Introducing: ESA Vigil

It’s the first mission of its kind, set to monitor our active and unpredictable Sun and help protect us from its violent outbursts – and it has a new name. Once known as “Lagrange,” ESA’s upcoming space weather mission needed a new name that would reflect its vital role: helping to protect Earth’s infrastructure, satellites, inhabitants and space explorers from unpredictable but violent solar events like solar flares and ‘coronal mass ejections’. During the Name The Mission campaign, 5422 entries were submitted from across Europe and indeed around the world – and after weeks of deliberation, countless spreadsheets, three diverse and expert judges and a lively debate – a new name has been selected for our upcoming space weather mission: ESA Vigil. “We are thrilled with our mission’s new name,” explains Juha-Pekka Luntama, ESA’s Head of Space Weather. “When I first heard it, I thought it was just spot on. That is exactly what we do, we keep a vigilant watch and guard Earth”. In Latin, ‘vigilis exceptus’ me