Space News & Blog Articles

Video: 00:02:46

For half a century, the European Space Agency (ESA) has been serving Europe as its space agency and inspiring its citizens. On 30 May 1975, the ESA Convention was signed by 10 founding Member States and has since now expanded to 23 Member States, three Associate Members, four Cooperating States and a Cooperation Agreement with Canada. This anniversary year provides the opportunity to reflect not only on ESA’s past achievements, but even more so on its future perspectives.

Image: The Copernicus Sentinel-3 mission shows us a rare, cloud-free view of Iceland captured on 17 May 2025.

The deadline to apply for ESA’s Junior Professional Programme (JPP) is fast approaching, with applications closing on 5 June. The JPP is a unique opportunity for recent graduates and early-career professionals to gain hands-on experience at one of the world’s leading space organisations. Successful candidates will work on real ESA projects alongside experienced experts in fields ranging from engineering and science to business and administration. If you are ready to take the first step towards a future in space, don’t miss this opportunity. Submit your application before the 5 June deadline. 

Week in images: 26-30 May 2025

Week in images: 12-16 May 2025

Image: The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission brings us this cloud-free view of Svalbard, a remote Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean.

Are you passionate about space and looking to build a long-term career in the European space sector? Do you have two to three years of professional experience and a Master’s degree? The European Space Agency is offering a unique opportunity through its Junior Professional Programme (JPP), designed to cultivate the next generation of space professionals. If you dream of contributing to cutting-edge space missions and working in an international, dynamic environment, this programme is your gateway to an exciting future at ESA. Apply now to join us as a Junior Professional!

A science team has combined data from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope and the Keck II telescope to see evidence of cloud convection on Saturn’s moon Titan in the northern hemisphere for the first time. Most of Titan’s lakes and seas are located in that hemisphere, and are likely replenished by an occasional rain of methane and ethane. Webb also has detected a key carbon-containing molecule that gives insight into the chemical processes in Titan’s complex atmosphere.

On 12 March 2013, Galileo satellite GSAT0104, alongside its fellow In-Orbit Validation (IOV) satellites, made history by enabling the first position fix by Europe’s independent satellite navigation system Galileo. Now, after 12 years of service mostly in the area of Search and Rescue, GSAT0104 makes history again by becoming the first satellite in the Galileo constellation to be decommissioned.

The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has captured new details of the auroras on our Solar System’s largest planet. The dancing lights observed on Jupiter are hundreds of times brighter than those seen on Earth. With Webb’s advanced sensitivity, astronomers have studied the phenomena to better understand Jupiter’s magnetosphere.

The European Space Agency will be present at the 55th edition of International Paris Air Show, taking place on 16-22 June at Le Bourget airport.

As the night closed in on Spain and Portugal on 28 April, polar satellites followed the blackout that lasted well into the early hours of the morning in several regions.

Week in images: 05-09 May 2025

Image: Part of the Italian island of Sardinia is featured in this image captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission.

Fresh from the cleanroom in Bremen, Germany, the second of the Meteosat Third Generation satellites and the first instrument for the Copernicus Sentinel-4 mission have arrived at Cape Canaveral harbour, in the US.

Thanks largely to Copernicus Sentinel-1, scientists have discovered that a glacier in Antarctica is rapidly siphoning ice from neighbouring flows – at a pace never before seen. Until now, researchers believed that this process of ‘ice piracy’ in Antarctica took hundreds or even thousands of years, but these latest findings clearly demonstrate that this isn’t always the case.

The activities to assemble the European Space Agency’s Plato mission are progressing well now that 24 of the spacecraft’s 26 cameras have been installed. Once in space, Plato will use its many eyes to survey a very large area of the sky and hunt for terrestrial planets. The spacecraft’s supporting element is also coming together in parallel.

For the first time, two spacecraft in orbit were aligned in formation with millimetre precision and maintained their relative position for several hours without any control from the ground.

Just a week after its launch, ESA’s Biomass mission has reached another critical milestone on its path to delivering unprecedented insights into the world’s forests and their vital role in Earth’s carbon cycle – the satellite’s 12-metre-diameter antenna is now fully deployed.

ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher emphasises the importance of cooperation in space activities