Space News & Blog Articles

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Earth from Space: Circles in the desert

Image: This image from Copernicus Sentinel-1 shows circular agricultural structures near Tabarjal, in the barren desert of northern Saudi Arabia.

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Vigil: ESA’s space weather reporter in deep space

Video: 00:01:51

Space weather ‘reporter’ Vigil will be the world’s first space weather mission to be permanently positioned at Lagrange point 5, a unique vantage point that allows us to see solar activity days before it reaches Earth. ESA’s Vigil mission will be a dedicated operational space weather mission, sending data 24/7 from deep space. 

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Earth views from Cupola during Ignis mission

Video: 00:00:40

View of Earth as seen by ESA project astronaut Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski inside the seven-windowed cupola, the International Space Station's "window to the world".

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Φsat-2 begins science phase for AI Earth images

Φsat-2, a miniature satellite, has completed its commissioning and has begun delivery of science data, using algorithms to efficiently process and compress Earth observation images, as well as detect wildfires, ships, marine pollution and more.

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Smile passes gruelling set of tests

All its parts have been built and put together. It has been wrapped in shiny gold insulating foil. Its launch is getting closer. But the Smile spacecraft had one major phase to pass before it could be certified ready for space – and it involved testing, testing and yet more testing.

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Ignis mission highlights

After 20 days in space, ESA project astronaut Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski and his Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) crewmates returned safely to Earth today, 15 July 2025.

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You can’t judge a star by its protoplanetary disc

Image:

This image tells the story of redemption for one lonely star. The young star MP Mus (PDS 66) was thought to be all alone in the Universe, surrounded by nothing but a featureless band of gas and dust called a protoplanetary disc. In most cases, the material inside a protoplanetary disc condenses to form new planets around the star, leaving large gaps where the gas and dust used to be. These features are seen in almost every disc – but not in MP Mus’s.

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ESA Council receives Anniversary Statement

The Council of the European Space Agency has received the Anniversary Statement as signed by Member States marking 50 years of the agency.

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Week in images: 07-11 July 2025

Week in images: 07-11 July 2025

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Europe's first deep-space optical communication link

The European Space Agency (ESA) successfully established a transmission-reception optical link with NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) experiment onboard its Psyche mission, located 265 million kilometres away, using two optical grounds stations developed for this purpose in Greece.

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Earth from Space: Lake District, UK

Image: The varied landscape of England’s Lake District is featured in this image captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission.

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Webb scratches under Cat’s Paw Nebula for third anniversary

To mark its third year of highly productive science, astronomers used the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope to scratch beyond the surface of the Cat’s Paw Nebula (NGC 6334), a massive, local star-forming region.

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Closing the loop: new Space Rider drop test

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European Launcher Challenge: preselected challengers unveiled

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Week in images: 30 June - 4 July 2025

Week in images: 30 June - 4 July 2025

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Antarctic waters getting saltier as sea ice wanes

Using data from ESA’s SMOS satellite, scientists have revealed a surprising shift in the Southern Ocean – surface waters around Antarctica are growing saltier, even as sea ice is diminishing rapidly. This finding defies the norm because melting ice typically freshens ocean surface water.

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Earth from Space: Zanzibar, Tanzania

Image: Earth from Space: Zanzibar, Tanzania

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ESA tracks rare interstellar comet

Astronomers have confirmed the discovery of a rare celestial visitor: a comet from beyond our Solar System.

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A pinch of France in space

ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot selected the French chef Anne-Sophie Pic to develop the bonus food she will bring to the International Space Station during her mission εpsilon.

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MTG-S1 and Copernicus Sentinel-4 mission highlights

Video: 00:03:30

Two meteorological missions – Meteosat Third Generation Sounder-1 (MTG-S1) and the Copernicus Sentinel-4 mission – have launched on board a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral in Florida, US.

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Clingy planets can trigger own doom, suspect Cheops and TESS

Astronomers using the European Space Agency’s Cheops mission have caught an exoplanet that seems to be triggering flares of radiation from the star it orbits. These tremendous explosions are blasting away the planet’s wispy atmosphere, causing it to shrink every year.

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