The pre-launch roll call for the launch of the Copernicus Sentinel-6B satellite at ESA's ESOC mission control centre

The pre-launch roll call for the launch of the Copernicus Sentinel-1D satellite at ESA's ESOC mission control centre

Seas of the Sun is a film about a bold science mission and the people who made it possible. Hosted by Space Rocks founder and producer and co-director on Seas of the Sun, this series was produced by Philip Wilding, and with music by Karlotta Skagfield.

Missions notes episode 3: The sounds of Cluster, with Seas of the Sun composer Karlotta Skagfield and data sonification contributors Klaus Nielsen (Maplepools) and Shane Embury (Napalm Death) who used science data to create a unique interpretation of the data that Cluster produced.

See the full film on 30 October 2025: https://www.youtube.com/europeanspaceagency

Learn more about the making of Seas of the Sun: http://www.spacerocksofficial.com

Seas of the Sun is a film about a bold science mission and the people who made it possible. Hosted by Space Rocks founder and producer and co-director on Seas of the Sun, this series was produced by Philip Wilding, and with music by Karlotta Skagfield.

Missions notes episode 2: The science of Cluster, with Science Operations Support scientist Matt Taylor and Lucile Turc of the University of Helsinki. We explore the world of heliophysics and Cluster’s contributions to this burgeoning field of study.

See the full film on 30 October 2025: https://www.youtube.com/europeanspaceagency

Learn more about the making of Seas of the Sun: http://www.spacerocksofficial.com

Seas of the Sun is a film about a bold science mission and the people who made it possible. Hosted by Space Rocks founder and producer and co-director on Seas of the Sun, this series was produced by Philip Wilding, and with music by Karlotta Skagfield.

Missions notes episode 1: The story of Cluster, with co-director Ryan MackFall of Crashburn Studios and Cluster veteran Gill Watson of the Mullard Space Science Laboratory on the unique challenges and opportunities of telling a story of this kind.

See the full film on 30 October 2025: https://www.youtube.com/europeanspaceagency

Learn more about the making of Seas of the Sun: http://www.spacerocksofficial.com

Launched in May 2024, ESA’s Earth Explorer EarthCARE mission has already been delivering remarkable data. Its four instruments have brought us groundbreaking insights into clouds, aerosols and Earth’s energy balance. The mission is being featured in an immersive installation called Hakuryu, which is Japanese for White Dragon, at the Living Planet Symposium in Vienna and here’s the accompanying sonification of atmospheric data downloaded from the EarthCARE satellite.

Every day, the Sun sends out bursts of energetic electrons into space. As these electrons collide with other charged particles, they produce radio waves—captured by the Radio and Plasma Waves (RPW) instrument on ESA’s Solar Orbiter spacecraft.

This track is a sonification of one six-hour data segment from a five-year dataset compiled by a team at Radboud University and Paris Observatory. Each drop in pitch represents electrons travelling further from the Sun, where fewer particles are left to interact with—causing the radio frequency (and now sound) to drop.

Listen for the distinctive “pyoong” sounds—real solar radio bursts, each starting sharp and fading low. The data has been sped up for your ears; that dramatic burst at the centre? It lasted three hours in space.

Credit: ESA & NASA/Solar Orbiter/RPW, sonification by Katerina Pesini

Acknowledgements: Philippe Zarka (IDL script), Alan Loh (Python script), Dimosthenis Bitzilos (video editing support)

This track invites you to listen to the Sun’s changing activity over the past three years—captured by the ESA-led Solar Orbiter mission. Through a unique blend of visuals and sound, experience the growing number and intensity of solar flares as the Sun nears the peak of its 11-year cycle.

This sonification combines data from Solar Orbiter’s instruments: the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI), which captures the glowing outer solar atmosphere, and STIX, which detects solar flares in X-rays. The Sun’s distance from the spacecraft is reflected in the low hum you’ll hear—growing louder as the probe draws near and softer as it moves away.

Flares are marked by metallic clinks, each one shaped by the strength of the event—bigger, more energetic bursts ring sharper and brighter. Blue circles in the accompanying visuals mark the flares’ size and location.

Crafted by Klaus Nielsen (DTU Space / Maple Pools), this sonification transforms solar science into an immersive listening experience.

Solar Orbiter is a mission of international collaboration between ESA and NASA, operated by ESA.

Credit: ESA & NASA/Solar Orbiter/EUI & STIX, Klaus Nielsen (DTU Space/Maple Pools)

Acknowledgements: Data processing for video by Laura Hayes

The Copernicus Sentinel-4 mission, part of the European Union’s Earth Observation Programme, will monitor air quality with its ultraviolet, visible, near-infrared light spectrometer. The mission will be able to provide hourly observations, in a breakthrough for air quality monitoring from space.

Simonetta Cheli, ESA’s Director of Earth Observation Programmes

The Copernicus Sentinel-4 mission, part of the European Union’s Earth Observation Programme, will monitor air quality with its ultraviolet, visible, near-infrared light spectrometer. The mission will be able to provide hourly observations, in a breakthrough for air quality monitoring from space.

Giorgio Bagnasco, ESA's Sentinel-4 Project Manager