Video: 01:23:15

Watch the full replay of ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer’s pre-launch news conference at ESA’s European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne, Germany.

Held in both English and German on 9 September 2021, the conference covers ESA’s vision for human and robotic exploration as well as the science and operations Matthias will support on the International Space Station during his six-month Cosmic Kiss mission.

Cosmic Kiss is Matthias’s first space mission. He will be launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA as a member of US Commercial Crew-3 alongside @NASA astronauts Thomas Marshburn, Raja Chari and Kayla Barron.

While in

ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet and Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide are set to leave the International Space Station on a spacewalk on Sunday 12 September.

Washington DC (SPX) Sep 09, 2021
Seasonal summer rains have done little to offset drought conditions gripping the western United States, with California and Nevada seeing record July heat and moderate-to-exceptional drought according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Now, new research is showing how drought in the region is expected to change in the future, providing stakeholders with crucial inform

Boston MA (SPX) Sep 09, 2021
It was a moment three years in the making, based on intensive research and design work: On Sept. 5, for the first time, a large high-temperature superconducting electromagnet was ramped up to a field strength of 20 tesla, the most powerful magnetic field of its kind ever created on Earth. That successful demonstration helps resolve the greatest uncertainty in the quest to build the world's first

Potsdam (SPX) Sep 08, 2021
Explosive volcanic eruptions often announce themselves: The dynamic of gas and magma flows inside the mountain change noticeably before eruptions and cause, among other things, the rising and lowering of the volcano's surface, which is recorded by satellites. To better analyse and interpret such changes, an interdisciplinary team led by Binayak Ghosh and Mahdi Motagh from the German Research Cen

Moscow (AFP) Sept 9, 2021
A smoke alarm sounded Thursday in Russia's segment of the International Space Station (ISS) and astronauts smelled "burning" on board, Russia's space agency and NASA said. The incident, which the Russian space agency Roscosmos said happened at 01:55 GMT ahead of a scheduled spacewalk, is the latest in a string of problems to spur safety concerns over conditions on the Russian segment. "A

Image: EC Commissioner Breton visits ESA-ESTEC

Image:

School is also back in session for ESA astronaut Andrea Mogensen (right) and NASA astronaut Kathleen Rubins. Together with European Astronaut Centre engineer Robin Eccleston (far left), the trio are taking part in this year’s Pangaea field training campaign to become better field scientists.

With all eyes set on the Moon, the three-week campaign has increasingly focussed on lunar geology. Now in its fourth edition, the course kicked off this week with background lessons by top planetary scientists on identifying rock samples of interest for exploration.

In this image Andreas and his fellow students use a microscope to analyse samples.  

Later,

Beijing (XNA) Sep 09, 2021
The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has developed a satellite for pursuing sustainable development. The satellite, SDGSAT-1, has already passed the round-the-clock and multi-load coordinated observation. It is expected to provide advanced, open and shared data resources for monitoring and evaluating the sustainable development index representing the interaction between human and nature.