intent aimed at expanding cooperation in space exploration, science, and aeronautics. The signing ceremony took place at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., marking KASA's first official visit since its creation in May 2024. "Building on years of work together both o

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Sep 25, 2024
NASA has chosen Firefly Aerospace, Inc., based in Cedar Park, Texas, to provide launch services for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) QuickSounder mission. This selection falls under NASA's Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare (VADR) launch services contract. The VADR contract offers fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity awards over

Video: 00:00:29

Solar wind is a never-ending stream of charged particles coming from the Sun. Rather than a constant breeze, this wind is rather gusty. As solar wind particles travel through space, they interact with the Sun's variable magnetic field, creating chaotic and fluctuating motion known as turbulence.

This video confirms something long suspected: the turbulent motion of solar wind begins very close to the Sun, inside the solar atmosphere known as the corona. Small disturbances affecting solar wind in the corona are carried outward and expand, generating turbulent flow further out in space.

By blocking out direct light coming from

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Hera is ESA's first planetary defence mission, set to probe the lingering mysteries of a unique target among the 1.3 million known asteroids of our Solar System: the first body to have had its orbit shifted by human action.

Spacecraft are among the most complex machines ever built, so need to be broken down into sets of subsystems, and this video shows how ESA and European industry put together Hera.

Hera’s chemical propulsion subsystem is what moves it through space, while its electrical power subsystem supplies and regulates electrical power throughout the spacecraft as needed. Its data handling subsystem