ESA Science & Technology - Science & Technology
Latest News
Latest News
Voyage 2050 sets sail: ESA chooses future science mission themes
ESA's large-class science missions for the timeframe 2035-2050 will focus on moons of the giant Solar System planets, temperate exoplanets or the galactic ecosystem, and new physical probes of the early Universe.
ESA selects revolutionary Venus mission EnVision
EnVision will be ESA's next Venus orbiter, providing a holistic view of the planet from its inner core to upper atmosphere to determine how and why Venus and Earth evolved so differently.
12 rare Einstein crosses discovered with Gaia
Thanks to ESA's star mapping spacecraft Gaia and machine learning, astronomers have discovered 12 quasars whose light is so strongly deflected by foreground galaxies that they are each visible as four distinct images, called an 'Einstein cross'.
Selection of the first James Webb Space Telescope General Observer Scientific Programmes
The General Observer scientific observations for the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope's first year of operation have been selected. Proposals from ESA member states comprise 33% of the total number of selected proposals and correspond to 30% of the available telescope time on Webb.
Planet-hunting eye of PLATO
Key technology for ESA's exoplanet-hunting PLATO spacecraft has passed a trial by vacuum to prove the mission will work as planned. This test replica of an 80-cm high, 12-cm aperture camera spent 17 days inside a thermal vacuum chamber.
Latest Announcements
Latest Announcements
CHEOPS AO-2 Programmes
Observing time on CHEOPS in the Guest Observers Programme has been awarded to nine proposals received in response to the CHEOPS second Announcement of Opportunity (AO-2).
SPICA no longer candidate for ESA's M5 mission selection
The European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency's Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS/JAXA) have announced their decision to no longer consider the infrared space observatory, SPICA, as a candidate for the upcoming selection as ESA's 5th medium-class mission in its Cosmic Vision...
Extended operations confirmed for science missions
ESA's Science Programme Committee has confirmed the continued operations of five missions led by ESA's Science Programme: Cluster, Gaia, INTEGRAL, Mars Express, and XMM-Newton, from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2022. The SPC also confirmed the Science Programme's contributions to the extended operations of Hinode, Hubble Space Telescope,...
CHEOPS Discretionary Programme is now open
Proposals are invited for the CHEOPS Discretionary Programme, an element of the Guest Observers Programme which enables scientists to propose observations of individual targets that have been discovered, or declared to be of high scientific merit, since the close of AO-1 back in mid-May 2019.
Spacecraft Testing
Spacecraft Testing
#8: Successful integration of JUICE's 10.6-metre-long arm
The development of ESA's JUpiter ICy moons Explorer (JUICE) is continuing apace and has hit milestones in recent months: the spacecraft's 10.6-metre-long boom is now attached, many instruments have been integrated, and the mission's high-gain antenna has arrived and undergone rigorous vibration testing.
#7: All panels delivered for JUICE's solar wings
All ten flight model solar panels for ESA's JUICE spacecraft have been delivered to Airbus Defence and Space Netherlands ready to be integrated into solar wings. The solar panels, with a total area of 85 m², are a key element of the mission, providing the necessary power to run the spacecraft and operate the science instruments.
#6: Start of assembly and integration for JUICE
Despite certain operational difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the assembly and integration of the flight model for ESA's JUpiter ICy moons Explorer (JUICE) spacecraft has continued with few delays during the first six months of the year.
Watch online
Watch online
Replay: Solar Orbiter first image release
Watch a replay of the press briefing from 16 July with Solar Orbiter mission experts, who presented the unique first images from ESA's new Sun-observing spacecraft.
