Simon Proud
I work at ESA as the mission scientist for the Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-3 next generation missions. I mainly post nice pictures of the Earth from space!
Note: This is not an official ESA account, opinions are my own, and mine alone!
- As part of our preparation for potential future missions, we switched the @esaearth.esa.int / Copernicus Sentinel-3A satellite to take measurements at night. This is what it saw, look at all those gas flares in Iraq! Thanks to @eumetsat.int for setting up these night-time observations. 💪
- Something seems incompatible here...
- Am on vacation today but am thinking of all my friends and colleagues working on the Biomass launch. 🚀 Biomass promises to be an amazing mission that will provide some excellent science. Go Biomass, go Vega!
- Good morning, early birds! 🚀 Guess what? Vega-C and Biomass are ready for liftoff at 11:15 CEST. Stay tuned for updates and follow the launch live at ESAWebTv. #VV26 www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...
- This is over 1,300 years old, travelled all the way from Egypt to India and I hold it in the palm of my hand. Historical artefacts blow my mind!
- Registration for @esa.int's Living Planet Symposium is now open! Head over to lps25.esa.int to register. Looking forward to seeing you there! 😀
- Delighted to have been at the @esa.int security conference this week. Space is crucial for defence and civil security, and it's been super interesting to hear from European decision makers, industry and security experts. Now, lots to do - but the European direction is set.
- Flower parade in the Netherlands today... @esa.int with a great show, Ariane 6 rocket 🚀
- Really happy to see Ukraine sign this agreement with the @ec.europa.eu to enable cooperation on the Copernicus space programme! enlargement.ec.europa.eu/news/eu-reaf... Ukraine has a huge amount of space, science and EO expertise. A valuable partnership for all of us.
- Beautiful visitor to my garden today!
- Unprecented wildfires are burning in South Korea, killing, sadly, at least 24 people and causing widespread damage: www.bbc.com/news/article... The plume of smoke caused by the fires is clearly visible from space, seen here by S. Korea's GK2A weather satellite.
- Reposted by Simon Proud🌍 Happy #Equinox! On 20 March 2025 at 09:01 GMT/10:01 CET, just a few moments ago, the Sun appeared directly above Earth's equator - with our planet neither tilting towards nor away from the Sun! (pic: @eumetsat.int, processed by ESA/S. Proud) See flic.kr/p/2qT1ZUu
- Strong radar signatures in today's Copernicus #Sentinel1 overpass of Crimea. All those bright diagonal lines indicate something interfering with the satellite radar signal. In this case, ground-based Russian air defence assets.
- This corresponds well with our satellite data, we see smoke rising from the area at around 09:57 and a large explosion at around 10:06 UTC.
- From Marine Traffic, here's the moment of the crash between the oil tanker MV Stena Immaculate and a cargo vessel MV Solong. Live updates here www.theguardian.com/uk-news/live...
- Today, Cyclone #Jude is making landfall in Mozambique, bringing very strong winds and heavy rain to the region. @eumetsat.int's Meteosat has been monitoring the cyclone, helping provide accurate forecasts and warnings. Hopefully these help to ensure the impact is minimized.
- Reposted by Simon ProudOk, look, I have a system, ok? It's just not really a system. But I do know where things are, or at least where to go to find them, most of the time...
- Wonderful view of yesterday's Ariane 6 launch courtesy of the French air force. Not much outruns a fighter jet...but a rocket does just that!
- Delighted to see that Ariane 6 has successfully carried its satellite into orbit! Together with Vega-C, an important step on the road to ensuring independent European access to space. 🚀
- Huge iceberg A23a is drifting close to the South Georgia these days, and will soon either drift past or become stuck in the shallow water. Yesterday, the USGS/NASA Landsat-9 mission took these beautiful pictures of the iceberg! Looks like some big cracks in the ice on the Southern side...
- Our wonderful planet, seen by @eumetsat.bsky.social's #MTG satellite. I'll never get tired of views like this. Can you see the thunderstorm clouds bubbling up just ahead of the sunset?
- Who wants to lead my division here at @esa.int's ESTEC campus? 😀 A fantastic job opening working as head of the Earth Science division as part of @esaearth.esa.int. Check out the job ad here: jobs.esa.int/job/Noordwij... Closes: 10th March, so brush up those CVs
- Some, rare, clear skies in the Netherlands mean fantastic views of the night sky! This is Jupiter and her moons🌝
- In the last month, half of this Island in the Indian Ocean has been burned by wildfires. This Sentinel-2 satellite pic, 9th Feb, shows the scale of the devastation: Those brown areas are burnt. Some small fires still raging in the N and SE☹️ bbc.com/news/article... Data: Copernicus / ESA
- Our beautiful Earth, seen by America's latest weather satellite: GOES-19
- Hearing the @eumetsat.bsky.social perspective on future earth observation missions from Paul Counet. Even though Meteosat and MetOp are currently being refreshed to the latest generation, EUMETSAT are already thinking about the future generation!
- Another week, another workshop! This one is next to my office, though: The @esa.int ecosystem 2040+ workshop looking at how our earth observation systems should evolve in the next decades. Very interesting so far! If you're here, say hi! I'm in green sentinel2 polo shirt.😀
- Reposted by Simon ProudBig news! We’ve just launched some new accounts 🎉 Give them a follow: 🔭 @esascience.esa.int 🧑🚀 @esaexploration.esa.int 🚀 @esatransport.esa.int 🌍 @esaearth.esa.int 📡 @esaoperations.esa.int ⚙️ @esatechnology.esa.int 🛰️ @esaconnectivity.esa.int Stay tuned for exciting things ahead! 💙✨at://did:plc:yqfmy2p54vqgekrcz5zzykhl/app.bsky.graph.starterpack/3lhearh2ivw2r
- Today + tomorrow I'm hosting scientists, expert users and representatives of the Copernicus Services at our 6th Mission Advisory Group meeting for Sentinel-2 Next Gen. This is the second one I have led...a slightly nerve wracking experience, but great to see so much enthusiasm in the mission!
- Dear people who write funding / mission proposals: Please don't use ChatGPT to write your proposal, it's *so* obvious and really puts off the reviewer. If I have to read any more overly-verbose propopsals full of flowery words and a lack of detail then I'll explode. 😂
- Some more good news for the Sentinel-2 mission! Sentinel-2A, which recently retired, has been given a temporary extension, where it will support S2B and S2C to provide additional data. Lots of hard work behind the scenes to make this happen. Glad to see it! sentinels.copernicus.eu/web/sentinel...
- Great to see our Director General is now on Bluesky!🛰️🌍 Give Josef a follow - following on from other platforms, he'll be posting some fantastic insights into life at ESA and our various programmes.
