Use Europe’s satellite navigation system to seek treasure in virtual mazes or ‘see’ Galileos as they cross the sky above you: two new Android smartphone apps based on Galileo are now available for general download, the results of a competition by ESA trainees.

Source: ESA news

Comet 46P/Wirtanen, the original target of ESA’s Rosetta mission, is visiting our skies this December
Source: ESA news

The ESA Council held its 277th meeting at the European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt on 12 and 13 December 2018.

Source: ESA news

A special visitor is crossing the sky: Comet 46P/Wirtanen, sighted with telescopes and binoculars in recent weeks, is on the way to its closest approach to Earth this weekend, when it might become visible to the naked eye.

Source: ESA news

Earth observation image of the week: the Copernicus Sentinel-2A satellite takes us over Mount Triglav in Slovenia
Source: ESA news

A recipe to understand atomic structures:

• Mix electrically-charged gas in a sealed container with particles so small they would pass through a coffee filter.
• Perform in the weightless environment of the International Space Station.
• Adjust voltage to observe how the particles form three-dimensional crystal structures.
• Start unlocking the physics behind the atoms’ behaviour. 

Source: ESA news

Our new and improved ESA kids website, home of our mascot Paxi, is available in six languages
Source: ESA news

The ESA Education office is proud to launch the new and improved ESA Kids website, the online home of Paxi, the ESA Education mascot. With the new design and organisation, ESA Kids is the one-stop shop for all space-related information, resources, multimedia, and activities for children.

The ESA Kids platform has a new look and feel that enables users easier access to space-inspired Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) content geared toward primary-school aged children (5-12 years) in English, German, Dutch, Spanish, French, and Italian.  

Source: ESA news

ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst will return to Earth alongside NASA astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor and Russian cosmonaut Sergei Prokopiev on 20 December. After more than six months living and working on the International Space Station, their Soyuz is expected to touch down in Kazakhstan at around 05:06 GMT (06:06 CET).

Source: ESA news

Technology image of the week: multiple integrated circuits destined for the brains of Europe’s future space missions
Source: ESA news