The latest student teams to perform their ESA Academy experiments at @esa.int’s robotics labs: 🦾 tested autonomous crawling ⚖️ tricked the human body’s balance system 🦎 grasped objects with a gecko-inspired arm Read more 👉 www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup...

We shouldn’t have favourite missions…but we all secretly do, don’t we? 😉

👀 Our eyes on the Sun’s inner corona, that’s Proba-3! In a 5-hour window, the formation-flying mission captured not 1… not 2… but 3 solar prominence eruptions – structures made of relatively cold plasma extending outwards from the Sun ☀️👉 www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...

Celeste is on the way, testing ways of making Galileo #satnav even better! These low-orbiting test satellites are part of ESA’s FutureNAV programme – get the full background in our latest ESA Highlights publication: www.esa.int/About_Us/ESA...

🛰️🚀 Ever wanted to visit a place where satellites and rockets are tested before they are sent to space? Now you can do the next best thing! Take a peek inside the walls of @esa.int’s Test Centre at ESTEC through the recently updated virtual tour 👀 www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...

🔭 Until now, observing the inner regions of the Sun’s enigmatic atmosphere – the corona – was close to impossible. 🛰️🛰️☀️ The satellite duo making up @esa.int’s Proba-3 mission fills this observation gap by creating artificial solar eclipses in orbit 👉 www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup...

Time-lapse of a section of aircraft wing 3D printed in plastic. Wren Aerospace – based at ESA’s Business Incubation Centre Noordwijk – is developing uncrewed aircraft to perform satellite-like communication or observation functions while loitering in the stratosphere www.wrenaerospace.com

Check out ESA 2025 highlights, including our eclipse-making Proba-3 mission, here 👇

🚯 To clean up orbits around Earth, we first need to identify and approach individual pieces of space debris. 🛰️ Two companies from Luxembourg are developing the eyes 👀 for satellites to be able to do just that 👉 www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...

🟥 Rolling out the red carpet for Mars exploration takes a couple of hinges. ⚙️ Here's the mechanism that will allow @esa.int's ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover to step onto the martian surface. 👉🔗 How it works: www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...

📢 🎧 New podcast alert! @esa.int’s Discovery and Preparation programme supports research that pushes boundaries of what’s possible – and now the team are sharing the innovation stories through a new podcast series. Listen to the first episode here 👉 open.spotify.com/episode/72VH...

☀️ Lessons from the November 2025 solar storm Last week, Earth was hit by a large solar storm. The event provided an opportunity for multiple ESA missions, whether orbiting Earth or far into deep space, to collect radiation data, which is now being analysed. www.esa.int/Space_Safety...

⭐️This is Goal 4: Boost European competitiveness and growth. Decisions made during #CM25 will advance our Strategy 2040, which focuses on five goals to show how important space is for European citizens. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc9r...

⭐️This is Goal 3: Strengthen European autonomy and resilience Decisions made during #CM25 will advance our Strategy 2040, which focuses on five goals to show how important space is for European citizens. www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVGe...

Let’s show the world what a united Europe can achieve. Discover what's at stake at ESA's Council at Ministerial Level 2025, taking place next week in Bremen 👇 www.esa.int/About_Us/Min...

Today is #LGBTQinSTEMDay 🌈 ESA proudly joins the STEM community in celebrating the unique contributions of LGBTQ+ individuals. The Pride Flag will fly across ESA sites as a reminder of how far we’ve come, and how much more there is to do. #SpaceForAll

🔧 Testing space metal 🤘 In February, @esa.int’s engineers received a very special package 📦 Inside was the first metal part 3D-printed in space, coming all the way from the ISS 🛰️ Since the unboxing, the space metal has been through A LOT 👉 www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup...

🏠🌕 To live on the Moon or Mars, we would need technologies that can use local resources to create materials essential for our survival. The University of Bremen explored if the unique conditions of space itself could help us with this 👉 www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup...

🛰️ Our current radio frequency ‘highways’ that carry information to and from satellites are getting congested. 📡 @thalesaleniaspace.bsky.social develops key building blocks for next-generation antennas operating at a very special frequency that can offer more bandwidth 👉 www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...

Booooo!! 👻 It’s #SpookySeason! Can you guess what's making this candle's flame flicker? 🕯️ Is it... a) ghost b) microgravity We know it’s tricky, so we’re treating you to the answer 🎃 www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed... Happy #Halloween! 🦇

What if Old McDonald had a farm… on the Moon? 🚜 🌕 In a recent activity supported by @esa.int, a Norwegian research team looked into how we could create fertiliser using nutrients from lunar soil to grow plants on the Moon 👉 www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup...

🛰️ @esa.int’s first stand-alone deep-space CubeSat #Henon takes shape! ⚡A tailor-made propulsion system will take this small but mighty satellite into an orbit around the Sun, where the CubeSat will detect solar storms, improving our current warning time ☀️ www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup...

#MediaInvitation: journalists are invited to an information session after the ESA Council meeting this week. The briefing starts at 15:00 BST/16:00 CEST, 23 October. Details and registration 👇 www.esa.int/Newsroom/Pre... @josefaschbacher.esa.int @krpoun.bsky.social

#OnThisDay 30 years ago - 20 October 1995 - ESA astronaut Thomas Reiter performed the first ESA spacewalk, during his Euromir mission to the Mir space station 🧑‍🚀🚶 Check out our ESA Delivers brochure for ESA's 50 milestone achievements during our first half century 👉 www.esa.int/About_Us/ESA...

🌏@esa.int’s upcoming FORUM mission will address a major gap in climate monitoring by measuring Earth’s outgoing radiation 📏 🔧⚙️ To make its ambitious goal possible, scientists from the National Metrology Institute of Germany PTB have calibrated a very important device 👉 www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup...

Happy launch anniversary to ESA's Hera mission! 🎂🥳 One year ago ESA's first planetary defence mission was stranded on Earth, its launcher grounded, as a hurricane closed in on its launch site. What a difference a year makes! www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...

🛰️🖥️ Training new operators for the Large Space Simulator, Europe’s largest vacuum chamber, used to be tricky… but not anymore! The simulator recently got a digital twin - a very realistic virtual model - which will serve as a training tool and much more 👉 www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup...

🔴Moving around on Mars is tricky - its surface can be too rocky for a rover in one place, and too smooth for the navigation of a drone in another😬 During his internship with @esa.int, a robotics student investigated what would happen if a rover and a drone teamed up 🤖 🫱🏽‍🫲🏻 🚁 www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup...

📍🌕 Landing a spacecraft on the Moon with pinpoint precision while relying on ground-based tracking systems is complex and costly. A recent PhD project, co-funded by @esa.int, @dlr-en.bsky.social and OHB explored how we could teach spacecraft to find their own way 🧭🛰️ 👉 www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup...

💪🏼🦴 Muscle weakening and bone density loss – side effects of microgravity bear many similarities to ageing 🚀👵🏽 A student from TU Delft and VU Amsterdam compared effects of ageing with those of altered gravity from a cellular perspective during her internship at @esa.int 👉 www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup...

Welcome to ESTEC, Plato 👋 Good luck with all your tests! 🤞

🚨 Breaking news! 🚨 The first 7000 tickets for the ESA ESTEC Open Day were gone in just 5 hours! 🎟️✨ ⏰ The next batch will open today at 14:00 - so set your timers! 👉 www.esa.int/About_Us/ESA...

🚀 Registration is now OPEN for ESTEC Open Day – General Public Day! 📅 Sunday, 12 October 📍 ESA ESTEC, Noordwijk, the Netherlands 🔓 Register now ➡️ www.esa.int/About_Us/ESA... 🎟️ Entry is free, but spots fill up fast - claim yours now! Let’s explore space together! 🌍🧑‍🚀 #ESAOpenDay #50YearsOfESA

🌈 What an unforgettable day at Leiden Canal Pride Parade 2025! 🌈 A huge thank you to everyone who came out to cheer, dance, and celebrate with us on the canals of Leiden. The energy, love, and joy were absolutely contagious! 🫶 Space for all ❤️ #canalprideleiden #prideleiden #pride

Tomorrow’s the day! 🚀 On Monday 8 September, registration opens for the ESA ESTEC Open Day! Don’t miss your once-a-year chance to explore space up close – including a special look at the Plato mission, ESA’s upcoming planet-hunting spacecraft 🌌🔭 #ESAOpenDay #50YearsOfESA #NLSW25 #NLSpace #SpaceRocks

Only 2️⃣ days until registration opens for ESA ESTEC Open Day! 🚀 Bring your questions, your family, and your curiosity - and meet astronauts who have flown to space, as well as those preparing for future missions 🌍👩🏽‍🚀 #ESAOpenDay #50YearsOfESA #NLSW25 #NLSpace #SpaceRocks #NetherlandsSpace #NSO

Only 3️⃣ days until registration opens for ESA ESTEC Open Day! 🚀 Get ready to meet the minds behind ESA’s missions, dive into hands-on science, and enjoy an out-of-this-world experience with our partner @spacerocksofficial.bsky.social! 🌌 #ESAOpenDay #50YearsOfESA #SpaceRocks #NSO

🌈 We’re thrilled to announce that ESA ESTEC, our technical heart in the Netherlands, will join the Leiden Canal Pride Parade this Saturday at 13:30 CEST! 🚣🏾‍♀️ 🏳️‍🌈 Come cheer us on and let’s celebrate diversity together! #SpaceForAll ❤️ #canalprideleiden #prideleiden #pride

🚀 The ESA ESTEC Open Day is almost here! Over the years, thousands of curious minds have joined us to explore the future of space... and this year we're inviting them again! Registration opens in 4 days! 📅 Monday 8 September

Today at #ESTEC in 🇳🇱 we celebrate 30 years of ESA Navigation activities, which resulted in the world's most accurate satellite navigation system, Galileo - one of our 50 hallmark achievements in our 50 year anniversary! www.esa.int/About_Us/ESA...

✅ Registration is now open for #ESAOpenDays (11 October, Disability Access Day) at ESA ESTEC 👇 (note: General Public Day registration opens 8 Sept.)

🚀 Get ready for ESA ESTEC Open Days! We’re proud to host a dedicated day for people with disabilities and special needs. 📅11 Oct. – People with a disability (registration opens 18 Aug.) 📅12 Oct. – General public (registration opens 8 Sept.) 📍Noordwijk 🇳🇱 📲Stay tuned #ESAOpenDay #50YearsOfESA

ESA's Hera mission has spotted its first asteroids! Hera is on the way to the Didymos binary asteroid system to explore the aftermath of humankind's first attempt to move an asteroid. Though faint, these observations are very encouraging for the performance of Hera's camera.

Happy #InternationalCatDay from Micky, our very own space cat! 😸 🚀 This cuddly furball resides at ESTEC, ESA’s technology centre in the Netherlands, where he accepts pets and scratches from engineers taking a paws from their busy day 🐾🐈 99estec-objects.esa.int/object-items...

🚀 Europe’s new CO2 monitoring mission, MicroCarb, launched on Vega-C last weekend, ready to map the world’s main sources and sinks of this greenhouse gas 🌏👉 www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup... @transport.esa.int @cnes.fr @eumetsat.int @ec.europa.eu @thalesaleniaspace.bsky.social @ukspaceagency.bsky.social

🤖 Meet Olympus – a four-legged robot that recently jumped from wall to wall at @esa.int’s robotics laboratory in conditions simulating the low gravity of Mars 🔴 👉 www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup...

🚀Meet INVICTUS – Europe’s new hypersonic test platform. We have joined forces with UK-based Frazer-Nash to kick off INVICTUS, a research programme with the goal of developing hypersonic technologies applicable to future reusable vehicles capable of horizontal launch. ▶️ esa.int/Enabling_Sup...

📢 You are invited to the 7th @esa.int #Quantum Technology Conference, the hub for European institutions, space industry, and academia involved in quantum technologies for space! 📅 7-9 October in Crete, Greece @forth-ite.bsky.social. Early bird registration open: nikal.eventsair.com/7th-quantum-...

🎂🚀 #OTD 1 year ago, Ariane 6 lifted off for its inaugural flight. On board was YPSat-1, a mission fully developed by @esa.int’s young professionals. Attached to the rocket’s upper stage, it delivered stunning images from the historic flight 📸👉 www.youtube.com/watch?v=mH-N...

🥇 🎉 A team from Delft University of Technology has taken first place at the A2RL autonomous drone racing championship in Abu Dhabi earlier this year, dominating the competition thanks to neural network-based AI originally developed by the @esa.int Advanced Concepts Team 👉 www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup...