In a world first, the European Space Agency will launch and land an unmanned spaceplane February 11 that has no wings but instead features an aerodynamic shape that produces the lift to fly through the atmosphere.

A resurgence of support from the University of California and several large donations signal a turning of the tide for the world’s first permanent mountaintop observatory.

A resurgence of support from the University of California and several large donations signal a turning of the tide for the world’s first permanent mountaintop observatory.

NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has exceeded 40,000 trips around Mars and continues to study patterns of change on the Red Planet.

Space Science Image of the Week: This surprising view of the Red Planet, courtesy of Mars Express, shows chocolate, caramel and cream-coloured swirls encircling the south pole

Join us for the launch of Europe’s experimental spaceplane, scheduled for 13:00 GMT (14:00 CET) on 11 February. Streaming starts at 12:45 GMT (13.45 CET)

A team of astronomers has discovered a close pair of white dwarf stars in a planetary nebula that have a total mass of about 1.8 times that of the Sun.

An annotated timeline of the most critical events during the IXV mission. ESA’s wingless spaceplane is set for liftoff on a Vega rocket from Kourou, French Guiana, 11 February 2015.

Our week through the lens: 2-6 February 2015

Next Monday, ESA astronaut Samantha Christoforetti will float into Europe’s space ferry to install a special infrared camera, set to capture unique interior views of the spacecraft’s break-up on reentry.

The latest data release is providing insights on the first stars, dark energy, and cosmic structure.

Preliminary results suggest the area had acidic ancient conditions

Earth observation image of the week: a Sentinel-1 radar image of Portugal’s capital, also featured on the Earth from Space video programme

Another two Galileo satellites have touched down in French Guiana ready to take their place in Europe’s satellite navigation constellation.

ESA’s experimental spaceplane, poised for liftoff on Vega, is set to showcase the latest technologies and critical systems to extend Europe’s capability for space exploration.

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft, on approach to dwarf planet Ceres, has acquired its latest and closest-yet snapshot of this mysterious world.

New data from Planck are helping scientists better understand the history and fabric of our universe, as well as our own Milky Way galaxy.

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is analyzing a rock-powder sample collected by using the rover’s drill in a gentler manner than at previous drill targets.

Join us Friday, 6 February, at 10:00 CET for the ‘Earth from Space’ video programme. This week features a Sentinel-1 radar image over the metropolitan area of Portugal’s capital, Lisbon

New Planck maps uncover the ‘polarised’ light from the early Universe, revealing that the first stars formed much later than previously thought

These so-called Galilean satellites complete orbits around Jupiter with durations ranging from two to 17 days.

Explorers are excited because these deposits could be mined if they are sufficiently abundant.

These are the first photos of the Pluto system for the spacecraft’s optical navigation phase of the mission.

NASA is part of a major field campaign studying intense atmospheric river storms from the ocean, land, air and space.

PR N° 5-2015: Estonia took a step further in its relations with ESA by signing the Accession Agreement to the ESA Convention on 4 February 2015, to become the 21st ESA Member State

ESA’s Rosetta probe is preparing to make a close encounter with its comet on 14 February, passing just 6 km from the surface.

Victor Aniceto, former vice president of sales and marketing, will succeed Joe Lupica.

They are the first such stars found that lie in the central plane of the Milky Way beyond its central bulge.

The February 14 flyby will allow the spacecraft to sample the innermost parts of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko’s atmosphere.

NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter recently caught a view of NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover studying an outcrop at the base of a Martian mountain.

Human spaceflight and operations image of the week: A tracking station aboard Nos Aries will be the first to pick up IXV’s call home after reentry

During its brief but crucial mission, experts on three continents and the high seas will work in close cooperation for ESA’s IXV spaceplane mission, monitoring its free flight in space, spectacular reentry and safe splashdown in the Pacific.

Field experiments have shown how ESA’s potential FLEX mission could identify vegetation that is suffering degrees of stress invisible to the naked eye.

NWA 7034 has been shown to be a 4.4-billion-year-old chunk of the martian crust, the first such sample to make it to Earth.

A pilot study looking at galaxies that die young has found some might shoot out this gas early on, causing them to redden and kick the bucket prematurely.

Find out how ESA’s cutting-edge spaceplane advances Europe’s ambition for autonomous landings from space

Arcadia High School triumphed over 23 other teams at the National Science Bowl regional competition held at JPL on Jan. 31.

ESA’s Vega rocket, with IXV on top, now awaits its fourth flight with liftoff on 11 February at 13:00 GMT (14:00 CET)

Astronomers have generated a new 3-D map of Cassiopeia A’s interior, using the astronomical equivalent of a CAT scan.

This galaxy has drifted too close to another nearby galaxy and the dramatic interaction has twisted its spiral arms out of shape.

Space Science Image of the Week: A composite XMM-Newton and Hubble view of Jupiter’s Ghost planetary nebula

NASA successfully launched its first Earth satellite designed to collect global observations of the vital soil moisture hidden just beneath our feet.

A joint analysis of data from Planck and the ground-based experiment BICEP2 has found no conclusive evidence of gravitational waves from the birth of our universe.

Planck and Bicep2 join forces but gravitational waves remain elusive

Our week through the lens: 26-30 January 2015

Extensive data analysis has led astronomers to believe they witnessed a giant black hole tear apart a star back in 2009.

The satellite’s work with ground-based telescopes has shown that interstellar dust was actually the cause of more than half of the signal detection announced almost a year ago.

Extensive data analysis has led astronomers to believe they witnessed a giant black hole tear apart a star back in 2009.

Observations suggest that unmagnetized bodies like Saturn’s moon might interact with the solar wind in the same basic ways regardless of their nature or distance from the Sun.

NASA’s SMAP mission is now scheduled for launch at 6:20 a.m. PST Friday, Jan. 30.

The launch of NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) observatory has been delayed to a targeted launch date of Jan. 31.

Tell-tale signs of a dramatic encounter between galaxies are evident in this striking view captured by the Hubble Space Telescope

ESA’s IXV spaceplane is a snug fit inside Vega’s protective fairing and will soon be attached to the rocket in preparation for launch on 11 February

Join us Friday, 30 January, at 10:00 CET for the ‘Earth from Space’ video programme. Ahead of World Wetlands Day, this week’s programme features the Ramsar sites on the island of Corsica

Computer models show that tidal forces and atmospheric escape can transform certain exoplanets.

The images were taken 147,000 miles (237,000 kilometers) from Ceres and represent a new milestone for a spacecraft that soon will become the first human-made probe to visit a dwarf planet.

NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission has launched from California into the early morning skies above the Pacific Ocean.

Researchers studying data from NASA’s Cassini mission have observed that Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, behaves much like Venus, Mars or a comet when exposed to the raw power of the solar wind.

The star system Kepler-444 is the oldest known to host terrestrial-sized planets.

Technology image of the week: Next year this ESA three-unit CubeSat will be probing largely unexplored layers of Earth’s atmosphere

Scientists analyzed the “yellow balls” that appeared in Spitzer data and figured out that they are a new way to detect the early stages of massive star formation.

The exoplanet’s ring system consists of over 30 rings, each of them tens of millions of miles in diameter.

“Hmm, what’s that?” Simply by asking the question, volunteers have led researchers to illuminate a little-known stage of massive star formation.

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft has returned the sharpest images ever seen of the dwarf planet Ceres.

Managers from NASA and United Launch Alliance (ULA) met Tues., Jan. 27, at Vandenberg Air Force Base to assess the status of NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive spacecraft and the ULA Delta II rocket that will boost SMAP into space.
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Soil moisture data from NASA’s SMAP mission will open a path to improved weather forecasts.

ESA astronaut Tim Peake and Rosetta Project Scientist Dr Matt Taylor talk robotics in space missions in a Google hangout. Watch the replay

ESA’s experimental spaceplane, in the final stages of preparation for launch, is mounted on the adapter that secures it to the Vega rocket

This system tells us that planets were forming around stars nearly 7 billion years before our solar system.

Scientists have released the first radar images of asteroid 2004 BL86, which made its closest approach January 26.

Human spaceflight and operations image of the week: lightning strike seen from the International Space Station

Radar Images from Goldstone indicate that asteroid 2004 BL86, which safely flew past Earth, has a moon.

Soil moisture, which keeps Earth’s interlocking cycles of water, carbon and energy turning in harmony, is the focus of NASA’s SMAP mission, launching Jan. 29.

ESA’s Rosetta mission is providing unique insight into the life cycle of a comet’s dusty surface, watching 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko as it sheds the dusty coat it has accumulated over the past four years.

Satellites can help us to safeguard nature’s richest carbon storehouses – peatlands.

The mission is providing unique insight into the life cycle of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko’s dusty surface.

Opportunity has driven 25.9 miles (41.7 kilometers) since it arrived at the Red Planet in 2004.