Looking for food that could be harvested by astronauts far from Earth, researchers focused on spirulina, which has been harvested for food in South America and Africa for centuries. ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti ate the first food containing spirulina in space and now the knowledge is being applied to a pilot project in Congo as a food supplement.

Preparing for long missions far from Earth, astronauts will need to harvest their own food. ESA’s Micro-Ecological Life Support System Alternative team, or MELiSSA, is looking at creating a closed ecosystem that continuously recycles waste into food, oxygen and water.

New evidence shows that the once-planet Theia may have been destroyed in the early impact that formed the moon.

A star in the Stingray Nebula has cycled through heating up and cooling down in our lifetimes.

Watch the replays from this two-day event exploring the impact of human spaceflight on our world

Space Science Image of the Week: Explore the sky with this new visualisation using data from ESA’s Hipparcos mission

Gaia’s first star catalogue will be unveiled on Wednesday, 14 September. Watch livestream from 09:30 GMT / 11:30 CEST

The New Glenn will take the previously-suborbital company to dizzying new heights.

The black holes don’t eject each other as expected

NASA’s rover captured images of layered rock formations on the “Murray Buttes” region of Mount Sharp last week.

By converging in orbit, a pair of small satellites will open a new view on the source of the largest structure in the Solar System: the Sun’s ghostly atmosphere, extending millions of kilometres out into space.

The layered geologic past of Mars is revealed in stunning detail in new color images returned by NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover of the “Murray Buttes” region on Mount Sharp.

Mission managers are assessing two power system-related anomalies affecting the operation of NASA’s ISS-RapidScat instrument on the International Space Station.

The layered geologic past of Mars is revealed in stunning detail in new color images returned by NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover of the “Murray Buttes” region on Mount Sharp.

Mission managers are assessing two power system-related anomalies affecting the operation of NASA’s ISS-RapidScat instrument on the International Space Station.

Our week through the lens: 5-9 September 2016

Squeezing out unique scientific observations until the very end, Rosetta’s thrilling mission will culminate with a descent on 30 September towards a region of active pits on the comet’s ‘head’.

Follow the EO Open Science 2016 conference via live webstream from ESA’s ESRIN establishment in Italy 12–14 September. Live coverage begins Monday at 9:00 CEST

The craft will scoop up a bit of asteroid and bring it back to Earth.

A collection of stars from the beginning of our galaxy could shed light on how it formed.

A transatlantic flight delivered four Galileo satellites to French Guiana on Tuesday, in preparation for a shared launch this November by Ariane 5 – the first for Europe’s satnav constellation.

Earth observation image of the week: a Sentinel-2A image of a plankton bloom in the Barents Sea

Just in time for the 50th anniversary of the TV series “Star Trek,” which first aired September 8th,1966, a new infrared image from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope may remind fans of the historic show.

Just in time for the 50th anniversary of the TV series “Star Trek,” which first aired September 8th,1966, a new infrared image from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope may remind fans of the historic show.

Operations image of the week: The Rosetta flight control team add their signatures to the SciFi car

Join us Friday, 9 September, at 10:00 CEST for the ‘Earth from Space’ video programme. This week features the watercolour swirls of a plankton bloom in the Barents Sea

New scenes from a frigid alien landscape are coming to light in recent radar images of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft.

A small asteroid designated 2016 RB1 safely flew past Earth today, Sept. 7, at a distance of about 25,000 miles (just less than 1/10th the distance of Earth to the moon).

A small asteroid designated 2016 RB1 safely flew past Earth today, Sept. 7, at a distance of about 25,000 miles (just less than 1/10th the distance of Earth to the moon).

They can’t get your letters to warp speed, but they are pretty great nonetheless.

OSIRIS-REx is due for an encounter with a near-Earth object in two years.

Space Science Image of the Week: This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows NGC 1501, a duo resembling a cosmic oyster and its much-coveted pearl

Technology image of the week: all four ion thrusters have been integrated into the BepiColombo mission to the innermost planet

Today, ESA and Arianespace signed a contract to secure the launch of the Aeolus satellite. With this milestone, a better understanding of Earth’s winds is another step closer.

New scenes from a frigid alien landscape are coming to light in recent radar images of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft.

Tell us how Rosetta has influenced you and there’s a chance to win ESA prizes

Human spaceflight and robotic exploration image of the week: ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen and cosmonaut Sergei Volkov unveil a bust of Yuri Gagarin

ESA’s comet lander missed its mark two years ago. Yesterday, its parent craft Rosetta found the probe finally.

As the Arctic is developed, how can space help safeguard this fragile environment? Follow the Arctic and Space workshop at the Finnish Meteorological Institute on 6 September. Livestream starts at 06:00 GMT (08:00 CEST)

Rosetta’s Philae lander is revealed in new images of the comet

Less than a month before the end of the mission, Rosetta’s high-resolution camera has revealed the Philae lander wedged into a dark crack on Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.

NASA is moving forward with a spring 2018 launch of its InSight mission to study the deep interior of Mars, following final approval this week by the agency.

NASA’s Juno spacecraft has sent back the first-ever images of Jupiter’s north pole, taken during the spacecraft’s first flyby of the planet with its instruments switched on.

NASA’s Juno spacecraft has sent back the first-ever images of Jupiter’s north pole, taken during the spacecraft’s first flyby of the planet with its instruments switched on.

NASA is moving forward with a spring 2018 launch of its InSight mission to study the deep interior of Mars, following final approval this week by the agency.

Our week through the lens: 29 August – 2 September 2016

Some never-before-seen features come to light.

Want to know what Hubble is up to right now? There’s a tweet for that.

Ceres: a world that just keeps getting weirder and weirder.

A lonely 3-mile-high (5-kilometer-high) mountain on Ceres is likely volcanic in origin, and the dwarf planet may have a weak, temporary atmosphere.

A lonely 3-mile-high (5-kilometer-high) mountain on Ceres is likely volcanic in origin, and the dwarf planet may have a weak, temporary atmosphere.

The ‘Earth from Space’ video programme is back! Join us Friday, 2 September, at 10:00 CEST and discover Argentina’s Upsala Glacier

Operations image of the week: ExoMars mission control trains for arriving at the Red Planet

There’s an exoplanet as close to us as one can get. So how will we get there?

What was thought to be an old star is likely a baby star 12,000 light-years from Earth.

Technology image of the week: a plush toy version of Rosetta joins a rover in ESA’s Mars Yard – the actual Rosetta spacecraft will soon join the planetary lander club

Sign up for a free online course that provides an introduction to optical satellite Earth observation. The five-week Future Learn course begins on 12 September

After studying Ceres for more than eight months from its low-altitude science orbit, NASA’s Dawn spacecraft will move higher up for different views of the dwarf planet.

ESA’s Planck satellite, has revealed that the first stars in the universe started forming later than previous observations of the cosmic microwave background indicated.

ESA’s Planck satellite, has revealed that the first stars in the universe started forming later than previous observations of the cosmic microwave background indicated.

After studying Ceres for more than eight months from its low-altitude science orbit, NASA’s Dawn spacecraft will move higher up for different views of the dwarf planet.

The first stars were born much later than previously thought, ESA’s Planck reveals

ESA engineers have discovered that a solar panel on the Copernicus Sentinel-1A satellite was hit by a millimetre-size particle in orbit on 23 August. Thanks to onboard cameras, ground controllers were able to identify the affected area. So far, there has been no effect on the satellite’s routine operations.

Join us for an exploration of human spaceflight in science, industry and everyday life 14–15 September in London, UK

Human spaceflight and exploration image of the week: Recovery disk for International Space Station experiment

The first Ariane 5 rocket modified to carry four Galileo satellites into orbit has arrived at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana for a November launch.

We haven’t made contact with anything.

The strongest magnets in the universe may have a shorter-than-expected shelf life.

Space Science Image of the Week: A peculiar, age-defying star as seen by ESA’s Herschel

For years, astronomers have puzzled over a massive star lodged deep in the Milky Way that shows conflicting signs of being extremely old and extremely young.

For years, astronomers have puzzled over a massive star lodged deep in the Milky Way that shows conflicting signs of being extremely old and extremely young.

On 24 August, an earthquake struck central Italy, claiming at least 290 lives and causing widespread damage. Satellite images are being used to help emergency aid organisations, while scientists have begun to analyse ground movement.

Wildlife habitats close to airports pose a serious risk to safety at takeoff and landing. Thanks to ESA, a new service lets airports use satellites to identify and manage these areas.

It may not be aliens, but something weird was picked up by Russian radio astronomers, who are now digging for answers.

NASA’s Juno mission successfully executed its first of 36 orbital flybys of Jupiter today.