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ESA Technology

@technology.esa.int
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Follow the latest news, developments and new technologies from the European Space Agency's R&D Directorate

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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 25/09/2026
🦾 A robot clutches onto pieces of equipment to steadily build a structure underneath itself, piece by piece, to demonstrate how large structures could be assembled in space 👉 www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...
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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 24/09/2026
When a satellite runs out of fuel, its mission is over ❌⛽ That's why @esa.int is working towards a future where spacecraft can rendezvous, dock, refuel, repair, recalibrate and even be repurposed for new missions indefinitely: www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup...
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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 17/09/2026
💡 Do you have a disruptive idea, a technology development, or a product ready for in-orbit demonstrations? @esa.int ’s technology programmes can help! One simplified approach for industry to access funding, expertise and facilities: www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup...
ESA's new ORBIT portal
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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 10/09/2026
🧹 As we celebrate #ZeroDebris week, the ESA-supported CubeSat GOMX-5 is preparing to launch with a mission that combines sustainable space operations and practical services on Earth 👉 www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...
Engineers inspecting the GOMX-5 CubeSat in a laboratory
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Josef Aschbacher @josefaschbacher.esa.int · 10/09/2026
Will we be passengers or pilots? Customers or service providers? Tenants or architects? At the International Space Summit, I argued that Europe must take steps now to shape its own future in space. Read my full speech 🧑‍🚀🚀 esamultimedia.esa.int/docs/corpora... #ParisSpaceSummit
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Josef Aschbacher @josefaschbacher.esa.int · 09/09/2026
Last night we brought together astronauts, ministers, industry leaders and space enthusiasts to celebrate the imagination, innovation and cooperation that define Europe's journey in space. From Earth orbit to deep space, we were reminded that today's ambitions become tomorrow's achievements.
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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 07/09/2026
🌈 This year’s Leiden Canal Pride Parade was, once again, fabulous! 🌈 A huge thank you to everyone who came to cheer, dance, and celebrate diversity with us. The vibes were immaculate ✨💃 Space for all! ❤️ #canalprideleiden #prideleiden #pride
ESA boat in Leiden Canal Pride Parade 2026Astronaut on ESA boat in Leiden Canal Pride Parade 2026ESA boat in Leiden Canal Pride Parade 2026
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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 01/09/2026
🧑‍🚀🌙 Why and how do we protect astronauts from lunar dust? 🎧 Find out in the newest episode of our Discovery and Preparation podcast: www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup...
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Discovery and Preparation podcast: protecting astronauts from lunar dust
ESA Discovery and Preparation's podcast series continues with the exploration of a new technology designed to assess the biotoxicity of lunar dust.
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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 31/08/2026
🚀 Registration is now OPEN for the ESA ESTEC Open Day on 27 September! Meet the people behind Europe's space missions, explore ESTEC, enjoy interactive demonstrations and discover the future of space. 🔓 Secure your free ticket today: atpi.eventsair.com/estec-open-d... #ESAOpenDay #ESTEC #Space 🚀
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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 30/08/2026
🚀 Registration opens tomorrow for the ESA ESTEC Open Day! Discover ESA's technical heart, learn about the PLATO and Hera missions, and experience space up close 🌍🛰️🔭 Registration opens tomorrow: 31 August 📢 Open Day for the general public: 27 September 📅
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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 29/08/2026
🚀 2 days to go! Bring your questions, your family and your curiosity. Meet astronauts who have flown to space! 🌍✨ Join Andre Kuipers, Matthias Maurer and Daniel Tani at the ESA ESTEC Open Day and hear about life beyond Earth 👨‍🚀 Registration opens 31 August 📣
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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 28/08/2026
🚀 Only 3 days until registration opens! ✨ Meet the experts behind ESA’s Earth observation missions and discover how advanced technology helps us better understand and protect our home planet. 🛰️🌍 Registration opens Monday 31 August. Open Day for the general public.
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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 27/08/2026
🚀 4 days until the ESA Open Day registrations for ESTEC! Don't miss the NL Space Tent Discover Dutch space companies, innovative technologies, and how the Netherlands is shaping Europe's future in space. 📅 Monday 31 August #ESAOpenDay #NLSpace #NetherlandsSpace #SpaceForTalent #SpaceRocks #NLSA
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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 26/08/2026
🚀 The ESA ESTEC Open Day is back! Over the years, thousands of curious visitors have joined us to explore the future of space, and this year we're opening our doors once again! 📅 Monday, 31 August #ESAOpenDay #NLSpace #NetherlandsSpace #spacefortalent #SpaceRocks #NLSA
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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 18/08/2026
🐦‍🔥 ESA engineers and industry partners reviewed a concept for Phoenix 3 – a reusable spacecraft that would fly experiments in microgravity and return them safely back to Earth, proposed by the European startup ATMOS Space Cargo 👉 www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup...
ESA and ATMOS during Phoenix 3 CDF studyATMOS Phoenix 2 and Phoenix 3 to scale
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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 14/08/2026
A double eclipse? 🤔 Yes, you heard right. Our Proba-3 mission normally doesn’t need the Moon’s help when creating an artificial solar eclipse. But this time, the Moon didn’t want to be left out 🌚 www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed... #EuropeanSolarEclipse
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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 10/08/2026
In just two days, parts of Europe will experience a total solar eclipse! ☀️🌑 But these are rare and give scientists little time to study the Sun's corona. Here's how @esa.int is mimicking and modelling the eclipse to learn more about our star 👀 www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup...
Proba-3's artificial solar eclipse
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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 30/07/2026
🪂 A drone carrying an unusual payload recently took to the skies above ESTEC, @esa.int’s technical centre in the Netherlands, marking the first test flight of a student-developed radar retroreflector technology 👉 www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup...
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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 29/07/2026
Proba-3 plays hide and seek 🔎 During a routine operation, one of our eclipse-maker satellites snapped a photo of the other… and our planet just happened to be there too! Can you spot Proba-3’s Coronagraph spacecraft in the foreground? 👀 Let us help you: www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...
Photo of Earth from space with Proba-3's Coronagraph spacecraft in the foreground
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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 23/07/2026
📡 While traditional antennas rely on mechanical tilting to maintain contact with their target, phased array antennas enable satellites and ground terminals to communicate without any moving parts. They use specialised microchips to do that 👉 www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...
Electronic circuit board with a microchip
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ESA Space Science @science.esa.int · 20/07/2026
Plato meets Maxwell Our terrestrial planet hunter Plato has recently completed a series of key tests inside the Maxwell Test Chamber at ESTEC, demonstrating that its electronic equipment is fit to work in space. 🔭 🧪 1/3
Photograph of a spacecraft towering at the centre of a large test chamber. The walls and ceiling of the chamber are covered with dense rows of blue foam spikes that create a striking geometric pattern extending in all directions around the spacecraft. The right side of the spacecraft is dominated by shiny black, stowed, solar panels. The spacecraft body is partly visible on the left wrapped in reflective gold-coloured insulating foil and partially covered by a translucent protective sheet secured with small pieces of red tape.
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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 16/07/2026
This firing marked the first commissioning test of @esa.int's new Chemical Propulsion Laboratory 🚀 The facility has been designed to give startups, researchers and industry faster access to propulsion testing for small satellites and emerging space technologies 👉 www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...
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European Space Agency @esa.int · 14/07/2026
Yesterday, the Artemis II crew visited ESTEC to meet the teams behind Orion’s European Service Module, which powered their historic journey around the Moon and back. 🌕🚀 🔗 www.esa.int/Science_Expl...
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ESA Exploration @exploration.esa.int · 14/07/2026
🌕🤝 Celebrating the transatlantic collaboration of humankind's return to deep space 👨‍🚀 Yesterday, the Artemis II astronauts visited @esa.int in the Netherlands to meet the teams behind the European Service Module that powered Orion around the Moon and back home 🚀. 🔗 www.esa.int/Science_Expl...
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Artemis II astronauts visit ESA
Yesterday, the four Artemis II astronauts visited ESA’s technical site in the Netherlands, where they met the team behind the European Service Module that powered their Orion spacecraft around the Moo...
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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 24/06/2026
What happens to a miniature camera system under intense radiation? 📸 ☢️ A team from the University of Maribor tested their tiny camera – about the size of a 20 cent coin’s edge – inside a facility at CERN. Check out the result 👉 www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...
Black and white chequered pattern speckled with bright dots and streaks
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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 23/06/2026
🚀 Visit ESTEC, our technology centre in the Netherlands, on 26-27 September! ✨ Saturday 26 September - dedicated to visitors with a disability and their carers ✨ Sunday 27 September - general open day 🔗 Registration opens later this summer, keep an eye on our socials! Save the date! 👇
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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 17/06/2026
✨Take a look at some of ESA’s recent stories in the latest #ESAimpact! Learn more about Europe’s role in Artemis II, dive into Juice’s encounter with comet 3I/ATLAS, explore recent launches including the first Celeste satellites and IRIDE additions, and more 👉 www.esa.int/About_Us/ESA...
ESA Impact April-June 2026
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ESA Exploration @exploration.esa.int · 17/06/2026
One robotic arm to rule them all 🦾🧝‍♂️ www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...
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One robotic arm to rule them all
One robotic arm to rule them all
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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 13/05/2026
⚠️ Warning: vacuum, extreme temperatures, radiation ⚠️ Any hardware going to space must be able to withstand such harsh conditions 👆 @esa.int’s researchers work hard on testing space-proof materials.💡 Read about the young talents among them: www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup...
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The young minds space-proofing ESA’s missions
Assembling a spacecraft is a complicated process, and one that requires materials that are far from ordinary. To ensure the success of the European Space Agency’s missions, researchers in the Material...
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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 11/05/2026
🪱 The inchworm might not be the first thing that springs to mind when you think of planetary exploration – but their elegant crawling inspired researchers to develop a new type of space robot! 🤖 www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup...
esa.int
Moving like an inchworm – a smarter robot for planetary exploration
The inchworm may not be the first thing that springs to mind when you think of planetary explorers, but a recent ESA Discovery activity led by the University of Gothenburg looked to one of nature's mo...
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ESA Exploration @exploration.esa.int · 07/05/2026
An ExoMars mini-capsule is back at @esa.int after surviving aerodynamic tests, free-flying at 4300 km per hour. Met a curious robot. Talked of Mars and the Rosalind Franklin rover... www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...
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Sensitive and sturdy
Sensitive and sturdy
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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 07/05/2026
Walking on the Moon, operating a spacecraft, or floating aboard the International Space Station… from the comfort of your home planet? 🤔 @esa.int is using Extended Reality to do just that! 👓 www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup...
Digital twin of the LUNA analog facilityVirtual Reality for astronaut trainingVirtual Reality on the International Space Station
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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 04/05/2026
#MayTheFourthBeWithYou! Speaking of Y-wings, today at ESA ESTEC test centre, engineers deploy Plato’s Y-wing solar panels. While Plato may not be carrying a hyperdrive or an astromech droid, it will ‘use the Flux’ to detect brightness dips caused by transiting exoplanets. Happy #StarWarsDay!
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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 30/04/2026
Dear bakers, the judges would like you to decontaminate a parachute that will land on Mars. 🪂🔴 On your marks, get set… bake! 1️⃣ Place your parachute into an oven 2️⃣ Set the oven to 125°C for ~50 hours 3️⃣ When the centre of the parachute reaches 125°C, continue to bake for 36 hours
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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 23/04/2026
When you rub a balloon on your hair, electrostatic forces make the two stick together🎈 🫴 A new device by the Italian start-up Adaptronics works on a similar principle to capture objects in space: www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...
Electrostatic capture technology developed by Adaptronics
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European Space Agency @esa.int · 23/04/2026
🌕 Electronics from moondust: a new ESA Discovery project led by the Danish Technological Institute is studying how lunar soil could be transformed into printable circuits, enabling in‑situ repair and manufacturing on the Moon. 🧪🔭 🔗 www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup...
Architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill has designed a semi-inflatable lunar habitat. Multiple habitats would be built up over time on the lip of Shackleton Crater near the lunar south pole, offering continuous views of Earth as well as near-continuous sunlight and water ice in adjacent 'cold trap' craters.
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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 14/04/2026
🛰️ @esa.int’s Navigation Lab at ESTEC, the agency’s technical centre, received the first successful transmission of a navigation signal from a European satellite in low Earth orbit! It came from @navigation.esa.int’s Celeste mission 👉 www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...
A group of engineers celebrating receiving the first navigation signal from Celeste
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ESA Space Science @science.esa.int · 13/04/2026
The first Proba-3 science results are in! ☀️🏃‍♀️‍➡️🏃‍♀️‍➡️🏃‍♀️‍➡️ Close to the Sun, it spotted solar wind moving 3–4 times faster than expected Curious? 👉 www.esa.int/Science_Expl... @orb-ksb.bsky.social @technology.esa.int
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First Proba-3 science: surprisingly speedy solar wind
Since July 2025, the European Space Agency’s pair of Proba-3 satellites has already created 57 artificial solar eclipses. So far, the mission has collected more than 250&...
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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 13/04/2026
Congratulations @exploration.esa.int! 🌒🚀 Europe is proud to have enabled #Artemis II with the European Service Module - delivering propulsion, power and life support for Orion and its crew. Built by European industry and monitored 24/7 by ESA teams, the ESM is a strong example of ESA technologies.
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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 09/04/2026
The task of an attitude control system is to make sure a spacecraft points exactly where it needs to 🛰️🫵 In the case of CubeSpec, that target will be a star ✨ Learn more about how we make sure this pointing instrument is as accurate as possible 👉 www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...
Researcher inspecting a device in a laboratory
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ESA Exploration @exploration.esa.int · 07/04/2026
Graphene lights the way. Literally. Watch how aerogel cubes made of graphene react to light in microgravity. This innovative material could revolutionise propulsion beyond Earth. 🚀 www.esa.int/Science_Expl...
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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 02/04/2026
🤏 Hidden inside this tiny chip developed by IMST is an innovation that enables the deployment of next‑generation satellites carrying either digital communications, Earth observation, or navigation payloads 🛰️🌏🧭 www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...
A silicon chip
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Einstein Telescope @einsteintelescope.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
ETO and ESA have launched a collaboration on cost estimation for the Einstein Telescope, formalised in January 2026. A meeting at ESTEC on 24 March marked its strategic start. Read the interview: shorturl.at/rjnUo #EinsteinTelescope #ESA @technology.esa.int
A group of nine people pose outside an ESA building beneath an ESA flag, standing in front of the curved wooden-and-glass facade.Three people stand smiling in front of a large ESA mural showing a futuristic Moon base, astronauts, spacecraft, and Earth in the background.
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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 18/03/2026
💼 ESA recruits: from mechanical engineering to life sciences, @esa.int will publish more than 400 job opportunities in 2026! Find out more about who we are looking for in the latest newsletter 👇 www.linkedin.com/pulse/esa-re...
linkedin.com
ESA recruits: who are we looking for?
At ESA, we are always looking for talented professionals to contribute to our inspiring space missions. At the 2025 Ministerial Council in Bremen,  European ministers responsible for research and tech...
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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 12/03/2026
👩🏾‍🚀 Retired NASA astronaut Jeanette Epps visited ESTEC, @esa.int’s technical centre in the Netherlands! Jeanette supported many ESA projects during her time at the International Space Station: www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...
From left to right: Dietmar Pilz, Robert Lindner, Jeanette Epps, Tommaso Ghidini and Advenit MakayaDietmar Pilz and Jeanette Epps
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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 11/03/2026
Some satellite navigation antennas offer protection from the most common types of interference, but are bulky and expensive. PhD researcher at ESA’s Navigation Laboratory explored a simpler and cheaper alternative: a football-sized, 3D-printed lens antenna ⚽📡 www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup...
3D-printed lens antenna at Jammertest
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ESA Earth Observation @esaearth.esa.int · 26/02/2026
Scientists have been exploring how GPS and Galileo reflected signals can help monitor sea ice, using innovative data from @spire.com. A promising new way to observe our rapidly changing polar regions: 🔗 earth.esa.int/eogateway/su...
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Reflected satellite signals unlock new insights into Arctic sea ice - Earth Online
Research drawing on novel data from Spire Global has enabled the generation of Arctic-wide sea ice maps, marking a major step forward for detecting change with navigation signals.
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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 25/02/2026
At @esa.int’s technical centre, student teams have been getting familiar with the Orbital Robotics Laboratory facilities. 🤖 This is part of the ESA Academy Experiments programme, where students from all over Europe can apply to conduct their research at ESA. 🔎 www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...
Students explore ESA's flat floor
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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 24/02/2026
📢 Final call for ESA Graduate Trainee Scheme (EGT Programme)! Apply now: jobs.esa.int Curious about life as an ESA #EGT? 🤔 Here’s what some of our current TEC graduates have to say: www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...
Five of current ESA Graduate trainees working in ESA's Directorate of Technology, Engineering and Quality.
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ESA Space Science @science.esa.int · 20/02/2026
On 17 February, there was an annular solar eclipse visible only from Antarctica… and from space! 👇ESA’s Proba-2 satellite recorded the same eclipse no less than four times as it whizzed round Earth! 📷Credit: ESA/Royal Observatory of Belgium
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