@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
Did you see a flash of light in the sky over central Europe last night?
ESA's Planetary Defence team is analysing the event. Info at:
www.esa.int/Space_Safety...
Video credit: ALLSKY7 / Bernd Klemt – AMS76 Herkenrath/DE
Link to our article here 👉https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Operations/She_flies_satellites_One_day_I_can_too
To celebrate #InternationalWomensDay, we interviewed five women flying spacecraft at the European Space Operations Centre (#ESOC). Take a look at what they said about their experiences flying spacecraft and perspectives on inclusion. www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup... 💪
#IWD2026
📷ESA/ESA-J.Mai
Space missions have greatly enriched our understanding of Earth and the Universe, and our modern society has become dependent on essential satellite services.
But there's a problem: we've brought our bad habits with us into orbit: www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...
Look out for the 10th perihelion later this year!
Operations engineers in the Main Control Room at the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) during Solar Orbiter's launch in February 2020. The image shows people sitting at a long console with many computer screens. The people are watching the computer screens and pointing to things outside of the image frame.
🛰️☀️ Solar Orbiter hits its 9th perihelion this week, diving to 0.29 AU from the Sun.
This kicks off a 10 day Remote Sensing Window where teams rapidly plan, image, analyse and reorient the spacecraft – a showcase of ESA’s teamwork near our star. ⭐
📷ESA/J.Mai
A white, glowing egg-shaped object lies in the centre of the black-and-white image, on a dark, starry background. Glowing streaks spread upwards from the object. In the top left, a yellow arrow marked ‘Sun’ points straight down, and a blue arrow marked ‘Velocity’ points towards the 7 o’clock direction. In the bottom left, an inset shows the same object on a lighter grey starry background, filled with ragged-edged, concentric egg shapes gradiented black-to-white.
Our first glimpse of comet 3I/ATLAS from Juice's science camera 😍☄️
The precious data from the mission's November observations of the interstellar comet arrived on Earth last week. Teams are now digging in to discover what they reveal.
Stay tuned for updates!
More 👉 www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...
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☄️ Asteroids have struck Earth before - and they will again...
Learn how the Planetary Defence team in ESA's Space Safety Programme is working to detect, track and deflect dangerous asteroids: www.esa.int/Space_Safety...
A digital graphic featuring the ESA logo in the top right corner and the word “ESAW” in bold, glowing letters at the centre. Behind the text is a golden globe with a stylized satellite dish above it. The background consists of interconnected lines and nodes in yellow and blue, forming a network pattern.
ESAW 2026: registration now open until 1 April!
📢 10th European Mission Operations Ground Segment Software & Architecture Workshop (ESAW).
📍 ESOC, Darmstadt, Germany
🗓️ 15–16 April 2026
Help drive innovation across the ground segment ecosystem! ➡️ atpi.eventsair.com/esaw2026/
At ESA’s 2025 Ministerial Conference, the Space Safety Programme received significant support for its mission to predict, detect and mitigate space hazards, and to build towards a sustainable future in orbit. This is what we’re working on 👇
www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...
Usually, we move a satellite out of the way of space debris. But what if we could prevent collisions by moving the debris instead? Meet OMLET: laser-based collision avoidance from the ground: www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...
I had a constructive first meeting in Washington, D.C. with my counterpart at NASA, Administrator Jared Isaacman. We had a very constructive discussion on space exploration and are fully aligned on our shared objectives: the Moon, LEO, and Mars. Looking forward to continuing the discussions.
Full speed ahead to Apophis! 🚀🪨
ESA has awarded two contracts for the development of its Ramses mission, which will rendezvous with the asteroid Apophis ahead of its once-in-a-millennium flyby of Earth in 2029.
www.esa.int/Space_Safety...
🥳A successful workshop with lots of discussions on various subjects concerning #SpaceWeather, development & future service improvements, and more....
😍The onsite participants at @esa.int SWE Service Network Workshop group photo!
❤️ A big thank you to all the participants and the organisers!
Fun fact: we recently moved two satellites to meet a plane. Why? For valuable scientific data on atmospheric reentries.
Find out more about the why & how 👉 www.esa.int/Space_Safety...
🚨2 X flares, X1.0 and X8.1!!
Measured by GOES in the product GOES alerts from SIDC. 👉 swe.ssa.esa.int/web/guest/si...
The X flares were observed in the AR 4366/SIDC 784👇
ESA Council approved Laurent Jaffart as Director of the new Resilience, Navigation & Connectivity Directorate.
This new position reflects our commitment to bolstering resilience and enhancing navigation and connectivity in line with security and defence priorities.
www.esa.int/Newsroom/Pre...
🧐 Interested in the #SpaceWeather activity these days?
You can register to the @esa.int SWE Service Network Portal here 👉 swe.ssa.esa.int/registration/
Do you have any feedback when using the ESA SWE Portal?
📝We have a survey here for you 👇
🌐 swe.ssa.esa.int/user-feedback
Ever wondered what powers a solar flare? 💥
Solar Orbiter is finally giving us answers to this long-standing mystery.
The mission caught a 'magnetic avalanche' on the surface of the Sun just before a flare was released.
🔭🧪1/3
ESA is closely monitoring a notable space weather event, first detected at 18:09 UTC on 18 January 2026.
Aurora were observed over Europe last night and continued high levels of space weather activity are anticipated over the coming days.
www.esa.int/Space_Safety...
@esaspaceweather.esa.int
Beautiful aurora seen last night during high geomagnetic activity❗
Automatic auroral recognition routine classifying All-Sky Camera images acquired at the Kevo station in Northern Finland by FMI as a demonstration product👇
🌐 swe.ssa.esa.int/fmi-federated
It's known as a POTentially ATtacking Object. And it's vital that we keep our eyes peeled for such space hazards.
👀 Our eyes on the Sun’s inner corona, that’s Proba-3! In a 5-hour window, the formation-flying mission captured not 1… not 2… but 3 solar prominence eruptions – structures made of relatively cold plasma extending outwards from the Sun ☀️👉 www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...
Stylised poster for ESA's Flyeye telescopes
Fifth poster in our series: "Space Safety - in action!"
Mission: Flyeye telescopes
Objective: Autonomously scan the night sky for potentially hazardous asteroids
Unique feature: Insect-inspired design provides ultra-wide field of view
Operational: 2027
Download at: esa.int/space-safety/in-action
During solar conjunction season 🔴☀️🌍, ESOC teams guide @esa.int’s Mars Express and ExoMars TGO through the quiet zone: an orbital blackout where radio communications drop to bare‑bones housekeeping data and quick daily check-ins—keeping Mars missions safe in the Sun’s glare 🛰️.
Stylised poster depicting ESA's Draco mission
Fourth poster in our series: "Space Safety - in action!"
Mission: Draco
Objective: Understand what exactly happens to a satellite during atmospheric reentry
Unique feature: First mission to study reentry from inside a real satellite break-up
Launch: 2027
Download at: esa.int/space-safety/in-action
Photo of ESA's Planetary Defence team
Visuaisation of the orbits of 10 asteroids and one comet named after people and places associated with ESA's Planetary Defence activities in 2025
In 2025, 10 asteroids were named after people and places associated with @esa.int's efforts to discover, monitor, explore and keep Earth safe from asteroids.
Well done Planetary Defence team, you rock! 😉☄️
www.esa.int/Space_Safety...
A satellite view of a section of Mars’s surface. The terrain is mostly smooth and sandy-coloured, with a large circular impact crater on the right side. The crater has a raised rim and a flat centre. To the left, there is a broad area of darker, rough-textured streaks spreading diagonally, contrasting with the lighter surrounding surface. The overall colour palette is shades of tan and reddish-brown, typical of Martian soil.
Our #MarsExpress has spotted martian winds whipping up sand grains and acting as a cosmic sandblaster, carving our intriguing grooves in the Red Planet's surface.
More info, images and zoom in 👉 www.esa.int/Science_Expl...
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