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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 01/10/2026

🤘 The fifth space metal lands on Earth, this time including miniature thrusters 🔥 Made by @esa.int’s metal 3D printer on the International Space Station, this sample was designed in collaboration with the German Aerospace Center (DLR) @dlr-en.bsky.social. 👉 www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...

Gloved hands holding a metal part 3D-printed on the International Space Station

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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...

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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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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 2026

Astronaut on ESA boat in Leiden Canal Pride Parade 2026

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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 study

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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...

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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 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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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 · 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...

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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 facility

Virtual 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 · 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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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 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 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...

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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 Makaya

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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...

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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...

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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 Technology @technology.esa.int · 19/02/2026

🚐 This laboratory on wheels is used mainly for the testing of advanced Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTNs) by @esaconnectivity.esa.int📡Antenna on the roof, 📻 interior featuring radio equipment, 🔋 batteries and power generators… more about the van’s adventures here 👉 www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...

ESA's dark blue van parked in front of a large antenna

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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 14/02/2026

A romantic candlelit dinner... in space? 🕯️🍽️🌹 Sounds great, if ‘spooky’ is the vibe you’re going for 👻 Happy #ValentinesDay ❤️

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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 26/01/2026

The latest student teams to perform their ESA Academy experiments at @esa.int’s robotics labs: 🦾 tested autonomous crawling ⚖️ tricked the human body’s balance system 🦎 grasped objects with a gecko-inspired arm Read more 👉 www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup...

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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 19/01/2026

👀 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...

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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 16/01/2026

Celeste is on the way, testing ways of making Galileo #satnav even better! These low-orbiting test satellites are part of ESA’s FutureNAV programme – get the full background in our latest ESA Highlights publication: www.esa.int/About_Us/ESA...

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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 14/01/2026

🛰️🚀 Ever wanted to visit a place where satellites and rockets are tested before they are sent to space? Now you can do the next best thing! Take a peek inside the walls of @esa.int’s Test Centre at ESTEC through the recently updated virtual tour 👀 www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...

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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 17/12/2025

🔭 Until now, observing the inner regions of the Sun’s enigmatic atmosphere – the corona – was close to impossible. 🛰️🛰️☀️ The satellite duo making up @esa.int’s Proba-3 mission fills this observation gap by creating artificial solar eclipses in orbit 👉 www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup...

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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 11/12/2025

Time-lapse of a section of aircraft wing 3D printed in plastic. Wren Aerospace – based at ESA’s Business Incubation Centre Noordwijk – is developing uncrewed aircraft to perform satellite-like communication or observation functions while loitering in the stratosphere www.wrenaerospace.com

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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 10/12/2025

🚯 To clean up orbits around Earth, we first need to identify and approach individual pieces of space debris. 🛰️ Two companies from Luxembourg are developing the eyes 👀 for satellites to be able to do just that 👉 www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...

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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 13/11/2025

🔧 Testing space metal 🤘 In February, @esa.int’s engineers received a very special package 📦 Inside was the first metal part 3D-printed in space, coming all the way from the ISS 🛰️ Since the unboxing, the space metal has been through A LOT 👉 www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup...

Inspecting the first ever metal part 3D-printed in space

Testing the first ever metal part 3D-printed in space

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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 11/11/2025

🛰️ Our current radio frequency ‘highways’ that carry information to and from satellites are getting congested. 📡 @thalesaleniaspace.bsky.social develops key building blocks for next-generation antennas operating at a very special frequency that can offer more bandwidth 👉 www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...

An essential building block for phased array antennas

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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 31/10/2025

Booooo!! 👻 It’s #SpookySeason! Can you guess what's making this candle's flame flicker? 🕯️ Is it... a) ghost b) microgravity We know it’s tricky, so we’re treating you to the answer 🎃 www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed... Happy #Halloween! 🦇

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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 30/10/2025

What if Old McDonald had a farm… on the Moon? 🚜 🌕 In a recent activity supported by @esa.int, a Norwegian research team looked into how we could create fertiliser using nutrients from lunar soil to grow plants on the Moon 👉 www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup...

What farming on the Moon could look like

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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 29/10/2025

🛰️ @esa.int’s first stand-alone deep-space CubeSat #Henon takes shape! ⚡A tailor-made propulsion system will take this small but mighty satellite into an orbit around the Sun, where the CubeSat will detect solar storms, improving our current warning time ☀️ www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup...

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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 20/10/2025

#OnThisDay 30 years ago - 20 October 1995 - ESA astronaut Thomas Reiter performed the first ESA spacewalk, during his Euromir mission to the Mir space station 🧑‍🚀🚶 Check out our ESA Delivers brochure for ESA's 50 milestone achievements during our first half century 👉 www.esa.int/About_Us/ESA...

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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 09/10/2025

🌏@esa.int’s upcoming FORUM mission will address a major gap in climate monitoring by measuring Earth’s outgoing radiation 📏 🔧⚙️ To make its ambitious goal possible, scientists from the National Metrology Institute of Germany PTB have calibrated a very important device 👉 www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup...

PTB's reference blackbody in a vacuum chamber

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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 07/10/2025

🛰️🖥️ Training new operators for the Large Space Simulator, Europe’s largest vacuum chamber, used to be tricky… but not anymore! The simulator recently got a digital twin - a very realistic virtual model - which will serve as a training tool and much more 👉 www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup...

The cavernous chamber of the Large Space Simulator

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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 24/09/2025

🔴Moving around on Mars is tricky - its surface can be too rocky for a rover in one place, and too smooth for the navigation of a drone in another😬 During his internship with @esa.int, a robotics student investigated what would happen if a rover and a drone teamed up 🤖 🫱🏽‍🫲🏻 🚁 www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup...

TU Delft student Dielof van Loon and his drone

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ESA Technology @technology.esa.int · 23/09/2025

📍🌕 Landing a spacecraft on the Moon with pinpoint precision while relying on ground-based tracking systems is complex and costly. A recent PhD project, co-funded by @esa.int, @dlr-en.bsky.social and OHB explored how we could teach spacecraft to find their own way 🧭🛰️ 👉 www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup...

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