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The ESA Masterclass series brings leading figures in the Agency to the fore, from the cutting edge of space exploration. Join them as they share their journey, along with decades of experience, knowledge and lessons learnt during their eventful careers in space.

In the first of the Masterclass series, we head to Darmstadt, Germany, where epoch-making robotic space exploration missions have been flown under the watchful eye of one man, Paolo Ferri. 

Step inside the Main Control Room at ESOC, ESA’s European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany, and one thing becomes immediately clear: teams that operate space missions are highly hierarchical, and the Flight Director is indisputably in charge.

How does this work, and why is this the case? In the last of his Masterclass series, Paolo Ferri delves into the culture of operations, from written rules and procedures to equally important unwritten principles that guide the day-to-day working lives of those flying Europe’s spacecraft.

Paolo explains that on rare occasions, an internal battle takes place when protocols, procedures and flight rules don't seem up to the task, and someone must assume the huge responsibility of deciding whether or not they need to be violated to keep a mission functioning.

With 36 years’ of experience at ESA, Paolo Ferri is responsible for mission operations, and he has played a leading role in ensuring the success of missions like Eureca, ESA’s first-ever reusable satellite; Cluster, one of the longest-flying science missions; Venus Express, Europe’s first exploration of Earth’s ‘evil twin’; and Rosetta, humanity’s first landing on a comet.

In five episodes of ‘Leadership at Mission Control’, Paolo takes us through major events in his career at ESA, covering cornerstone missions, first attempts, overcoming technical challenges, building diverse teams, working under pressure and solving the unexpected problems that are part of any space endeavour.

Access the other episodes of ‘Leadership at Mission Control’.

Europe’s new-generation Vega-C small launch vehicle developed by ESA will increase performance and extend current launch capabilities at Europe’s Spaceport.

The solid rocket motors built for Vega-C under contract to Avio have all completed the hot fire tests to qualify them for flight.

In this week's edition of the Earth from Space programme, we explore the Ganges Delta – the world’s largest river delta - with Copernicus Sentinel-3.

See also Ganges Delta to download the image.

We have lift-off! Stunning ESA launch moments to hang on your wall!

How do our missions reach their orbits? These stunning posters capture the moment it all begins. The images show a selection of ESA mission launches on various rockets. There is also a 20% discount on all products, two days only!

Preparations are well on track for the upcoming launch of SEOSAT-Ingenio – the Spanish high-resolution land imaging mission – scheduled to launch from Europe’s spaceport in French Guiana next month.

Understanding the laws of the universe is fundamental to flying missions in space. But one spacecraft under Paolo Ferri’s care seemed to be particularly susceptible to Murphy’s law – ‘Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.

In 1992, ESA’s first-ever reusable satellite, Eureca, was delivered into orbit (and later retrieved) by a NASA Space Shuttle. It spent just under a year in orbit, and presented a plethora of problems from Day 1. While it was ultimately successful, Eureca required constant care from engineering teams on ground as well as hands-on help from astronauts in orbit.

As Deputy Operations Manager for the mission, Paolo Ferri explains in his fourth masterclass how this intense period acted as a ‘school’ for him, as he and his team were put under immense pressure by this orbiting ‘box of surprises’ constantly on the edge of catastrophe and mission failure.

With 36 years’ of experience at ESA, Paolo Ferri is responsible for mission operations, and he has played a leading role in ensuring the success of missions like Eureca, ESA’s first-ever reusable satellite; Cluster, one of the longest-flying science missions; Venus Express, Europe’s first exploration of Earth’s ‘evil twin’; and Rosetta, humanity’s first landing on a comet.

In five episodes of ‘Leadership at Mission Control’, Paolo takes us through major events in his career at ESA, covering cornerstone missions, first attempts, overcoming technical challenges, building diverse teams, working under pressure and solving the unexpected problems that are part of any space endeavour.

Access the other episodes of ‘Leadership at Mission Control’

This week marks the 20th anniversary of the International Charter Space and Major Disasters. Founded by ESA, France’s CNES French Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency, the Charter has been activated 680 times (as of 19 October 2020) to help to respond to disasters in 126 countries, including the earthquake and tsunami in the Indian Ocean in 2004, the earthquake in Haiti in 2010, Typhoon Haiyan in the South East Asia in 2013, and the explosion in Lebanon in 2020.

The scientific evidence of global climate change is irrefutable. The consequences of a warming climate are far-reaching – affecting fresh water resources, global food production, sea level and triggering an increase in extreme-weather events.

In order to tackle climate change, scientists and governments need reliable data in order to understand how our planet is changing. ESA is a world-leader in Earth observation and remains dedicated to developing cutting-edge spaceborne technology to further understand the planet, improve daily lives, support effect policy-making for a more sustainable future, and benefit businesses and the economy.

Learn more about ESA’s role in understanding climate change here.

Witness the changing planet through the eye of Earth-orbiting satellites with ‘Climate from Space,’ a new interactive website developed by ESA.

As space missions have become more complex, the teamwork needed on the ground has also become more sophisticated and challenging. Through almost four decades at the forefront of Europe’s voyages in space, Paolo Ferri went from Operations Engineer on the Eureca mission to Operations Manager of the four-spacecraft Cluster mission and then the Rosetta mission, followed by serving as Flight Director on Rosetta, Venus Express and Goce. His career has been capped off by eight years as Head of Mission Operations for the Agency, overseeing all of ESA’s robotic mission operations.

In his third masterclass, Paolo shares what he has learnt going from an engineering expert with complete and specific knowledge of a single mission, to being responsible at a senior manager level for the success of dozens of missions operated by international teams each as diverse, unique and complex as the spacecraft they fly.

With 36 years’ of experience at ESA, Paolo Ferri is responsible for mission operations, and he has played a leading role in ensuring the success of missions like Eureca, ESA’s first-ever reusable satellite; Cluster, one of the longest-flying science missions; Venus Express, Europe’s first exploration of Earth’s ‘evil twin’; and Rosetta, humanity’s first landing on a comet.

In five episodes of ‘Leadership at Mission Control’, Paolo takes us through major events in his career at ESA, covering cornerstone missions, first attempts, overcoming technical challenges, building diverse teams, working under pressure and solving the unexpected problems that are part of any space endeavour.

Access the other episodes of ‘Leadership at Mission Control’.

Throughout the life of every mission, radio signals are transmitted between stations on ground and the spacecraft orbiting Earth, or voyaging across the Solar System. These signals contain instructions and commands sent up from mission control, and beam down data such as views of our planet collected by high-tech instruments on board.

However, this ‘conversation’ between space and Earth is only as good as the conversations taking place on Earth, where effective communication and teamwork are fundamental. Effectively passing on information, experience and challenges are the key to success during critical operations, as teams evolve over the life of decades-long missions, and between different mission teams themselves.

In his second masterclass, Paolo Ferri illustrates the importance of effective communication with the help of Exosat, a flipchart and a ‘blind’ spacecraft, Venus Express.

With 36 years’ of experience at ESA, Paolo Ferri is responsible for mission operations, and he has played a leading role in ensuring the success of missions like Eureca, ESA’s first-ever reusable satellite; Cluster, one of the longest-flying science missions; Venus Express, Europe’s first exploration of Earth’s ‘evil twin’; and Rosetta, humanity’s first landing on a comet.

In five episodes of ‘Leadership at Mission Control’, Paolo takes us through major events in his career at ESA, covering cornerstone missions, first attempts, overcoming technical challenges, building diverse teams, working under pressure and solving the unexpected problems that are part of any space endeavour.

Access the other episodes of ‘Leadership at Mission Control’.

A Madonna and Child painting with a history almost as enigmatic as the Mona Lisa’s smile has been identified as an authentic Raphael canvas by Czech company InsightART, which used a robotic X-ray scanner to investigate the artwork.

Measurements from the Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite show that this year’s ozone hole over the Antarctic is one of the largest and deepest in recent years. A detailed analyses from the German Aerospace Center indicates that the hole has now reached its maximum size.

With less than a month to go before a SpaceX Falcon 9 takes Copernicus Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich into orbit to chart sea-level rise, preparations are forging ahead at the launch site.

Week in images: 12-16 October 2020

Discover our week through the lens

In this week's edition of the Earth from Space programme, the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission takes us over Zeeland – the westernmost province in the Netherlands.

See also Zeeland, Netherlands to download the image.