European Space Agency News
Official ESA news feed with updates on European space missions, satellites, launchers, and technology programs.
Antarctica’s Vanishing Sea Ice Transforms Marine Life
An ESA‑funded satellite study shows Antarctica entered a low‑ice era about ten years ago, sparking a 70 % rise in summer phytoplankton productivity. The bloom favors salps over the iconic krill, reshaping the Southern Ocean food web. Because salps export far less carbon than krill, the shift weakens the ocean’s carbon‑sequestration capacity. Continuous ocean‑colour monitoring proves essential for tracking these rapid ecological changes.
First Proba-3 Science: Surprisingly Speedy Solar Wind
The European Space Agency’s Proba‑3 mission has turned artificial eclipses into a repeatable laboratory, delivering 57 artificial solar eclipses and over 250 hours of high‑resolution corona video since July 2025. Using the ASPIICS coronagraph, scientists tracked slow‑wind plasma blobs moving at 250‑500 km s⁻¹,...
Week in Images: 06-10 April 2026
The week’s visual roundup highlights a Sentinel‑2 satellite image of an active lava flow on Réunion’s Piton de la Fournaise, alongside multiple European engineering milestones in NASA’s Orion program and ESA’s Eagle mission‑control. It also showcases a successful ROSE‑L radar...
Week in Images: 30 March - 03 April 2026
The latest "Week in images" roundup showcases a diverse set of space‑related photographs, from a versatile silicon chip to the final glimpse of ESA’s Smile spacecraft. Highlights include the Artemis II launch with Orion and the European Service Module, a rare...
Christine Klein Takes up Duty as Acting Director of Controlling, Finance and Operational Procurement
Christine Klein assumed the role of acting Director of Controlling, Finance and Operational Procurement (D/CFO) at the European Space Agency on 1 April 2026. The new directorate, slated to become operational by 1 June, will centralise financial planning, budget monitoring, procurement and industrial...
Géraldine Naja Takes up Duty as Director of Space Transportation
Géraldine Naja assumed the role of Director of Space Transportation at the European Space Agency on 1 April 2026, while also serving as acting director of the newly named Commercialisation and Industry Partnership directorate. Her appointment follows the retirement of Toni Tolker‑Nielsen, who...
Watch Live: Artemis II Launch
Artemis II, NASA’s first crewed mission to the Moon in over five decades, is slated for launch on 1 April 2026 at 18:24 local time. The European Service Module (ESM) will deploy solar arrays eight minutes after liftoff, provide power and propulsion, and...
Eight More Satellites Added to IRIDE Space Programme
Italy’s IRIDE Earth‑observation programme has added eight new Eaglet II satellites, raising the total constellation to 24 assets in orbit. The launch, performed on SpaceX’s Transporter‑16 from Vandenberg, placed the satellites alongside the first batch deployed in November 2025. Each spacecraft carries...
Celeste’s First Satellites Launched to Explore LEO-Based Satellite Navigation
On 28 March 2026 the European Space Agency launched the first two Celeste satellites aboard Rocket Lab’s Electron from New Zealand, marking the start of a low‑Earth‑orbit (LEO) navigation demonstration. Built by GMV and Thales Alenia Space, the pair will validate new L‑...
Getting to the Core of a Medicane
Medicane Jolina, a rare Mediterranean cyclone, made landfall in Libya in March 2026, providing a high‑resolution case study for scientists. Researchers used a suite of Earth‑observation satellites—including Meteosat, MetOp, NOAA 20/21, and Sentinel‑1—to track its evolution from a cold‑core low to...
Webb & Hubble Capture New Views of Saturn
NASA, ESA, and CSA combined the James Webb Space Telescope’s infrared power with Hubble’s visible‑light imaging to deliver the most detailed, layered view of Saturn to date. The paired observations captured a long‑lived jet stream, remnants of the 2011‑12 Great...
2026 European Space for Sustainability Award Is Now Open for Bold Ideas
The European Space for Sustainability Award, backed by ESA, EISC and ESPI, is now accepting entries from European students and young professionals aged 18‑30. Participants must submit a poster by 3 May 2026 and, if shortlisted, a detailed report by 21 June 2026. Winners...
XRISM Solves Famous Star’s 50-Year Mystery
XRISM’s Resolve spectrometer finally solved the 50‑year mystery of γ Cas by detecting X‑ray plasma moving with an unseen companion. The observations identified a white dwarf accreting material from the massive Be star, confirming the accretion‑driven origin of the system’s unusually...
Tracking Arctic Freshwater Flow From Space
Scientists have used European Space Agency satellite data to create a 20‑year, pan‑Arctic record of river discharge and runoff, revealing that Arctic rivers deliver roughly 4,760 km³ of freshwater to the ocean each year. The new STREAM‑NEXT model, calibrated on the...
Watch Live: First Celeste Launch
On 25 March 2026, ESA’s Celeste low‑Earth‑orbit positioning, navigation and timing (LEO‑PNT) mission will lift off aboard Rocket Lab’s Electron from New Zealand, deploying its first two demonstration satellites. The launch marks the inaugural step of an 11‑satellite constellation designed to test...
