Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
From 22-26 June 2026, 30 university students from Europe and Canada came together at the European Space Agency (ESA) Academy’s Training and Learning Facility in Belgium to explore the fundamentals of global navigation satellite systems (GNSS). This annual course prepares the next generation of navigation professionals with lectures from experts and hands-on exercises where students can apply their new knowledge. In this video, students and lecturers from the 2026 edition of the training course talk about the importance of satellite navigation, including Europe’s Galileo system, in their own words.
Credits: European Space Agency (ESA)
Access the video on the ESA video library: https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Videos/2026/07/ESA_Academy_s_Navigation_Training_Course
Our main YouTube channel: youtube.com/@EuropeanSpaceAgency
We are Europe's gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe's space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
Copyright information about our videos is available here: https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Terms_and_Conditions
From 22-26 June 2026, 30 university students from Europe and Canada came together at the European Space Agency (ESA) Academy’s Training and Learning Facility in Belgium to explore the fundamentals of global navigation satellite systems (GNSS). This annual course prepares the next generation of navigation professionals with lectures from experts and hands-on exercises where students can apply their new knowledge. In this video, students and lecturers from the 2026 edition of the training course talk about the importance of satellite navigation, including Europe’s Galileo system, in their own words.
Credits: European Space Agency (ESA)
Access the video on the ESA video library: https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Videos/2026/07/ESA_Academy_s_Navigation_Training_Course
Our main YouTube channel: youtube.com/@EuropeanSpaceAgency
We are Europe's gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe's space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
Copyright information about our videos is available here: https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Terms_and_Conditions
![Installing Laplace in the ICE Cubes Facility
This video was published on social media by ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot with the following caption:
[EN] Day 130, orbit 2017 — The variety of research carried out on board the International Space Station is simply amazing — and in this timelapse, I’m installing an experiment at the intersection of planetary science and astrophysics. 230 years ago, French scientist Pierre-Simon Laplace theorised that planets are born from vast clouds of gas and dust. Today, the experiment named after him aims to reproduce this process… and observe it in real time!
Set up inside the commercial ICE Cubes Facility in the Columbus module, Laplace explores how tiny grains of dust can come together to form the first building blocks of planets. To do this, it observes clouds of dust floating in a thin gas, watching them collide and gradually stick together – something best studied in microgravity.
The results will improve our models of planet formation, shedding light on the origins of Earth, and guiding the study of exoplanets. They will also help scientists make better sense of what we see through both space- and ground-based telescopes. Go science!
[FR] Jour 130, orbite 2017 – La variété des recherches menées à bord de la Station spatiale internationale est impressionnante – pour preuve ce timelapse de l’installation de l’expérience Laplace, à la croisée de la science planétaire et de l’astrophysique. Au 18e siècle, le scientifique français Pierre-Simon Laplace postulait que les planètes naissent d’un nuage de gaz et de poussière. Aujourd’hui, l’expérience qui porte son nom vise à reproduire ce processus… et à l’observer en direct !
Installée dans le dispositif commercial ICE Cubes Facility du module Columbus, Laplace cherche à comprendre comment de simples grains de poussière finissent par former les premières briques d’une planète. L’expérience propose donc d’observer, jusqu’à leur aggrégation, des nuages de poussière en suspension dans une fine atmosphère gazeuse – un phénomène qui s’étudie bien mieux en micropesanteur !
Les résultats permettront notamment d’améliorer les modèles de formation planétaire, contribuant à mieux comprendre la formation de la Terre et éclairer l’étude des exoplanètes. Ils permettront aussi d’affiner l’interprétation des observations réalisées au moyen des télescopes spatiaux ou terrestres. Vive la science !
Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)
Footage: ESA/NASA
Access the video on the ESA video library: https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Videos/2026/06/Installing_Laplace_in_the_ICE_Cubes_Facility
Our main YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@EuropeanSpaceAgency
We are Europes gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europes space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
Copyright information about our videos is available here: https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Terms_and_Conditions Installing Laplace in the ICE Cubes Facility](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/McHp1DgVG7A/mqdefault.jpg)









