Latest Ers-2 Podcast Episodes
Herschel and Planck
ESApod, audio and video from space - December 11, 2008 14:00 - 4 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 1 ratingHerschel, the largest telescope ever launched, will study objects within and outside our Galaxy. It will be able to peer through clouds of gas and dust and observe stars as they form. Unlike Herschel, Planck will rotate continuously about its axis, scanning the whole sky to compile the most deta...
Food and satellites: Keeping an eye on food production
ESApod, audio and video from space - December 02, 2008 12:00 - 4 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 1 ratingData on the climate and vegetation cover collected by ESA’s Earth observation satellites are proving to be an invaluable tool to fight food scarcity. With the aid of Earth observation data, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations state that, in Ethiopia there has been f...
Ministerial conference: Interview with ESA Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain
ESApod, audio and video from space - November 21, 2008 07:00 - 14 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 1 ratingOn 25 and 26 November in The Hague, Ministers in charge of space activities within the now 18 ESA Member States and Canada meet to define the role of space in delivering Europe's global objectives. In a dedicated interview, ESA Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain explains the situation in spac...
ESA Science: past and future
ESApod, audio and video from space - November 21, 2008 06:00 - 5 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 1 ratingSince the very first satellites carrying scientific instruments were launched, our understanding of the cosmos has improved. The Sun is studied to the core and, beyond our star, the Universe is becoming less obscure. Knowledge of the Universe relates directly to humanity’s future. Over decades, ...
ATV, the next step
ESApod, audio and video from space - November 20, 2008 15:00 - 4 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 1 ratingThe successful docking of the European Columbus module and the launch of the Automated Transfer Vehicle have opened a new era for Europe’s presence in space with the aspiration to consolidate its independence. Now, ESA is working on a proposed programme to develop new versions of the Automated T...
GMES – video news release
ESApod, audio and video from space - November 18, 2008 08:00 - 2 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 1 ratingRelying largely on satellite data, the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) programme will provide accurate and timely data to better manage the environment, understand and mitigate the effects of climate change and ensure civil security. ESA is responsible for the Space Compone...
The European Data Relay Satellite System – EDRS
ESApod, audio and video from space - November 07, 2008 13:00 - 2 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 1 ratingThe European Space Agency is developing a network of satellites – the European Data Relay Satellite System – that will use geostationary satellites to communicate with both ground stations and other satellites – whose lower orbits restrict the time that they can ‘see’ any one ground station. All...
IXV: learning to come back from Space
ESApod, audio and video from space - November 05, 2008 08:00 - 3 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 1 ratingAfter being launched into space, the IXV - or Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle - will return to earth as if from a low-Earth orbit mission, testing brand-new European atmospheric re-entry technologies during its hypersonic and supersonic flight phases. For ESA, the mission is essential to furth...
Frank De Winne prepares for new mission
ESApod, audio and video from space - October 29, 2008 14:00 - 4 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 1 ratingIn May 2009, Belgian ESA astronaut Frank De Winne will fly together with Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Robert Thirsk on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to the ISS. His back-up for the trip will be Dutch ESA astronaut André Kuipers. De Winne’s role on board the ...
SHAR: the Indian launch base
ESApod, audio and video from space - October 21, 2008 11:00 - 4 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 1 ratingOn the island of Sriharikota, 150 kilometres north of Chennai, India has based its launch centre SHAR, the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, named after the research scientist and former president of the ISRO, the Indian Space Research Organisation. At SHAR two launch pads have been built for the two ...
India – Europe cooperation
ESApod, audio and video from space - October 20, 2008 14:00 - 4 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 1 ratingThe first venture between India and Europe took place in the 1980s. In 1981, Europe's Ariane 3 rocket launched into space India's first geostationary satellite Apple. The cooperation continues today with India's lunar mission Chandrayaan-1. India's INSAT satellites were also designed for weather...
Video overview of the Chandrayaan-1 mission
ESApod, audio and video from space - October 15, 2008 09:00 - 5 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 1 ratingThe Indian launch vehicle PSLV is now at its launch station at Shriharikota - nowadays Chennai - a small island 100 km from Madras in the Bay of Bengal. It is waiting for its passenger, the Indian spacecraft Chandrayaan-1, currently under preparation in Bangalore. Chandrayaan means ‘journey to t...
GOCE launch campaign at Plesetsk
ESApod, audio and video from space - October 10, 2008 11:00 - 4 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 1 ratingSince July 2008 the GOCE Earth Explorer satellite has been at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia. ESA’s Gravity field and steady state Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) is a unique satellite that will map the Earth's gravity field for a better understanding of our planet. Although GOCE w...
ATV Jules Verne: Mission accomplished
ESApod, audio and video from space - September 29, 2008 12:00 - 4 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 1 ratingTwo de-orbit manoeuvres will lower ESA's Jules Verne Automated Transfer Vehicle. Break up of the satellite is expected at an altitude of 65 km. The crew on board the ISS will attempt to observe the re-entry of the satellite over the Pacific. Engineers are already working on the following two ATV...
Rosetta
ESApod, audio and video from space - September 04, 2008 14:00 - 6 minutes ★★★★★ - 1 ratingSteins is Rosetta's first nominal scientific target. Based upon ground-based observations, it has been classified as an 'E-type' asteroid, composed mainly of silicates and basalts, but its properties are not known in detail. For these reasons, it has been selected as one of the two asteroids tha...
Rosetta: rendezvous with an asteroid
ESApod, audio and video from space - September 04, 2008 11:00 - 4 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 1 ratingAsteroid Steins belongs to the rare, largely unknown intermediate E-class, very bright and probably with a much-weathered surface. Steins' orbit was only known from ground observations, so Rosetta is conducting Europe's first-ever optical tracking campaign, providing highly accurate position dat...
GOCE
ESApod, audio and video from space - September 01, 2008 09:00 - 5 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 1 ratingESA's GOCE mission is dedicated to measuring the Earth's gravity field and modelling the geoid with unprecedented accuracy and spatial resolution. GOCE is the first in a series of research missions known as Earth Explorers. Driven by the needs of the scientific community, Earth Explorers will p...
Water
ESApod, audio and video from space - July 17, 2008 13:00 - 4 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 1 ratingThe search for water in space has been quite successful; traces of ice have been found on Mars and water vapour has been found in several places in our galaxy. Water vapour was also recently detected on a planet outside our Solar System for the first time. It was an important discovery, although...
Hubble servicing mission and the next generation
ESApod, audio and video from space - July 04, 2008 11:00 - 5 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 1 ratingHubble has been serviced and upgraded four times. The fifth and final tune-up is scheduled for October 2008. After this, it is expected to be in fit working order for another five years. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), a project of partnership between ESA, NASA and the Canadian Space Agen...
New astronauts
ESApod, audio and video from space - June 27, 2008 11:00 - 4 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 1 ratingThousands of people from the 17 countries that make up ESA responded to this dream of becoming an astronaut, but what are the qualities ESA is looking for? ESApod video programme
The Ulysses legacy
ESApod, audio and video from space - June 12, 2008 14:00 - 5 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 1 ratingFor more than 17 years, the joint ESA/NASA mission Ulysses studied the heliosphere (the sphere of influence of the Sun) and our local interstellar neighbourhood, providing the first-ever map of the heliosphere in the four dimensions of space and time. Ulysses was designed to last for five years ...
Galileo, time and space
ESApod, audio and video from space - June 09, 2008 15:00 - 5 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 1 ratingThe Galileo constellation will be the world's most reliable global navigation system. The technologies that have been developed to achieve such precision will also provide data for use in many other fields, such as oceanography and meteorology. The Galileo system will also open new horizons in f...
ILA Space Pavilion: Space exploration in the future
ESApod, audio and video from space - May 30, 2008 11:00 - 5 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 1 ratingTo land, first, on the Moon and, later, on Mars - in the 2030 timeframe - scientists need a mix of human and robotic missions to know in advance what challenges must be met - to know how humans can survive for years under microgravity, to scout landing zones and to develop precise navigation and...
Earth Observation highlights at ILA Space Pavilion
ESApod, audio and video from space - May 29, 2008 08:00 - 5 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 1 ratingEarlier this week, ESA signed a contract at the Berlin Airshow's Space Pavilion to build the EarthCARE satellite - the Agency's 'Cloud, Aerosol and Radiation' mission. Due for launch in 2013, EarthCARE will gather data to give scientists a better understanding of the interactions between radiati...
Traces of Martian life: the search continues
ESApod, audio and video from space - May 23, 2008 11:00 - 5 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 1 ratingRadar sounders aboard ESA's Mars Express and NASA's Mars Reconnaissance orbiters have already detected ice deposits deep underground. Now, after a ten-month journey, NASA's Phoenix lander will continue the search for water. Its objective is to land in a permafrost region near the north pole. Its...
GOCE preparing for launch
ESApod, audio and video from space - May 21, 2008 08:00 - 5 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 1 ratingFrom an exceptionally low orbital altitude, GOCE (Gravity Field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer) will measure global variations in the Earth's gravity field with extreme detail and accuracy. This will result in a unique model of the geoid, which is the surface of equal gravitational ...
Broadband internet via satellite aboard Thalys trains
ESApod, audio and video from space - May 20, 2008 08:00 - 2 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 1 ratingThe principle is simple: a satellite-tracking antenna on the roof of the train ensures a permanent link with a telecommunications satellite. The link is then relayed inside the train through wireless access points installed in the ceilings of the carriages. A great technological achievement: a c...
Technology spin-offs from European space programmes
ESApod, audio and video from space - April 30, 2008 22:00 - 7 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 1 ratingTechnology spin-offs from European space programmes presented at the SpaceTransfer08 event in the Innovations Market for Research and Development section at the Hanover trade fair 2008, taking place 21-25 April 2008. ESApod video programme
Innovation from space exploration and technology transfer
ESApod, audio and video from space - April 30, 2008 22:00 - 3 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 1 ratingThe advantage of using leading edge-technologies from space in other sectors, and vice versa, at the forum 'Innovation from space exploration and technology transfer' taking place 23 April 2008. ESApod video programme
Galileo - the atomic clock
ESApod, audio and video from space - April 25, 2008 14:00 - 2 minutes - Video ★★★★★ - 1 ratingThe second Galileo satellite, GIOVE-B, is equipped with the most accurate clock ever to be flown in space. GIOVE B will be launched from Baikonur on 27 April. ESApod video programme
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