Join us Friday, 25 November, at 10:00 CET for the ‘Earth from Space’ video programme. This week features a Sentinel-3 image of Japan

ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli will be launched to the International Space Station next year for his third spaceflight. The name and logo for his mission were announced today.

Vita stands for Vitality, Innovation, Technology and Ability and was chosen by Italy’s ASI space agency, which is providing the mission through a barter agreement with NASA.

In Italian, “vita” means “life”, reflecting the experiments that Paolo will run and the philosophical notion of living in outer space – one of the most inhospitable places for humans. 

Technology image of the week: test deployment of a 5 m-diameter antenna reflector, designed for orbital operations

It was a literal property crash: multiple homes in the Cármenes del Mar resort on the south coast of Spain were engulfed in a landslide, leaving families homeless. But satellite archives offer early warning of such events – and now more accessible than ever before thanks to a new cloud computing platform.

If theories are correct, this could be a huge discovery

Operations image of the week: Mission control shepherds four Galileo satellites in orbit

A new analysis of the temporary slowdown seen in Earth’s global average surface temperature warming trend between 1998 and 2013 concludes Earth’s ocean absorbed the extra heat.

Frozen beneath cracked, pitted plains on Mars lies about as much water as is in Lake Superior, researchers using NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have determined.

Frozen beneath cracked, pitted plains on Mars lies about as much water as is in Lake Superior, researchers using NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have determined.

A new analysis of the temporary slowdown seen in Earth’s global average surface temperature warming trend between 1998 and 2013 concludes Earth’s ocean absorbed the extra heat.

Cassini is set to enter the first phase of its dramatic endgame.

NASA has selected SpaceX of Hawthorne, California, to provide launch services for the agency’s Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission.

Cassini is set to enter the first phase of its dramatic endgame.

NASA has selected SpaceX of Hawthorne, California, to provide launch services for the agency’s Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission.

After years of unwarranted hype and dubious experimental claims, the EmDrive received its first peer-reviewed paper.

This discovery could bring us a step closer to understanding how galaxies form

Human spaceflight and robotic exploration image of the week: Thomas Pesquet’s first picture from space

European spirit, identity and cohesion are the overarching aspects for Europe to achieve the best of outcomes for its states and citizens in space and for a globally successful European space sector

Join us Tuesday, 22 November at 14:00 CET for a special interview with ESA’s Valerie Fernandez and Paolo Laberinti from the Sentinel-2B cleanroom in ESTEC

The largest object in the asteroid belt is a crash course in weird dwarf planet behaviors.

Hunting for ET now involves Dyson spheres, infrared signals, and laser communications. It’s definitely not your father’s method for locating cosmic intelligence

New research suggests an environment too dry beyond simple water vapor to exist.

Space Science Image of the Week: Measuring the shape of the James Webb Space Telescope’s mirror

Thomas Pesquet, Oleg Novitsky and Peggy Whitson arrive at the International Space Station

Thomas Pesquet and crewmates arrive at the International Space Station, aboard Soyuz MS-03

ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet, NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson and Roscosmos commander Oleg Novitsky docked with the International Space Station today after a two-day flight in their Soyuz MS-03 spacecraft. 

Video: astronauts on Chinese space station Tiangong-2 greet ESA and Thomas Pesquet

Newly released images of Ceres from NASA’s Dawn spacecraft showcase the dwarf planet’s diversity and wonder.

Newly released images of Ceres from NASA’s Dawn spacecraft showcase the dwarf planet’s diversity and wonder.

Our week through the lens: 14-18 November 2016

Most advanced geostationary weather satellite is ready to launch

The ExoMars orbiter is preparing to make its first scientific observations at Mars during two orbits of the planet starting next week.

What FRBs can teach us about the universe

Replay: ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet, NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson and commander Oleg Novitsky heading to the International Space Station

ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet, NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson and commander Oleg Novitsky were launched into space at 20:20 GMT (21:20 CET)

Dramatic shoreline loss is revealed in new NASA/USGS maps of Louisiana wetlands where the coastline was heavily coated with oil during the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Dramatic shoreline loss is revealed in new NASA/USGS maps of Louisiana wetlands where the coastline was heavily coated with oil during the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Another four satellites join Europe’s own satellite navigation system, launched for the first time by Ariane 5

ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet, NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson and Roscosmos commander Oleg Novitsky blasted into space this evening from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 20:20 GMT. Their Soyuz MS-03 spacecraft is now safely heading to…

Join us Friday, 18 November, at 10:00 CET for the ‘Earth from Space’ video programme. This week features burn scars in Australia’s Gibson Desert

Replay the full coverage of the liftoff and early ascent of Europe’s next four Galileo satellites, which lifted off at 13:06 GMT (14:06 CET, 10:06 local time) on 17 November

Europe’s next four Galileo satellites lifted off at 13:06 GMT (14:06 CET, 10:06 local time) on 17 November from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana atop an Ariane 5 launcher

An Ariane 5 rocket has launched four additional Galileo satellites, accelerating deployment of the new satellite navigation system.

The same sort of cataclysmic impact that wiped out the dinosaurs 66 million years ago could have provided a refuge for life early in Earth’s history, when space rocks regularly pummeled the planet.

That’s the finding of a group of research…

This distant star is much different from others

Operations image of the week: An impressive view of Germany’s Rhine-Main area, which includes ESA’s Sentinel mission control centre

The super-precise JPL thruster system has met all its mission goals on the LISA Pathfinder mission.

The super-precise JPL thruster system has met all its mission goals on the LISA Pathfinder mission.

With a helicopter the sole feature on the vast expanse of ice and her only way back to warmth and safety, polar scientist Anna Hogg must have thought, “What on Earth am I doing out here?” as she set to taking ice samples.

Technology image of the week: a commercially-available ‘atom interferometer’ using clouds of supercooled atoms to perform precise measurements, on show at ESA’s inaugural Quantum Technology workshop

Trailer shows what the women go through to achieve the impossible

This valley may have been formed in a very Earth-like way

Pluto may be the latest place in the solar system to show evidence of liquid water.

Watch the docking of ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet, NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson and commander Oleg Novitsky to the Space Station – starting Saturday at 21:30 GMT

Just weeks before Sentinel-2B is packed up and sent to French Guiana for its launch next March, media representatives and specialists got one last look at the second satellite for Europe’s Copernicus programme. 

See the launch of Galileo satellites 15–18 on Thursday 17 November. Streaming starts at 12:36 GMT (13:36 CET)

ESA’s Ministerial Council 2016 is being held in Lucerne, Switzerland, 1 and 2 December

Human spaceflight and robotic exploration image of the week: Soyuz rocket ready to launch ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet to the Space Station

These craters be a key ingredient in Martian life

The team’s Kickstarter campaign could contribute to a historic effort

The first of two satellites has been completed for a follow-on to NASA’s GRACE mission.

The first of two satellites has been completed for a follow-on to NASA’s GRACE mission.

Mary Adela Blagg was a talented astronomer in two fields, but her work has been forgotten.

How engineers are investigating from 34 million miles away

Space Science Image of the Week: The three closest pictures of Rosetta’s comet taken by the navigation camera in September

Our week through the lens: 7-11 November 2016

Mining a deadly threat for clues to life’s origins

Despite headlines to the contrary, people who track space debris know exactly what it is.

The new film from Sicario director Denis Villenueve may be the most thought provoking movie of the year

Two NASA space telescopes jointly observed a microlensing event, when a distant star brightens due to the gravitational field of at least one foreground cosmic object.

NASA is set to launch its first Earth science small-satellite constellation, which will help improve hurricane intensity, track and storm surge forecasts, on Dec. 12.

NASA is set to launch its first Earth science small-satellite constellation, which will help improve hurricane intensity, track and storm surge forecasts, on Dec. 12.

Two NASA space telescopes jointly observed a microlensing event, when a distant star brightens due to the gravitational field of at least one foreground cosmic object.

Join us Friday, 11 November, at 10:00 CET for the ‘Earth from Space’ video programme. This week features the Virunga Mountains in East Africa

A bright Moon will diminish the impact of this month’s mighty Leonid meteor shower, but not all hope is lost to see the lion’s roar.

Princeton’s new device can help astronomers learn more about planets from their spectra

Operations image of the week: A ghostly image of our Milky Way galaxy derived from satellite orientation data

Human spaceflight and robotic exploration image of the week: Vibrating ceramics in weightlessness to move liquids

The international iceberg patrol service set up after the sinking of the Titanic is now able to track drifting ice from orbit more swiftly through ESA-backed cloud computing.

The massive eye in the middle IC 2613 is the product of a rare cosmic tidal wave

ISRO went for the stars. Now it’s being celebrated on the 2000 rupee banknote.

This month, a single Ariane 5 rocket is set to propel four Galileo satellites into orbit for the navigation constellation’s first-ever quadruple launch. Mission controllers are training intensively for the complex space delivery.

The time-lapse movie may answer some questions about Titan’s cloud dynamics

Forty years after Viking, arguments remain about whether it found life

The time-lapse movie may answer some questions about Titan’s cloud dynamics

A video update on the 17 November Ariane 5 launch of four Galileo satellites, to bring the total number of European navigation satellites in orbit from 14 to 18

NASA is launching six next-generation, Earth-observing small satellite missions to demonstrate innovative approaches for studying our changing planet.

CubeSats are challenging JPL engineers to build next-gen antennas.

CubeSats are challenging JPL engineers to build next-gen antennas.

NASA is launching six next-generation, Earth-observing small satellite missions to demonstrate innovative approaches for studying our changing planet.

The Parkes telescope is studying Proxima Centauri b to see if there’s life there

Space Science Image of the Week: Planetary nebula shows off its beautiful turquoise and rose quartz tones in new Hubble image

As the COP22 climate change summit begins in Marrakesh, explore Morocco with this mosaic from Sentinel-2. Experience Sentinel-2’s high-resolution imaging capabilities directly in your browser

What would we do if we discovered a large asteroid on course to impact Earth? That highly unlikely scenario was discussed at a recent NASA-FEMA tabletop exercise.

New video shows bright clouds of methane drifting across Saturn’s largest moon, Titan.

New video shows bright clouds of methane drifting across Saturn’s largest moon, Titan.

What would we do if we discovered a large asteroid on course to impact Earth? That highly unlikely scenario was discussed at a recent NASA-FEMA tabletop exercise.

Our week through the lens: 31 October – 4 November 2016