ESA Top Multimedia

Using cutting-edge technology, ESA’s FLEX mission is designed to reveal new insights into how plants function by measuring the faint fluorescence they emit during photosynthesis. Although invisible to the human eye, this signal changes with environmental conditions and plant health – allowing scientists to assess vegetation health, and stress.

The FLEX satellite is equipped with the Fluorescence Imaging Spectrometer (FLORIS), an instrument designed specifically to detect and map this delicate glow from space.

The animation depicts FLEX in action where the red–orange colours represent the FLORIS instrument receiving a high fluorescence signal and the green–blues a low signal.

During her free time onboard the International Space Station, ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot records videos exploring many aspects of living and working in a microgravity environment for the εpsilon mission. This timelapse offers a real behind-the-scenes look at a filming session.

The first‑of‑its‑kind ship‑to‑ship call between astronauts on deep‑space and low Earth orbit missions.On 7 April, the Artemis II crew of NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, together with CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, spoke with Expedition 74 astronauts Chris Williams, Jack Hathaway and Jessica Meir of NASA, and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot aboard the International Space Station.

Besides light, the Sun sends out particles in the form of solar wind and in large bursts called coronal mass ejections. Understanding how these streams and bursts of particles get pushed out from the Sun could help improve our forecasts of space weather reaching Earth.  

Recently, the European Space Agency’s Proba-3 mission demonstrated that it filled the ‘solar observation gap’. It can see movement to unprecedented detail in the hard-to-observe region between the Sun’s surface and higher up in its outer atmosphere (the corona). This makes it possible to closely track solar wind as it sets off from the inner corona. 

The (artificially coloured) yellow part of the video shows the Sun in ultraviolet light, recorded by the SWAP telescope on ESA's Proba-2 spacecraft. The greyscale area around it is based on data captured in visible light by the ASPIICS coronagraph on Proba-3. This data is processed to enhance contrast.  

You can see flows of solar wind moving away from the Sun in all directions. In some regions, particularly around the bottom of the video, you can see some material also falling back towards the Sun. In the second half of the video, a coronal mass ejection expands towards the right.  

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[Video description: A square video with the Sun in the centre, glowing yellow and covered with a mix of darker regions and bright, yellow arcs extending from the surface. Around it, a speckly white-grey-black video showing streams of material moving outwards along rays extending from the Sun. On the bottom, some material moves inwards, and a large burst of material expands to the right from the Sun’s right side, in a series of arcs shaped like backwards Cs.] 

[Technical details: Proba-2/SWAP data is measured at a wavelength of 17.4 nm with a cadence of 2–4 minutes and shown to 1.2 solar radii from the Sun’s centre. Off-limb intensity was increased with a radial filter to highlight structures up to the edge of the field of view. Proba-3/ASPIICS data is recorded in visible light with a cadence of 30 seconds and shown from 1.2–3.0 solar radii from the Sun’s centre. ASPIICS data is contrast-enhanced using image stacking, a radial filter, highlighting the dynamics via a running difference, and applying the WOW (wavelet-optimised whitening) algorithm.] 

As this timelapse shows, ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot and NASA astronaut Jessica Meir worked together readying the Cygnus XL cargo spacecraft for its detachment from the Unity module and release into Earth orbit with the Canadarm2 robotic arm.

Sophie configured hardware that enabled Cygnus XL to be disconnected from Unity, then closed the spacecraft’s hatch. Jessica set up the equipment used to depressurize Cygnus XL in advance of its departure.

The cargo vehicle was detached on 12 March 2026 from the Earth-facing port of the International Space Station’s Unity module and released from the Canadarm2 robotic arm at 14:06 CET.

Time to monkey around! Join ESA reserve astronaut John McFall in some bear crawls and crab walks to improve body control and build strength. #missionx #astronauttraining #strengthtraining #stemlearning #exercise Download the activity pdf here: https://trainlikeanastronaut.org/do-a-spacewalk/

This activity can be done anytime, anywhere! Try it at home, in a classroom, or after-school with friends.

Mission X: Train like an astronaut is a hands-on project that engages young learners with STEM, health and nutrition activities in the inspiring context of space.

Access all Mission X videos. 

An important milestone has been reached in developing the upcoming Copernicus Radar Observing System for Europe in L-band satellite, known as ROSE-L. Engineers have tested the deployment of a structural model of its huge radar antenna – a key step towards preparing this new satellite for launch and its mission to monitor Earth’s land, oceans and ice from orbit.

One of the six Copernicus Sentinel Expansion missions, ROSE-L, whose development is led by Thales Alenia Space as the mission’s prime contractor, will help strengthen Europe’s Earth-observation capabilities, complementing existing missions such as Sentinel-1 while expanding monitoring services for land management, food security, emergency response, and climate science.

The video shows how the deployment of ROSE-L’s synthetic aperture radar was recently tested at Airbus Defence and Space’ facilities in Friedrichshafen, Germany.

Read full story: ROSE-L radar unfolds in crucial ground test

An international research team boarded ESA’s 86th parabolic flight campaign in May 2025 with ultralight graphene aerogels, then hit them with light during zero gravity phases to observe their reaction under space-like conditions.  

Inside a vacuum chamber, a continuous laser beamed on three small cubes made of graphene aerogel. A high-speed camera recorded the action through glass tubes. This video has been slowed down 10 times; each experiment run lasted 30 milliseconds. 

The effect of the laser during the microgravity phases was startling: the graphene samples shot forward instantly. Another finding was the ability to control the propulsion by tuning the light beam. The stronger the laser, the greater the acceleration.  

Under Earth’s gravity conditions, the aerogels barely moved at all. The results, published in Advanced Science, demonstrate that microgravity unlocks the potential of light propulsion for graphene aerogels in terms of velocity, thrust and distance.   

Lasers could one day steer solar sails and adjust a satellite’s position in outer space, thanks to graphene. 

Graphene aerogels are ultralight, highly porous materials that merge graphene’s exceptional electrical conductivity with the structural advantages of aerogel architecture. They maintain strong mechanical performance despite their low density.  

Researchers at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) in Belgium and Khalifa University in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) led the study.

This photo is one of a set published on social media by ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot with the caption:

[version FR] Day 052, orbit 0808 – Since the dawn of humanity, the Moon has been a reassuring presence, accompanying and comforting explorers, sailors, scientists and all those who find themselves far from their loved ones.
As Reid, Victor, Christina, and Jeremy set off with #Artemis to write a new chapter in lunar exploration, we took a moment to admire a moonset from the Station…

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Jour 051, orbite 0808 – Depuis les débuts de l’humanité, la Lune est une présence rassurante qui accompagne et réconforte les explorateurs, les marins, les scientifiques et tous ceux qui se trouvent loin de leurs proches.
Alors que Reid, Victor, Christina et Jeremy sont en route pour écrire avec #Artemis une nouvelle page de l’exploration de la Lune, nous avons pris un moment pour admirer le coucher de la Lune depuis la Station…

Credit: NASA/ESA – S. Adenot

Date: 02-04-2026

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This timelapse was published by ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot on her social media with the following caption:

[EN] Another experiment, and another timelapse! This time, I’m working with the Fluid Science Laboratory (FSL), one of the science facilities inside ESA’s Columbus module.

The experiment is called PASTA-3 and investigates the formation and evolution of emulsions over time when there is no gravity to interfere. Emulsions are mixtures of two or more liquids that do not usually mix, such as oil and water.

During this session, I installed 3 experiment containers with new samples inside the FSL. Each PASTA sample has a different concentration of surfactant (an agent that helps liquids mix) and Xanthan Gum in addition to a water and oil mixture.

This experiment helps scientists better understand and model the fundamental physics of emulsions. That knowledge has numerous applications on Earth, including:
improving food quality and shelf life (milk, dough, mayonnaise, candy…), enhancing the stability and effectiveness of medicines (including vaccines) and cosmetics, optimising processes in industrial and advanced manufacturing sectors (oil, chemicals …).

PASTA-3 is one of the 36 European experiments I get to work on during my mission! Go science!

(PASTA is short for PArticle STAbilised emulsions experiment.)

[FR] Nouvelle expérience, et nouveau timelapse ! Cette fois-ci, cela se passe dans le Fluid Science Laboratory (FSL), l’une des installations scientifiques situées à l’intérieur du module Columbus de l’ESA.

L’expérience s’appelle PASTA 3 : elle étudie la formation et l’évolution des émulsions au fil du temps en l’absence de gravité. Une émulsion, c’est un mélange de deux ou plusieurs liquides qui ne se mélangent pas facilement, comme l’huile et l’eau.

Lors de cette session, j’ai installé trois lots de nouveaux échantillons dans le FSL. Chaque échantillon PASTA présente une concentration différente de tensioactif (un agent qui aide les liquides à se mélanger) et de gomme xanthane, en plus d’un mélange d’eau et d’huile.

Cette expérience aide les scientifiques à mieux comprendre et modéliser la physique fondamentale des émulsions avec à la clé de nombreuses applications sur Terre, comme par exemple:
l’amélioration de la qualité des aliments et de leur durée de conservation (lait, pâte, mayonnaise, confiseries…), le renforcement de la stabilité et de l’efficacité des médicaments (y compris les vaccins) et des cosmétiques, l’optimisation des procédés industriels et de fabrication avancée (pétrole, chimie…).

PASTA 3 est l’une des 36 expériences européennes sur lesquelles j’ai la chance de travailler durant ma mission ! Vive la science !

(PASTA est l’abréviation de PArticle STAbilised emulsions experiment.)