Category: News

Watch the replay of the launch of the European Data Relay System’s first laser node from Baikonur, Kazakhstan on 29 January at 22:20 GMT

The European Data Relay System’s first laser terminal has reached space aboard its host satellite and is now under way to its final operating position

The first laser node of the European Data Relay System lifted off from Baikonur, Kazakhstan atop a Proton rocket on 29 January at 22:20 GMT

Our week through the lens:
25-29 January 2016

Earth observation image of the week: a Sentinel-2A image of Sierra Leone, also featured on the Earth from Space video programme

Operations image of the week: Mission control teams begin intensive simulation training for the launch of Sentinel-1B, part of Europe’s Copernicus programme

This block of martian terrain, etched with an intricate pattern of landslides and wind-blown dunes, is a small segment of a vast labyrinth of valleys, fractures and plateaus.

Watch the launch of ESA’s first European Data Relay System (EDRS) laser node live on 29 January. Streaming starts 20 minutes before liftoff, with launch expected at 22:20 GMT

An Ariane 5 last night delivered telecom satellite Intelsat-29e into its planned orbit. Liftoff of Ariane flight VA228 occurred on 27 January at 23:20 GMT (20:20 local time, 00:20 CET on 28 January) from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

Technology image of the week: the Mercury Planetary Orbiter of the BepiColombo mission standing high above the floor of its test chamber

Human spaceflight and robotic operations image of the week: Looking up at the European Service Module test model that will power NASA’s Orion spacecraft

When you go to Mars, bring a chef, argued Thorsten Schmidt at TEDxESA. Watch his talk on preparing meals for ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen’s mission

Normally busy with observing high-energy black holes, supernovas and neutron stars, ESA’s Integral space observatory recently had the chance to look back at our own planet’s aurora.