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End of an aurora

After three days chasing the elusive aurora and learning about space weather and its impact on our lives, we say good-bye – and thank you! – to the #AuroraHunters

Protecting our Planet

OUT NOW: ESA's brand-new poster series explores the Agency's mission to protect our Pale Blue Dot...

New collection

Rain or shine, the ESAshop has what you need. Check out our latest 'space weather' collection. With 15% off orders between 3-5 March - it won't burn a hole in your pocket!

Antennas and auroras

Space Science Image of the Week: Rippling auroras dance through the sky above radar antennas that explore space weather effects

Solar hazards

Operations image of the week: The International Space Station transits the Sun, reminding us that our enormous star can affect the people and technology in space

Solar swirls

Operations image of the week: Geomagnetic activity caused by our star recently created a stir in the skies over Iceland, resulting in the seeming electrification of the night and a reminder of the immense power of our star...

Tough love

Operations image of the week: On Valentine's Day, the message is clear - loving our planet means cleaning it up, and that includes the orbital pathways on which much of our modern way of life depends

ESA's detection expertise

What's the difference between monitoring asteroids in space and debris in orbit? As part of ESA's Space Safety & Security activities, the Agency brings together experts in natural and artificial object detection

Watch the replay!

Watch the plenary and opening discussion from ESA's first-ever joint asteroid and debris detection conference, 'Exploiting Synergies', held on 22 January

The one that got away

Operations image of the week: High above the majestic 'Dirdle Door' rock formation in Dorset, comet 46P/Wirtanen hurries by – an alien rock formation once destined to be visited by ESA's Rosetta mission

Space weather 'piggyback'

Operations image of the week: An ESA-funded instrument is now in orbit on a South Korean satellite, helping boost Europe’s space weather information network

Wary of solar hazards

ESA is working to make Europe more resilient to 'space weather' and its effects on really vital things we all use every day, like satellites and power grids

Discussing a hot topic

This week marks the biggest annual event in the space weather calender — European Space Weather Week. Find out what space weather is, its hazards, and what ESA is doing about it, in the latest from ESA Web TV

Keeping watch

ESA's future Lagrange mission will keep watch our our dynamic Sun, providing early warning of potentially harmful solar activity before it affects satellites in orbit or power grids on ground

Latest News

ESA's future Lagrange mission will constantly monitor our active Sun, delivering real-time space weather warning data

ESA’s space weather mission to be protected against stormy Sun05 March 2019

ESA’s space weather mission to be protected against stormy Sun05 March 2019 ESA is planning Earth’s first dedicated space weather observatory to warn of potentially harmful turbulence in our parent star. Like a referee at a sports game, the Lagrange spacecraft will be able to observe both the Sun and Earth as well as the spac...

Space weather kicks up a social storm01 March 2019

Space weather kicks up a social storm01 March 2019 One of the most visible — and fabulously beautiful — effects of this 'space weather' on our planet are the aurora borealis, the famous 'northern lights' that dance across the high (and low) latitudes.

Close encounters: planning for extra Hera flyby20 February 2019

Close encounters: planning for extra Hera flyby20 February 2019 ESA’s proposed Hera mission will already visit two asteroids: the Didymos binary pair. The Hera team hopes to boost that number by performing a flyby of another asteroid during the mission’s three-year flight.

Hundreds of impacts crater ESA’s Columbus science laboratory23 January 2019

Hundreds of impacts crater ESA’s Columbus science laboratory23 January 2019 On 6 September 2018, the 17-metre arm attached to humankind’s most distant outpost began to move. Its instructions were to survey the spaceship’s European science laboratory for signs of impact damage from marauding bits of space rock or space debris.

Join the #AuroraHunters17 January 2019

Join the #AuroraHunters17 January 2019 It’s difficult to comprehend the size and sheer power of our Sun, a churning ball of hot gas 4.6 billion years old and 1.3 million times larger than Earth, which emits solar wind — the constant stream of electrons, protons and atomic particles — and r...

CubeSats joining Hera mission to asteroid system07 January 2019

CubeSats joining Hera mission to asteroid system07 January 2019 When ESA’s planned Hera mission journeys to its target binary asteroid system, it will not be alone. The spacecraft will carry two tiny CubeSats for deployment around – and eventual landing on – the Didymos asteroids. Each companion spacecraft will be...

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