In 2021, a powerful Ariane 5 rocket blasted off from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, carrying the largest,…
ESA’s XMM-Newton X-ray observatory is the biggest space observatory ever built in Europe. Weighing 3.8 tonnes at launch,…
The first test satellite in Europe’s Galileo navigation system was launched in December 2005, followed by a second…
Like living things, stars grow old and die. But heavyweight stars don’t fade away quietly. Instead, they go…
The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is the most famous – and probably most successful – space observatory ever…
Jupiter is the largest planet in our Solar System and is remarkably different to our home planet, Earth.…
After more than 4 years of scanning the sky to look back to the beginning of time, the…
ESA satellites have been studying Earth since the 1970s. The most important of these was Envisat, the largest…
On 14 May 2009, two of the most sensitive space observatories ever built were launched from Kourou in…
ESA has given the final go-ahead for Euclid, an exciting new mission to explore the dark side of…
The launch of Europe’s latest weather satellite is only months away. Two Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) satellites are…
Have you ever wondered where the astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) are right now? What about…
All the satellite test areas at ESTEC are cleaner than a hospital operating theatre, so they are called…
Outer space is extremely hostile. Spacecraft have to survive extremes of hot and cold, radiation, magnetic fields, meteorites,…
Do you want to know whether it will rain on your picnic or be sunny for your day…
A spacecraft is a machine designed to be put into space. They can be used for observing the…
Spacecraft come in many shapes and sizes. They perform many different jobs. Unlike cars, it is rare to…
A car without wheels or an engine is of little value. In the same way, there are certain…
Over the last 40 years, satellites have become increasingly powerful and able to perform many different roles. Most…
Most ESA spacecraft are tested at the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in the Netherlands. The…
The weather can suddenly change for the worse, so it is vital that forecasters receive continuous updates from…
Europe has its own weather satellites, called Meteosat. The first Meteosat was launched by ESA into geostationary orbit,…
Until now, nearly all space missions have used rocket motors that feed on chemical fuel. Unfortunately, these are…
