🪱 The inchworm might not be the first thing that springs to mind when you think of planetary exploration – but their elegant crawling inspired researchers to develop a new type of space robot! 🤖 www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup...

An ExoMars mini-capsule is back at @esa.int after surviving aerodynamic tests, free-flying at 4300 km per hour. Met a curious robot. Talked of Mars and the Rosalind Franklin rover... www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...

Walking on the Moon, operating a spacecraft, or floating aboard the International Space Station… from the comfort of your home planet? 🤔 @esa.int is using Extended Reality to do just that! 👓 www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup...

#MayTheFourthBeWithYou! Speaking of Y-wings, today at ESA ESTEC test centre, engineers deploy Plato’s Y-wing solar panels. While Plato may not be carrying a hyperdrive or an astromech droid, it will ‘use the Flux’ to detect brightness dips caused by transiting exoplanets. Happy #StarWarsDay!

Dear bakers, the judges would like you to decontaminate a parachute that will land on Mars. 🪂🔴 On your marks, get set… bake! 1️⃣ Place your parachute into an oven 2️⃣ Set the oven to 125°C for ~50 hours 3️⃣ When the centre of the parachute reaches 125°C, continue to bake for 36 hours

When you rub a balloon on your hair, electrostatic forces make the two stick together🎈 🫴 A new device by the Italian start-up Adaptronics works on a similar principle to capture objects in space: www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...

🌕 Electronics from moondust: a new ESA Discovery project led by the Danish Technological Institute is studying how lunar soil could be transformed into printable circuits, enabling in‑situ repair and manufacturing on the Moon. 🧪🔭 🔗 www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup...

🛰️ @esa.int’s Navigation Lab at ESTEC, the agency’s technical centre, received the first successful transmission of a navigation signal from a European satellite in low Earth orbit! It came from @navigation.esa.int’s Celeste mission 👉 www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...

The first Proba-3 science results are in! ☀️🏃‍♀️‍➡️🏃‍♀️‍➡️🏃‍♀️‍➡️ Close to the Sun, it spotted solar wind moving 3–4 times faster than expected Curious? 👉 www.esa.int/Science_Expl... @orb-ksb.bsky.social @technology.esa.int

Congratulations @exploration.esa.int! 🌒🚀 Europe is proud to have enabled #Artemis II with the European Service Module - delivering propulsion, power and life support for Orion and its crew. Built by European industry and monitored 24/7 by ESA teams, the ESM is a strong example of ESA technologies.

The task of an attitude control system is to make sure a spacecraft points exactly where it needs to 🛰️🫵 In the case of CubeSpec, that target will be a star ✨ Learn more about how we make sure this pointing instrument is as accurate as possible 👉 www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...

Graphene lights the way. Literally. Watch how aerogel cubes made of graphene react to light in microgravity. This innovative material could revolutionise propulsion beyond Earth. 🚀 www.esa.int/Science_Expl...

🤏 Hidden inside this tiny chip developed by IMST is an innovation that enables the deployment of next‑generation satellites carrying either digital communications, Earth observation, or navigation payloads 🛰️🌏🧭 www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...

ETO and ESA have launched a collaboration on cost estimation for the Einstein Telescope, formalised in January 2026. A meeting at ESTEC on 24 March marked its strategic start. Read the interview: shorturl.at/rjnUo #EinsteinTelescope #ESA @technology.esa.int

💼 ESA recruits: from mechanical engineering to life sciences, @esa.int will publish more than 400 job opportunities in 2026! Find out more about who we are looking for in the latest newsletter 👇 www.linkedin.com/pulse/esa-re...

👩🏾‍🚀 Retired NASA astronaut Jeanette Epps visited ESTEC, @esa.int’s technical centre in the Netherlands! Jeanette supported many ESA projects during her time at the International Space Station: www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...

Some satellite navigation antennas offer protection from the most common types of interference, but are bulky and expensive. PhD researcher at ESA’s Navigation Laboratory explored a simpler and cheaper alternative: a football-sized, 3D-printed lens antenna ⚽📡 www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup...

Scientists have been exploring how GPS and Galileo reflected signals can help monitor sea ice, using innovative data from @spire.com. A promising new way to observe our rapidly changing polar regions: 🔗 earth.esa.int/eogateway/su...

At @esa.int’s technical centre, student teams have been getting familiar with the Orbital Robotics Laboratory facilities. 🤖 This is part of the ESA Academy Experiments programme, where students from all over Europe can apply to conduct their research at ESA. 🔎 www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...

📢 Final call for ESA Graduate Trainee Scheme (EGT Programme)! Apply now: jobs.esa.int Curious about life as an ESA #EGT? 🤔 Here’s what some of our current TEC graduates have to say: www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

On 17 February, there was an annular solar eclipse visible only from Antarctica… and from space! 👇ESA’s Proba-2 satellite recorded the same eclipse no less than four times as it whizzed round Earth! 📷Credit: ESA/Royal Observatory of Belgium

🚐 This laboratory on wheels is used mainly for the testing of advanced Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTNs) by @esaconnectivity.esa.int📡Antenna on the roof, 📻 interior featuring radio equipment, 🔋 batteries and power generators… more about the van’s adventures here 👉 www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...

A romantic candlelit dinner... in space? 🕯️🍽️🌹 Sounds great, if ‘spooky’ is the vibe you’re going for 👻 Happy #ValentinesDay ❤️

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...