Inside ESA's COP27 metaverse

ESA has created a space-inspired virtual environment to enable its workforce to experience the COP27 climate summit – which is being held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt – without the environmental cost of travelling.

This digital installation – created as part of the 5G/6G Strategic Programme Line of ESA’s Directorate of Telecommunications and Integrated Applications – incorporates bespoke virtual environments for networking and exhibits that feature the latest sustainable innovations, along with live streams of on-site reporting from Egypt.

During the conference, hundreds of ESA staff from across its European sites immersed themselves in the digital environment. They accessed the metaverse on their laptops or smartphones, or by wearing virtual reality headsets, which were connected over the internet and by satellite 5G.