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science.esa.int
ESA Space Science
@science.esa.int
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Keeping you posted on space science activities from the European Space Agency.

Web: http://www.esa.int/science
Privacy Notice: esa.int/connectwithus
#astronomy #space #science
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science.esa.int
ESA’s Science Programme is the backbone of European space science. We deliver pioneering missions that enable:

✨ discoveries
🤝 collaboration
💡 innovation
🤩 inspiration

impacting ESA across directorates 👉 science.esa.int

Curious how the Science Programme works? This 🧵 is for you

🔭 #CM25 1/
Europe map showcasing the flags of the ESA Member States.
November 24, 2025 at 1:17 PM
science.esa.int
Hubble captures baby stars blowing bubbles 🫧

This gigantic cloud of cold hydrogen gas is called N159, and it’s one of the most massive star-forming clouds in the Large Magellanic Cloud.

Read more 👉 esahubble.org/images/potw2...
🔭
A field filled with stars and covered by clouds of gas and dust. The centre and left side are totally blanketed with billowing, bright red clouds. They are opaque some places — showing clusters of stars forming within — and transparent others. Small patches are dark black in colour, while a large cloud below the centre is mostly pale blue. The right side of the view, mostly gas-free, glitters with stars near and far.
November 24, 2025 at 8:11 AM
science.esa.int
Studies for this ambitious mission have already begun.

Decisions at our upcoming Council at Ministerial level will be crucial for securing Europe's leadership in planetary science for decades to come.

5/ #CM25 🔭
This artist's impression shows a cross section of Saturn's icy moon Enceladus, which includes a rocky core, an ocean and an icy shell. Jets of water are seen bursting from cracks.
November 21, 2025 at 1:11 PM
science.esa.int
The impact of such a mission could be enormous for Europe & beyond.

The mission would boost European competences in many scientific & technological fields, including in-orbit assembly, operating in extreme environments, landing technologies, and novel scientific instrumentation.

4/ #CM25 🔭
This artist's impression shows a concept for a future ocean world explorer.
November 21, 2025 at 1:11 PM
science.esa.int
Pinning down what can be done with the resources that we will have in the 2040s, we aim high.

Our plan is to fly through Enceladus' jets and even land on the moon's south polar terrain to collect samples.

3/ #CM25 🔭
Infographic presenting the Enceladus mission concept. The mission would launch on two Ariane 6 rockets and assemble in space. It will journey to Saturn, orbit the planet, and fly by its icy moons: Titan, Rhea, Dione, Tethys, Enceladus and Mimas. The mission would orbit Enceladus, gather samples from its plumes and land on its south pole.
November 21, 2025 at 1:11 PM
science.esa.int
#Enceladus checks all the boxes when it comes to conditions for a ‘habitable environment’ to potentially support life as we know it:

1️⃣ presence of liquid water
2️⃣ a source of energy
3️⃣ a specific set of chemical elements

2/ #CM25 🔭
Scientific illustration showing the internal structure and activity of Saturn's moon Enceladus. It presents a cross-section with three main layers: the icy shell, a subsurface ocean and a rocky core. The image explains a six-step process: 1. Cold ocean water sinks into the rocky core; 2. It heats up and rises, interacting with the rocks; 3. Heated water escapes through hydrothermal vents; 4. Water and rocky material move upward through the ocean; 5. Warm water melts parts of the ice shell; 6. Jets of water and particles erupt through cracks in the ice.
November 21, 2025 at 1:11 PM
science.esa.int
Saturn's moon #Enceladus is a top target for us in our #Voyage2050 long-term planning period.

No space agency has ever landed on Enceladus. And yet this moon has enormous potential for new science, particularly in the realm of habitability.

1/ #CM25 🔭
Artist's impression of Saturn's icy moon Enceladus, which has a frozen surface covering a deep ocean. Jets of water burst from cracks close to the moon's south pole.
November 21, 2025 at 1:11 PM
science.esa.int
Our Director @cmundell.esa.int is “proud that the collaboration between our Chinese colleagues & our ESA teams has gone so well and that we’re on the right track to launch in spring 2026 [...] Smile is the next big step in revealing how our planet’s magnetic shield protects us from the solar wind.”
Artist impression of the Smile spacecraft operating in space, watching the effect of the solar wind on Earth's magnetic field
November 20, 2025 at 1:05 PM
science.esa.int
🆕 #Smile passes qualification & flight acceptance review, meeting all requirements for launch.
🚀 The joint European-Chinese mission will launch on a Vega-C rocket from Europe's spaceport in French Guiana.
📆 Launch window is set for 8 April to 7 May 2026.
Find out more👉 www.esa.int/Science_Expl...
🧪☀️
A group of 16 people wearing white cleanroom suits pose for a photo inside a bright laboratory. They are standing and kneeling in front of a large spacecraft covered in shiny silver and gold thermal material, mounted on a vertical support structure. Some team members wear masks, and the background shows technical equipment and cleanroom walls.
November 20, 2025 at 1:05 PM
science.esa.int
Our next ‘medium’ mission under #Voyage2050 is yet to be decided.

Three finalists, M-Matisse, Plasma Observatory and Theseus, are being further studied at the moment. One of them will be selected for implementation as the newest addition to our space science mission fleet.

1/ #CM25 🔭
An infographic-style visual with a black background and six circles following a timeline. The title is 'How are we selecting our next medium science mission?'. The red circles include the text as follows: November 2021 – Call for mission proposals; February 2022 – 27 first stage proposals; July 2022 – 10 second stage proposals; November 2022 – 5 proposals for pre-study; November 2023 – 3 proposals for further study; 1 M-CLASS MISSION. The first four circles are a faint red, the circle labelled 'November 2023' is brighter red, and the circle labelled '1 M-CLASS MISSION' is greyed out.
November 20, 2025 at 8:00 AM
science.esa.int
Webb has revealed for the first time that there are four shells of dust around this pair of Wolf-Rayet stars, which are known as Apep.

Read more 👉 https://esawebb.org/images/wolf-rayet-apep/
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Four dust shells in Wolf-Rayet Apep expand away from three central stars that appear as a single pinpoint of light. The shells are curved, and the interior shell looks like a backward lowercase e shape.
November 19, 2025 at 4:04 PM
science.esa.int
#Arrakihs will image more than 75 nearby Milky Way-like galaxies & their surroundings, using two innovative, near-identical binocular telescope assemblies.

It will carry out a survey at visible & infrared wavelengths, far exceeding what's currently possible from ground-based telescopes.

2/ #CM25 🔭
One of Arrakihs’ two binocular telescope assemblies.
November 19, 2025 at 1:03 PM
science.esa.int
In 2022, #Arrakihs was selected as a fast mission under #CosmicVision.

By imaging Milky Way-type galaxies in the nearby Universe, Arrakihs will provide important measurements to address key questions in galaxy formation theory. 

1/ #CM25 🔭
A 4 x 4 collage of ground-based images of nearby galaxy halos with stellar streams. Arrakihs will observe stellar streams 10 times fainter than these halo features.
November 19, 2025 at 1:03 PM
science.esa.int
Webb's #NIRSpec has helped astronomers weigh up a supermassive black hole in the early Universe – and found it much more massive than expected.

Read more 👉 www.esa.int/Science_Expl...
🧪 🔭
The left side of this visual shows an image of many glowing galaxies in various shapes and colours, on a black background. A small box near the top of this image highlights a small collection of galaxies. This box is pulled out to the right side, showing the same area zoomed in. This region shows a small circular red galaxy in the centre, which is labelled “CANUCS-LRD-z8.6”. Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, G. Rihtaršič (University of Ljubljana, FMF), R. Tripodi (University of Ljubljana, FMF)
November 19, 2025 at 11:10 AM
science.esa.int
The #NewAthena mission is on track for adoption in early 2027, after which construction can begin.

Meanwhile, the 1130 members of the NewAthena science community have started preparing the mission's science case.

The mission is planned to launch in 2037 on an Ariane 6.4.

4/ #CM25 🔭
A mosaic image made of individual portraits of members of the NewAthena community. Combined, they depict the spacecraft in space. Credits: XMM-Newton. Athena mission: ESA/IRAP/CNRS/UT3/CNES/Fab&Fab. Composition: ACO.
November 18, 2025 at 1:04 PM
science.esa.int
#NewAthena will be able to rapidly respond to unexpected events occurring anywhere in the sky. 

The spacecraft will be able to follow-up on transient sources, such as those associated with neutrino events and gravitational waves, where it can work in tandem with the #LISA mission.

3/ #CM15 🔭
Simulation of NewAthena image of the Chandra Deep Field South point source population enhanced by a set of simulated clusters of galaxies. A black background is full of orange blobs of various sizes, with five of them standing out as the largest. Credit: A.Rau/WFI Team.
November 18, 2025 at 1:04 PM
science.esa.int
#NewAthena will address key questions in astrophysics, such as: 

🪸 How and why does ordinary matter assemble into the structures that we see today? 

🕳️ How do black holes grow and shape their environment? 

🌀 How do galaxies hosting black holes evolve over time?

2/ #CM25 🔭
Representative image of a cluster of galaxies, the kind NewAthena will aim to understand how and why they form. This view of the Perseus cluster of galaxies was taken by ESA's Euclid mission. Credit: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre (CEA Paris-Saclay), G. Anselmi
November 18, 2025 at 1:02 PM
science.esa.int
Athena was selected as the second large mission of #CosmicVision, and was later rescoped as #NewAthena.

NewAthena will be the largest X-ray observatory ever built. It will investigate some of the hottest & most energetic phenomena in the Universe with unprecedented accuracy and depth. 

1/ #CM25 🔭
Artist's impression of the NewAthena spacecraft observing a supermassive black hole.
November 18, 2025 at 1:02 PM
science.esa.int
The industrial development of #LISA kicked off mid 2025. Once the spacecraft design is finalised, construction can begin.

The mission is planned to launch in 2035.

Led by ESA, the LISA mission is a collaboration between ESA, NASA and the LISA consortium.

5/ #CM25 🔭
Artist's impression of one of the LISA spacecraft. We can see the red laser beams coming and going to the other two spacecraft.
November 17, 2025 at 1:00 PM
science.esa.int
#LISA has three spacecraft flying in a triangular formation, 2.5 million km apart, exchanging laser beams.

Inside them, two golden cubes are in free fall.

Gravitational waves alter the distance between objects so LISA will measure the tiny distance changes between the cubes.

4/ #CM25 🔭
Infographic providing information on gravitational waves and how the LISA mission will measure them using laser beams and free-floating cubes. The image shows the three LISA spacecraft in orbit with the Earth and Sun visible. A zoomed in circle focuses on one of the spacecraft and the two golden cubes it contains. In the background an illustration of two colliding black holes is creating ripples in spacetime. Another box shows a sequence of triangles to demonstrate the effect gravitational waves will have on the distance travelled by LISA’s laser beams.
November 17, 2025 at 1:00 PM
science.esa.int
#LISA will be able to detect these elusive waves from across the Universe and across a large range of frequencies.

LISA will be the first mission to probe the history of the Universe by studying such waves. It will also study the nature of gravity itself.

3/ #CM25 🔭
A computer simulation of the gravitational waves that would ripple away from a pair of coalescing black holes. These waves radiate outward from the collision. Their colour ranges from orange closer to the black holes to red farther away.
November 17, 2025 at 1:00 PM
science.esa.int
LISA will detect millions of gravitational signals to study:

⭐ ⭐ binary star systems in our Milky Way to understand their mutual evolution
🕳️ 🕳️ pairs of massive black holes to discover how they were born
⭐ 🕳️ compact objects falling onto single supermassive black holes

2/ #CM25 🔭
Illustration of two merging black holes.
November 17, 2025 at 1:00 PM
science.esa.int
A #CosmicVision mission, #ESALISA will be first gravitational wave detector in space.

LISA will study these ripples in the fabric of space-time emitted during the most powerful events in the Universe, such as pairs of black holes coming together and merging.

1/ #CM25 🔭
Illustration showing two black holes merging and creating ripples in the fabric of spacetime. Some galaxies are visible in the background as well as a red triangle, meant to represent the position of the three LISA spacecraft and the laser beams that will travel between them.
November 17, 2025 at 1:00 PM
science.esa.int
Hubble has returned to the ‘Lost Galaxy’, a spiral galaxy about 50 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo.

Its nickname comes from the fact that it’s extremely faint when viewed through a small telescope. Not the case for Hubble though!

Read more 👉 esahubble.org/images/potw2...
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A close-in view of a spiral galaxy that faces the viewer. Brightly lit spiral arms swing outwards through the galaxy’s disc, starting from an elliptical region in the centre. Thick strands of dark reddish dust are spread across the disc, mostly following the spiral arms. The arms also contain many glowing pink-red spots where stars form. The galaxy is a bit fainter beyond the arms, but speckled with blue stars. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, F. Belfiore, J. Lee and the PHANGS-HST Team
November 17, 2025 at 8:00 AM
science.esa.int
The industrial development of #ESAEnvision started in December 2024.

ESA teams are contributing with several instrument & satellite support activities, including testing components exposed to the aerobraking manoeuvres that will enable the spacecraft to enter its science orbit at Venus.

4/ #CM25 🔭
This image shows interesting areas on Venus that ESA's Envision mission will study in detail, as well as examples of questions it hopes to answer. In the middle we see an oval-shaped colour-coded Venus terrain map, where pink shows the highlands and purple shows the lowlands. Four insets, two on each side, show black-and-white close-up images of specific regions Envision will look at and questions it hopes to answer.
November 14, 2025 at 1:03 PM