ESA Operations
@operations.esa.int
From Earth orbit to deep space: sharing the excitement of real-time mission operations at the European Space Agency. Home for ESA's teams working on Planetary Defence, Space Weather, Clean Space & Space Debris. esa.int/Operations esa.int/Space_Safety
🚨 OPEN CALL: Run your code in deep space! For the first time, we are opening access to a living mission. We’ll be turning our Hera asteroid mission into a flying software lab 150M km from Earth. Open to AI, robotics, gaming, etc! 💻 Submit your idea 👉 t.co/Sn54Xne6Oz
The Incredible Adventures of the Hera Mission - episode 3 - this one covered the then imminent impact by NASA's DART mission with the Dimorphos asteroid to deflect its orbit (spoiler: it worked!) 🎆🪨To be continued... www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...
The Incredible Adventures of the Hera Mission - episode 2 - the Curious Case of the Missing Planet, OR, a brief history of asteroid discoveries... 🔭To be continued... www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...
The Incredible Adventures of the Hera mission - episode 1 - where it all began! Our animated introduction to ESA's asteroid mission, on course to reach its destination this autumn🪨To be continued...! www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...
#BepiColombo is approaching Mercury 🛰️🌑☀️ And we’re here for it! 🙌 On 3 September, the @esa.int / #JAXA mission will carry out its first arrival manoeuvre, kicking off the Mercury Arrival Phase. Want to watch live on 3 Sept? ️️Stay tuned here and on @science.esa.int for more details on 27 August 🗓️
🚀 One rocket. Two spacecraft. So much more than a dual launch! Stay tuned for updates as experts at @esa.int's #ESOC prepare to support #FLEX and #Copernicus #Sentinel-3C, kicking off an exciting new chapter for esaearth.esa.int!
ESA Earth Observation@esaearth.esa.int · 6d agoNot one, but two satellites will soon be on their way to orbit 🚀 On 15 September at 03:21 CEST/02:21 BST (14 September at 22:21 local time), @esa.int’s FLEX mission and Copernicus Sentinel-3C are set to launch together from Europe’s Spaceport aboard a Vega-C rocket. 📷ESA/ATG medialab
What if a #solareclipse could help us forecast space weather? ☀️🌚🔮 Click here to read the full story 👉 www.esa.int/Space_Safety...
A high-velocity meteor that exploded high above the South Atlantic off the coast of Argentina in April was detected by lightning imagers aboard European and US weather satellites. Their observations are helping to pin down its likely origin: www.esa.int/Space_Safety...
Step 1 in effective planetary defence is reconnaissance- meaning flying to assess incoming asteroids ASAP. ESA’s Ramses will break records for an asteroid mission, from design to arrival in 3.5 years. Our new project seeks out ways future missions might get even faster: www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup...
Hera's space odyssey across the cosmos is underway! Much like Odysseus learned the mysteries of his world, #Hera too will probe the possibilities of our universe and its celestial bodies. Learn more about why so many space missions are connected to Greek mythology here: www.esa.int/Space_Safety...
🪐 Every space mission starts with a question: how do we get there? At @esa.int’s ESOC, a new generation of software is helping answer it: the Advanced Mission Analysis Toolbox (AMAT). 🔗 Learn more about how ESA designs missions before countdown begins: www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup... 📷ESA
#OnThisDay: 10 July 2010, the OSIRIS instrument on ESA's Rosetta Mission comet-chasing spacecraft captured this spectacular image of the asteroid #Lutetia at the moment of closest approach: a distance of just 3162 km! 🧪🔭 🔗 esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2010/07/Lutetia_at_closest_approach
🗣️ “it feels like rehearsing the final act while the show is still running." As @esa.int / #JAXA #BepiColombo prepares for #MercuryArrival, simulations are already underway – all while continuing to fly the spacecraft. 🛰️ Read more here 👉 www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup... @science.esa.int
Training while flying: Inside BepiColombo's arrival simulations
esa.int
Operating across 140 million km of space from ESOC's Interplanetary Control Room (left), ESA’s Hera mission team has upgraded the software running the spacecraft - leaving it ready to explore the distant Dimorphos and Didymos asteroids this autumn www.esa.int/Space_Safety...
Welcome to the Golden Age of 🪨Asteroid Exploration! 10 missions and 1 event every asteroid fan needs to know (number 6 steals the show!)...
Views of 2 new asteroids! ESA's Hera team congratulates JAXA's Hayabusa2 for flying by 450-m Torifune (l) and the China National Space Administration's Tianwen2 for reaching tiny 18-m Kamoʻoalewa (r). Hera makes it to Dimorphos this autumn - the 1st asteroid to have been changed by human action!
The European Space Agency has contracted Spanish company EMXYS for the first CubeSat designed to operate on an asteroid's surface. Don Quijote will be deployed by ESA's Ramses mission onto asteroid Apophis as it passes close by Earth on Friday 13 April 2029 www.esa.int/Space_Safety...
Asteroids regularly slam into Earth, but in 2022 a little bit of Earth slammed into an asteroid - in the shape of NASA's DART spacecraft hitting Dimorphos. This autumn ESA's Hera spacecraft reaches this same body to try and find out: could we save Earth from an incoming asteroid? #AsteroidDay
🚨🪨🚨Special announcement for Asteroid Day: The UN has designated 2029 as the International Year of Asteroid Awareness and Planetary Defence. This is the year the cruise-liner-scale Apophis asteroid flies past Earth, visible to more than 2 billion pairs of eyes. New website launched! asteroids2029.org
#Copernicus #Sentinel 1A has concluded its operations, closing a remarkable chapter for @esaearth.esa.int and operations teams at @esa.int’s #ESOC. Now, the mission’s legacy continues with Sentinel-1C and -1D. So long, Sentinel-1A – and thanks for all the fish! 🐠 🎥 ESA/ATG medialab
Humans changed an 🪨asteroid - now we find out how! Especially for Asteroid Day,🎥watch the full story so far of our Hera mission 🛰️, on its way thru deep space to probe the first Solar System body transformed by human action 💥: www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...
Humans changed an asteroid. Now we find out how
esa.int
Want to know about our Hera asteroid mission for🪨Asteroid Day, which is on its way to the 1st asteroid changed by human action? Watch our cartoon series, starting here 👉 www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...
The Incredible Adventures of the Hera mission – Presenting Hera
esa.int
Happy #AsteroidDay! 🪨 But why today of all days? Find out here, along with eight other key dates in asteroid history! 👉 www.esa.int/Space_Safety...
It's hot outside, and the 1-km-scale asteroid (152637) 1997 NC1 flies by at lunchtime. Why not stay in and follow the Asteroid Day Festival, live from Luxembourg? Bringing together astronauts, asteroid experts and space mission engineers, the action starts at 10 am: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Faco...
Asteroid Day Festival 2026
YouTube video by Asteroid Day
youtube.com
Asteroid (152637) 1997 NC1 flies past Earth on Saturday – great advertising for this weekend’s Asteroid Day festival! After a Friday evening astronomy session, Saturday's all day event includes astronauts, asteroid experts and mission engineers. Watch it live here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Faco...
Asteroid Day Festival 2026
YouTube video by Asteroid Day
youtube.com
The backbone of ESA's Ramses asteroid mission is now standing tall in its Bremen cleanroom. From here on in the mission is being developed as two halves in parallel, to ensure Ramses makes its spring 2028 launch deadline: www.esa.int/Space_Safety...
Blue thrusters off – cruise phase ending. 🛰️💙📴 @esa.int & #JAXA ’s #BepiColombo has switched off its solar electric propulsion. What’s next? 👀 The start of #Mercury arrival in September! Read more here 👉 www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup... @science.esa.int
🪨Asteroid (152637) 1997 NC1, as monitored by ESA's Planetary Defence team, makes a close approach to Earth this Saturday that could be visible to small telescopes 🔭 esa.int/ESA_Multimed...
🌕 Step inside a virtual Moonscape Colleagues at @esa.int are excited to present EXPOSE (EXpert Operation Simulation Environment). A real-time #DigitalTwin, EXPOSE creates a fully interactive & immersive environment to rehearse lunar surface operations. 🎥 ESA EXPOSE Teams & Telespazio Germany
