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ELVES, the light phenomenon first hunted by a satellite 400 km high
Compartir +1 TwittearCompartir 0 Looking at our skies not from the ground but from above is very useful and sometimes provides us with beautiful surprises. This was the case with the latest photograph taken by the storm chaser device installed on the International...

Did you know the Milky Way now has its own map? It contains 1.7 billion stars
Compartir +1 TwittearCompartir 0 We’ve never seen our galaxy in such detail before. Since last May, the planets, stars, quasars and other celestial objects in the Milky Way may be located in the most detailed and accurate map of our galaxy to date. The European...

Satellites are also used to monitor and fight climate change
Compartir +1 TwittearCompartir 0 Temperatures are constantly rising, natural disasters are increasing in their virulence, droughts stretch longer and longer, there is less and less ice at the poles, and more and more lands and their populations are exposed to the risk...

In 25 years, the sea level has risen by 7 centimetres: satellites are watching
The Earth is drowning in water by leaps and bounds. Worse still, this growth is accelerating. This is one of the most serious consequences of climate change, and scientists have been warning us about it for decades.

GOME: the European approach to controlling the ozone holes
Watch out for aerosol overuse, since the ozone holes in the atmosphere might be reopening. Luckily enough, we also count on the European GOME-2 project, which is closely survey how these holes evolve.

How big is a satellite?
The tiniest one is smaller than a Rubik’s cube and was engineered by an Indian student. The European Sentinel satellites are much heavier than a car, but that’s for a reason, as they monitor severe environmental issues!

Arm, knee, hips: the world needs prostheses!
You don’t have to be in the aerospace business to imagine what life is like in zero gravity. It’s hard to eat, drink, go to the bathroom and, in general, do anything that involves moving your joints.

Do I have a fever? Your thermometer was invented to take the temperature of a planet!
You can buy them for a few euros at a chemist’s, but there was a time when they were only seen in space agencies labs. These are infrared thermometers which are quite accurate and take just one second to measure our body temperature.

What’s a supernova?
Every single star in the universe has an origin and an end. Some of them, like our Sun, may exist for about ten billion years; others, the largest stars, can last up to twenty billion years.

Venus: the only planet in the Solar System where years are shorter than days
In our planet, timings are structured exclusively around Earth’s rotation on its own axis and its orbit around the Sun. The movement of the Earth around the Sun marks the years; while rotation marks the days.

What are Saturn’s rings made of?
Saturn is not the only ringed planet in the Solar System. But there is no doubt that the brightest and most massive ring system we all know is Saturn’s. Why? Its secret lies the material it’s made of: ice.

If your sunglasses do not break as often, blame the astronauts
If you use glasses since you were a kid, you probably remember how often your parents scolded you for breaking them. You probably didn’t notice it then, but lenses used to come out unscathed. Why?

Meteorological satellites: we know if it will be rainy or sunny thanks to a satellite
Checking the forecast on your mobile phone to find out if the weather will be OK tomorrow is something we all commonly do nowadays, but not so long ago humans relied on the shape of the clouds or the direction of the wind.

You try to sneak away, and they are looking forward to it: that’s how astronauts go to the gym
Only when you know summer is just weeks away, you will get off the couch, into your sneakers and out on the street for a little exercise. Your gym is next door. You even keep a bike in your attic, but you haven’t used it for years.

This is a miracle: there’s no such thing as snoring in space!
Thousands of methods have been invented to suppress snoring: putting a dish with an onion and salt by the bed, sleeping on one side, putting on special patches, taking refuge in self-help…

Freeze-dried food: did you know that climbers on the Everest eat like astronauts?
Going on an expedition to a high mountain could somehow be compared to a trip into space. It would be impossible in both cases to take a huge suitcase with everything that comes into mind.

The fireproof suit used by Hamilton, Raikkonen and Alonso was invented in space
F1 drivers, fire fighters and astronauts have all been called superheroes (some of them more often than the rest). However, in this case we are making reference to their suits, which make them virtually indestructible.

Who was the first woman in space?
Compartir +1 TwittearCompartir 0 The name of Valentina Tereshkova probably doesn’t ring a bell, and that’s a shame. We’ve all heard of Neil Armstrong and his legendary first trip to the Moon, but do not know much of this Russian woman, a cotton mill...

Laser eye surgery is possible also thanks to the space race
You’re sick and tired of those damn glasses. So, you’re considering surgery to get rid of the eye problems you’ve had since that eye patch in kindergarten. This lifelong solution would not exist without the advances of space industry.

Your braces are made of the same material as satellites
Hardly anyone is happy to wear braces. What you may not know is that your brackets may now be made of a material that’s almost invisible, thanks to the space industry.

Your toothpaste tube is like that also because an astronaut needed to be fed
Toothpaste tubes are a fairly common object in our daily lives. They are small, practical and hygienic. It is hard to believe that this object, used to dispense toothpaste, creams or make-up, lived a very different life in the past… inside a spaceship.

The youngest astronaut to travel to space was 25 years old
Gherman Titov will be remembered as the youngest astronaut in history (and also the first space photographer). At just 25 years of age, and just three months after Gagarin manned the first space flight ever,

Why is Mars the planet that most closely resembles Earth (within the Solar System)?
There have been hundreds of disappointments we have bumped into when trying to prove that Mars is our twin. So we’ll not get too excited: however, there are reasons to believe that Mars is our stepbrother, at least.

Why is Mars red? And why is Uranus sometimes green and sometimes blue? Why is Venus yellow?
Our Solar System neighbours have countless features, but one of them has always grabbed our attention: their colour. Fire-red Mars; bright golden Venus; Uranus and its greenish-bluish hue… What’s behind these colours?

Was Laika the first animal to travel into space? No. It was a fly
If someone asked us what was the first animal to travel into space, Laika would probably be the first name we would come up with. However, a fly took the lead in 1946, no less than eleven years earlier.

Félicette, the first cat to travel into space
There was a time in the space race when virtually every animal was a candidate to be launched on a rocket. The idea was to check out what happened to them in order to anticipate how humans would resist space flights.

Heart valves: your heart is safe thanks to space industry
Heart conditions kill 3 out of 10 people every year. Heart attacks and failures, hypertension, strokes… However, you may not be aware that the space industry has given Humanity a kind of patch for it all: heart valves.

How do astronauts go to the bathroom up there?
How do astronauts go to the bathroom up there? This is a very common, intimate question that few dare to make aloud. It’s been a long-kept secret until Samantha Cristoforetti explained it.

What is space debris?
Most earthlings are unaware of this, but the garbage stalks us. And not exactly milk cartons, plastic bags or soft drink cans, which pose a real problem on their own. As we leave Earth, another kind of junk has all satellite owners on pins and needles.

Did you know that the food eaten by astronauts floats in their stomachs?
Ever heard of the remarkable weight loss of astronauts after spending some time in space? This is not due to extra-hard diets or long gym sessions. According to biochemical and nutrition specialists, gravity is to blame.

The odd trick that astronauts use to get a shower without gravity
The life of astronauts up there is about adapting, even for such routine tasks as daily hygiene. That’s why engineers have been developing new techniques that will make the International Space Station (ISS) astronauts smell of roses.

The wheels on your car are real pro thanks to astronautics
We won’t go too far and say that the wheel was invented in space. We’ll give that credit to Mesopotamians. However, engineers did their bit so the rounded, wooden device created several millennia before Christ would become the tires in your car today.

The joystick in your video game console was first used as a lunar rover
Gamer culture cannot be understood without it. The joystick is, for those unfamiliar with videogames, a device that allows moving around a computer or a video game console screen., and its operation is not too complex.

Who was the first human being to travel into space?
Neil Armstrong got all the fame when he became the first human to set foot on the Moon in the summer of 1969. However, before that, the Russian Yuri Gagarin had already taken a trip into space, eight years earlier.

The ultra-fast swimsuit in which Phelps swam his way to 8 gold medals comes from space
When we saw Michael Phelps dive into the pool at the Beijing National Aquatics Centre during the 2008 Olympics, we all wondered whether he came from another planet.

Why was Laika, the first astronaut dog, a street dog?
Laika was a connoisseur of the alleys in Moscow and she was the first dog in the world to try the weightlessness of outer space. This loving animal had to go through an intense casting.

Pepperoni pizza in space! Astronauts also have great Saturday plans
Are you more of a pizza or a burger person? If you go Italian, consider yourself lucky: you’ll have a plan for Saturdays if you ever visit the International Space Station (ISS).

Did you know Wi-Fi is available on planes thanks to a satellite?
Maybe you’ve flown in one of these before. Several airlines offer now a Wi-Fi service in their aircraft. This was unthinkable some time ago. Four little curved lines of happiness for many!

Why do we want to go to Mars?
This is a million-dollar question. Why in Earth would anybody want to go up there? Some would prefer to invest all those funds on earthly matters, but the fact is that space research has brought us great technical advances at home.

Satellite life-saving: how Copernicus helped rescue earthquake victims in Italy
On April, 6th, 2009, a magnitude-6.3 earthquake struck the Italian town of L’Aquila. 309 people died and hundreds were injured. Alarms went off and help arrived from all over Europe, including its satellites in the sky. Copernicus, the European Earth observation programme, helped save dozens of lives by detecting victims trapped under the rubble, thanks to high-definition images.

On high seas or climbing the Everest: in no time Wi-Fi will be available all around the globe
Sharing information with your loved ones is vital for you. That’s how you enjoy life twice as much: a picture on Instagram, a WhatsApp text to say good morning, checking your email. But today, we still find places where neither data nor Wi-Fi are at hand.

Say no to wildfires: did you know satellites also help extinguish fires?
Sadly, wildfires are one of the most common natural disasters across our continent. The European aerospace industry are aware of this, so it regularly helps firefighters from high above. From the sky, actually. What do we mean? We mean the Copernicus Earth observation programme.

What do I have to do to become an astronaut?
There is no such thing as an Astronauts University, nor a master’s degree that will pave the way to outer space. If your dream is to put a spacesuit on and fly up to see the Earth from space, this article is for you. How is the European selection process, how long does it take, what are the requirements?

Did you know that you can find the cinema where you’ll be meeting your friends thanks to the Galileo satellites?
It’s a Sunday. You’re meeting your friends for a Harry Potter marathon and apparently the films will be shown in a downtown cinema you’ve never been to before. Uh-oh… You’ve never heard of that address! But, wait. Click on the link you’ve been sent and… bingo! You’re a 23-minute walk away.