European Space Agency

Image: A glimpse of the distant past by Webb View the full article

Week in images: 19-23 May 2025 Discover our week through the lens View the full article

Image: Lake Alakol in eastern Kazakhstan is featured in this radar image captured by Copernicus Sentinel-1. View the full article

To create a crumbly crater rich in ice and chunky blocks soaked in layers of martian history – like this one recently observed by the European Space Agency’s Mars Express – follow this recipe: Toss a space rock into Mars to form a classic circular base Layer with molten lava Carve channels with liquid water Chill to create ice, and freeze-thaw multiple times to slowly expand crater edges Sprinkle generously with volcanic dust, and leave to set Serve to hungry Mars fans! View the full article

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Week in images: 12-16 May 2025 Discover our week through the lens View the full article

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

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! View the full article

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. View the full article

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. View the full article

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. View the full article

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. View the full article

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. View the full article

Week in images: 05-09 May 2025 Discover our week through the lens View the full article

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

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. View the full article

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. View the full article

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. View the full article

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. View the full article

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. View the full article

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

Video: 00:03:23 Astrophysicist and Nobel Prize Laureate Didier Queloz answers the who, what, where, when and why of exoplanets in this 3-part series. View the full article

As the new Biomass satellite settles into life in orbit following its launch on 29 April, ESA has released its most extensive satellite-based maps of above-ground forest carbon to date. Spanning nearly two decades, the dataset offers the clearest global picture yet of how forest carbon stocks have changed over time. Developed through ESA’s Climate Change Initiative, this new long-term record integrates data from multiple satellite missions – and will soon be further enhanced by data from the Biomass mission itself. View the full article

Week in images: 28 April - 02 May 2025 Discover our week through the lens View the full article

Image: The Ocean and Land Colour Instrument on Copernicus Sentinel-3 captured this image of Earth’s biggest iceberg, A23a, on 5 April 2025. View the full article