ESA Space Safety

What's the Space Safety programme at European Space Agency - ESA about? This!

?? Join us for the 2025 Zero Debris Week! ?? ? From 10-12 June, ESA will host the Zero Debris Week at the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC). We’re inviting experts and stakeholders from across the space sector to join us in collaboratively tackling one of space’s biggest challenges: ensuring a Zero Debris future. ? This year’s event features: ?? 2nd Zero Debris Future Symposium (10-11 June) – High-level discussions on the future of the Zero Debris initiative, including policy and commercial challenges. ?? Zero Debris Booklet Workshop (11-12 June) – A working session to improve the Zero Debris Booklet and advance the implementation of key technologies. ?? Networking & social activities – Opportunities to connect with leaders in space sustainability. ? The path to a sustainable space environment starts here. Be part of the conversation, shape the solutions, and make your contribution to the Zero Debris effort. ? ?? Register now! https://lnkd.in/edenjpB3 ? #ZeroDebris #SustainableSpace #SpaceSafety

?? Advancing the European capability to mitigate space weather hazards ESA's Space Weather Service network is evolving to offer a better user experience, increasing the wealth of data and capabilities available via the ESA SWE Service Portal. With more than 5700 registered users and on average more than 2 million hits on the service portal monthly, the network provides a robust framework for development, demonstration and testing of service capabilities with end users in the loop. On 6 March, the ESA Space Weather Service Network community of more than 100 participants gathered at the Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy and online to celebrate the end of this latest major development phase and to kick off a 12-month provision extension for the services. ????, ???????? ?????? ???????? ???????????????? ???????? ?????? ???????????? ?????????????????????? ??????????? ?? More than 100 new and updated products have been deployed!? ?? Over 40 events have taken place to strengthen relationships across affected user communities.? ?? New functionalities have been set up, including the ability to ingest new sources of ESA Space Weather data from hosted payloads. It is now possible to get in-situ magnetic field and energetic particle data from instruments onboard 5 satellites as part of ESAs Distributed Space Weather Sensor System (D3S)!? ?? New tools and methodologies have been developed to allow for smoother and more efficient operations also providing added confidence in highly reliable provision targeting >95% availability overall. Work is already ongoing to enable future improved interoperability between individual components and improved user experience. Check out current and upcoming space weather conditions via the ?SWE Service Portal ?? https://swe.ssa.esa.int/ ???????? ?????? ????????: ???????????????? ???????????????? ???? ???????? 2025 Later this year, the ESA Space Weather Service Network Workshop will bring together the wider network, external experts and end users. On the agenda: End user needs, service capability development progress and planning along with core underpinning technology developments. Stay tuned for more information!

? Watch the webcast on the Hera flyby of Mars and feel the excitement of the team and our special guests as they discuss Hera's brand-new images! ?? https://lnkd.in/gdgTbrK8 The science team introduce the first images of Mars and Deimos that Hera made during its Mars flyby. The flyby gives the spacecraft an extra swing towards its destination and provided an opportunity to test some of Hera's instrument before it gets to its target binary asteroid system Didymos. Joining the conversation were various members of the Hera science team, including Sir Brian May the astrophysicist and Queen guitarist, sci-fi author Andy Weir of The Martian and our own ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst!

??Hera’s Mars flyby a great success: stunning first images of Mars and its moon Deimos! While performing the flyby of Mars on 12 March, European Space Agency - ESA’s Hera mission for planetary defence – our first Space Safety mission – successfully made first use of its payload for scientific purposes beyond Earth and the Moon. Full story ?? https://lnkd.in/eFsxsvdu #TheFlyby Activating a trio of instruments, Hera imaged the surface of the red planet as well as the face of Deimos, the smaller and more mysterious of Mars’s two moons. By coming as close as 5000 km away from Mars, the planet’s gravity shifted the spacecraft’s trajectory towards the Didymos binary asteroid, shortening the journey and saving fuel. Hera imaged Deimos from as close as 1000 km away, surveying the less-seen opposite side of the tidally locked moon. Measuring 12.4 km, Deimos might actually be a leftover of a giant impact on Mars or else a captured asteroid. “This has been the Hera team’s first exciting experience of exploration, but not our last,” says ESA Hera mission manager Ian Carnelli. “In 21 months, the spacecraft will reach our target asteroids, and start our crash site investigation of the only object in our Solar System to have had its orbit measurably altered by human action.” #TheImages ?? Hyperscout: The red planet appears light blue in this near-infrared Hyperscout H image from ESA’s Hera spacecraft, with Martian moon Deimos seen ahead of it. ?? Asteroid framing camera (GIF): Deimos appears dark, framed by the brighter planet behind it, as it crosses Mars in the visible light monochromatic Asteroid Framing Camera image. ?? TIRI temperature: Deimos shines much brighter than the red planet beneath it in this Thermal Infrared Imager image. In visible light the opposite is true: the Deimos is much less reflective than the martian surface. Credit: ESA-JAXA: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. All images and details ?? https://lnkd.in/eFsxsvdu ????Huge congratulations to the entire Hera team, especially those at ESA’s mission control, on the successful flyby, we're excited for what's next! ??Hera’s science team, including Sir Brian May, celebrate as the first images come in. Credit: Max Alexander-ESA.?

Our Hera mission's science team are busy processing images returned from today’s Mars flyby – including astrophysicist, stereoscopist & guitarist Sir Brian May seen here with Principal Investigator Prof Patrick Michel. Images to come in tomorrow's livestream at 11:50 CET (10:50 GMT): https://lnkd.in/e9nVuUyM

Space debris: Is it really a crisis? Well, there definitely is enough to talk about! Check out the full programme of the 9th Space Debris Conference in Bonn, 1-4 April: it contains 150 presentations, 100 posters, 4 panel discussions and 2 workshops. Full programme ?? https://lnkd.in/eeFmHGC Organised by ESA’s Space Debris Office, the conference is the largest dedicated gathering about space debris. We are excited to be covering key topics in measuring, modelling, technology, missions and policy. The two workshops will: ?? Explore the viability of active debris removal services by identifying the economic factors involved. ?? Bring together the laser ranging and laser nudging communities. Four panels will address key questions and critical challenges that will shape the future of space debris management: ?? Panel 1: Are space debris mitigation technologies maturing fast enough? ?? Panel 2: What goes up must come down – new challenges in re-entry safety. ?? Panel 3: From Data to Decision – open points for scalable space traffic coordination architectures. ?? Panel 4: Do we have a Lunar space debris issue? And, as this trailer promises, the event will also see the premiere of our brand-new movie ‘Space Debris – Is it really a crisis?’ to properly set the stage for the conference. #EventInShort 9th European Conference on Space Debris ??World Conference Center Bonn, Germany ?? 1-4 April 2025 ? Registration: https://lnkd.in/gcHiNNX ??Check out the full programme: https://lnkd.in/eeFmHGC ??Copyright: ESA

??? #Hera is ready for Mars flyby, join us live tomorrow! The red planet is not far anymore… Today, Hera will use Mars’s gravity to take a shortcut to the Didymos binary asteroid system, where it will help turn asteroid deflection into a reliable method for defending Earth. By doing so, the spacecraft will complete a significant milestone in its journey to the binary asteroid system Didymos and a crucial step in the ESA's efforts to develop reliable methods for asteroid deflection and planetary defence. “By swinging through the gravitational field of Mars in its direction of movement the spacecraft gains added velocity for its onward journey," explains Michael Kueppers, ESA’s Hera project scientist. Learn more about the flyby ?? https://lnkd.in/e9nVuUyM ?? #JoinUsLive as we receive the flyby images! On Thursday 13 March, join a star-studded livestream with 'The Martian' SF-writer Andy Weir, ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst plus another very special guest as world-first flyby images are unveiled! Also in the programme: the Hera Space Companion AI answering questions on deep space planetary defence!? ?? ?? Images for Hera's broadcast? ?? 13 March, starting at 11:50 CET.? ?? https://lnkd.in/drTGjN-Z?

The Hera spacecraft's view at 1.07 million km from Mars, acquired Tuesday; it is hurtling towards the red planet at 9 km/s. The north pole and other features are clearly visible in this Asteroid Framing Camera image - closest approach comes at 13:51 CET today, images unveiled tomorrow! https://lnkd.in/e9nVuUyM

?? Invitation to Tender - Commercial applications of space weather data ? ?? Support industry in assessing the technical and economic viability of commercial services that leverage space weather data in a subset of the domains below: ? ?? Electricity Networks ?? Natural Resource Pipelines ?? Aviation ?? Railway ?? Resource exploration ?? Insurance ?? (and/or alternative sectors duly justified by industry). ? ? Closing date: 2 May 2025 ? Clarification Request Deadline: 18 April 2025 ? Apply here ?? https://lnkd.in/enmXiR9a ? ---- ESA’s Space Safety Programme develops and manages the ESA Space Weather Service Network by federating European capabilities, and builds Europe future space-based SWE monitoring capabilities (e.g. Vigil and Aurora missions). ? The ITT is implemented in collaboration with ESA Space Solutions. Remember all tenderers must first register with esa-star to access all documents and before bidding??? https://lnkd.in/e6utk2cj ? Terms and conditions apply, please carefully read them before registering with esa-star and using the platform ?? https://lnkd.in/eeRTXyFH ? If you require additional information about the Invitation to Tender, please refer to the contact process as defined in the Invitation to Tender package.