Estonia, Bird of the Year 2023

Chosen by the Estonian Ornithological Society, this year's Estonian bird of the year is the Long Tailed Duck. The cover is from Estonia's second largest city, Tartu. The bird on the envelope is a barn swallow. I believe this envelope was produced for Estonia's 2019 Europa issue which featured this particular bird.

Estonia, Preserve the Polar Regions

Postmarked at Kaubamaja which is a department store in Tallinn. The stamp sheet issued in 2009 was part of a joint issue between several countries to raise awareness about receding ice levels in the polar regions and glaciers of the world.

Viimsi, Estonia

From the borough of Viimsi, northeast of Tallinn. The block of stamps is from 2006. It is Estonia's 2006 Europa stamp commemorating the 50th anniversary of the first Europa stamp.

The First Estonian Satellite

The first Estonian satellite, known as ESTCube-1, was launch into orbit on 7 May 2013. It was designed mainly by students from the University of Tartu over a period of 5 years. It takes images and radios them back to Earth but the Satellite also serves a scientific purpose.  It is outfitted with a solar sail that can be deployed to affect the satellites speed.

This satellite is a nanosatellite and was designed following the CubeSat standard which basically says the satellite has to have a volume of no more than a litre and can weight no more than 1.33 kgs. Several of these cubic nanosatellites can be placed into orbit during a single launch mission making it incredibly cost effective.

Estonia