European Space Agency

On 1 December 2024, BepiColombo flew past Mercury for the fifth time. During this flyby, BepiColombo became the first spacecraft ever to observe Mercury in mid-infrared light. The new images reveal variations in temperature and composition across the planet's cratered surface. View the full article

Researchers from the University of Leeds have detected methane leaking from a faulty pipe in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, UK, using GHGSat satellite data – part of ESA’s Third Party Mission Programme. This marks the first time a UK methane emission has been identified from space and successfully mitigated. View the full article

Week in images: 02-06 December 2024 Discover our week through the lens View the full article

Image: This Copernicus Sentinel-2 image from 21 November 2024 captures the first snow of the season over Denmark and southern Sweden. View the full article

Video: 00:03:40 The third Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellite, Sentinel-1C, has launched aboard a Vega-C rocket, flight VV25, from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. The rocket lifted off on 5 December 2024 at 22:20 CET (18:20 local time). Sentinel-1C extends the legacy of its predecessors, delivering high-resolution radar imagery to monitor Earth’s changing environment, supporting a diverse range of applications and advance scientific research. Additionally, Sentinel-1C introduces new capabilities for detecting and monitoring maritime traffic. The launch also marks Vega-C’s ‘return to flight’, a key step in restoring Europe’s independent access to space. Vega-C is the evolution of the Vega family of rockets and delivers increased performance, greater payload volume and improved competitiveness. View the full article

The third Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellite was launched on a Vega-C rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. Sentinel-1C extends the legacy of its predecessors, delivering high-resolution radar imagery to monitor Earth’s changing environment, supporting a diverse range of applications and advancing scientific research. Additionally, Sentinel-1C introduces new capabilities for detecting and monitoring maritime traffic. View the full article

Video: 00:02:40 The third Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellite, Sentinel-1C, has launched aboard a Vega-C rocket, flight VV25, from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. The rocket lifted off on 5 December 2024 at 22:20 CET (18:20 local time). Sentinel-1C extends the legacy of its predecessors, delivering high-resolution radar imagery to monitor Earth’s changing environment, supporting a diverse range of applications and advance scientific research. Additionally, Sentinel-1C introduces new capabilities for detecting and monitoring maritime traffic. The launch also marks Vega-C’s ‘return to flight’, a key step in restoring Europe’s independent access to space. Vega-C is the evolution of the Vega family of rockets and delivers increased performance, greater payload volume and improved competitiveness. View the full article

Today, ESA’s powerful X-ray observatory, XMM-Newton, celebrates 25 years in space. From planets to black holes, the space telescope has delivered many ground-breaking observations of a variety of celestial objects. And the mission is still going strong as recent results testify. We take a look at five fascinating discoveries from the last five years. View the full article

Video: 00:01:21 Proba-3 lifted off on its PSLV-XL rocket from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, India, on Thursday, 5 December, at 11:34 CET (10:34 GMT, 16:04 local time). The mission was launched using this Indian launcher because it needed to be placed in a highly elliptical orbit extending more than 60 500 km from the ground. After integration and testing was completed at Redwire Space in Belgium, Proba-3 was transported to India to be prepared for launch. The latest member of ESA’s family of in-orbit demonstration missions, Proba-3 is in fact two spacecraft being launched together, which will separate in orbit to begin performing precise formation flying, precise to a single millimetre, about the thickness of an average fingernail. To prove their performance, Proba-3 has been devoted to an ambitious scientific goal. The pair will line up precisely with the Sun 150 m apart so that one casts a precisely controlled shadow onto the other. By blocking out the fiery disc of the Sun, Proba-3’s ‘Occulter’ spacecraft will mimic a terrestrial total solar eclipse, to open up views of the Sun’s faint surrounding atmosphere, or ‘corona’, which is a million times fainter than its parent star. Proba-3’s second ‘Coronagraph’ spacecraft hosts the optical instrument that will observe the solar corona. If Proba-3’s initial commissioning phase goes to plan then the spacecraft pair will be separated early in the new year to begin their individual check-outs. The operational phase of the mission, including the first observations of the corona through active formation flying, should begin in about four months. Proba-3 was led for ESA by Sener in Spain, overseeing a consortium of 14 ESA Member States and Canada including Airbus Defence and Space in Spain manufacturing the spacecraft and Redwire Space in Belgium responsible for the spacecraft avionics, assembly and operations. CSL in Belgium produced Proba-3’s ASPIICS coronagraph Spacebel in Belgium developed the onboard and ground segment software with GMV responsible for the formation flying system and flight dynamics. View the full article

Video: 00:02:27 ESA’s Proba-3 mission lifted off on its PSLV-XL rocket from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, India, on Thursday, 5 December, at 11:34 CET (10:34 GMT, 16:04 local time). View the full article

A pair of spacecraft were launched together today from India with the potential to change the nature of future space missions. ESA’s twin Proba-3 platforms will perform precise formation flying down to a single millimetre, as if they were one single giant spacecraft. To demonstrate their degree of control, the pair will produce artificial solar eclipses in orbit, giving prolonged views of the Sun’s ghostly surrounding atmosphere, the corona. View the full article

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Using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, an international team of astronomers have found new galaxies in the Spiderweb protocluster. Their characteristics reveal that new galaxies are forming in these large cosmic cities, with the finding that gravitational interactions in these dense regions are not as important as previously thought. View the full article

Video: 00:09:01 Proba-3 is such an ambitious mission that it needs more than one single spacecraft to succeed. In order for Proba-3’s Coronagraph spacecraft to observe the Sun’s faint surrounding atmosphere, its disk-bearing Occulter spacecraft must block out the fiery solar disk. This means Proba-3’s Occulter ends up facing the Sun continuously, making it a valuable platform for science in its own right. Proba-3 is scheduled for launch on a PSLV-XL rocket from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, India, on Wednesday, 4 December, at 11:38 CET (10:38 GMT, 16:08 local time). View the full article

ESA’s Proba-3 will be the first mission to create an artificial total solar eclipse by flying a pair of satellites 150 metres apart. For six hours at a time, it will be able to see the Sun’s faint atmosphere, the corona, in the hard-to-observe region between the Sun’s edge and 1.4 million kilometres from its surface. This new technology combined with the satellite pair’s unique extended orbit around Earth will allow Proba-3 to do important science, revealing secrets of the Sun, space weather and Earth’s radiation belts. View the full article

Video: 00:02:39 The Ignis mission, named after the Latin word for ‘fire,’ symbolises the spark igniting a new era in Poland’s space endeavours. The central motif of the patch features an eagle – a reference to the emblem of Poland – in white and red, reflecting the colours and design of the Polish national flag. Its tail gracefully evokes a flame, while its outstretched wings trace the contours of the Orla Perć mountain range in the Polish Tatra Mountains. Within the mission’s name, the second ‘i’ takes the form of the International Space Station. Above it, stars converge to form the Scutum constellation, paying homage to astronomer Johannes Hevelius (1611-87), who was born in the Polish city of Gdańsk. Finally, a silver line represents the horizon, signifying the dawn of a new era in space exploration. For more details, read the press release here. Follow Sławosz’s journey on the Ignis website. View the full article

Researchers have achieved a breakthrough in bringing 5G technology to space, marking a pivotal moment in telecommunications history. The 5G Infrastructure Study (5G-IS), funded by ESA’s Connectivity and Secure Communications directorate, has mapped out how satellites can deliver reliable 5G connectivity worldwide. View the full article

A mesmerising audiovisual experience from trip-hop collective Massive Attack that blends an original score with stunning satellite images of Earth was enjoyed by thousands of climate enthusiasts in Liverpool. View the full article

What’s harder than flying a single satellite in Earth orbit? Flying two – right beside each other, at proximities that would normally trigger collision avoidance manoeuvres. View the full article

Image: BepiColombo's fifth Mercury flyby View the full article

The Copernicus Sentinel-1C satellite is ready for liftoff! Tune in to ESA WebTV on 4 December from 22:00 CET to watch the satellite soar into space on a Vega-C rocket to be launched from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. Sentinel-1C is scheduled to liftoff at 22:20 CET. View the full article

Week in images: 25-29 November 2024 Discover our week through the lens View the full article

Image: A colourful patchwork of agricultural fields is pictured in this radar image captured by Copernicus Sentinel-1 over southeastern Romania. View the full article

ESA’s eclipse-making precise formation-flying mission is nearly ready for liftoff! Proba-3 is scheduled for launch on a PSLV-XL rocket from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, India, on Wednesday, 4 December, at 11:38 CET (10:38 GMT, 16:08 local time). View the full article

Video: 00:56:21 Watch the replay of the Sentinel-1C pre-launch media briefing for detailed information on the mission which will be launched aboard a Vega-C rocket no earlier than 4 December at 18:20 local time (22:20 CET) from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. View the full article