ESA Observing the Earth

ESA’s Aeolus wind satellite launched

ESA’s Earth Explorer Aeolus satellite has been launched into polar orbit on a Vega rocket. Using revolutionary laser technology, Aeolus will measure winds around the globe and play a key role in our quest to better understand the workings of our atmosphere. Importantly, this novel mission will also improve weather forecasting.

Liftoff replay

Liftoff replay

Watch Aeolus launch

24-hour weather delay

Aeolus teams ready for space

The teams responsible for flying the Aeolus satellite completed a pre-launch ‘dress rehearsal’ at ESA’s ESOC operations centre in Darmstadt today, the last major step in getting ready for next Tuesday’s liftoff.

Watch Aeolus launch

Watch Aeolus launch

Weather and winds

Aeolus in launch tower

ESA’s Aeolus wind satellite is poised for liftoff from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. This latest Earth Explorer satellite has been at the launch site since early July being readied for its ride into space on 21 August at 21:20 GMT (23:20 CEST).

Talking Earth science

Call for media

Aeolus sealed from view

As preparations for the launch of ESA’s latest Earth Explorer continue on track, the team at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana has bid farewell to the Aeolus satellite as it was sealed from view in its Vega rocket fairing. Liftoff is set for 21 August at 21:20 GMT (23:20 CEST).

Wind satellite fuelled for flight

With liftoff less than three weeks away, ESA’s Aeolus satellite has been fuelled and is almost ready to be sealed within its Vega rocket fairing.

Berlin bakes

Berlin bakes

Sentinel-1 maps flash floods in Laos

Copernicus Sentinel-1 data are highlighting the collapse of the Xe-Pian Xe-Namnoy dam in the southeastern province of Attapeu in Laos. The collapse has led to flash floods that have claimed several lives and left many more people missing, according to local news reports.

Summer school live

Summer school live

Sharm El Sheikh

Earth from Space

Earth from Space

Earth from Space

Green to brown

Denmark scorched

Calling #EarthGroupies

Sweden in flames

Valencia

Earth from Space

Shape the future

Teenage Earth observer

Looming iceberg

It’s all go in summer for Greenland’s glaciers

The Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission has revealed that, on average, Greenland’s glaciers are now flowing more slowly into the Arctic Ocean. While glacial flow may have slowed overall, in summer glaciers flow 25% faster than they do in the winter.

Shanghai

Earth from Space

Copernicus Sentinel-5P releases first data

Following months of tests and careful evaluation, the first data on air pollutants from the Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite have been released. These first maps show a range of trace gases that affect air quality such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and ozone.

Earth from Space

MetOp-C launch campaign kicks off

The MetOp-C launch campaign has kicked off with the first of three Antonovs landing at Cayenne Airport, French Guiana on 20 June.

Understanding winds

Full steam ahead for Aeolus launch

Having set sail from France on 15 June - Global Wind Day, ESA’s Aeolus wind satellite has arrived safe and sound at the launch site in French Guiana.

Reykjavik

Earth from Space

Australian crater

Earth from Space

Space App Camp

Earth’s squishy interior gives rapid rise to Antarctica

Parts of Earth’s crust are rising very slowly owing to post-glacial rebound, but using GPS, researchers have found that West Antarctica is rising faster than almost anywhere else in the world. And, ESA’s GOCE gravity mission has, in turn, helped them to understand that the mantle below is unusually fluid.

Earth from Space

Lake Huron

Copernicus 20 years on

This week marks 20 years since the manifesto was signed that gave rise to Europe’s Copernicus environmental programme. With seven Sentinel satellites already in orbit delivering terabytes of data every day, Copernicus is the biggest provider of Earth observation data in the world.

Sentinel-3 flies tandem

The key to monitoring Earth’s changing environment and to guaranteeing a consistent stream of satellite data to improve our daily lives is to take the same measurements over the course of decades. But how do you know that measurements from successive satellites, even though identical in build, are like for like?

Aeolus sets sail

Today is Global Wind Day, which couldn’t be more apt for ESA’s Aeolus wind satellite to begin its voyage to the launch site in French Guiana. And, while almost all satellites journey by aircraft, Aeolus is different, it’s going by ship.

Aeolus sets sail

Today is Global Wind Day, which couldn’t be more apt for ESA’s Aeolus wind satellite to begin its voyage to the launch site in French Guiana. And, while almost all satellites journey by aircraft, Aeolus is different, it’s going by ship.

Earth from Space

Restless Kilauea

Mount Makalu

Antarctica hikes up sea level

In a major collaborative effort, scientists from around the world have used information from satellites to reveal that ice melting in Antarctica has not only raised sea levels by 7.6 mm since 1992, but, critically, almost half of this rise has occurred in the last five years.

Antarctica hikes up sea level

In a major collaborative effort, scientists from around the world have used information from satellites to reveal that ice melting in Antarctica has not only raised sea levels by 7.6 cm since 1992, but, critically, almost half of this rise has occurred in the last five years.

Earth from Space

Hawaii lava flow

Cabo Verde

Earth from space

Wind satellite shows off

Before ESA’s Aeolus satellite is packed up and shipped to French Guiana for liftoff in August, media representatives had the chance to see this wind measuring Earth Explorer satellite standing proud in the cleanroom.

Sicily hotspot

Fuego plume

Fuego plume

Italian Alps and plains

Earth from Space

Call for Media

Sentinel-1 warns of refugee island flood risk

In what the UN describes as the world’s fastest growing refugee crisis, almost 700 000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Myanmar for neighbouring Bangladesh since August 2017. With the Bangladesh government proposing a vulnerable low-lying island as a relocation site for thousands, Sentinel-1 data have shown how unsuitable this site would be.

Sentinel-1 warns of refugee island flood risk

In what the UN describes as the world’s fastest growing refugee crisis, almost
700 000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Myanmar for neighbouring Bangladesh since August 2017. With the Bangladesh government proposing a vulnerable low-lying island as a relocation site for thousands, Sentinel-1 data have shown how unsuitable this site would be.

Living Planet 2019

Sentinels modernise Europe’s agricultural policy

In a move that could benefit around 22 million farmers, the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy has entered the space age. Offering detailed and timely information on crops and farmland, the Copernicus Sentinels are now being used to simplify and modernise this longest-serving EU policy.

Mount Mayon

Earth from space

Sentinel-3B timelapse

Delta diversity

Mont Saint-Michel

Call for Media

New view of Antarctica in 3D

Thanks to ESA’s CryoSat mission, a new map of Antarctica provides the most accurate 3D view ever of the continent’s vast ice sheet and floating ice shelves.

Lake height

Columbia Glacier

Earth from Space

Western Europe

Copernicus Sentinel-3B delivers first images

Less than two weeks after it was launched, the Copernicus Sentinel-3B satellite has delivered its first images of Earth. Exceeding expectations, this first set of images include the sunset over Antarctica, sea ice in the Arctic and a view of northern Europe.

ESA and Vatican work to preserve heritage data

Following an agreement signed in 2016, ESA and the Vatican Apostolic Library have presented the preliminary results on how they are using the same method to manage their respective long-term data preservation projects and how this can create new initiatives.

Emi Koussi

Earth from space

Take part

Glaciers in decline

CryoSat reveals retreat of Patagonian glaciers

While ESA’s CryoSat continues to provide clear insight into how much sea ice is being lost and how the Antarctic and Greenlandic ice sheets are changing, the mission has again surpassed its original scope by revealing exactly how mountain glaciers are also succumbing to change.

CryoSat reveals retreat of Patagonian glaciers

While ESA’s CryoSat continues to provide clear insight into how much sea ice is being lost and how the Antarctic and Greenlandic ice sheets are changing, the mission has again surpassed its original scope by revealing exactly how mountain glaciers are also succumbing to change.

Moon holds key to improving satellite views of Earth

Many Earth observation satellites make use of an added ingredient to ensure reliable, good quality environmental data: the Moon.

Cloud-free Europe

Earth from space

Sentinel-3B highlights

Launch coverage

Launch coverage

United for Copernicus

ESA and SAP look to World Space Alliance

With the launch of Sentinel-3B, the first set of Sentinels for Copernicus is now in orbit delivering an almost mind-boggling amount of data. While this wealth of information advances environmental monitoring, it also opens up huge business opportunities. To help bring these data to market, ESA and SAP have joined forces to create the World Space Alliance.

Seventh Sentinel satellite launched for Copernicus

The second Sentinel-3 satellite, Copernicus Sentinel-3B, was launched today, joining its identical twin Sentinel-3A in orbit. This pairing of satellites increases coverage and data delivery for the European Union’s Copernicus environment programme.

Liftoff replay

Sentinel-3B liftoff

Sentinel-3B liftoff

Watch Sentinel-3B launch

ESA teams ready for space

Tomorrow’s launch of Sentinel-3B will complete the Sentinel-3 constellation and represents the culmination of months of training to fly Europe’s latest Copernicus satellite.

Watch Sentinel-3B launch

Sentinel-3B on launch pad

The next Sentinel satellite for Europe’s environmental monitoring Copernicus programme is poised for liftoff from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in northern Russia.

Science to services

Henderson Island

Earth from Space

Call for media

Meet Sentinel-3

Earth from Space

Sentinel-3B fully tanked

Getting a satellite ready to be launched involves a long list of jobs, but with the Copernicus Sentinel-3B satellite now fuelled, this particular ‘to do’ list is significantly shorter. And, importantly, all is on track for liftoff on 25 April.

Hyderabad

Earth from Space

Swarm turns to whistlers and storms

The batch of new results from ESA’s Swarm mission has not only included the highest-resolution map of the magnetic field generated by Earth’s crust and a map of the tiny magnetic signals from the oceans, but also, remarkably, some unexpected insight into lightning in the upper atmosphere and geomagnetic storms.

Suited and booted

Mediterranean salt

Swarm tracks elusive ocean magnetism

The magnetic field is arguably one of the most mysterious features of our planet. ESA’s Swarm mission is continually yielding more insight into how our protective shield is generated, how it behaves and how it is changing. Adding yet another string to its bow, Swarm is now tracking changes in the magnetic field produced in the oceans in more detail that ever before.