# @europeanspaceagency on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DLhviQYM9vU
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/35582096-europeanspaceagency-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/24f9c3f15a.jpg
- **Posted:** 2025-06-30T15:50:00.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** J.L.Lopez (@xandler80) — https://gondola.cc/xandler80

## Caption

Earth wears the scars of its cosmic past ☄️

From Chad to Canada, Mexico to Mauritania, these impact craters remind us that space rocks have quite literally left their mark on our planet.

Each crater tells a story — of dramatic collisions, planetary transformation, and extinction events. Some shaped landscapes. Others reshaped life itself.

That’s why we study asteroids. Because understanding the past helps us protect the future.

We’re working on planetary defence through:

- Finding new asteroids and measuring their orbits
- Developing new asteroid-hunting telescopes like Flyeye
- Sending spacecraft like Hera to asteroids to test asteroid deflection
- Coordinating humankind’s asteroid response at unoosa 

Swipe through to explore Earth’s cratered history, captured by our astronauts from the iss and by satellites like the copernicus_eu Sentinel-2 mission.

Happy asteroidday!
And yes… we do want to close our eyes and not miss a thing — especially when it comes to spotting potentially hazardous asteroids.

📸 Chicxulub Crater, Mexico: europeanspaceagency / nasa - astro_timpeake
📸 Tenoumer Crater, Mauritania: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2022), processed by ESA; creativecommons BY-SA 3.0 IGO
📸 Gwemi-Fada, Chad: ESA/NASA – S.Cristoforetti
📸 Acraman Crater, Australia: ESA/NASA – S.Cristoforetti
📸 Roter Kamm Crater, Namibia: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2020), processed by ESA; CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
📸 Ouarkziz Crater, Algeria: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2016), processed by ESA; CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
📸 Emi Koussi & Aorounga, Chad: ESA/NASA – T.Peake
📸 Barringer Crater, USA: ESA/NASA - astro_alex_esa
📸 Manicouagan Crater, Canada: ESA/NASA – astro_andreas
📸 Manicouagan Crater and atmosphere, Canada: ESA/NASA – T.Peake

## Stats

- **Views:** 0
- **Likes:** 12,865
- **Shares:** 0
- **Comments:** 66

## Credits

These are the roles credited on Gondola. Credits may be incomplete.
A brand, account owner, or featured person is not necessarily the creator.

| Name | Username | Profile | Role |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| ESA - European Space Agency | @europeanspaceagency | https://gondola.cc/europeanspaceagency | Government Organization |
| J.L.Lopez | @xandler80 | https://gondola.cc/xandler80 | Producer |
| J.L.Lopez | @xandler80 | https://gondola.cc/xandler80 | Editor |
| J.L.Lopez | @xandler80 | https://gondola.cc/xandler80 | Social Media Manager |
| J.L.Lopez | @xandler80 | https://gondola.cc/xandler80 | Publisher |
| J.L.Lopez | @xandler80 | https://gondola.cc/xandler80 | Copywriter |
| J.L.Lopez | @xandler80 | https://gondola.cc/xandler80 | Community Manager |

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